Everyone knows that businesses require customers in order to make sales and generate revenue. This is the case from large corporate organizations right down to one man operations. However larger corporations tend to have much larger marketing budgets than home based business owners.
No matter what business you are in, you need customers to buy from you in order to create revenue. Leads are the fuel that power your business and ensure that you keep making sales. Clearly not all leads are going to turn into a sale, but the law of averages says that the more leads that you have, the more you are likely to make a sale.
If you are wondering where you are going wrong with your business then perhaps you could look at one or all of the following areas.
1. Are You Taking Full Advantage Of All Possible Marketing Channels?
If you are reading this article then it is likely that you are marketing your business online. If not then you should start right away. There are 1.5 billion internet users, a number which is growing by the day, all looking for the solution to a problem or researching their next purchase. You want to ensure that you are there when prospects are ready to make their purchase with their credit card in hand.
Firstly you will need a website in order to attract and capture your leads details. If you do not have a website, consider working with an Internet Marketing company that will provide you with a website and sales funnel in order to attract and capture leads.
A low cost option to generate leads online is leveraging social media. You should be using social media to establish relationships with your prospects and offer them something of value. Bear in mind that this is a longer term strategy as you need to build rapport with others prior to pitching to them.
Create a Facebook fanpage for free and use this to brand your business and market your product. Facebook has a viral effect so you can quickly spread your message to your contacts. You can also use Twitter to establish an online presence as well as other social media sites like Digg and Reddit.
As you are a home based business owner you will have a wealth of information on your product and service to share with others. Use this as a key advantage by sharing your knowledge with prospects online. You can turn this into articles and publish them on Ezines.com and start a WordPress blog in order to create awareness. You will be surprised how many people will visit your website if you deliver high quality content and ensure it is syndicated.
Another online marketing channel to consider is Pay Per Click marketing through one of the major search engines or Facebook. Pay Per Click marketing is highly targeted as your prospects are looking for a specific solution to their problem online. You can easily open an account with Yahoo or Google and start marketing that day. Make sure you research what other people are doing and aim to stand out from the crowd. Try and capture your prospects interest over and above the other advertisers. This is a more advanced marketing strategy and requires some work to optimize your campaign and ensure that you dont overspend. You can set a daily budget as a safety precaution.
There are many other marketing options to increase your leads which can be low cost such as door drops These are less effective as they are relatively untargeted but it wont cost you much if you deliver them. Depending on your product or service there is nothing to stop you taking to the street and speaking to business owners to see if they can stock your product or take advantage of your specialist knowledge.
2. Is Your Product Offering Appealing?
Are you offering a real service to people that stands out from your competition? If you look at your product or your marketing, does it look like all the rest? If so you should think about how you can differentiate your offer. If you are struggling to generate leads then perhaps look at what the industry experts are doing. Its not a good idea to copy what they are doing but you may find inspiration in their marketing and spark some new ideas.
3. Are You Clear About Your Niche?
Most home based business owners struggle with understanding their niche or target market and try to target everyone. However this is a critical error and one that will be costing you a lot of money. Whilst you dont want to be so narrow that you have no one left to market to, you want to have a good idea about who are your best prospects. Do some research with your current customers to find out what appeals to them about your product and where they found you. You want to focus all your efforts on finding more of your best customers.
4. Are you using Public Relations to promote your business?
It is a misconception that PR is an expensive channel and only available to those who work in media. PR can actually increase your sales significantly if you are mentioned in the right publication. Have a think about the type of publications that your target market read and develop a plan to gain a slot. You will be surprised how much coverage you could receive with an interesting, thought provoking article.
These are just a few ideas to increase your Home Based Business leads. David Anthony Watson runs his own successful home based business and coaches professionals to market their business online and increase sales. Go to his site for more information on how he could help you.