Most designers don't do anywhere near enough awareness building activities (top of funnel).
But to find clients you must be doing lead generation activities DAILY.
Sales is a simple numbers game.
In this post I share how a sales funnel works, plus give you 14 ideas for how to find more leads at the top of your sales funnel.
Your sales funnel
Here’s how your sales funnel works…
The more people that know about you, the more that will buy from you.
So the more you can bring in at the top of your funnel
The more you will have at the bottom of your funnel
14 ways to generate more top of funnel leads
Here are some ways to generate more awareness and bring more people into the top of your sales funnel:
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Content marketing – e.g. blogging, podcasting or other forms of long form content
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Social media – e.g. posts on Instagram or Facebook
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Networking, partnerships and collaborations – e.g. supplier partnerships or collaborations with joiners, builders or other trades where you might recommend clients to them and they do the same for you.
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Email Marketing – where you gather email addresses from people who visit your website or social media and then use these to send out content and to sell your products and services
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Video content – this could be You Tube video shows but I also include regular Facebook and Instagram lives in this bucket.
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Paid advertising – e.g. Facebook or Instagram Ads, Google Adwords or even ads in local media
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Affiliate marketing – where you pay a commission to people who promote your products and services on your behalf
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Your website – a no brainer for your marketing and one of the few platforms you actually own and control yourself - so one of the key places to direct your efforts
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Media and awards – great for your social proof but also a wonderful way to get your name out there, mostly for free
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Directories – e.g. being listed on designer directories or other larger websites
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Word of mouth – one of the most – if not THE most – powerful forms of marketing there is. For this to be successful you need to be providing an exceptional customer experience.
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SEO – or Search Engine Optimisation – this is all about making sure that your website is set up in the right way for Google and other search engines to be able to find you and to be able to send traffic from around the web to your site.
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Shares – e.g. shares by your audience or other businesses or influencers.
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Testimonials and client stories - e.g. before and after pictures, Google/FB reviews
Sales is a simple numbers game.
The more people in the top of your funnel, the more clients you'll have.
So work hard at your top of funnel activities!
Thanks for reading and catch you in my next post :)
Clare x
