Lead generation is make or break for every single business. If you don’t attract new leads through the door then you are going to struggle to stay in business for the long term. Yes, selling is obviously important but without leads in the first place you have no one to convert to customers.
The good news it’s not hard to lead generate a steady supply of quality leads even while you sleep
The first thing you need to do is to properly define your ideal customer. You need to know exactly who your target prospect is. I’m not necessarily just talking about business type and location if you’re in the B2B space. I’m talking about creating your ideal Customer Avatar.
I want you to think about the person that you’re actually going to talk to – their age, male or female, their job, what they’re interested in and what the objections are that they might have to purchasing your product or service. Understanding exactly who you’re going to talk is important as it affects every single part of your marketing. If you’re not talking directly to the person you need to be speaking to in a way they want to be spoken to, your message will not resonate with them and you won’t get them leads that you’re hoping to get. They might get to your website but your product or service won’t appeal to them
Once you know who exactly it is that you want to talk to you actually have to go and talk to them. You must find out where they are hanging out, create the advertisements that will appeal to them and strike up a conversation. They’re not necessarily going to purchase the first time that they see or hear your name mentioned so you want to move them into your sales funnel – by offering them a lead magnet in exchange for their contact details.
I think it’s vital that you try to do everything in your power to collect a potential customer’s email address. A great way to do this is to create what is commonly called a lead magnet. This is a valuable piece of information. Something that your ideal prospect wants. Something that will help them boost their business. It could be a a book you authored, a resource list, it could be a PDF document or it could be an e-course – anything that your target customer might find useful that you’re prepared to give away for free in exchange for the email address.
Email addresses become very useful because you can follow up with those prospects after the fact. Even if they don’t purchase on that first visit to your website now that you have your email address you can continue to send them marketing materials – to create more desire for your product or service, to build trust, and eventually leads to a sale if done well
But, it’s important that you follow up. There’s no point in creating a lead magnet and collecting email addresses – or going to networking events and meeting new people if you aren’t going to follow up with these prospects after the fact. You need to keep in touch with these prospects and manage the follow up – potentially by using a CRM System.
In my publishing and printing business one of my most successful lead magnets is a guide book “25 Things You Should Automate in Your Marketing and Sales Process” You can check it out my proven lead generation process
Okay, so maybe saying that there was a “lazy way” to market your business in the headline was a little misleading but there are certainly things that you can do to make your marketing easier. To ensure it’s most effective you should first ensure you are marketing to the right person, you should ensure that you have multiple touch points and you should ensure that you follow up. If you’d like to discuss lead generating strategies, please get in touch so we can see how we can help.
