A great deal of investment is made in generating leads for channel partners which operates in highly competitive technology solutions space. There are several tools, if used effectively can translate into intelligent generation of leads and hence deals. One should look at attracting leads rather than pursuing them for business.

The world has become a smaller place, courtesy the World Wide Web. Given the changing generational dynamics and the ever expanding use of the Web, it is believed that the Web 2.0 is an effective way to build the community, develop relationships and achieve the objective of serving the customer where they are. Online marketing is a widely used tool to generate leads. A successful generation of qualified leads helps in:  Build brand awareness, Showcase your products, Drive Traffic to your company website, Manage and respond to leads with enhanced reporting tools. Through online marketing the partners make extensive use of the available tools for getting web users to purchase a product or service from a website.

Online advertising is also gaining popularity over the time as more and more people are getting savvy. Channel Partners have been shifting their direct marketing budgets into the online zone. The internet allows for the development of an extremely targeted lead generation campaign offering geographic, demographic, and contextual targeting services. Although the online channel is growing extremely rapidly, with search marketing and pay per click (PPC) advertising commanding the bulk of advertisers' online budgets, the demand for highly skilled search marketers remains high. Similarly, a number of software tools (such as bid management software) have emerged, allowing individual search marketers to more efficiently manage their paid search campaigns. In recent times, there has been a rapid increase in online lead generation - banner and direct response advertising.

The rapid growth is primarily driven by the advertiser demand for ROI focused marketing, a trend that is expected to accelerate during a recession.
Another mode of creating quality leads is through sms campaigns as it reaches the target audience directly and makes them aware of the offerings of channel partners. A regular update about the market scenario and constant touch with the potential customers might end up on a deal out of the lead. Celebrities also add to the credibility of the brands. A marketing campaign involving celebrity brand ambassador ensure successful generation of lead. Advertisements in print magazines alongside online ads is a great way to have active leads in the pipeline. Sponsoring events like exhibitions, fairs etc. generate huge awareness thereby pushing leads closer to the partners.

Though there are several tools of creating a funnel of leads, but the differentiator is the innovative usage of these tools to pick quality leads.