How has lead generation changed
Lead generation has transformed significantly over the last 10 years; marketing techniques such as social and online have been the main drivers behind the change. Historically lead generation was largely driven by the marketer, now the user is in control. This is called the "self-directed buyer".
See below table from Marketo that illustrates the changes:
The times of information scarcity are long gone superseded by information overload. According to google there are five exabytes (or five billion gigabytes) of information being created every 2 days. The issue with information abundance is this leads to attention scarcity, which is known as "attention economics". The more information that is available online means the likelihood that your site content has drawn someone's attention is significantly lessened. Your content is diluted by the vast amount of similar content online and in order to grab someone's interest you will need to fight for it with your competitors. The quote below summarises this quite well:
“The attention economy is not growing, which means we have to grab the attention that someone else has today.”
– Brent Leary, Co-Founder, CRM Essentials
The buying process has been transformed by the shift in information levels ultimately changing lead generation. The days of the subservient buyer are long gone. Consumers no longer watch TV or browser magazines waiting for the right product to jump out at them instead they are comparing online, reading user reviews and doing their research before buying particular products. Users still like to browse and consume however the amount of information consumed before a transaction has significantly increased, meaning your content was quite possibly compared with the content of many of your competitors.
The key learning from the Marketo study about how lead generation has evolved is to make good quality content, with 2.5 billion gigabytes of content being created every day if you don't make this your focus it will only be a matter of time before your competitors do.
