You hear the term “lead marketing” all the time, but probably don’t know what it means, or how can you start making money from lead marketing. Let’s find out!
Lead marketing in 2022
In recent years, all kinds of different affiliate marketing schemes have seen the light of day. This is purely due to the rise of the internet, the rise of technological developments, and the fact that more and more people are engaged in online services.
Thus, things like affiliate marketing and lead marketing have actually become a popular choice.
In other words, it’s a business that a relatively large number of people enjoy doing.
What is striking about these two forms of marketing is that these two methods also go hand in hand with each other. Both marketing models actually reinforce each other and can be used perfectly together.
In this article, we’ll concentrate on lead marketing.
We’ll discuss how it is possible to earn (a lot of) money with lead marketing. We’ll focus on two parties;
- on affiliate marketers
- and on advertisers.
Both parties benefit from this marketing style, as both parties can make a lot of money.
How exactly?
Read on to find out!
What is lead marketing, exactly?
First of all, we would like to discuss what lead marketing is.
When we search the internet for the definition of lead marketing, we don’t come across many definitions. There is actually not a single definition online that perfectly matches what lead marketing is exactly.
Ultimately, I decided to come up with my own definition of lead marketing.
What is lead marketing?
Lead marketing refers to the process of gathering as many potential buyers (leads) as possible and then selling them on to another party.
In fact, lead marketing is about collecting relevant data from potential customers. You collect this data for a specific company. Afterward, you can ‘sell’ all this collected data to that company.
Depending on the agreements made, you can earn a lot of money by collecting leads.
You can even make perfect use of your own affiliate website to collect leads.
For example, you make your visitors fill in a form on your affiliate website. After that, you forward this data to the advertiser (automatically).
You see this method often on the “request a free quote” websites or landing pages.
Examples of lead marketing
You have learned about what lead marketing is. In theory, it sounds extremely attractive and promising, but is it in practice?
Later in this article, I would like to discuss how both affiliate marketers and advertisers can make a great deal of money from lead generation.
Before we go into it, however, I would like to present some lead marketing examples. With these examples, it will become even more evident what exactly lead marketing is and how you can implement it.
Moreover, the examples below clearly demonstrate the connection between lead marketing and affiliate marketing.
Example A: Solar Panels Affiliate Website
Imagine that you have started a big affiliate website related to solar panels. On this website, you discuss (among other things), which solar panels you can choose from, what the advantages of the different variations and how you can install solar panels yourself.
However, in a comprehensive blog post, you also discuss why it is better to hire a professional to have the solar panels installed for you.
To give the visitor a helping hand, you immediately offer them the opportunity to request a (free) quote. They only have to do three things:
- Input their name
- Enter their email address
- Post their preferences regarding solar panels
As an affiliate marketer, you will receive this information and automatically forward this data to multiple solar panels’ providers and installers.
You have come into contact with them through an affiliate network so that you can ultimately offer this service to the visitors of your website.
The crux of this example is in the following: when requesting a quote, the visitor agrees that the companies may contact him/her.
With that permission, you provide the professional installers of solar panels with a lead; you actually bring supply and demand together.
Example B: Offer a trial subscription to the newspaper
Do you have a large blog where you discuss news in a specific niche? Do you enhance that news with items such as ‘the 10 best… you can buy right now’?
In that case, you will undoubtedly place affiliate links in those articles so that you can start earning money passively.
You can also start earning money in yet another way at the same time. You can also offer a trial subscription for a specific newspaper on your website. Of course, this is interesting if your website’s subject matches current events; after all, current affairs are discussed in the newspapers.
You can earn a lot of money with this kind of lead marketing. It is very valuable for newspapers if you can deliver leads this way. You bring the visitor to your website who uses this trial subscription.
The newspaper also obtains the data of the relevant lead through your affiliate website.
After the trial subscription has ended, the newspaper will contact the lead.
Naturally, the newspaper only has one goal in mind; ensure that the lead is transformed into a paying customer.
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How to make a lead?
When you ask yourself how to make a lead, you basically ask yourself, how can you take a potential customer or client and get his email address. Once you get an email address from a potential customers, you can congratulate yourself, you just made a lead. Some leads are easier to make than others, for example, in the B2B sector, getting leads is significantly more difficult, than in the B2C sector.
You can make a lead by offering something in return (such as white paper or an eBook).
5 Easy ways how to make a lead?
- Offer a white paper or a report for download. (Free, in exchange for email address)
- Offer a free ebook.
- Offer a free consultation session.
- Offer a free webinar or training.
- Offer a website analysis report.
How can affiliate marketers earn money with lead marketing?
Hopefully, with the help of the above examples, the principle of lead marketing has become more transparent.
Now we can discuss the possibilities of lead marketing for an affiliate marketing niche.
As an affiliate marketer, you now have the choice of an unimaginable amount of promotional opportunities.
You can start promoting products, you can promote online services, and you can, therefore, gather leads.
If you want to gather leads, you first need to find a suitable campaign.
You will find these campaigns in various affiliate networks. You can make a decision between different campaigns and providers. After that, you can tailor your website to this campaign/provider.
If you eventually manage to gather leads through your website, you will receive an affiliate commission.
How high is this commission?
That depends entirely on the deal. For example, you can receive a commission per lead submitted. You can also receive a bonus for every lead that will convert to a customer.
The value of the commission also differs per network and per advertiser.
In this respect, this form of affiliate marketing does not differ from offering physical products.
After all, the amount of the commission also depends on the provider and advertiser.
The only notable difference is that leads are easier to get. It’s easier to convince a person to submit a FREE quote than persuade a person to buy something.
What should affiliate marketers consider?
In theory, lead marketing undoubtedly sounds super easy.
And it is.
However, there are a few points to consider. We have already mentioned the most important point of attention above; you have to meet many quality requirements.
Why is that? Well, an advertiser only works with affiliate marketers who are a good fit for their business. On top of that, they only do business with parties they can rely on. As an affiliate marketer, you must meet many requirements, and you have to continue meeting these requirements all along.
Therefore, make sure that all content on your website remains very up-to-date and accurate.
For example, do you state that the visitor can ultimately receive a 50% discount via the customer’s trial subscription?
Make sure the visitor actually gets 50% off.
However, did that deal expire, and is the advertiser only offering a 30% discount at that time? This may be called “false advertisement” and assume you are phishing for leads.
The visitor is not happy with the false advertisement, and the advertiser loses a potential client.
The moral of this story; is that as an affiliate marketer, you bear a lot of responsibility in lead marketing.
Advertisers set high standards for affiliate marketers and approve them manually because they want to make sure they only partner with trustworthy affiliates.
You have to be:
- constantly active,
- continuously optimize your website,
- add fresh content
- stay in constant contact with the advertisers.
As an advertiser, how can you earn money with lead marketing?
As an advertiser, you really only have one concern; obtain as many leads as possible through the affiliate marketers’ agency.
However, these leads must be of high quality.
As an advertiser, if you want to earn tangible income through lead marketing, you have to be very watchful and critical.
You have to determine which affiliate marketers you want to work with and how you want to do that.
If you have partnerships with affiliate marketers, you are actually in a good position.
The leads will come to you automatically – you only have to finish the work.
You do this by proactively approaching the leads and offering them benefits and new offers.
Some leads may not expect that you, as an advertiser, contact them. To limit that element of surprise, you must encourage confidence in the lead. Always remain friendly, explain things patiently, and emphasize the benefits that your company’s offer will bring them.
Attention, advertisers!
Can you make a lot of money with lead marketing?
As an advertiser – certainly!
However, to achieve that, you have to take into account a few things.
It is crucial that you only work with the right affiliate marketers.
This will undoubtedly take up some time in the beginning. You will undoubtedly also contact affiliate marketers who do not adhere to the terms and conditions you’ve set. You’ll need to constantly monitor your affiliates and check their landing pages.
This may sound like a lot of extra hassle. Still, suppose you want to make sure you get only high-quality, relevant leads. In that case, it’s essential to check the affiliate’s landing page and see if they do not offer unfair incentives or false advertisements, just to hook the leads up.
As you will have more and more affiliate marketing partners, you will eventually be able to choose, weed out the unsuitable ones, and only work with top partners.
After all, the affiliate marketer must be motivated to gather leads for you.
Are your conditions good enough? Do you pay well?
If not, the affiliate marketers will simply choose to promote your competitor’s campaign.
Conclusion
Lead marketing offers many opportunities for both affiliate marketers and advertisers. If you want to take advantage of these possibilities, you must pay close attention to the criteria mentioned above for lead generation.
If you can do that, it is absolutely possible to make money with lead marketing. In fact, you can start making quite a lot. Good luck!
Last Updated on October 15, 2020
