21 Utterly Ingenious Ways to Get More Leads

Rightey ho, here goes: 21 of my best ideas to get you more customers:

1. Tag clients on Facebook and give them appreciation.  Then reach out to their local friends who “like” or comment and invite them to a free special event you’re holding, a webinar, class, fundraiser, open house or other special event.
   1. Run “entry level” workshops on your chosen area of expertise.  Advertise these extensively on the radio, in your local papers, and on Facebook.
   2. Write a book.  Seriously.  Or at least pay for placement in a book by a prominent business author who knows how to market the book, will make it an Amazon best seller, and give you unlimited rights to use it in your marketing (like we do). Nothing will establish your credibility faster in your marketplace.
   3. Completely redesign your customer experience and turn it on its head.  Set out to create the most extraordinary customer experience that will spread like wildfire.  Throw out all the sacred cows. A great example of this is the dentist who sends a limo to pick up his clients and treats them to a hand and foot massage while they wait for their “treatment,” or the plastic surgeon who themes his office like a sexy French boudoir.  Then set about on a PR blitz and get word to spread.
   4. Make a list of everyone you’ve ever done business with but haven’t worked with in the last 12 months.  Send them a “We want you back” lost customer direct mail campaign.  Make it multi-step for best results.
   5. Create a real “snail mail, paper and ink newsletter” for your clients.  Kind of like this one.  Make it fun and interesting and jam pack it full of useful content that demonstrates your expertise.  If it’s even remotely good, your newsletter will stand head and shoulders above anything else in the mailbox and your clients will look forward to receiving it.  Dollar for dollar, pound for pound it’s still an über-powerful lead generation and client retention tool.
   6. Get some SEO CPR done on your website (Geek speak for saying “Get expert work done on your website so it ranks for the top key words your target market is searching for on Google.”).
   7. Set up lead conversion webinars and market these webinars to your email list.
   8. Craft and distribute Search Engine Optimized (i.e.: Google friendly) press releases that tie your business in with human interest stories or news.
   9. Over deliver on results, service, recognition and appreciation.
   10. Host really fun, themed, client appreciation events and invite past clients, prospects and other business owners to attend.  Make it an annual or bi-annual event.  Have fun, network and get referrals.
   11. Make giving referrals a condition of doing business with you.
   12. Craft phone and email scripts that convert for use when you get phone and email inquiries.  These scripts become systems your business operates on as well as saving you time and increasing sales.  Phone and email scripts also help project a more consistent image – a great tool for building trust.
   13. Deliver killer content to your house list on a regular and very consistent basis – articles, market updates, case studies etc., so that your list will get to know, like and TRUST you.
   14. Buy traffic from Google (using AdWords) and point people to your landing page or website (hint: before you go spend thousands on your AdWords campaign, make sure you’ve done enough testing to ensure the pages convert well).
   15. Create 4-6 minute “how-to” videos and post them on YouTube with a list of your keywords and a link to your landing page in the description.
   16. Network with other local business owners or those who might not be your geographic market but who also service your target prospects.  Create a strategic alliance and promote each other’s businesses.  I’ve written extensively about this over the years and call it “piggy back marketing.”  It’s one of the best and fastest ways to generate high quality leads for your business.
   17. Buy ad space in a magazine read prolifically by your target market.  Run an “advertorial” (which is an ad that looks, smells and reads exactly like an article, except that it’s your dream article written about your company).  Order plenty of additional copies and send them to your high value prospects as part of a multi-media ad campaign.
   18. Buy ads on Facebook that will send people to a fan page with an awesome offer (free book, class, video series, white paper), in exchange for their email address.
   19. Create a sales and promotion video about your business and write to your best clients asking if you can feature them in it (of course they will say “yes” and you’ll be able to get glowing testimonials from them).  Then, hand them a done-for-them campaign they can use to make the video go viral by sending to their own clients, friends, and centers of influence.  The viral campaign to their peeps makes them look terrific.
   20. Send a direct mail campaign to targeted homes or businesses that fit your ideal client profile.  Make it a multi-step campaign (to improve your response rate). Make a low barrier, irresistible offer with a deadline to respond.

Are you using all of these strategies to generate leads for your business?  If not, which ones do you think you should be getting onto, pronto…?