Ideas for generating leads
Get referrals
Referrals can be great for your business because the people referred to your business are likely already interested in it and have a much better chance to make a purchase. Consider doing the following to obtain even more referrals:
Ask current customers to provide leads and give them a reward for doing so, such as a discount coupon. You might also want to reward the new customer too, which can prompt them to not only take action but also become a referrer themselves.
If your business is relatively new, you can have employees make referrals and get rewards as a way to jumpstart the program.
If you don’t want to create the mechanics of the referral program yourself, you can search online for solutions that take care of that for you.
Create referral partnerships
Approach a couple of your best customers, or establish relationships with complementary businesses. For example, if you have a housecleaning business, you might consider working with local realtors and having them refer clients to you who need their homes cleaned before they put their homes for sale. Further, you may want to consider incentivizing via:
Offering partners a commission for each lead they send your way.
Making sure your referral partners clearly understand your business goals, and the specifics of the relationship are written out and agreed to by all parties.
If referral partnerships will play a significant part of your business leads, partner relationship management (PRM) software will be the best way to streamline and keep track of everything.
Demonstrate your expertise with content
Use a blog and/or social media channels to provide helpful advice to people in the form of written content, how-to videos, and so forth.
Make sure you include your contact info and/or a link to an online lead form so people have a way to get in touch with you if they’re interested in what you have to offer.
Try to approach blogs that are popular in your industry and see if you can write a guest post, or find relevant podcasts and ask them if you can appear on their show as a guest.
Advertise
Most online ad platforms, including Snapchat, can help you generate leads via paid advertising campaigns. Before you get started with advertising across social media, Make sure you have a lead form on your website and send people to it from your ads. Generating leads on Snapchat is a great way to connect with a younger audience. Learn more about generating leads on Snapchat.
When advertising, create Lookalike Audiences
Most ad platforms, including Snapchat’s, allow you to create Lookalike Audiences from existing Custom Audiences. In general, these Lookalike Audiences will help your business find people who are similar to the source audience you provide.
For example, you can create a Customer List Audience by uploading a list of your best customers. Learn more about creating Customer List Audiences on Snapchat.
Then you can use the Customer List Audience as the source for a Lookalike Audience, which you can target in an ad to help you find new customers who are similar to your best ones. Learn more about creating Lookalike Audiences on Snapchat.
Offer a lead generation magnet
A lead generation magnet is a strategy that involves offering useful content to people in exchange for their contact information. This content could be something like an ebook or a template.
Host a giveaway
The opportunity to win free products or services can be a powerful incentive for people to give you their contact info. Use giveaways to drive engagement and obtain contact information.
If you have a physical business location, try some offline ideas
Even if you don’t have a physical place where you do business, try attending conferences or other events and network with people who could be potential customers. Being present in your industry is key. You may also consider doing one of the following:
Host a party where people enter by filling out their contact info on a simple form.
Offer samples, such as a free consultation, a trial membership, or a discount on the first use of a service.
Host a group workshop. You could also try this online with video conferencing software.
Give people useful information that’s related to your business, so you can mention your products and services during the session; just try not to oversell your product.
Participate in community service projects.
Use email and social media to engage with people
Create a newsletter that you send out on a regular basis (monthly is good) to people who haven’t purchased from you yet or haven’t done so in a long time. Give people useful information and invite them to get in touch to learn more.
Stay active in your social media accounts and make sure you interact with people as much as possible, especially people who have questions.
