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8 Proven Lead Generating Ideas to Try in 2025

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Ready to turbocharge your lead generation efforts and set the digital world on fire?

Email marketing is still an essential part of running a business. It’s one of the only marketing channels that you can retain complete control over, which makes it a great way for your marketing and sales teams to reach your target market.

However, in order to implement any effective email marketing strategy, you need to have access to an email list of potential customers. And to entice your website visitors to join your list, you’ll need to have a great lead generation strategy and access to a powerful lead generation tool.

In this article, we’ll explore some of the top lead generation tactics that can help you gather more leads fast.

Buckle up and get ready for some proven ideas! 

What is lead generation?

But first, let’s define lead generation!

Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers into prospective customers—individuals who have indicated interest in your offerings—by enticing them with valuable content, offers, or incentives.

A lead generation campaign is designed to convince potential customers to sign up for an SMS or email marketing list. When your site visitors agree to receive digital marketing messages from your brand, you can initiate a personal, meaningful conversation with them.

Lead generation forms (where people enter their contact details) are the most common way of generating leads.

Why is it important to have a lead generation strategy?

Why is it crucial to have a rock-solid lead generation strategy in your arsenal? Let’s break it down into four key benefits that can supercharge your business:

1. Insight into your audience

Think of lead generation as a two-way street. Sure, you’re generating high-quality leads, but you’re also gaining priceless insights into your target audience.

By asking the right questions during the lead generation process, such as their product preferences or shopping motivations, you’re essentially peering into the minds of your potential customers.

Armed with this knowledge, you can tailor your marketing efforts with surgical precision, delivering exactly what your audience wants, when they want it.

2. Visibility and credibility

A well-executed lead generation strategy not only attracts prospects but also positions your brand as a beacon of credibility and expertise.

Whether you’re targeting B2B clients or consumers, establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry can set you apart from the competition and pave the way for long-term success.

3. Nurturing high-quality prospects

Not every lead is created equal. Some may be ready to whip out their credit cards and make a purchase on the spot, while others require a gentle nudge down the sales funnel. That’s where lead generation strategies shine brightest.

By nurturing leads who are teetering on the edge of conversion, you’re guiding them along their buyer’s journey, providing the information and reassurance they need to take the plunge. It’s like playing the long game—building relationships, earning trust, and ultimately turning curious browsers into loyal customers.

4. Revenue growth

Ah, the golden ticket. At the end of the day, all roads lead to one destination: revenue growth.

And guess what? A well-oiled lead generation machine is your ticket to ride. The more leads you generate, the more opportunities you have to convert them into paying customers.

What's the best way to generate leads?

Lead generation can include a wide range of online marketing strategies including:

  • Writing relevant blog posts for search engines
  • Focusing on social media platforms
  • Hosting online and local events
  • Running Facebook lead ads
  • Focusing on LinkedIn lead generation

No matter what lead generation strategy you choose to focus on, you should make sure to use the power of personalization. 

60% of marketers say personalization is key for both capturing leads and improving lead quality.

When you target customers with individually relevant content, they’ll be much more likely to fill out a lead gen form. 

If you want to generate high-quality leads, your content and messaging should always be tailored to users’ interests and behavior.

8 proven lead generation ideas

Now let’s take a look at eight high-converting lead generation ideas that you can get up and running on your website in a matter of minutes.

1. Turn blog visitors into leads with content upgrades

If you have a blog that brings you a steady flow of traffic, you can easily attract high-quality leads from it by offering content upgrades.

Content upgrades are one of the best lead magnets you can use, especially when they’re related to your blog post.

Since you know that your visitor is interested in the topic, a deeper dive in the form of an instructional manual or worksheet is a great incentive to become a subscriber.

This is also one of the best B2B lead generation ideas because it helps build a sense of authority around your brand and creates online communities. 

Here’s what an embedded lead capture campaign in blog content could look like:

Generate leads with content upgrades

There are two lead generation methods for promoting lead magnets in your content marketing posts: you can either embed an opt-in form in your blog posts…

…or show it on a popup.

2. Create a quiz and help shoppers find the right products

People love taking quizzes. You can use that to your advantage by offering potential leads the chance to complete a quiz and learn something about themselves. These campaigns have great lead generation potential because they’re enjoyable for your visitors.

On your end, an online quiz can help you get to know your new leads better. Based on the answers someone provides, you can help them find the right products for their unique pain points.

Warby Parker built their online business on an innovative quiz that asks visitors about important factors related to glasses and then recommends frames that are suitable for each individual.  

Generate leads with quizzes

You can also use a popup to build a short quiz and promote relevant products at the end: 

3. Host online or offline events

Events (both online and offline) are a great way to engage your target audience and collect quality leads. 

Events like webinars allow your sales team to reach out to target customers and build online communities. It’s a tried and true marketing tactic for a reason!

However, there are also lots of fun offline lead generation ideas that can bring new customers into your business. For example, you can gather leads by asking for signups in person or organize a lecture as a lead nurturing event.

4. Promote ebooks

Ebooks are another great lead generation idea. You can offer your website visitors the chance to download a great informational resource in exchange for signing up for your email newsletter.

It’s best if your ebooks contain in-depth information about a topic that your target audience is interested in. 

For example, if you’re running a health or supplement-focused ecommerce store, you could offer an ebook that gives tips for a healthy lifestyle.

Here are some OptiMonk templates that you can use as the basis for your own lead generation campaigns.

5. Run teaser campaigns before seasonal campaigns

Seasonal campaigns aren’t just a chance to boost your sales, they’re also a great opportunity to generate leads. You can promote your upcoming seasonal sale as a part of a lead generation campaign.

Early or even exclusive access to a seasonal sale can function as a high-performing lead magnet that nets you lots of qualified leads. 

It’s a good idea to promote these lead-gen campaigns on your homepage and landing pages so that they get plenty of visibility.

6. Offer free samples/free trials

If you have an ecommerce store, you can introduce visitors to new products and grow your email list by offering free samples when new customers sign up for your email list. 

This is a great way to generate organic leads because your visitors will always be excited to try something new for free.

And if your new leads really love the free samples you send them, they might come back to repurchase! This strategy is a great example of when lead generation activities represent a win-win for both consumers and businesses.

Generate more leads with free samples

There’s also a version of this type of campaign that works as a great B2B lead generation tactic: the SaaS free trial period. 

Free trials introduce potential customers to a software product and allow them to see just how much value they can get out of it. Once target customers see that a software product fits their needs, they’ll likely become paying customers.

7. Run a giveaway

Giveaways bring a real sense of excitement to your business while helping you generate leads. 

In the past few years, this technique has exploded. There are tons of brands running giveaways as partnerships with social media influencers for one simple reason: they work. This lead generation idea is a great fit for ecommerce companies that want to turn user generated content into qualified leads.

You can also run a lead generation popup campaign on your homepage and landing pages to capture even more leads.

8. Create an interactive, free tool

As a B2B business, you can also create a range of free tools that have some of the functionality of your core software, but not all. This will net you a lot of qualified leads as people use the basic functionality of your free tool.

However, many of these leads will want to take advantage of the more advanced capabilities that require a subscription to use. 

Lots of top SaaS brands (including Shopify, Ahrefs, and Hubspot) use this strategy to convert leads into paying customers.

Wrapping up

Hopefully you’ve picked up a trick or two from our list of eight great lead generation ideas. Bringing in qualified leads consistently can help replenish your customer base and ensure that you keep growing. It’s an essential part of the digital marketing and sales process.

If you’d like to implement any of the lead generation ideas we’ve gone over, you can get them up and running in minutes with OptiMonk.

And since OptiMonk is free to use, there’s no reason not to start creating winning lead generation campaigns today!

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Written by
Picture of Nikolett Lorincz

Nikolett Lorincz

Nikolett is the Head of Content at OptiMonk. She is obsessed with content marketing and loves creating educational content for ecommerce store owners. She truly believes in the importance of quality over quantity.
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