I was chatting to a client recently who asked a question that I suspect plenty of you lot are quietly asking yourselves: “How do I actually get more leads for my business?”
It is a fair question. You can have a great service, know your industry inside and out, and you’re brilliant at what you do, but if people cannot find you or quickly understand how you can help them, it will be tricky to make your business a success.
So when a client asks me this question, I don’t reply by saying, “you need to be on TikTok”, “start a podcast” or “spend thousands on a shiny new campaign”. It’s actually far simpler than that…
There are a handful of simple things I would do first to help a business become more visible, look more credible online and make it easier for potential customers to get in touch. And I thought it might be useful to share them in an article, because if my client is asking me this, chances are, you are too.
Now, I get it. Getting started with marketing can feel like a massive job. You know you need to be visible. You know people are looking online before they pick up the phone. You probably also know that your competitor seems to be everywhere, all the time, with a slick website and endless social posts.
But you do not need to do everything at once.
You do not need to be on every platform. You do not need a ten-page marketing strategy written in corporate gobbledegook. And you definitely do not need to wait until everything is ‘perfect’ before you start.
You just need to get a few basics in place. Properly.
So here are the six things I recently suggested to my client to help them generate more leads for their business.
1. Sort out your Facebook page banner
Your Facebook page is often one of the first places people land when they are checking you out. When they get there, you have about three seconds to make it clear what you do.
Your banner image should not just be a pretty picture, or simply your logo. It should work a little harder than that.
Use the space to say what you do, who you help and how people can contact you. Pop in your website address, phone number or a simple call to action.
For example: ‘Helping Jersey businesses get noticed online | Social media, content and marketing strategy | Get in touch: [email protected].’
Keep it clean. Make sure it is readable on a mobile phone (because mobile screens tend to squash and distort what might look fine on a desktop). And keep what you do/offer simple, as a single statement, not a bulleted list of everything you do.
2. Ask your friends to follow the page
I know. It can feel a bit awkward. Nobody wants to be the person who messages everyone they have ever met with, “Please like my page.”
But there is nothing wrong with asking your personal network to support your business, particularly when you are just getting going or giving your marketing a proper refresh.
Invite relevant friends, former colleagues, customers, suppliers and people in your network to follow your page. You could also write a simple post from your personal profile explaining what you do, who you help and why people should follow the business page.
It is not about collecting followers for its own sake. A larger, relevant following means more people have the chance to see your organic posts, promotions and updates. Those early posts need somewhere to go other than into Facebook tumbleweed.
But be selective. Your Auntie Sue in Australia might love you, but she is unlikely to need a Jersey accountant, builder or wedding florist!
To invite friends to like your Facebook page, simply:
- Open Facebook on your personal profile
- Search for your Facebook fan page using the search bar and open it
- Click on the ellipses (three dots)
- Select Invite Friends
- Choose friends to invite (note you can select all, but try and avoid Aunty Sue)
Build a single-page website
“I can’t afford a website yet” is something I hear all the time. But a website does not have to be a huge, expensive, multi-page project that takes six months and involves a committee discussion about every banner image or link.
A single-page website can be a brilliant place to start.
Think of it as your digital shop window: one scrolling page with a simple menu at the top. When visitors click ‘About’, ‘Services’, ‘Testimonials’, or ‘Contact’di, they are taken directly to the corresponding section of the page. These are called anchor links, but do not get too caught up in the techy bits.
At the very least, your page should tell people:
- What you do and who you help
- Why they should choose you
- The experience or expertise behind the business
- The services you offer
- Where you operate
- What clients say about you
- How to get in touch
A prospective customer should never have to work hard to find out whether you can help them. Make it obvious, make it simple and make the next step easy.
4. Create a Google Business Profile
If someone Googles ‘electrician near me’, ‘best brunch in St Helier’ or ‘marketing consultant Jersey’, you want your business to have a fighting chance of appearing.
That is where a Google Business Profile comes in.
It is free and gives people a useful snapshot of your business in Google Search and Maps: contact details, opening hours, location, services, website, photos, and reviews. Google says that businesses with complete, accurate and verified profiles are more likely to appear in relevant local searches.
Do not create it and then forget it exists. Add decent photos. You can even replicate your organic posts as updates on a regular basis to keep your profile fresh. Check your opening hours. List your services. Reply to reviews. Update it if anything changes.
It may not feel like the sexiest marketing job in the world, but it is one of those boring-but-brilliant things that helps local customers find and trust you.
5. Make your website search-friendly
SEO, or search engine optimisation, does not need to be scary. It is simply about helping Google understand what your website is about, so it has a better chance of showing it to people looking for what you offer.
Start by thinking like a customer. If you needed your service, what would you type into Google?
Maybe it is ‘family lawyer Jersey’, ‘office fit-out Guernsey’, ‘dog groomer St Helier’ or ‘wedding cake maker Jersey’. Those are the kinds of phrases you should include naturally in your website copy.
Use them in page headings, service descriptions and relevant website text. Make your image file names meaningful, too, and add alt text, a short description that tells search engines what the image shows and how it relates to the page.
Use the keywords naturally. Do not stuff ‘marketing consultant Jersey’ into every other sentence until the page sounds like it has been written by a robot. Write for people first, then check that you have used the words your customers are likely to search for wherever possible, and ensure your content continues to appear authentic and written by a human.
6. Run some Facebook advertising
Organic Facebook posts are useful, but they are mainly shown to people who already follow you. So if you don’t have many people following your page, creating organic posts might feel like a thankless task. Instead, Facebook advertising lets you reach people who don’t know your business yet, which is handy when you are trying to generate leads.
Depending on the age and habits of your ideal customer, you may choose Instagram instead. Both sit within Meta’s advertising platform, so you can test what works without needing to learn a completely new system.
Start small. You do not need to chuck hundreds of pounds at an advert and hope for the best. £10 per day is a good budget to get started with.
Choose one goal: promote a special offer, encourage bookings, drive people to your website, collect enquiries or simply introduce your business to people in your area. Use a strong image or short video, explain the offer in plain English, and give people one obvious action to take. And don’t forget to add a Facebook pixel to your website! This ensures every visit originating from Facebook is tracked effectively.
And please, do not boost a post simply because it picked up a few likes. Decide first what you want the advert to achieve. Boosting is a lazy person’s attempt at advertising on Facebook. What you should do is create a campaign that focuses on that goal.
Start with the basics
Marketing does not have to be loud, complicated or expensive to work. It just has to make it easy for the right people to find you, understand you and contact you. Update the Facebook banner. Ask your friends to follow you. Build a simple one-page website. Set up your Google Business Profile. Make your website search-friendly. Test some paid advertising.
Six jobs. One at a time. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! And if you still get stuck, you kno where to find me.
