Have you recently started a new business and are in search of guaranteed methods to generate leads? Here’s how to generate leads for beginners so you can start bringing in potential clients immediately.
How many leads do you need?
What’s your current strategy for generating leads? Did you know the most popular strategies are email marketing (78%), event marketing (73%), and content marketing (67%)?
But it’s not just your type of strategy that’s important. Your approach is even more significant.
Take a look at this: 68% of professional markets say increasing the quality of leads is their top priority. Increasing the volume of leads comes second. In 2018, there’s a definite shift toward quality over quantity.
So…
Let’s talk about how to generate leads for your new business. We wrote this article for the new business owner who has little (or no) experience marketing. If that’s you, then sit down and strap in.
You’re about to receive a whirlwind lesson on lead generation in 2018.
Read on. 🙂
How to Generate Leads for Your New Business
The first step for any lead generation starts with researching your target audience. If you don’t accomplish this step successfully, everything you do after is a shot in the dark. You must know exactly who you’re targeting.
Ask yourself, where does my audience hang out online? What are my audience’s main interests? What about secondary interests? Where do they spend their money? On what? At what time of the week/month?
The more you know, the more you can specialise your campaign. Look beyond your product and your targets’ pain points. Get inside their heads.
Performing this research is time-consuming, but well worth it. Check Quora, Reddit, and Yahoo Answers.
When you find your audience read everything they have to say. Follow their links. Look for trends in their likes and dislikes.
Copy and paste anything of interest. Keep their exact comments, so you can later analyse the language they use. After you figure it out, you can use their phrases in your sales copy.
Get Social
After your research, you should know exactly which social channels your target audience uses most. Begin your efforts on that single social-media platform.
For instance, if your audience is made up women in their 30s interested in fashion, Instagram is your best bet. If they’re retirees and living in Byron Bay, Facebook is the way to go.
Each social media platform attracts a specific audience. Narrow down your targets’ first choice, and spend your efforts there.
We recommend a two-fold approach. Gain your targets’ trust with actionable content, and entice them with targeted ads.
You figured out what your audience is interested in, so write about it. Build a social media campaign around it. Focus your pins, posts, and videos on those subjects.
Include a link either inside, or nearby, your marvelous new content. Connect that link back to your landing page. You can also use this approach to ask your audience for their contact information.
Then surprise them with targeted ads. Don’t worry. Every popular social network offers their brand of advertising. Facebook provides the most focused approach, but other platforms are catching up quickly.
Once you get the hang of things, you can even begin an automated Facebook campaign. It’ll reduce your workload by about 80%.
Go Video
Did you know that 70% of marketers are using videos in their content strategy? Video content is all the rage in 2018, and it’s predicted to grow through 2020.
So how do you take advantage of it?
Figure out which channels you’re using to connect to your leads. Do you have their emails? Phone numbers? Social Media Platforms? Then make videos specifically for those channels.
For instance: Twitter videos can be 2 minutes and 20 seconds long. Shorter videos get more shares, so under 30 seconds is even better. To ensure its popularity, keep it funny or cute.
Here’s a list of video ideas:
- Training
- Recruitment
- Emails
- Testimonials
- Social Media
- Event
- Promotional
- Profile
When you use videos, ensure they contain your branding. That includes some means to contact you. Remember, you’re producing this fantastic content for your prospective leads.
You want them to reach out to you for more information. Afterward, you nurture them until they’re ready
Design an email sequence that solves a problem for your audience. This is also referred to as a drip campaign. Offer to solve a pain point, and deliver on your promise.
Typically, each email is short. Think one page or less.
They follow a pattern, predesigned to turn targets into leads. Here is an example:
- Email #1: Address their pain points
- Email #2: Explain your value message
- Email #3: Name drop one of your big clients
- Email #4: Qualify your message
- Email #5: Include your product message
- Email #6: Reach out one final time.
Unless you plan to master copywriting, use templates like these: email follow-up templates. They’ll save you countless hours and win you 10x more clients.
One trick to successful drip campaigns is the way you frame your message. Address your potential lead as if they reached out to you. You’re doing them a favor by getting back to them.
Also, be an authority. Never pussyfoot around.
Hit your targets with facts. Be fearless. Throw around big names. Use stories and curveballs and hooks.
Do whatever you can to increase your authority and branding awareness. Don’t forget to include images and videos. (Yay, videos!)
Consult
You know that contact information you gathered from your social media and video efforts? It’s time to send a shout out to your target market. It’s time to consult.
If you don’t have their contact info, you can post your consultation services on social media instead. It doesn’t matter how your targets discover you’re consulting, only that they do.
Offer a free 15-minute consultation or something equivalent. Keep it short. The goal is to acquire new leads.
What’s Next?
Well, have you created a plan for how to generate leads for your new business? If it’s not entirely fleshed out, that’s alright. Once you nail down the big picture, you can quickly fill in the details.
Before you go, take a look at our assortment of other tools and articles for new business owners.
Head over now while you have your strategic thinking-cap on.