The advertising industry is one of the most exciting fields in the corporate world. The work is brimming with discussions on different possible strategies to provide excellent creative services to clients. The industry is also highly competitive and innovative, which motivates different companies to develop concepts for different events.

The following lists different lead generation activities that advertising agencies execute to generate sales and find prospective clients. In 2010, a research company administered a survey for the most efficient lead generation strategy. In a longitudinal study, web-based marketing initiatives were studied. However, the survey showed that traditional stints still dominated the list. Such initiatives include direct mail, telemarketing, live events, newsletters, traditional TV, newspapers, and radio print ads.

Despite the dominance of traditional efforts, the survey results displayed a sudden shift towards web-based marketing strategies. E-mail marketing out blazes all other schemes, as it did in the 2009 survey. It is interesting to note that the respondents increased from 59% to 61.5% last year, making a 2.5% percentage increase in e-mail marketing usage. This digital based strategy is abruptly followed by the rise in Live Events or exhibits with 45%.

Moreover, web site registration increased in usage, moving up from fourth place in 2009, to third in 2010. Webinars or seminars carried out online via streaming made a giant leap from the sixth post to the fourth.The research agency noted that last year was a breakthrough year for digital strategies, as it was the first time in the history of MLM business leads that social media grabbed a spot in the top ten most efficient strategies.

As digital strategies went higher up the ladder, traditional media saw a huge plummet in terms of usage. Direct mail for example, had a 29.5% share of usage from companies in 2009, but it went down to 17.3%—one of the biggest falls in all MLM business leads surveys. This rise and fall of the different lead generation strategies is attributed to changes in consumer behavior. More consumers every year are relying on the internet for information; therefore different multilevel marketing companies and other businesses follow this trend and adapt more internet based lead generation efforts.

Lastly, while new media gains have been gradually ascending the ladder, it is still interesting to note that it has not affected impact and quality in MLM business leads. However, one important trend that researchers have noticed is that marketing agencies are focusing more on determining the more apt channel where return of investments is more feasible.