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8th June 2018

6 Steps to Increase the Number of Leads Your Business Generates

9
minute read

To make sure you survive as a business, you need to focus some of your marketing on attracting new customers. This is sometimes referred to as ‘lead generation’, a method to increase the number of leads you get – i.e. generating new opportunities to make a sale, such as a customer booking a table or asking for a quote.

If this is something you’re struggling with, then here are just a few ways to dramatically increase the number of leads your business generates which could turn into real sales.

1. Improve your customers’ ability to find you online

One of the best ways to increase the number of leads you business generates is by making it easy for people to find you online. This is mainly about ensuring you show up on search engines, like Google, as prominently as possible. Whatever size or type of business you have, you can do this with a combination of different marketing tactics such as claiming your Google My Business page or ensuring your website is mobile friendly.

For more help, read this article: Tips To Help People Find Your Business On Google

2. Use a mixture of online marketing tactics

Using a variety of online marketing tactics can help increase the number of leads your business may receive. A good online marketing plan could include elements such as social media, using online directories, advertising on local sites, Google Ads and more. This is called a ‘multi-channel’ approach which is based on pushing your ads or messages across many different websites or platforms, which will maximise any opportunities to interact with prospective customers where they prefer to spend their time.

For example, you may have particular customers who are very active on Facebook and are more likely to interact with your ad there, whereas others may spend most of their time reading the sport pages of their local news site. By being in all these places gives you the best chance to reach as many potential customers as possible.

3. Join in with customer conversations on social media

As well as improving how your customers are able to find out about you online, reaching out to potential customers can increase the number of leads as well. You can use tools like Hootsuite to monitor social media and check who’s talking about things related to your business, then offer your help where you can. For example, if you’re a local DIY store, monitor who’s talking about DIY problems in your area. Give them some free advice (no sales patter!) and they’re much more likely to think of you next time they need to buy supplies.

4. Update your website regularly

Having a regularly-updated blog on your website can increase the number of leads you have as readers who like your blog will keep visiting your site to discover new information – these website visitors can then in turn become potential customers. Consider what sort of information they really want to know and plan out some blog posts. You may try helpful tips, new ideas or industry news. You can use your content to good effect, not only by sharing on social media but also by sending it via email in the form of a newsletter to subscribers, including links to it in your email signature, or you can even share your story with community groups. Collectively, these are four ways to make sure your content gets seen and read.

5. Collect contact details – then use them

When someone visits your website or your store, you’ve got an opportunity to get their details (like an email address) and collecting contact information will increase the number of leads you have. You can use this later on to send them marketing materials, which could encourage them to make a purchase or visit your website again. One idea is to set up an email newsletter and ask subscribers to sign up to that.

It is very important that you make sure that they have agreed to receive marketing materials when they hand over their email address and you only send them what you say you will. Before starting, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with GDPR and what it may mean for your business.

6. Establish a great reputation

Happy customers mean repeat business, and word-of-mouth marketing is usually a local business’ number one method to increase the number of leads that is generated for their business; if customers’ are impressed with what you do, they’ll recommend your business to friends and family. Online, the process is very similar with the same result: nearly 93% of customers are influenced by online reviews , so making sure they’re positive is well worth it.

When you’ve made a successful sale, remember to encourage your customer to leave a review online – whether that’s on your website, on social media or another site like Yelp or TripAdvisor. You can then share these elsewhere and use them to turn other potential customers into real life sales. Find out more about managing your online reputation with this article.

Having a strong sales pipeline for your business through lead generation is key to making sure you continue to grow and profit in the future. Start today with these six steps and you’ll still be seeing the benefits in months to come.

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