Internet Marketing 101: Lead Generation

Lead Generation: What to do after they arrive to your site.

In the Online Marketing circles it is said that an email list is as good as gold. You probably are not going to sell your list so there will be no gold at the end of the rainbow, er, list. However, if planned properly, you will be able to earn some gold by using your email list to generate sales.

Before discarding the idea of lead generation, consider the following information.  Several statistical studies have shown that 67% of prospective buyers that say no today will be ready to buy within the year.  It has also been shown that it takes up to 6 follow-up contacts before a prospective buyer will commit to purchasing your product.

My good friend Carl says that a sales-person’s job begins after the first no. Let’s face it; if you have a small business, one of the many hats you wear is that of a sales person. However, many of us are so busy wearing many hats that we give up after the first no or receive no response to our emails.

There are solutions out there that can put your lead generation and marketing on auto-pilot. What program you end up using will depend on your level of involvement. It could range from free email and auto response services to complete CRM and email solutions that run in the several hundred dollars a month.

Most of the email programs available will help you:

• Create an online form to place on your website,
• Collect email addresses
• Run an automated response campaign

Pricing for these accounts are based on two models:

1. The number of subscribers and unlimited mailings
2. The number of subscribers times the amount of emails sent out

• Ie: 100 subscribers and 2 newsletters sent out = 200 subscribers

For those wanting to try this approach, I recommend 2 services because they offer free services for up to 1,000 subscribers:

1. Mailchimp: Bring your data into MailChimp from all kinds of web services like Google Analytics, Highrise, Wufoo and Eventbrite. Easily add signup forms to WordPress, Shopify, Facebook and more.
    
   1. Pricing: Free for up to 2,000 Subscribers
      Up to 6,000 mailings per month

1. iContact:  What others are saying: “iContact’s interface is extremely user friendly and easy to use. The tools, resources, and tips they provide really help optimize and maximize all of our email marketing campaigns. Best of all, their customer service is second to none.”
   1. Pricing: Free for up to 500 Subscribers

There are several other companies that offer email subscriptions. The following is a list of just some of what is available:

1. Mad Mimi: Mad Mimi is a simple, intelligent and powerful email marketing utility that anyone can use. With Mad Mimi, you can create and send emails as well as drip campaigns. It is Outlook 2007 compatible. They offer list management, reports and tracking. Mad Mimi also offers Google Analytics integration. Mad Mimi also offers a recurring 25% commission for their affiliate program. Pricing:
   1. $8.00 per month for 500 Subscribers
   2. $36.00 per month for up to 10,000 Unlimited Emails
   1. Affiliate Program: Recurring 25% commission

1. AWeber: AWeber is highly recommended and makes it easy to start building your email marketing list, if you haven’t already. You can build unlimited newsletter lists, send unlimited email blasts, and email unlimited autorespond messages to up to 500 subscribers/list.
   
   Pricing: 
   1. $19.00 per month for 500 Subscribers
   2. $30.00 per month for up to 25,000 Subscribers
   1. Affiliate Program: Recurring 30% commission

1. Constant Contact: Constant Contact offers the same email list building features. You can also promote your social media pages in your emails – insert links to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Use the new Auto-Tweet feature to automatically post your emails to your Twitter feed. Share your message on social media sites with their new Social Share feature and schedule welcome emails or commonly sent messages with an Email Auto-responder. Constant Contact offers an affiliate program as well.
   
   Pricing: 
   1. $15.00 per month for 500 Subscribers
   2. $30.00 per month for up to 25,000 Subscribers
   1. Affiliate Program: $2 for every customer who signs up for a free trial – and $50 for each new customer who becomes a paying customer.

1. Infusionsoft: Infusion soft is a CRM and Email marketing company plus many other options that help you to have complete control over every aspect of your marketing campaigns.
   
   Pricing: 
   1. $199.00 per month for 5,000 contacts

I offer only a glimpse of what these services have to offer. Take a look at the individual websites and determine for yourself which option is best for you.