B2B lead generation. Is your sales & marketing team equipped for the new online buying process?

The lead-in question is the potential customer. They can be represented by a number, job position, email address or any other piece of personal/professional information. It is a critical aspect of sales generation.

Virtually every sale will begin with the generation of a quality lead so this tends to be the top of your marketing funnel.

 

 

Lead generation strategies include cold calling, email campaigns, and paid search ads. Cold calling is often used for businesses that sell high ticket items such as software licenses, consulting services, and other complex products. Email campaigns are effective for businesses selling low-cost goods like books, clothing, and electronics. Paid search ads are great for businesses targeting local customers. When exploring B2B lead generation, it is crucial that you find a strategy that is effective for turning potential customers into paying customers. You need to avoid a marketing and sales funnel that isn’t suitable for your needs or goals. One prevalent issue for B2B marketers is going to be the form you use and whether or not they are optimised. But what strategies will actually pay off?

There is some debate between experts on the most successful course of action. While some favour SEO as the number one lead generation channel, others suggest email is the way forward. Various alternate B2B marketers suggest social media or content marketing. Collectively, these are the strategies that will provide the greatest chance of the results you want. Don’t forget, it’s not just about which strategy you use. You need to think about your plan of action for how you create demand for your sales teams.

Opt-in Email

Email provides a solid line for B2B lead generation and is considered to be a tried and true method. It’s actually one of the oldest strategies and has seen a resurgence lately due to marketing automation. With marketing automation tools like Hubspot and MailChimp, you can use email marketing to respond immediately to a potential lead who have proactively opted-in.

 

 

Highly targeted emails are sent out to leads and crucially will be personalised for their individual pain points and demographics. B2B marketers now can also use behavioural triggers to further increase the benefits of email for lead generation.

 

SEO

Another popular strategy is SEO. Similar to email marketing search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of the earlier strategies and used to be far easier than it is today. Ten years ago, you could increase your site revenue dramatically with a small collection of keywords ranking at number one.

Time has moved on and so have B2B buyers, now SEO is an umbrella term. To see success here, you need to focus on and perfect various areas of your online ideal B2B buyers profile. This does tie into content marketing, social media and the overall design of your website.

 

Content

Creating unique, high-quality original content is a fantastic option. As long as you are providing and publishing content that is targeted and offers value you will see growth here. There are various different types of content of course with the most popular being information published specifically for social media.

 

 

There are also eNewsletters, website articles, blogs, case studies, and videos. A wide variation as part of your marketing strategy is the best way to see results.

 

Social Media

Many B2B markets struggle to find the results they want with their social media strategy. It’s often rated lower than other options despite providing results. Like any other tool, social networks must be handled the right way.

For instance, if you choose to use LinkedIn then you can easily target specific leads within your chosen industry. You can send personalised messages and these again can be automated with the right software. It’s also worth noting that content marketing won’t work unless people are following your social media profiles and are interested in what you are publishing.That’s a key point worth mentioning. While all these strategies are effective, they work best collectively. You need to combine them to create a lead generation strategy that operates on numerous levels and platforms. You also need to experiment with what works to find the right mix for you.

 

 

Various different tactics can form a part of your overall lead generation strategy. Here are some of the best B2B lead generation tactics we recommend you consider.

Customer Case Studies

Arguably one of the best ways to generate leads is to ensure that various case studies are accessible for potential leads to view. Remember, leads aren’t interested in the tricks you can offer them. They want clear and concise info that demonstrates how your business can help theirs. That’s exactly what a case study is.

 

 

A case study highlights proven results in a specific situation or industry that a lead will be able to understand. With the right case studies, you can turn visitors into a lead when your ideal customer recognises the benefits you can bring and be inclined to make contact with your company.

Paid Advertising

Paid advertising can be arranged across both search engines and social media. It can allow you to pick up cold prospects or retarget business owners that you may have lost somewhere along the funnel.

 

 

With the right data, you can form a key message for a specific profile leading to a great CPA.

 

Webinars

With webinars, you will be using video marketing that will allow you to communicate directly to potential prospects. They can ask questions, you can provide answers and this delivers a strong opportunity for conversions. You can also provide more detail to key prospects.

 

 

It offers an excellent form of representation for your company and you can also save time by inviting people to attend a webinar instead of individual presentations. One key way to make sure these are popular is to offer ‘secret’ info here that they won’t anywhere else.

You also need to make sure that you are prepared to effectively answer any and all questions that they could ask.

 

Account-Based Marketing

With account-based marketing, you treat the prospect like their own industry. You can create events, content and entire campaigns around the people who are connected to that specific account.

 

 

ABM is able to generate qualified leads because it provides you with the individuals who want to hear from you. As such, you won’t have to worry as much about grooming leads and helping shape them into customers. This can shorten the time between the first point of contact and the final sale. For more about account based marketing we've got a more detailed article here.

Landing Page Optimisation

Landing pages can be an effective tool for lead generation, however, they must be optimised. You need to make sure that your landing pages are crafted with the right content and features. For instance, you might want to add a floating form to your landing page.

 

 

This ensures the contact point is always clearly visible. It’s also crucial to get the CTA right and ensure it matches the promise made at the beginning of the page.

Lead Conversion Tools

The right tools can greatly benefit the level of opportunities for lead generation. With software support, you can identify businesses and companies that have visited your site. This information will be delivered in real-time allowing you to transform a prospect into a lead.

Data can be highly specific too. You will be able to see the specific pages they visited and the time spent viewing particular products or services. This gives you a clear process with the right info on the right prospects. It will help you understand pain points and what prospects are most interested in.

 

Content Planning

If you are using content, you need to ensure that you have a plan in place. Content needs to either engage, entertain or educate. Planning can help you avoid content that lacks interest or could be considered pointless. All content should be connected with a goal and a target audience. Think about why the content is going to be effective and what you are setting out to achieve.

 

Earned Social Media  Like LinkedIn

Earned social media is the exposure that has been gained through word of mouth. This could be due to the specific content that you have produced or SEO efforts. It’s another example of how the tactics we’re talking about function together. Earned social media can be gained through reposts, great reviews, and recommendations. You can also focus on creating thought leadership content which is then added to publications connected to your industry.

 

 

Now that we have established the various lead generation tactics available, let’s explore the best ones to use and crucially, how to use them.

 

Marketing Automation

We have already touched on this with regards to email marketing. Lead generation is often only one part of a comprehensive marketing automation strategy. With marketing automation, you can deliver content that is targeted offering leads a reason to convert. It’s a streamlined process that reduces the time it takes to build up leads. All you need to do is input the outcome you want into the software.

 

With automation, you can track behaviour across social media and then use this data to generate leads. Leads are nurtured through responses that are personalised and relevant to a specific audience. They are then guided through the marketing funnel. While not as simple as most businesses assume, with the right assistance, marketing automation can work wonders in your business.

GDD

GDD or Growth-driven website design is a tactic that has grown in popularity recently. It moves away from the traditional choices in website design. With a typical website, the platform often isn’t scalable and is not easy to evolve. As such, it doesn’t allow the business to alter the site based on the buyer persona or the experience of the prospect. As your business evolves so to do your leads.

 

Your website should be able to adapt to this and provide the experience they want or be the answer to the needs that they have. With the right design that is constantly being shaped by data-driven planning, you will gain more B2B leads. This option should be chosen over simply building a site based on assumptions that you already have on potential clients.

Retargeting Ads

This is a crucial element of an inbound marketing strategy for lead generation. Using this tactic, you will be able to generate B2B leads by providing nurturing experiences through external channels.

 

With retargeting, cookies on your website are used to track the activity of a visitor. After they leave the site, targeted ads can be sent off to appear on websites they visit next. The aim is to lure them back to you. Of course, for this to work, you need to make sure there’s quality content and that’s where landing optimisation is crucial once more.

Don’t forget that you’ll also be focusing on prospects that have already shown interest in what you can offer.

 

Content Marketing

Content marketing is insanely popular with about 91% of B2B businesses using it to generate B2B leads. B2B companies also spend around 33% of their marketing budget on content. There are a variety of different forms of content that will help you generate B2B leads.

Video is key here. With video, you can make sure that you are making your website more interactive and appealing directly to an audience. The best video content won’t just introduce your brand. It will provide the answers to the questions companies want.

 

Blogs provide a way to take a deeper dive and provide more context to a audience. You can use blogs to highlight that you are a leader in your industry and demonstrate your expertise as well as your history on the market.

Newsletter Signups

There are a variety of different ways to use social media to generate B2B leads. We have already discussed how businesses failing on social media are taking the wrong tactic. One option that will work is offering the chance for users to sign up to a newsletter. Newsletters can provide great value to a business, particularly if you have already established yourself as a valuable source of info with the right content.

 

 

As soon as they sign up, you have an email address and a potential lead. You can then proceed from there. If you are using social media you should also be providing clear CTAs on occasion. You need to show prospects how to take the next step.

For more information on B2B lead generation and sales strategies that really work, check out this article from Marcus Svensson over at Albacross.

 

 

We’ve discussed how you shouldn’t be focusing on one tactic. Instead, you need to make sure you formulate a comprehensive B2B lead generation strategy. But how does this work in practice

First, you need to make sure that you understand your target customers. It is important that you understand why these businesses are searching for a company like yours. What are their pain points and their goals? Recognising this will ensure you understand how you can help them and provide the solution that you need.

You also need to be aware of the channels they use and where they are most likely to consume information. Not all prospects use every channel. While some will favour social media and specific networks, others will use search engines and blogs. Noting used channels will highlight where you should focus your efforts on lead generation. This can help you avoid a low ROI and limited results, even with significant levels of spending.

When you are building your B2B lead generation strategy consider the message you are going to use. How are you going to approach prospects? What answers can you provide and what value can they bring to their company? This will help you devise a key message for your first content which should be personalised based on the particular prospect. This is where account-based marketing can provide the results you want.

When you have the answers to these questions, you should be creating the content that connects it all. Content should be targeted for your prospects, address the pain points that they have and provide the message that they will respond to. Do this and you will gain success with lead generation. But it’s not the end of the story.

The process needs to be constant and continuous. You should always be moving your B2B leads through the funnel onto the next step and that’s where marketing automation comes into play. With marketing automation, fewer B2B leads are lost and there is a cyclical process that constantly increases engagement.

It is important to recognise that the solution you use will not remain in the same form. You need to use lead generation tools to measure and analyse the results.

You must use deep data dives to explore behavioural triggers and develop the right strategy. You should constantly be making tweaks and improvements as you continue to develop an integrated strategy.