Online Advertising for Lead Generation

Network Marketers are often asking me where to buy leads. My answer is always the same:

“Nowhere! Generate your own leads!“

I have seen so many “Lead deals” come and go over the years, I’ve lost count. In my own experience, buying leads is pretty much the same as opening up the white pages in your local phone book. Not everybody is wired for that kind of prospecting. It’s tough to make all those phone calls. Even if you buy “good” leads (whatever that means), you are putting yourself in the position of calling them and trying to get them to focus on your pitch with you. Does it work? Sure. I know people who have built massive downlines buying leads and/or cold calling. But for my own preferred way of doing things, I prefer online advertising for lead generation.

Now, I want to be clear with you about my own results with online advertising for lead generation. I’ve been doing this online marketing thing since the year 2000. I’ve made a rather comfortable living doing it and I don’t have to chase down friends and family to build my network marketing business. I own two online companies. Online advertising has played a huge role in how these companies have been built. As a distributor for a network marketing company, online advertising played a big role in helping me qualify for a Mercedes Benz bonus. So yes. We can safely say I believe in online advertising in a big way.

There are a few keys to successful online advertising that I think I should be clear about.

Advertise Where Your Prospects Are. As an example, if you are selling cat and dog treats, it makes sense to advertise where you might find cat and dog owners. If you are selling fishing gear, make sure you are advertising where fishermen (and fisher women) can be found! I am a big fan of home based business and network marketing, so I make sure to run my ads where they are likely to be seen by network marketers and home based business enthusiasts.

Show Benefits Early. Advertising is an interruption. People are visiting web sites, blogs, articles, etc… to learn more about something they are interested in. Your online advertising is going to be an interruption so you need to be sure your ad shows a benefit right up front. If you are using banner ads, make sure your ad captures attention and lists a benefit right up front. If you are using a text ad or link, make sure the headline and/or copy show a benefit that your prospects will want.

Use a Lead Capture Page. Remember that part about online advertising being an interruption? If you ad successfully gets a visitor’s attention enough that they click your link or banner, you’ve got just a few seconds to get and keep their attention once they get to your page. Remember, they are probably moving away from their goal or reading an article, watching a video, or playing some sort of game to see what you have to offer. So it just makes sense to hit them with a few strong benefits and offer to send them more information. They can fill out a quick form and get back to what they were doing. They can (and usually will) review your offer later. Plus, when they are added to your list, you can follow up with them via email. In my own experience, this has been a very powerful way to follow up with prospects and convert them to customers. If you do not yet have an autoresponder system, I recommend you review some of our autoresponder listings for some options you may find useful.

Be Consistent. The biggest mistake I see people make when they are new to online advertising is that they expect instant results. When you see someone that is talking about all they did was run a few ads and the sales started pouring in, you are usually seeing someone who is being dishonest OR they are someone who has been doing online advertising for a long time so they have experience and credibility. Start slow. Test your results. Do what we call split-run testing, and make changes. As you see results, you can begin to increase your ad coverage and your ad budget.

Now I should mention that I also do talk to people in person. I’m a social guy and I like talking to folks. So I will prospect while I’m running around town.

One of my favorite things about online advertising for lead generation is that when someone is responding to my ads, they are coming to me for more information. There is no pressure on my part. I am simply replying to people that are saying, “Tell me more about your offer”. That makes everything so much easier for me.