Stop working on leads for your business with minimal results. When you figure out what works you can formulate a lead generation plan. The goal is to find the lead generation activities to come together for you to create a repeatable lead generation machine. Here you will discover many ideas to help you head in the right direction to your own system for securing leads.
Know going in that lead generation is a time consuming and ongoing process. It is not a set-it-and-forget-it situation. You need to work at it. It takes building trust and authority in the markets in which you sell. Be patient and work hard and you will really reap the rewards, eventually.
Once you get going, things really can start to work out for you exponentially, although figuring out how to generate leads is not easy by any means. Do not get discouraged.
Remember marketing is more than just lead generation. Do not spend more than a few hours trying to find leads. The rest of your time should be spent learning more about your field, bettering your skills, addressing customer retention and actually making money, of course.
Here are 31 lead generation tips, tricks, and tactics to help you get in a lead-generating mindset. Pay special attention to number 14. This is probably the lead generation activity that is avoided the most and actually generates the best leads.
- Incorporate social media into your efforts to generate more leads. Many people do all of their online browsing through social media sites these days, so that is where your business needs to be. It is not going away anytime soon. It should be embraced by every marketer. It can be a major part of your lead generation strategy.
- Build your presence on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the most business-friendly social media channel out there. People use LinkedIn to network and even broker new deals. It is the perfect place to create lead generation opportunities for you and your company. Invest in a Premium membership as it will allow you to see everyone who has viewed your profile.
- Ask your current customers to pass the word about your company to those they know. Your current loyal customers are the best lead generation asset you have.
- Develop landing pages for your potential leads with a strong call-to-action. Put that together with your contact form and you can easily generate leads.
- The best way to generate leads is to ask people you know for referrals. It does not matter if you are a wedding planner or a car salesman, let people know what you do and ask if they know anyone who may need your help.
- You are more likely to generate real leads when you are established as trustworthy. Do not do anything cheesy or exaggerated in an effort to get attention. Rather, give your consumers a sense of value when it comes to your offers. Be transparent and you should find people think of you as more trustworthy.
- Consider throwing a neighborhood party to let your neighbors know what you do. For example, if you are looking for leads as a dentist, you can have a barbecue and hand out toothbrushes with your number on them.
- Develop content marketing that will help you generate leads. Offer potential customers special white papers to get their contact information.
- Check out local events in your area and see if there is a way you can use them to generate leads. If there is a cycling race, buy a sponsorship package, for example. You might be able to get yourself on TV talking about it, or in the paper, or just talk to people who are there to watch. You definitely should do a press release about any event you participate in.
- When trying to optimize your lead generation efforts, it is important to remember that visitors can happen upon any page of your site. Therefore, placing complete contact information and sales info on every page should be a top priority! If you consider every page a potential landing page, you understand what the visitor needs to see there.
- If you take a class talk to the other students. Maybe they can use what you’re selling.
- Be sure to maximize your use of social media. If you don’t have enough followers, you can hold a giveaway to boost your numbers.
- Mark lead generation activities down on your calendar. Bombarding potential leads with reading material will send them running in the other direction. Creating a schedule makes you come off as more friendly and professional. This can keep you from making pitches that are useless to the same prospective leads constantly.
- Do not be afraid to pick up the phone. A lot of people get scared of making a call to generate a lead. Do not be one of these people.
- People love the word “free.” Free spreads by word of mouth and social media as well as in other ways. Free can mean free giveaways, free trials, free consultations and more. So, think about how you can incorporate the word free into your business objectives and goals for generating new leads.
- Don’t be afraid to cut certain tactics that aren’t performing as they should. Even if a tactic is generating a ton of leads, it may be generating leads that are not that strong.
- Customer referrals are one thing, and a referral program can definitely work. But, take things a step further by asking your customer base to provide video testimonials.
- Your direct mail piece can be as creative as you can imagine. Think outside the box to get the attention of potential customers with a captivating direct mail piece.
- Consider live chat as a valuable tool for generating real leads for your business. When you offer potential customers the opportunity to ask live questions and get immediate answers, you can really influence buying decisions.
- Target the lead gathering you are doing so people that are interested in your service or product can take advantage of it. If you’re looking for a broad audience, generic leads are fine.
- If you have kids in school, trade referrals with other parents. For example, if your child is in karate classes, talk to the parents there and ask them what they do for a living.
- Test your lead generation marketing campaigns. Sometimes simply changing a call-to-action or offer will generate better leads. You won’t know unless you test. You should always be testing something. This can have immediate and lasting effects on the leads being generated by your company.
- Know what you expect from your leads. Do you know what you want if you plan to purchase leads? Is your promotion targeting certain ages or economic levels? This is important to know before you drop a lot of money on leads. You want to know who your leads are before you create your promotions.
- Never overlook or underestimate a lead source. You will have many avenues for gathering leads such as buying or self-gathering or even word-of-mouth.
- As you consider who to exchange links with, think about your local status. You have no interest in advertising yourself in another area if you are a landscaper. Exchanging links with a landscaper who is not within your geographic area means you both get SEO benefits and potential leads without competing with each other.
- Research any company that is going to sell you a lead. You can easily get swayed by a great deal; however, it can be too good to be true.
- There is no harm in asking your clients for referrals. In fact, give them some incentive for letting people know what you do. Offer them materials to hand out so they have something concrete to share with others and include a referral code. Give them a discount every time a new client shares that referral code with you.
- Offer up freebies in return for contact information. For example, create a giveaway of a product you sell for those who submit their email address.
- High-value content should be part of your longterm lead generation strategy. Your content should be educational, not promotional to generate good leads. Include visual content as part of your content mix.
- Direct mail is a good way to reach prospects that are difficult to reach via email like executives. Sending a direct mail piece with a targeted communication can be very effective.
- If you buy leads, make sure they are the right ones for your business. What you have to offer may need a certain group of prospects. If no one bothered pre-qualifying the leads to fit your needs, spending money on a large database is a waste of money and time. You can end up with lots of leads that are nowhere close to what you need.
Remember, when in doubt pick up the phone and call someone.