In this Surge Session we talk about lead generation strategies for small businesses and how to set up a led generation campaign. We discuss different methods for small business owners to generate leads as well as which tools are available for small business owners to leverage and supplement their own efforts. Two of our marketing specialists, Ohad Yarel and Tatiana Balletti, join our COO and Co-Founder, Duran Inci, in our eleventh installment of our Surge Session marketing vlog.
How to Start a Lead Generation Campaign
Optimum7 is always looking to generate more leads as well as find new methods and strategies for generating quality leads. In Part 1 of this Surge Session we cover our own approach to generating leads and give you a simple breakdown of the lead generation process.
The first step is understanding your own business and your target audience as well as understanding what a lead truly is. A contact (name, phone number, email) is not a lead. A lead is in your target audience and has interest in your services.
Once you have a lead, you need to nurture that lead. You need to understand their need for your services and the problem that you have the solution for. Then they become a “qualified lead” or a “prospect.”
We also discuss realistic expectations for cost per lead. Quality leads generated by an efficient strategy will run you about $20 to $25. You need to have clear expectations when generating leads regarding the number of leads you will generate, how much those leads will cost to generate, and how many leads you will actually convert.
How to Start Generating Leads for Small Businesses
In Part 2, we discuss ways of getting leads. You can hire an experienced company like Optimum7 or even freelancers (based on size/scale). Freelancers usually have fewer strategies in place, if any, meaning the quality of their service and the leads they generate is going to be lower.
You can also leverage existing outsource services and software to supplement your own efforts & strategy, such as cold calling & appointment setting services.
One very useful tool for generating quality leads is LinkedIN Premium. There is no other network like it, of professionals. No other database that even comes close to it. LinkedIN Premium makes it much easier to find the decision makers as well as find key information about the business, like the number of employees. You can further supplement your strategy using LinkedIN Premium with tools such as hunter.io & snow.io to find contact info
You can also use Facebook marketing, which is harder to make as efficient and effective as LinkedIN but is much cheaper.
Once you have a lead, you need to nurture that lead. You can start by cold emailing or put them straight into a drip-marketing strategy. We go over the differences between the two and the benefits of putting together a drip-marketing strategy. There is also the issue of the GDPR regarding cold emailing, which does not apply to LinkedIN.
How to Create a Lead Generation Funnel
In Part 3 of this Surge Session we discuss reasons for leads not converting. Why would leads not convert once you have them? What’s the problem? It’s likely it has to deal with your internal processes.
You need to have a clear path for each lead to follow and for you yourself to follow as well as your business and therefore employees as well. Who contacts them? what info do you need to communicate? What follow up processes do you have in place? These are all questions you should have clear cut answers to.
We discuss the importance of creating an internal funnel and how it can help you resolve issues regarding low conversion rates. We also go over tools you can leverage such as SalesForce, NutShell, or any cloud-based CRM.
Also, your process for generating proposals needs to be fast. You must be able to provide quotes quickly. You can leverage tools like Proposify to help you do so.
It doesn’t matter how many leads you are generating if you are not converting. If your processes are not perfect, your leads will not convert as highly and efficiently as they should and your competition will get ahead of you.
Ask the experts at Optimum 7 any questions you have regarding the topics we covered in this Surge Session. If you need help in creating and implementing a strategy to generate leads or increase conversions, do not hesitate in reaching out to us. Contact us today.
