The generation of qualified leads plays an important role for every company. You should therefore align your company's marketing accordingly. The customer journey can provide enormous support for all lead generation marketing measures. By making clever use of all touchpoints, you can have a lasting impact not only on the number of leads, but also on their quality. 
The customer journey - a definition
The term customer journey is widely used, especially in online marketing. It describes the entire path of a customer from initial interest to the purchase of a product and beyond.
The customer journey is described using various touchpoints, i.e. contact points. Each touchpoint offers the company the opportunity to convince the customer of itself, of its own offers or of certain products.
You must always adapt the measures to the customer and their position on the journey.
Why lead generation along the customer journey makes sense
You need to convince customers of a product, a company and also a service.
The customer journey is the perfect image for lead generation, as it focuses on the interests and the state of the customer. When a customer comes into contact with a company or a product for the first time, they should be addressed differently than if they are an existing customer or the customer already has a lot of information.
The better a company can guide its potential customers along this journey and the more positively it encourages them, the greater the effect on the customer can be and the higher the likelihood of a purchase or conclusion.
Customers are particularly likely to label advertising as inappropriate or unwanted if the type of advertising does not match the customer's current needs. Effective lead generation along the customer journey therefore ensures that customers are always addressed in a way that is appropriate to the situation at hand.
Define the desired leads in advance
You need to define leads clearly in advance. Lead generation can vary depending on the type of lead.
The marketing must always be adapted, optimized and tested according to the type of leads. It is therefore particularly helpful if you clearly define what the company's goals are and what goals you want to achieve before planning the first campaigns.
This is the only way to make the journey along the customer journey profitable and target-oriented for the company. This is because potential customers need to be approached and interested in a different way than potential business partners, for example.
Cover all customer contact points
If you want to move along the customer journey, you should make sure that you cover all customer touchpoints equally. This is difficult for many companies if there is no uniform concept. This is because customers not only get in touch with a company via the website or by email, but can also visit many companies in person or make enquiries by telephone.
It is utopian to think that the customer will be addressed in the same way across all channels and provided with the best possible service. But as a company, you should at least actively strive to get close enough to the optimum. Because only by appropriately addressing the respective contact points can a potential customer be convinced and converted into a qualified lead.
In addition, customers have different interests at the various points of contact. Anyone making contact for the first time and wanting to find out more about a company or product is primarily looking for valid and well-prepared information. Active advertising is often perceived as annoying at this stage.
The customer must therefore be guided step by step to sales readiness.
Pay attention to the individual interests at each touchpoint
However, this also means that you not only have to investigate the touchpoints, but also equip them appropriately and build them up. This is certainly a challenge for companies, but this diversification pays off significantly in the long term, as far fewer customers are put off the first time they make contact and already interested customers can be won over much more easily and effectively.
In addition, it increases the customer's trust in the company if the desired information and help is offered in an easily accessible way. And a trust bonus can often decide whether the customer accepts an offer or prefers the competition.
Profit from clearly defined customer personas
Of course, it is not possible for companies to respond specifically to each individual customer. This is where customer personas play an important role, allowing you to define target groups. The better you build up these personas and the more precisely you define the target group, the better and more effectively you can address customers.
Systems for marketing automation can also collect a lot of data, for example via tracking, and integrate it into the process. This enables, for example, a personalized approach and a targeted email marketing campaign, which can significantly improve and reinforce sales success.
There are many ways to generate leads along the customer journey. Companies just have to learn to use them.
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