What’s a Lead in Digital Marketing?

In the world of digital marketing—especially in PPC—a lead is anyone who shows interest in your business. This could be someone filling out a form, clicking on “Get a Quote,” calling your dealership, or even messaging you via chat.

But not all leads are created equal, and how you manage each one can make or break your results.

The Lead Funnel Breakdown

1. Marketing: The first step in the funnel—your efforts to grab attention, whether it’s through PPC, SEO, email marketing, social media, etc.

2. Nurturing: Now that you’ve got their attention, how are you bringing them back to stay engaged? Are you using email campaigns, retargeting ads, or offering content they’ll find valuable?

3. High-Quality Leads: These are the leads that are ready to buy. How are you turning them into customers? Timely follow-ups, personalized offers, and easy paths to conversion.

7 Types of Leads You’ll See in PPC:

1. Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)
These leads are interested but not quite ready to buy. They might’ve downloaded a brochure, signed up for a newsletter, or attended a webinar. They need nurturing.

2. Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)
These leads are showing buying intent—maybe they’re asking for quotes or have looked at multiple product pages. They’re your hot leads, ready for conversion.

3. Information Seekers
These people are in the early stages of research. Think of them as “window shoppers”—they’re gathering info but aren’t quite ready to make a decision yet.

4. Price Shoppers
They’re hunting for the best deal. Price shoppers may be short-term wins, but they can still convert if approached right—offering them discounts, limited-time offers, or emphasizing value can work wonders.

5. Referral Leads
These leads come with built-in trust because someone referred them to you. Whether they’re a past customer or an influencer, these leads are often high-value and require extra care.

6. Bot Leads
It’s the spam reality—bots sometimes make it through. Keep your CRM clean and make sure you’re catching these as they won’t convert.

7. “Oops” Leads
The accidental submissions—wrong number, wrong form, or just someone who thought you were someone else. It happens more than you’d think.

How Leads Fit into Your Campaigns:

We can drive the traffic, craft great ad copy, and design killer landing pages, but what happens after the click? That’s on you. Is your sales team following up fast enough? Are your emails getting caught in spam filters? Is your phone number working? (Yes, we’ve seen this happen before!)

If you’re not closing leads or seeing results, the first thing to check is your follow-up game.

Marketing Isn’t a One-Way Street

If your PPC and SEO teams are doing everything right but the lead experience falls flat, you’ve got a leaky funnel. This isn’t just a PPC problem—it’s a holistic marketing issue. When the follow-up is poor or the lead nurturing process is absent, the funnel doesn’t work as it should.

So next time you think, “these leads aren’t great,” ask yourself:

Did we respond within 5 minutes?
Did we personalize our message?
Did we even see the lead?

Final Thoughts

PPC is just the beginning of the conversation. You still have to show up for the date