In December,  I introduced a graphic of a Marketing Organization Chart I found on a blog post by John Jansch of DuctTape Marketing .  As a follow up I am exploring each of the four elements ( Strategy, Lead Generation, Lead Conversion and Customer Service) in more detail.  Earlier this week I took a look at Strategy today lets look at Lead Generation.

There are three main elements of Lead Generation:

• Advertising
• Public Relations
• Referrals

Your prospects will come to you ether because they have heard about you from someone they know ( referrals) or from some third party (public relations) or from you (advertising)

REFERRALS

While John Jansch, listed this element third, I really believe this is where any small business owner should focus the majority of lead generation activities.  Why? because prospects who come to you on the recommendation of another person, are more likely to buy.

You have been pre-qualified.   As a result, you can move quickly through some of the early “get to know you” portion of the sales process.

How do you cultivate referrals? Spend time thinking about your core customer.  Who else is selling to your client?   These are the people who will be most influential. So if you want referrals from them, you need to be sending referrals their way as well!

PUBLIC RELATIONS vs ADVERTISING

I almost always  recommend my clients invest in PR actives rather than advertising. ( It isn’t just because that is our area of specialization) It is because PR creates a third party endorsement which will always have more credibility then anything you say about yourself.

But good PR is not free!  Just like advertising, it takes time to craft the right message, and deliver it to the right audience.

And regardless of where you concentrate your efforts, you need to track which methods are most effective!

Include a  public relations plan as part of  your overall business plan. Need help getting started?   Download our FREE Business Plan outline today!

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• Marketing Organization Chart – A Closer Look at Strategy
• Marketing Organization Chart – Revisited
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