Private Equity Firm Lead Generation – 8 Tips For Your Firm

Lead generation is an important tool for any business.

No one can count on new clients and traffic just finding their business. This is even more true for businesses in the financial sector. Private equity firms aren’t like brick & mortar stores. Individuals can’t find these firms the same way they would a store to shop in. To grab more clients, you have to go find them and bring them to your office (real or virtual).

Incorporate these eight tips to increase your private equity firm lead generation abilities.

1. Market To Your Existing Clients
2. Invest In Your Website And Incorporate AI Techniques
3. Improve Your SEO Rankings
4. Increase The Number Of Customer Review You Have
5. Focus On Creating Engaging Content
6. Use Email Marketing And Social Media To Stay Connecting To Your Clients
7. Drive Additional Traffic Through Paid Advertising
8. Once You Get Your Leads Keep Them Engaged

1. Market To Your Existing Clients

This is always the easiest place to start for any business.

Unless you are starting from scratch, you already have customers who know you and believe in your abilities to deliver results. Since these individuals already have a favorable view of you and your company, start with these individuals to find new leads. Some customers will offer these new leads voluntarily. Others will be more likely to participate in a referral program with incentives for them.

Try as many routes that are viable for your business model.

Studies show that 65% of business can be generated from referrals. Not having a program to generate leads via this marketing method is leaving an entire pool of future clients untapped.

2. Invest In Your Website And Incorporate AI Techniques

The saying goes “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”.

In business, your website is how you make that great first impression. If a visitor is searching the web for a private equity firm and finds your site, the condition of your website can make or break the chance for an initial conversation.

You want to make sure your website doesn’t send them away before you get a chance to show them why you are the best firm for the job.

To keep visitors on your site longer, use these strategies:

• Make sure your web pages load quickly. Anything over two seconds is considered a slow-loading web page.
• Keep your content relevant. If the information on your page is outdated, you don’t appear to be a trustworthy source of information.
• Ensure that any content on your page is also accurate.
• Use a professional designer to make your site visually appealing and easy to read.
• Have your contact information easy to find on your site. Consider having a contact button easily accessible from any page on your site.

The techniques shared above are great at keeping visitors on your site initially. But what if a visitor has questions about your products and services once they are on your site?

Take advantage of AI

If you designed your site well, you will have calls-to-action on every page. This is great at furthering a future conversation, but not having an immediate option for an answer could cost you a potential customer. This is where AI comes into play. Artificial intelligence is an important tool to use for private equity firm lead generation.

Companies are using it on their websites to help visitors get the answers they want at the moment.

One of the most popular AI website tools is the use of live chat or chatbots.

Staffing live chat on your website just isn’t feasible because of the expense. However, technology has made amazing strides, and AI-powered chatbots can staff your website around the clock. These bots can answer questions in addition to collecting visitor information and generating leads for your business.

Another AI tool is exit intent pop-up screens.

These appear when it is thought that the viewer is trying to leave the page. The goal of these is typically to keep the viewer on your webpage longer. However, they can also be a useful tool for lead generation.

These pop-ups can be designed to do anything, including collecting visitor information for future follow up.

3. Improve Your Local SEO Ranking By Using Google My Business Tools

Google searches that include the term on the rise “near me” are skyrocketing. For searches that include the term “near me now”, there has been an increase of 150%. Other variations of “near me” terms have seen the same growth. The way to appear in these search results is to rank high for local SEO keywords.

The way to rank high for local searches is by claiming and optimizing your Google Business Listing.

Google Business Profile is a free service that Google offers companies.

Your listing includes all pertinent information about your business including your hours, website, and contact information. Top performing companies in a search result will have their listing shown.

If you have not claimed and optimized your listing, you are passing on potential customers.

Claiming your listing is quite easy and can be done in a few simple steps.

While focusing on a national SEO strategy is critical, that won’t help you with local rankings. To stand out in local searches, the biggest step you can take is to include local keywords into your website and other content.

The bulk of searchers don’t go past the first page of results.

Searchers who use voice-controlled devices (Alexa, Google Assistant) only hear top-ranking choices. If you don’t implement a local SEO strategy that includes an optimized Google listing, potential clients will not find you.

Another way to improve your local SEO is to be included in local directories. Look for opportunities to be listed in places like your local Chamber of Commerce or online directories like Angie’s List. These directories will give your increased visibility and improve your local SEO results.

4. Increase The Number Of Customer Reviews You Have

Reviews are critical for gaining the trust of a potential customer.

Savvy companies also know how much customers have come to rely on these sites and use this to their advantage. While customer testimonials on websites are great, some customers greet those with suspicion. Of course, all the reviews on your website are great! You control what is shown on your website. A business has no control over what goes up on Google or Yelp.

To make sure you get the positive feedback that you deserve, encourage and reward customers who leave you reviews on these sites.

You want to drive as much positive feedback as you can.

Not all reviews will be positive. Use any feedback that is less than five stars as a chance to train your team. Make sure to also respond to all feedback that you get, even comments that are far from stellar.

This is either a chance for you to try and improve the customer’s experience or it’s a chance to correct the narrative.

5. Focus On Creating Engaging Content

While visitors come to a website to learn more about a company’s products and services, you want to encourage repeat traffic as well.

The way to do that is by creating engaging content.

You have to create things that hook your visitors and leave them wanting more. Remember, content is more than just the written word. It can include photos, videos, and social media as well.

Some tips for engaging content are as follows:

• Tell a story
• Make your audience think
• Use visuals when appropriate
• Always be original
• Relay accurate information
• Make sure your content is relevant

6. Use Email Marketing And Social Media To Stay Connecting To Your Clients

Email and social media are some of the easiest ways to stay connected to current customers. Social media is free to use and email marketing is one of the least expensive marketing tools to use. Email marketing also has one of the highest ROIs of all marketing tools. Email can generate as high a $42 in revenue for every $1 spent by a company.

Both of the tools are great for private equity firm lead generation as well.

A company can use social listening tools to search for people talking about private equity firms, or even your specific company. Social listening will allow them to get involved and help you hone your messaging. A company can also use email marketing to follow up with prospects or engage current customers.

Putting a signup box on your webpage or sharing a link on social media is an easy way to generate those sign-ups and leads.

7. Drive Additional Traffic Through Paid Advertising

Any private equity firm lead generation campaign must include paid advertising.

With so many tools on the internet, many companies are reluctant to pay for additional forms of marketing.

The thought process is that the investment in SEO and the use of free social media platforms should be enough to drive traffic to your business. This thought process isn’t entirely wrong; however, it most certainly isn’t entirely right either. Traffic that finds your business via free channels is organic and it should be celebrated. However, a business can not survive on organic traffic alone.

To maximize the full value of the internet, you need to invest in paid advertising on the web.

Paid advertising insight

The beauty of advertising online is that paid ads are very budget-friendly. Some companies operate on a paid-per-click model while others charge a rate based on how many viewers will have your ad appear in their feeds. Here are some other important things to know about paid online advertising:

• Google search ads are ads that appear based on what terms a person is searching for. For example, if a person is searching for private equity firms, firms that have purchased Google search ads related to that keyword will show on the results page. These ads are charged based on how many users click on your ads.

• Display ads are typically banner ads that appear on Google, YouTube, or other platforms like Gmail. These ads are seen by 90% of internet users and appear on the screen while the user is on their device on that platform. All of these ads will be clickable and lead to landing pages or websites for the company that designed & paid for the spot.

• Social media ads on networks like Facebook and Instagram are targeted based on data these companies have on their users. Your ads are then placed into the feeds of users who match the criteria you set for your ad. Cost is based on how many users had your ad in their newsfeeds.

8. Once You Get Your Leads Keep Them Engaged

To get more clients and leads, you have put in considerable time, effort, and money.

The last thing you want to do is for these leads to lose interest. You have to make sure you keep them engaged with you and your company. Create an outreach campaign that will keep your leads engaged with your business. Also, make sure you follow up with your leads regularly. You will want to see if their needs have changed, how you can help them with those changes, and if there is anything else you can do for them.

Nurturing leads once you get them plays into so many parts of your overall marketing strategy, including referrals and reviews.

Final Thoughts on Private Equity Firm Lead Generation

There are a multitude of strategies you can implement in order to increase your private equity firm lead generation.

This is how you will grow your business and ensure your future success and stability. You will want to use a combination of paid and organic techniques to drive that traffic to your website. You will also want to make sure your website welcomes visitors by being easy to use and being visually appealing. To keep visitors coming back for more, you will create and showcase interesting content on your webpage and social media channels. 

To learn more about digital marketing strategies that your private equity firm can use, contact Mediaboom.