You might think that all concrete contractors know how to generate more concrete leads for their businesses. However, what they know, instead, is how difficult it can be to find them and close more deals in the niche.
Since it isn’t as simple as posting content and working around simple marketing, many concrete professionals succumb to lead vendors that will make you think they can help you reach hundreds of potential clients.
They might be able to, but this approach has a huge downside: You are buying leads that don’t come across you directly, and most of them aren’t interested in your business or services.
It is impossible to know whether the leads you are purchasing are real-time prospects, price shoppers, or if they are looking for a real concrete project that involves your skills.
Therefore, if you truly want to generate qualified leads that will be worth your time and money, you better invest more time in making them come your way organically or with strategies that actually work, and we will be happy to share here.
Search Engines Are the Best Channel
If you are wondering why we would mention search engines before anything else, it has to do with the old and good SEO (search engine optimization). But before getting there, we want to point out they can bring you leads because people are searching for concrete contractors all the time as long as they are interested in the services.
When you have a presence online and, in those engines, people will see your business listed in the results, which means leads can be generated based on the visitors to the website you should build to make this strategy work.
The main strategies inside this one are using search engines like Google or Bing in these ways:
- Google Ads.
If you are not familiar with Google Ads, those are the websites or ads that show up at the top of the listing when users search for a specific service.
In the case of concrete services, you will find Google ads like the ones below:
The benefit of these ads is they will also be displayed on search partners and other Google search sites.
You can set goals for your Google Ads, such as more calls, foot traffic, or website traffic.
Next, to set the ads, you will create your message and budget for the advertisement. If your campaign is performing poorly, you can stop it anytime, and the best part with Google Ads is that this is a pay-per-click method, which means you don’t pay for them unless a user clicks on the ad you have set and bid for.
- Bing Ads.
Bing Ads are the same as Google ads but located on this search engine instead. The process of setting your campaign is even the same and follows the logic of bidding for keywords and similar standards.
Bing, like Google Ads, offers analytics on your ad’s performance and who responds so you can make adjustments if necessary to reach more qualified leads.
- Google Maps.
If you tell us you haven’t searched, even once, service or company with the words “near me” at the end of your search, we will believe you are lying for sure.
The searches have seen an increase in people using “near me” to find services, including concrete professionals, which makes Google Maps an effective way to capture local deals and customers.
When you think about it, your services are local, which means you are trying to offer them to people around you, so it makes sense that others find you based on your location.
Google Maps advertising can help you optimize your content to rank higher than your competitors in local search engine results. This strategy should be accompanied by the use of your Google My Business listing, which is completely free.
- Organic search.
Organic search is all about generating those concrete leads with the use of the old SEO we all know about.
Keywords, content optimization, videos, photos, and all parameters involving it need to be considered so people can find you based on what you offer and the specific terms they place on the search bar.
Organic traffic can take lots of work and time. Still, it is more worth it in the long run since you are guaranteed to receive visitors and qualified leads since they are completely interested in your services by the simple fact of landing on your site, thanks to your efforts alone.
Use Social Media for Your Quality Leads
You have to use all the tools you have at hand, and social media happens to be one of the best and one that is completely free.
Right now, a company that isn’t using social media is making a huge mistake regardless of the niche or industry they are focused on.
If you want to understand why you’ll notice that companies pay to advertise on social media because people are there. Because leads are there searching and looking at everything, and you need to be where your concrete leads are.
Also, when it comes to advertising and paying for them, social media gives you the ability to be as specific as possible about who sees them.
You can segment your leads based on their interests if you do it correctly. Some potential clients might need your services immediately, but there will be others with whom you can build a relationship so that they will remember you when they are ready to hire.
It is best to identify your ideal client, their interests, and whereabouts. You can determine which social media platform to use by knowing who your ideal customer is.
If your potential customer is not on any platform, you don’t have to be there. You should focus on the areas where you will get the most return on your time, energy, and money.
Although this is a very beneficial approach, be prepared for any potential influx of leads. To determine your target audience, you should conduct a testing phase and need a solid marketing strategy.
Remember that paid advertising isn’t the only method to generate leads. After all, you want to bring more followers and users who might be interested in your services later.
For this, your social media content should be optimized as well and follow organic parameters that are vital for any account to achieve results.
You Need a Website… A High Conversion One
Remember what we said about needing one earlier? Well, we will dive deeper into that thought.
Getting a website is crucial because all your leads will land there regardless of your methods: social media, search engines, anything.
If you are like many business owners who believe that having a Facebook Page is sufficient, you are going in the wrong way.
Besides, social media platforms like Facebook aren’t that safe in terms of longevity. Think about it, if one of them closes down tomorrow, your leads list will also disappear, and all your effort will go to waste.
Instead, a functional and attractive website with the most important information easily accessible is what you want and where people can always land without any issues as long as you pay for the serves.
Now, what about the high conversion aspect? It is all about how you design your site and how easy it is for visitors to get in touch with you and interact.
They should be able to click on a call-to-action, such as signing up for an email list or filling in a contact form. In order to get contact information, you may need to offer something.
People are increasingly wary of signing up for email lists because they fear being bombarded with spam. You can start to collect emails and send newsletters with tips, updates, and specials by offering a simple incentive in exchange for their email addresses.
Finally, the entire concept of optimizing your website lies, once again, on SEO. You want it to be search engine friendly, which means making it accessible on mobile and creating web pages that are search engine optimized.
Focusing on Google My Business
You might think we are just going back on ourselves, but that’s not quite true.
In this case, we needed to explain the basics of generating leads to get to the point of talking about websites, conversions, and Google My Business.
That being said, you want to make sure that your information on Google My Business is up to date.
In case you don’t know about it, it is a listing that allows you to provide all your company’s information so users when they are looking for companies like yours, will appear in their Google Maps, as we previously mentioned briefly.
You don’t need to publish your address if it’s not a retail location. Even if your home is in a small community, you can still set your service area to larger cities so that your business listing appears in more searches.
Now, the important part of this listing option is that all your information is correct, like the company’s name, number, email address, location if added, and more.
You want to ensure people will contact you using it without any issues, or you could lose those potential concrete leads.
You Need Positive Reviews
All of us have looked into items that we are considering purchasing to see what others think so we can make a decision whether it may meet our expectations or not.
When it comes to hiring concrete contractors, people do the same thing since they want to hear about other people’s experiences so they can make an informed decision on whether or not to do business with you.
This is why your reviews will be more visible online if they are positive and generate way more qualified leads than you could imagine.
If you want them, ask for reviews and testimonials from your previous or current clients.
Ask customers if they would mind reviewing your work, but keep in mind the positive part starts with the quality of your services.
If your customers are not shy about using a video camera, you can do video testimonials. It’s great to hear from happy customers about how satisfied they are with your work. This will make future clients feel at ease.
Diving into SEO & PPC
We know we went over SEO and PPC (pay-per-click) way too briefly when they actually involve so much.
This is why we will take our time here and include well-developed content.
SEO and PPC both generate traffic. However, the first requires a time investment, while the other requires a monetary one.
Depending on the urgency of your immediate lead needs, you can choose one or both. We would usually recommend relying on both since your efforts will pay off quicker and more efficiently.
With this in mind, we can start with SEO strategies specifically.
A search engine optimization strategy can help build trust and credibility.
Research has shown that people will click on organic results over paid ads because they feel safe about how your website or a link was able to rank so high.
You should therefore find ways to improve your visibility without spending money on ads. Building trust and credibility can make it easier to convert sales.
This approach is free unless you hire someone else to do your SEO. It doesn’t need to be expensive, but it does require time.
Content is key to increasing your credibility and visibility. A successful strategy will increase your search ranking, which will bring you more traffic and brand recognition.
But what about PPC?
Pay-per-click allows you to use ads and charge per click for the URL that you are directing people to.
Social media advertising and search engine advertising require you to pay per click. This strategy is much faster than SEO and allows you to target your audience, so the leads you get are qualified, and conversions are easier.
The previous mention is pretty much what you need to know about it, so just focus on looking at it as the usually paid advertising but online.
Don’t Miss Email Marketing
We are well aware that many believe email is completely dead, but we couldn’t disagree more with this when the reality aims another way.
While smartphones and social media dominate communication in the world, email remains a top method to communicate information to businesses and when you are setting a project. In other words, you send crucial, confidential, and important info using them, not social media or other platforms.
Email marketing is an effective way to nurture and attract leads. It is also budget-friendly, particularly for concrete businesses. Thus, you should definitely add it to your strategies.
Your website is the best way to maximize this process and get the results you desire. It is the main way people contact you via email.
Visitors to your website are likely to be interested in your business and services. Allowing them to contact you by email is a great way to find out which leads are high quality and which ones are just passing by.
A signup button for email can be added to your website to encourage people to sign up and ensure the process of doing so is simple so users won’t be lazy to finish the process.
Now, we know you have heard about this somewhere: Email lists. But you shouldn’t buy them no matter what.
These lists won’t give you valuable leads, and your emails may end up in spam folders. This could ruin your whole future as you will have to start over or lose qualified leads.
Once you have established an email list organically, thanks to people who sign up on your site or other direct contacts you asked about joining, it’s time to start sending them the information you need.
Emails can contain coupons, links to content, and information about new products or services. You must ensure that the information is useful and won’t make them feel like wasting time or effort.
Collaboration & Partnerships Are Underestimated
Companies can increase their leads by collaborating with partners, influencers, and other businesses.
Many would reject this option simply because they don’t want to generate more leads for others. But does it really work that way?
You kind of generate leads for others, but not in the same niche or industry. Besides, you gain the same or better benefits in the process.
Collaborations can be a big plus, especially if you are the one who wins more in the long term or short-term. It doesn’t necessarily mean 50/50 is not worth it. However, you need to consider all options and decide if it is worth it.
A study found that more than 90% of customers prefer to be referred by others to being caught by advertising.
Referrals from previous clients or partners are essential for your business’ growth. Thus, don’t underestimate how vital partners and collaborations are.
Make Sure Your Content Is Valuable
It’s hard to compete with industry leaders, no matter how you look at it.
It seems like the big brands get all the attention, and smaller brands are left with little room to gain the spotlights that they desire and need to stay onboard the business. Well, you don’t have to struggle for this since it is possible to stand out.
You only need to make sure your content is valuable for your readers and future leads.
Remember what we mentioned about SEO? (you are probably tired of it by now) The truth is that content is the part that brings visitors the most when using the organic method since keywords are located in it.
But more than just stuffing your content with keywords, which you shouldn’t do, it is about writing something that will be useful for future clients.
Recommendations, tips, steps, or anything about concrete and jobs you can perform or they could need will be a great piece of content.
Important: Networking Events
Despite the fact that most of the world is now online, it doesn’t mean face-to-face interactions don’t have power. This is why you should not limit your efforts in generating leads online.
Ask many concrete companies and professionals how they generate leads, and over 60% of them will include networking.
Many of them will tell you that attending trade shows, conferences, and networking events are their preferred and most efficient way to generate leads—no doubt about this.
You need, however, to aim for events where your potential customers might be and where you can find partners and collaborators. It isn’t about going for the ones you like.
If you target millennials, you should attend the same events as them, regardless of whether they have anything in common with your services, like needing them.
If you can find events that bring together many people, prospects, and potential clients, then you have a goldmine waiting for you.
Generating Concrete Leads Doesn’t Need to Be a Nightmare
It is not easy to generate leads. You will also have to contend with your concrete competitors and guarantee you are not losing against them.
However, it is about patience, effort, and hard work until you finally achieve the desired results.
After you have done the SEO and gotten reviews and dealt with any other strategies, you will be able to get leads for your concrete company. Just make sure you are integrating the previous methods progressively and not all at once.
We recommend that you try these options whenever you see them as a viable alternative.
Remember that quality leads are what you want and not any visitor.
Concrete companies that are small have more difficulty standing out on the crowd than larger companies when it comes down to getting attention.
You already know this information, and we don’t believe we must share any additional details on it.
However, we remark this because it is important to remember that if you have difficulties as a small or large concrete business or professional, you need to review your methods and steps for generating leads and not stop making efforts just because you reached a certain point.
After all, more concrete leads and generating them isn’t just a problem for small businesses.
Even large companies with years of experience may reach a point where they are no longer competitive. They lose their leads and also become unable to bring in more regardless of the lead generation tools they are using to increase their lead scoring.
Review each lead generation strategy we have shared as many times as needed and work towards your success to generate qualified leads and remember, not only focus on your online lead generation efforts if you want to get high-quality leads through your sales funnel.
The Local Lead Generation Process for Your Concrete Business
All right! So, everything is about building properties and generating leads. But how does the process actually take place? Are there other steps I need to know?
The steps I mention below are what students from our local lead generation program follow to generate leads for businesses like yourself. So I’ll help you see what we do. And how if you join our program, you can simply generate leads for your own business (unless you want to start a side hustle and build a laptop lifestyle business).
Essentially, our lead generation can be divided into four steps:
The first is prospecting. You need to take the time to do market research on a niche (industry) and determine how many phone-driven businesses are there.
Keep in mind that this is local research as you need to know how many companies need leads. For example, you may search for “plumbing services Youngstown OH.”
You will find dozens or even hundreds of businesses trying to get themselves in front of the customers by ranking on Map Listings, organic results, and even Ad.
The second step, building. When you find a niche (plumbing, tree services, a software company, real estate…), you will need to start building your digital properties. You don’t need to be an expert in HTML or coding. It can be easy with the right tools.
The third step is now taking time to rank your lead gen website. With the site done, you need to work on SEO strategies and start dominating those Google search results. If you’re new to SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimization.
To keep it simple, it consists of the entire process of growing a company’s visibility on search engines like Google and generating organic traffic. And remember this, local lead generation is part of the strategies.
Moving on to step four, once you rank the site, you will start getting your ROI and profits. You only need to rent it out to a local business interested in the leads the site generates. You can offer a couple of free leads to their move on with the actual pay per lead.
To review steps 1-4 above, I described it to a normal student who is building a lead gen business to help local service providers generate more calls. But replace the student with you as the business owner. And replace sending the leads to a business to simply siphoning the leads to your personal business.
By the way, fun fact, about 20% of our students in our local lead gen program are actually business owners who went through the program. And they use the skillsets we teach to generate leads for their own business.
An Example of Lead Generation: Home Advisor
You must be thinking, “if lead generation sounds so good so far, how come I haven’t seen any company?” That’s the thing; there are many out there. You just don’t know they are dedicated to it.
HomeAdvisor is one of the best examples you can find on the Internet as it is a top lead generation company that has spent millions building its brand but also earned even more zeros for this same reason.
They started small as everyone else but invested in building their brand awareness to make people who are looking for home services go to their website and find what they need. They are over 75% of people’s first choice when they need those services.
If you don’t get HomeAdvisor that much or need a refresh, users need to submit their information to request a service and get a professional or expert who can provide it.
HomeAdvisor’s job is to share your information, which makes you a lead, with local companies so they can contact you and offer the service you’re requesting. For sharing this lead information, HomeAdvisor gets paid by the companies. This happens for every single lead they send to multiple businesses.
Business owners who don’t have marketing skills or don’t even know how to have any online presence will always rely on those pages to list their services. They will save time and effort, but companies like HomeAdvisor can make them spend lots of money as leads aren’t exclusive (one lead is sent to multiple companies after all).
Using Facebook Ads aka Paid Ad Platforms: Do They Generate Leads?
They DO generate leads. If not, no one would use them.
However, you need to remember two facts:
- Paid ads or platforms can be expensive.
- They don’t generate “natural” leads.
Whenever someone sees or clicks in one of those ads, over 80% of them did it by accident or are trying to close/report it.
Why? Because they aren’t looking for those services. At least not at the moment.
What those ads do instead is interrupt their time on the platforms. Users aren’t there to find companies or businesses unless they are searching for a specific company’s user, and for that, there’s a search bar. This is why it is hard to convert them to actual customers who will show interest in the companies’ services. Also, you’re limited by a budget.
When using lead generation, everything is organic. You aren’t forcing others to pay attention to your business but rather being there when they need you. This is why Google’s organic traffic will always beat paid ads, and the reason companies continue investing in it, which is a lot cheaper as well.
What Is Local SEO?
Don’t worry… I didn’t get it at first either. Following the short explanation, local SEO focuses on scaling businesses’ visibility on search engines. However, this is only for those who serve their communities face-to-face.
What does this mean?
Experts and professionals like painters, plumbers, and dentists (but not only them) offer their services to their local customers. Why? Because they can’t deliver them unless they are located in the same area of their customers.
To make sure those businesses get more leads, you need to rank them locally by claiming the business listing on Google to place them on Map Listings. Local SEO also involves online reviews, citation management, and how you manage your entire online presence in the local area.
If you are going to bet on lead gen, you need to adapt yourself to today’s world: The Internet.
Keep in mind that although traditional channels and methods like billboards, warm calls, and pamphlets still work, they aren’t part of your tools. Whenever someone needs a service, they go to Google and search for it.
“Dentist in Miami” or “plumbing services in Orlando,” etc. And you can keep coming up with services or professionals people need and look for. Thus, you need to make sure you’re using Google to get the companies in front of their clients.
Users will always click on the first search results (those near the top), and many of them will be either Ad links (people paid to place their websites there), Map Listing, and then you get websites. Almost all of them are your goal and where you should always aim to place yourself.
Can My Concrete Business Utilize a Local Lead Generation Strategy?
If you want customers, you better know you need it. Following the previous explanation, lead gen is all about placing businesses in front of their customers, choosing them over their competitors.
Put it simply – it’s all about closing deals and having clients for those companies to make money. The main difference with the usual methods companies use for this is how lead generation approaches different channels to get them in the right place of the market to get customers.
Those channels are all focused on the Internet as most people are searching for products but also services across the net. The issue is that the Internet is way too broad, and businesses don’t know how to place themselves. They usually try, but they get one common result: losing money and time.
How Powerful Are Organic Concrete Leads from Google?
For companies looking for customers, it’s everything. For you? Pretty much the same. When you build a business with digital properties, you get to make thousands of dollars a month.
This isn’t a “get started today and get rich tomorrow” thing, but it is HIGHLY scalable, and ROI + positive results are guaranteed. Learning a fairly decent and very needed set of skills to create your digital properties and start ranking them on Google is required.
I have invested in several online businesses over the years, and if there’s something uncertain, whether you will get your ROI or not, even more than the actual profit.
However, this business moved my earnings from five figures a year to a month in ONLY passive income while sitting comfortably at home.
On my laptop. Anywhere. Anytime.
You can look at one of the first sites I built back in 2016, and it continues making me over $1.000+ every month. The best part is that I don’t need to touch it or the rest I’ve built over the years, just like this digital property.
What Makes Lead Generation SO Alluring?
Here it goes: you can work from home.
The main issue with regular business opportunities is how much you need to invest in staff, equipment, or rent to have a place to sell your products or offer your services.
We all know the hassles of traditional businesses that involve regular expenses, which are extremely high. Can you afford it? I don’t think so, and even if you can, is it worth it? Now, it isn’t only about the money. You also need to put in a lot of work, and it isn’t only during the first couple of months or years. Usually, it is as long as you continue running it.
You can save yourself those headaches and bone-breaking tasks and expenses with lead gen since it is more about generating leads with digital channels—mainly websites.
Websites can be VERY cheap to build, and with many tools online, you get to do it in a couple of hours instead of days. Any virtual or digital business is scalable and won’t need constant maintenance.
So, let’s summarize this:
- You save money in regular expenses with traditional and most online businesses as what you need is yourself and digital properties (websites).
- You can bet on passive income.
- There’s no need to hire more people to get started.
- You can generate leads in multiple industries, which allows you to work on any niche you want.
How Can I Get Started in the Local Lead Generation Program?
Anyone can start and learn. That’s the beauty of this business model. I knew nothing about SEO, Map Listing, and everything I’ve mentioned so far. It is all about learning the skills, gaining experience, and deciding to take the step.
Remember that this business model will never get old as business owners are always looking for leads. They need to do business and scale their companies. Why not do the same while helping others and still making money?
You can start with this local lead generation course highly recommended for anyone wanting to grow in the business. It is a close training that will take you through each step and make sure you are able to get your ROI, profits and take control of your life.
You will be added to an incredible lead generation family ready to help you 24/7 when asking questions on the group. Anyone is welcome who’s willing to put in the work. Click here to watch the lead gen webinar.