Friday, September 4, 2009

Free Marketing Leads - Where Should You Get Your Free Marketing Leads?

Copyright © Laura Shapiro, Your Home Business Guide

Where do free marketing leads come from? And how can you get them? Online, you can get many from social media sites like facebook and twitter or free blogs like blogger. You can get them from traffic exchanges like TrafficSwarm or some of the many safelists. You can get them through your participation in forums.

The first thing that many new online marketers try to do when just starting out is go to Free Marketing Leads services but here is why you want to avoid doing that.

If you type the words “free marketing leads” into google, yahoo, msn or whatever your search engine is, you'll get pages and pages of results. Most of these "free marketing leads" come from organizations which sell you these leads. Wait a minute. . .if they’re selling you leads, then the leads aren’t free, right. . .?

Another trick of “free marketing leads” to avoid comes in the form of email lists. Often the seller of the list claims that these emails are pre-filtered to be relevant to exactly what you are selling. Many of these providers sell the same list to every would-be marketer, regardless of the product or service you offer.

In other words, these leads have the proverbial snowball’s chance in a well-known, hot, unpleasant place of ever generating sales. It basically means that you will be cold calling the free marketing leads that you end up getting from these services. If you’ve always dreamed of becoming a spammer, this is the way to go. Be wary of these types of services and ask for proof and refund policies before signing up and spending your hard earned cash for these "free marketing leads".

Here is a very simple concept to keep in mind. . .

Contact information does not equal lead.

Contact information doesn’t become a free marketing lead unless the person behind the contact information has some specific reason why they’d be more interested in your product or service than someone else's.

Try to getting inside the head of the person behind the contact information and provide them with what they are really looking for. What do they like, and more importantly what do they want?

Another very important point to consider. . .

People rarely buy what they need. They buy what they want. So, your job is to sell them what they want and then you give them what they need.

This can take a while to get the hang of. . .but once you master it, you're on your way. . .

Sales leads are, as the name states, leads that can lead directly to sales. Marketing leads are slightly different. These are targeted leads that are brand-specific rather than product specific. What makes your brand special? Do people know what you do? How you do it? Who you are?

Think about who needs what you do. This is the first step in generating genuine marketing leads. If someone comes across what you are offering in a social media site like facebook or twitter, they are more apt to understand a little bit more about you. If they click on your advertisement on google, they have no idea who/what they are dealing with.

One of the most honest, most dignified and most trust-establishing sources of free marketing leads is your own website or blog. People who visit your website or blog do so for a reason. If they visit more than once, they’re genuinely interested in what you do, who you are, and how you do what you do. These are genuine free marketing leads, and about as precisely targeted as you could hope for.

More and more people are establishing their own websites and/or setting up blogs which are inexpensive and relatively easy.

But if you're not into that idea, social sites and forums are another way to get free marketing leads. Remember, you need to be social in these sites. They are not made for selfishly promoting your stuff. Put your profile up with a link to your website, blog or lead capture page and participate. Offer help to those who are asking for it. This is the way to get people to visit your profile and consequently, your more promotional web content.

If you want to take action right away and get step-by-step training on how to generate your very own free marketing leads, I highly suggest this free marketing leads training program which is already helping thousands of others like you set up their free lead generating web content. Even complete beginners and the technically challenged are benefiting from the step-by step, click-by-click instruction to bring free targeted leads into their businesses. It's a great way to cut through the learning curve and get yourself going on the web.

And the best part is that you have access to every aspect of business training that you can possibly imagine. Keep in mind this program was created with network marketers in mind but word has spread so quickly about its unmatched value and affordability that its attracting business owners from all walks of life.

Laura Shapiro is a Home-Based Business Owner and Consultant in addition to being a full time Mom. Is a Home Business your Dream? It doesn't have to be - let me help you make it a reality. . .