A recent lead generation benchmark survey conducted by marketing research firm Ascend2 and Research Partners is worth paying attention to for the insights gathered from 50,000 U.S. and international marketing leaders representing a wide range of company types, sizes and locations.

That is what is known as a statistically significant survey. 

When queried on the most effective tactics these companies deploy to generate leads, the top 3 most successful were:

1. Email marketing (49%)

2. Content marketing (41%)

3. Search engine optimization (39%)

There were others on the list, including social media marketing (which you could actually lump into content marketing), but these were clearly the top 3 by a substantial margin.

So if you are serious about lead generation, you should have these three tactics already working for you.  But do you?