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You have started an online business. Now, you want people to know about it and purchase from you, right? And I know you’re tired of trying out boring stuff for lead generation. So, let’s talk about real lead generation strategies that work for any online business you have.
What Is an Online Business?
Do you have a business where your customer interacts and makes transactions online to consume the product or services?🤔
Then, you have got an online business.
And you should keep reading this blog.
Common examples of online business: a financial educator giving online sessions, an ecommerce company, a design expert selling courses, or an IT support agency.
In this blog, I’m going to share some simple and effective lead-generation tips for online business by which you can get more people interested in your product and services.
What is Lead Generation For an Online Business?
Lead generation for online businesses is all about finding and nurturing potential customers through various marketing channels. It means figuring out who might be interested in what your business offers and turning them into paying customers.
To do this, you need to research your audience to understand how they behave online. This helps you target them better with your marketing stuff.
7 Best Ways To Generate Leads for Your Online Business
I’ll share 7 Best Tips that any business regardless of where it is based can use to get customers online. By following these lead generation tips for online business, you’ll be on your way to getting more potential customers and growing your business.
1. Find Your Hero Content
First thing first. Understand your end customers and figure out the types of content they love consuming.
Let me give two examples for you.
Suppose you have a SaaS business which caters to designers across the world. In this case, you’d have to think of content that should be engaging for designers. Short video tutorials, design influencer collaborations to make YouTube videos, and exciting reels would be some of the hero content that you can’t miss to create.
In another example, suppose you’re a Yoga expert giving online sessions in Spanish. Then, your hero content can be image stories showing different asanas, yoga poses and their benefits, blogs on different kinds of health problems and how Yoga solves it, and real testimonials – showcasing how your sessions changed the client’s life.
Awesome content is like having a secret weapon for getting new customers online. Whether it’s blogs, videos, or even checklists and eBooks, nothing beats giving your audience something valuable.
You get it, right?
2. Leveraging the Right Social Media
Everyone is on social media and it’s super important for getting new customers nowadays.
When I started handling the social media of a luxury mens clothing store made on shopify, I prioritized Instagram.
You may ask why?
It’s because people are more active on Instagram and would love to see a fashion brand that talks about them
I created stories, reels using their product shoot and other materials. During the initial stage, I planned Giveaway contests to increase brand awareness. A lot of Fashion Influencer collaboration was done to cater the target audience.
So, the point is that you need to utilize the right social media where your audience is.
For an online SaaS business, Instagram could not be the best platform for lead generation. Rather LinkedIn can be a game-changer for such businesses.
One more tip: You gotta make sure your social media posts are helpful or entertaining. People love stuff that makes them laugh or teaches them something quick. Once you’ve got their attention, you can start turning those likes and shares into actual leads for your business in the long run.
3. CPM Ads
You know what CPM means?
It’s Cost per mile (thousand impressions).
CPM Ads are great to do for businesses who need to reach a broad audience. Think about your business and if you’ve a large audience and you want to get seen by them, CPM Advertising is a way for you.
Ankur Warikoo, one of the popular online course sellers for business and career growth, went from hundreds of subscribers to millions in just 3 years with his brilliant YouTube Marketing strategy.
Through CPM Ads on YouTube, he got the interested audience to land on the website and sold online courses like never before.
While planning for CPM advertising, you should make sure that you’ve the high quality creative assets (like videos, images etc.) in place, so that you can get the most out of your budget spent on channels like YouTube.
4. Facebook Performance Marketing
Got an ecommerce business?
I must say that this marketing channel should be your first priority when you’re considering paid marketing to generate leads and sales online.
Advertisers can leverage the excellent targeting options available in Meta which enables you to reach the audience who really are interested in your product.
I recently managed a D2C brand in the skin and haircare niche. Through strategic funnel creation and ad testing, the brand was able to get orders from Shopify website.
And if you own an online business other than ecommerce, you can consider Google ads. For non-ecommerce businesses, Google ads are cheaper, at least in my experience.
Have you got a traditional business but operate online? Here are some Industry-wise Facebook lead generation guides:
Are you a Financial Advisors? Take your Facebook Marketing to the next level.
5. Email-Marketing
If you’re thinking about how to get leads for your business in the service industry, you gotta try email marketing.
Email marketing requires a long-term, strategic approach.
First off, you need to organize your email list based on what people are interested in. If you just did a webinar about Service A, send those audience emails all about Service A. This is the simple approach scenario when you have an email list.
But don’t worry if you don’t have a list. You can do cold emailing – it’s like reaching out to people you don’t know yet.
It can be super effective for small businesses, who don’t have a big budget to spend. With the right approach, those cold emails can turn into hot leads in no time!
6. Optimize for search
Aah! Now comes SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
You must have heard of this.
But have you realized the power of it?
The goal of doing SEO is simple. When someone Googles a question or problem, you want your website to show up on the first page of results.
By using the right keywords and optimizing your content, you can attract people who are already interested in what you offer.
For example, if you run a CRM software company, creating content that answers common questions like “How can CRM improve your business?” can draw in potential customers who are researching the topic.
If your online business operates locally as well, get yourself listed in Google My Business for Local SEO and attract people searching with ‘near me’ terms.
Not only Google, you can optimize your business on Amazon, Bing and any other search platform where your customers visit.
A proper SEO strategy brings better ROI than any other marketing channel. Overall, SEO ensures that when people are looking for solutions, they find you—and that can lead to more sales and growth for your business.
7. Smart Referral Programs
It’s one of the least popular ways to generate leads for online business but highly effective.
Yet most of the internet businesses are busy with other channels and never think of planning referral programs.
Referral programs are simple – reward your existing customer when they refer your service or product to someone else.
Let me give you a real example. Hostinger is an online company providing hosting and server plans. They run a referral program where any customer can earn up to $100 on referring their services.
Happy customers are super important for getting more people interested in what you do. When you ask them to tell their friends about your business, it can make a big difference.
When you do this, you’re not only keeping your current customers coming back but also turning them into loyal fans who keep bringing in new business.
You can make it even better by giving out special codes or promo codes to your customers and employees to share, or by offering extra discounts for each referral they bring in.
Plan Your Marketing Strategy To Skyrocket Your Leads and Sales
Reading all the way till here would have definitely made you think on choosing the right kind of channels for lead generation. Right?
And that’s a great signal.
You will be able to get quality leads and purchases only when you allocate your marketing budget by understanding your audience deeply.
By exploring what they seek, their questions, and how they search, you can tailor content, ads, and customer experiences to attract, engage, and convert them into leads.
And for all this, you need an experienced and dedicated team focused on lead generation.
At Radian Marketing, our dedicated team creates strategies that make your audience take action. Whether it’s creating compelling content, performing ads, optimizing landing pages or refining customer experiences, we ensure a cohesive approach to maximize your online business’s success.
Seeking an agency who understands your industry? Book a meeting to discuss your lead generation goals with us.
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Bhaskar Gupta
Bhaskar Gupta is a passionate digital marketing practitioner and has keen interest in SEO, Social Media Strategy, Business Digital growth, and Performance marketing. He has worked with multiple brands in different industries across India and abroad. In 2022, he has set up his own digital growth and marketing agency named Radian Marketing.