Lead Generation for Your Small Business

So you've generated some website visitors. Oh, the potential. But 96% of visitors who come to your website aren't ready to buy - yet. So what do you do? Adopt some kickass lead gen tactics, that's what.

Here's an example of a business that really killed it on the lead generation front: EAL MFG, a company that manufactures commercial concrete supplies and accessories. The company's marketing team wanted to increase brand awareness and generate more leads. They developed a campaign calendar - which included a mix of organic and paid social media posts - to organize and schedule all posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Then, they revised landing page copy to highlight the benefits of the company's services, more so than the features. They also gave the landing page a more responsive design for desktop, mobile, and tablet - users are 67% more likely to convert on sites that are responsive across multiple devices. And if that wasn't enough, EAL MFG started automating their social media posts and leveraging custom audience targeting on Facebook and Twitter. The results? EAL MFG generated 25 landing page conversions within the first 2 ½ weeks and increased landing page traffic by 55%.

Every small business has its own path for lead gen. What will be yours? Here are some basics for getting started with lead generation:

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

We know. You've heard this piece of advice at least a thousand times (and maybe you think it's bullshit). But knowing who you're selling to is an important part of generating leads. You need to know what your audience wants and improve your products or services accordingly.

For example, Aviva Weiss, co-founder and lead designer of Fun and Function, had a dilemma. Her company makes items for special needs children such as therapy balls that help children develop fine motor skills. She couldn't decide whether she wanted to continue to just market to parents and families with special needs kids or expand her reach to institutional customers such as therapists and schools.

Weiss made the tough decision to offer about 200 new products aimed at school buyers, including tools for electronic learning. Since then, the company has seen major growth and has been serving not only parents, but also teachers, and therapists who deal with children with special needs. But the company doesn't stop there to keep its customers happy and understand their pain points.

Weiss and her team are constantly reaching out to the therapy community and parents in order to improve their products. Their weighted compression vest, which is designed to calm children who are overstimulated, needed more adjustability. Fun and Function responded by adding velcro. Then, they discovered that the vests were too big for some children, so they made smaller sizes.

The main takeaway: Sell to the right people and don't be afraid to expand. Also, the more responsive you are to customer needs, the more leads you'll generate.

DETERMINE THE BEST LEAD GEN STRATEGY

All lead gen isn't created equal. What works for one company may not work for another. PPC advertising tends to do wonders for service companies like law firms and plumbing businesses. Social media marketing produces great results for restaurants, e-commerce stores, and design agencies. Choose the right strategy that will best fit your specific business and marketing budget.

Here are some effective lead generation tactics with case studies to match:

• SEO: Barrington All Makes, an auto repair company based in Southern New Hampshire, boosted their SEO strategy to improve their online presence and attract more customers to their business. The company saw a 1400% increase in traffic to their website and a 32% increase in revenue. They were able to accomplish this on a pretty small budget of $3,000.
• Content Marketing: Kate McQuillan started a pet sitting business called Pet Sitters Ireland. Traditional marketing - putting out flyers, hanging up posters, running newspaper ads, and handing out business cards - didn't do much to grow her business. McQuillan started blogging three times per week to answer customer questions. In 18 months, the company's website generated over 10,000 website visitors per month and developed a Facebook following of more than 30,000 fans. Good Green's Bars, a local Cleveland, Ohio business that sells healthy protein bars went on a guest blogging campaign to increase impressions, traffic and Google rankings. The company worked with local bloggers to generate awareness. They saw a 50% increase in sales in 4 months and 2000+ website visitors per month.
• Social Media Marketing: With 79% of the US population owning a social media profile and users spending an average of 2 hours a day on social media platforms, Peel thought it wise to leverage social media marketing for business growth. Peel sells thin phone cases that are both functional and stylish. The company used Facebook video ads to show what separates their products from everyone else. The social media ad campaigns generated a 16x increase in revenue and 3x higher ROI. 
• PPC Advertising: Paradise Teak, a family-owned small business that sells outdoor furniture had trouble differentiating itself from the competition and convincing consumers to choose them over national brands. The company also had a limited advertising budget and wanted desperately to get a good ROI from their PPC campaign. Google Ads helped the company increase its CTR from 1.63% to 4.74%. Their sales increased by 45% in 12 months.
• Email Marketing: ROI for every $1 invested in email marketing can be up to $40. Wok to Walk, a health food company leveraged email marketing to generate new leads. The company looked at their open rates and retargeted subscribers who didn't open the previous email. They changed the email's subject line to include a phone number, which would make it easier for people to call even if they didn't open the email. The second email captured an additional 7.7% of subscribers.

Main takeaway: Determine the strategy that's right for your business. That is all.

Do you know where to start bringing in leads? If it's overwhelming or you don't have the time, you can always outsource lead gen to a fabulous marketing agency like MarComm. :)