This means not having a list at all to start with but utilizing a few of the many available methods to have leads find you versus you finding them. Most of the methods I like to use with my clients do not involve a budget at all but some may require a bit of money outlay to get done.
To keep it simple and the cost down, we’ll talk here about just a few that are at the top of my list:
Websites: 10 years ago a website for most was a way to cut down on printing costs by making it a big brochure. Information and branding was the name of the game. With the low cost and simple tools available out there to automate your website to a pretty far extent as a lead generation system, there’s no reason not to do this.
Some in the technology business world have been moving towards this by providing a sign up for an emailed newsletter. That’s a good start and better than nothing but it’s very hit or miss. Most doing this have nothing compelling a visitor to sign up for the newsletter so many lead capture opportunities are missed. Even worse, you still don’t know how well these “leads” stack up against your true client base criteria.
A newsletter is great and it should definitely be sent out to current/past clients but it’s not much of an attractor to new possible clients. But stepping up the technology behind it and utilizing a true autoresponder to capture those to put on your lead list, manage that database and separate them into what they are interested in so you can automate most marketing to them is a better idea.
Now you can go beyond just offering a simple newsletter that has a variety of information and start offering on your website pinpointed information in the form of white papers and reports that will separate those looking for Service A and Service B. You can not only just target market to them but keep them informed on your company and send them the newsletter.
Again we’re back to message to market match and your list(s) are now allowing you to take warm leads that told you what they were looking for and be able to use the autoresponder to automatically market to them based on this knowledge. You can also take your marketing offline if you move these leads into giving you other info such as phone numbers and addresses. And all it costs is some upfront setup time and a few dollars a month for the autoresponder.
PPC and Natural Search: Ok so this is still website related as you need to get people to the site and capture those that are interested in what you have to offer. This can be even longer than what I wrote above for websites (which was still much shorter than all the details involved) so I will really keep this simple.
Having a solid informational site with lead generation ability is great but you have to get people there and they need to be the right people. This is not a perfect science but doing what you can to have the right people find you will make a big difference in not wasting your time. There is no point in attracting 100 visitors a day if 90 of them got there by accident trying to look for something else. You are not Amazon selling 1000’s of items.
Setting up a website with all of your essential pages is a must but it’s hard to pinpoint how you come up in a natural search as you can’t really make a page work to be found for a slew of keyword phrases. So what you thought was a 5 page site might really be better off as a 10 page site that has pages that shoot off to talk separately about your products and services.
But we’re not done yet. To really get noticed in natural search you should have a variety of these 10 pages that are distinctly optimized for each search phrase you think your true audience is looking for. Now your 10 page site is a 30+ page site. Many small businesses fail at making a 5 page site into a 10 page site but almost all don’t take the time to become a 30+ page site. And it makes no sense since it shouldn’t cost you any more to host a bigger site.
Besides natural search, you can also set up this 30+ page site to attract visitors based on pay-per-click (PPC) methods. This will cost you a few dollars to use a service like Google Adwords, but if done right it becomes a much more effective version of direct marketing on the web.
It’s also a good way to test those keyword phrases you think are suitable for your business. For $1 a day you can find out a lot. And if you want to make PPC a full part of your marketing mix once again it’s automated, acts like offline direct marketing as you are advertising to those you don’t know, but you only get charged when a viable prospect clicks on the ad.
It can be a low cost effective way to generate leads depending on how well you construct the ad, but just as importantly how well the landing page they go to is designed to meet what they were trying to find and compel the to take action and make themselves a part of your list. Otherwise the flip side is you could lose your shirt, but let’s assume you wouldn’t go into PPC without getting help.
Speaking Engagements- Speaking is a very low priority to most technology business owners as even more than most, speaking in public is not on the top of the “like to do” list. I can’t blame you but that’s what makes it such a great separator from the pack. And it could be a low to no cost way of getting in front of a captive audience that chose to listen to you. In some cases you may even get paid to do this marketing/branding.
Although this is a variation on using a Joint Venture, I consider it a separate entity since it involves the speaking effort. Bottom line, groups and organizations that contain your target list are always looking for people to educate their members. So finding a few that fit your target niches will allow you to hook up with them to do webinars, teleseminars or in-person events.
This is really the best way to generate a list as you have knocked down a lot of barriers by being an expert, having them come to you, and moving right to establishing a relationship. Especially at in-person opportunities.
Ok this post is more than long enough and yes I know I could have gone into greater detail but room and individual needs make this the wrong forum.
I hope you got a ton of ideas from this 4 part series. If you would like to discuss these topics for your particular business, just follow this link to set up a free 30 minute session http://consultantscoach.com/FreeStrategySession.php.
To Your Business Success-
George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach
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