The first thing we do is analyze where leads are currently being sourced? We also look at the number of leads by channel. Even better, what is the ROI of each lead as well as conversion by channel. Without tracking you will never know where your business should continue to invest and focus time. As important as tracking is, this post is not about tracking. We want to focus on making sure you are making use of all the possible lead sources online.

Funny thing is, in this new “distributed web” we have a lot more channels to explore. Let’s quickly look at the online channels your business will want to test and use:

• Natural Web Search (SEO)- SEO is the ante for any business. The key here is in today’s distributed, social web, all the content you are going to publish around the web will help your SEO rankings in a big way if you do it right strategically.
• Pay Per Click (PPC)- PPC costs are going up in a big way for competitive categories. But with the right buying strategy and optimized landing pages you still can make this an effective channel.
• Social Media Marketing- We are most excited about Social media because it is free and offers both huge reach and targeted marketing opportunities. Doing social media right takes a comprehensive strategy (not one off Facebook Fan Page or Twitter) and consistent presence but the payoff can be huge.
• Banner Ads- The online advertising stalwart, it is being renewed with new, niche ad networks and banners in some new social communities.
• Article Links- Article marketing is the new “black” in online business marketing. The reason is content is king for marketers in this new distributed web. Getting attention in the attention economy is done through content. And it’s viral!
• Directories- Directories play a great role in organizing the distributed web and are important for your website marketing plan. Don’t forget the vertical market directories that are targeted for your market.
• Partners- Find partners to promote your business, who are in related markets, have a valuable list of potential buyers. Social media can help here because you can meet more potential partners when you are involved in the online communities.

Offline channels are also effective and should be tested as well. For best results, offline and online channels should work together. Drive target customers from offline media like TV, Radio or print to your online owned media like your website, Facebook Fan page and other places around the web. Use your “link bait” as the reason for them to go there. Also, take your online conversations and relationships offline via phone meeting, seminar or conferences to bring your relationship to another level.

Anything I missed? What works for your business…

In a recent eMarketer post we found a recent survey conducted by Synovate for word-of-mouth ad network PostRelease investigated just how likely Internet users are to talk about Brands and motivate consumers to become advocates. The study confirms that involved Internet users express this brand advocacy in many ways online and offline. This is called “earned media” in professional marketing circles…where brand messages get repeated in traditional media outlets, online in social networks or offline in recommendations and conversations. It’s free and very valuable.

The concept of earned media is important because it is the most powerful form of communication. Studies have shown for years that work of mouth communication is the most powerful form of motivating consumers. This study looks at (and confirms) how online brand advocates influence friends and family around them online and offline.

The most common word-of-mouth activity reported by respondents was helping a friend or family member with a purchase decision, but more than two-fifths also said they had shared advice offline about information they learned on the Web. Significantly fewer Internet users posted their own ratings and reviews online, and only about one-half as many shared links to articles or reviews about products.

As you might expect, participation in social media and word-of-mouth activities was highest among the younger set. Even more interesting, almost half of them gave offline (in-person) advice based on information they saw online. But the numbers are strong across age groups.

eMarketer reports that PostRelease also broke down respondents according to whether or not they participate in online forums, which about one-fifth of those polled did. Forum participants were significantly more likely to take part in all the activities queried. Notably:

• 65% of forum contributors give advice offline based on information found online, compared with 35% of noncontributors.
• 66% of forum contributors post online ratings and reviews, compared with 16.8% of noncontributors.
• 43.6% of forum contributors share links to articles and reviews, versus 12% of noncontributors.
• 20.6% of forum contributors publish a blog, compared with 2.1% of noncontributors.

Users of forums, who are already actively engaged in online social activity, make for “enthusiastic consumers and influential brand advocates,” according to a statement by Justin Choi, president and founder of PostRelease.

What does this mean for your business?

You know those fans you are collecting on Facebook, the followers you are collecting on Twitter and the readers you are engaging with on your blog? Those are people you want to make into passionate brand advocates. They will have a multiplier effect on your top line revenue that will give you the edge in your market. The key is to carefully and deliberately build your fans, followers and readers so that you have a real relationship with them. Nurture them and activate them.

What do you think?

I know you are getting inundated with webinar promotions and I know what you are probably saying, why in the world would anyone come to my webinar? Well, if you have Fans, Followers, email lists and the like, you have a bunch of people that like you and want to get to know you better. Webinars are another way to get your prospects down the funnel to become a buyer!

Webinars should be a consistent feature to your social media marking program. Use your distributed presence on all those web 2.0 sites and your blog to promote your webinars. You have a big presence now. Use it to drive people to get more involved with your business.

Tips for Success

1. Sign up for a Webex or GoToWebinar account. You will be able to do customization of various forms and email templates that participants will see when you invite them or when they are waiting for the webinar to start. Make sure you have logos and pictures available so you can customize the webinar software for your business. It’s a nice touch and you will look more professional than the others.
2. Create a presentation that your target prospects will want to hear. Go back to your research about the most burning questions that they have. Maybe use a topic from an article or whitepaper that you have for “link bait”. Get comfortable giving that presentation. Most webinar software has a practice webinar feature that your can work with so you get familiar with the mechanics or using the software.
3. Follow the instructions for creating and sending invitations for whatever webinar service you are using. Make sure you are also familiar with all the tools and ticks like polls, answering questions, how to switch presenters and most important, how to record. Promote the webinar to all the audience you think are interested in the subject. Use your owned vehicles (blog, web 2.0 sites) and also go into other forums and blogs and make comments and invite people (be careful that you do not come off too much like you are selling; this is an informative webinar)
4. Get your audience to participate. Use polls, ask questions, get them to take action on your website. The idea is to get them involved with you and your business in a deeper way.
5. Follow up! You need to get these folks onto one of your auto-responders on your main list…not just the webinar software. That is why you want to get them to take an action on your website (sign up for something) so you can get a double optin and continue a dialogue with them.

Now go do it! You will get closer to your customers and enjoy the opporutnity to talk about what you love most…serving the market you are in.

There are certain tools that you can use for marketing your products and services. These tools are great time savers and will push you ahead of your competitors on the Internet front. Your business marketing plan should be to expand your target audience through the use of these tools. Listed below are ten different useful sites.

Twitter: One of the top five business marketing tools, Twitter is used by companies across the world to promote their business, share information, and give free products and services to encourage trust in their followers. Don’t know what to tweet about? Find significant URL’s from the other sites below that give value to your dialogues and posts.

Tweetadder: You will need a Twitter account, but once you have one, this is a great way to get a quick following online. You can market your business through tweetadder by targeting people by geography or keyword in order to identify interested parties. Then invite them to follow you. Typically, you’ll get a 20-40% response rate of those you ask to follow you.

Facebook/Linkedin: Start a local group for your niche. This will allow users to get to know you and your company online, while allowing offline networking. If you start the group as the administrator, then you will be perceived as the leader. Invite your competitors and other industry people to join. Remember, you are the leader and now have a group of names you are collecting and the promotional vehicle you now have for free. This is a great way to get exposure for your business.

Social Poster: A fast way to get instant exposure over a wide variety of sites is Social Poster. This web bases application allows you to post anything from articles to media on over 160 different social and bookmarking sites. By simply submitting your website regularly, you will get more traffic and a better page rank.

Ping.FM: This social network and micro-blogging service allows you to simultaneously post to multiple social networks. With just one update on Ping.FM, it sends the update to several different social sites at once, making your job a whole lot easier. Rather than spending time updating each social site individually, Ping.FM does the footwork for you.

Friend Feed: With this tool, you can consolidate the updates from social media and networking sites, blogs, micro-blogs, bookmarking sites and any other type of RSS feed—all in real-time. By using this information stream, you can customize feeds to share with prospective customers as well as create new discussions and micro-blogs to share.

If you are looking for a way to better market your business, all of the sites referenced above are relevant sources for helping you to connect with prospective customers with ease and in a format that is appealing to them. One aspect of your product marketing plan should be to follow the customers where they are, and these sites can keep you relevant and in-touch on a daily basis.

Chris Marentis is a serial entrepreneur and recognized Internet Marketing expert having served as SVP at AOL and CEO of Clearspring Technologies. For more information on Lead Generation Marketing, go to http://www.surefiresocial.com today.

Lead generation for businesses is a key component for creating a powerful list of subscribers to whom you can readily send information. If you are looking for a way for your online business to flourish and your brand to become a household name, you need to incorporate this into your marketing plan. List building is useful in that it provides a bank of names of which you have regular contact; submitting relevant content that will increase your website traffic and lead to more profit for your business. There are various social media tools that can help you build a relevant list.

Social Media Tools to Build Your List

As far as lead generation tools go, Facebook and Twitter are the hottest applications to capitalize on. In order to gather a following for either, you must present relevant data to users who already show an interest in your products and services. The key here is quality, not quantity. By providing appropriate information, you can attract people who are interested in your services in the future.

A key application to use in conjunction with these tools is the friend adder. This tool is great for local businesses because it allows you to search for people with specific interests in the same city. You can then send friend requests and get them to follow you and your business.

Blogs are another great tool to showcase your business and generate a list. You need to provide relevant text that can easily be found through search engine optimization, and build your list based on the interest of the reader. When you sell your product, keep it informative but entertaining so that people want to continue reading. Once you gain a large following, search engines will put your blog at the top of the list when your keywords are typed in, thus getting you more traffic.

Relevant Content to Build Your List

The products you are promoting need to contain compelling content that grabs people’s attention. Use networking hooks that encourage people to repost and share with friends. Focus your content on your niche, and specialize in offering a service that other competitors don’t. When you provide a solution to a problem that other businesses in your community aren’t addressing, you will build your list that much more quickly.

Activate the List to Produce Sales

List building is a powerful way to market your small business. As your list grows, many subscribers will come to consider you as a source of linkable content, if you are consistently providing high quality information in your posts. Many web content users are always on the hunt for relevant content that they can refer to in their own posts. If your content is consistently being used, that increases your chances of website traffic as people click on the links to find out more information.

When it comes to sales, the key is the relationship. People want to buy products and services from someone that they know and trust. You need to create the kind of relationship where users rely on you for information in your niche, because you are the expert. It is also important to ask questions. Questions as to how you can provide more information for them that they can’t find online, or what help they need in deciding on a purchase are great ways to get feedback and build credibility and trust with those on your list.

Once you create a reputation as the subject matter expert in your niche and have built credible relationships with your subscribers, you will see how they come back to you consistently in order to buy your products.

Chris Marentis is a serial entrepreneur and recognized Internet Marketing expert having served as SVP at AOL and CEO of Clearspring Technologies. For more information on Lead Generation Marketing, go to http://www.surefiresocial.com today.