How To Get Free Business Leads For Your Sales Funnel

Tired of buying leads? There are hundreds of ways you can generate leads for free (or very low cost) in your business.

But not all of those ways are necessarily the BEST strategies.

For example, some might take a lot of time for very little results.

So, what are the best ways to generate leads for FREE?

In this article, I’ll go through the top 10 ways to generate leads for free (or very low cost without spending a penny on paid advertising.

I’ll start from best to worst.

But wait!

BEFORE you start getting quick wins with your marketing and sales funnel you need to actually have a high converting marketing and sales funnel. CLICK HERE to see the BEST funnel to use to get high quality leads, appointments and clients predictably each month.

How to get free leads (summary)

Here are the best ways to get leads for free in your business:

YouTube

Blogging

Best free lead generation channels

Here are the best free lead generation channels and how to use them:

1. YouTube

On YouTube, you can generate high-intent leads for FREE through YouTube SEO.

How does it work?

It’s super easy.

All you need to do is create a video answering a question your potential clients ask.

For example, here’s an example of a video I recorded answering the question “How do I generate leads for FREE?”

Check it out:

And you can see my YouTube channel for more examples of questions I answer from potential clients.

So, in your case, you can do exactly the same.

All you need to do is answer questions your potential clients are asking in a short video.

See Step 4 in this video for tips on how to find out what content your potential clients are most likely searching for.

The more questions you answer, the more leads, appointments and clients you can generate.

Why does this work so well?

By creating YouTube videos you can rank both at the top of YouTube AND Google for various keywords related to your business services.

Another advantage is that most of your competitors are most likely NOT creating videos. So this makes it easier for you to rank higher on Google if you DO create videos.

Oh, and it’s completely free to do this. Yes, you do need to spend some time creating videos, but once you’ve done that, you can rank at the top of Google and YouTube and get more leads, appointments and clients from ONE video for years to come.

Tip: You don’t have to be on camera to record videos. Many of my YouTube videos are faceless videos and they still work really well.

2. Blogging (SEO)

Blogging on your business website (also known as search engine optimization) works very similarly to YouTube.

The main difference is that instead of creating videos answering questions your potential clients ask, you would create articles or blog posts (just like the one you’re reading now!)

You can answer the same question in a YouTube video and an article on your website to save time.

See also: How to rank higher on Google

3. LinkedIn

There are two ways you can generate leads on Linkedin.

The good way and the bad way.

The bad way:

• Add random people on LinkedIn
• Spamming / pitching your services via direct messages
• Asking people to jump on a 15 minute call
• Having awkward conversations to lead prospects into a sales call

The good way:

• Connect to potential clients only
• Ask if they want to watch a video that solves a problem that they have (this is NOT a pitch… it’s a free helpful educational video)
• IF and only if people like what they hear on the video, they can choose to book a meeting with you

“the good way” works so well on LinkedIn because you’re not selling to people immediately. You’re helping them. People are much more likely to say “Yes” to a free helpful video than to say “Yes” to schedule a call without knowing whether you can help them.

Tip: If you want to save time, here are some of the best LinkedIn automation tools (optional)

The top 3 channels above are the BEST ways to generate leads for free.

Note: The best way to get leads, appointments and clients from your funnel is to implement strategies to generate leads on LinkedIn, Google and Facebook.

Check out this video to learn more.

This article will discuss some alternative ways to get leads using free, easy and quick methods.

4. Website referrals

If your website already has people visiting it through referrals, word of mouth or other marketing methods, you probably won’t be converting most of the traffic.

A lot of people have websites, but they usually only have a contact form or a phone number. The reality is that most people are not going to fill in a contact form the first time they visit your website.

So what can you do instead?

A better way to start getting leads from your website is to send people to your funnel through as many links on your site as possible. Your navigation menu, content pages, blogs, buttons, etc., are all great places to start.

Remember, the more people that go to your funnel, the more leads you will be able to generate and the more appointments and clients you’ll get.

5. Social media posts

If you’re already sharing content on social media, did you know you can send people to your marketing funnel from the social media posts you share, even if you send people to other websites?

How do you do that?

There’s a free tool called SNIP.LY that customizes every social media link you send on any platform.

Whatever you use, you can send out a link to someone else’s website, and embedded in that link, you can also link back to your marketing funnel.

It’s a great way to start gaining quick wins with the content you share on social media.

6. Email signature

If you’re already sending emails to prospects or clients, an easy way to start getting them to your funnel is to include a link in your email signature to your funnel.

You can ask if they’ve seen this latest video or other lead magnet that you’re using. If not, they can click on the link to check it out.

Then, whenever you send emails to people or other people may be forwarding your email to someone else, they’ll be able to see your email signature, click on that link, and go to your funnel.

I’ve seen some clients who have used this exact process, and they’re getting a steady stream of new leads from people they email or who reach out to them.

It’s a great way to get people to go into the funnel and build more trust with prospects and people you are already speaking to.

You most likely email many people every day (suppliers, prospects and clients). So, why not use this opportunity to add people you email to your funnel, too?

7. Networking / word of mouth

You don’t always know if a referral will be a good fit for your business.

The only way you can know for sure and start building more trust with those leads to really get them to understand what you do and how you can help them is by giving them content that allows them to educate themselves on the big problem you solve for them.

So if you send any referrals that you get to your marketing and sales funnel, that marketing and sales funnel (if set up correctly) will build up trust with these referrals.

If you build up enough trust with these referrals, they will be more likely actually to want to work with you.

The quality of those referrals will be even higher as well because you’ve educated them about how you can actually help them after they’ve gone through your marketing and sales funnel.

8. Content marketing

Just like you can add links to your funnel all over your website, don’t forget your blog too! In fact, I recommend adding links to your funnel throughout your blog content itself.

You want to do this in a way where, when people are reading your blog post, it naturally takes them to that next step, which would be to go into the marketing and sales funnel.

Hint: See if you can spot all the links goin to my FUNNEL in this blog post as an example.

Other marketing activities

Have a look at any other marketing activities you’re doing and ask yourself ‘how can I send these people to my funnel?’ – Remember, the more people (traffic) that go to your funnel, the more leads, appointments and clients you can win.

Hope you enjoy these quick and simple tips to promote your new marketing funnel!