229: 5 things you can do to generate more leads for your business

Are you looking for different ways to generate more leads? Need some ideas or even the motivation? 

Lead generation usually comes in a rush when we realise we have something to launch and not as many people as we want to sell it to. 

Be proactive, not reactive and learn how to be generating leads consistently. 

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag us @contentqueenmariah. ⁠⁠⁠

✨ ⁠⁠JOIN CONTENT BOOTCAMP AND GET YOUR STRATEGY REVIEWED BY ME (if you are the first 10) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠✨⁠

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

  • Why you need to focus on lead generation

  • 5 ways to generate more leads

  • When to focus on lead generation

  • To be more strategic  

SHOW RESOURCES 👇

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Other than that, enjoy - chat next week 💕

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

This is episode 229 and I'm talking all about the five things you can do to generate more leads for your business. Welcome to the content. Queen podcast.

I'm your host. Mariah, entrepreneur, storyteller, digital nomad, creative content bootcamp and founder of content queen. I'm here to teach you how to share your unique story, create content and market your business with strategy through the channels that work for you.

Each week, I'll deliver a story to help you connect to a powerful strategy around marketing, business and content creation. I'll also be joined by amazing souls and entrepreneurs who are here to share their own journey along with actual steps to help you take your business to a whole new level through amazing storytelling, powerful aligned marketing and content strategy. Let's do it.

Hello gang. How are we welcome to another week of the podcast? So before we jump in, last week, we did the episode around five years at content queen, and thank you to everyone for your beautiful feedback.

And yeah, Mitch was obviously listening and cringing. What listening back. But I think that happens when, yeah, you're not speaking your native language.

But anyway, bless him. So what we mentioned in that is, yeah, content Queen turned five, and we have a special offer for the month of June. So it ends on June 30.

And basically, if you purchase content boot camp, which is our signature program, you will get a video review of your strategy from me for the first 10 people. So content boot camp is not just a course. It's an implementing or execution type course where you build your own content strategy.

It's $300 it is the perfect way for you to start, you know, implementing, taking content seriously for your business, and really start to just generate leads, right? So generate the leads you need for your business. And you know, where energy goes, or intention goes, energy flows and results come.

So if you don't have a strategy and you're wondering why you're not generating the leads for your business, have a think about your content strategy and how you can improve it or create one. And I'll put the link in the show notes, because then you get a video review of your strategy from me, so it's tailored. So basically, recently I had a call for a new client who wants to generate new leads to their business.

They are a brick and mortar store. They obviously rely a lot on local community. They've been in business for 20 years, but they want to expand outside of the people that know who they are, they want to generate new leads.

So basically, we are going to jump on a call and have a strategy session where we can build new leads for their business to help them expand their clientele. And we're got a plan, essentially, to use social media, tick tock, and the kind of concept around a hidden gem, and I'll share more about that, I guess, when we've implemented the strategy, and I can use it as a case study, but basically it's really one thing that I want you to learn from this episode is trying to think about new ways. So I'm going to share some different ways and how we can really look at building leads to improve our business.

Because all the time we think social media, or, you know, that sort of top funnel brand awareness stuff is for sales. Yes, it is. But if you don't generate those leads that come in, then your pool is going to dry up, and then you're going to just be trying to convert new people, and it's really hard, and it's also hard to get new people if you're not trying to get new people.

So basically, when you put in a plan to generate new audience into your business, then you can continue to grow and expand the opportunities you have to sell to them in the future, and it might not be straight away. And if you at any moment in your business, focus on that lead gen and brand awareness in your business, it'll help you down the track. But if you're always focusing on conversion and converting people, then you're not supporting the top of the funnel.

And then what happens is, is you can, then, you know, have people that come back to you, or that are loyal, that you know, promote you, and you have word of mouth marketing, but if you're not focusing on continuing to and that's why I call content marketing a circle, not so much a funnel, because you want people to come back around and talk about you and continue to generate new people into your world. So five ways, let's get stuck into it. And the first one is thinking about what you're actually giving your audience.

Now this can be related to product and service. Basically, you know, it's something you're giving them in exchange for an email or in exchange for a follow or in exchange for something where you can continue to nurture them. So this could be your freebie or your free resource if you are mainly in the service based business.

Is it a value? Is it outside the box? Is it giving people what they actually need?

Now, this might take a little bit of market research, because you might have something that you've had for years and years and years, and it's just kind of not really working like it should, and you might even think about running ads to it, but if it's not really what people want, then you're going to waste money in the future. So having something of value that is giving people an introduction into your work is worth spending some time and energy on. So have a look at what you've currently got, or if you don't have anything, think outside the box.

Ask your audience what they need help with, and create something to give them some sort of relief and build that trust so that they can purchase from you, if you're a product. Are you giving some kind of incentive to audience? Are you giving some kind of Yeah, value.

I really love those spinny wheels, where if you put in your email, you spin the wheel, you could get any type of discount, and it could be anywhere from like 10% to 50% I think they're super cool and engaging. So that's sort of for like, getting people into your email list for social media, are you just promoting to people all the time, or are you giving? Are you entertaining them?

Are you educating them or giving them something of value that that can improve their life? Like, don't just talk at your audience all the time, talk with them and create content that is there to entertain, is there to get them thinking? Is there to help guide, support them?

Don't just take all the time and promote and promote and promote and then wonder why. One the sales aren't coming in, but you're not generating new audience. Because people see that and go, Oh, I don't even know who they are.

Why would I follow them? So give people a reason to give them your like, for them to give you an email or a follow, something like that. So review that to begin with.

The second one is have a look at your messaging. So even if you do have a free resource or something, or you're, you know, sharing things, social media, content. What is that messaging?

Are you hitting people's like, you know, meeting them where they are hitting their pain points, or showing that you generally understand that they have something they need support with, or they have an ideal dream that they want to get to? Like how you are showing your audience that you actually generally understand where they're coming from. Sometimes what happens is, when we've been in business so long, we forget to connect back to that.

We forget to go, oh yeah. Like, there's people at the beginning of their journey that are generally struggling with this, and you'll have people that are further along their journey that oh yeah, they already kind of know that. But there's people, if you want new leads and new people coming into your space, you've got to kind of go back to the basics and keep it simple and just not assume that everyone knows everything, and really tell them how they can get to that next step.

And that next step might not be purchasing from you. It could be signing up to your emailing list to download something. It could be getting a coupon code.

It could be following you for more guidance and support. So it doesn't always have to be that sale, but really trying to show them that you understand where they're currently at, where they want to be, and what is the process for them to get from A to B, and where can they start in that journey. And number three is share stories.

So I've talked a lot about storytelling. I've got a lot of content on storytelling, but really content that captivates people without just selling to them. So really starting to paint a picture to them, really starting to show them that you want to entertain them as well, and you want to share things with them, and you want a personal relationship with that person.

I think nothing's as personal like sharing stories with people that is a really personal thing. Like, if you're having a conversation with someone and they're just like, has, you know, really general conversation, it's kind of not personal. As soon as they share a story with you about an experience they've had, about an experience that they've seen, they're generally trying to engage in conversation with you and entertain you, or share information with you, and storytelling is a really great way to share information and captivate people.

So when you are creating content, whether it's social media content, a podcast, a blog, an email, how are you showing them that you want them to be interested in, that you care about them. And I feel like sharing stories is a really like caring thing to do. Like, how good is it when you go and visit someone like, Oh my God, I've got the best story to tell you, and you're like, oh my god, okay, what?

And you really feel like that person, yeah, generally wants to engage with you. And if you're a business owner that's not doing that, then your audience is just going to feel like you're just sharing stuff with them all the time, even if you think it's of high value, you're not really giving them any insights into your business, any insights into your how you've helped clients, or any insights into how they can understand the industry or understand the pain they're going through and get to the other side of it. And I think storytelling is just a beautiful way to do that, like even, you know, in a lot of indigenous cultures, or in you know, any like, communication was done all through stories, because it really helps people understand things.

And I think it's just personal, I really do. And I think even big brands now that are engaging in storytelling are like, it's like going back to meeting people where they're at, and it feels like it's like, not a hierarchy, like, oh, this brand is better than me. It's like, No, I'm here to generally have conversation with you.

How you do that? There is many podcast episodes we have about that. But basically what you want to do is, every time you're thinking of sharing information with your audience, think about a story that will help them engage with that piece of content.

Is it a lesson and the story that you could share that helps you explain that lesson? Is it a client that was going through something just and sharing how you help them share the whole process? So really thinking about that, even I've talked with photographers and they're like, How can I share a story in this it's like, Well, what was the person?

What's the story behind the picture? What was the story with the client? Why did they want to get those pictures?

Or, yeah, how can you make a story through that? And we see it on Tiktok all the time, like we've seen viral videos of storytelling go viral because they're a story. Learn from those creators, because they'll show you how to tell really good stories.

And even if you think, Oh, I don't know how to tell a story, not very good at storytelling, we're all good at storytelling. What you need to do is practice and your first story, or your first way, maybe it's through the written word first, and then that written word can become a video.

You know what I mean? So you gotta practice. And you feel like, I know so many people.

It's like, Oh, I'm just not telling enough stories. Just know what to talk about. I don't know what to share.

I get it, but until you sit down and start that process. You know, it's not going to happen. A story isn't going to magically fall the first one is, think outside the box.

Now, whilst I'll always talk about content marketing and some of these ideas I've shared are already more outside the box, but basically, there's so I've had a client recently that was a speaking at an event, and all she did was have a QR code at the end of what she spoke about, and she offered a her guide or her resource, and people could scan that QR code and join her email list. She asked people to follow her, and she left her social media handle, and she said, I got more followers and people on my email list simply by just doing that. So that's like traditional marketing.

It's not dead. So are you going to networking events? How can you share?

It's not just like offers. How can you share ways that people can follow you and engage with your content? You know, it doesn't have to be like, Oh, I offer this and I do that, and then people get watching, and then they see what you're offering.

You probably have a better chance of getting people on your email list or to follow you on social media at an event than to buy a product from you. So have a think about those traditional marketing efforts. Or how can you join podcasts?

So thinking about PR and collaborations, how can you be a speaker at an event, or even just attend an event you know and share what you do with people? Have a think about how you can get your name out there. That's not just you creating content all the time.

Networking. Perfect example like, how many times you go to a networking event, you come home with all these new followers? I remember when one of my clients would go, would be speaking on stage, because she would have new followers come to her Instagram, you know.

And I did all the time with that exact client, you know, she's found a space where she can do online workshops for an organization, and she shares. She creates a small, little gift or a freebie for people to join her email list. It could be one that she makes especially for that talk, or if she's got multiple other talks that she's used before, she'll use something she's already created.

Always new subscribers and like, you know more than if you do a post on social media. So think outside the box and create times in your business where you focus on areas like for example, there might be a time in your business it might go like this, right? You share a lot more content on social media.

You're entertaining your audience. You're showing that you connect with them. You're not selling to them.

You're more educating them. And then you go, you plan, in that period of time to go to lots of events and to network and to ask people to collaborate and go live with them on Instagram or jump on a podcast with them or and it comes down to just asking, right? Or you, yeah, you go to more events, and then that brings out the leads, so that then when you've got an offer or a service, you've got new people to share it with.

So you really should be looking at creating your marketing plan. And that's why having a strategy is so important, because you can go, Ah, well, I want to promote my new program in August. So right now, it feels like a good time to just be creating stuff on social media that's very value added, that's very educational or opinionated or aspirational.

I need to go to more networking events, while maybe it's a little bit more quiet and I don't have as much work coming in. And maybe I need to jump on some more podcasts so that then when I'm launching that program. I've got new people to share it with.

I'm doing this exact thing with a client that I've started. They want to launch their group program in August, to start in September. So right now, it's really about getting stuff out there, creating value, bringing more leads in.

So that's important to understand when you need to work on generating more leads as well. And the last one, it goes into this just being more strategic. So looking at that plan and going, oh yes, this is a time where I need to focus more on lead generation.

This is also a space where you know what, what am I asking people? So are you asking them to go from one extreme to the next. So are you asking them?

You know, you're creating content on social media, and then you're asking them, you know, you're just asking them to buy from you all the time. So to go from not knowing you to buying from you within days, minutes, hours, how can you get them to go make a small jump? You know, podcast, social media posts to a podcast, a podcast to a lead.

You know, just more on this, like I share more about my offerings on my podcast and my email list than I do on my social media. I share more, I get more leads in my social media to then fit in my funnel. Can you have start looking at a long form channel took more people in so that it what makes more sense, you know, social media to a long form channel to a lead, you know, blog, podcast, YouTube, and that's what I do with all my clients, because it's more of a smaller ask, and it's more strategic, and it shows your audience that you're willing to give them more rather than take from them all the time.

And this is what is happening with lead generation, is we're not spending the time to generate the leads, and we're just asking people to buy from us all the time, and then we're wondering why we're not getting any sales in our business. And it's not your fault. You're marketed online all the time about how people make, you know, six figures in five minutes.

And I'm seeing lots of people, you know, kick back on this and go, You know what? This is? Ridiculous.

No one's doing that. They've just built a really good Lead Pipeline. That's what they've done.

But they're not, they're not really giving you the realistic expectation that it takes time. Oh, I'll never forget having a conversation with an entrepreneur on a live she's owner of a marketing agency, and she said to me, like it really took me to about five years in business to see those consistent leads coming in from random places, Google, on her website, filling out a form, boom, you know, ready to work with her. I get that.

I feel it now after hitting that five year mark, it's taken time. It doesn't happen overnight. And if you spend more, and I spend a lot of time, and I still do in that lead generation space, in connection, in creating value for my audience, because I'm here for the long run.

I'm not here for quick money. I'm ready to build something that's sustainably going to work for me in my life. And that's where it's really important to understand what you want from your business, because that's when you can start to go.

It's just not a time, it's a marathon, not a sprint. And we hear that all the time. But I had another conversation with like, my accountant who, yeah, like, isn't in that sort of online social media world, and doesn't hear all those quotes.

And he said that to me, and it's true. It just takes time. And if you focus on the right, like, going, Okay, well, I make sense that I do a little bit more lead gen now, because it's a quiet time in my business, or I know I'm going to hit a quiet time.

Maybe you're busy at the moment. That doesn't mean you stop doing things. That means you build leads so that when it's quiet, you go, Ah, I've got all these new leads.

I spent time not going, oh my god, I'm quiet in my business, and now I've got to generate all these leads and then sell to them very quickly. And that's what happens. We focus on it in times where we're busy because we have enough income coming in.

So then when we're quiet, we're trying to get people to buy from us that don't know us. So let me start right. Basically, what you want to do first is look giving your audience, do an audit, do a content and seriously, ask yourself, Am I giving my audience something?

Just seriously ask yourself that. Look at your free resource, look at your social media, and ask yourself, Am I giving them value? Would I sign up to this, or would I follow me?

It's a hard conversation to have, but it's a good reality check for you to make a change. Then you can look at your messaging and going, am I really understanding what my audience needs? Am I understanding the pain points?

Am I showing them the A to B? Am I empathizing with them where they're at and then showing them where they can be. And that next step doesn't have to be buying my $5,000 program.

It can be all you know, buying my product. I mean, for product or offering probably makes a bit more sense. But I'm not asking them to invest in me.

I'm asking them to invest in them through the next step could be getting some more value in a long form channel, joining an email list, connecting with you, having a message conversation. Am I sharing stories that shows my audience that I am trying to create a general personal relationship with them? Connect them, because that's what we do when we see our friends, we tell them stories.

So why are you not telling your audience stories? The one is thinking outside the box and not just going social media content, looking at traditional marketing, looking at collaborations and PR looking at networking. Get yourself out there and do it when you're not as busy, or even if you are busy and you've got some time.

It doesn't have to be much. See what you can do to expand your network and think outside the box. The last one is just being more strategic, looking at your funnel, looking at what you're asking, and not asking for too much all the time, and giving them more places to go so that they can see what you do and build something.

And that's basically it, and choose one of those that you want to focus on. And I mean, you probably should just do step one and step two anyway, and then choose one that you want to focus on and spend a little bit more time in there and see what results you're going to get. What when tension into your lead generation.

Create a marketing plan that allows you to spend more time in different spaces, more time selling, more time in lead gen, more time in building awareness for your brand, and create more of a marketing plan around that. And if you don't have one, content bootcamp is here for you, and I can help you. It's an ecosystem.

So when you join, you get more from me than just the video review you get three months in our DIY content marketing club, we have monthly calls. You will get access to the live round when we run it, which will be soon. I'm just looking at dates like you get more access to me where I can just help you a little bit more on your focus.

So be a content queen or king, and remote, helping your strategy and story develops your business. Thank you so much for joining me today, and please don't forget to share this with all your business and entrepreneurial friends. Can do this by adding it to your Insta Stories and tagging me at content Queen Mariah, or just tell them about it.

Do you rate and review on whatever platform you're listening to this on? It does help me get this message out there, but also helps me continue to generate more content for you guys, continue to get more amazing guests on and just help you, because I am here to give you as much value as I can. Follow us on instar and Tiktok and let me know if there's any topics you want me to talk about.

I am totally here to hear what you want to learn more about. And actually, this came This question came from someone that. Yeah, wanted to know more about Lee, Jess, always trying to fit in content that people ask me, So, always ask me if you want to hear something.

And I would talk to you next week. Bye.

PodcastMariah MacInnesmarketing, marketing advice, how to be authentic online, business ownerComment