Online Lead Generation

Today I had lunch with an entrepreneur that is an expert at online lead generation. Like him, I also believe that online lead generation is an untapped opportunity for most companies. The great thing about generating leads online is that there are several ways to do it, many of which have a strong ROI. Let’s look at a few:

• Offer something free like a white paper, product trial, or a product demo on your site and require a person’s email address for access
• Sponsor a community through banner ads, promotions, or information in email blasts and drive the clicks to landing pages with conversion forms
• Purchase leads from third-party lead generation sites (most industries have these sites)
• Buy pay-per-click ads on search engines that have relevant keywords and drive the clicks to landing pages with conversion forms

Of course, a marketing automation system is highly recommend to maximize the value of your investment. My advice to entrepreneurs and people responsible for customer acquisition: use the power of the web and try several different tactics to generate leads online.