A recent survey was completed by UK Clash-Media, who wrote a report of the things we hope will happen, they found that 88% of companies think this is going to be more important for online lead generation, basically due to reduced advertising and marketing budgets.
Here are some of my ideas on how YOU can generate more leads online:
– Use of press advertising in online newspapers and magazines. Take, for example, Power Women offers advertising in its women’s magazine, cheap weekly ads.
– Most newspapers have switched to subscription-based, but still charge for their advertising.
– SEO optimization: keywords and use of a word tracker or other service provider like this
– Email marketing, even when some experts think it is declining I don’t think it is, one can subscribe to their RSS feeds or their content rich ezine. It is a great way to create your lists.
– PCC – paid search – does it still exist? It is, I actually made ads on Facebook. I think it would be better to make a different ad than I did; in any case, you will advertise your product or service.
– Affiliate Marketing: I think that if done right, it’s worth it. What is done well? You can see how Kristin and David Morelli did it to build their business and then there are other up and down selling options (my upvote is over here). However, many people make money with this format. I guess for me, as long as it’s not too commercial.
– Twitter, Facebook and other social media marketing tools
– Content-rich blogs and articles
– Hiring specialists who can help you design a plan or strategy to reach your clients globally.
– Viral marketing
What are the best methods used?
– SEO or organic searches
– Junk mail
– Paid search (this surprises me)
– Social Media Marketing Tools
Whichever method you decide to use, you will find that a number of ways will give you the best option for obtaining leads. You will also want to convert them into sales. The only thing that still draws me to what people think social media is about is that, oh what clues will they give me? The answer is NONE.
Social media means “social”, what are you going to give people first? Be a friend, have fans, that is, people who will follow you first. So if they like what you say and do for them, they will either hire or buy you. Like & Trust rules still apply.
It’s not about how much time you have to spend on social media, but how much time you are willing to spend over time. If you don’t have time to do marketing right now, you probably won’t be having much of a best-seller either. By the way, social media is not a fad, it’s not going anywhere, maybe you will, it won’t.
If you want sales, you need to do your marketing. One follows the other.