Lead generation is one of the most critical aspects of running a small business, and often one of the most elusive, too. If your business could use a welcome sales boost to start off the New Year on the right footing, these four quick win, low-cost strategies will help you bring in the leads that you need.
1. Social media advertising:
Social media is an excellent source of leads for both B2B and B2C businesses, but acquiring a steady flow of organic leads through social media can take time to build momentum. What we are looking at here are quick wins, so if you haven’t done so already, now is as good a time as any to dip your toe into the world of social media advertising.
Fortunately, promoting your business through paid content and adverts on social media has never been easier. All the main platforms now offer a straightforward paid advertising service. Use social media analytics to identify trending issues and conversations relevant to your products and services, and use this insight to create a strong advert that addresses your customer’s pain points, answers their questions, or builds your brand visibility. If you have the time and budget, you can even set up separate ad campaigns for each of your different buyer stages and monitor the results using analytics tools. This is a good way to boost your short-term website traffic, generate leads, and increase brand recognition – and the results from social media advertising build cumulatively over time, the more you do.
2. Reach out to lapsed customers:
Almost every business has an address book or CRM full of lapsed customers, people who did business with you once upon a time but have never purchased since, but have still kept up their subscription to your email list. It’s very possible that some of these contacts may be willing to hear from you again to address a niggling problem, so a quick lead generation strategy is to reach out to them with a bespoke email, wishing them a happy New Year, reminding them what your business does, and perhaps offering them an exclusive content incentive or discount to encourage them back to the checkout.
3. Ask for referrals:
If your new leads have dried up, a good way of getting a few more through the door is by asking your current network for referrals. Many of your customers will know people in similar companies who are looking for your services, so asking for referrals through your email marketing strategy and social media may yield a few valuable inbound leads. Christmas and New Year are great times to ask for referrals, too, because many business owners use this time of year to consider new ways of addressing problems and saving money for the year ahead. It may be that your referral comes at the right place and at the right time to get your new customer.
4. Create a lead magnet:
Quality content is the key to attracting potential customers and generating leads, and this goes beyond the content you publish on your blog, website, YouTube channel and social feeds. Lead magnets are free content giveaways that website visitors can access in exchange for their email address. It’s a win-win scenario for everyone – the visitor gets a valuable e-book or guide that gives them insight into their search query, and you get the opportunity to nurture the new lead with even more content until they become a loyal customer! The good news from a quick win scenario is that lead magnets are fairly quick and straightforward to produce. Simply look through your list of most popular search terms, or any FAQs you’ve received from customers over the past couple of months, and create a compelling piece of content that addresses this issue.
If you’ve got the time and expertise to write and format a new unique ebook then great. If not, you can always outsource this to an experienced content agency such as JDR. If a customer arrives on your website via a search query and is then presented with a free downloadable e-book that directly addresses the problem, there’s a good chance they’ll complete the form in order to get it.
Find out more
There are dozens of ways to increase your lead generation potential and draw new prospects to your business. Some of these take time to mature and others can bear fruit within weeks or even days. To find out more about small business lead generation, please contact JDR today by clicking here.
