A successful business is always looking for new customers. And those customers start as leads. So getting leads is crucial for business growth. But how do you get more leads?
Leads don’t just show up. You have to work for them. Think about who your potential customers are. What pain points do they have that your business solves? Once you identify your target audience and their needs, you can start lead generation.
What Is Lead Generation?
Leads could be anyone who has expressed an initial interest in your business in some way. Now it’s up to you to cultivate those seeds of interest by delivering value, without pushing a hard sales pitch too soon. If you can establish trust and rapport first, some of those leads will organically develop into sales over time. It’s about being helpful, not salesy, at this early stage. Provide the education, resources and support that will make those potential customers want to ultimately do business with you.
5 Lead Generation Strategies That Work for Small Businesses
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Google Lead Form Extensions
Google Ads lead form extensions allow businesses to capture user information directly from their ads without requiring a landing page. When users click on the extension, a form appears, pre-filled with their Google account details, making it easy for them to submit their information and become a lead.
Benefits
- Effortless Lead Generation: Rather than click through to your site, users can enter their information directly in your ad. Removing extra steps boosts conversion rates. If you sell products with considered purchases, reducing friction is invaluable.
- Targeted, High-Intent Leads: Searchers proactively looking for your offerings have high intent to buy. Lead forms capture their details before they explore alternatives. Strike while the iron is hot!
- Custom Lead Qualification: Tailor form fields to collect data you need to qualify leads. Ask for phone, email, company name or anything else relevant to your business. The richer the information, the better you can prioritize hot leads.
- Seamless CRM Integration: These leads can be integrated with your CRM or email marketing platform for seamless follow-up.
2. Programmatic Display
Programmatic advertising automatically places your ads on relevant websites. Sophisticated technology analyzes data to determine the best locations and times to display your ads to reach interested audiences. Using algorithms, the system buys ad space on an array of sites and serves your ads to the right people at the optimal moments.
Benefits
- Laser Focus: By harnessing user data, ads can pinpoint specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. This precision targeting ensures messaging resonates with high-intent users.
- Optimization on the Fly: Programmatic advertising continually adjusts in real-time based on performance indicators. This maximizes return by automatically optimizing towards conversions.
- Reach at Scale: With programmatic technology, it’s easy to expand campaigns to new sites and apps. This expands your reach to find more of your target audience.
- Ad Format Variety: From standard banners to video takeovers, programmatic supports diverse creative formats. This keeps your message fresh and engaging across placements.
3. Facebook & Instagram Lead Ads
Like Google Ads lead generation assets, Facebook and Instagram Lead Ads offer a seamless way for businesses to capture customer information. With customizable forms embedded directly within the platforms, potential customers can submit their details without navigating away.
Benefits
- Huge Audience: Facebook and Instagram have billions of users from all demographics, giving a vast pool to draw leads from.
- Seamless Experience: By keeping users within the app to submit their info, the process feels natural and they’re more likely to convert.
- Dialed-In Targeting: Advanced options let you zero in on specific groups based on age, location, interests and more to get the right leads.
- Quick Response: Integrating the leads into your CRM or email system means you can follow up ASAP while interest is hot.
4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO boosts your site’s search rankings. It’s about making your pages easy for search engines to crawl, index and understand.
SEO Elements
Keyword Analysis: Finding and targeting relevant search terms people use to find your products and services. This ensures your content matches user intent.
Valuable Content Creation: Producing high-quality, useful content that speaks to the needs and questions of your target audience. Content should provide value and solve problems.
Technical On-Site Optimization: Configuring your website’s technical elements for search engine crawlability and indexation. This includes meta data, headings, site architecture and internal links.
Backlink Building: Earning backlinks from trusted websites to increase domain authority and search engine rankings. Focus on relevant, high-quality links versus quantity.
Local SEO: Tailoring optimization for local searches by including location information throughout your website. Critical for businesses with a physical presence targeting local customers.
5. Email Marketing
Email marketing is a targeted channel for connecting with customers. By sending messages tailored to specific interests, businesses build relationships that drive sales and brand loyalty. Subscribers receive curated content in their inboxes, keeping the company and its products top of mind.
Best Practices
- Cultivate an audience: Focus on building your email list organically through website sign-ups, lead gen offers, and social media channels. Only send emails to people who actively opt-in and want to hear from you. Quality over quantity.
- Get personal: Segment your list and customize email content based on subscriber demographics, interests, and past engagement. Use dynamic fields to include names, locations, preferences, etc. Make subscribers feel recognized.
- Offer value: Don’t make every email a sales pitch. Provide subscribers truly helpful info and resources tailored to what they care about. Give more than you ask for. Educational content and exclusive deals work well.
- Automate intelligently: Set up sequences triggered by user actions, but avoid over-automation. Use automation thoughtfully to send timely, relevant follow-ups based on behaviors. Don’t be robotic.
- Review metrics: Continuously analyze open rates, click-throughs, conversions, and other email performance. Refine subject lines, content, timing, lists, and design based on hard data.
Lead gen specialists can help companies build pipelines of prospects by using data to identify and target the most promising customers. They craft campaigns that attract high-value leads, boosting marketing efficiency. Their expertise in segmentation and analysis drives more conversions and revenue by getting the right message to the right people.
