It’s the marketing mix that leads to better demand generation — not a focus on one particular approach. To fill your sales pipeline, it’s best to use a combination of new and traditional marketing techniques. Don’t ignore social media, but at the same time, be sure to build in some direct mail and telemarketing. The key is to pull it all together into an integrated go-to-market strategy.

Instead of thinking about marketing tactics, start with your objectives. What do you want to accomplish? This can include revenue goals, new account wins and existing client penetration. Once you’ve figured out what you want to reach, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to get there.

To develop a pipeline of high-quality leads, you need to define your target market, amass information on it and then establish an open channel of communication. Social media marketing — including blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter streams — can help you do this, leading to a rich house list of sorts that you can use to engage your prospects regularly and in a value-added manner. As communication progresses, you have a great audience for event invitations, direct mail outreach and other methods for advancing them in the sales cycle.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket … and don’t diversify just for the sake of diversification. Develop a marketing program that is integrated and focused on producing results. Your pipeline — and calendar — will show how successful you are in reaching your target market.