Leads are the fuel that drives a marketing machine. They are the raw material from which sales pitches and collateral documents are created. Without leads, there is no business.
That’s why, if you’re in direct marketing, your success depends almost entirely on how many good leads you can generate for your campaigns.
On the whole, people don’t like to give their details away for free. If they could get the info by asking for it, they would.
Instead, most of them are willing to “buy” your silence by paying your fee.
So how do you go about generating leads?
How To Get Leads For Your Business
It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, the number one goal of your marketing should always be to generate leads.
Here are some great ways that helped me get leads for my business:
Lead Generation Software
Lead gen software is not a new idea, but it’s still the most effective way to generate leads.
By automating the process of generating leads, you eliminate a lot of manual work and free up time for more important tasks.
When used properly, lead generation software can take a lot of the heavy lifting out of the lead-generation process, allowing you to focus on other important aspects of your business.
Some of the best lead generation software on the market includes the following:
Each of these tools have either a free trial, or very inexpensive trial.
Since business is not a one-size-fits-all, we recommend testing each one of these tools, to see which is the best for you.
Currently, Clickfunnels is the most popular of the tools.
SEO
Another way to get quality leads is through search engine optimization (SEO).
When people type specific keywords into Google, they’re usually looking for products or services.
If you have a product or service that answers those questions, you’re going to stand out in the sea of other companies who don’t.
Direct Mail
You’ve probably heard the term “direct mail” thrown around a lot over the years. It’s a very old form of marketing.
In fact, it’s still one of the most effective ways to generate leads today.
A great way to do this is to use a mailing list provider such as MailChimp or MailerLite.
Once you sign up with a provider, you can start to create a list of your potential customers.
The great thing about a mailing list provider is that they will take care of all of the work for you.
As your business grows, you’ll want to add new names to your list. To do this, simply email your subscribers and ask them if they’d like to join your list.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is a great way to get leads, especially when combined with other lead generation strategies.
It’s often recommended that you start a blog, and then build an email list of people who subscribe to your blog.
You can then use that email list to promote your products and services on social media.
Cold Calling
Another way to get leads is to cold call potential clients.
This is one of the most effective ways to generate leads. People usually answer their phone if they’re expecting a call.
If they’re not, they’ll probably let it go to voicemail.
When you call, it’s important to have a script ready.
This will make your calls seem more professional, and will increase the chance of people answering their phone.
The key to cold calling is to find out where your potential customers hang out online.
It may be that your ideal customer spends a lot of time on Facebook, or on Twitter. It could also be that they spend a lot of time on LinkedIn.
Whatever it is, you need to find out where they hang out online, and then create content for them.
Use LinkedIn
To Find Leads One of the best ways to use social media to generate leads is to use LinkedIn.
With over 279 million users, it’s the largest business social network online.
And, since it’s a business-oriented social network, you can use it to find people who are actively looking for a product or service, that you provide.
To find these types of people, you can search for them using the “Inner Circle” feature on LinkedIn.
This will give you a list of people who are connected to other people (known as “Inner Circles”) who have similar job titles and/or skills to what you have to offer. You can then contact these people directly via LinkedIn messages.
This is a very low-risk way to get in front of people who might be interested in your offer.
Using Content Marketing
When it comes to content marketing, you can use many of the same strategies that you use with SEO and direct mail.
You’ll need to find out where your target audience hangs out online, and create content for them.
For example, if you’re offering a course on how to do business on Facebook, you could create an article on the topic, and post it on LinkedIn and other content distribution platforms such as Buzzfeed or Medium.
In this way, you can reach a lot of people without spending a ton of money on advertising.
Video Marketing
Another great way to use social media to generate leads is to create videos.
The two most popular social media platforms for video are YouTube and Facebook.
If you create a video for your website, you can put it on your site, on YouTube, and on Facebook all in one fell swoop.
This will triple the visibility of your video, as people can access it on any of those three sites.
A big mistake a lot of people make when they first get into video marketing is that they try to sell their video to someone immediately.
Don’t do this!
Instead, create your video with the intention of sharing it on social media.
This will give your video much more “street cred” with your audience.
They’ll be able to see that you’re putting your video out there for free, so that people can enjoy it, and maybe learn something from it.
Start Networking
One of the best ways to generate leads is to simply start networking with other people in your industry.
Go to trade shows. Attend other people’s seminars. Go to your local Chamber of Commerce. Find out where your competitors are, and go meet them there.
You’ll be surprised at how many leads this simple tactic will generate for you.
Join a Discussion Group
There are hundreds of online forums and message boards where people are talking about problems that they are trying to solve.
Accordingly, there are also hundreds of forums and message boards where people are talking about the products and services that they want to buy.
- Join these discussion groups.
- Participate.
- Ask questions.
- Give answers.
You’ll be amazed at how many leads this simple tactic will generate for you.
Testimonials
One of the best ways to use testimonials is to put them at the end of your sales pitches.
This will make a big difference in the response you get from your readers.
People love to hear stories about how other people benefited from the products or services they are selling.
On this occasion, it’s not about the product, but the story behind the product.
The more testimonials you have, the better.
Write A Book
If you’re thinking about starting a business, consider writing a book about it.
A book is one of the most powerful ways to generate leads.
People who are interested in starting their own businesses can read your book, and learn everything they need to know to start their own business.
It’s a great way to get in front of a lot of people, and build a brand all at once.
The best part is that there are tons of online book-writing tools that make it easy for you to get started.
Just take the time to do some research, and pick the best tool for your needs.
Use A List Service
There are several list rental companies that have mailing lists of people who are actively looking for what you have to offer.
You can search for these names and addresses in a number of different ways.
One way is to do a Google search for “Mailing List Companies” and then review the list of results that come up.
Another way is to go to www.alexa.com/ and type in your niche into the search bar.
Then, click on “Top Sites” at the bottom of the page.
However, be careful not to click on the links at the top of the page, as they’ll take you to sites other than what you were looking for.
You can also find some great list rental services on social media.
For example, on Facebook, you can go to the “Business Pages” section of the site, and look for people who have a business page that has a lot of likes.
If you find people who are selling what you’re selling, you can either contact them directly, or you can use a list rental service to reach out to them on your behalf.
Conclusion
If you want to get leads for your business, there are a lot of different tactics that you can use.
The key is to find a strategy that works for you.
But remember:
Leads are the fuel that drives a marketing machine. They are the raw material from which sales pitches and collateral documents are created. Without leads, there is no business.
That’s why, if you’re in direct marketing, your success depends almost entirely on how many good leads you can generate for your campaigns.
Again, the best and most cost effective way, is with a lead generation software, such as:
In 2023, it is crucial to have a way to automatically generate leads.
Sure, there is a monthly cost. But, what business doesn’t have costs?
