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Lead Generation in 2025: The Ultimate Guide 

Masooma Memon
Written by Masooma Memon
Published at Mar 25, 2024
Lead Generation in 2025: The Ultimate Guide 

Up to 61% of marketers say generating leads and traffic is their biggest challenge. 

If you’re among these marketers, you’re in the right place. Because in this guide, we’ll walk you through 12 proven lead generation strategies that are sure to drive leads your way. 

The one thing you need to be mindful of though is being consistent. 

Once you shortlist some lead generation tactics, stick with them. 

Most of the time, the problem isn’t in the tactic like the majority of us assume. Instead, it’s in the inconsistency — the haste to see results and, when failing to do so, giving up way too soon. 

With that, let’s dig into the nuts and bolts of your biggest challenge: lead generation. 

If you need valuable tips for creating successful lead generation campaigns, we've got it all covered in this video.

Here’s a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit lead generation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:

 

Table of Contents

Quick Read

  • Lead generation, or lead gathering, attracts interested customers to your business, nurturing them and converting them into paying customers. A lead is a potential customer who shows interest in your product/service and may end up buying from you.
  • First, you generate a lead by collecting a contact email; then, you nurture it through the lead generation cycle until they convert.
  • The three industry-standard lead generation types are Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLSs), Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) and Product Qualified Leads (PQLs).
  • Lead generation helps brands target the right people, build brand loyalty, increase business awareness and create a pipeline of qualified leads.
  • Some creative lead generation ideas include writing problem-solving blog posts, hosting podcasts and webinars, launching well-timed popups, email marketing, referral programs and much more.
  • Follow these lead generation best practices for optimal results: segment your email lists, craft killer copy and retarget hesitant leads.
  • Incorporate Visme Forms into your strategy to collect qualified leads from your landing pages, blogs and digital content.

 

What is Lead Generation? 

Lead generation is the process of attracting interested customers to your business, nurturing them and converting them into paying customers. 

So you aren’t only going to focus on attracting leads but also nurturing and converting them. But first: 

What is a lead?

A lead is a potential customer—a stranger who shows interest in your product/service and may end up buying from you. 

Not all leads are created equal, though. 

Some leads come from the marketing team and are therefore, called Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLSs). Other leads come from the sales teams and are called Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs). Still, others are generated from the free product trials that you may offer. These are Product Qualified Leads (PQLs)

Similarly, not all leads show an equal level of interest in your business. It’s why you have: 

  • Cold leads or leads with next to no interest in your product/service 
  • Warm leads or leads with some interest in your product/service 
  • Hot leads or ready-to-convert leads 

Warm leads need nurturing (engaging with value) to convert. Hot leads, on the other hand, need the right push with the right offer to convert. 

Cold leads, however, won’t convert—no matter what you do. It’s best to leave them be and focus on attracting and engaging interested leads. 

Types of Lead Generation

Some leads come from the marketing team, while others come from the sales team. And still, others are generated from the free product trials that you may offer. That said, not all leads show an equal level of interest in your business.

These are the best and most common types of leads.

  • Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLSs)
  • Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)
  • Product Qualified Leads (PQLs)
  • Cold leads or leads with next to no interest in your product/service
  • Warm leads or leads with some interest in your product/service
  • Hot leads or ready-to-convert leads
  • In-person vs. online lead generation

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Hey marketers! Need to create scroll-stopping visual content fast?

Lead Generation vs. Lead Nurturing

Lead generation and lead nurturing are sequential; first, you must generate the lead to be nurtured. Nurturing a lead means that you, as a brand, must use value to engage with the lead in order to convince them to convert.

Looking at the types of leads, for example, warm leads need nurturing to convert, while hot leads need the right push with the right offer to convert. The amount of nurturing differs and depends on how warm or hot the lead is.

Why Is Lead Generation Important for Brands?

Without lead generation, you’re never going to have a pipeline of customers interested in your product/service. 

You may buy some leads and call it a day. 

But be warned: those leads are likely not your target buyers and they’ve never heard of you before. 

So any attempt at reaching out to them will feel like an invasion of their privacy since they never gave you explicit permission to cold contact them.

The question now is: what’s the right way to reach out to leads aligned to your buyer persona? Lead generation.

An infographic sharing the benefits of lead generation.

The process helps you: 

Target the right people 

Valued-focused lead generation that’s designed to resonate with your target audience helps you attract qualified leads

These leads are also more likely to share their contact information with you, therefore, giving you permission to reach them. 

Build brand loyalty 

The right leads who find your marketing valuable are not only going to convert into paying customers but also loyal customers. The reason? You’ve reached them out only after they gave you permission. 

Plus, you’ve nurtured them by providing value. This way, they can tell you’re focused on their success — not just making sales. 

Improve brand impact on your lead magnets by applying your branding guidelines. Use the Visme Brand Wizard to not only create branded lead magnets but all sorts of content for every aspect of your business.

Increase business awareness 

Even if strangers don’t convert into leads, seeing your value-centered lead generation tactics can make them aware of your brand. 

As a result, they’re likely to recommend you to others or buy from you down the line whenever they’re ready. 

Create a full pipeline of leads

With the correct lead generation marketing strategy in place, you’ll keep generating new leads, nurturing them and converting them regularly. This helps you develop a healthy pipeline of customers, keeping your business afloat.

When you share lead magnets made with Visme you have the ability not only to track opens and reads but also to capture emails. Add a lead capture form to the lead magnet where readers can input their email before reading the content. All collected emails will be available inside your Visme analytics window.

Visme Forms elements

Opportunity to personalize your messaging 

As leads share their contact information with you, you can use it to personalize your marketing materials. This helps you learn more about your target buyer and nurture them better. 

Personalizing lead magnets is easy when you use Visme’s dynamic fields feature. Create a dynamic field for the target’s name and personalization mentions. Then simply change that in the dynamic fields window instead of having to skim through every lead magnet every time.

Create any type of marketing content with Visme!

  • Choose from dozens of professionally designed templates
  • Add and alter icons, colors, fonts, images and more
  • Customize anything to fit your brand image and content needs

Learn more.

 

The Lead Generation Process

Following a process with your lead generation efforts will help your team do it repeatedly and effectively every time. Over time, you'll be able to build a solid lead generation system that drives consistent success.

Made with Visme Infographic Maker

 

Here is an 8-step cyclical process:

  • Analyze and plan a lead generation goal.
  • Research the market and conduct a gap analysis.
  • Craft your message following brand guidelines.
  • Promote lead magnets at the top of the funnel with TOFU lead generation strategies.
  • Design and launch lead generation landing pages to collect emails in exchange for valuable content.
  • Send emails or make phone calls mid-funnel to potential leads. These outreach efforts are part of your sales lead generation strategy.
  • Score leads and add them to a nurture sequence.
  • Evaluate results to create reports to use as a reference in the future.
  • Analyze, Iterate and improve the process.

 

12 Lead Generation Strategies for 2025

On to the meaty part now: the 12 lead generation ideas. These proven lead generation tips will fuel will your success in 2025.

1. Write problem-solving blog posts.

In-depth, SEO-optimized content is an effective way to attract your target leads by providing the answers to the questions they have. 

With each blog post though, make sure you add a call-to-action (CTA). This could be anything from trying your SaaS tool for free or downloading a related checklist in exchange for their contact information. Your CTAs can be visuals that break up the text or popups with a signup form. The trick is to not overwhelm the reader but instead pique their interest.

The goal? Get your readers’ contact information (in exchange for value) and add them to your lead nurturing pipeline. 

2. Launch a podcast.

This could be in collaboration with a teammate or you could invite guest hosts. 

Either way, use the podcast to build relationships in the industry and with your target audience. 

For example, at the end of an episode, you can tell listeners you’ve a guide on the topic that they can download using a specific URL shared in the show notes. In doing so, you can encourage them to share their contact details with you, generating leads the right way. 

For successful lead generation with podcasting though, aim to take the same approach as blogging: answering the questions your target listeners have. 

You can even ask them to email their questions to you as Michael Stelzner, host of the Social Media Marketing Podcast does. 

Use a template like the one below to share teasers for upcoming episodes.

A podcast episode teaser graphic available to customize in Visme.
Customize this template and make it your own!Edit and Download

3. Try email marketing.

Email marketing showcases an impressive ROI of $44 for every $1 spent

Build your email list organically using social media and collaborations with other newsletter creators. 

Remember that people are always conscious about sharing their email addresses. However, the good news is that only interested ones are open to sharing their contact information. 

Meaning: chances of building an email list of interested leads are high. 

Once people share their email though, it’s essential you make subscribing to your newsletter worth their time. Offer them: 

  • Helpful content such as quick tips 
  • Interviews with industry-leading experts
  • Subscriber-only content resources and discount codes 

Whatever the format you finalize for your emails, make sure you consistently message your list on a set day and time. This helps set your audience’s expectations who start anticipating your emails (provided the content is good). 

Also, note that the key to leads-winning email marketing is a non-salesy approach. 

The form template below is a newsletter sign up form which you can add as a popup to your website, inside blog content or inside a digital document.

Visme pop forms for newsletter

4. Host webinars.

Webinars are a great lead generation tool. The reason? 

Unlike blogging, your audience gets to meet you live (or recorded) and ask questions. This helps double the amount of value you offer, earn more trust, and build better connections. 

What’s more, you can leverage webinars not just to attract leads, but also to slowly introduce your product to the viewers. This way, you can show (not just talk about) your product benefits.

Use a customizable template like this one to create your own webinar slides.

A webinar template available to customize in Visme.
Customize this presentation template and make it your own!Edit and Download

5. Create value-packed lead magnets.

Lead magnets such as white papers, research reports, ebooks, and more are great lead generation tools

And, they come with a ton of benefits. 

Case in point: ebooks. These are easy to create. Simply repurpose written content. For example, expanding on it where needed to make it more in-depth. 

Plus, use a Visme ebook template like the one below for designing it and you’re done. 

An ebook template available to customize in Visme.
Customize this template and make it your own!Edit and Download

The same is true about white papers. However, you’d need a subject matter expert to write the content. As for designing: again pull a template from Visme’s bank and design your lead magnet in no time. 

Similarly, research reports can help you build links — not just leads. Plus, you can use the findings from your report to inform more of your content. 

Don’t forget to create a landing page for your research report so interested leads can easily share their email and get the report in exchange. 

A "State of" report template available to customize in Visme.
Customize this template and make it your own!Edit and Download

6. Take time to network.

Networking with your target audience is the best way to build a reputation and strong relationships. 

With this tactic though, it can be challenging to prove the ROI to relevant stakeholders. Even so, networking opens doors to not just new leads but other opportunities too. 

For example, your target buyers start seeing you as an authority in your field — based on the conversations you have with them. 

Targeted lead generation increases brand awareness and also brings you more referrals. 

Create any type of marketing content with Visme!

  • Choose from dozens of professionally designed templates
  • Add and alter icons, colors, fonts, images and more
  • Customize anything to fit your brand image and content needs

Learn more.

You can use Visme's AI writer to help you with copyy for your lead generation content. It can generate content ideas, proofread and edit your text and even create first drafts for you. All you have to do is explain to the tool what you want it to write and watch the magic happen.

7. Launch well-timed popups.

Often, popups earn a negative reputation as they hinder site visitors’ experience on your page. 

However, well-timed popups with relevant messages can skyrocket your conversion rate — whether that’s converting site visitors into leads or leads into customers. 

For example, instead of having a popup surface as soon as a visitor lands on your page, time it to show after they’ve scrolled to a point. 

At the same time, make your offer hyper-relevant to the visitor. 

For example, if they’re reading a blog post on how to live stream, create a scroll-point popup that offers readers a checklist for setting up their first live stream. 

One last point, it’s important you design clutter-free popups with a clear CTA button and exit option.

Visme Forms

Visme's popup form builder is an excellent tool for creating effective, well-timed popups. It allows you to customize the forms based on user actions and site interaction, significantly boosting conversion rates. The 3D animated characters and interactive elements not only leave a lasting impression on visitors but double your conversion rates.

8. Create a referral program.

Referral programs encourage your customers to send more leads your way provided you give them a good incentive to do so. 

For instance, you can offer customers a discount for referring your service or product to others. 

However, for a referral program to succeed, it’s essential you make it easy for customers to share your business. By giving them unique referral links, you can make referral marketing work in your favor.

An infographic sharing why referral marketing matters.

9. Tap into video marketing.

Although it may seem like creating videos takes a lot of work, the right tools can make everything easy. 

But first, make sure video is your audience’s preferred content format. Then, use Visme’s video templates to create bite-size videos for lead generation. 

Customize this template and make it your own!Edit and Download

You can also record yourself or your screen to create quick explainer videos

Customize this template and make it your own!Edit and Download

Want to start a YouTube channel for leveraging video marketing for lead generation? Repurpose your blog content into videos. This way, you won’t run out of ideas for videos to create.  

10. Try social media for lead generation.

66% of marketers say they’ve generated leads via social media after spending only six hours per week on social media marketing. 

So how can you start attracting leads with social media lead generation? 

First, figure out which channels your audience uses the most. For B2B marketers selling to professionals, for instance, LinkedIn is a great platform for lead generation. 

For those targeting millennials, TikTok is a better option while marketers trying to reach seniors should give Facebook a shot. 

Second, develop an engaged presence on the network(s) you decide to use for attracting customers. 

It’s important you contribute with value and focus on building relationships. At the same time, share helpful content — complete with custom-designed social media graphics for positioning yourself as the expert in your vertical. 

Choose if you’ll concentrate on organic lead generation techniques or paid ads to create content accordingly.

Here are some must-follow tips for designing the graphics: 

Lastly, share discount codes with your social followers. This way, you can get them to buy from you directly via social. 

But, remember, never take a sales-first approach — always provide value first to win leads’ trust. 

11. Create a community.

Community marketing has become an important part of several businesses’ marketing plans lately. 

The reason it helps generate leads? Building a community helps you work with your target audience to help them solve their problem (related to your product space) for free. 

It’s when community members see that you’re an authority in your field and are laser-focused on their success that they start trusting you. The result? Not only will they buy from you (when ready) but also refer others your way. 

Want to double the value you provide to your community? Try this: 

  • Invite industry thought leaders for AMA (ask me anything) sessions 
  • Provide free (and paid) resources such as templates, cheatsheets, and short courses 
  • Host community-wide discussion sessions on topics of your community choice 

Do you love Visme and would like to get first access to new features? Are you a Visme power user and want to share your experience with others? Join the Visme community!

12. Tap into visual marketing.

Finally, design custom visuals such as infographics to generate leads. 

You can also submit infographics to guest sites, therefore, attracting leads from other high-traffic websites. 

Essentially, the idea behind creating branded visuals is spreading brand awareness and driving referrals. 

It works well because branded visuals help you stand out from your competitors and leave a memorable impression on your audience. Take advantage of all the design tools inside your Visme editor; from animated illustrations to your very own AI-generated images.

Use a template like the one below to create your own infographic.

A list infographic template available to customize in Visme.
Customize this infographic template and make it your own!Edit and Download

Are you looking for more lead generation strategies? Our guide on timeless lead generation strategies is just what you need. And if you want to discover specific B2B lead generation strategies read our guide with 13 ways to maximize your lead generation efforts.

 

Lead Generation Best Practices

Lead generation is critical for your business, but most importantly, it’s critical to do it right. Otherwise, why all the effort?

If you're wondering how to generate more leads, here are five lead generation best practices to optimize your lead gen strategies:

Make it Easy For People to Give You Their Email

To grab a lead, you need their contact email first. Don’t make it complicated or annoying for people; make it simple.

Instead of lengthy forms, ask only for an email and name. Instead of three popups, use only one powerful one.

Simply the process of collecting contact information using Visme's lead generation forms. The user-friendly form builder allows you to easily create forms and customize the form fields according to your needs.

Write Powerful Calls to Action

The copy in your calls to action must grab the interest of readers and visitors quickly and effectively. Don’t use vague and superficial words that everybody else uses like “the best.” Write calls to action that speak directly to your ideal customer profile (ICP).

Segment Your Email Contact Lists

Segmenting email lists helps personalize communication with your leads, especially if you have several ICPs. Use different styles of segments like the lead’s industry, location, or interest. You can gain this information with surveys and simple questionnaires.

Retarget Hesitant Leads

Hesitant leads are the ones that seem like they might convert but haven’t yet. They’re also called warm leads and will need more nurturing than other types of leads. You can retarget them by sending segmented emails, calling them on the phone or offering free trials or gifts.

Use Lead Scoring Systems

Knowing if a lead is good or not isn’t simple. You can’t always rely on a hunch to know if a lead is qualified or not. A scoring system can help tag leads according to specific characteristics. Using the score, you can create a list to show you the best leads to contact first.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About Lead Generation

Still unsure about some things related to lead generation? Don’t worry, these FAQs will surely help.

Q. How Do You Know If a Lead Is Good?

To know if a lead is good, or qualified, ensure that it checks off all these characteristics:

  • You can tell they’re a real person. Look for them on LinkedIn or online to find their name and work position.
  • They have decision power. These can be business owners or managers with buying power.
  • They engage with your content regularly. Find them on social media and see if they interact with your posts.
  • Their characteristics match your user personas. You’ll need to have some type of lead scoring system to really know.

Q. What Are the Benefits of Lead Generation?

Lead generation has many positive benefits for all types of businesses. Here are the most impactful:

  • It helps expand your market and grow your following.
  • Lead generation can boost your revenue.
  • It generates more business opportunities.
  • Generating leads reduces cold calling and is more cost-effective.
  • It allows you to find qualified leads for case studies.

Q. What Are Common Lead Generation Challenges?

Like everything in business, there are some challenges to lead generation, but nothing you can’t overcome with good strategies.

These are the most challenging setbacks, each with a tip on how to overcome it:

  • Pinpointing the ideal strategy for your business. Fix this by doing market research and fostering communication between marketing and sales teams.
  • Nurturing leads quickly and effectively. Nurturing the wrong leads or not knowing how to do it properly won’t get results. use lead scoring systems and use sales processes to nurture leads positively.
  • Always having valuable content to offer as an opt-in. If you don’t have time to create new content every time, use repurposing techniques with content you already have. Simply add more value to the version you offer as an opt-in.
  • Not being able to reach the right people. This is another challenge you can overcome with market research and a user persona profile.

Here’s a user persona profile you can use to set yours up.

Ride-Sharing App Customer Persona
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

Q. What Tools Can You Use for Lead Generation?

For optimal lead generation strategies, you need a combination of tools that do different things. Here’s a list of the essentials:

  • A content-authoring tool like Visme creates all the valuable content you’ll use in opt-ins and nurturing sequences. Plus, all you need to create lead generation plans, user personas and process flowcharts.
  • An email provider to create lead nurturing sequences and send out emails to hesitant leads.
  • Landing pages to promote opt-in campaigns for ebooks, downloadable guides and courses.
  • Email popups grab people’s attention and entice them to sign up for a webinar, an event or a special offer.
  • Sales battlecards empower your sales team to talk to leads on the phone and convert to sales.

Here’s a sales battlecard template you can start using immediately with Visme.

TrickyCommerce Sales Battlecard
Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

If you want to explore effective B2B lead generation tools and strategies, read our guide about B2B lead generators. It explores how leveraging the right tools, including Visme for content creation, can significantly enhance your lead generation efforts.

Q. What Is a Qualified Lead?

Qualified leads are the best types of leads. They are the ones that will most likely convert with the right amount of effort from your sales team. For a lead to be considered qualified, they must be real people, have decision making power and be honestly interested in your business.

Q. What Is a Lead Gen Lifecycle?

The lead generation lifecycle starts when a person becomes a lead and ends when they buy from you. The process differs for every lead. Some need a lot of nurturing, while others need none at all.

Q. What are the Best Lead Generation Tools?

There's a wide range of tools to help you streamline your lead generation process. Here are the five most popular options:

  • Visme: A comprehensive design platform for creating visually engaging lead magnets, landing pages, social media graphics and more. It also offers built-in forms for collecting leads.
  • HubSpot: A popular CRM and marketing automation suite with tools for email marketing, landing page creation and lead tracking.
  • OptinMonster: A lead generation toolkit specializing in popups, slide-ins and other attention-grabbing forms to capture leads.
  • LinkedIn Sales Navigator: An invaluable tool for identifying and connecting with qualified leads on LinkedIn.
  • Mailchimp: A popular email marketing platform that includes features for landing page creation, audience segmentation and lead nurturing campaigns.

Q. How Do You Qualify a Lead?

Lead qualification helps you determine if a potential customer fits your product or service well.

Here's a common approach:

  • Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): Define your ideal customer's characteristics, such as company size, industry, job title and pain points. Leads that closely match your ICP are more likely to be qualified.
  • Lead Scoring: Assign points to leads based on their actions like website visits, content downloads and email engagement. Higher scores indicate stronger potential.
  • BANT Framework: This is a classic model to assess leads based on:
    • Budget: Do they have the resources to buy?
    • Authority: Do they have decision-making power?
    • Need: Do they have a problem your solution addresses?
    • Timeline: How soon are they looking to purchase?

Q. What Are the Different Types of Lead Generation?

There are countless lead generation strategies, but some common types include:

  • Content Marketing: Creating valuable content, such as blog posts, videos and ebooks, to attract and engage potential customers.
  • Email Marketing: Building an email list and sending targeted messages to nurture leads.
  • Social Media Marketing: Using social platforms to connect with potential leads and promote lead-generating content.
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing your website and content to rank higher in search engine results.
  • Paid Advertising: Using online advertisements to expand your audience reach and increase website traffic.

Q. What’s the difference Between Lead Generation and Demand Generation?

Lead generation and demand generation are often used interchangeably, but there's a key difference:

Lead generation focuses on capturing the contact information of potential customers interested in your product or service.

On the other hand, demand generation is a broader strategy for creating awareness, interest and desire for your product or service among a wider audience.

In other words, a well-designed demand generation strategy creates the initial interest to fill the top of your demand generation funnel. In contrast, lead generation focuses on converting that interest into identifiable leads for your sales team to pursue.

 

Level Up Your Lead Generation Today

With these 12 lead generation tactics, you can attract, nurture and convert leads the right way. 

Remember to pick a few of these ideas for lead generation and stick with them. Give them time to deliver results instead of assuming that they aren’t working.

As for your leads-attracting designs, learn more about how your marketing team can use Visme and start creating today. 

Masooma Memon
Written by Masooma Memon

Masooma Memon is a pizza-loving freelance writer by day and a novel nerd by night. She crafts research-backed, actionable blog posts for SaaS and marketing brands who aim to employ quality content to educate and engage with their audience.

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