Let’s be honest. Starting a business is not hard. But keeping it afloat? That’s the hard part.
Why?
Because you need customers. Lots of customers to sustain the business.
But the problem is for any business, only 3% of people are ready to buy. So what happens to the remaining 97%?
How do you get them to go from strangers to customers?
The answer? – Leads!
Leads are people who express interest in what you are selling.
By getting more leads, your chances of getting more customers will increase.
Here are 5 simple ways to generate more leads for your business.
1. Create a Lead Magnet
Have you ever visited a website or a landing page where you were asked to drop your email address to get a free eBook or guide?
That’s an example of a lead magnet.
A lead magnet is an incentive you give people in exchange for their email address and other contact information.
Once you receive their email address, you can then nurture them through emails till they are ready to become customers.
Examples of lead magnet include an eBook, a cheat sheet, swipe file, reports, free trails, etc.
Remember, it must be FREE, relevant, valuable and easy to use.
2. Through Word-of-mouth Marketing
The best of marketing since time immemorial still remains word-of-mouth marketing.
To get more leads for your business, you can simply ask your current customers, friends, and families to refer people to your business.
In fact, to interest them more, you can offer a form of reward for every referral you get.
That way, they will be more inclined to help you spread the word about your business.
3. Leverage Social Media
The mistake many businesses make with social media is that they use it to sell! sell! sell!
The best way to use social media for your business is to provide as much value as you can.
To do this, you should often post valuable educational content on your social media pages to help people solve their problems.
Content can be videos, images, podcasts, live videos, infographics, etc.
This way, various people will contact you and you can take it up from there.
4. Answer Questions on Forums
Another simple yet effective way of generating leads for your business is through forums like Quora, Reddit, Nairaland, etc.
These sites have millions of people from different demographics posting daily questions.
If you can answer enough questions related to your niche, this will position you as a thought leader.
The best thing is you can leave a link directly to your website or landing page.
People will take notice of your profile and most likely check out your website and what you have to offer.
5. Use Influencer Marketing
Wikipedia defines Influencer Marketing as “a form of social media marketing involving endorsements from influencers, people and organizations who possess an expert level of knowledge and/or social influence in their respective fields.
In layman terms, this means using influencers who can influence the buying decisions of their followers to promote your business.
Contrary to the popular opinion where you have to pay huge amounts to influencers, you can simply reach out to them and ask nicely.
Alternatively, you can offer them a chance to make use of your product or service for free.
Their followers will see this as proof of your credibility which enhances your chance of attracting new leads.
In conclusion
The key to the survival of any business is to get more leads.
As you read above, generating leads is part of the overall marketing and sales process but it doesn’t need to be hard.
The key is to create valuable lead magnets, getting referrals and leveraging social media, answer questions on forums and lastly use influencer marketing.
Lead generation is more or less a continuous process.
Once you have an effective system in place using the points above, it will increase your opportunities for business growth.
Do you have questions, comments or more tips to help generate more leads for a business? Kindly leave a comment below.
