3 Essential Email Lead Generation Practices for Your Business
If you’re interested in learning how to generate leads for your business through email effectively, you’ve come to the right place!
In this blog post, we’ll cover the top 3 best practices for email lead generation that can transform your outreach efforts.
1. Identify Your (Niche) Demographic
Already have a solid understanding of your customer base and know the demographic(s) you want to target? Skip this step.
If not, it’s time for some introspection on your business as it exists now and as you envision it in the future.
Understanding your customer base is the foundation of effective lead generation. If you're uncertain about your target demographic, delving into your business data is vital.
Use your tools— a CRM, a mailing list, or simple spreadsheets—to analyze your past customers. Look for common characteristics among your most successful and frequent customers.
Consider your business’s mission, vision, and values to refine further the type of customer you aim to attract.
Use keywords related to your business online to see what fields or demographics appear.
Local Businesses Should Define a Radius Around Their Location
If your business is brick-and-mortar or involves in-person services, defining a geographic radius on Google Maps to target key areas can focus your efforts.
Head over to Google Maps and list your area's major cities, towns, neighborhoods, and counties. You’ll want to focus your email lead generation on businesses in these locations.
Virtual Businesses Should Look at Other Logistical Factors
If your services are virtual, consider logistical factors like state tax laws or regions where you have a strong reputation.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to define your niche:
Do you only want to get leads for your business that are also remote?
Do you want to limit your lead generation to businesses within your state for tax purposes?
Is there an area where you’ve had prior business and garnered a good word-of-mouth reputation?
Take these answers into account for our next step.
2. Research Businesses in Your Demographic
Tools like Google and Yelp are invaluable for finding potential leads.
NOTE: Pay close attention to online reputations—avoid businesses with poor reviews or ratings under four stars. If they are rated less than 4 stars, don’t add them to your list.
Review Relevant Local Directories to Find Your Leads
Local business listings can also be a treasure trove of potential leads.
If your business aligns with or serves historically marginalized groups, look for directories specific to those communities in your area.
For example, in Portland, we have the PDX Gay Pages and the Mercatus Black-Owned Business Directory.
Almost every neighborhood has a local business listing in their city as well.
For example, we like the one for the Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle.
3. Structure a Scheduled Outreach Calendar
After identifying potential contacts, it’s time to set up and organize your outreach strategy.
Use a spreadsheet to track communications, recommending three rounds of contact each spaced 2-3 weeks apart.
Your spreadsheet might include columns like
Category
Business
Website
Contact Information
Dates of contact
Relevant notes
Employing task management software like Asana, Monday, ClickUp, Trello, or Google Calendar are all great tools for staying on track.
Develop a Series of Email Templates for Each Round of Contact
To help save yourself time, we recommend you create email templates. This will prevent you from having to re-invent each email.
Here’s a possible email series you could use:
First Email: Detailed introduction to your goods or services.
Second Email: A concise follow-up referring back to the initial email.
Third Email: A friendly reminder of your services.
NOTE: When copying and pasting your template into your email software, be sure to highlight all text and select the default formatting settings (color, font, size). It may look correct to you, but it can appear wonky to the recipient if you skip this step!
Avoid Being Flagged As Spam
We recommend limiting the number of outreach emails you send daily to 10-15. Any more can risk your recipients’ inboxes flagging your address as spam, which won’t help you get leads for your business!
Another way to avoid being seen as spam, personalize the email template as necessary for each individual business.
Need Expert Help With Lead Generation?
While these steps are straightforward, lead generation requires time and dedication.
If you’re looking for professional lead generation services to streamline this process, The Boutique COO is here to help.
Our talented project managers are experienced in crafting effective email lead generation strategies tailored to expand your client base.
