Automated Lead Generation, Multi-Step Marketing, and Your Business

We are talking about relationships when we talk about marketing. We know that the positive relationships are based on regular contact through a variety of different methods. We call our friends; send cards and flowers to our wives, and employ many other ways of demonstrating our affection to those we care about. When setting out to develop a successful Marketing Campaign it is recommended that we follow this same line of thought.

In todays world, selling is a multi-step process. It has been demonstrated that up to 95% of the people you may reach with your advertising will not yet be in a purchasing mode. This makes it essential to maintain contact with anyone who responds to your marketing efforts. The trick is to build the relationship and condition them to the fact that you can be trusted and are knowledgeable about your product or service. This way when the time to purchase arrives, your company will be the one in the forefront of their minds.

Although the solution to our marketing challenges sounds simple when we condense it into a couple of brief paragraphs, the reality is quite different. The following scenario is an example of what I mean. Imagine you attract 20 new prospects every month through your marketing and you touch base with each prospect 3 times every month. Touching a prospect 3 times in a month is not excessive by the way. Over a period of 6 months, following this same pattern, you would have to manage 1,260 touches. If you are doing it properly you are also doing this through different media. Imagine the time constraints managing this type of activity would put on your day. The unfortunate reality is that you can’t afford not to do this when statistics demonstrate that you will close 75% more prospects when you DO stay in touch with them over the course of a year.

Recently I came across a company that has spent the last 12 years developing a systematic and fully media featured marketing program that has automated a multi-step marketing capability. That company is Automated Marketing Solutions or AMS. AMS provides a full array of marketing technology tools and systems that allow any company to deliver a comprehensive marketing program using tried and proven methods. However, the most significant aspect of their development is that the entire process can be automated. They refer to it as putting your marketing on Auto-Pilot. Here’s how it works: Once a business marketing program (including voice messages, e-mails, faxes and other broadcast and mail out collateral) is compiled and sequenced, their Lead Management System or LMS provides the unique ability to manage and control that program without any further human input. It captures leads that respond to marketing and places them into the appropriate program for follow up by the LMS itself. Very little, if any, human interaction is needed. The many benefits to this system include significant time savings on what would otherwise be labor intensive tasks and consistency in marketing messages.

An additional benefit of using their LMS is the retention capabilities of the system. As we know, once you have sourced and converted a prospect, your next most important task is to keep them as a customer. Using AMS Lead Management System means that businesses never need worry about losing customers who misinterpreted their lack of contact for lack of interest. Finally, because of AMS years of experience in building multi-media marketing programs they are able to assist and educate their users on the best methods to use as they build their own campaigns.

If you would like to learn more about Lead Management Systems and how it can benefit your business, visit Automated Marketing Solutions today. Discover how quickly and economically you can implement and start benefiting from AMS tested and proven technology and experience.

About the Author:

Six Reasons Why an Affiliate Marketing Program Can Be For You

Affiliate Programs can be free and very easy to join. They require little overhead and once you have crafted your Affiliate Website, set up your content to be search engine friendly by including all the Key Words and have the Affiliate Marketing Plan operating, you’re set to go. Well, we all know that its a lot tougher than the last sentence would imply but, essentially, you are set. After that its a matter of fine tuning while your Affiliate Website draws in and converts the traffic your Affiliate Marketing Plan is attracting.

For many, the dream of deriving an additional income stream has never been more realistic than it is with an Affiliate program. Good ones are capable of generating $5,000.00 a month and more. It is important to be realistic with any affiliate opportunity you choose. Dont expect it to start generating huge revenues immediately. But consider this! The better Affiliate Programs pay monthly commissions for the life of the client you sign up. Lets say you convert two new affiliate prospects each week and that each of them pays a $20.00 recurring monthly commission. At the end of a year your little affiliate operation is bringing you a monthly commission cheque of $2,080.00 or, expressed annually, almost $25,000.00 per annum. Now, considering the time you need to dedicate to the program, you have plenty of time left over to pursue regular employment or another Affiliate Program.

Working from home is certainly a strong incentive for people to consider affiliate programs but the rewards are far greater than that. Most people start their business careers working for and reporting to others. The fortunate ones have managers and supervisors with interpersonal and management skills that can make the relationship a good one. One reality is that no one starts at the top so there can often be disconnect in terms of understanding how you are rewarded based on your contribution and the company’s performance. This is not the case when you have your own business. The affiliate programs available today provide the opportunity, for the first time for many people to see the direct correlation between their hard work and the affiliate commission check that arrives each month. You control the engine that drives affiliate revenues and you can turn it up or back it off as it suites you and your lifestyle. Its as close to instant gratification as you can get while working.

The rapid growth in the internet has accommodated a corresponding increase in affiliate or, as it is sometimes known, Associate Marketing. And this has resulted in vast amounts of FREE training material being available to individuals interested in pursuing an affiliate opportunity. Anyone truly interested in affiliate businesses has the distinct advantage of getting trained up before they enter the game. Getting up to speed and understanding what is involved with affiliate marketing will not only help you hit the ground running but will also help you select the affiliate program that’s right for you. Signing up for free affiliate newsletters, articles, Tele-seminars, videos and more is a great way of coming up to speed in a relatively short period of time and then staying in touch with new affiliate trends and developments ensuring your operation is always current.

The economic conditions today mean that a number of people are looking to other options to supplement a faltering income or to just be able to enjoy life more. There is no reason to feel there may not be a good fit in what one did in the past and their interest in affiliate marketing. Many individuals have been incredibly successful and have made their money with an affiliate program. And now they are making more money teaching others aspiring to get into affiliate marketing, how they did it. An entire industry in affiliate training has emerged to keep pace with the ever increasing opportunities. The programs available span everything from formal in-class settings to computer based home training programs with books, DVDs and Tele-seminars. No matter what an individuals preferred learning method is there is an affiliate training program available.

If you like selection then, as an individual interested in affiliate marketing programs, you will be well served. There are literally thousands of different opportunities available today spanning everything from Books to Weight Loss. The question might better be how I wade through everything! The good affiliate programs have a few key things that anyone aspiring to join one should consider. Affiliate commissions are often for the life of the customer you bring on. Some affiliate programs provide websites, training and a great deal of support relative to others. Depending on your own technical and marketing competence, you may want to spend your time sorting through and understanding the differences. An affiliate program with up-sell opportunities is desirable since it increases the revenue opportunities. Finally, and like anything else in life, the affiliate program you finally select should be appealing to you in some way. If it is something you believe in or if it aligns itself with an interest or hobby then you will enjoy working with it. And how many people can say that about their present circumstances.

A very appealing part of any kind of affiliate marketing business is the opportunity to work within your home and to leverage all of the benefits that come with it. You get to claim office space and percentages of other utility costs and such. Your home affiliate business means you save time not driving to an office and answering to someone else. Most appealing is that you get to create your own hours. The thing to pay attention to though is regularity and consistency, two things important in any operation. If you’re a morning person and find yourself most creative at 5:00 A.M. then thats when you should work. If you prefer to start at noon, that works as well. If you need to break up your schedule with a run at mid day or a short nap then make that your regimen. Just stick to that regimen and maintain the same consistent approach to business that would be expected from you if you did work for someone else. Regardless of your schedule, running an affiliate program means you get to pick and choose. And at the end of every month when you cash your affiliate commission cheque you get to take satisfaction in the financial success you and your schedule have generated from your own business.

About the Author: