Over the years, marketing as a concept has developed a lot. Gone are the days when businesses used the conventional marketing techniques of pamphlet distribution, and newspaper advertisements to reach out to their target audience.
With changing times and the evolution of technology and advertising platforms, brands have explored digital channels where they get many opportunities to develop varied marketing strategies for different customer segments.
They can directly reach out to the prospects in real-time and convert them into potential customers in a cost-effective way.
One way to do this is via lead generation. Any person who shows an interest in products/services of a particular brand or business is a lead, and attracting those leads is lead management.
Lead Generation: A Brief
Businesses like retailers, restaurants, or service providers who communicate with customers directly and rely on custom revenue for growth and survival must focus on lead generation. While lead generation will help you get leads and convert them into customers, it will surely boost your sales and grow your customer base.
We have many lead generation tools to carry out this activity and enable the marketers to deliver quality results. Henceforth, it’s advisable to use any lead generation tool that satisfies the particular requirements of the brands and helps them grow.
While searching for an ideal tool you ensure that your tool has the following features to provide your hassle-free services CRM integration, huge database storage capacity, user-friendly interface, Lead qualification, analytical tools, lead scoring, Compatibility to be used on all devices, responsive customer support, etc.
Different tools have different usages, features, and pricing. You need to pick the one which caters to all your needs. Analyze the software on the grounds of your requirements, the functionality, and the pricing, of course. If the free version of the plan is sufficient for your needs, then well and good, but if your requirements are more, then you can upgrade the plan.
What Is Lead Generation & How Does It Work?
Lead generation is a process that’s far more pleasant than the intrusive nature of cold calling. It involves engaging people who have shown interest in a company’s product or service through their actions, like filling out a form or signing up for a trial. For example, if you take an online survey about car care, the car company might email you helpful information. It’s a more respectful and personalized way to approach potential customers.
Leads come in different types and qualifications.
Some are interested but not ready to make a purchase (Marketing Qualified Leads – MQLs), while others are ready to buy (Sales Qualified Leads – SQLs). Some leads have shown interest in using a product (Product Qualified Leads – PQLs), while others express an intention to upgrade (Service Qualified Leads).
Lead generation uses strategies like blog posts, coupons, events, and online content to warm up potential customers to a brand. It’s all about making the transition from strangers to customers as smooth as possible.
Here’s how it works: A person discovers a business through channels like a website or social media. They’re encouraged to take action through something like a button or message that leads them to a page with valuable information in exchange for their details. Once they share their information by filling out a form, they become a lead. The key is making sure what’s offered matches what the visitor needs.
To generate leads, you can use different channels like content, email, ads, blog posts, social media, product trials, referrals, events, partnerships, and community building. But it all starts with a well-designed page where visitors become leads.
Inbound lead generation fits nicely with the idea of naturally moving interested people into happy customers. So, instead of being the annoying cold caller, think about the power of attracting and nurturing leads through inbound lead generation.
Best Free Lead Generation Software
Now that we have understand what exactly is lead generation and the way that lead generation works, let us have a look at the Best free lead generation software for use:-
1. BITRIX24
Bitrix24 is a leading CRM software that offers a vast assortment of features & customizable options that businesses can use as per their needs. If you are running a business and are in search of CRM software and social networking tools, then Bitrix24 is where your search ends.
It’s a must-have tool that any small-medium size enterprise would require to manage & communicate within their company and with the audience.
Some things you can do with Bitrix24 are creating leads, generating invoices, closing deals, recording info, assigning tasks, sharing information within teams, etc. The best part is you can use at least 90% of their tools for free.
There are n number of ways to promote a brand via Bitrix24. Email marketing, text messaging, calling, social ads, re-targeting, etc. are to name a few.
You get to generate & capture the leads through landing pages & sales forms with the help of a lead management tool.
Ratings – 4/5
Pricing – Free plan, Paid plan starts at $29.40/month
2. HELLOBAR
One of the most popular lead-generation tools is HelloBar. Anytime you visit any website, you might have come across pop-ups, static bars, or full-page takeovers. HelloBar is used to display these Calls to Action on your website.
It’s a tool used to display attractive information to the visitors of your site and convert them into customers. It’s a highly versatile tool as you can use it with many sites, whether it’s WordPress, HTML, or any other CMS.
One of the most convenient tools that can be customized as per your needs & requirements is to collect a vast database and direct users to your conversion funnel.
One can not only increase the conversion rate but can also enhance the user experience in terms of their website’s performance. HelloBar can also conduct surveys, get subscribers, promote ebooks or social media pages, etc.
Ratings – 4/5
Pricing – Free plan, Paid plan starts at $29.00/month
3. ARITIC PINPOINT
Arictic Pinpoint is a marketing automation software that helps large corporates and enterprises to build the brand, lead generation, develop personalized relationships with leads, automate marketing campaigns, keep track of visitors convert them into leads, retarget ads, etc.
Both B2B & B2C companies can use multiple marketing channels like mobile, web, email, etc. to leverage digital mediums for growth. You can even segment the database based on demographics, website behavior, patterns, etc. to associate relevant trigger points to them.
Users of Arctic Pinpoint with its help can engage with potential buyers, map their behaviors & accordingly create actions to keep track of the same.
Ratings – 4.5/5
Pricing – Free plan, Paid plan starts at $19.00/month
4. FLOWLU
Flowlu is a multitasker software tool that is a must-have for any business. Flowlu allows businesses to get a clear overview of existing happenings in the company.
It carries many tools in its basket, ranging from task management, project management, agile project management, and invoicing to collaboration tools, and many more.
Flowlu has a cloud-based CRM to manage leads/contacts and keep track of new sales opportunities. It even ensures smooth communications among the tea members of the company by eliminating the time lag and providing various tools for the same. Generating invoices or payment follow-ups with clients is just a click away.
You can carry both activities from within the projects and can manage those projects anytime, anywhere, and on any device via iOS or Android apps.
Ratings – 4.8/5
Pricing – Free plan, Paid plan starts at $29.00/month
5. ENGAGE BAY
Engage BayA one-stop solution that caters to too many business requirements, few, are lead generation, email marketing, marketing automation, CRM, and social media management.
With Engage Bay, you can create custom web forms and landing pages to convert web visitors to leads. By tracing their communications, you can get a complete view of every website visitor and gain meaningful insights into their activities.
You can email marketing campaigns and customize them to meet the company’s branding aim.
Analyzing the sales figures and generating reports is yet another feature of Engage Bay with which you get to know the performance of marketing content and how it can be improved to foster better results.
Ratings – 4.6/5
Pricing – Free plan, Paid plan starts at $8.99/month
6. SUMO
Sumo is yet another easy-to-use and value-for-money tool for generating leads. It’s useful for small & medium-scale enterprises and e-commerce businesses where they can convert website visitors to potential buyers.
Users can use various tools like list builders, heat maps, etc. to grow traffic and maximize content engagement on their respective websites. It has an extremely user-friendly interface to generate leads, grow email lists, and perform marketing automation.
Sumo helps businesses to grow their email lists, develop marketing strategies, increase conversions, and generate more sales. It enhances the look and functionality of the site on which it’s installed and provides various functions that improve the user experience.
Ratings – 4.1/5
Pricing – Free plan, Paid plan starts at $39.00/month
7. HUBSPOT MARKETING HUB
HubSpot is a huge platform with varied tools to help businesses generate more leads.
Forms, landing pages, email marketing, SEO tools, social media marketing, etc. are some of the marketing tools that will not only save you valuable time but will also get all the content you need to provide an ultimate user experience to the website visitors and henceforth converts them into customers.
There are even analytical tools to keep a close eye on the lead generation activity and continuously measure and improve the efforts. Since the CRM platform is closely integrated, the marketing hub enables the marketers to keep the entire database in one place and track the sales to prove the ROI and validate investments.
Ratings – 4.5/5
Pricing – Free plan, Paid plan starts at $50.00/month
8. HUNTER
A cloud-based email marketing solution that helps businesses find professional email addresses, either from domains, companies, or the web.
All sizes of businesses who need to send a cold email, insert images in the mail, search results, etc should use Hunter.
They have a highly responsive after-sale support system. Hunter automatically grabs the email with the same domains across the web in no time and hence has turned out to be an affordable, easy-to-use, time-saving tool for all.
Ratings – 4.6/5
Pricing – Free plan, Paid plan starts at $49.00/month
9. LEAD FUZE
For carrying out various marketing activities or reaching out to customers digitally, the basic thing required is valid and professional contact information. That’s what Lead Fuze does for them.
It carries out searches in the entire market segment amongst specific individuals, and accounts and aggregates the world’s professional data to deliver fresh leads to companies. Marketers, B2B businesses and
Recruiters use Lead Fuze to build an ideal list of leads.
Ratings – 4.7/5
Pricing – Paid plan starts at $132.30/month
10. REVAMP CRM
If any business is in search of ideal CRM software that meets the basic objectives of sales, marketing, and e-commerce, then Revamp CRM is the perfect solution for their search.
It’s built to manage your contact list, track activities like deals & orders, segmenting and emailing your contact list, etc.
You can connect the Revamp CRM with your favorite apps and integrations to ensure the smooth functioning of the activities within your business. You can segment the contact list to perform bulk actions like running an email campaign or workflow.
Sales reports, task tracking, and automatic follow-up are some of the many additional features that can be explored with Revamp CRM software.
Ratings – 4/5
Pricing – Free plan, Paid plan starts at $19.00/ month
Conclusion
All the tools have their features and applications that can be used as the needs of respective businesses.
To add to these tools, you can also make use of another software that enables businesses to manage their financial operationsProfitBooks.
ProfitBooks saves a lot of time by automating the accounting work, Keeping your financial statements organized and updated, tracking daily expenses, looking after inventory management, generating financial reports, etc. Easy-to-use software that covers all accounting processes to make your life hassle-free.
For more information, log on to www.profitbooks.net