Small Business lead generation is always going to be difficult. Small businesses are never going to have the marketing budget that IBM or HP have and therefore have to make the very most of the resources at hand.
Fortunately, the move of the marketplace toward a new, digital space gives small businesses a chance to play with the big boys. The democratic nature of the internet means everyone can have a voice and be heard—if your message is strong enough. So, as a small business, how do you increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts in order to generate more leads?
Here are 3 tips for Inbound Marketing for Small Business Lead Generation:
- Gain credibility
The first step is giving people a reason to listen to you. This means distinguishing yourself from your competitors as the clear thought-leader in your industry. This may be difficult if you are in the same space as someone like IBM, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible. As a small business, you have personality and gumption that IBM lost years ago; show that to your prospects in the form of blog articles, industry reports, educational YouTube videos, webinars, etc. You have expertise in a particular niche, and if you can demonstrate that to your prospects digitally, they will start to recognize you as the only one worth listening to in your space.
2. Create a content plan
You need to be thinking about how your marketing strategy will work temporally. Make sure to take into account when people are planning next year’s budget, common vacation times, industry conferences, etc. For each of these instances, you will want to plan for marketing content to fit the situation. For example, if there are new regulations about to take effect in your industry, you may want to execute an email marketing campaign that lets people know how to avoid compliance issues. It is also a good idea to plan for non-event related content marketing. Establishing a regular cadence for your marketing content (i.e. weekly blog posts, bi-monthly webinars, daily social updates) will help bring prospects back again and again—and eventually turn them into leads.
3. Spread the word
With your thought-leadership content and your content marketing plan in place, you need to push the content out to prospects in every way you can think of. This of course means publishing your content on your website and blog, but it also means pushing it through various social media platforms. And don’t just stick to the most popular social media sites—host your videos on Vimeo and Wistia in addition to YouTube. To get the most exposure (and the most ROI for your marketing efforts) you should also post your content in the “groups” or “circles” social media platforms host as well (i.e. LinkedIn groups). People in these groups are already interested in the content you are sharing and will therefore be much more likely to share it with their own followers.
Inbound marketing for small business lead generation doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. If you are able to develop marketing content to establish yourself as a credible thought-leader in your industry and then push that content to the right people in the right ways, your prospects will engage in your content and become leads.
If you are having difficulty creating marketing content, finding your ideal market or executing content marketing campaigns, we can help. You can find out more about what we do on our services page.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
