• Understand ‘Marketing qualified leads’
• Journey of a MQL
• 1. Identifying a MQL
• 2. Content marketing to generate MQLs
• 3. Scoring
• 4. Nurturing a MQL
• Conclusion

Understand ‘Marketing qualified leads’

In this article we focus on the lead generation funnel with a focus on Marketing qualified leads (MQL)

Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) represent contacts who've engaged with your marketing team's efforts but aren't ready to receive a sales call. MQLs have been scored and deemed worthy of direct attention based on their interaction with the company’s marketing efforts. By marketing efforts, we refer to the content marketing and lead scoring aspects that are discussed in detail in separate articles. These leads include those that provide contact information or show interest in the company’s product. An example of MQL is a contact who fills out a landing page form for an offer.

Journey of a MQL

1. Identifying a MQL

The first step in identifying an MQL is tracking a prospect’s digital footprint. This includes monitoring the pages they visit on your website, the content they download, and their interaction with your brand on social media. These actions indicate interest in your product or service. For instance, a prospect who has visited your pricing page multiple times and downloaded a product brochure is more likely to be an MQL than someone who has only visited your homepage.

2. Content marketing to generate MQLs

There are several ways to lure prospects to your website and create opportunities to transform prospects into leads. In our experience, content marketing through the right channels is the best source of MQLs. You can choose several mediums but a combination of LinkedIn and email marketing has yielded us the best results. This is also proven via studies that show that over 90% of B2B businesses use LinkedIn$^1$. Our experience also suggests that emails are the best way to reach prospects. A detailed discussion on content marketing can be found here.

3. Scoring

Once a prospect’s actions have been tracked, they are then scored based on their level of engagement. This is known as lead scoring. You can assign different point values to different actions. For example, visiting a pricing page might be worth more points than downloading a whitepaper. The higher the score, the more qualified the lead. Once a lead reaches a certain score, it becomes an MQL. Lead scoring is a topic of importance and involves several nuances. We share our learning and experience in this post dedicated to lead scoring.

4. Nurturing a MQL

After a lead has been identified as an MQL, they are then nurtured through the sales funnel with targeted marketing efforts. This could include personalised emails or social media engagement. The goal is to provide the MQL with the information and resources they need to eventually get in touch with us.

You need to watch out for what you put out on your website as this reflects on the quality and volume of leads that are generated. Firstly, establish clear goals for the website, defining what actions you want visitors to take. This could involve setting up compelling landing pages with strong calls-to-action (CTAs). Building a landing page is crucial, incorporating essential elements like a compelling headline, benefits outline, product images, and a strong CTA button. Additionally, optimising the lead generation process involves strategically placing forms on high-traffic pages. Personalising CTAs to address your target audience is critical to improving click-through rates and engagement. Finally, nurturing leads by delivering valuable content and understanding their interests is essential for converting leads into customers.

Conclusion

To generate good quality MQLs, you need to have a clear definition of what an MQL is for your business based on your customer behaviour, value proposition, and differentiation. You also need to have effective strategies to attract, capture, qualify, nurture, and convert leads into MQLs. This involves effective content marketing, a consistent lead scoring process, an effective nurturing campaign and lastly a website that attracts and converts prospects to leads.