Boost small business sales with email lead generation

Sales. It never stops. As many small business owners know, converting leads into sales takes time and a strategic plan. If what you’re currently doing is not hitting sales goals, it’s time to rethink your email marketing strategy.

What is email lead generation? you ask.

First off, email marketing is a must for small businesses. It’s crucial to invest in lead generation, which simply means a process of identify and collecting prospects’ contact. The next step is to develop a strategy to nurture those relationships, in hopes of turning them into customers. Not sure where to begin? Follow these tips to get started.

Build an email list. Start from scratch. Think who is your customer? Then set out and find their information. Try to collect emails by networking, buying a targeted list, and creating a lead capture form on your website. A lead capture form is simply a page that allows visitors to input their information. Once you have a list, keep it updated and segmented with demographic information to keep you organized. This will help you when you do custom campaigns, allowing you to target the suitable customers.

Plan a lead generation strategy. This is a specific plan to attract and convert leads into sales. Be flexible as you’ll want to tweak your plans accordingly based on data feedback. To start, plan an email drip campaign (AKA as a series of emails) with a content calendar. With email tools such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact, you can schedule email delivery. Create an introduction email welcoming new subscribers, and be sure to highlight the amazing aspects about your products and/or services. Then, plan a series of content to publish as regularly scheduled emails. You can offer tips, industry news, best practices and holiday wishes. Don’t forget to include promotions and links to your latest blog posts to drive folks to your website. The more a prospect engages with your website, the more likely they’ll become a paying customer.

Create a content calendar. You can use Google Docs or other calendar tools. Content calendars allow you to put everything in one place and plan emails ahead along with scheduling information. It also serves as a way to simply review what you’ve done against analytic reports, which tell you open rates and if folks are visiting your website. Using a content calendar is the best way to stay sane. Include blog posts so you can incorporate them into your email newsletters.

The rule of 7. In marketing, this principle states that it takes seven times to attract and engage a prospect. That’s why the advertising business heavily relies on frequency. Ever notice seeing the same commercial over and over? That’s no mistake. It’s the simple idea that humans don’t take notice and buy something after simply seeing one email, one advertisement. It takes at least seven times to prompt someone to make a purchase. Knowing this, be sure consistently get in touch with your prospects and in time, you’ll see a boost in revenue like never before.