A Victim of Interactive Lead Generation
Within the last few years the majority of businesses in the United States have become aware that the Internet can do more than just support a web presence. Today, it seems that most marketing level executives, down to individual business owners understand there are ways the Internet can be leveraged to support their business goals. This newfound awareness is the basis for the explosion in demand for interactive lead generation.
Interactive lead generation is a means by which a business entity can attract prospects through electronic methods of advertising and networking. But simply attracting a prospect is only half of the process. The second part of the formula is to establish a means of permission-based communications with the prospect beyond the initial interaction. Accomplishing both steps is vital to successful lead generation.
There are many forms of interactive lead generation which can include social media, pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, ad networks, online sweepstakes, rich media, viral campaigns, online seminars, etc. Any and all forms can effectively generate leads, but when done well, huge results can be achieved. I recently witnessed several lead generation successes, each of which utilized different channels to achieve results.
Email has proven to be an effective means to engage existing clients in such a way that they become marketing messengers on behalf of businesses. This is often accomplished by emailing juicy customer offers that are so appealing, recipients want to share them with all their friends. I recently saw the results of an email campaign that heavily leveraged a viral component. The referral rate topped 15% and the associated friend conversion rate was over 35%. This form of lead generation is a “third party” endorsement tactic that utilizes a company’s existing customer base to generate new leads.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising can generate leads at a low cost of conversion. Several weeks ago, I was surprised by the results of a successful online sweepstakes that used PPC as the driver of traffic. The PPC ads were run in conjunction with low cost keywords that were vaguely related to the company’s core offering. The results were astounding, as 45% of the click through traffic registered to participate in the sweepstakes.
Another powerful form of lead generation is social media. It has hit, and hit big. Companies are finding ways to leverage Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and many other social network sites to increase awareness and ultimately generate loads of leads. I was recently forwarded an invitation from a fellow colleague to win free tickets on Virgin America. To enter, I simply had to “tweet” the selected city of my choice and say in five words or less why I wanted to travel there. I don’t know the results of that campaign (I’m on the lookout to find out), but I tweeted in response…they got me…another victim of Interactive lead generation.
