“Where can I find my leads?” is probably one of the first of many questions a first-time business owner will have. With the world going online and more accessibility to your audiences, you would think that this question is very easy to answer. However, most business owners have a huge challenge looking for their leads, and more, having their leads convert to a sale. This can be simply because they have not established their customer’s persona.

Before we dig in deeper and show you where to find your leads, let us talk about customer personas. We believe that this is fundamental to a marketing strategy. According to User Testing, “A customer persona (also known as a buyer persona) is a semi-fictional archetype that represents the key traits of a large segment of your audience, based on the data you’ve collected from user research and web analytics.” In layman’s term, knowing everything about your customer, their likes, their demographics, their incomes, hobbies and their online activities are all part of your customer persona. It is always good practice to start with your customers’ personas; to have a detailed description of people who are most likely going to buy your product and then to work out where you can find them.

Once you’ve established your customer persona, now what? Where can you find your leads? The answer may not come as a surprise: they are online. Here is a guide to where you can find your leads based on the type of service or product you have:

1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a Social Media platform that connects professionals to other professionals. For services like Leadership Coaching, Keynote Speaking, Marketing Platforms, Recruitment Agencies, Branding Agencies, B2B transactions. This is a great to start. LinkedIn even has their own paid courses to update your skill set. The best way to utilise this platform is to use the LinkedIn Sales Navigator which is a paid service that will help you to prospect your target market and will automatically send messages to them each month.

2. Facebook

Yes, ALMOST everyone is on Facebook. If you are an online retailer shop or in the category of Business to Consumer (B2C), then this is the best place for you. Facebook has a lot of features including Facebook pages and Facebook ads. Facebook groups is another way of networking. Join a group and create innovative posts for your products or services, ask questions, post funny memes, conduct a survey. Engagement is the most effective way to talk to your leads and really get to know them, and what they really want, which Facebook is known for.

3. Instagram

Are you a Photographer, a traveler, or an influencer? Instagram is the best place for you. Anything that can help you showcase your product in photo and hashtags, is great for you. Instagram is by far, the most popular platform for business posts with photos. It is known for their IG stories where you can add videos and photos then add the link to your products or services. According to Instagram, by September 2019 they had over 1 billion users and Sprout Social says that Facebook has over 2.45 billion users.

4. Google Search Partners / Network

Google Search partners is a network of websites that are signed up to allow their sites to display your products. If you see a small ad banner on the top or a small box on the side of a site, that means, they are signed up to receive a small portion of your Google Display ads. The purpose of a Google Display Ad Campaign is to target the upper marketing funnel. They are set to re-marketing audiences, audiences who have similar interests related to your products or people who have been searching to buy something like your product, but they are not familiar of you. This type of strategy is perfect for any type of business, big or small.

5. YouTube

SKIP AD! YouTube ads is the most popular video website. You can target your audience many ways -video ads is one of them. The other option is to find a popular channel with high number of subscribers that is relevant to your offering, ask them directly to review your product or mention it in the video, and add your website to their description box.

In conclusion, ask yourself “who are my leads?”, instead of asking, “where can I find my leads?”. Having a customer’s persona will help you identify which platform your business should use.

If you need guidance in finding new leads for your business, contact MRS V today.