Ever wonder what tactics your competitors are using to constantly fill their sales pipelines with hot leads? The secret weapons powering their success might surprise you. This article will go through the top approaches you can use to get leads for your business today.
How Do Businesses Get Leads Through Organic Search?
One of the most common and cost-effective ways for businesses to get leads is through organic search engine optimization (SEO). SEO involves optimizing your website, content, and online presence to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) without any direct payments to search engines. As searchers find your business through organic search results, you can capture their contact information or nurture them as leads.
There are several tactics businesses use to optimize their websites for organic search. One of the most important is focusing on relevant and helpful content. By creating informative blog posts, articles, guides, and other content targeted around common search queries, you provide value to users while signaling to search engines that your site is an authority on the topic. Having an active content calendar to continually publish new material helps search engines index and understand your site better over time. It’s also important the content is well-researched, structured with relevant headings and internal links, and easy to read with proper formatting.
Another key SEO tactic is focusing on your site architecture and internal linking structure. Having an organized URL structure, relevant and descriptive page titles, headings and subheadings go a long way in search. Internal linking between closely related pages helps search engines understand the topics each page covers. You’ll also want to capture basic contact information like a phone number and address across pages so search engines can identify your business information. With diligent SEO efforts over months, businesses can get found organically for relevant keywords and queries to generate new leads.
How Do Businesses Get Leads Through Social Media?
Social media platforms have become a huge driver of traffic and lead for businesses. With billions of active users browsing Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other sites daily, businesses have ample opportunities to get discovered. While organic reach has declined over the years on social platforms, paid advertising allows precise targeting and measurement of results.
One approach is to build up a following organically first by posting engaging, shareable content regularly. Visual content like images and videos tend to perform much better than just text or links. Consistent posting helps establish authority and builds trust among followers over time. As you gain followers, ensure to include calls-to-action in your bio and posts requesting users to “contact us”, “schedule a consultation” or “sign up now”.
Elevating engagement is important to getting discovered more widely. Sharing and commenting on others’ posts in your industry helps you get noticed. Running contests or giveaways rewards active followers and encourages further sharing. Responding to questions or comments promptly and helpfully shows your brand in a positive light. With an engaged audience primed, businesses can then optimize ad campaigns for lead generation. Targeting lookalike audiences and retargeting converts further amplification. Careful tracking allows optimizing spend towards the highest converting assets and interests over time. If done right, social ads can consistently provide affordable leads at scale for businesses.
How Do Businesses Get Leads Through Email Marketing?
Email marketing allows for highly targeted lead generation at a lower cost-per-acquisition than other digital channels. Businesses have access to a captive audience of subscribers who have opted in, showing implicit intent and interest. However, to take advantage effectively, businesses need to get signups first.
A landing page with a strong call-to-action encouraging email opt-ins in exchange for a valuable offer or content resource is effective. The value proposition should be clear – subscribers receive timely, helpful updates in their area in return for their email. Bundling the opt-in with a free trial, guide or consultation sweetens the deal. Getting opt-ins from websites, social ads, printed collateral, and in-person meetings expands the list.
Regular, relevant emails to the list then turn opt-ins into qualified leads over time. Strong subject lines intrigue open rates while short, scannable copy encourages reading further. Including calls-to-action requesting a conversion action like scheduling a demo or quoting process improves lead generation. Segmenting the list based on engagement, location or other profile data allows targeted follow-up sequences. External triggers around seasonal events or industry news also create more earning opportunities.
How Do Businesses Get Leads Through Content Marketing?
Long-form educational content is a powerful way for businesses to establish themselves as industry authorities and earn organic traffic over time that can convert into contactable leads. Domain expertise builds trust while addressing knowledge gaps, all without direct promotion of products or services.
Some businesses choose to build up comprehensive libraries of written guides, ebooks, case studies, and research reports on high-intent topics. Others go a step further by launching podcasts, webinars, or video series. Both expand their content footprint across owned, earned, and paid media spheres. High-quality audio and visual explanations keep audiences engaged while allowing for the inclusion of internal links, hashtags, or transcripts for better discoverability.
Syndicating across owned websites and landing pages expands internal reach while submission to industry publications, influencers, forums, and other third-party sites earns external links and shares. Social promotion combined with SEO titles and descriptions boosts organic search visibility further. Hashtag targeting and boosted posts on platforms like YouTube spread wider awareness cost-effectively.
How Do Businesses Get Leads Through Referral Programs?
Leveraging an army of existing, satisfied customers through effective referral programs is a sustainable way for businesses to gain targeted new leads. However, referrals require incentivizing the right actions and facilitating easy sharing.
Simply offering a discount to referrers isn’t often strong enough motivation. Businesses can consider competitive cash or gift incentives that ramp up based on the number or value of successful referrals. Tracking referrals to first sales allows attribution of full credit and payouts. Making the process utterly frictionless by pre-populating contact details and personalization further encourages referrals.
Getting staff onboard as referral champions within their networks is equally important. Incentivizing both the quantity and quality of referrals sourced motivates employees. Equipping them with knowledge of common customer pain points and how solutions specifically help allows compelling recommendations to contacts.
How Do Businesses Get Leads Through Trade Shows and Events?
On-site events allow businesses to engage targeted audiences in a personal way that seed-stage digital interactions cannot match. Trade shows, conferences, and seminars attract niche crowds open and qualified to connect. High costs demand strategic planning to maximize lead quality and quantity.
Developing an impressive, informative booth spread over topic zones deepens attendees’ knowledge and interest through passive learning. Giveaways, contests, and activities within stands incentivize stopping for demos and interactions. Friendly, knowledgeable staff gauge interests quickly and smoothly guide conversations towards mutual benefits. Capturing timely contact details during discussions better qualifies collected cards compared to grabbing handfuls mindlessly.
Businesses also sponsor and speak at events for top-of-mind positioning. Prepare impactful presentations around recurring pain points that directly address attendee profiles and problems. CTA to visit the booth for in-depth consultations primes follow up. Post-event, campaigns promptly follow up qualified discussions over weeks versus mass blasting all leads of varying usefulness. Events personally provide ready-to-buy leads for sales when maximizing each tangible touchpoint.
How Do Businesses Get Leads Through Other Tactics?
Aside from the popular digital and offline methods, there are many other creative ways for ambitious businesses to generate new leads. Strategic partnerships with complementary solution providers open both companies to each other’s customer bases through special deal referrals and promotions.
Local businesses leverage neighborhood relationships by sponsoring community sports teams, summer carnivals, or business groups for increased logo placements and meetups. Hosting educational webinars for industry associations exposes solutions to member firms.
Pay-per-click ads on directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages target geographic searches with local service intent. Local citations and complete profiles across maps services like Foursquare and Apple improve discoverability.
Personalizing outreach to media with unique story angles occasionally lands article features and interviews raising broader awareness. Blogging on authoritative industry portals establishes credibility that often attracts organic readers.
Leveraging sales reps’ networks by inviting connections to lunch presentations broadens reach. Strategic hiring of rainmakers well-linked within target verticals immediately expands opportunities. Holistic omnichannel strategies effectively cast wider nets for capable new leads.
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