An Internet Marketing Lead Generation Ecosystem

Lead generation is an online marketing term that’s become part of the lexicon. But what is it? And how do you do it?

For small and mid-sized businesses especially, it seems like some new system or strategy for generating leads comes out every week. It’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Our friends at Straight North have created a handy infographic that puts all the lead generation steps and processes in one place, which they call a ‘lead generation ecosystem.’ Now you can finally see how it’s all supposed to fit together. With this handy tool, maybe, just maybe, you can make a marketing checklist and finally start doing it.

Here’s an explanation from Brad Shorr, Straight North’s director of content strategy:

Brad Shorr Introduces the Lead Generation Ecosystem Infographic

The plains of Africa wouldn’t be the same without the lion at the top of the food chain because it would put that ecosystem out of balance. Without the lion, its plant-eating prey would become overpopulated, and the food supply would be wiped out before it had a chance to grow back. In an ecosystem, every organism plays its part in keeping the entire environment in balance, which is why it can help to look at an Internet marketing campaign the same way.

Here at Straight North, a PPC agency, we’ve developed the following infographic as a means of illustrating how a successful lead generation campaign works.

Taken individually, the many components that go into such a campaign might seem less significant, but the interconnected nature of a campaign means each one is vitally important to the overall effectiveness of the campaign. Without any one of these elements, a campaign may wither and die. Internet marketers need to be aware of all of these components, and understand how they fit together in order to have a truly successful effort.

Whether you’re building a new campaign from the ground up or fine-tuning an existing one, this flowchart can help you identify all of the individual elements that make up the ecosystem of lead generation.

Author Bio:

Brad Shorr is Director of Content Strategy at Straight North, a Chicago-based SEO, PPC and web design company. With more than 25 years of experience in sales and marketing, Brad has been featured in leading online publications including Moz, Entrepreneur and Forbes.