Lead acquisition – sometimes referred to as lead generation – is an ongoing process of finding individuals or businesses that your business can serve. If you’re a business-to-consumer (B2C) company, then you’re helping an individual become your customer. If you’re a business-to-business company (B2B) company, then you’re helping another business become your customer.
In both cases, you are looking for people who have a specific question or challenge that can be addressed by your product or service. The process of acquiring leads is key for selling your products or services. No leads means no business means no money.
What Is the Lead Acquisition Journey?
Simply put, lead acquisition is the set of activities you practice to get new people “in the door.”
The goal of the lead acquisition journey is to generate revenue from each lead. Your goal amount of revenue needs to make sense for the amount of time and money it takes to provide your product or service in the first place.
Getting new people in the door involves a collection of touchpoints or communications, whether these touchpoints happen traditionally (e.g. in-person events and direct mail-outs) or digitally (e.g. phone calls and social media content).
On top of that, acquiring quality leads – as opposed to the people who don’t believe in your product or service – requires you to build a memorable brand. When your branding is well-planned, you can communicate in a way that consistently builds trust and pleasantly surprises your audience. A well-served audience ends up realizing that your business can meet their needs in a way that other competitors cannot or have not done already.
If we focus on digital marketing, then the lead acquisition process takes place on the internet. Specifically, businesses create content that lives on their websites, social media channels, and search engines. Although they serve distinct purposes, both copywriting and content writing (like SEO-friendly blogging) play a part in this.
Digital lead acquisition is also supported by proper website design, high-quality customer service, and other business operations.
Once a business identifies a productive method of finding leads online, it sticks with that method and eventually scales it (or increases its capacity) by building a team of employees or freelancers. Another way to scale your online lead acquisition is by investing in software or other technical support to speed up the processes that find potential customers.
How Does a Business Know Their Lead Acquisition Strategy Is Working?
By measuring cost per acquisition (CPA) and cost per lead (CPL), you can tell if your lead acquisition strategy is helping you reach your goals.
If the limits of your budget are being pushed, but you’re not really getting as many paying clients or customers as you think you could, then it’s worth pivoting your strategy. You may find a more cost-efficient and time-efficient way to make your brand visible online and build relationships with your audience.
How do you compare how many leads you’re getting to the amount you *could* be getting?
It comes down to “did you choose a target audience that actually exists and that actually could be interested in your product or service?” If you took time to conduct market research and competitor research as you were planning out your business, then you’ve probably chosen a target audience with tons of potential.
So with that in mind, move forward in confidence, knowing that there is room for you to grow and there are still more people out there waiting to find someone just like you.
On a more practical level, you can understand what’s working and what’s not by setting time-oriented goals and tracking your actual results.
Between qualitative data (human feedback, thoughts, feelings, experiences) and quantitative data (numbers, percentages, rates, graphs) you’ll be able to paint a picture of the sort of messages and processes you want to hold onto and which ones no longer serve your brand.
By collecting and interpreting the data, you can understand whether you’re finding more unqualified leads or qualified leads. When it’s time to interpret your data, you can answer questions like these:
“What is it about our online messaging that attracts demographic A, when really our goal is to attract demographic B?”
“If we notice that demographic A signs up for our email list but doesn’t end up buying our product/service, then how can we find more people within demographic B?”
Next, let’s put this idea of acquiring leads online into specific terms.
Acquiring Leads Through Social Media and Website Traffic
Earlier, we talked about writing copy and content to draw more attention online. A great way to do this is by integrating your social media strategy with your website content strategy.
As opposed to only focusing on social media, connecting the two will give you a higher chance of driving traffic (i.e. internet users) toward a concrete decision of buying from you (or not).
In terms of social media, some channels are going to be more effective for converting leads, or getting them to make a decision. On the other hand, some social media channels are more useful for building brand awareness. With this in mind, if you were to only create content for two social media platforms, be sure to pick one for conversion and the other for awareness.
Another distinction to pay attention to is this: Your brand and target audience are going to align with certain content formats over others.
Let’s break down these ideas a bit further.
Website First
When you prioritize your website as your home base for content, you adopt the advantage of search engines. Every day, 8.5 billion searches are being conducted online – and that’s only on Google!
Since there are massive amounts of humans out there waiting to learn about your brand, you might as well start writing long-form blog content that aligns with search engines like Google.
Pro Tip: Use a keyword research tool like Moz to identify blog post topics that Google users will enjoy.
Social Second
You’re never going to catch me claiming that social media is irrelevant to your digital marketing strategy. Between Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter, there’s great potential to acquire qualified leads each and every day.
The reason I place social media after website content is for logistical purposes. Converting long-form blog posts into short-form social media content is simpler than trying to piece five different Instagram posts together. When you already have one blog post that’s organized into five different sections, creating five new pieces of short-form content is a no-brainer.
This sort of reverse engineering can be done for both your conversion channel and your awareness channel.
Conversion Channel
I won’t pretend like I know what’s absolutely best for your business. Instead, I’ll just tell you what I’ve done for mine.
Instagram has become my conversion channel. I can say this because I’ve intentionally marketed my services and digital products there and because I’ve gained the most clients there, as opposed to Facebook or TikTok.
When you choose your main social media channel for conversion, make it a point to post content that reflects the way you show off your products or services throughout your website.
This concept becomes even clearer once we talk about the awareness channel.
Awareness Channel
Again, do not necessarily take this as advice. This just happens to be my jam at the moment.
TikTok has become my primary awareness channel. Yes, the content I post on TikTok sometimes overlaps with that of Instagram. (Sometimes, I’ll post the exact same face-to-camera videos and carousels.)
However, I give my TikTok audience tons of personal stories, casual conversations, and unplanned reflections on entrepreneurship and life in your thirties. The accounts that only follow me on Instagram won’t see that side of my brand.
But that’s okay because I want my awareness channel to entertain a relatively large group of people. Of that group, I want a select few to become curious about my services and digital products, which they can learn more about on Instagram.
I’ll wrap this up by saying: Choose your main social media channel for awareness, and don’t be afraid to veer away from the messaging that’s found on your website.
If you’re still with me, I’d like to chat about using various content formats to acquire leads.
Content Formats
Of all the possible ways leads could interact with your brand online, they all come down to three formats: written word, audio, and video. I encourage you to choose your favorite of the three and post that consistently.
This doesn’t mean just choose the one that’s easiest for you because you’re “not that creative.” (Everyone’s creative. Give yourself a little more credit.)
Instead, tap into the specific format that is best received by your target audience. After all, these are the folks who will someday become your paying customers, clients, or students.
Written Word
- Blog posts
- Social media captions
- Typography-based carousel posts
Audio
- Podcasts
- Voiceovers
Video
- Reels
- YouTube Shorts
- TikTok
- Videos uploaded to other social media platforms
Of course, I’m gonna vouch for blog posts, big time! But strategically combining the three formats is even better.
Inevitably, all of these formats begin with writing down your ideas anyway. So you’ve already knocked out writing. Now you can start thinking about audio and video some more.
Regardless of your content channels or formats, you’ll want to make sure you are staying on-brand when you show up online.
Stay On-Brand
When you were developing your business you should have spent time designing your brand. You probably spent time not just creating the visual elements, but your brand voice, personality, and behaviors.
As you’re preparing to reach more leads through your digital marketing, make sure that you’re consistently and accurately representing your brand on all of your online platforms.
The caveat here is that you should be shifting your presentation and style just a bit for each social media platform. Let’s face it, each app has a different vibe and purpose, even though they all work toward the common goals of lead generation, brand awareness, and relationship building.
When you stay on-brand you can efficiently move cold, warm, and hot leads along the customer journey (this is referred to as lead generation).
Creating Different Types of Content for Cold, Warm, and Hot Leads
In addition to the questions of where and which formats to post, you want to answer this question:
“How can my content meet people exactly where they are?”
Here’s a super simple place to start: Each week, post one piece of content for cold leads, one for warm leads, and one for hot leads.
In the world of marketing and sales, we qualify leads by temperature to categorize how close they are to becoming a paying customer. The desired sequence goes from cold to warm to hot. The ultimate goal is to develop a pool of hot leads that become repeat customers and tell their friends, family, and peers about your business.
You can think of it this way:
Cold Leads Content
Cold leads barely know your brand exists – or they might not know at all. They require content that makes them say, “Oh! We have a couple things in common.”
This definitely isn’t the time to sell through your content. Focus instead on serving these leads with educational, inspirational, and entertaining content.
(It’s worth noting that you should seek to educate, inspire, and entertain all types of leads.)
Warm Leads Content
Warm leads are aware of your brand, and they’re starting to warm up to you. Still, they might not fully grasp how you can help them solve their problems or make their lives better.
You can start to “push” these folks by getting more specific about their challenges and life experiences, as well as possible solutions.
Hot Leads Content
If these folks won’t buy from you, no one will! Hot leads have been through the journey of discovering your brand, learning from you, checking out your products and services, and identifying you with a positive life transformation.
To start creating content that speaks to cold, warm, and hot leads, answer the following questions:
- Where do these leads exist? (Email list? Instagram audience? Sales call calendar?)
- How do these leads feel about my brand? (Are they learning about us? Are they unsure if they need us? Are they considering whether or not they can afford us?)
- What gets these leads to the next step? (Hint: For all three groups, you’ll want to invest time and energy into them before expecting any commitment in return.)
What Are Some Useful Tools for Lead Acquisition?
When it comes to acquiring and managing your leads, the list of software and automation tools goes on and on. Here are just a few that you might find helpful:
Content Management System
Your blog is made possible with a content management system (CMS). Your CMS first requires a web hosting company.
My top recommendation is to host your website with Bluehost and manage your content with WordPress. (I’ve used both over the years, and they’re super user-friendly.)
Email Marketing System
Email is your primary way of taking your written content out of the public eye and interacting with your leads on an exclusive platform. The cool thing is these interactions take place without the videos, sounds, and distractions of social media.
ConvertKit has got to be the best email marketing system for small businesses, as well as businesses with huge teams and audiences.
Social Media
- Business-to-Business (B2B): LinkedIn and Twitter
- Business-to-Consumer (B2C): Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook
Tools for Staying Organized as You Acquire Leads
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Salesforce
- Hubspot
- Cognism
- Callrail
- Notion
FAQ: Lead Acquisition
Your cost per lead changes depending on your industry, as well as your methods for acquiring leads online or in person.
All companies need leads. It’s not a question of whether or not you get them. If you’ve made any amount of money in your business, then, yes, you have successfully converted leads. The question is more so how to find them consistently and in a way that doesn’t drain your resources.
Whether you run a digital business or you have a brick-and-mortar location, you can invest more energy into your digital marketing strategy in order to connect with leads that represent your ideal client/customer. It’s recommended that you use local SEO for your physical presence and on-page SEO no matter what type of business you run. On-page SEO, off-page SEO, plus technical SEO is an awesome combination. BONUS: You can hire a content writer to create SEO-friendly blog posts that move leads along the journey of being your brand’s biggest fan!
Wrap-Up: Lead Acquisition
Whether you realize it or not, lead acquisition is already taking place within your business. The question now is how is it happening, and does this align with your sales and marketing goals?
Further Reading on KatQuintana.com: If you enjoy posts like this, check out my guides on lead generation and how to grow your business blog in 2025.
Disclaimer: KQ Writing Studio may receive affiliate compensation for purchases through the links on this page, at no extra cost to you. You can read our affiliate disclosure in our privacy policy. This website is not intended to provide financial advice. This is for entertainment only.
