How to Quickly Generate Business Leads

Generating business leads can be difficult, expensive and time-consuming.

But it doesn’t have to be.

No matter if you’re choosing digital, inbound or another type of marketing strategy, there are some rules to know for generating effective business leads:

Keep the Business Simple

Today’s customer is savvy. They’re also really busy.

Whether you’re marketing as a Tacoma-based law firm, a nationwide company or your focus is on social media marketing, you have to remember your audience is smart and short on time.

What can swiftly generate business leads is when we customers think:

  • Things are easy to understand and use.
  • Something looks good.
  • Our problems are solved quickly and easily.
  • We have something of true value.

Keeping your business products/services simple will work in your favor as well because:

  • Less time is wasted explaining the product or service to clients.
  • Less money is wasted redesigning a product to look or feel better to the customer.
  • Less time and money is wasted on ineffective marketing strategies

Social Media Generates Big Business Leads

Social media isn’t going away anytime soon.

In fact, Facebook is still growing while sites like Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn remain steady.

Luckily they’re all easy to use. They can generate a lot of business leads.

But if you don’t adhere to a few simple rules, your social media marketing won’t attract anyone.

Crafting a successful social media marketing strategy means:

  • Increasing the content on your profiles and all the social media sites where your target market would most likely spend their time.
  • Creating, posting and sharing content users relate to. People buy from people.
  • Posting to a personal Twitter account rather than a business account. Twitter users simply do not engage with businesses.
    • Joining a group on LinkedIn that your target market belongs to and becoming an active member. Like posts and engage with others on a personal level.
  • Responding to questions/comments in a timely manner.

Face2Face Marketing

The Internet has allowed the world to connect in a way our ancestors never thought possible.

But nothing will ever replace the experience of meeting someone face to face.

The more you realize there are people behind each business, the more swiftly you’ll start generating solid leads.

Here are 4 ways to meet potential clients in person:

However, effective marketing is more than just meeting someone face to face.

Anyone can enter a room, collect 15 business cards and then send out a mass e-mail the next day. The might even think it might generate a few business leads.

But does that strategy feel effective? Would you want to buy from that business?

Leads are a lot like relationships.

You simply have to know how to continue the relationship after you’re no longer in the same room. Try:

  • Sending a personal e-mail to the person a day or two after reminding them who you are and how you met.
  • Inviting them for coffee to get to know them better.
  • Linking to their business social media and sending them the information you think they might find useful periodically.
  • Continuing to reach out to them periodically to stay in touch.

Try these other face2face ideas for those with a brick and mortar business.

SnailMail Marketing

Also known as direct mail marketing. This strategy has been generating business leads since the Pony Express.

Remember how excited you used to feel getting personal mail? Now our mail seems filled with bills and junk mail.

So when you receive a personalized note in the mail it can still work wonders for creating a relationship.

  • A handwritten letter shows you took the time to care.
  • It doesn’t have to be time-consuming, though. A great company to help you do this easily is SendOutCards.com.
  • To go a step further a $5-$10 gift certificate to a local coffee/bagel shop shows you’re thoughtful.
  • Add a follow-up e-mail a few days later and it just might become the beginning of a long-term business relationship.

Inbound Marketing

You’re the expert, right? So write about it.

Blogging can take any form: it can inform, engage and even amuse your audience. But it has to be compelling and it has to be focused.

No one wants to buy your awesome Seattle-made chocolate when you’re blogging about where to find the best sausage.

You’re an expert trying to generate leads for your business, not someone else’s.

To quickly make the most out of your inbound marketing strategy:

Capturing Those Emails

As your number of fans rise, so should a number of e-mails you’re capturing.

This is outbound marketing 101. Capture those e-mails any way you can.

However, if you do it wrong, you risk alienating potential businesses forever.

So how do you find a way to build your list without annoying your customers?

  • Create a pop-up at the end of your content
  • Create a pop-up to appear as the user tries to exit
  • Add a sidebar to your website
  • Submit a survey
  • Offer a content upgrade if they sign up

The goal should be to provide quality content and value to the person signing up.

The last thing you want to do is make your site all about selling to your customers.  They shouldn’t need to be sold.  If your service is good enough, you’re marketing yourself well enough, and there’s a market for your product or service, you should have no problems attracting a large customer base.

Engage With the Movers & Shakers

There are others in your field who are already killing it. Make friends with them.

These are the influencers and they have a lot of followers.

Do not think of them as your competitors. There is enough business for everyone and when you becomes friendly with the influencers in your field, they can help you.

In fact, you can help one another build up your businesses. Listen to what they are saying. Engage with them and their fans.

Write comments and ask how you can help them in their business.

The more support you have, the healthier your business will be.

Keep Your Website Current

Change happens.

When you and/or your business refuse to change, you’ll probably fail. This includes your company’s website.

Google awards sites for frequently adding and changing their sites.

So will your customers. They want to be informed and updated.

Your website is what most people first see when they learn about your business and it should reflect that.

Marketing is an ongoing process and can be complicated. Often a business owner can be so focused on generating leads they forget that’s the point of marketing.

Thankfully this isn’t a process that needs to be done alone. We marketing geniuses at Olive Group are here to help you figure out your best lead generation strategy and the best way to implement that strategy. Just click or call today to get started.