If you’re a small business or home business considering lead generation strategies, the complexity – and cost – of some of the more complicated systems can be off-putting. But…it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. In fact, with a little planning you can create a lead generation strategy that is simple to use, low cost and very effective.
Generating leads for small businesses is different because small businesses are different; you don’t have the budget, you don’t have the manpower and you don’t have the time. So how can you develop an effective lead generation program?
Advertising can be expensive but small businesses and home-based businesses don’t generally have a lot of money to throw at their lead generation strategies. You need to find ways to attract people to your business so the only option is to focus your efforts on the bigger marketing picture – not just advertising.
Here are five low cost marketing ideas that you could consider:
If you’re short on time and can’t afford to have staff running around looking after your lead generation program, then the natural solution is to automate as much of the process as possible. Here are four quick ideas for automating your lead generation system:
Every small business faces the same issues – small budgets and lack of time and resources. By focusing on low-cost marketing ideas and automating as much of the process as possible, you can create a lead generation process that suits your business.
We do it for you: If you need help developing a lead generation system for your small business or home business, Click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide.
Do it yourself: For more lead generation ideas, Download our free report
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Would you like to generate more leads for your business but don’t have the budget to make it work? Think again. There are plenty of low cost strategies available once you know what you’re looking for.
Effective lead generation is a three-stage process:
Each of these three steps can cost money but if you’re putting together a low cost marketing strategy you can make simple decisions to keep the budget in check.
The first step in any lead generation strategy is to attract people to your business – and more particularly your website – with good marketing. For many businesses marketing means advertising, but advertising can be an expensive way to promote your business.
Marketing is bigger than just advertising and here are three simple marketing methods you can use:
SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of making your website and content easy for the search engines to find and more likely to turn up in the search engine results of your target customers. Do your SEO homework well and you can attract people who are searching for solutions – solutions that you provide – at no cost to you.
Good SEO comes down to five simple ideas;
You can find more detail about SEO in our free report.
PR (public relations) is traditionally about encouraging the media to write about you and your business – usually by issuing press releases and building relationships with journalists. More recently, online press release services have made it possible for businesses to create ‘direct to consumer’ releases (news releases as opposed to press releases).
These releases are designed to be SEO friendly and get picked up in the search results. If you’re writing for news releases try including a call to action that encourages people to visit your website. Either way, PR can be an effective way to attract leads without spending a fortune.
PPC (pay per click) is advertising. But it’s also one of the most focused and cost effective forms of advertising. A good example of PPC ads is Google Adwords. Adwords ads are the ones you see to the right of your normal search results. You can create an ad, decide what search terms the ad will appear next to, bid on how much you are willing to pay and then set a monthly budget. You only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad – meaning you can create very specific advertising campaigns on very limited budgets.
Once you have attracted people to your lead generation system the next step is to develop those leads and identify the ones who are ready to buy. This can often be a time consuming process if you try to do it manually – and the more time consuming it is the more expensive it is too.
Perhaps the best way to ensure that a low cost lead generation strategy is to automate as much of the process as possible, using:
The majority of your lead generation program is much more cost effective in the long run than relying entirely on paid staff (or your own time) to accomplish it. In short, if you need a low cost lead generation strategy, focus on using low cost marketing strategies and automate as much of the process as you can.
We do it for you: If you need help developing a low cost lead generation system, Click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide
Do it yourself: For more lead generation ideas Download our free report
The best online lead generation systems are lead machines (i.e autoresponders). They help you sort through visitors to your website from potential buyers and general interest from real interest.
The first step in any online lead generation program is to get traffic to your website; the second is to gather information. The third step is where most businesses run into problems. If you’ve done the first parts well then you’re going to have a lot of inquiries, newsletter subscribers and other prospects to deal with.
Too many in fact.
Autoresponders are little software programs that send out pre-written emails at a set time or frequency. Using an automatic email follow program for your lead generation can help you handle the inquiries and still have time to do the work.
1. Use Autoresponders to Notify and Inform
Let’s say that you have a ‘request a quote’ form on your website. It’s a great idea but website visitors can come at any time of the day or night – or on the weekends. You can use an autoresponder to reply to the quote request and let the prospect know when they will receive their quote back.You could also use it to point them in the right direction of other resources worth checking out – like testimonials and information sheets.
2. Run an Email Course By Autoreponder
If you sell services, then part of your job is to show prospects that you know what you’re talking about. A free training course could do just that and encourage them to hire you to deliver the detail. You could set up an autoresponder to deliver the course to each individual recipient at a fixed interval after they signed up. For example, they could get part one on the same day, part two 3 days later and the final part after a week.Spacing the e-course out will help the recipient digest the content more effectively and gives you a chance to start building a relationship with them through the content. In even simpler terms, they will be reminded about your business every few days (or weeks, or whatever).
3. Use an Autoresponder to Deliver a Specific Piece of Information
Say, for example, that you have a rate card or trade program that you don’t want to make available to the general public. You can use an autoresponder to deliver this information only to people who provide their contact details. You’ll be able to follow up over the phone or use an autoreponder to do that, as described below.
4. Use an Autoresponder to Do Lead Management and Follow Up
Once someone has requested information from you (or registered for a free trial or similar), your job becomes about moving them from a state of ‘general interest’ to ready to buy. If you’re dealing with a lot of potential leads or simply don’t have the time to follow up with everyone of them individually, an autoresponder can be used to deliver a set series of messages and content designed to move them towards a purchase.This could include an initial email to ensure they received everything you sent them, a second to suggest a particular feature or resource they might like, another to ask for feedback and so on. The more likely prospects are the ones that will continue to respond.
5. Use an Autoresponder to Deliver an Evergreen Newsletter
An evergreen newsletter is one that is not time sensitive and therefore always relevant. For example, if you create regular informative lead generation content or blog content, then you could create newsletters based on general themes. Each themed newsletter would point out blog posts, articles and resources relevant to that theme. An autoresponder would then deliver each one in turn, say at monthly intervals, and help you get the most from your existing content.
Autoresponders can be extremely flexible and effective lead generation tools – all you need is the software and a little imagination (or experience).
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Automated lead generation simply means finding potential new customers without committing a lot of your own time to the project. It allows you to collect contact information from prospects while building your list. Or by connecting with people 24/7 who are already looking for your service.
As a business owner, your time is precious. You could spend hours every day sourcing new customers. But leads are not the same as sales; only a fraction of them will translate to customers. So it makes sense to automate the process of lead generation where possible.
By creating an automated system – such as automatic email messaging, you can spend more time closing sales and still have a long list of prospects. While it takes a little time to set up an automated lead generation system, you will reap the rewards in the long term.
Start by running an online ad campaign, which is great for your visibility. You can run a campaign with Google AdWords from as little as $10 per month. To create a good list, simply direct those clicks to a sign-up form which collects contact details and gain permission to send out future mailings.
Other forms of lead generation media include: yellow pages, coupons, radio, TV, magazine and newspaper ads.
If you want interactive lead generation, stick to online media. Most offline approaches can only tell your prospects about you but do not collect contact info.
Sales lead software is ideal for categorizing your new business leads. I recommend sales boom. Or you can use a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel for free. The aim is to get all of your sales leads listed in a central computerized database. Make a record of their name, job title, phone number, email address and physical address, as well as a comment about your contact with them to date. Write a summary of each conversation and your next action (eg, “call back on 20th with project brief”).
There are many benefits to using professional sales lead software. You will never allow a lead to go cold, or lose a prospect altogether for a lack of a decent filing system. It will also save you time searching for their details.
Auto-responders are perfect for automated lead generation. Let’s say a new prospect signs up to your mailing list for a free six-week e-course.
Your auto-responder can email them at a set time each week with the next part of the course – complete with your own soft sales pitch. Even if they don’t buy via the course, the regular contact will transform them into a warm lead, ready for your pitch.
Your time as a business owner is incredibly valuable. So boost your automated lead generation efforts by improving efficiencies. Create a library of written templates – including cold introductions, follow-up letters, brochures, FAQs, reports and media kits. Every time you need to follow up with a lead or other business contact, simple personalize your template and send it out – minimum fuss!
If you spend a lot of time answering phone calls, writing general emails and sorting through mail, hire an assistant to do it for you. The same goes for hiring a copywriter for your marketing materials. Stick to your strengths and focus on high-impact tasks, while outsourcing the jobs that will ultimately cost you more by doing them in-house.
By now, you know why you need to automate your lead generation system, and that effective online campaigns are better lead generators. You should also have sales lead software to manage your follow-up contact (whether by phone, e-mail, or snail mail), and have ideas for using autoresponders to keep your leads warm.
With this level of automated lead generation, you will soon have a healthy lead generation list for your next sales!
•We do it for you: If you’d like to free up more time with an automated lead generation system, click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide
•Do it yourself: For more lead generation ideas Download our free report
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