There are many ways to generate new leads, get more customers, increase customer base, however you want to put it. Some methods will work better for your business than others depending on the customer profile you’re targeting and the value that your business provides. For instance, if your company is a local food delivery service on a college campus accessed via an app, then you’d want to employ online advertising on websites and social media groups where local college kids hang out. If your business sells coffins, you might do traditional advertising via direct mail in neighborhoods with an aging population or build relationships with senior homes in your area.
Below is a list of 36 ways you can increase customers, either offline or online. If there are methods missing in the list, please comment below or send me a message and I will add them to the list.
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Search database for customers and cold call
- $5k – $10k/year
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Hire a salesperson
- $60k in salary + commission (40/60 to 20/80 salary/commission)
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Launch a PR campaign with a PR firm
- $5k – $15k/month
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Attend conferences and tradeshows
- $2k – $5k as an exhibitor per conference
- $500 – $1,500 as an attendee per conference
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Send direct mail to potential customers
- $0.50 – $3 per package; total of ~$5,000 per round of sending direct mail
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Print advertising in a newspaper or magazine
- $500 for a local newspaper, $20k – $100k for national coverage
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Buy/rent a contact list and cold call
- $0.40 – $1 / contact
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Attend business networking meetup groups
- Free – $2,000/year membership
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Create a customer referral affiliate program
- $20/new customer
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Create an employee referral affiliate program
- $20/new customer
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Give free samples/trials to targeted customers
- Variable cost
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Host and teach in-person workshops
- Free
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Add a live chat on your business website
- $20/month
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Co-promote your product with another business
- Free
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Buy/rent a mailing list and email blast
- $200 – $500 per thousand emails (ideally send to 1k to 5k targeted customers at a time)
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Create free and useful content on your website
- Free
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Create a lead magnet on your website
- Free
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Use SEO to promote your website
- $100/month for subscription to SEO website or $1k-$2k for SEO services
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Facebook advertising
- $0.15 – $3 per 1,000 impressions
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Google adwords or other advertising platforms
- $1 – $3 per 1,000 impressions
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Sponsor an influencer (blogger or YouTuber)
- $5,000 – $10,000
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Send your product to an influencer to review it
- Cost of your product
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Comment and write on blogs
- Free
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Answer questions on Quora
- Free
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Write consistently about your industry on Medium
- Free
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Be a guest blogger
- Free
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Ask an influencer to write a guest post on your blog
- Free – $500
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Hire a content writer
- $50-$100/post
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- Free
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Make YouTube videos
- Free
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Use Twitter
- Free
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Use Pinterest
- Free
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Use Instagram
- Free
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Actively engage in Facebook groups
- Free
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Write consistently on LinkedIn
- Free
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Actively engage in LinkedIn groups
- Free
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Write an ebook
- Free
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Create infographics
- Free
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Host webinars
- Free
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Create online courses
- Free
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Post an engaging and useful video on your website
- Free
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Increase positive reviews on Google and Yelp
- Free
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Publish a press release
- $250 – $500 per press release
Missing something above? I would be grateful if you let me know so I can add it to the list.
