Almost every company has a website, and most companies with websites want them to generate sales leads. However, most companies with lead generation websites have only a vague or partial understanding of how marketing processes must be structured to turn website lead generation from a wish into an expectation.
The Internet Marketing Lead Generation Ecosystem infographic shown below helps businesses visualize these marketing processes, and more important, how they fit together to create a website that reliably and robustly generates sales leads. It’s a great blueprint for creating an integrated internet marketing strategy by leveraging multiple online channels to generate more leads and sales.
Horizontally, the infographic moves from website traffic sources at the top, to new customers at the bottom. In between is where the magic happens —
- The second row of hexagons are the available internet marketing campaigns used to draw traffic into the website.
- At the center of the hexagon, dominating it, is the company website, with a list of all of the content options available for turning visitors into leads.
- Below the website hexagon and to the right: the technical workflow of lead generation internet marketing campaigns, including transfer of form and phone inquiries to the sales team, and the transfer of sales lead data to campaign reports and the use of sales lead data for conversion optimization (A/B split testing and other techniques).
When pieces are missing — for example, no lead validation process to separate sales leads from non-sales inquiries — inefficiencies and gaps crop into marketing campaigns, turning lead generation results into a wasteland. By filling these gaps, marketers can make their websites new business rainmakers.
About the Author
Brad Shorr is Director of Content Strategy at StraightNorth, an SEO company in Chicago, Illinois.
