Generating and Converting Sales Leads

Which Channels Work Best for Generating and Converting Sales Leads?

According to a 2014 marketing research study conducted by DialogTech (download link), a survey of marketers by a sizable plurality said that offline methods still converted best and were the source of highly qualified and high value sales leads.

In terms of actually generating those leads, several digital marketing methodologies rose to the top of the list in terms of marketer’s preferences based on actual ROI.  In terms of generating high-value sales leads, email led all channels, with a 57% overall preference over other methods. Closely behind email marketing at 55% was Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and PPC or pay per click advertising.

Business owners said that while SEO was a long term investment that takes cultivation and patience, it seems to have the higher long term ROI in that people tend to look at organic search results as more trustworthy than PPC ads.

All channels showed an overall increase in preferential share among respondents from the prior year.

Social Media garnered a 44% preference rating among respondents, with a wide variety of preference for specific platforms, with YouTube leading the way.  In the B2B category, LinkedIn was “highly influential,” while Facebook skewed to an older demographic, and Twitter was the preferred platform for younger, tech-savvy audiences.