Lead Generation

It can often get tiresome constantly trying to contact people, attempting to attract more customers. That’s why it’s important to create a marketing platform where customers discover your business for themselves, through natural interest.

Key to sparking interest in potential customers, is something called Lead Generation.

“Leads,” are people that show interest in your business. Thus, “generating” more leads will hopefully produce more customers.

Your goal in lead generation should be to develop organic discovery of your business, then provide captivating content to sustain their interest.

Some tips to help you get started…

  1. Blogs and Social Media

Creating a blog, and a variety of social media platforms, is a cornerstone in generating interest in your business, and its services. Create a blog with unique posts, consistently add new ones, and people will be drawn to your website to see what new ideas you have to share. Along with a blog, developing a variety of different social media platforms will allow greater outreach, build stronger, longer-lasting relationships with past customers, and make it easier for new, potential customers to find your business.

An important reminder: Instead of focusing on simply creating a large number of blog posts and social media platforms, it is better to focus on creating interesting, high quality content, while also making sure to take the time to engage directly with people on social media. Quantity is an important factor, but always focus on quality first!

(See a post about how to blog correctly or one about how to social media)

  1. Hook on Your Homepage

A “hook” is something that will grab someone’s attention right away, and spark interest. There are multiple ways to achieve this, some might include:

  • Excerpts from your blog (make sure to change them every now and then, so there is always a new one for people to see when they get to your homepage)
  • Customer testimonials—this is a great way to showcase your good reputation amongst past customers
  • Coupons and promotional offers—providing these on your homepage increases the chances that someone will choose your business over your competitors. Also, everyone just loves coupons!
  • Videos—this is arguably the best way to hook people who visit your website. It doesn’t have to be an overly complex video, just a simple, short piece can attract a lot of attention. Some ideas include:
    • Instructional videos related to your business’s services
    • Videos of completed projects, and their process
    • Personal stories about the development of your business, or why you got involved in your specific industry

  1. Website Navigation

Once someone reaches your website, it is key to make your website easily navigable. Put the most important aspects directly on your homepage, but make it obvious where to find different parts of your website by having a main menu.

  1. Target Audience

What is a target audience? A target audience outlines the types of people that will most likely show interest in your business. Therefore, if you want to be efficient in your lead generation campaign, you need to be able to outline, and understand, the types of people that will potentially show interest in your business.

A few easy ways to start this process:

  • study your current customer base
  • understand the demographics (ex: age, location, gender, income level) of the people that might find your services useful
  • research the best places to reach these types of people

Knowing your business’s target audience can prove to be extremely time-saving, and cost-effective, in your marketing campaign.

  1. Customer Information Forms

Include forms on your website for visitors to fill out to receive exclusive updates on new posts, promotions, and business news. Giving your customers exclusive access to these things by providing their contact information (usually just an email) will give them a reason to stay with your business, and continue to revisit your website.

Make sure not to ask for too much information though! Doing so can result in less people willing to sign up.

  1. Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is the age-old way of attracting new customers. The important aspect of paid advertising is to know where to invest, which is why understanding your target audience is so critical.

  1. Contact Information

Put your contact information everywhere! I know this might seem pretty straightforward and intuitive, but it can be easily overlooked. Your business’s contact information should be clearly visible on your website, and social media pages. There you have it, seven ways to generate more leads. Starting with these seven things will provide your business with a much more rich and engaging online presence, which in turn will draw in more potential customers.

Just remember, lead generation is about turning people who show interest in your business, into real customers; therefore, your website, blog, and social media must provide captivating information, and posts, in order to consistently sustain this interest. Once you have captured this interest, then it is time to convert them into recurring customers, which is called “Lead Conversion,” and will be explained in my next post.