Difference Between Traffic Generation And Lead Generation : 6 Major Ones You Should Know

Traffic generation and lead generation are marketing terms you’ll hear often, especially if you do any kind of online business. 

They are both important aspects of any business or marketing strategy, but many people make the mistake of assuming that they’re the same thing or that traffic generation leads to lead generation, but that simply isn’t true. 

They are two different methods that you can use to grow your business online

But what are the differences between these two marketing strategies? And what’s the best way to reach your target audience?

If you’re confused about what the difference between traffic generation and lead generation is, don’t worry; this guide will help clear up the confusion.

Traffic generation and lead generation are two marketing terms that you’ll hear often, and they seem to be used interchangeably by many in the field. 

However, they each refer to different steps in the sales process, and they require different strategies in order to be successful.

This article will take a look at the  difference between traffic generation and lead generation, but before then, let’s understand what each of these terms mean

What Is Lead Generation

The process of identifying and capturing potential clients who are interested in your product or service is known as lead generation.

You must first understand who your potential clients are and what they are seeking before you can generate leads.

After you’ve located these people, you’ll need to find out how to contact them and persuade them to buy from you. Social media posts, ads, email marketing campaigns, and phone calls could all be used to do this.

Lead generation is not about getting people to buy something on the spot, but rather about finding someone who will eventually buy something from you in the future.

So basically the three stages are identifying an audience, developing a marketing strategy, and generating leads. 

What is Traffic Generation

Traffic generation is the process of driving visitors to a website or blog. This is done by using different marketing strategies and tactics.

There are many ways to generate traffic. The most common methods are organic search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, social media marketing, and email marketing

Traffic generation is short-term, where your immediate goal is to attract as many people as possible and convert them into leads, or at least warm contacts who can be converted later on. 

While your traffic might come from an organic source like a news story or Google search listing, more often it’s through paid media like social media ads, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platforms, or non-paid avenues such as speaking engagements and networking events. 

6 Differences Between Traffic Generation And Lead Generation

Here’s what you need to know about the difference between traffic generation and lead generation so you can choose the right one to benefit your business model.

1) Goals And Outcome

These two concepts’ intents and outcomes are also important distinctions.

The goal of traffic generation is to get a huge number of people to visit your website or follow you on social media with little effort on their side.

More specifically, traffic generation attempts to attract a large number of visitors who will only stay for a short period of time—that is, visitors who will come once or twice but not for long.

Consider a news site that publishes dozens of articles each day or a blog with a large amount of content; the goal is to give content that entices visitors to click through and linger for a few minutes before moving on.

Lead generation, on the other hand, identifies people who are serious about your products or services so that you might convert them into consumers later.

Basically, lead generation wants you to form an online relationship with them that will last longer than those first few minutes.

Its goal is to generate leads, or potential consumers who can be contacted again in the future via phone, email, or direct mail.

Consider leads to be hot prospects versus cold prospects in marketing terms (people who quickly come and go).

2) Traffic Means Clicks; Leads Mean Revenue 

There is a big difference between generating traffic on your website–which means driving visitors there by any means necessary–and generating leads by giving prospects relevant content, establishing trust through strong relationships with them, and making sure they get something out of interacting with you. 

If all you care about is the number of visitors (traffic), you might as well throw a bunch of money at Google AdWords advertising campaigns–because that’s what those platforms do well! 

But traffic won’t turn into revenue unless those clicks turn into leads; otherwise known as conversion rates. 

So when setting up any digital marketing strategy, think about which channels will actually drive valuable interactions with qualified prospects. 

Then compare that to how much it’ll cost you to get their attention in terms of money spent or time required to complete tasks. 

Once you’ve analyzed it like that, hire someone to manage your online presence if it’s going to cost too much for your company to devote time or resources for yourself or team members who have other work obligations.

3) Traffic Generation Relies On Keywords ; Lead Generation Doesn’t 

Another major difference between traffic generation and lead generation is that you use SEO strategies for traffic generation, because optimizing for keywords is the best practice when creating landing pages and writing copy for social media ads. 

You can also consider paid search strategies, like PPC ads through Google Ads and Facebook Ads, though most companies are limited by budget constraints in terms of how far they can take these kinds of campaigns while remaining profitable. 

For example, if you’re selling luxury bags and purses, don’t waste money trying to rank for how to save money, super saver shopping tips, or discounts. 

That kind of low-value keyword traffic isn’t worth pursuing because even if you get thousands of visits from those phrases every month, it likely won’t convert many people into paying customers. Instead you should focus on lead generation campaign in this regard

4) Inbound Traffic Is Usually Good; Cold Calling Generates More Leads –

Sure, getting 5-10 organic searches per day for your business’ name has some level of value; but so does receiving 10+ new leads every week from warm calls made by sales reps every single day. 

The problem with relying exclusively on inbound traffic sources is that they require a lot of legwork upfront before you can begin seeing results. 

Sometimes your efforts never pay off because you picked an industry without enough competition or created engaging content without knowing whether it’ll resonate with readers. 

It often takes months before websites start ranking organically in top positions for high-intent phrases, whereas cold call initiatives immediately produce results–even after just one phone call! 

The only way to know if either strategy will be profitable for your organization involves testing each one side by side using different audiences under similar conditions; otherwise guessing based solely on assumptions could be a costly mistake down the road.

5) Traffic Generation  Focuses On Quality, Not Quantity; Lead Generation Is About Both –

They say money is in the traffic but of course, traffic without quality won’t make you any dime. In other words, traffic relies mostly on quality while leads rely on both quality and quantity. This is a major difference between traffic generation and lead generation

When it comes to blogging and promoting content on your website for example, you should worry more about the quality of your traffic much more than the quantity.

But if want to care about your campaign paying of more, generate leads Instead.

How?

Focus on creating content that your audience wants to read because that leads to leads over time. 

Focus on publishing in-depth pieces that answer questions people are searching for. 

Look for trends and figure out how you can use data or customer insight from other industries to apply to yours. 

Help people solve problems they didn’t realize they had. 

Make your content stand out in terms of how it’s written and presented. 

All of those things will get you more traffic–the kind that converts into leads over time because visitors are familiar with you and your expertise. 

These strategies require a longer-term outlook, however, because lead generation requires two parties to exchange info before anything is done.

Traffic generation can happen without anyone noticing if it’s done well enough

6) Lead generation Starts With a Relationship, While Traffic Generation Starts With Marketing.

With lead generation, you build trust and credibility, while traffic generation builds buzz. There is no form of relationship. This is because Lead generation is more targeted, while traffic generation is less targeted. 

Lead generation can be tracked directly to conversions and revenue, while traffic often cannot be tracked to conversions or revenue. 

Lead generation requires dedicated time and effort, while you can generate traffic passively in your spare time without much effort on your part. 

Why should you invest more time in lead generation instead of traffic? Because it’s more effective! 

The average conversion rate for leads–including email subscribers and newsletter signups–is between five percent and ten percent of total contacts or leads generated

Conclusion

When it comes to marketing, there are a lot of terms thrown around that can get confusing—especially in digital marketing. 

For example, you hear terms like traffic generation and lead generation used interchangeably when, in fact, these two concepts are very different. 

To understand their differences and how they apply to online marketing strategy—and whether you should even care about them in your own plan—it helps to learn more about what traffic generation is and how it differs from lead generation. 

It’s also helpful to look at traffic generation and lead generation strategies so you can see how they play out differently on social media or other platforms.

This is why we put up together this piece sharing the difference between traffic generation and lead generation.

We hope you enjoyed all of it and found value. Keep winning!