One Common Mistake Most Businesses Make Trying to Get Online Leads

Want more online leads, customers and clients?  Be careful to avoid this common mistake that wastes your time and money as you seek business leads

If you have ever tried to get more online leads, clients or customers, you need to avoid this common mistake if you want to have lasting success.

This is a true story of one of my clients.

If you don’t avoid this mistake, you will work awfully hard (busy, busy!), spend too much money, and have very little to show for it.  A word to the wise!

One Of The Most Common Mistakes In Online Lead Generation

This potential mistake all started when one of my clients hired a new admin person who was gung ho to have an impact on the company.

Her name was Nancy.  That’s not her real name of course.  (It is really Vicki).  Oops… I shouldn’t have said that.  Just forget that, ok?

So Vicki, I mean Nancy, starts asking me what I know about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.  When I ask why, she proceeds to tell me she wants to get more people coming to their website.

“I heard that these were great ways to get more business… other businesses are using them…we need to start using them as well”

Good Intention + Poor Plan = Terrible Results

Ok, that is a great goal… but there is the problem.  She didn’t have an overall strategy to guide her efforts.

That is crucial if you don’t want to waste time and money.

She wanted to “do something” without taking the time to ask key questions.

• Will these tactics reach our ideal prospective customer or client?
• How do you plan to turn “followers” into leads?  Leads into customers?
• Is there a way to measure results so you know if your efforts are working… or wasting your time and money?
• Is this the best use of your limited marketing dollars?

Let’s Go To The Beach!

This approach (“do what you read/heard others were doing”) is kind of like wanting to go to the beach (the end goal is good), but not taking the time to chart a route to the beach.  You can get busy all you want, but if you are heading in the wrong direction, you will never get there.

To continue the analogy, you may find that using a particular tactic (e.g. taking the Greyhound bus to get to the beach) can get you there… but the time, energy, and experience would have you conclude it wasn’t worth using that method.  Apologies to all of you who have ever ridden a Greyhound bus because you didn’t have any other options.

One business reported, “We got a thousand new Twitter followers… but no leads or customers.”

Is Twitter Of Waste Of Your Time And Money?

Now, I am not saying you shouldn’t use Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Here is the key:  It really depends on the nature of your business as to whether you use them (or what priority you place on them).

I had to tell Vicki that since they were a plumbing company, they would be wasting their time, energy, money and efforts trying to acquire customers with tactics like—

• LinkedIn (designed more for business to business [B2B], not connecting with consumers [B2C])
• Twitter (better for sports, entertainment, and ‘hot’ news organizations)
• Pinterest (more for products than services)

These tactics won’t get your particular business where you it want to go.

Here’s the point I don’t want you to miss:

Being “busy” with some marketing tactics may be huge waste of time and money for some businesses.  Strategy always comes before tactics. 

How To Determine Which Tactics To Use

One of the challenges to answering this question is there are so many tactics to choose from.  The numbers range from dozens to 100+   There are over a dozen in just one category (social media).

The tactics you use are dependent on—

• Your overall strategy and goals
• The nature of your business
• The strengths and weaknesses of the tactics themselves
• Your marketing budget

My advice?  Talk to someone who helps businesses market their products and services for a living.

I know… that is biased advice. But, it really is the best advice.

Think about it.  If you are trying to figure out where to invest some inheritance money you just received (wouldn’t that be nice!), wouldn’t you consult with a financial advisor on your options?  Or would you just start putting your money into this fund, or that fund?

The financial advisor would ask some important questions about risk tolerance, when you need access to the funds, etc.  Once they developed a strategy based on your goals, THEN they would recommend how and where to invest those funds.

Don’t be like Vicki.  She “heard” that this tactic or that tactic was good and was ready to lurch forward without getting some wise counsel on how to proceed.

Fortunately, she did listen to me and we only pursued one of the tactics she wanted.  It fit nicely with their overall goals.

What should you do next?

If you don’t have an overall plan or strategy for growing your online business revenue, then request a free 30 minute marketing strategy session from 2nd Mile Marketing.

This is a no obligation, no sales pitch consultation.  Let us help you think through your situation and options.

Don’t worry.  We are not the kind of business that will only try to steer you and sell you on what we offer.  Instead, we try to point you toward solutions that make sense for your business (even if we don’t offer them).

Contact us today for your free, sales-pitch-free consultation.