I have interacted with hundreds of business owners and business persons. Most of business persons are trying only few lead sources. They are not actively seeking new ways to acquire customers.
Many times they are not tracking the original lead source of the acquired customers. So they don’t know what marketing methods are working and what marketing methods are not working.
Using CRM (Customer Relationship Management) we can track the lead source of each acquired customer in one the most effective way.
As technology evolves it opens up amazingly effective and efficient new ways to acquire customers.
Digital marketing is fundamentally affecting the way businesses acquire new customers.
Such others are open up opportunities to acquire, retain, connect, support, and understand customers in the way we have seen never before.
We must keep up with what’s happening with market. Otherwise more savvy competitors can grab the major chunk of market very quickly.
You should know
Once you answer above five questions. It will give you insight into what marketing method is working and not working, so you can do more of what is working and do less or stop what is not working. This will also give insights into what other marketing methods you should be exploring.
Here is the list of potential lead source one can try. I have group similar lead sources but you should track each individual lead source e.g. there are dozens of social networks such as
1 |
Affiliates/Partners |
2 |
Agents, distributors, retailers, wholesalers |
3 |
Billboard/Hoarding |
4 |
Direct marketing i.e. direct mail brochure, flyer, catalog or leaflets |
5 |
Business networking |
6 |
Industry associations |
7 |
Business show |
8 |
Conferences |
9 |
Events |
10 |
Podcast |
11 |
Seminar |
12 |
Webinar |
13 |
Workshops (Online & In-person) |
14 |
Own Speaking Engagements |
15 |
Sponsorships (Events etc) |
16 |
Cold calling |
17 |
Call centers/Telemarketing |
18 |
Third party leads generation companies |
19 |
Targeted prospect list provider companies |
20 |
Writing book, eBook, white paper, guide, case study |
21 |
Free trial, free sample, free advice (1-to-1 or Group) |
22 |
Joint Venture (JV) |
23 |
Strategic Alliances |
24 |
Just walking by (Location, Event) |
25 |
Print Media (Newspaper, Magazine, Industry Trade directory) |
26 |
Mass Media (Radio, TV) |
27 |
News Story (In Mass media) |
28 |
Membership (Chamber of commerce, Business associations) |
29 |
Mobile marketing (MMS, SMS, Apps) |
30 |
Personal/Face-to-face selling |
31 |
Blog (own blogging, guest blogging) |
32 |
Digital advertising (Banner ads, social ads, retargeting campaigns) |
33 |
Email Marketing |
34 |
Newsletter |
35 |
PPC (Pay Per Click) Google AdWords |
36 |
PPC Bing, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram |
37 |
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) |
38 |
Social network or Social Media marketing (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Meetup, and Instagram) |
39 |
Social media advertising (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest) |
40 |
Public Relation |
41 |
Publicity |
42 |
Promotion (Contest, Branded Gifts) |
43 |
Referral from customer |
44 |
Referral from employee, colleague or co-worker |
45 |
Referral from friend, family or acquaintance |
46 |
Research (Internet and others) |
47 |
Renew ex-customers by follow-up |
48 |
Traditional Advertising (Print, Radio, TV) |
49 |
Website personal (Lead capture form, Contact us form, Opt-in form or pop-ups) |
50 |
Website company (Lead capture form, Contact us form, Opt-in form or pop-ups) |
51 |
Online Chat |
52 |
Website Classified craigslist, gumtree |
53 |
Website Reddit, Quora, SlideShare |
54 |
Yellow pages/White pages |
You should keep a pulse on your competitor by trying to find out where your competitors are getting customers. This would really give you insights regarding what’s happening in the market.
Where your competitors are getting customers from? Which are lead sources working from them?
Competitor1 |
Lead Source 1 |
|
Lead Source 2 |
|
Lead Source 3 |
|
Lead Source 4 |
|
Lead Source 5 |
Competitor2 |
Lead Source 1 |
Lead Source 2 |
|
|
Lead Source 3 |
|
Lead Source 4 |
|
Lead Source 5 |
Competitor3 |
Lead Source 1 |
Lead Source 2 |
|
|
Lead Source 3 |
|
Lead Source 4 |
|
Lead Source 5 |
I am very interested to hear what are your thoughts? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.