1. Giving something for free like a PDF or Video. Make visitors sign up to your opt-in form before you let them download it.
2. Include a newsletter sign-up link in your signature of all of your emails.
3. Send an opt-in email to your address book giving them something valuable (Link Bait) and ask them to join your list.
4. Host events- Art galleries, software companies, retail shops, consultants (lunch & learn) can all host an event and request attendees to sign up.
5. Incentivize employees – Give a reward for collecting email addresses for qualified leads.
6. Referrals – Ask you customers to refer you, and in exchange you’ll give them a discount.
7. Giveaways – Send “bulky mail” and ask for their email address as well as their postal address.
8. Do you have a snail mail list without emails? Send them a direct mail (use a postcard) offer they can only get if they sign up to your email list.
9. Include newsletter sign up or other “link bait” opt in forms on every page on your site.
10. Use exit popup windows – When someone attempts to leave your site, pop up a window and ask for the email address in return for “link bait”.
11. Include a forward-to-a-friend link in your auto responder emails just in case your recipient wants to forward your content to someone they think will find it interesting.
12. Include a share, post and forward-to-a-friend on every page of your site.
13. When telemarketing, don’t let your callers hang up until they ask if they can add them to your newsletter.
14. Trade newsletter space with related businesses, include a link for their opt-in form and ask them to include yours in their newsletter.
15. Put a fishbowl on your counter and do a weekly prize giveaway of your product – then announce it to your newsletter. Add everyone who put his or her card in on to your newsletter list.
16. Host your own group on Facebook, LinkedIn, Biznik and other social networks and invite people to it and post new links and invite others to do the same. You can also promote your own newletter list as long as you don’t over do it.
17. Post your blog and a link to your newsletter into Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks.
18. Have newsletter and “link bait” sign up applications on your Facebook Fan page and other social network sites.
19. Tweet your content (link bait) and newsletter topics to get sign ups.
20. Put an offer on the back of your business cards to get people to sign up for your newsletter.
21. Offer a birthday club where you give something special to people who sign up.
22. Tradeshows – Bring a clipboard or sign-up book with you to tradeshows and ask for permission to send email to those who sign up.
23. Join your local chamber of commerce, email the member list (if it’s opt-in) about your services with a link to sign up to your newsletter.
24. Trade shows – Collect business cards and scan them into a spreadsheet. Make sure you ask permission to send email to them, then mark the card.

What did I leave out?

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…

At a time when customers use social networking to search, discuss and explore new ideas and opportunities, “Companies have no choice. This is where their customers are going,” reported USA Today on August 27, 2009.

Advice on how to implement various social media marketing opportunities like Facebook, Twitter, Delicious and others abound. However, like any media campaign, you need to make sure your social media program is strategic, measurable and encompasses the entire spectrum’s of opportunities that are right for your business.

Four key reasons social marketing will lift your business prospects are:

• You can easily dominate your market at little to no cost. Because social media marketing is SEO on steroids, it has the ability to reach across all the important places for your niche on the Internet.

• Using the right content distribution and management strategy will get you a consistent flow of quality leads.

• You have control and can literally get started within hours if you want. Even better, you don’t need to go through a sales rep or purchase process.

• You can leverage expertise and become an authority in your niche with “followers” in social media groups. You business will be the “first call” when customers want to learn about products and services in your niche.

Bill Bean, president of Green Planning & Coaching noticed right away how adopting social marketing, “changed my approach to marketing completely! I had a website for 2-1/2 years that never brought in a single lead because I had no mechanism to collect email addresses of visitors, no analytics and no promotion through social media. I just launched my new website—and I already have prospects signing up for my newsletter. Amazingly, I’m also already getting responses to blog postings on LinkedIn and other green community sites I learned to participate in.”

Never in the history of consumer selling have companies, from one-person shops to multi-national corporations, been handed such an effective, low-cost opportunity to carry out promotional efforts. Learn how to leverage this effective new tool for your business or you will soon be left behind.

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 Online Marketing and Advertising, go to GenNext Media LLC. today.

According to an Ad-ology Research study, small business owners are planning to engage customers in new ways in 2010. Armed with web 2.0 and social media marketing applications, they are looking to find ways to break through the clutter of the marketplace and generate leads and sales.

In this study, 28% of small business respondents say they will spend at least the same or more on online video, an increase of 75% over last year’s plan. Social media wins big with 25% saying they will commit more resources to social media; and 21% say the same for mobile advertising.

Outlook Improving

Well over half of small business owners (57%) say sales in 2009 were equal to or higher than sales in 2008, down from 60% who said the same last year. Looking ahead to 2010, 86% expect sales to be equal to or higher than 2009 figures, up from 83% last year.

More important, concerns about the economy have eased since last year: 22% say they are fearful about the economy, compared with 25% last year; 48% say they are concerned about the economy, compared with 58% last year; 17% say they are “cautiously optimistic.”

Internet Marketing

Small businesses have lot’s of room to grow in their Internet marketing strategies and use. The good news is they see light at the end of the recession tunnel and are looking to grow their businesses. Online marketing is seen as a key new opporutnity.

Nearly one-half of small businesses (46%) say they do not currently have an active company website. Of those with active sites, the primary functions are to inform customers about products/services, provide general information, and offer special promotions. Many small businesses really have not integrated Internet marketing into a comprehensive interactive marketing platform….yet! In our view, winners over the next year will gain a huge economic advantage by using the social web to bring down average costs per lead.

The survey results also indicate email marketing and business websites remain the most popular online marketing tools for small business owners.

In 2010, many small businesses plan to spend the same or more on the following online activities:

• 57% on email programs to current clients.
• 57% developing a company website.
• 55% on email programs to potential clients.

Here’s a chart reflecting plans to spend more or less (time or money) on online marketing in 2010.

Interest In Social Media Marketing For 2010 Is High

Plans for incorporating social media and web 2.0 marketing strategies into the mix show a notable increase over last year.  In the survey, 28% say they will spend more or about the same time or money on online video in 2010, an increase of 12 percentage points from last year, and 21% say the same for mobile advertising, up 10 points from the previous year.

But…Small businesses are confused about how and why to use it!

Overall interest in using social media in 2010 is nearly the same as in 2009, as 58% agree that social media is a good way to both increase business and know what people are saying about a business. However, some 46% say they wish they knew more about social media, and 27% think only young people use social media.

Small business leaders say Facebook and LinkedIn are more effective than other sites. We note this could be self fulfilling if they do not know the other local or vertical market social sites that are available or how to use the larger ones properly. Among those who say social media is “very or somewhat beneficial” to business:

• 33% say Facebook is more effective than others.
• 21% say LinkedIn is.
• 19% say Twitter.
• 17% say MySpace.
• 15% say YouTube.

As the chart below reflects, among small business owners who use social networking, the top benefits cited include generating leads (50%), keeping up with the industry (45%), and monitoring online conversations (44%).

Overall, this study reinforces the momentum behind social media marketing for small business. But also points out the confusion and complexity that small businesses face implementing new media marketing programs.

What do you think? Does this sound right?

1) Sing your company’s praises with happy customer testimonials on your website. Nothing beats converting leads to actual sales by using satisfied word-of-mouth referrals. Yet, this alone would not be effective in generating leads if no one came to visit your website.

How to get visitors to your website? Luckily, small business owners can now easily and affordably set up a blog using WordPress, Typepad, Blogger and other web services.

Once your blog is up and running, you start blogging or writing smart, useful and fun articles that show the breadth and depth of your expertise. Of course, you’d include links on your articles back to your website—and that’s how online surfers get to visit your domain.

Yet, that’s still not enough to get the mega hits you’d like to end up prospecting with. So, you’ll want to join social groups such as Facebook and LinkedIn (the leading social site for professionals and businesses) and the new kid, Twitter, with its 140-character microblogging “tweets” or posts.

Once you start telling friends and followers on your social sites about your posts, and they find your suggestions extremely helpful and they’ll start referring your posts to friends in their other sub-groups. Before long, your snappy posts have garnered you followers, legions of whom are keen to hear what you have to say with your updates.

So there you are—star of your own blogging show. A “pro celebrity” in your own right, effortlessly sending scores of visitors to your website, based on writing your heart out in your blog posts (also called articles).

They say love of doing what you enjoy doing eventually pays for itself, and this is clearly where singing your songs of expertise and authority will gain praise for your main website, as well, and generating leads.

2) Ping! As you keep up writing your articles, keep in mind you’re building up an archive of relevant pieces you can repurpose later on. Such as seasonal fall and spring tips for home maintenance. Such as seasonal holiday goodies your catering service never fails to surprise—from golden orbs of chocolate persimmons to frosted amaretto snicker doodles.

Each time you submit an article for publication on WordPress, it’s automatically “pinged” to search engines. And less your articles get to the bottom of the slush pile, be sure to sprinkle them with a light dusting of SEO keywords.

For example, it’s important to use SEO primary keywords in the title and first paragraph. Sprinkle in a few longtail (lower-ranked keywords) SEOs in the body of your article. That’s how search spiders will locate and index your article. The more you write, the more you’ll be noticed.

3) Ding! Statistics reinforce how potent this form of viral communication and info-sharing is:

• 79% of American adults used the Internet in 2009, up from 67% in Feb. 2005 (source: Pew Internet & American Life Project; October 8, 2009)

• 300 million Facebook members use 300,000 servers, and Facebook is on tap to add another 300,000!

You get the idea. Small business marketing strategies jumping on this new wave of online social media because it’s low-cost, easy to control for out-going content and most of all fun to implement and are head and shoulders ahead of competition in generating leads.

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 Online Marketing and Advertising, go to http://www.gennextmedia.com today.

Whether your business is service-oriented (such as accounting, legal, architecture, business coaching, executive recruiter) or a retail store (specialty coffee, health food store, wine store), you have a huge new opportunity to compete with any size business in any market. Social media marketing is effective, and for the most part, free.

Business marketing strategies have never been more affordable and cost-effective than with today’s technology and new web 2.0 applications, like social media.

Many small businesses are experimenting with social media marketing, but do not implement a strategic approach to a campaign. Many are flailing from one new tactic to the other based on the “flavor of the day”.

3 SECRETS to success that we know work are:

Secret #1. Become an expert in your niche.

Participate in communities that have your target prospects and add value to the discussion with your unique insights and knowledge. Use content that you create and give it away, free, to people who are looking for solutions your company provides.

Secret #2. Create a solid keyword strategy and USP.

Also, make sure you thread that through the various levels of your distributed content and the social web. You need to be aimed at “owning” the right market. You also need to leverage your strategy across all your social media efforts to nets your linking strategy across pages, articles, PR and your website.

Secret #3. Social media marketing needs to be implemented as a comprehensive strategy.

All the pieces work together to combine into a powerful marketing program that is part SEO on steroids and part huge reach lead generation.

The key is having a systematic approach to providing valuable information and ideas to the right communities across the web. So, rather than interrupting customers in their tracks and trying to get attention, your targeted social web content will be considered helpful and put you and your business in an authoritative position with customers.

This is the primary “secret” to successful social media marketing—providing valuable free info to position article writers as authorities. You’re also in total control of creating your own authentic content. On the obverse side, giving people a “freebie” actually enhances cultivating trust, to enable easier and faster sales conversions down the line.

Take the time to develop a social media marketing strategy for your business today. Winners and losers in the “new normal” will be dependant on a company’s ability to adapt to these new marketing opportunities.

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 Online Marketing and Advertising, go to: http://www.gennextmedia.com today.