50 Ways to Get More Clients: Visibility & Lead Generation Strategies for Your Business

May 07, 2022

Getting clients is one of the most important functions of your business, and to get more clients, you have to get in front of your ideal clients.

In this article, I’m sharing fifty different strategies that you can use to increase visibility and generate leads. Some of these methods are common sense, while others may be new to you. Regardless of your experience level, there is something in here you can implement to start attracting more clients immediately.

Each of these fifty strategies operates under the following core principles of marketing and lead generation:

The number of new clients you enroll is directly correlated to the number of potential clients you get in front of. If you don’t get in front of your ideal clients, then you’re not going to enroll new clients.
If you don’t already have an audience of your own, the best way to get in front of your ideal clients is to creatively leverage other people’s and business’ audiences.
Your success depends on your ability to think creatively and stand out from the rest of the noise—to set yourself apart from everyone else in your space.

Now that you understand these core principles, here are fifty different ways to increase visibility and generate leads for your business.

How to Use this Article

This article is not meant to be read beginning to end. Rather, the best way to use this article is as inspiration and guidance when creating your own marketing strategy.

First and foremost, the best plan of attack is not to try and implement all (or even half of these ideas. Instead, pick one or two strategies from this list that resonate with you and your business, then brainstorm how you can implement those strategies in a way that is unique to you.

Second, not every idea I share in here will be a "good idea" for your business. I mean seriously, one of the tactics mentioned refers to hosting a party in the style of brands like Tupperware and Cutco. If that's not applicable or useful for you, there's no reason to bend the idea to fit your business.

Finally, don't be afraid to get creative. The more willing you are to think creatively and explore new ideas for your business, the better results you're going to get.

The Master List

If you don't want to scroll through the entire article, just skim through the list below and click on the strategies and tactics you want to learn more about:

Get featured by media and news outlets
Get cited as a source for news articles
Get your own articles published in online publications
Write a regular column for a news publication
Pull a publicity stunt
Get interviewed on podcasts with large audiences
Get interviewed on podcasts (the sneaky way)
Host podcast interviews with influencers and big names
Start a private podcast and interview influencers
Start a podcast that’s focused on an unrelated topic
Get interviewed on local radio
Get on a reality show
Organize a joint workshop or training
Be a guest speaker on a virtual summit
Host your own virtual summit
Be a success story
Host an affiliate webinar for another business’s audience
Partner with non-profit organizations
Leverage your well-known customers and clients
Lead magnet email blast
Write a guest blog post
Bonus content for other businesses
Get backlinks from larger blogs
Get interviewed by influencers
Interview influencers on your channel
Create humorous satire posts
Write a book
Give a behind-the-scenes look into your business
Put together an anthology book
Hop on board with the latest social media trends
Create strategic content on YouTube
Create a viral quiz
Create an online course on Udemy or Skillshare
Speak at conferences
Give a TEDx Talk
Host local talks, workshops, or trainings
Optimize your website for search engine results (SEO)
Create a Google Business Listing
Optimize your social media profiles
Host a giveaway
Offer free samples
Offer a free (or cheap) trial
Host a contest
Offer product or service demos
Start a local Meetup group
Start a book club
Attend IRL networking events
Organize a Tupperware party
Build a values-centered community
Build relationships in Facebook Groups

Leverage Media and News Outlets

1: Get Featured by Media & News Outlets

Get featured by news and media outlets for how you’re doing things differently in your industry. This could look like getting featured in local news outlets, on online news sites, or even on TV.

There are just a few simple steps to get journalists and reporters to feature you:

Research the journalists who write about your industry or topics related to it.
Follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or wherever else they’re active on social media.
Find their email addresses or contact forms on their website.
Identify the unique angle that makes you a compelling person or business to write about or interview.
Introduce yourself and explain why you think they should write about you.
In your pitch, include links to articles or press releases that have already been written about you.

2: Get Cited as a Source for News Articles

In addition to getting featured as the subject of a news story, you can also get cited as a source for other journalists’ articles. This is an easy way to get your name and business in front of new potential clients.

You can find reporters who are looking for sources on Twitter by using the hashtag #journorequest or by following lists of reporters who are looking for sources.

You can also find reporters who are looking for sources on Help a Reporter Out (HARO), which is a website and email list that connects reporters with sources.

3: Get Your Own Articles Published in Online Publications & Media Outlets

If you’re a strong writer, consider pitching your own articles to online publications and media outlets that your ideal clients follow. This is a great way to get in front of your ideal clients and share your expertise with a wider audience.

Before pitching an article, make sure you read the publication or outlet’s guidelines for submissions. Each publication has different requirements, but most will want articles that are well-written, original, and relevant to their audience.

When pitching an article, include a summary of the article, the angle you’re taking, and why you think their audience will be interested.

One of the big benefits of this approach is that the article doesn’t have to be about you. Rather, it’s an opportunity for you to share your own expertise and provide value.

4: Write a Regular Column for a News Publication or Blog

In the same vein, you can offer to write a recurring weekly or monthly column for an online (or print) publication. This is a great way to have a regular platform to share your ideas with a wider audience…and it has the benefit of getting in front of the publication’s existing audience.

This works best once you’ve established a relationship with a publication either by being featured in one of their stories, cited as a source, or having one of your own articles published through them.

5: Pull a Publicity Stunt

One of the best ways to get featured by news and media outlets is to do something…well…newsworthy. This could be a publicity stunt, an event you’re hosting, or something else that will get people talking.

When planning your publicity stunt, make sure you keep the following in mind:

Make sure it’s newsworthy.
Make sure it’s relevant to your business.
Make sure it’s something your target market would be interested in.
Make sure you have a plan for how to capitalize on the publicity.
Make sure it’s not illegal or otherwise going to get you in trouble or generate bad publicity.

When executed correctly, a publicity stunt can generate a lot of buzz and get you featured by news and media outlets.

Leverage Podcasts for Visibility and Lead Generation

6: Get Interviewed on Podcasts with Large Audiences

Getting interviewed on podcasts is a great way to reach thousands of people at once. It’s a perfect opportunity to share your story, showcase your personality, and reach a new audience of potential clients.

For example, back in 2018, I was featured by New York Times Bestselling Author Chris Guillebeau on his podcast Side Hustle School. His show has 50,000 daily listeners, and within three hours of that episode going live, my website had 10x its normal daily traffic.

The best way to get interviewed on podcasts is to identify the shows that are relevant to your target market and then reach out to the hosts of those shows.

Here are a few tips for reaching out to podcast hosts:

Find podcasts that are relevant to your industry or area of expertise. Your goal is to identify the podcasts that your ideal clients are listening to. If you don’t know where to start, try asking some of your existing clients what podcasts they’re listening to.
In your pitch, be sure to include the topic you’d like to discuss, why you’d be a great guest for their show, and links to articles about you or podcasts you’ve been on that have been published online.
Remember that hosts of podcasts with large audiences have hundreds of pitches to sort through at any given time. So make sure you’re sending a highly personalized (not templated) pitch, and include how having you on their show will benefit both them and their audience.

7: Get Interviewed on Podcasts, the Sneaky Way

It can be tempting to only pursue podcast interviews with shows that have large followings. But podcasts with smaller audiences are often easier to get on, and interviewing with a lot of them is a great way to achieve the same critical mass.

For example, being featured on Chris Guillebeau’s podcast got me in front of 50,000 people…but I had to work really hard to get on that show.

The same result, though, can be achieved by being on ten podcasts with 5,000 listeners.

The process of getting interviewed on a podcast largely remains the same no matter the size of their audience, but make sure you don’t count out the smaller shows. Personally, I’ll go on a podcast that as few as 1,000 listeners because in my book, showing up for a 30-minute interview to get in front of 1,000 people is entirely worth it.

8: Host Podcast Interviews with Influencers & Big Names

Similar to the above strategies of getting interviewed on podcasts, the reverse approach is also true: Conducting podcast interviews with people and businesses who have audiences of their own. If you have your own podcast (or want to start your own), this is a great way to bring their audience to your podcast.

Here’s how to book interviews with prospective podcast guests:

Find the right people to interview. Identify the top influencers in your industry and find the big names that are relevant to your target market. Follow them on social media so you can start to see what they’re talking about and posting about daily.
Identify their win. Individuals who have a significant audience have to be very selective about where they spend their time and about which interview opportunities they agree to. Therefore, your success depends on
Pitch them. Reach out and pitch them about being a guest on your podcast. In your email, include how you initially heard about them and how long you’ve been following them, why you’d like them to be on your show, and why they should want to be on your show.
Don’t get discouraged if they don’t reply. Keep following up until you get a “no thanks, I’m not interested.” Remember that they’re likely getting hundreds of incoming messages every day, so following up is the best way to make sure you don’t get lost in the mess.

The most important part comes once you’ve interviewed them: Make sure they share the podcast episode with their audience. Make this as easy as possible for them:

Supply them with social graphics they can share.
Give them copy they can use when sharing the episode.
Ask if it’s better to send graphics and copy to their assistant or social media manager.
Make your own posts about the episode, and tag them in every post you make.
When you make a post, send the post to them in a message on that platform (i.e. Facebook message or Instagram message) and ask them to repost it.

9: Start a Private Podcast and Interview Key Influencers

Use the same approach we talked about in the previous tactic, but with a private podcast. A private podcast is simply a podcast that is locked behind an email opt-in. Therefore, listeners have to supply their email address to get access to the private podcast.

A private podcast is better for more intimate interviews with influencers and public figures because it adds a level of exclusivity. For example, an interview with Chris Guillebeau about his entrepreneurial journey would be better suited for a normal, public podcast. But an interview with him where we dive into the big issues he’s struggled with along the way is significantly more intimate and better suited to a private podcast.

10: Start a Podcast That’s Focused on an Unrelated Interest You Have

…But that still appeals to your ideal clients.

For example, I love reading—both fiction and nonfiction. And while it might seem absurd to incorporate a book podcast into my marketing strategy, there are actually some pretty clear benefits.

One thing I know about my ideal clients is that they also love reading; specifically, they tend to read a lot of personal growth and self-development books.

So, by starting a podcast that’s focused on books (but not necessarily business books), I can reach out to my ideal clients and get my name in front of them.

Plus, because the podcast isn’t about marketing or business growth, it doesn’t come across as “salesy.” In fact, many of my ideal clients will likely stumble upon the podcast because they’re looking for a good book recommendation, not because they’re looking for a business coach.

And that’s perfect…because the leads it generates will be inherently warmer.

11: Get Interviewed on Local Radio

Okay, this isn’t technically about leveraging podcasts for visibility and lead generation, but it’s in the same vein.

But your next question is probably, “Why would I want to get interviewed on local radio?”

You’re exactly right to ask that. Almost no one wants to get interviewed on local radio, and similar to the approach of getting interviewed on smaller podcasts, that’s exactly what makes this such an amazing tactic.

The hosts at your local radio station are searching for things to talk about and feature on their shows…and you can be the answer to this. Because believe it or not, people still listen to radio, even if not everyone wants to be on it.

Your local NPR syndicate probably still has a significant audience. And at the same time, most radio stations are getting savvy and hosting their programming online and via podcasts as well.

Richard Paul Evans, author of the famous holiday book The Christmas Box used this exact strategy when he distributed a two-hour audio program to 896 radio stations…which created enough demand that resulted in a $4.25 million deal with Simon & Schuster in 1995.

Radio may have changed dramatically since 1995, but it can still be a really effective way to increase your visibility.

12: Get on a Reality Show

Between traditional television, online streaming services, and even YouTube, there are thousands of reality shows who are looking for everyday people to come on their show.

And the great news is that you don’t need to be a celebrity or have an interesting story. Most reality shows are looking for average people who just want to share their story.

If you can find the right show, it can be a great way to get in front of a large audience (of potential clients) and share your story.

Even if the show has nothing to do with your niche, you oftentimes get introduced with your name and occupation, which means being able to get in front of thousands or even millions of people while a TV host says, “John Doe, a Life Coach from Asheville, NC.”

Partner with Other Businesses & Influencers

13: Organize a Joint Workshop or Training

Partner with influencers or other big names in your space to host a joint workshop or training. You could even do a webinar.

The goal is to get your name in front of their audience and to provide massive value in the process.

Not only will this help you generate leads, but it will also help you build relationships with some of the biggest players in your industry.

And that’s a valuable asset to have.

14: Be a Guest Speaker at a Virtual Summit

Be a guest speaker on someone else’s virtual summit.

The great thing about virtual summits is that they’re growing in popularity, and there are a lot of them out there. So, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find one that’s a good fit for you and your business.

Plus, by being a guest speaker on someone else’s summit, you’ll get access to their audience. And that’s a huge opportunity.

15: Host Your Own Virtual Summit

This is a hotly debated tactic, but when done well and done ethically can be a great way to partner with other industry peers to get in front of their audiences.

The key is to make sure that your summit provides massive value for attendees and the people you’re inviting to speak.

And, of course, you’ll want to make sure that you have a great sales funnel in place to capture the leads that come out of the summit.

16: Be a Success Story

What products or services do you love that your ideal clients probably also love? Get companies whose products or services you’ve used to feature you as a success story.

Most companies will be quick to take you up on this offer because it’s also free publicity for them. Plus, it’s really easy for companies to do this. All they have to do is send you a quick email with some questions about your experience with their product or service.

17: Host an Affiliate Webinar for Another Business’s Audience

Partner with another business to host an affiliate webinar for their audience.

Affiliate webinars are a great way to get in front of a new audience, and they’re a great way for businesses to promote their products or services. The value for the business you partner with is that they generally get a percentage of sales that come from the webinar (so make sure to agree on that percentage before organizing the webinar!).

The webinar should be high-quality and provide massive value for attendees. At the end of the webinar should be a pitch for you to present your offer to attendees.

18: Partner with Non-Profit Organizations

What’s a cause you care about? Reach out to organizations focused on that cause to see how you can support them. Non-profits can have massive audiences, and supporting a non-profit is a great way to get in front of their audience.

Plus, it feels good to give back.

19: Leverage Your Well-Known Customers & Clients

If you have customers or clients who have an audience of their own, there are lots of ways you can collaborate with them to get in front of more people:

Case studies and testimonials
Host a giveaway with them to their audience
Give them an affiliate link to share with their audience
Ask them to share content or a lead magnet to their audience

Create Content for Other Businesses to Leverage

20: Lead Magnet Email Blast

Get a business to share one of your lead magnets to their email list.

A lead magnet is an irresistible resource that you offer potential customers in exchange for their contact information.

For example, you could offer a free guide, checklist, or e-book in return for someone’s email address.

This is a great way to generate leads because people are more likely to give away their contact information if they know they’re getting something of value.

This is best done when you have an existing relationship with the person who’s sharing it with their audience…but you can also forgo the email opt-in and just let the business share the lead magnet directly with their email list.

21: Write a Guest Blog Post

This is one of the most popular ways to get in front of more people.

The key is to find a website that’s a good fit for you and your business, and then write a guest blog post that provides massive value for their audience.

Once you’ve written the post, send it to the website owner and ask if they’d be willing to publish it.

If they say yes, make sure you promote the post like crazy when it goes live.

If they say no, chances are there’s another website out there that would publish it in a heartbeat.

22: Offer Bonus Content to Other Businesses

What businesses are your ideal clients already spending money at? Give those businesses content they can use as a free bonus for their customers.

Similar to a lead magnet email blast, this content could be in the form of a checklist, guide, e-book, or even a video.

The key is to make it really valuable for their customers.

Once you’ve created the content, send it to the business and ask if they’d be willing to include it as a free bonus for their customers.

This makes the other business look really good to their customers because of the value it provides and also gets your content in front of your ideal clients.

23: Get Backlinks from Larger Blogs

Getting a well-established blog to link back to your website from one of their articles is a great way to not only drive their readers to your website but also increase your domain authority. But how do you go about making that happen?

When you see an article that makes a claim without backing it up, and it’s a claim you know you can back up—write an article on your website about that exact topic.

Once you’ve published it, reach out to the blog in question and say that you noticed they might want a source for that claim, and offer your article as a source they can link to.

Even if they say no, there are likely hundreds of other blog articles making similar claims without backing them up…so you can go and pursue those articles as well and follow the same approach.

Pro-Tip: Once you’ve written that explanatory article, you can use it over and over again for almost any third-party article that makes a similar claim without backing it up.

Create Strategic Content Designed to Increase Visibility

24: Influencer Interviews

Get interviewed by influencers on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. One of the biggest struggles for social media influencers is that to maintain their status and level of influence, they have to post absurd amounts of content every day.

That’s where you come in: Getting them to interview you for their audience is a significant piece of content that they don’t have to spend a long time creating. A simple 20 or even 10-minute live interview on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook is a great way for both of you to connect with their audience.

When reaching out to influencers, just make sure that the topic you’re pitching for an interview is something that their audience cares about.

When you’re interviewed by an influencer, their audience is going to naturally want to know more about you and your business.

25: Interview Influencers

On the flip side, offer to interview an influencer on your own YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook channel.

When you interview an influencer, make sure to ask them questions that will help your audience learn more about them and what they do. The value for them is that they’re able to reach people they might not otherwise be able to reach (i.e. your audience), and the value for you is that you’re bringing their audience to your own channel.

26: Create Humorous Satire Posts

One of the quickest ways to get attention (and shares) on social media is to post something funny. But not just any funny post will do—posts that are satirical in nature are even better.

When done well, saying the opposite of your actual message can be the best way to get your message across.

For example, if you’re a coach who helps people save money, you could post a satirical message about how to spend money and be irresponsible.

When done poorly, satire can come across as mean-spirited or unprofessional. So make sure you have a good understanding of your target audience before posting content that is satirical in nature.

27: Write a Book

Been itching to write a book? Now might be the perfect time.

If you have something to say, and you think you have what it takes to write a book, that could be the perfect route to getting in front of thousands of ideal clients.

Not only will a book help you get in front of more people, it will also give you authority and credibility in your industry.

If you’re looking for a way to differentiate yourself from your competition, writing a book is the way to do it.

Once your book is published, of course, there are plenty of ways to leverage it.

28: Give a Behind-The-Scenes Look into your Business

As you’re growing and running your business, you are (hopefully) learning lessons every day that influence what you do and how you make decisions both in your life and in your business.

What if you documented those lessons and created content around them? Here’s what that could look like:

Describe a problem you keep having.
Mention how that problem keeps you from reaching a specific goal or achieving a certain result.
Tell the story of how you dealt with this problem and solved it—what breakthrough occurred, what valuable lesson did you learn?
Describe why and how that lesson is important to readers/viewers/listeners, and what they can do in light of what you’ve just shared with them.

29: Put Together an Anthology Book

You may have never heard his name before, but Jack Canfield is one of the most influential businessmen and authors of our time. If you don’t recognize his name, you’ll likely recognize the name of the book (and eventually series) that made him famous (and very, very wealthy): Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Chicken Soup for the Soul (both the original book and subsequent books in the series) is an anthology book, which is simply a collection of essays or stories from different authors on a specific topic or for a specific audience.

There are several huge benefits to creating an anthology collection:

You can leverage the credibility and audience of well-known figures.
You can target a specific audience with your anthology.
Because each contributor is sharing the book with their audience, it is much easier to market than a book written by a single author.
Your name is oftentimes the one that goes on the front.

All you have to do is choose a central topic for the anthology, invite big names in your space to write an essay or chapter on the subject, and put it all together. And there you go…you have an anthology collection where the most writing you had to do was the emails asking people to write essays and maybe the introduction to the book.

30: Hop On Board with the Latest Social Media Trends

It takes perhaps fifteen seconds of scrolling through TikTok to notice what the big trends are at the moment—the same set of songs that people are lip-syncing to, the same audio clips that people are repurposing for their own videos. You look at the number of views one of those videos has, and your jaw drops when you see that it has over 20k views.

On one hand, you could roll your eyes at the absurd trends.

On the other hand, you could hop on board and take advantage of what’s getting traction on social media at this very moment. Essentially, you’re piggybacking off of what’s currently going viral as a way to get more eyes on your social profiles and increase your following.

That way, when you post content the next day that’s actually about your business, 10k people will see it instead of 10.

31: Create Strategic Content on YouTube

Every 24 hours, YouTube users consume over one billion hours of video content.

YouTube is a powerful tool when it comes to visibility and lead generation for businesses. Not only can you create videos that introduce viewers to your business and what you do, but you can also use YouTube as a way to drive traffic back to your website.

In order to ensure that your videos are seen by your ideal clients, you need to do two things:

First, make sure your videos are properly tagged with the right keywords. These keywords should be words and phrases that your ideal clients are searching on Google and YouTube.

Second, create a catchy title for your video that will make people want to click on it.

For example, if you own a business that provides online marketing services, you might want to create a video titled “How to Get More Clients Using Online Marketing.”

Finally, make sure to include a call-to-action in your videos.

A call-to-action (CTA) is a message that encourages viewers of your video to take an action, such as visiting your website or subscribing to your channel.

32: Create a Viral Quiz

Quizzes are all the rage on social media right now, and for good reason—they’re a great way to engage with your audience and generate leads. By creating a quiz that is relevant to your business, you can attract potential customers who are interested in learning more about what you do.

Unfortunately, most businesses who attempt to leverage quizzes miss out on one of the most important pieces—the opportunity to make it go viral. So don’t just create a quiz…create a quiz that’s fun to take, that makes people laugh, and that gets people to share it with their friends.

First and foremost, make sure your quiz is fun to take. Nobody wants to spend their time answering boring questions.

Second, make sure your quiz is visually appealing. Use colorful graphics and interesting fonts to make your quiz stand out from the competition.

Third, make sure your quiz is shareable. Include social media buttons so viewers can easily share it with their friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Finally, make sure your quiz has a catchy title. The title of your quiz is the first thing people will see when they stumble upon it, so make sure it gets people to actually take it.

33: Create an Online Course on Udemy or Skillshare

Launching an online course hosted on Udemy or Skillshare is a great way to get your content in front of Udemy or Skillshare’s massive pre-existing audience.

The goal here is not to make as much money as possible off of an online course, but rather to use the online course as a way to get ideal clients into the top of your funnel.

Every day, millions of users search Google, Udemy, and Skillshare for online courses on specific topics, but if your course is self-hosted or lives on a platform like Kajabi, Teachable, or Thinkific, then it’s much harder for it to show up in the first search results.

That’s because Udemy and Skillshare have a team of employees whose sole job is to help people find courses on their platforms.

So, if you want your online course to be seen by as many people as possible, then you need to launch it on Udemy, Skillshare, or another similar platform.

Leverage Speaking Gigs to Increase Visibility

34: Speak at Conferences

Teach a workshop or be a keynote speaker at a conference.

When you speak at a conference, you have the opportunity to reach an audience of hundreds (or even thousands) of potential clients.

Not only will your talk be seen by potential clients, but it will also be seen by other business owners who may want to partner with you in the future.

How do you find conferences to speak at?

First, do a Google search for conferences in your industry.

Second, use the conference directory on Eventbrite to find conferences that are relevant to your business.

Finally, reach out to the conference organizers and offer to speak at their event. When offering to speak at their event, follow the same process you would when pitching a podcast interview or other media appearance:

Start by introducing yourself and your business
Explain why you’re the perfect speaker for their event
Outline the benefits of having you speak at their conference
Provide a detailed outline of your talk or workshop

35: Give a TEDx Talk

Connect with your local TEDx chapter and pitch a speech for an upcoming TEDx event. The benefits of a TEDx Talk (as opposed to giving a speech elsewhere) are:

You reach the people who are there live
The TEDx organization is primarily responsible for filling the seats, not you. You’ll probably have to agree to promote the talk to your audience, etc. But it’s not solely on you to fill seats.
TEDx Talks are almost always professionally recorded and published online, and you reach people who find the talk through Google or YouTube.
You benefit from the credibility that TEDx has already established for itself. Therefore, having given a TEDx Talk grants you a level of credibility as an expert.

36: Host Local Talks, Workshops, or Trainings

Connect with local ideal clients by hosting a talk, workshop, or training that will appeal to them.

The best way to fill the seats for your event is by partnering with a local organization that is already connected with your ideal clients on a daily basis.

For example, if your ideal clients are business owners, consider partnering with your local chamber of commerce to promote the event.

Likewise, if your ideal clients are deeply interested in wellness and personal growth, consider partnering with a local yoga studio, massage therapist, or wellness-related business to help promote your event.

By partnering with another business or organization, you can easily reach significantly more ideal clients while piggybacking off their credibility.

Become More Discoverable Online

37: Optimize Your Website for Search Engine Results (SEO)

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of optimizing your website so that it appears as the top result in Google and other search engines for relevant keywords and phrases.

In general, improving your SEO is best when your ideal clients are actively searching for the type of work you do. Therefore, if your niche is obscure and not something that people are actively seeking out, then SEO might not make the most sense for you.

There are several things you can do to improve your SEO, including:

Adding keyword-rich titles and descriptions to your website pages.
Adding keywords to the title tags and meta descriptions of your website pages.
Creating high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience.
Linking your website pages to one another using anchor text.
Optimizing your images for search engine results.
Creating a blog and publishing high-quality articles regularly.

Improving your SEO is a marathon, not a sprint, so be aware that you won’t start seeing significant results in a matter of days or weeks, but rather months and years.

38: Create a Google My Business Listing

Most people tend to think that a Google Business Listing (technically called a “Google My Business Listing”) is for only local brick and mortar businesses like restaurants, hospitality, and retail, but for online entrepreneurs, it’s a great opportunity to make sure you show up when prospects search your name or business. Plus, it’s a great place to showcase reviews so you can build trust online.

Here’s how to create a Google My Business Listing:

Go to google.com/business and click Get Started.
Enter the name of your business and your address (or the address of your business). Note that you can choose to hide the address so that if you don’t have a public-facing office, you don’t have people showing up at your house.
Complete the verification process by entering either a phone number or mail code that Google sends to you.
Upload a profile photo and business logo.
Complete the About section with information about your business, including what you do, hours of operation, and website.
In the Additional Information section, add any other relevant information like your social media links, reviews, or products/services.
Submit your listing and wait for Google to approve it (which can take a few days).
Once your listing is approved, make sure to claim your Google My Business profile and start adding reviews from your clients.

39: Optimize Your Social Media Profiles

Optimizing your social media profiles is one more way for people to find you online.

By optimizing your social media profiles, you can ensure that the right people find you when they search for you on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks.

Here are a few tips for optimizing your social media profiles:

Complete Your Profile with Relevant Information: Make sure to complete your profile with as much relevant information as possible, including your website, contact information, and what you do.
Include a Professional Photo: Upload a professional photo of yourself so that people can put a face to the name.
Include Your Branding: Upload your logo so that people will start to associate your name with your brand.
Add a Bio: Write a brief bio about yourself so people can learn more about you.
Include Your Social Media Links: Add your social media links so that people can follow you on all of your profiles.
Share Relevant Content: Share content that is relevant to your target audience and that they will find interesting.

Run Strategic Promotions Designed to Generate Leads

40: Host a Giveaway

Host a giveaway for your target audience and get other businesses and influencers to promote it. The benefit of influencers sharing your giveaway is that it generates engagement and builds goodwill among their own audience.

There are several things you can give away, including:

Your product or service.
A free consultation.
Free enrollment in one of your courses or programs.
Tickets to an event you’re hosting or sponsoring.

Remember that when organizing a giveaway, the prize has to be both valuable and intensely desirable. There are lots of valuable products and services in the world that are incredibly valuable yet largely undesirable.

41: Offer Free Samples

As a kid, I loved walking through the food court at the local mall because I could always count on snagging a free sample from the Chinese restaurant next to the Chick-Fil-A. And as soon as I swallowed that chunk of orange chicken, I’d start begging my parents to let me get Chinese food. At least half the time, I’d have an entire plate of Chinese food in front of me five minutes later.

Every business has some form of free sample they can leverage.

The trick is to make it memorable so that you not only get people taking you up on the offer, but also so that you generate buzz around how amazing your free sample is.

A sample is a dramatically scaled down version of what you normally offer. So if you’re a coach, then your free sample could be a single coaching session. Similarly, if you’re a service provider, a free sample could be a micro-version of your normal offer:

If you’re a content writer, your sample could be three social media posts
If you’re a hairstylist, your sample could be a simple neck trim

Remember, the value here is not just about getting people to take you up on your offer for a free sample. The real value is in offering such an irresistible free sample that people can’t help but talk about how unbelievable it is.

42: Offer a Free (or Cheap) Trial

A trial is similar to a free sample, but while a sample is a micro-version of your main offer, a trial is a more extended—usually time-based—opportunity for warm prospects to experience what it’s like working with you (it’s important to note that I say “warm” prospects because this tactic is better geared towards people you’ve already warmed up rather than cold prospects).

When done well, a trial is incredibly effective in getting people to commit to working with you. In fact, according to a study by MarketingSherpa, 63% of respondents said they were more likely to buy after taking a free trial.

But it doesn’t always have to be “free.” If you’re a coach, you could offer a month-long trial of your coaching for a deeply discounted rate, and simply frame it as a “trial rate.”

43: Host a Contest

A contest is similar to a giveaway in that there is a prize at the end, but the key difference is that the winner is not selected at random—the winner is selected based on a set of criteria that usually involve some sort of action on the contestant’s part.

Contests can be effective because they’re often centered around some sort of competition—who can come up with the best idea or who can achieve a certain result the quickest.

People tend to be naturally competitive (to varying degrees, of course), which means that bringing out people’s competitive nature is an amazing way to go viral really quickly. When presented with the right challenge, people will rise to the occasion and engage, whereas they might not if it were a simple giveaway where all they had to do was share a post to enter.

44: Offer Product or Service Demos

Even if you don’t have a physical product to demo for prospective clients, there is almost always some way to demonstrate on a large scale what it looks like to work with you.

No matter how many people your business gets in front of, if your prospects can’t clearly see what it looks like to work with you, and, more importantly, what it looks like for them to work with you, then they’re not going to commit to working with you as easily.

For example, if you’re a coach, there are several ways you can demonstrate what it’s like to work together:

Offer a complimentary coaching session
Find an existing client who will agree to a short coaching session to be broadcast live on Facebook or Instagram. Conduct the coaching session like you would any other session—the only difference is that when you share it publicly, people can suddenly see what it’s actually like being a client of yours.
Create a set of resources (these can be blog articles, videos, etc.) that clearly and accurately describe the concrete details of what it’s like to work with you. Think of this as similar to a “What to Expect on Your First Visit” page that you might find on a yoga studio’s website.

No matter what type of business you have, though, you’ll generate significantly more leads when you can show your audience what it looks like to work together.

Find & Create Spaces for Your Ideal Clients to Come Together

45: Start a Local Meetup Group

The value of in-person Meetup groups gets overlooked in the age of online marketing. If there’s enough local interest, start your own Meetup group to connect IRL with ideal clients near you.

Here are some tips for starting a Meetup group:

Pick a topic that appeals to both you and your ideal clients.
Choose a time and location that’s convenient for the majority of your target audience. The best way to find this out is to ask.
Get help promoting the group on social media and through word of mouth.
Make sure the structure of the group allows for plenty of opportunities for networking. It can be tempting to center a Meetup around teaching or training, but most people come to Meetups to connect with other people.

46: Start a Book Club

Whether it’s in-person or online, start a book club revolving around your area of expertise.

For example, if you’re a life coach, you could start a “Personal Growth Book Club” where together you read and discuss relevant self-improvement books.

Not only will this help you get in front of more ideal clients, but it will also give you a way to connect with them on a deeper level.

47: Attend IRL Networking Events

Whether they’re hosted by your local chamber of commerce, a local business, or any other organization, consider attending local, in-person networking events. I talk on my podcast about how to make the most of a networking event, but here are some quick tips:

Have a 30-second elevator pitch ready
Be prepared to talk about what you do and what you’re looking for
Bring business cards (and lots of them)
Follow up with everyone you meet within 24 hours
Stay away from negative people and energy vampires

Most importantly: When deciding whether attending a networking event is worth your energy, ask yourself these two questions:

Are your ideal clients going to be there?
Are people who encounter your ideal clients on a daily basis going to be there?

48: Organize a Tupperware Party

Okay okay, before you skip this one and call me a crazy person, hear me out:

I’m not saying you should start selling Tupperware, but there’s a reason home parties with companies like Tupperware, Arbonne, and Pampered Chef have produced amazing results: People know people, and those people know people.

Find someone who’s connected with a group of your ideal clients, and find a fun way to engage with them together. Maybe it’s not a product demo featuring Cutco kitchen knives, but what else could you do to have a fun evening together with an intimate group of ideal clients?

49: Build a Values-Centered Community

Creating a community—whether in person or online—is a great way to bring large numbers of your ideal client into one place. One popular approach is to center the community around your zone of expertise (e.g. a community focused on personal growth or business growth), but another, less-known tactic is to center the community around a central value that’s important to both you and your ideal clients.

As Founder and CEO of Crumble Co, Brandon Love has created a massive online community not around what his company sells—in this case, wax melts—but rather around something both he and his audience care deeply about: mental health.

At 50.8k members, now one of the largest online communities centered around mental health, Brandon Love’s Crumble Family Facebook Group not only provides a safe space for its members but also serves as an important part of his marketing strategy.

50: Build Relationships in Facebook Groups

Groups on Facebook are an immensely popular place where people hang out online. Find Facebook Groups that contain your ideal client, and start integrating yourself into that online community.

Share your content, answer questions, and generally be a valuable member of the group.

You’ll not only build relationships with potential clients, but you’ll also get great feedback on your content and what resonates with your ideal client.

The key to successfully leveraging Facebook Groups is to focus on building relationships, not promoting yourself or your offer.

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