5 ways to find leads for your small business

Small business owners are always looking for ways to place their businesses on the map. Nothing feels more exciting to an entrepreneur than generating new leads and turning them into sales. After all, making profits is the way to ensure one stays in business. While closing lead prospects may feel like an uphill task to some, others find it easy and enjoyable. Agreeably, picking out an audience and convincing them to purchase your products requires well-thought and worthy strategies. So just how does one embark on a strategic plan to generate more leads? We’ve listed some of our favorite lead generation techniques to consider for generating more sales for your small business.

Utilize Social Media Platforms

The last half of this decade has seen the millennial generation welcome social media with much enthusiasm. Social media has noticeably transformed the marketing industry. Corporations and small businesses alike have taken their marketing strategies to social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. As a small business owner, don’t shy away from taking advantage of the high traffic of social media users. You may want to choose a network that suits your profession or products best, such as LinkedIn for B2B companies, or Facebook for B2C, etc. Generating leads from social media networks is quite easy if you pull the right strings. Creating awareness about your products or services to people who have never heard about your business is an indication that you’re about to reap big. There’s no better place to protect the image of your business than through social media pages. Here you can respond to queries, complaints, and suggestions raised by your users, and engage them in conversation. Many small business owners have perfected the art of generating engagement and buzz with their followers and converting these leads into sales.

Offer Free Consulting and Webinars

Generally, people love to learn new things. How about using this opportunity for your gain? If you offer a free consultation and webinars featuring your business experts and management, many people who share common interests will find their way to your events either in person or online. Utilize the live video features offered by social media networks like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram to engage with your audience. Give them free professional advice and tips to create value for them. Eventually, they will develop trust in your services which could translate into long-term customer relationships. During such events, collect contact information for the attendees and later engage them via email marketing campaigns as you try to convert the leads.

Follow Up Via Email Marketing Campaigns

Many small business owners attest that email marketing is one of the most successful lead generation techniques used today. Its success is highly dependent on the contacts list and where it is sourced from. Those who offer their contact info are much more likely to open and read your emails. Setting up triggered emails is essential. Your target audience will automatically receive a series of emails from your email marketing system. You can tailor your emails to suit specific CTAs (calls-to-action) which lead to your website or eCommerce site. Email newsletters with relevant and informative content yield more lead. Within at least three months, the target audience should start responding to your email messages.  You may check the responses and segment your emails to increase market relevance. For example, if people are clicking on the landing page of your website but fail to purchase your products, you may send emails seeking feedback on their perspectives towards your products and website.

Content Marketing

If your small business has a website, make use of the ‘blog’ section. Ensure it is regularly updated with relevant blogs focused on your products or services. As you publish the blogs on your website, you are increasing your chances of bringing more people to your website in search of the information you’ve shared. Ensure your blogs are SEO (search engine optimization) optimized to boost rankings in the SERPs (Search engine results pages). Optimizing content involves the use of backlinks, effective keywords, etc.

Participate in Trade fairs, Exhibitions, and Conferences

Look out for trade fairs, exhibitions and other professional meetings related to your products or services. Showcase your products/services in a way that convinces your audience they need your brand. Engage in meaningful conversations that widen your professional network while you’re there. Several success stories stem from these events. You could narrate one too.

Your small business can only become more successful by adopting one or more of these lead generation tips. Some of them require less financial effort, while others are a bit costlier. The most important factor lies in making sure your return on investment (ROI) is reasonable and achievable. If you’d like some help in executing the lead generating tips we mentioned above, check out Agile CRM. We are a trusted online partner that can help step up your business marketing efforts. Through our CRM services, you can navigate your marketing efforts with ease, then just sit back and watch your sales rise. Feel free to contact us if you’d like to get started generating more leads for your business.