So, what is lead generation? Lead generation is getting the target audience to take an interest in your company and eventually turn that interest into a sale.

Lead generation is all about nurturing those who show promise of conversion, whether that’s buying your product, subscribing to your service, or attending your event.

There are various types of sales leads you may try to reach with your lead generation strategies, such as:



• Unqualified Leads: Unqualified leads are those who don’t interact with your brand. They’re the least likely to convert to any other type of lead.
• Cold Leads: A cold lead is someone who may have liked a one-off Instagram post, reviewed your blog, or is on your cold email list.
• Warm Leads: Warm leads are those already familiar with the business, either through a trusted referral or online interactions via your website or social media. These leads feel easier to start a conversation with, as they’re already open to your product or service.
• Information Qualified Leads (IQL): An IQL has provided you with some information, such as entering their email address to receive your free eBook. IQLs often are part of your target demographic, but you may not know much else about them yet.
• Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL): A MQL knows more about your business than an IQL. If they once downloaded a free eBook from you, they followed up with additional actions, such as visiting your site frequently or following you on social media, but they haven’t yet bought your product or service.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads are the number one local lead generation strategy that you can invest in when it comes to your small business. With PPC, you’re using paid ads to drive your target audience to a devoted landing page or even fill out a form to capture contact information, converting them from a cold or warm lead to an IQL.

The best part of PPC is the precision you have control over where the ad appears. When you’re setting up a campaign, you can target your audience by their location, device, or job title. You’re setting your campaign up for success by getting your company’s ad in front of eyes who are already interested in your product or service.

Relying on just one method rarely gives you the full picture of marketing ROI. Simple calculations offer clarity, while marketing tools provide deeper insights and context. When you combine both, you create a more accurate and practical approach to measurement. For example, you can use analytics tools to identify high-performing campaigns, then apply the ROI formula to see if the results justify your investment. This balanced strategy helps you make confident, data-informed decisions without needing advanced technical skills.

There are several ways that you can ensure your PPC ad grabs attention, including:



• Conducting Keyword Research: Use paid or free keyword research tools, such as Google Keyword Planner, to understand the search volume and estimated cost-per-click for various keywords. These tools may also provide additional keyword ideas.
• Applying Negative Keywords: Negative keywords prevent your ad from showing for specific words or phrases. These keywords help keep your ad focused on the right target audience rather than on unqualified leads.
• Creating Engaging Copy: Keywords are essential to PPC ads, but so is appealing copy. It’s vital to keep the benefit of your product or service at the forefront, followed by an explanation of how it solves pain points and a clear CTA.
• Developing Landing Pages: Landing pages are designed specifically for warm leads. These pages usually have one goal: to convert, whether that’s purchasing your product, submitting a form, or signing up for a webinar or newsletter.

Here are four additional types of small business lead generation strategies you can implement into your marketing campaign in conjunction with PPC:

There are numerous advantages to executing content marketing and SEO solutions as part of your small-business lead-generation strategy. These benefits include introducing yourself to cold leads, enhancing brand awareness, and building engagement. In content marketing, you’re responsible for creating educational and inspiring narratives to draw in leads.

Here are a few ways you can leverage your content marketing to help generate leads for your business:

• Creating Content Plans: Curating a content plan on when you’re going to post, the topics you’re going to cover, and the keywords you’re going to focus on will help your target audience find your website and, subsequently, your offerings.
• Developing Buyer Personas: Buyer personas are a market research tool for understanding your audience, including biographical details and pain points. You can even create segmentations for different lead types.
• Writing a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Make the action you want the potential lead to take clear, such as calling your business, buying your product, or submitting a consultation request on your website.

Email marketing is an effective component of small business lead generation, but just any old email won’t do the job. A lead-generation email indicates that the consumer, anywhere from a cold lead to an MQL, is interested and has willingly provided their contact information. These emails often include an incentive, like a discount code, to encourage warm leads to take action.

A few key elements you’ll need to grab a lead’s attention with an email include:

• Using Strong CTAs: Emails need a CTA to guide leads to the desired action. Embed links with action words, like “sign up”, “read”, or “download”.
• Writing Solid Subject Lines: Keep subject lines short, sweet, and to the point. Make it personable by adding their name, asking a question, or using action words.
• Trying A/B Testing: Conduct A/B testing to determine which strategy works best for your company. Send one type of email to one set of leads and another to a different set, and examine the analytics to see which performed better at generating leads.

Today, social media is an integral component of marketing. It lets you engage with and nurture your relationships with current customers, while also getting your brand in front of cold leads and beyond. Social media marketing to produce new leads for a small business is about creating static images and short-form videos to capture attention and draw them in to learn more about what you can do for them.

A few ways you can use social media to generate more leads are:

• Optimizing Your Profile: Use high-quality images everywhere, from your profile picture to your in-feed posts to your stories. Include information and keywords in your bio about who your brand is, what it does, and a strong CTA.
• Implementing Social Media Ads: Social media ads are a great local lead-gen strategy, as many platforms offer specific targeting, increasing the likelihood that your ads appear for your target audience rather than unqualified leads.
• Investing in Retargeting: Retargeting helps re-engage users who once showed interest in your brand. For example, you can reappear on the social media feeds of a user who visited your website but didn’t sign up for your email list.

Nothing beats a trusted recommendation from a satisfied consumer. Referral marketing is getting your happy customers and contacts to leave reviews for your business. This local lead generation strategy can also involve incentivizing customers to leave a review, such as entering them into a giveaway in exchange for a Google review.

Referral marketing can also refer to encouraging customers to recommend your business to their friends and family, providing you with a new set of warm leads.

Getting cold leads and beyond doesn’t have to be a shot in the dark, hoping something sticks. It can be a well-thought-out, structured sequence of events that requires careful planning and market research, whether by you or a lead generation company for small businesses.

When you work with a lead generation agency that understands your business and passion and believes in your mission, you can get back to other aspects of your business you first fell in love with.

When you’re ready for a steady flow of qualified leads from experts passionate about helping your business grow, contact us online or call (859) 309-5987 for your free consultation. At Creekmore Marketing, we’re headquartered near Lexington, KY, and serving many small and medium-sized businesses throughout the United States and Canada.