If you’re looking for a way to get more leads for your small business, but don’t have the budget to spend on expensive marketing campaigns?
I have some good news! There are plenty of ways to build up your lead list without spending too much money.
You can start and grow your business without paying out tons of money just to get your first customers. Here’s a few ideas.
Promote your Small Business on Social Media
Promoting your business by posting to social media is a great way to market your products and services. It allows you to connect with customers on a more personal level, and increase awareness of anything from new products or services to special deals and upcoming events.
Social media platforms vary in the style of posts they allow. Some are designed for promotional messages, where others are better for sharing the latest events in your company. It’s important to keep this in mind as you post.
The objective of social media is simple: attract visitors, drive traffic and increase sales from those who are already interested or haven’t considered your business before. You can accomplish this by providing compelling, unique content that will interest other users.
Host a Giveaway to Get More Followers and Likes
Another great way to get some leads and sales is to host a giveaway. This can be a great way to grow your following and have some targeted promotion too.
You can host the giveaway on any of the most popular social giveaway platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter. Be sure you follow their terms and conditions and you will need an account with these websites in order to launch a contest. Another option is to create a giveaway through Instagram if you happen to have a large following.
Make sure that you have a clear reason for hosting the giveaway. The point is to get attention and to have people participate, so it should be relevant to your followers. Make sure to use hashtags and post it on all of your social media profiles as well.
Reward those who take part in the contest with fun prizes that will entice your users to share it on their social media.
Create an Email List for People Interested in your Products or Services
Creating an email list is a quick and cheap way to re-engage potential leads.
A time-tested way to engage with your customers is by creating an email list. It can be as simple as a sign-up sheet at the front desk of your store, or it can be as robust as a full-fledged company newsletter subscription.
For those who may not know what an email list is, here’s a quick and dirty explanation: When you subscribe to someone’s email list (let’s say mine), I will send you emails related to my business, such as product updates and upcoming events. These things would show up in your inbox whenever I send them; you don’t have access to the content until you sign up (and opt-in).
Make sure you only send emails to those that opt in.
Once you start sending these emails, those on your list will be more likely to purchase from you. In fact, a McKinsey study found that every $1 spent acquiring an email address translated into $38 in revenue. Additionally, those on your list are twice as likely to buy from you over a non-subscribed customer.
Start today by creating an email list for customers who have already bought from you or expressed interest in your products or services. You can easily do this by adding a simple form to your website.
Find Bloggers or Influencers in Your Niche Who Will Promote You For Free
Bloggers are constantly publishing posts and promoting companies. These are what we call influencers. Many companies will pay big bucks to get their product mentioned and reviewed by these influencers. But there is a better way, and it doesn’t involve spending one penny: find bloggers in your niche who will promote you for free.
Wondering where do you find influencers/bloggers?
There are many places where you can look for bloggers or influencers. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are very good for this because people tend to share information about their lives more freely on social networks than anywhere else.
For example, you might see someone post that they just went out and bought a new pair of Nike running shoes or that they just finished reading Harry Potter for the first time.
These are great opportunities!
There are also a few services that will help you find influencers for your niche. They make it much easier, however, it comes with a cost. And we’re going for cheap here, right?
Your ideal target this tactic would be someone that is in your industry and posts frequently. If someone is only sharing photos of their cat and talking about how they hate Mondays, you can skip them.
Once you’ve found a couple people that you might like to work with, it’s time to search for them on social media. Now, because these influencers are not looking for promotional opportunities this early in the game, you will need to do some digging. The first thing that you should look at is the person’s Twitter handle or Facebook URL (profile). If those don’t say anything about what they do, then move on and keep looking. Now if those things say something along the lines of “watch full episodes here” or “find me on iTunes”, then we have a winner!
Reach out to them with a DM and ask them if they do any promoting for small businesses.
Sponsor Events That Target the Demographic You’re Trying to Reach
Depending on your industry, there may be some events that you can attend to generate more leads. These events might be trade shows, expositions, conferences, or even fundraisers. If you are targeting a specific demographic or audience, make sure to look for the right kind of events where your target market would be.
For example if you are an accountant and you want to reach out to more creative professionals because they are less likely to have their own accountants then go for creative industry related events.
If you can’t find any event that is tailored to your target market then consider creating one yourself. Make it affordable enough so that many people will come but also valuable enough so that they’ll think it was worth attending. You can sponsor other similar events too to increase awareness about your brand among people who attend these types of networking events.
You have to promote your business in order for it to grow. But, you don’t want to be too pushy or spammy with marketing messages so people start hiding your posts and unsubscribing from your email list.
Here are some ways that may work better than others when it comes to promoting on social media, hosting a giveaway or sweepstakes, building an email list of prospective buyers by inviting them into the conversation rather than blasting them with ads, reaching out influencers who can help spread the word about what you do best, or attending industry events where other professionals will see you as someone worth knowing.
Want more ideas or interested in other options such as SEO? Give me a call!