Firms 'must consider lead generation spending'

Companies must put careful consideration into their marketing budget in order to achieve useful results, it has been suggested.

According to Marketing Sherpa, allocating expenditure for paid search is not an easy task, as firms need to be able to adjust to changes in advertising costs.

A recent Search Marketing Benchmark study found that nearly half (49 per cent) of marketing agencies feel their clients spend too little on paid search, something that may be of interest to businesses looking to improve their lead generation.

This results in many companies terminating campaigns too early and not seeing the full benefit of their investment, prompting the news source to urge such firms to take a number of steps in order to ensure their marketing is as effective as possible.

These include selecting keywords using tools such as Google AdWords, estimating traffic in order to give a projected daily budget and continually monitoring performance after the campaign has been implemented.

Doing so, the news source noted, will give companies "a more accurate picture of how much to spend" on their marketing methods.

Another technique firms may wish to use in order to boost their lead generation is redesigning their website.

This, Marketing Sherpa has stated, can result in increased sales conversions.

Written by Julian Poulter and Copyright "Selling People 2009"