Generating leads is crucial for business owners, entrepreneurs and corporate entities. Yet this task can be harder than expected. If you’re looking for unconventional marketing tactics that will help grow your business more effectively, the ideas below may be just what you need.

1. Start a referral program

Referral programs can take many forms, including offering discounts or other incentives to those who bring new business to your company.

For example, you might offer $10 off any purchase over $100 if someone refers a friend who buys something from you. A customer’s incentive for referring customers will depend on the type of business you run and what kind of products or services it offers.

But regardless of what incentive works best for you and your customers, it’s important that you make clear how much money they stand to earn from referring others to your business.

2. Publish an ebook or white paper

We all know that content is king. It’s important to have a website with fresh, relevant content on a regular basis because it helps drive traffic to your site and allows you to build trust with potential customers. But what if you could take this a step further and create an ebook or white paper on a topic related to your business? These two types of documents can be used as lead magnets, which means they’re given away for free, but require the viewer/reader to give their contact information in exchange for receiving them.

You can use these lead magnets to generate high quality leads on social media channels such as LinkedIn. LinkedIn Lead Gen forms are native pre-filled lead generation forms with typically lower cost per leads.

The idea behind a lead magnet is that once you collect someone’s contact information in exchange for your free resource, it becomes easier for you to follow up with them later down the line by sending them more valuable content that they’ll hopefully find interesting enough to want more from you. Another benefit is that these types of documents can also help you establish yourself as an expert in your industry by providing valuable insight into whatever problem your audience may be struggling with at the time of reading (e.g., “How to Get More Customers While Working Less Hours”).

3. Engage followers with a contest or giveaway

Contests and giveaways are a great way to engage people and build your brand. You can do them on social media or in-person at events like conferences and trade shows. If you have the budget for an event, consider asking attendees to share their contact information with you in exchange for something small like an entry into a prize drawing or a discount code for your product — this way you’ll have their contact information and will have gained exposure at an event where they could potentially become customers down the road.

4. Call-to-action buttons on social media

Social media is a great place to promote your business and generate leads. But how can you convert these leads into customers? One way is by using call-to-action buttons on your posts.

The most popular social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn) allow users to add buttons like “Shop Now” and “Learn More” to their posts. These buttons are designed to drive visitors to the website or landing page of the business that created them.

When you create a call-to-action button for your business, it can be used in multiple ways:

• To promote an event or sale
• To drive traffic to your blog or website
• To share customer testimonials
• To promote a new product or service
• To provide information about your business
• And more!

Call-to-action buttons are an easy way to get people to take action—and they can help you increase sales and grow your business.

5. Guest blogging on other sites

Guest blogging is a great way to generate leads. When you write an article for another site, it’s more likely to be linked to and shared on social media. The more people who see your guest post, the better chance you have of creating some buzz around your business.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when guest blogging:

• Make sure you’re writing about something that’s relevant to your industry. Don’t waste your time writing about something that doesn’t tie back into what you do for a living. The audience will know and not trust your content, which will hurt your credibility as well as your business.
• Don’t write anything too promotional or salesy; this isn’t the place for it! Focus on providing value by sharing information, tips, and advice related to your niche or industry.
• Write as much quality content as possible; don’t try to just get it over with quickly by throwing together a few sentences here and there. You want readers coming back because they enjoyed reading what you had to say; don’t just post links or banners in order to drive traffic to your site (it won’t work anyway).

6. Craft your own growth hack

If you’re looking for a way to stand out from the competition, try creating your own growth hack — something that will make people want to talk about you.

The best way to do this is by tapping into what makes your business unique. If it’s an app, for example, then maybe it’s time to release an update or feature that makes users excited about using it again. Or maybe it’s time for a new addition to your website or blog content that will get people talking about what you have to offer.

The Takeaway

At first, each strategy may seem unconventional, but take a second look at them and you’ll realize that they are actually some of the most effective methods of lead generation possible. Companies spend millions on marketing every year because they work. Whether or not your business is struggling with lead generation, these strategies can help. Try adapting one to your own business model and see what happens!