small business lead generation services
Attracting new customers is essential to growing any business, but often small businesses don’t always have the resources to find new customers and expand their revenue base. While there are many different lead generation services available, you can easily get overwhelmed by the number of options and it will take time away from your current work load.
It’s important to do as much research as possible, so you want to start with a list of questions before hiring any company:
What is your specialty?
This is an especially important question when factoring in leads that best fit into your target market. Different companies specialize in different industries, regions, or markets; it’s important to know where they excel in order to get the best results.
What types of services do you offer?
Are you a full service agency that provides everything from marketing plans to lead generation, or just a lead generation company that does not have the capacity to provide additional customer acquisition strategies? It’s important to know what they can offer and how deep their expertise runs. What type of reporting do they utilize?
Are reports complex with lots of metrics, or are they simple and easy to understand? You want an agency that knows exactly which data points matter most for your business so it’s important to ask about the reporting metrics they use most often. How long has this company been in business?
Any business, small or large, should have a minimum of three years in the industry. This is important to know as a new company might not be able to give you the best results.
What makes this company stand out from their competitors?
This is not only good information for your research, but also gives you an idea of how passionate they are about their work and their willingness to compete with other companies. Are there any hidden charges that may arise during the course of working together?
You don’t want any surprises at the end of your project so it’s important to ask about every possible charge before hiring them. If there are anything additional costs, make sure they’re discussed up front so you can account for them in your budget.
Do they provide a guarantee?
The best lead generation companies know their value and will always stand by their work. They want to make sure you get the results you expect — otherwise they’ll keep working until you do.
Once these questions have been answered and all your research is complete, it’s time to start looking at potentials services and pricing model: Paid search marketing
PPC models are one of the most common forms of paid advertising, but also one of the most expensive due largely to high competition for keywords. This method works best if you already have an optimized PPC account set up from another agency or team. The upside of PPC is that you are able to see your exact ROI on every campaign.
Email marketing
This particular method can be considered either a paid or organic service depending on the provider. The basic structure is set up by the agency and then customized with your specific business data; this includes email lists, design, copywriting, and deliverability. You will generally pay an agency hourly rates for sending regular emails over time (monthly, quarterly), but there may also be additional fees depending on what services you require (design modifications, etc.). Search engine optimization (SEO)
As more people turn to Google for their search needs rather than Bing or Yahoo!, it’s important to make sure you can be found on top of the first page — or preferably, the first two. SEO is a lengthy process and varies depending on your industry and level of competition; however, experienced agencies know exactly which metrics matter most for lead generation and will help you rank as quickly as possible. Content marketing
This type of service helps attract high-quality visitors to your website through blogging, eBooks, white papers, case studies, infographics, videos and other forms of content distribution. This can be done organically (through social media channels) or through pay per click ads displayed alongside relevant blogs and websites where your target market gathers.