Even with a healthy customer base, attracting new leads is an essential part of running a successful business. But not all leads are equal, and by focusing on capturing the right ones you can save time, boost revenue, and put your brand on track to long-term success.
In this article, you’ll learn about:
- What makes a lead high-quality.
- The two main types of leads and which one to focus on.
- And 5 effective strategies to generate quality local leads for your business.
Let’s dive in!
What Is a High-Quality Lead?
There are two primary types of marketing leads: cold leads and warm leads.
Outbound marketing often involves reaching out to cold leads that haven’t asked to be contacted, aren’t familiar with your brand, and thereby require more work to turn into customers.
Warm leads (also known as qualified leads) are prospects that already have a level of interest in your brand before contacting you or you contacting them. That interest can come in many forms such as:
- They searched for your product or service.
- They opted into your email list or newsletter.
- They positively interacted with your content online or attended live events.
Both warm and cold leads are important to the growth of a business, but since warm leads require less effort to turn into customers, they are more valuable to businesses. They are a powerful way to boost revenue and, depending on the lead-gen method, often come at a lower cost in both time and money.
Top 5 Ways to Generate Quality Local Leads
Through online tools and a little creativity, there is no shortage of ways in this day in the ways you can generate quality leads for your business. Here are the top five methods you can quickly put into use.
Boost Visibility With Local SEO
According to Google, 30% of all mobile searches are related to location, and 78% of people who search for something nearby on their phones visit the related business within a day.
That’s where the power of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes in, which is all about getting your business to rank in the top results when people search for certain keywords.
Local SEO particularly focuses on getting your business to rank highly when people search for local services or products like:
- “Dentist near me”
- “Hairdressers in {city name}”
- “Heater installation”
Because you are targeting a specific area, local SEO is easier to perform and rank well in when compared to general SEO where businesses compete for keyword rankings on an international level.
Ranking well for local searches can be one of the best sources of consistent warm leads without actively spending on ads.
Of course, this is a very broad description of local SEO. However, there are plenty of in-depth guides and guaranteed steps you can take to instantly get started.
Build Lead-Generating Landing Pages
Landing pages are website pages specifically created to convert visitors into leads. They are a major tool for generating warm leads and a necessary component of other lead-gen methods we’ll discuss.
So how exactly can a landing page become a lead-generating machine?
The goal of a landing page is to get a visitor’s details like their name, email, or phone number. But people don’t just give out their valuable information without something in return. Through special offers, businesses can incentivize visitors to opt into giving their information.
These offers come in all kinds of shapes, colors, and sizes. For local warm leads, they are known as…
Localized Lead Magnets
A lead magnet is a way of getting a customer’s information by offering them something of value in return. These offers can be anything of likely value presented to visitors on your landing page or website, such as:
- Ebooks or helpful resources related to your brand that solve a pain point for your audience: for example, a local fitness coaching service can offer a resource on the top pilates gyms in the city or a cookbook of recipes for weight loss.
- Webinars: hosting a webinar is an excellent way to share your expertise, solve a problem, and pitch your service to people who sign up. With the right webinar structure, it can be one of the best ways to convert leads into loyal customers.
- Infographics: similar to ebooks, visually appealing infographics can be pitched to visitors in exchange for their email.
- Value-based social media content: you can drive traffic to your landing pages through social media posts and announcements on upcoming webinars or giveaways.
- Special discounts and free local giveaways: Capture your visitors’ info with special offers and giveaways through an opt-in popup on your website or dedicated landing page with a CTA (call-to-action) to fill out a form.
These are a handful of ideas to get the creative juices flowing on creating the right lead magnet for your business. Ultimately, it’s a transactional process that’s a win-win for all sides.
Use Highly Targeted Ads
Paid advertisements are a fast way to drive high-volume warm traffic to your landing pages or website. On major platforms like Google or Facebook, you can create ad campaigns that target specific geographical areas.
Similar to SEO, targeted paid ads show up when users search for certain keywords or even based on their past interests and search intent. In the case of Facebook Lead Ads, businesses can use a range of lead-gen templates and forms to attract qualified leads and can even integrate customer relationship management (CRM) tools in the process.
Local and Community Events
Local events are a great way to raise brand awareness and generate a steady stream of warm leads. You’ll be surprised at how many local events you can find in your area. Some common examples are:
- Trade shows: there are over 1200 trade shows in 2022-2023 in the US alone.
- Business conferences: from real estate to hairdressing, you can find conferences being held for most industries on a regular basis.
- Seminars and Workshops: companies regularly train their employees through seminars and workshops. These events are a great way to widen your network and collaborate with other local businesses to attract leads.
- Industry influencers: YouTube, Instagram, or even TikTok influencers sometimes attend or create events around their niche. Popular real estate and finance influencers particularly do this often.
But if you’re looking for something more fun and relaxed, hosting community events is the way to go. From marathons to food festivals to live shows, local community events are an excellent way to get your brand noticed in creative ways.
Key Takeaways
And there you have it, five effective ways to generate quality local leads. You don’t have to do all five to generate a good volume of qualified leads, but doing most will certainly put you ahead of the competition.
When generating leads, don’t forget that:
- Warm leads may require more focus to capture than cold leads but are easier to convert and retain down the line.
- Local SEO is a long-term and cost-effective strategy to generate qualified leads on autopilot.
- Having systems in place to attract warm leads is the key to consistent growth for your business.
