Large organizations spend millions of dollars on various advertising like  TV ads, Print ads, Hoardings, & promotions, etc.  to build their brands & attract customers to buy their products & services . On contrary, SMBs  do not have budget to spend Millions of dollars on advertising.   However, the need to attract customer is same or more.  Hence the SME have to rely on innovative & cost effective ways  to generate these leads  on a shoe string budget.

First, let us look at the various sources of leads (a partial list):

·         Advertising (TV Ads, Print Ads, Radio Ads, Internet ads, Hoardings,…)
·         Trade shows
·         Seminars
·         Mailing Campaign
·         Telemarketing
·         Internet Marketing ( SEO, SEM/PPC, SMM)
·         Referrals
·         Through Partners/Dealers

All these lead sources can be categorized into 2 types:

1)      High cost leads
2)      Low/zero cost leads

In option one, if you have the budget for it, one has to find the right agency & they can give you hundreds of options to choose from.   In this article we will take a closer look at the second option.  SMEs have to be very innovative in order to generate low/zero cost leads.  This again differs from industry to industry & from geo to geo.

One of most economical way to generate low cost leads is by Internet marketing (Digital Marketing). This method can cost as low as 10-20% of  the cost of conventional marketing. If you know how to do it & have the time to do it, with little effort you can generate many leads in a short period of time.

There are 4 steps to follow to generate low coat leads:

1)      Develop a excellent website (Content/ look & feel/ Value proposition)
2)      Increase traffic to your website using tools like SEO, SEM/PPC, SMM
3)      Lure your customers with hard to refuse offers & downloads
4)      Make them fill the form & collect the name & contact info

Once you have the Database of leads, you need to contact them  through mailing campaign/s or telemarketing & follow up to close deals.  Most of the SME/SMBs do not have a Marketing department with a dedicated marketing person. Rather than doing it yourself,  is also advisable  to outsource these activities to a small marketing company which can generate low cost leads for you, so that you can focus on your core activities like development, manufacturing & delivery.


If you are having any challenges Generating Leads & effective Mailing Campaigns on a shoestring budget  and need some Consultation or Advisory services please take advantage of our FREE Consultation  or Click Here.