I’ve worked with several service providers over the past few years who were initially skeptical about whether Pinterest marketing could help them grow their business.
In the past, many service-based business owners were under the impression that Pinterest was best for bloggers and creative e-commerce businesses, but Pinterest is also an excellent platform for service providers and coaches. If you’re a wedding photographer, copywriter, designer, online coach, or any other service provider wondering how to generate leads with Pinterest, read on.
In this article, I’ll try to round up my best tips for service providers that will help you leverage Pinterest marketing to generate more leads for your business.
7 tips that will help you generate leads with Pinterest
1. Set up a business account & optimize it
I’ll start with the obvious one – if you plan to add Pinterest to your digital marketing strategy, you’ll need to create a Pinterest business account, claim your website on Pinterest and set up rich pins.
Pins from business accounts get better distribution across the platform, and you’ll get access to Pinterest analytics that will help you get a better insight into your Pinterest strategy. You’ll also be able to install a Pinterest tag on your website that lets you track lead generation activities, page visits, sign-ups, and more.
If you want to go one step further, you can also optimize your website for Pinterest.
Need help with any of this? You can grab my free Pinterest account Set-Up Guide or sign up for a Pinterest Account Optimization E-mail Challenge.
2. Use the right keywords
It’s important to research keywords your target audience uses when searching for “solutions for their problems” on Pinterest.
While your pins may also show up in Google searches, keywords on Google are not the same as those on Pinterest. You can actually use a web-based keyword research tool to get an idea of what your ideal client is searching for (I’ve been using Keysearch for years and absolutely love it), but you’ll need to find exact Pinterest keywords – well, on Pinterest.
Here’s one of my blog posts that will help you get started and find keywords on Pinterest.
3. Research competitors on Pinterest
Let me start with this: by no means do I suggest that you should copy the content from your competitors to improve your lead generation process. In fact, you probably wouldn’t reach the same results as a Pinterest marketing strategy is not universal but rather unique for every business.
Use competitor research to identify what is working on Pinterest for your niche. For example, by using a keyword that describes your title or what you do {for instance – Business Coach, Graphic Designer, or Wedding Photographer } you can find competitors’ profiles on Pinterest. Choose those who have established accounts and make your research. This will give you some ideas for your own content and Pinterest account structure (i.e., types of Pinterest boards).
4. Create content that is trending on Pinterest
When creating new pins and content for Pinterest, don’t stick with only what YOU think would be interesting for your target audience.
Keep in mind that Pinterest has a strong seasonal component, so if you have seasonal content, take advantage of that. For example, as a wedding photographer, start pinning fall family sessions during summer, and as a business coach, start promoting your goal planning content before the last quarter.
Use Pinterest trends to plan your blog content and keyword research to see what kind of pins are trending (appear on the top of the feed) for a particular keyword. You can create similar (but not the same) designs, use trending colors or put your own spin on popular idea pins.
5. Have a Pinterest sales funnel ready
This is perhaps the most important thing when it comes to using Pinterest for lead generation! Your Pinterest account is growing, and you’re getting clicks to your website, yay! But what now?
If you’re not ready for those clicks, your efforts might be in vain. Whether your potential leads are coming to your website through helpful blog posts, freebie offers or you’ve created pins that lead directly to your services page (yes, you can do that too), you should have a Pinterest sales funnel in place to keep those leads all warm and toasty.🔥
You might offer them additional free resources or direct them to other blog posts on your website so they can get to know you and make sure you know what you’re talking about. If they sign up for your lead magnet, have a welcome or nurture e-mail sequence in place that will gradually introduce the services you offer.
So, even if you have an amazing Pinterest manager, you’re somewhat responsible for what happens once the leads land on your website.
6. Be consistent with Pinterest marketing
As it is with any other platform, Pinterest needs consistency. Pinning now and then without any particular strategy will most likely not get you far and will prolong the time algorithms need to start ranking your pins.
If you want to generate leads using Pinterest, pinners need to find your content first. Pinterest marketing tools such as Tailwind or Canva can help you with automations and save you time so that you don’t need to be on the platform daily (this is such a benefit compared to social media platforms!)
Or, you know, if you keep slacking and can’t be consistent, outsource this to someone who offers Pinterest marketing services. 😉
7. Be patient and don’t give up!
I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again – Pinterest doesn’t work overnight miracles (unless, by a super rare chance, one of your pins gets viral and you get an influx of website traffic).
You’ll need to wait at least 6 months or more to start seeing the results if your account is new and you don’t have tons of fresh content. (This reminds you of something? Let me give you a clue: Pinterest takes time like ranking on Google does).
So even if you’re consistently pinning for a month or three and you don’t see any massive growth, don’t stop or give up! Once your account starts ranking, you’ll see organic leads coming your way almost on autopilot (i.e., via blog posts posted months or years ago!).
PRO TIP: You can always speed up the process with Promoted Pin campaigns. Pinterest ads usually increase the growth and engagement on all pins – promoted and organic ones, so using promoted pin campaigns now and then can really be beneficial for generating leads (especially if you promote your freebies).
Ready to Generate Leads Using Pinterest?
Pinterest can be a fantastic platform to generate leads for your service-based business, and once you know how to use it (and remain consistent), things become easier.
If you find this article helpful, save it for later or share it with your biz besties. And let me know in the comments if you have any questions!
