Master Omnichannel Strategies to Win in Lead Generation

by Raakhi Agrawal and Rebeccah Barger

Between prohibitive privacy regulations, increasingly crowded marketplaces, and massive shifts in consumer media preferences, modern marketers probably feel more like Sisyphus than Superman. Elaborately crafted marketing plans aren’t future proof. Unfortunately, it’s likely your lead generation strategy isn’t either.

Demographic changes have created headwinds for fashioning a winning lead generation strategy. New generations are showing up more strongly within the consumer landscape – and they have different media preferences and brand expectations than those who came before.

Millennials are now the largest living adult generation, with their purchasing power expected to outpace Baby Boomers and Generation X in the next decade. Meanwhile, Generation Z has a rapidly growing estimated purchasing power of $150 billion.

Both Millennial and Gen. Z users largely expect digital-first online experiences. Both groups also tend to trust user-generated and influencer content more than brand content – yet another departure from prior cohorts.

As your business looks to the next horizon, it’s important to consider: how do you make a successful lead generation machine that leverages a multichannel strategy?

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Identify the Right Channels for Your Target Audience

Targeting is crucial – and digital channels can give you a leg up on finding the right audiences. Digital advertising makes it easier to reach highly segmented audiences at a lower cost than traditional channels.

Your company can likely leverage its 1st party data to lay the foundation for a successful lead generation strategy by giving you a head start on targeting hypotheses.

However, there are trade-offs between reach and quality to consider. Campaigns that give you higher reach, drive more brand awareness, and are lower cost, can drive a larger number of low-quality leads than tightly targeted, highly segmented campaigns.

The broader you go with your digital channels, the more legwork you may create for your marketing and sales teams. There are ways to transform low quality leads into high quality leads, but we’ll spill those secrets later (hint: see the lead nurturing section below).

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Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater: Traditional Channels

Your business should also choose channels based on audience preferences. Your marketing will be even more effective if you target the right audience in the right place and at the right time.

In many cases, traditional methods such as direct mail, OOH, or radio advertising, may be prime drivers for lead generation. While Gen-Z customers expect digital-first experiences, this approach can lead to diminished returns with older audiences. Older customer segments may be more likely, for instance, to answer a call from a customer service representative or follow up on a direct mailer.

Traditional channels can also create a halo effect and compound returns on your digital marketing. For example, television ads may make your audience more likely to click on a display banner while browsing their favorite news article. These impacts may be difficult to map, but there are several tried-and-true models that can create a holistic view of your marketing – and empower you to place your dollars where you’ll get the most bang for your buck.

You can also make your dollar go further by developing your lead nurturing capabilities to help your leads move further down the customer funnel.

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Infuse Digital into Your Lead Nurturing

Digital channels are a great addition to your lead nurturing strategy because they offer your customer more brand touch points. The more they hear from you, the more you stay top of mind.

In industries with longer customer decision cycles, such as financial services, you can warm leads over several weeks or months through SMS updates, email follow-ups, and retargeted display ads. These high reach, lower cost marketing pulses can support sales tactics, such as telephone follow-ups, to better convert leads you’ve already spent money to acquire.

Experimenting with the combination of additional touchpoints, timing of those touchpoints, and alignment of these touchpoints to your sales strategies, can further unlock spend efficiencies.

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How to Scale Your Successes

Experimentation is key to finding your winning lead generation strategy. As you drive closer to identifying your target audiences and optimal channel mix, you can fill in short-term gaps in your marketing with lead aggregators.

Aggregators have likely “cracked the code” on lead generation in your industry, but often charge you a premium for their success. These partners can provide quality traffic direct to your CRM or call center but be wary of making them a large portion of your mix over the long-run. You risk paying premiums for leads you could obtain cheaper with in-house capabilities, and, the larger percent of mix they represent, the less negotiating power you have over lead prices.

Long term approaches, meanwhile, should center on scaling what’s already working. Test increased spend on proven channels, develop a robust SEO and content strategy for driving organic traffic, and layer in strategic brand activations that improve campaign effectiveness.

Your company’s lead generation strategy won’t remain static over time, but as your company embarks on its lead generation journey, remember to focus on thoughtful targeting, integrating digital channels where it makes sense, nurturing your leads to conversion, and scaling what works.

BCG’s Digital Growth practice specializes in developing success lead generation capabilities; learn how to get started.

Raakhi Agrawal is a Managing Director and Partner, and Rebeccah Barger is a Lead Growth Analyst, at BCG X.

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