Does your small business generate ongoing leads? If so, it's important to enter the coming year strong with some new strategies to drive growth into the second quarter and beyond. Planning your lead generation strategies now will set you up for a year of increased revenue and forward momentum.

If you need a little help, try the following effective strategies below that are proven to supercharge small business lead generation.

People often view brands as strangers, faceless organizations that sell products they may or may not purchase. But customers like to buy from familiar brands they know and trust. So to raise awareness and increase sales, you need to establish deeper connections and build trust with your customers. And one of the ways to do this is personalizing your marketing campaigns. 

Winter is just around the corner, and for businesses, this means potential power outages and occasional disruptions. Though storms cause chaos and have the potential to disrupt operations, they do not have to dismantle your team. With the right communication systems, you can maintain order and keep your team connected as you head into the winter months.

Virtually every business project involves team planning. Whether it is a new initiative, restructuring departments or organizing major projects, more than one person must get involved in the process. 

But team planning is not always foolproof. Team members can underachieve and fail to see the importance of their projects. To remedy team planning issues, it requires not only launching goal-focused strategies but also engaging team members, so they feel motivated to participate. Below are five strategies to help your business roll out team plans that get results.

For a small business, managing money can be a difficult task. As quickly as it comes in, it rushes right out, making it hard to grow and reinvest money back into scaling your business. To keep forward momentum, you not only need to keep your costs down but also plug up any money-draining holes so you can remain lean and efficient. One of these money-draining holes is likely debt collection.

A successful voice broadcasting campaign can be a game-changer for small businesses that want to get their promotional messages in front of more customers and increase sales. And since voice broadcasting is cost-effective and automated, it provides brands exposure without requiring a hefty resource investment. It is also a more personal method of customer communication so a high response rate is not uncommon.

As a small business, you may be intimidated by the sheer size of behemoth companies like Amazon, Best Buy and Outback. With their hefty marketing budgets, they can easily take advantage of game-changing mass marketing strategies to reach the same customers you are vying for—the ones you are hoping will visit your humble establishment instead.

Text message marketing is a highly effective strategy to help you promote your brand and reach more people with your communications. But before you launch a campaign, best practices will ensure you remain compliant and keep your subscribers satisfied and engaged. One of these best practices is implementing a double opt-in.

For utility companies, as the temperature drops, customer demand and utility bills rise—along with customer frustration and concern about power outages. And consumers expect a level of service on par with their rising payments. So as winter nears, think about improving your customer service to ensure you are ready to handle the increased seasonal demands.

For some savvy holiday shoppers, holiday gift-buying starts once the ghosts and goblins are stored away and the trick-or-treating candy is all gobbled up. But for other busy consumers, December 25^th quickly sneaks up on them, and they may find themselves rushing around to find those perfect last-minute gifts—with only days left to purchase.

For small businesses like yours, this shopping urgency can be a goldmine—that is if you know how to grab the attention of these last-minute shoppers. Here are some tips for cashing in on the last-minute gift-buying frenzy.