According to a 2016 HubSpot report, 74% of survey participants said that one of their top priorities over the next 12 months is to focus on generating more leads into loyal customers. But what exactly are leads and how can you avoid making easy but silly lead generation mistakes? Here is a list of the most common errors marketers make:

1. Not knowing what a lead is

Although this may seem obvious to a seasoned salesperson, if you aren’t 100% sure what a lead is then it is highly likely that you will fall into the trap of contacting companies who just aren’t that into you. A lead, in layman’s terms, is someone who has taken an interest in an aspect of your business. They have put in the effort to give you their details and it is clear they want to hear from you. Don’t buy an email list in the hope that companies will be interested, because it’s highly likely they won’t.

Firstly, the email has probably gone into their junk folder. Secondly, if the email hasn’t gone into junk then it could be equally possible that it’s sitting in a fake or inactive email account. Finally, and most importantly, if the receiver does happen to open the email, you’ve got to hope they don’t take one glance and send it to the rubbish bin, just like the hundreds of other unsolicited emails they receive a day.

2. Making contact difficult for your prospective customer

An interested customer is on your website, but there’s no way for them to get in contact easily. Even the most basic of websites needs to have a contact form tool, and not on one of the back pages of the site. Best of all, add it to the home page or create a contact tab. Additionally, make sure your contact details can be seen on every page, even if the form isn’t. Nobody wants to spend time searching for information that should be readily available.

3. Giving each customer a run-of-the-mill experience

Don’t assume that because a company or client has contacted you that they want to jump in head first and buy your product. Lead nurturing is the key to success, so ensure that you meet each potential customer’s specific needs – they are all at different stages of the buyer’s journey. If it helps, make a quick progress report about your contact for each lead generation so that you know you aren’t going to repeat yourself or miss out important information.

In short, good lead generation practice is all about meeting new potential customers organically. There are some ways to quicken this process, such as regular updates on social media platforms, writing interesting and engaging blogs that aren’t necessarily about your company and maintaining correct website content and information, so that when a prospective client does stumble upon your brand their interest is piqued immediately.

Generating leads is integral to the inbound methodology. Get some more information and statistics from the inbound report mentioned at the top of this article, and watch your business grow as you shift your focus from outbound to inbound marketing.