I still receive requests to share again the 17 most effective lead generation methods that I gave in November of 2008 at a breakfast seminar at Novell from research first published in the 2008 Lead Generation issue BtoBOnline Magazine.
I will share the 17 methods ranked first by effectiveness, then by popularity, then by the points of variance up or down.
Popular isn’t necessarily good, it just means everyone else is doing it (email for example is ranked 1st as most popular, but ranked 7th in actual effectiveness.) Take especial note of the degree of variance and whether it is positive or negative. High positive variance shows extreme effectiveness that is relatively unused or unknown by your competition.
I believe that the best methods are those that are most Effective, but least Popular. So look for a low number on Effective, and a high number on Variance:
| Lead Generation Method | Effective | Popular | Variance |
| Executive Seminars | 1 | 8 | 7 |
| Inside Sales | 2 | 9 | 7 |
| Search Marketing | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Webinars | 4 | 10 | 6 |
| Tradeshows | 5 | 3 | -2 |
| TV Advertising | 6 | 17 | 11 |
| 7 | 1 | -6 | |
| Radio | 8 | 15 | 7 |
| PR | 9 | 2 | -7 |
| Online video / podcasts/ rich media | 10 | 12 | 2 |
| Direct Mail | 11 | 4 | -7 |
| Blogs | 12 | 13 | 1 |
| Sponsorships | 13 | 7 | -6 |
| Online Ads | 14 | 11 | -3 |
| Other Web 2.0 | 15 | 14 | -1 |
| Outdoor | 16 | 16 | 0 |
| 17 | 5 | -12 |
At my company, InsideSales.com, we combine the first five (Executive Seminars, Inside Sales, Search Marketing, Webinars, and Trade Shows) to bring us the best results.
My personal background with founding the original inside sales division at Franklin Quest as the largest time management seminar company in the world (my team used to fill up 200+ seminars every month) gives me a pre-disposition towards seminars, so I love Executive Seminars and of course, Inside Sales is the best way to put “butts in seats.”
Having the name InsideSales.com has ensured we appear at the top of the search engines for the industry we are named after, so search marketing has been a never-ending source of leads for us. And every single sales demonstration we give is a custom webinar to prospective clients and we are busy trying to expand this offering to larger groups in live and on-demand venues.
One of my personal favorites is trade shows. I will write my next post about some of the fun strategies we use for this.
Especially interesting is the effectiveness of TV advertising and Radio, though these two are difficult to target to specific B2B niches, I have found.
Notably absent (this study was early last year) are the social medias like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The jury is still out for me on these three, I’m seeing the buzz, still questioning actual research that demonstrates any sales being made for all the time that is spent.
If you are finding results out there in these areas, please let me know.
I hope this is helpful.
I know that I, personally, almost never respond to direct mailers. I’m not sure if its in spite of or because of the large quantity I get each week, but even when I get a great offer that make me think “yeah, I should use this coupon” I rarely actually do so.
As I’ve observed Twitter and thought about it as a marketing tool. It seems like the key to having pivotal success with it is to have a short specific campaign time frame and a goal or challenge that is sticky but real.
Not many are using it this way, but if I’m reading the functionality right, some graduating campaigns which build constant momentum could be revolutionary for a business with the right product or idea.
As I’ve observed Twitter and thought about it as a marketing tool, it seems like the key to having pivotal success with it is to have a short specific campaign time frame and a goal or challenge that is sticky but real.
Not many are using it this way, but if I’m reading the functionality right, some graduating campaigns which build constant momentum could be revolutionary for a business with the right product or idea.
Interesting post Ken.
Our clients are mostly doing your same top five with some email (to in-house lists, or form abandonment lists) and PR.
It would be interesting to see where Twitter and Facebook sit in here. I’d put Twitter in around 11 in popularity and around the same in effectiveness for lead generation. There is definitely potential for making good business connections, but it is pretty time intensive.
Facebook pages can be good, if people have a real connection to your product. We haven’t done much with the Facebook advertising platform–I’m sure that has potential for the right offer.
Good question Chris,
I’m looking for real examples of Twitter and Facebook demonstrating a real capability to be effective for B2B lead generation. I am much stronger currently with LinkedIn. I find it to be very effective to survey the landscape prior to contacting a primary decision maker in an organization. I am able to use Facebook to help me learn more about the human side of the person I am trying to contact than even LinkedIn, but LinkedIn still wins the day on easily finding good connections.
Twitter is another animal. I am seeing a lot of buzz, still looking for the hive. I’m open to learning though.
Other variant is possible also