The Ultimate Guide to Lead Generation

As a small business, it’s important to be continually testing and tweaking your marketing strategy to stay relevant. There’s nothing more important for your business than driving leads into your pipeline. In addition to a well-maintained website and valuable lead magnets, it’s crucial to have a strong marketing stack that you’re constantly evaluating and improving. Read more about our favorite lead generation tools (and why they’re important for your small business marketing strategy) below.

Social Media

Social media is a necessity for building an online presence for your small business. Rather than trying to divide and conquer all platforms, find the right one for your business. Figure out where your prospective customers are, create a footprint of valuable content and build an engaged audience.

How It Generates Leads

In many cases, social media may be the first impression of your business for potential customers. If you’re putting out content of value and maintaining a regular cadence of posts on the proper social media channels for the demographics you’re targeting, social media can be a direct path to your inbound marketing funnel.

Social Media Resources

The Right (Social Media) Tool For The Job

The 3 Non-Negotiables For Building Your Small Business Social Media Strategy

Crisis Control: How to Respond To Negativity On Social Media

How to Effectively Leverage Social Media With Limited Time

17 Killer Social Media Tools To Save You Time (And Get Results)

The Basics of Setting Up an Effective Facebook Business Page

6 Social Listening Tools for PR, Marketing and Competitive Analysis

Social Media 101: Your Actionable Guide to Getting Started

Social Media Tools

Content Marketing

It’s no secret that content marketing is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to pull leads into your funnel through inbound marketing. You should be actively creating educational content that helps your prospective customers and builds trust for your business.

How It Generates Leads

Content is the fuel for your inbound marketing funnel. With the help of social media and email marketing as tools to get eyes on the content you create, a small business content marketing strategy is a must. By using content to pull leads down the funnel, you’ll not only drive more traffic to your site, but you’ll undoubtedly close more leads.

Content Marketing Resources

4 Tricks For Creating More Shareable Content

Is Your Content Marketing On The Right Track?

5 Ways To Guarantee Your Readers Trust Your Content

Turn Your Content Into a Cash Cow with These 6 Lead Generation Tools

Are You Failing At Content Marketing?

8 Writing Tools To Make You A Modern Day Shakespeare

Struggling with Content Marketing Strategy? Nail it with these 5 Tips.

12 Awesome Examples of Small Business Content Marketing Done Right

5 Simple Content Marketing Tweaks for Your Small Business Strategy

Content Marketing Tools

Marketing Automation

There’s a lot of hype around marketing automation and for good reason — it can save your small business loads of time by automating repetitive tasks, making sure your leads don’t slip through the cracks and keeping your team on the same page. If you’re not using marketing automation, you’re not maximizing your time or sales potential.

How It Generates Leads

You’re a small business which probably means you run a tight shop. You don’t have time for repetitive tasks and follow-ups, and your leads don’t have the patience to wait for a response. Enter: marketing automation. By automating some of the key functions of your business, you’ll be able to reach leads more quickly in a more personalized manner so that nothing is overlooked.

Marketing Automation Resources

Marketing Automation for Small Business: A Quick Guide to Getting Started

You’ve Invested in Marketing Automation, But Can Your Small Business Stay Authentic?

3 Reasons Growing Businesses Need Marketing Automation

Three Ways to Standardize and Save Time with Marketing Automation

3 Reasons to Update Email Marketing with Marketing Automation

Comprehensive List of 33 Marketing Automation Terms to Make You a Pro

5 Things You Won’t Expect When You Sign Up for Marketing Automation Software

3 Ways Marketing Automation Software Makes Salespeople Happy

Marketing Automation Tools

Zapier

IFTTT

BenchmarkONE

Email Marketing

Email remains one of the most cost-effective marketing tools. With incredibly high ROI, it’s important to have a solid email marketing strategy in place for your small business. Keeping your email list engaged and nurtured is vital to keeping your lead pipeline full.

How It Generates Leads

An email subscriber list can be an absolute gold mine of new leads for a small business. By continuously putting yourself in the inbox with helpful, personalized content, you’re sure to attract more potential customers and gain the trust of your ideal buyer. No one wants to talk to a robot. Email marketing is the easiest way to demonstrate your value and personalize your outreach to keep your interactions human.

Email Marketing Resources

5 Tips To Improve Your Email Open Rates Right Away

5 Email Marketing Strategies You Can Use For Your Agency’s Clients Right Now

Ready to Elevate Your Email Game? You Need These Free Templates.

Capture Your First 1000 Email Subscribers With These Five Steps

DANGER: Email Marketing Mistakes Ahead

7 Email Elements You Should Be A/B Testing

Email Marketing Tools

BenchmarkONE

Email On Acid

Litmus

SEO

As a small business, your online visibility can make or break you. In order to stay competitive, you need to take be continually focusing on SEO to make sure leads are seeing your business in their search results and your website traffic remains relevant.

How It Generates Leads

Almost any business or consumer is going to do their online research before making a purchase decision. You can bet that they’re more likely to trust a company that shows up near the top of their search indicating that it’s more relevant to their search terms. By optimizing landing pages, blog content and your website overall, you’ll be more likely to gain the trust of Google and the business of your radical buyer.

Search Engine Optimization Resources

Before You Hire an SEO Company, Try These 16 DIY Tips

3 SEO Strategies for Driving Traffic to Your Website

5 SEO Tips for Marketing Agencies

SEO Tips to Start Using Right Now

7 Ways Small Businesses Can Compete with SEO Giants

Search Engine Optimization Tools

PPC

While pay-per-click may not be the lowest cost marketing tactic, it is one that can deliver considerable ROI once you’ve invested time and money into your keyword strategy. PPC is not a channel in which you can dabble and expect results though. Considerable keyword research needs to be done before even thinking about diving in.

How It Generates Leads

Who wouldn’t want to show up in the results when a competitor’s keyword is searched for? PPC can be an invaluable way to compete with the big guys, drive more website traffic and build stronger brand recognition. Generally PPC serves up highly qualified leads because your company name is being served up for a relevant search or through re-targeting campaigns which means the prospect is already interested.