How to create leads using AI for local services

1. Tactical: Specific small steps to employ quickly
2. Strategic: How to use AI to expand into new markets
3. Automated: How to employ AI on-going like an assistant, so you get on-going results without more on-going workload

TIP: Need help putting this into play? Check out Swift Marketing Agency Services + SwiftCloud.AI

Automated AI Lead Generation:

As you read the below, think about your dream system. 

What would it do? If it could be given a clear goal, then solve problems persistently, like if you had your own personal intern working for you, what tasks would you assign to it? We’d love to hear from you about this: we’re working in the space.

Like an intern or human assistant, some training is required.
You’ll also be sometimes pleasantly surprised, and it will get better over time. 

Tactical ways to create local leads using AI:

1. Repurpose Existing Assets.
   • Convert existing assets into other formats. 3 Examples:
     • Positive Reviews & good testimonials should get cycled into marketing assets and social media
     • Long video case studies or in-the-field “Day in the Life” videos can get turned into stories of client success – we did X, and can do X for you too.
     • Even a blog article title or keyword you want to target can be fed to AI as a “seed” and create more images, social posts, etc.
     • TIP: You just need a direction, a seed. More clarity = more accuracy.
2. Use the “Competitor Sniper” System
   • You can monitor competitors, and when people like or engage or comment on their social media, they can be automatically added into your ad targeting.
     • See also: SwiftCRM > Audience Sniper
3. Create buyer profiles. 
   • More accurate buyer personas means more accurate Ad Targeting
   • Systems like ChatGPT’s Zillow Plugin or other lead enrichment systems can convert a large list of client’s addresses into home values, or feed into Google Maps to reschedule clients by geography or equipment needs.
   • AI is especially good at patterns from large data sets.
   • Segmented ad targeting can also result in higher converting ads, since you’ll more accurately address their specific exact concerns.
   • It can also help you sell higher end services by clarifying the clients who are willing to pay more for a higher level of service.
4. Score leads so you know who’s ready to buy.
   • AI can score leads by any mix of qualification score, heat-score (most interested), or other criteria like distance.
   • AI is ideally mixed with “Lead Enrichment” which converts a minimal amount of into into a more complete and robust sales lead – such as recommending other people who work at the company, or catalyst events like job promotions.
5. Employ chatbots to streamline scheduling. Add AI-powered chatbots to interact with your leads 24/7 on your website, social media, or messaging apps. Chatbots can answer common questions, provide information, book appointments, and collect feedback.
   • TIP: AI Phone systems can handle payments, scheduling, and even outbound sales now. See also: SwiftPhone.com 
6. Personalize communication. 
   • AI can more deeply personalize all communication including email, SMS.
   • AI can automate more of your phone system
     • See also: SwiftPhone.com, powered by SwiftCloud.AI
   • You can use AI tools to automate your email campaigns, SMS marketing, and social media posts. You can also use AI tools to create personalized content, offers, and recommendations based on your leads’ behavior and preferences.
7. Localize & Personalize your lead magnets. You can use AI image generation tools (including the ones inside SwiftCloud.AI) to create and offer lead magnets that are relevant to your local audience. Lead magnets are free resources or incentives that you offer in exchange for your leads’ contact information. Examples of lead magnets are ebooks, webinars, coupons, trials, etc.
   • TIP: A great proven marketing flow is Lead Magnet >> Shy Yes “Tripwire Offer” >> Main Sale.
8. Optimize predictive analytics for better leads. You can use AI tools to analyze your lead data and identify patterns, trends, and insights that can help you improve your lead generation strategy. You can also use AI tools to predict your leads’ behavior, needs, and preferences.
   • TIP: This starts with Analytics data: Free Google Analytics is most common. If you don’t know how your marketing is performing, our Insights Analytics Setup package may be a great first step.
9. Improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) & PPC (Pay-per-click aka SEM Search Engine Marketing) using AI. AI tools can optimize your local SEO strategy by identifying relevant keywords, improving your website’s performance, and enhancing the user experience.
10. Auto-Summarize Reviews: AI is excellent at collapsing down data or expanding data. It can read thousands of reviews and surface the most common patterns.
    • Use this on your own reviews to find what clients value most
    • Use this on your own reviews to find strengths and weaknesses, areas that attention is needed
    • Use this on competitors to find out how to out-sell them and better deposition them.
11. Bonus: AI Lead Enrichment. AI can associate disconnected social profiles, find personal news from disparate sources. Sites like pimeyes.com use facial recognition to find a person’s photos, which may prove helpful for elusive high-value targets, or employees at a company you want to sell to. A bit creepy? Yep, but that’s the modern world we live in. 
12. Advanced: Deep Mining Data. This requires a lot of data, but if you have the dataset it can be done. Example: reviewing 1,000,000 real estate records to find the people most likely to sell.

Did we miss any?

Summary: AI is here to stay, and incredibly useful at (1.) Expanding & Collapsing info (i.e. turn a headline into a blog article, or summarizing down hundreds of customer reviews into a few patterns) and (2.) starting concepts faster than ever.

It’s not perfect yet. You’ll still need expertise in most cases. This article was assisted by AI, but then entirely rewritten by hand.

Failure to leverage AI in your business will unquestionably put you behind your competitors. 

The trouble is most small businesses don’t have the resources required (people, skills, time..) to deploy this – so that’s what we’re up to at Swift Local & Swift Marketing: creating a marketing co-op, with one vendor per area max, serving only local service businesses.