As a small business owner, you’re likely always looking for new leads and ways to expand your business to a broader customer base. While generating new leads can be a time-consuming process, there are many marketing tactics you can utilise to help you crack new markets.
Identify Your Target Market
The most important step in generating leads is to identify your target market. You should take the time to understand exactly who your product is appealing to and what their shopping habits might be; is your product in their budget, is it something they need, does it suit where they live, and so on.
Once you understand your audience you need to understand your product and identify its unique selling point (USP) that separates you from the competition. Once you have this information you’ll be ready to focus your marketing efforts on leads that will return sales.
Choosing Your Marketing Medium
With this information about your customer base, you now need to understand how you’re going to reach them. If your research has shown that your average customer is in their 20s and spends a lot of their time on social media, when compared to other mediums, then consider a targeted social media campaign that puts your product front and centre of their feed.
However, if you sell a product that requires a specialist customer, for example, heavy machinery sales, you’d likely be better off attending trade fairs and similar events. By identifying your audience and building a profile of your average customer you can make sure your adverts are targeted exactly where they need to be which prevents wasted spend.
Create A Funnel
One of the most important selling techniques is the ‘sales funnel’. A sales funnel essentially tracks how your customer interacts with the business, from seeing your website or shop, right through to completing a transaction with you. The sales funnel is a good opportunity to draw people in and ingratiate them into the business. For example, offer first-time customers or anyone who signs up to receive product updates from you a 10% discount on a future order.
Now you have a way of communicating with your customer directly and the likelihood of a future sale because of their discount voucher. Once you have a database of customer information building up it’s a good idea to utilise it with a newsletter. This should include new products, interesting news items about your company, and occasionally a discount or offer to keep customers coming back to the website.
Remember, however, to keep the newsletter relevant, and do not overuse this tool or customers will likely unsubscribe and the lead will be lost forever.
Establish Your Brand
As well as your email newsletters it’s a good idea to set yourself up on social media. Look back to your customer profiles and create social pages that are relevant to them. One advantage of social media that many people like is that you as a company are reachable directly 24/7 to reply to messages, and the more positive interactions like this that a customer has with your company, the more likely they are to purchase from you and become a regular customer.
Remember that generating leads is a long game that never stops. You should regularly audit your methods to ensure money isn’t being wasted and your leads are leading to successful sales.
Contact Us
If you are struggling to generate leads and need advice, we at IT Focus are on hand to help. We offer everything from B2B lead generation to account-based marketing. Call today on 0330 058 0100 or visit our contact page for more details.
