Just how powerful can an online newsletter be in lead generation marketing efforts? Probably a lot more than you think. Gone are the days when a newsletter's main purpose was mostly for internal communication within a company. With the advent of the Internet, it has transformed into a much more effective marketing initiative, giving a company the ability to attain more subscribers while delivering with a relatively minimal investment.

A newsletter is a phenomenal lead generation marketing tool that serves many purposes for both the publisher and the subscriber.

Lead generation marketing is far from a new concept. The approach taken in finding these leads, however, has evolved significantly over the past several years.

Welcome to the world of online marketing.

Businesses are now realizing the Internet's potential to efficiently and effectively market to new customers. Through the use of online surveys, questionnaires, and sign-up options for newsletters on a website, a business can collect valuable marketing information about potential customers and later target them for specific marketing promotions. This method of lead generation marketing develops long-term relationships with potential customers and ensures that the business is marketing to the right people.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, not really. Having all the tools for lead generation marketing on a website is only part of the equation. If a business can't get the right people to its website, there won't be much information to collect.

This is where Lumaganda comes into play. A lead generation and Internet marketing system developed by Vancouver-based custom software developer, Illuminated Technologies, utilizes RSS feeds as a lead generation marketing tool and ensures that content is the key driver in traffic to a particular website.

Content is imperitive.

By delivering relevent, updated content with specific keywords, the Lumaganda system takes online marketing to a whole new level and drives the portal sites ranking further up in natural search results. This is possible due to the number of inbound links to the portal site, which indicates to search engines that the site is a popular location. This is extremely important as most users will not look past the first two pages of a search result, possibly leaving a companies website lost in cyberspace. With Lumaganda, there you are, front and center, making your website one of the first a potential customer will see and visit.

Content also builds relationships. A website showcasing relevant content is considered by the viewer to be reputable and therefore helps builds a positive relationship. The user feels the website has added-value and therefore leads to a possible bookmark of the site, a revisit, and ultimately that user leaving his/her contact information.

Still unsure? Here's an example of how it works.

Bob goes to MSN search and types in the keywords "Lead Generation Marketing" as he is interested in finding new potential customers for his business. What shows up? The top sixteen search results all lead back to lumaganda.com. After reading the content of the site, he is intrigued with the concept and would like to learn more so he signs up for the newsletter. And there it is, as simple as that, a lead is generated.

This marketing tool gives businesses the opportunity to reach out to their target market over the Internet with far greater efficiency than before. Sales and marketing teams can target a more select group of individuals and streamline their lead generation marketing efforts. Conversion rates on leads generated by Lumaganda are higher than cold contacts because the potential buyer is prequalified. Both the potential customer and seller are getting what they want: information.

Lumaganda lead generation marketing - a win-win situation.

It's an old adage, but it still rings true today. Successful marketing strategies are centered around building solid relationships with customers. If you take care of them, they'll take care of you. The same can be said when talking lead generation marketing.

Today's business marketing rules differ from in years past. Those rules that once focused predominantly on local and regional business marketing have now gone global, thanks in large part to the creation of the Internet. Internet technology has brought the business world closer together and nowadays, it's just as easy to conduct business across the world as it is to conduct business across town. This translates into a much larger base of potential leads for a business to target and new techniques in lead generation marketing.

No matter what online business you are building, the importance of lead generation marketing as part of the overall marketing strategy cannot be overlooked. You will need leads if you are ever going to make sales. It is imperative for a website to have a steady flow of qualified leads to pursue.

It's all about the lead. Not just any lead, but the right lead. So how do you find the right lead? It all starts by building relationships with users.

The first step is actually getting visitors to your site. You know your website is out there on the Internet, but do others? If they don't, it is essentially an ineffective marketing tool. If you are relying on search engines to draw attention to your website for lead generation marketing, GOOD LUCK! Unfortunately, unless you are a sponsored link, you have very little control on where you appear in the search results. You could end up so far down on the list, it will be virtually impossible for someone to find you.

The second step is having a value proposition for the customer that generates interest. Once you get them there, you want to keep them and ensure they visit again and share your website with others. This can be achieved by delivering content that the user finds both relative and informative. A relationship is built and the customer will be more apt to submitting information for future promotions.

Once these two steps have been achieved, a relationship begins and you are well on your way to maximizing your lead generation marketing efforts.  Lumaganda's lead generation marketing system integrates these activities to ensure you get the best leads possible.  

Last month, Illuminated Technologies released a new custom-software solution known as Mobile Marketing. The project was originally named “Lumaganda Mobile,” and was to be an added lead-generation feature to the Lumaganda lead generation and Internet marketing system. However, the program was later renamed to a much more general name, Mobile Marketing.

The Mobile Marketing solution began with the launch of three applications: a mobile financial calculator, a mobile version of Sudoku, and a mobile slideshow viewer that provided a summary of the best-selling book, Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Together, the mobile applications were to provide companies with a means through which they could generate leads. The applications are developed and branded (or watermarked, for the more subtle marketing approach), then released as free downloads to the mass market. Users then spread the link around, creating a demand for the product. Using the Internet as a channel of distribution, the Mobile Marketing project was intended to provide companies with a cost-effective means of developing brand-awareness.

Illuminated Technologies intends to add additional features to the Mobile Marketing program. Amongst them is the focus on lead generation. Hosting the applications on a server and requiring users to enter their contact information before downloading provides companies with a cost-effective means of gathering leads. If the applications are in-line with the company's business model (e.g. Texas Instruments releasing a free mobile calculator), then it also becomes a way of gathering a database of relevant leads to be the target of subsequent marketing campaigns.

Another lead generation feature to be implemented involves a user being able to send the download link directly to a friend via the application.

The Mobile Marketing project has brought a great deal of attention to Illuminated Technologies as it brings together the company's recent focus on lead generation marketing with its ability to design custom-software solutions. The custom-software developer intends to releasing 9 new version of LumaSlides in the upcoming weeks.

Six weeks ago, Illuminated Technologies, developed the concept of Lumaganda – a lead generation and Internet marketing system. The idea was to develop a lead generation and Internet marketing system capable of providing quantifiable results to search engine marketing. Three weeks ago a Lumaganda site was launched. Today, results have shown that the lead generation and Internet marketing system has already made its way to the top on MSN Search.

With search engine marketing growing in popularity, companies are constantly on the search for new lead generation marketing tools. Vancouver-based custom software developer, Illuminated Technologies, recently developed a lead generation and Internet marketing solution, Lumaganda. Lumaganda's automated lead generation marketing features allow the system to generate business leads on an on-going basis. However, the question remains as to how Illuminated Technologies plans to market this system to its target market?

The answer: mobile marketing. Lumaganda's developer, Illuminated Technologies, recently launched a new mobile marketing. The service involves developing custom software applications for companies that double as lead generation marketing material. Illuminated Technologies has launched a mobile marketing campaign for Lumaganda by releasing three mobile applications for lead generation purposes: a financial calculator; a mobile version of the popular math puzzle, Sudoku; and a business slides application.

Jaclyn Chan, Marketing Coordinator for Illuminated Technologies discusses the potential of this application for businesses utilizing a mobile marketing approach for lead generation.

Q. Explain how LumaSlides works.

A. LumaSlides, is a “PowerPoint-like” application that allows an individual to cycle through a variety of slides filled with content. With this application, customers can create user manuals, tutorials, or even meeting notes and display them in a form that is much more graphically enticing than your average mobile documents. We've chosen to market LumaSlides by using a summarized version of Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Q. What is the “marketing” element behind this product?

A. LumaSlides allows a company to watermark of add branding elements onto the slides and menus. It can be a direct marketing approach, or an indirect approach. For Lumaganda, we chose to use an indirect approach and showcase a best-selling book as a selling point to generating leads. The Lumaganda branding elements are subtle, and are picked up by readers when they actually read through the chapter summaries.

Q. How does the application work with lead generation marketing?

A. For Lumaganda, we've released our link publicly. People have linked to our download page and article. The aim is to draw in people with the book, interest them in the application through a hands-on interaction, and invite them to contact us through a call to action on the application. We're also anticipating that people will go back to the article or search for it on Google, and find their way back to Lumaganda 's main page. From there, Lumaganda has lead generation features in place that attract users who are interested.

Q. What is your target market for this campaign?

A. We're looking to generate leads, but the point of this marketing campaign is to attract businesses who want to use this application. We spread it by releasing the product to the mass market, but the call to action and the leads we'll generate will be people who are interested in building their own version.