Leads, leads, leads — what every marketer wants. But in order to generate leads, you have to understand them. And for being such a common element in marketing, a surprising number of people don’t know exactly what they are.

What is a lead?
The definition of a lead is confusing in some ways because it’s so nebulous. A lead can actually be almost anything — it’s different for every business. To determine what a lead is for your business, you need to consider what ideal first step you’d like prospective clients to take in your sales process. Here are some examples of what might constitute a lead:

• Downloading a whitepaper
• Filling out a form
• Sending an email or making a phone call
• Requesting more information

A lead is whatever your prospective customers do in order to indicate that they are interested in your products or services. To determine what a lead should be for you, you must carefully examine your entire sales process, your customers’ pains and goals, and how you can best urge people along the path that is ideal for your business.

Kinds of leads
Of course, there are lots of different kinds of leads. Some are more valuable than others, and each needs to be handled differently. Being able to accurately identify the type of lead is the key to successfully turning those leads into customers.

• Cold leads are people who haven’t expressed any interest in your product or service, but appear to be a good fit.

• Warm leads have illustrated interest in your product by clicking around your website, reading your content, or through a similar expression of interest without direct contact.

• Hot leads have contacted you specifically, seeking information about your product or service.

Knowing how to handle each type of lead is important, but generating a lead is just the first step. You need to learn the nuances of lead generation (for instance: how long do hot leads stay hot?) and lead nurturing to truly take advantage of your content marketing’s lead generation abilities.

Need to bring on some lead generation experts? Look no further than Proven Systems. Contact us by email or at (970) 223-6565 for a no cost consultation to learn how we can bring in the leads you’ve been looking for.