In digital marketing, one of the most frequently used terms is “ lead ”. However, many professionals are unaware of its meaning and what it represents. Knowing it will prevent you from making mistakes and will allow you to optimize your marketing and sales strategies to achieve efficient business management.
Exploring the meaning of your concept will be crucial to identify and differentiate it from other definitions. In addition, it is key to know the types of leads that exist and, most importantly, learn how to generate them.
What is the meaning of lead?
The Spanish translation of lead is “to lead”, “to direct” or “to take the lead”. However, it can also be used as an allusion to “initial moment”, “track”, “step” or “advance”. These last words are the most appropriate for the translation of lead in marketing and sales.
Generally speaking, a lead is a person who shows interest in a company's products or services through various actions such as visiting your website, following you on social media, sharing your posts, participating in a dynamic or webinar, downloading some content, subscribing to your newsletter, filling out a form provided by you, etc.
And, in short, a lead is a potential client with whom you have made initial contact.
The key is to obtain data from these people interested in your product, service or brand, so that you can begin the process of converting your leads into customers and, why not, loyal customers of your brand.
How to identify a lead?
Correctly identifying a lead is crucial for a company's marketing strategy and sales management. However, leads can be confused with subscribers, contacts or prospects. Below, we show you the differences between them.
Subscribers vs. leads
It's easy to confuse a lead with a subscriber because both turkey mobile number provide you with their contact information. However, the level of interest and type of interaction with the company is different because a subscriber is looking for general information through regular content updates, such as a newsletter, but hasn't necessarily shown an interest in a product or service like a lead has . They are part of the sales funnel and are considered potential customers.
Contacts vs. leads
Part of the idea is that all leads are contacts, but not all contacts are leads , because contacts are simply people or users that the company met at a conference or signed up for an event without showing interest in the brand's products or services, as leads are .
Prospects vs. leads
Both terms are often used interchangeably, but it is important to differentiate that a prospect is an advanced lead , which has gone through a qualification process and is ready for sale, while leads need to be nurtured (apply lead nurturing for this) and qualified before advancing through the sales funnel.
One key we recommend for considering a person as a lead is that they fit your buyer persona and have the ability and means to make the purchase.