How to Use Lead Generation to Benefit Your Business
Generating high-quality leads is crucial to business success, which is why you’re likely to come across a lot of business development professionals, whose goal it is to identify and nurture potential leads. Perhaps you are the one responsible for business development, or there is someone else in your organisation who is. However, you don’t have to be in a dedicated business development role; to some extent, all colleagues should play a part in helping to generate new leads.
One of the most effective ways of doing this is by networking. By attending clubs, events and trade shows you can promote your products and services and, perhaps more importantly, meet potential customers, partners and suppliers. Specific industry events are particularly good for this, as guests are there to meet others who are knowledgeable in their field.
There are many benefits to exhibiting at these events, and you can be creative in your approach to help your product(s) and / or service(s) stand out from the competition. Including demonstrations and freebies on your stand is always a great way to attract prospects. While it may cost a small amount, it will certainly draw people to you if you have something extra to offer. However, if you can’t afford to exhibit you can often sign up for free (or for a much smaller fee) as a delegate, which means you can attend seminars and workshops and have more freedom to chat to as many people as possible. Although you may not be able to do business directly with the people you meet, they may be able to recommend you to their customers, partners and suppliers.
At Shooting Star, we make sure we attend at least two exhibitions a year as well as networking meetings, award ceremonies and launch events or openings. These are all great opportunities to make new connections and meet up with existing contacts. We tailor the PR and marketing activity we do in the lead-up to these events accordingly and ensure that this continues during and after the event too.
The internet, where millions of people from across the world connect with each other, is also a great networking tool. Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn can all be very useful when it comes to finding potential customers and promoting your presence, and Facebook has the option to go live. You might also want to check out the benefits of Instagram TV (IGTV) too as a way of promoting your business, inviting questions and enquiries about your products and services. Check out our blog post Instagram Launches IGTV to find out more.
As you probably know, we have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram profiles, as well as a website which we use to regularly update our followers with what’s going on at Shooting Star. They all work to our benefit as we can reach and engage with a large audience. However, we never forget the importance of face-to-face conversations for really understanding someone’s business.
If you are a business or organisation and you need help with networking, planning events or managing your social media pages, please contact us.
