As a business owner we’re always looking for more innovative ways to target our ideal customer/client. Leads are great, but have you ever experienced receiving leads from a customer or client that has no interest in your product or service?
Somewhere along the way our marketing strategy has missed the mark and failed to attract our ideal customer/client.
No worries the great thing about marketing is we get to test our strategies, reassess the data, and tailor our new strategy to a more targeted audience.
Targeted leads are what we want, because we know for sure these potential customers have an interest in our product and are more likely to take and action on our website. First things, first, before you can attract your ideal customer/client you need to know who that ideal customer/client is. If you’re unclear on who your audience is, then we need to back up and do some market planning.
If you have yet to do any market planning for your business, click here to download our market planning checklist and start that process today.
If you know the type of customer/client you’re targeting, let’s jump into some zero cost strategies to target your ideal customer. Disclaimer, you can hire someone to do this for you which in that case will cost you, the point of these are for those who will be performing these tasks on their own. The only cost is your time.
Content Marketing
There is a reason why content is king! Content brings attention, and answers. Just look what we’re doing here, creating meaningful content for you, to help you along with way. When consumers are searching for the web, they are looking for great content to engage with. This content maybe in the form of entertainment, education, or to solve a problem they are having. By providing content for those searches, and by providing answers, you’re able to attract and convert more of your targets.
When creating content don’t just create lack luster content, create high quality content that will keep consumers attention. Before you sit down to write keep these questions in mind.
- Which problems can we solve for our target customers through free content?
- Where do our target customers spend time online? Do they read blogs? Participate in LinkedIn groups? Search on Google? Look for solutions on Youtube?
- Which content medium do our target customers prefer to consume content in?
- How can we out-teach the competition and differentiate ourselves on these topics?
- Do we have the core competencies to produce high-quality content? If not, how can we attract and leverage the right people?
Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is a free item or service that is given away for the purpose of gathering contact details; for example, lead magnets can be trial subscriptions, samples, white papers, e-newsletters, e-books, and free consultations. The main purpose is the provide value to your targeted audience and in exchange you collect and email address, phone number or some type of contact detail that will allow you to reach out and nourish that lead.
A great example of a lead magnet is one we created for entrepreneurs who have just started their business or are in the rebranding phase. The Ultimate Branding Checklist can be downloaded here for free. This is a free resource that is highly needed by entrepreneurs who are new to business and branding, and in return we collect their email address so that we can send targeted emails to help them along the way in their branding process.
Knowing your ideal customer/client pain points helps you decide what lead magnet maybe great for them and will be consumed by them. Tailor your white paper to their needs and remember quality over quantity.
Social Media
Using social media is a great free way to promote your business to potential leads. When using social media to promote be sure to create content suitable for which ever social channel you’re using and for the audience you’re targeting. For example, your audience on LinkedIn will be different than your audience on Facebook. LinkedIn has a more professional audience who is looking to network, and for education. You audience on Facebook maybe coming for entertainment purposes only, that educational piece may not resonate with your audience on this channel.
Lastly just because there are multiple social media channels, that doesn’t mean you have to be on them all. Go back to your target audience persona’s and market planning to find out where your audience hangs out, it maybe only two social channels and that’s ok.
Referrals
Customer referrals are another great way to generate leads to your business. Once you’ve gained the trust and loyalty of your current clients don’t be afraid to utilized them as a referral source. After all they know your work, or product and are like brand ambassadors if you’ve treated them right and pushed out great work/product for them. To do this, create a system of what type of clients and business you’re looking for. Remember only solicit referrals from your satisfied customers
Host a Webinar
Hosting a webinar will not only bring in potential leads, but it will also increase your brand’s exposure and positions you as an expert in your field. Here are our top 5 reasons why you should host a webinar
- Develop authority and trust
- Create business relationships and brand awareness
- Help you understand your target audience
- Convenient and affordable
- Generate Leads
These are our zero cost strategies for attracting your targeted audience. Try them out and let us know how effective they were for you. Drop us a comment or tag us via social @8393creative on your outcome.
