As an owner or sales leader at this time of year, you usually showcase your products and services at the annual conferences. But, this year is different from previous years, industry conferences are closing their doors. Many companies are making adjustments to current times. And with a tighter budget for this year, you'll need a more economical, but just as effective way of filling your sales funnel.

If your company is struggling to generate leads, you're not the only one. According to Jumplead.com, 68% of companies find lead generation one of their biggest challenges.

So what is the solution to generating leads in these times?

Here's where you come up with what you think is the master plan, paying for a list of leads.

So, what advantages does paying for leads have?

One of the attractions of paying for your leads is that you can get a list within a short time of signing up with a company. Most PPL companies will also generate a consistent and steady stream of leads on your behalf using several channels, which reduces your workload.

As a business operating in a tightly competitive niche industry, you may not have a strong web presence, any leads generated from your website will be minimal, making the temptation to go the PPL route much more appealing.

You can choose between exclusive and non-exclusive leads, so you can be the sole owner of a list or you have the option to share non-exclusive leads with 3-5+ people which reduces your costs.

And when the pressure is on, and time is of the essence, paying for leads seems like the only viable option-but is it? Before taking the pay for leads route, let's take a look if there is another effective solution out there.

The negatives of Paid Lead Acquisition

Firstly, any list of leads that you’ve bought has never had contact with you or your company.

Often leads have opted in on some other site-and have not opted-in to hear or read more about a service or solution offered by your company. Therefore, any attempt to call them, to email them will not be welcomed or be seen as offering them any value.

Can you imagine being at work, and you are in the middle of an important meeting with a client or member of your team; your secretary puts the sales call on hold, sounds the alarm “Sales Call! ”, you respond ‘Ok, just put him or her through to my voicemail.”

ROI of Organic Lead Acquisition

When you consider paid lead acquisition or organic lead acquisition, ROI will always be at the top of your priorities. The great news is if you optimize your website and make it easier for customers to find you, leads will come to you, rather than you going to them. You can do this by creating and sharing a blog of valuable content on relevant social channels, including Calls for Action or videos on your landing pages, you will turn more visitors into leads.

Did you know that content marketing, any type of organic lead generation tools generate 3X as many prospects as paying for leads (outbound marketing) but cost 62% less?

Impact.com says not only will organic- lead generation “stretch your budget further”, you will be meeting the audience's need for the content they value, “and they feel more like a partner than a target”.

Choose engagement over the paid-leads interruption

If your prospect has never indicated any interest in your company by visiting your website, viewed one of your webinars, read one of your blogs indicating they'd like to know more about a service or product; then you’re interrupting them!

If they’ve never received an email from your company opted in to receive more contact with you, there is a chance your message will be flagged as spam, which isn’t good for your business.

Increased qualified leads

Let's say one of customers' put the phrase 'online product conferences' into Google, on one of the first pages was a blog by your firm on this topic; people trust search engines judgment when it comes to “serving up content that meets their wants and needs”.

And, if your blog or any other form of content comes up on top of the search results, your customer will be more willing to purchase from you then when receiving a cold call or clicking through a paid ad. The word that needs emphasizing here is ‘trustworthiness’, and trust means customers are more likely to purchase from your firm!

A recent report by Salesforce, shows that 80% of customers say that the experience offered by a company is as [if not more] important as its products and services.

Through organic lead acquisition such as an optimized, easy-to-navigate website, well-written and valuable written content that focuses on the needs and wants of customers, and through videos, Call to Actions on Landing pages provides an experience that customers value, making it increasingly likely that your customers will opt in to making a purchasing decision with your company

It may take work, take more ingenuity, may take longer too, but organic lead generation is always better than paying for leads.