No matter what type of business you run, you can’t grow without the right lead generation strategy.

Living in a digital world, in theory, makes it easier to find business leads. The problem is that it’s not just your business getting them. There is more competition now than in the past for customers.

The real problem isn’t getting leads, but getting good leads that you can convert.

Let’s look at how to grow your business by obtaining leads that are ready to commit.

Content Is King

There’s a reason this saying is the most overused sentence in online marketing.

Producing killer content is the best way to attract new customers to your business and develop business leads.

How does content do this?

Improves Your SEO Score

For someone to buy your products or services, they have to know that you exist. There are currently over 1.8 billion websites online, each vying for the attention of customers around the world.

Search engines rank these sites based on the value they give their visitors. Google and other sites send out bots to look for keywords in articles. They then evaluate how long a visitor stays on your page and other factors to determine its ranking.

Producing content for a blog on your website attracts people looking for more information and keeps them there longer. By placing links in your articles to other sections of your site, you’ll encourage them to stay and can work them through your sales funnel.

Establishing Expertise

Giving people information about what you offer builds consumer confidence and grows sales. A blog helps establish you as an expert, letting the consumer know that they can trust you.

Think of what questions you might want answers to were you shopping for your product. Make these questions the central focus point of your blog. Speak (or type) with authority and confidence, and your readers will reach out to you for help.

Spread Your Content On Social Media

When you first begin to produce content, you’ll need to build an audience. This is easier said than done.

Using social media to promote your content gets you readers and leads.

Almost everyone has a Facebook and Twitter account. When they are determining who to do business with, they look for a social media presence to ensure that a company isn’t a fly-by-night organization.

If you are active and spread your content, you create a digital footprint that gets new viewers and builds trust in your brand.

A great feature of Twitter and Facebook is advertisements. For less than most traditional campaigns, you can ensure search engines deliver ads to people searching for keywords related to your company.

If you have the budget, purchase some advertising on these outlets to push your best content pieces. At the end of your content, as people to fill out a contact form and begin building an email list. Also, remind them to spread the content if they found it useful.

Most people are willing to help out websites that give them valuable information. When you get readers to share your page with their friends, you’re getting even more bang for your advertising buck.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is still the most effective way of communicating and converting customers. While most people believe that email is only for closing sales, you can also use it as a way to generate leads.

First, create a title that will grab the viewers attention. Something like “We’ve Got An Amazing Opportunity For You AND Your Friends”. Including the customer’s name in the title increases the likelihood that they’ll open the email.

Next, think of a great special. Giving a discount to your product or service works, but it’s even better if you can extend your customer base while doing so.

Offer a friend special, where the recipient of the email and a friend get a discount. There are a few ways to go about this. You can request email addresses and send the friend the promo code, or have the special only apply to two people.

Either way, you get new customers, new leads, and high sales.

Another method for using email marketing for business leads is to ask your customers. End each email by asking the reader if they know anyone that needs what you offer. It will surprises you how many responses you get.

Be Mobile-Friendly

Almost everyone has a cell phone, allowing them to access the internet and make business decisions 24/7. Google now punishes websites that aren’t set up for mobile users.

Having a mobile site raises your SEO score and lets customers find the information they need on your page.

You can also create mobile forms for your visitors that allow them to sign-up for emails from their cell phone. It’s easy to do and keeps your customers on your site. If they can’t access your page, they will go to the next company and your competitors will get your lead.

Networking Events

While a lot of the focus on lead generation is online now, getting out into the real world and shaking hands will never go away.

Networking events are in almost every major city. Even events that don’t pertain to your industry are still opportunities for you to meet and greet potential clients.

Let’s say that you run an SEO agency. If a car-dealers convention is coming to town, you can still find business leads there. Figure out how your service benefits the people you will meet and push it. Take plenty of business cards, and never be afraid to ask everyone you meet for their business.

Many events allow you to set up a stand in which you can give out brochures and merch to visitors. Set up a bright booth with lanyards, info about your event, and bottled water. If you have swag to give away, people will find you.

Use Video

We’ve all seen the terrible commercials on YouTube. These videos might get thousands of views, but they aren’t getting leads. Instead of running a commercial, create something entertaining that sells to the customer without them realizing it.

It might be tempting to spend the first 30 seconds of an ad laying out the case for your business but resist the urge. People will click away the minute they stop enjoying the content.

Spend some time developing an idea that hooks the viewer in from the beginning and keeps them engaged. Tell a story in two minutes, spending the last ten seconds selling. It can be as simple as doing a fake PSA video to something more complicated, like a spoof of a hit television show.

In the end, make it clear that whatever problem the video’s participants found themselves in requires your company. Think big. If you’re in charge of an SEO company like before, your job is making sure consumers can find your customer’s website online.

Run a video where people around your office make fake video dating profiles. In the end, “fast-forward” a month and show that they are still single. Why are they alone? They didn’t put their video on a website used by one of your customers.

Tell the viewer to check out the links in the description below, whether they’re looking for love or higher SEO rankings. From there, create unique landing pages for your campaign and sign them up for a newsletter, e-book, or mailing list. You’ll get leads and have fun at the same time.

Webinars

The number one rule of business, as summed up best by the O’Jays, is that you’ve got to give the people what they want.

What the people want, more than anything, is free information. If you aren’t giving them that, you’re missing out.

Think about what your business does, how it helps others, and questions potential customers might have. Set up a webinar answering some of these questions and inform your mailing list about it. Place banner ads on the top of your webpage as well so that visitors know when it is and how to attend.

To get the free information, you just need the viewers first name and email address. Once you get that info, add them to your mailing list. If they are already on your list, you’ll know that they are serious. Push your product to these customers hard.

For the webinar, show up prepared and give viewers exactly what you promise. If the title of your webinar is “how to rank number one on Google in six months” give them that advice. Don’t turn it into a sales presentation; that’s for another time.

This isn’t late 90’s television. People are wary of products pushed onto them when they’re promised something else.

Your greatest sales pitch is your expertise. Establishing yourself as an expert in your field is the quickest way to get customers to trust you with their business. In the end, sales aren’t selling a product, it’s selling yourself. People work hard for their money. Tell customers why they should give their money to you.

Branding

Customers should never have to guess what you do.

It’s your responsibility to let potential customers know what you offer. If they have to spend time researching your company to determine whether you have what they need, they’ll go somewhere else.

Brand your company every chance you get. Develop a clear and concise message and push it across every platform. You can’t be one thing to the millennials and another to the baby boomers. Both groups will see through that tactic, and you’ll be nothing to no one.

Do some customer research and determine where most of your money comes from, and then hit those demographics hard. There’s a reason Hardees/Carl Jrs stopped advertising about healthy options a decade ago. They’re a hamburger joint, that’s what they ran with, and it saved their company.

Be like Hardees. Find out who your customers are, push your product to them, and don’t apologize for your brand. Stay consistent and leads will follow.

Develop Landing Pages For Each Campaign

Many campaigns are successful at every stage until the point of contact with the customer. To maximize the money spent on advertising campaigns, you have to direct customers to specialized landing pages. Flex your web design muscle and get creative.

There are a few ways to set these pages up. First, you could direct potential customers to pages depending on their demographics. This is effective for national companies, but for smaller companies, there is a cheaper and more effective way.

Determine what you want the customer to do, and make the landing page accordingly. If you want them to buy your product now, create a page with a hard pitch. For building business leads, create a landing page that directs them to sign up for your webinars, download an E-book, or agree to receive a newsletter.

Make sure your landing pages are consistent with your branding. You’ll also want to ensure that the landing page is what the customer is expecting. Don’t promise them something for free and not deliver, or you’ll alienate new visitors.

Get The Business Leads You Need To Prosper

Are you looking for innovative ways to improve your sales and spread the word about your business? IntoClicks is here to help your business grow.

Since 2003, we’ve operated with one mission in mind: to treat each customer like they’re our first. This approach helps us maintain customer loyalty and come up with innovative ways to help each client. There’s a reason that our first customer continues to use us to this day!

If you would like to set up a time to talk to us about how we can help you, contact us today! We look forward to helping you succeed and get the business leads you need.