EP 32: How To Use AI-Powered Tools To Generate More Leads

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, staying ahead of the competition is crucial for any business. The rise of AI has been a game-changer across industries, including marketing. As entrepreneurs, it’s essential that we stay at the forefront of innovation to achieve our goals.

In today’s episode of Shop Talk, “How To Use AI-Powered Tools To Generate More Leads,” I’m introducing you to the realm of AI lead generation tools—a secret weapon for generating high-quality leads that can supercharge your business growth!

Imagine the efficiency boost you’ll experience when you automate repetitive tasks, use collaborative tools to generate leads, and use chatbots to enhance your customer experience. Through automation, you can reclaim your precious time to focus on important aspects of your business that may have been neglected.

So, check out this episode as we explore the exciting world of AI and how it is enhancing the future of our businesses!

Snapshot of this episode:

0:43 – The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Boosting Business Growth with AI
6:34 – Step #1 – Identify Your Target Audience
14:46 – Step #2 – Create A Valuable Lead Magnet
17:37 – Step #3 – Design Your Online Lead Generating Funnel
37:17 – Step #4 – Capture Leads for Communication
49:11 – Step #5 – Delivering the Lead Magnet
57:30 – Ok, let’s do a quick recap.

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, staying ahead of the competition is crucial for any business. One of the most exciting advancements that have everyone talking has been the rise of AI and its transformative impact across industries – and of course, marketing is no exception.

As an entrepreneur, you understand the importance of staying ahead of the curve to reach your goals. In this article, we’ll delve into the realm of AI lead generation tools and uncover how they can serve as your secret weapon for generating an abundance of high-quality leads for your business.

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Boosting Business Growth with AI

Before I dive in too deep, let’s quickly review what AI is.

AI is an acronym for Artificial Intelligence. It refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making. AI systems are designed to analyze vast amounts of data, recognize patterns, and make predictions or recommendations based on that analysis.

The real question is, how can AI benefit you and me as entrepreneurs and business owners? Here are a few key ways:

Increased Efficiency: AI automates repetitive tasks, freeing up time to focus on other essential aspects of the business.
Enhanced Customer Experience: For example, AI-powered chatbots and personalization algorithms enable personalized interactions, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Data-Driven Insights: AI analyzes vast amounts of data, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and identifying market trends or customer preferences. We’ll talk more about this in a few minutes.
Cost Savings: AI streamlines processes, reduces human error, and optimizes resources, which results in cost savings and improved efficiency.
Competitive Advantage: Leveraging AI technologies can give us a competitive edge, allowing us to deliver innovative products, personalized experiences, and targeted marketing campaigns.

The key is knowing what tools are available and how to use them effectively to reap the benefits.

To give you a better understanding of how AI can benefit your business, I am going to walk you through the typical lead-generation funnel-building process and introduce you to AI tools that can assist you at each stage.

Step #1 – Identify Your Target Audience

I know this isn’t sexy, but it’s critically important. The first step to starting ANY marketing project is identifying your target audience. Ask yourself:

Who are you trying to attract?
What are their demographics?
What are their interests?
What are their pain points?

If you know the answers to these questions, great! Outline what you know about your audience to uncover ways to serve them.

But what if you struggle with profoundly understanding your target audience (as many entrepreneurs do)? In that case, I recommend you turn to Chat GPT.

We like to refer to it as “G.”

Chat GPT (or “G”) can assist in identifying your target audience by providing valuable insights and recommendations based on the information you provide. Here’s how “G” can help:

Audience Research: You can have a conversation with “G,” providing details about your business, products, and services. Based on this information, Chat GPT can suggest potential target audience segments to consider.
Persona Creation: Chat GPT can assist in creating buyer personas by asking questions about the characteristics, demographics, and interests of your potential customers. It can help refine and define specific personas that align with your business goals.
Competitive Analysis: You can discuss your competitors with “G” and gather insights on their target audience. By understanding your competitors’ target audience profiles, you can identify gaps or opportunities within your own target audience and differentiate your marketing strategies.
Audience Engagement: And “G” can also help brainstorm ideas for engaging your target audience. By discussing various channels, content formats, and messaging approaches, you can explore creative ways to reach and resonate with your desired audience segments.

I recently took a few hours to review and update our PIC (perfect ideal customer), and “G” was able to help me dig even deeper as I gained insight into trending issues our audience struggles with right now so that we can uncover opportunities and offer even more value.

If you’re unsure how to use “G” to pull this kind of information, I have good news! I’ve created a free resource with prompts you can use to create a Perfect Ideal Customer Persona for your business. To get access to this free resource, drop the word “Persona” in the comments, and we’ll send you the resource.

Step #2 – Create A Valuable Lead Magnet

Now that you know who you are targeting, it’s time to decide on the free resource (aka Lead Magnet) that you’ll use to capture your audience’s attention and contact information.

A well-crafted lead magnet effectively showcases your expertise, builds trust with your target audience, and delivers value in exchange for their contact information.

A tool I’ve been using for 3+ years now is designrr.io. Designrr.io helps you easily transform your blog posts, podcasts, videos, and PDFs into eBooks, Show Notes, Dynamic Flipbooks, PDFs, and more! This powerful AI-driven platform streamlines the process of creating engaging lead magnets, making it an ideal choice for AI lead generation strategies.

By leveraging designrr.io, you can save time and effort in creating high-quality lead magnets that not only capture your audience’s attention but also provide them with valuable content that looks amazing.

Step #3 – Design Your Online Lead Generating Funnel

In its simplest form, an online lead-generating funnel is designed to attract, capture, deliver the lead magnet, and add your new lead to your CRM (customer relationship management system) so that you can follow up, nurture them, and ultimately convert them into paying customers.

Let’s walk through each of these one by one.

Attract

If you’ve tuned into my podcasts before, you know I often express the importance of content marketing and search engine optimization to gain awareness for your business.

Although those methods are the cornerstone of our marketing efforts, today, I am going to share two new strategies that are effective in attracting the attention of your target audience as well. They are:

Facebook Lead Ads
Social Listening

Let’s dive into these together.

Facebook Lead Ads

Facebook Lead Ads are a type of ad format offered by Facebook that allows businesses to collect lead information directly within the Facebook platform.

Instead of redirecting users to an external landing page, Facebook Lead Ads feature a pre-filled form that appears when users click on the ad. Users can submit their contact information, such as name, email address, and phone number, with just a few clicks, making the lead capture process quick and convenient.

You may not know this, but Facebook Lead Ads leverage AI to enhance lead capture and improve user experience in a few different ways:

Auto-Filled Forms: AI algorithms analyze the user’s Facebook profile data to pre-fill the lead form fields with relevant information, reducing friction and simplifying the submission process. This helps save time for users and increases the likelihood of lead form completion.
Customizable Questions: Facebook Lead Ads allow advertisers to add custom questions to the lead form. AI algorithms can dynamically suggest or optimize the question formats and order based on user behavior and engagement data. This helps improve the relevance and effectiveness of the lead capture questions.
Lookalike Audiences: Facebook’s AI algorithms can analyze the data of existing leads and identify similar audiences, known as Lookalike Audiences. By creating Lookalike Audiences, advertisers can expand their reach and target users who share similar characteristics and behaviors with their existing leads. This AI-driven targeting helps increase the chances of capturing high-quality leads.
Conversion Optimization: Facebook’s AI algorithms optimize the delivery of Lead Ads based on user behavior and engagement. The algorithms automatically analyze data such as ad impressions, clicks, and lead conversions to adjust the targeting and delivery strategies. This AI-driven optimization helps improve lead generation performance and increase the overall efficiency of the ad campaign.

By utilizing AI in auto-filled forms, customizable questions, Lookalike Audiences, and conversion optimization, Facebook Lead Ads streamline the lead capture process, improve user experience, and enhance the effectiveness of lead generation efforts on the platform.

Social Listening

Social listening involves monitoring and analyzing online conversations through keywords and mentions of your brand, products, or industry across social media platforms. The tool I recommend to set this up is Hootsuite.

Hootsuite is a social media management platform that offers social listening features to help businesses monitor and analyze online conversations and mentions across various social media channels. Here’s how social listening works with Hootsuite:

Monitoring Mentions: Hootsuite allows you to set up streams that track mentions of your brand, products, competitors, industry keywords, or specific hashtags. These streams continuously monitor social media platforms for relevant conversations related to your business.
Keyword Tracking: Hootsuite enables you to track specific keywords or phrases related to your business. This helps you stay informed about relevant discussions and trends in your industry and identify opportunities for engagement or content creation.
1. For example, let’s say you’re a graphic designer specializing in logo design. With Hootsuite’s keyword tracking feature, you can set up streams to monitor keywords such as “logo design,” “brand identity,” or “graphic design trends.” This allows you to stay informed about relevant discussions, industry news, or client inquiries related to these keywords.
  1. By tracking these keywords, you can identify opportunities for engagement and thought leadership. For instance, if you come across a social media post where someone is seeking advice on logo design, you can join the conversation, provide valuable insights, showcase your expertise, and even offer your lead magnet. This engagement can potentially lead to new client relationships or referrals.

Step #4 – Capture Leads for Communication

There are two common ways you can capture leads. They are:

A Form
A Landing Page

I’ll quickly describe the difference between the two. Then I’ve got another strategy to share that we’ve been using to capture leads online successfully that you may not have heard of or have yet to try.

Form

A form is a simple and direct method of capturing leads. It typically consists of fields where prospects can enter their contact information, such as name, email address, phone number, and other relevant details.

Forms can be embedded on your website, within blog posts, or even as pop-ups. They provide a convenient way for visitors to submit their information and express interest in your lead magnet.

Landing Page

A landing page is a web page designed specifically for lead capture. It is focused on a single offering or call-to-action and often includes a form to collect contact details.

Landing pages are created to maximize conversions by eliminating distractions and guiding visitors toward the desired action – getting them to sign up for your lead magnet. They are typically optimized with persuasive copy, engaging visuals, and clear calls to action to entice visitors to provide their contact information in exchange for the free resource.

Ok, so those are the most common ways to capture leads. Now, I’d like to introduce you to a more unique yet very effective way – enter chatbots.

Chatbots

ManyChat is the chatbot platform that we use to automate our lead generation. You can use this tool to engage in conversations on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and SMS.

Here are two effective ways we’ve utilized ManyChat for AI lead generation:

Comment on a Social Post: With ManyChat, we have implemented a chatbot to respond automatically to comments on our social media posts. When someone comments on our Facebook or Instagram post, the chatbot engages in a conversation, providing helpful information or directing them to relevant resources. This not only helps us provide immediate responses to inquiries but also captures the leads’ contact information for further follow-up.

You can set up the chatbot to queue on any comment or trigger it based on someone commenting on a specific keyword you provide them.

Facebook Chatbot Ads: We have also leveraged ManyChat to create interactive chatbot ads on Facebook. These ads appear as sponsored messages within the Facebook Messenger inbox, allowing us to directly start conversations with our target audience.

Through these chatbot ads, we can qualify leads, provide personalized recommendations, and capture contact information, all within the Facebook Messenger platform. I love this strategy because you can start the conversation with the AI and have ManyChat trigger an alert to our team when the person gets to a specific point based on their question or response.

Step #5 – Delivering the Lead Magnet

I highly recommend integrating your forms, landing pages, and chatbots into a CRM (customer relationship management software) to help you effectively manage and nurture your leads. The software we use and recommend is Keap. Keap provides CRM, marketing, and sales features specifically designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Here’s how integrating your lead capture tools with Keap can benefit your lead generation efforts:

Once the new contact is captured, the software automatically sends them the requested resource.
You can also set up targeted email sequences, schedule follow-ups, and deliver relevant content to nurture leads and move them closer to conversion.
You can set up lead scoring to identify the leads that are most likely to buy from you. This assigns a score to your leads based on their interactions and behaviors. The higher the score, the more likely they will convert into customers. Once a new lead reaches a specific score, the system can…
Automatically add the prospect to your sales pipeline. The sales pipeline in Keap allows you to track and visualize where your prospects are in the sales process so no opportunities slip through the cracks.

I’ve got another goodie for you today before I wrap up. If you’re interested in seeing how Keap works, I’d like to invite you to take advantage of a Keap Kickstart Program that we are offering for free. The program will give you access to a 2 weeks trial of Keap, one personalized onboarding session with one of our coaches, and access to training resources inside our exclusive member portal. Drop the word “Keap” in the comments, and we’ll shoot you the details.

Ok, let’s do a quick recap.

I know this was a lot of information today, so here’s a quick recap. The lead generation process has five steps:

Identify Your Target Audience: Understand your ideal customer profile and gather insights using tools like Chat GPT to refine your targeting.
Create a Valuable Lead Magnet: Utilize tools like designrr.io to transform your content into compelling resources that capture your audience’s attention and provide value.
Design An Online Lead Generating Funnel: Attract your target audience through strategies like Facebook Lead Ads and social listening. These methods leverage AI to optimize lead capture and audience targeting.
Capture Leads: Choose between forms and landing pages to collect contact information from interested prospects. Additionally, consider implementing chatbots like ManyChat to engage in conversations and capture leads automatically.
Deliver: Integrate your lead capture tools with a CRM like Keap to manage and nurture leads effectively. Keap enables automated delivery of resources, targeted email sequences, and lead scoring to identify high-value prospects and streamline the sales process.

I know we covered a lot of territory today, so I want to congratulate you on taking this important step in learning to use AI-powered tools to generate more leads. By exploring these strategies and embracing the power of AI, you’re positioning yourself ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of marketing and business.

That said, shiny object syndrome can be a real issue when selecting and using these powerful AI tools. It’s important to recognize that AI tools are only as effective as the user and their ability to leverage it in their business to save time and money or deliver more value to their customer. Constantly chasing after the latest and greatest tools can distract you from your core business goals if you’re not careful.

My recommendation: before adopting any new tool, evaluating whether it aligns with your overall strategy and supports your specific needs and goals is essential. Also, give yourself enough time to fully learn and integrate new tools into your workflow before moving on to the next one.

Leveraging AI for Lead Generation Success

By embracing these strategies and harnessing the power of AI, you’re positioning yourself at the forefront of the ever-evolving marketing landscape. As you embark on this journey of incorporating AI-powered tools into your lead-generation process, I encourage you to stay informed, stay focused, and continuously evaluate the impact of these tools on your business. By doing so, you’ll stay ahead of the curve and position yourself as a leader in your industry.

Email Broadcast:

Subject line: Discover the Power of AI for Generating High-Quality Leads!

Dear [First name],

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, staying ahead of the competition is not just an advantage; it’s essential for the success of your business. That’s why I’m excited to share with you the latest episode of Shop Talk, where I delve into the incredible world of AI-powered tools and their ability to revolutionize lead generation.

In this episode, “How To Use AI-Powered Tools To Generate More Leads,” I’m giving you the secrets of leveraging AI to supercharge your business growth. Trust me; this is a game-changer you don’t want to miss!

Check out this episode to gain a competitive edge and generate high-quality leads as you let the power of AI propel you toward achieving your goals!

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