QUESTION — Does Lead-Generation mean buying leads?
ANSWER — Not exactly. Lead-Generation is a wider concept than buying leads. In fact, if you bought leads, it was actually the other guy who was doing lead-generation.
Selling answering services, or personal injury legal services, or setting a broken bone, are “window of time” business models. On Monday, the guy doesn’t need you, but by Wednesday on a certain week, he does. Then and only then does he look around.
Therefore, the most effective lead-generation strategies will be to somehow appear in front of him, when he follows his natural urge to look around. These could include: being referred when he asks his peers for suggestions, showing up in google (which has become the yellow pages of our time), and yes, in some cases, being listed in the yellow pages. Google’s adwords ads are another way to appear online when the person searches.
Direct mail would only be effective if it were sent to people who were known to be in need right now, but before they hire an answering service, an attorney, an emergency room operation at the hospital; tricky to do. And then, there’s another approach —
Name Brand Marketing
One can also emulate national brands who attempt to keep their brand in front of people so that when the need comes, these people “naturally” think of them. Ford Motor Company does this, and here in Medford, Oregon, the Schlessinger & de Villenueve attorney firm (http://letusfightforyou.com/) have billboards sitting at certain traffic junctions, and display ads on the sides of buses.
This is an expensive approach. Most small businesses cannot spend enough for long enough for this to work.
Buying Leads from a Lead-Generation Service
Purchasing leads from somebody who has decided to do some lead-generation to capture leads can be an effective strategy, and works best when leads are exclusive. Unfortunately, most commercial services from which you can buy leads give the same lead to several companies.
This practice of giving the same leads to several companies is akin to companies like yellowpages.com, who offer to sell you an advertisement. And what really happens is that you are paying them money, but they are positioning themselves on Google (possibly displacing you), and then when any searcher goes to their website, they show your listing in a page comprising all your competitors.
That’s not what you want. Effective advertising should place you before the prospect, and then present YOU and nobody else.
If you buy leads, make sure the company isn’t also selling the same leads to somebody else.
Creating Your Own Lead-Generation System
But you don’t have to rely on somebody else to solve it for you, and then sell them to you at a mark-up.
You can engineer your own marketing system.
Don’t know how?
No problem.
We do. Call us.
