Targeted leads are obviously highly sought after, and very lucrative to any business; they are prospective customers who have shown an interest in the product or service which you offer. Finding new highly targeted leads is something that a lot of businesses find difficult, with many businesses hiring experts to help them with their lead generation.
For most businesses, this is probably the best way to go about it, and there are websites such as CubeReviews who help rank lead providers, to make sure you get the ROI you’re looking for with the leads your experts provide.
While hiring an expert to help with your lead generation is often the best bet for a most businesses – due to the time involved when you don’t already have connections in the industry – it’s still possible to find leads by yourself, which is particularly good news for small businesses who perhaps don’t have a budget to pay an expert for help.
Finding the leads yourself has its own benefits too; for example, a lead generation company might sell the same leads to multiple clients, while any leads you find by yourself are entirely yours to sell to, you know that the same lead hasn’t been offered to one of your competitors, which gives you an edge, and a better chance of converting that lead into a sale.
So, where do you start when you’re looking to generate more leads for your business? Well, keep reading to find out! I’ve listed a few fantastic methods of generating leads for your business, all of which you can do by yourself, without the help of a lead generation agency.
Events
Hosting events is a great way to find potential leads. Whatever business you’re in, you more than likely have some information of value which you can share with potential customers for no fee. For example, if you sell insurance, you could provide a seminar on how to get the best deal from your insurance provider, or what pitfalls to look out for when looking for new insurance, or even what type of insurance isn’t as worthwhile as others.
Events such as seminars work well for a number of reasons, first and foremost, everybody who attends is already interested in the service or product which you are providing. Secondly, you get to communicate with a number of potential clients at the same time. Finally, you get to demonstrate your expertise on the subject, and give a personal touch to your business – people will have a face to the business, and be able to ask questions in person. Most people prefer to do business with somebody who they’ve actually met and spoken with, rather than a faceless business on the internet.
Online Marketing
Most people search for businesses; service providers, and products, online. Long gone are the days where people open up the Yellow Pages catalogue to find a plumber. Yet, you would be surprised to learn just how many small businesses don’t have an active website! If you run a small business and don’t have a website (or even if you do have a website, but it’s been neglected) now is the time to make a change!
Creating a website isn’t expensive or particularly difficult, thanks to software such as WordPress, it’s very easy to get a basic website online where you can provide potential customers with information about your business, your contact details, examples of your work, and even provide informational blog posts to show off your expertise.
A wise man once said “build it, and they will come”, unfortunately that’s not the case for a website. You need to be proactive if you want to get visitors and leads coming through your website. This can be done in a number of ways. If your budget allows, you can use Pay-per-click advertising with a platform such as Google AdWords. You decide your target audience, set a budget, and let Google do the rest.
However, the cheapest and most long-term source of bringing in that vital traffic to your website, is by providing quality content for your target audience. This can be done via a blog. Whatever business you’re in, you can create blog posts that provide value and insight to your audience, bring in visitors who are looking for information related to the service you provide, and demonstrate your knowledge in the area, and, therefore, potentially turn them into a lead or a customer.
Social Media
Another great tool for generating leads is social media. Most people have a Facebook account, but there are other great platforms such as Instagram, which require very little effort to maintain, and can provide you with a huge following of prospective leads.
For example, if you own a plumbing business, you could open an Instagram account (including a link to your website and information about your company in your bio – which is displayed at the top of your Instagram profile), and add several new images daily of new bathrooms, bathroom design ideas, swimming pools etc. The chances are, people looking for bathroom design ideas are likely considering having work done on their bathroom, and for that, they’re going to need a plumber!
Now, just because you are showing nice pictures on your Instagram feed, doesn’t mean that they’re going to choose you to do the job, but it does put you one step ahead of your competition, as you already have somewhat of a relationship with that lead.
This can work in a number of industries, for example, a bakery. If you post lovely pictures of custom made cakes every day, the chances are that the audience that connects and follows you, will be people who are interested in either purchasing or learning about creating a particular cake – both of which can be converted into a lead.
Generating leads can be easier than you think, all it takes is time and persistence. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Focus on one of these strategies for 6 months, devote at least 1 hour a day to it, and I can guarantee you, that at the end of those 6 months, you’ll have more leads than you thought was possible with such little time and effort each day!
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