All B2B companies always need to have new contacts of potential customers.
To do this, you need to build a purchasing process that, from the market's point of view, is as natural as possible, therefore free from forcing or interruptions. If cold calls from telemarketers bother you too and you want to avoid offering the same experience to your customers, keep reading!
What is B2B lead generation, in practice?
When we talk about B2B lead generation we are referring to the process of generating commercial contacts in the business-to-business world, that is, companies that have other companies as customers.
How to do lead generation in B2B
Why is it important? The objectives of lead generation
Generating leads is important because, as we have seen, all B2B companies and their salespeople always need new contacts of potential customers to insert into the sales pipeline.
B2B lead generation is a process designed to identify ideal customers for a specific item, product, or service and encourage them to make a purchase.
This is a task that is typically handled by both sales teams and marketing staff working in the B2B sector.
Why is this activity so essential for B2B companies?
The underlying reason is very simple: knowing who the target audience is to address allows companies to avoid "shooting in the crowd" randomly.
In the absence of a well-implemented B2B lead generation strategy, in fact, a company would not be able to best promote its brand and its commercial offering during advertising campaigns.
Failing to properly frame the target, it would end up shooting in the crowd. And acting in such an improvised way, aspiring to a noteworthy ROI would be nothing but mere utopia.
Being able to implement a B2B lead generation strategy turns out to be something else entirely, as a company is able to analyse its audience, identify a well-defined target, approach specific niches and create personalised content aimed at capturing the interest and attention of leads who, in fact, will get closer to the final conversion.
In the face of a commitment to be made, the yield is therefore at the highest levels.
Who is a lead?
In the marketing world, a lead is a person who has expressed interest in a company, its products, or services.
Specifically in digital marketing, a lead is a person whose email address the company has, obtained by filling out a form, for example to sign up for a newsletter.
More leads can mean more sales, a greater source of revenue and growth for your business.
In essence, a lead is any individual who shows interest in the product or service of a business that creates or provides it.
Leads, in fact, should be seen as potential customers who have started a conversation with that specific company to learn more.
By the time they submit their name, communicate a mobile number and an email address, the company in question finds itself with a significant amount of data in its hands that it must manage with care.
The latter, as we know, represent a real asset for any business.
Leads are therefore different from potential customers who receive a random phone call from someone who has purchased their contact information.
The benefits of getting a lead are many compared to having "just" traditional visitors, because they have a declared interest in the product or service in question, they are one step away from guaranteeing a conversion and, thanks to the contact data, from allowing you to develop an accurate content strategy characterized by the presence of targeted content.
For obvious reasons, leads are different from each other. To identify them, a company should be able to position them in the sales funnel.
Having the strategic ability to attract potential customers with a lead magnet proves to be essential to achieving significant results in B2B lead generation.
Let's define the lead generation process
There are really a ton of tools and options worth mentioning when it comes to creating a B2B lead generation strategy.
Because of its ability to attract traffic to the site and convert anonymous visitors into valid business contacts, who then become satisfied customers and promoters of the company, inbound marketing has its own specific lead generation process.
The diagram describing the phases of inbound marketing
In practice, the description of the lead generation process in the inbound schema occurs in the transition from users to contacts.
Here is a “typical” timeline of events:
A user comes to know about the company through one of its marketing channels, which can be the company website, blog or social media pages. Read our article "How to generate qualified leads with the company blog"!
The same visitor clicks on a call to action, a button that can be in the form of a graphic, image, text link or pop-up, which has the aim of inviting action (direct contact with the company, downloading content, accessing a video, registering for an event, etc.).
From the call to action (CTA), the visitor arrives on a landing page, a web page “landing” built to obtain his contact data in exchange for an offer (as mentioned in the previous point: direct contact with the company, download of content, access to a video, registration for an event, request for a demo or a consultation, etc.). This offer must be commensurate with the amount of personal data requested from our visitor.
After filling out the form with their data, the visitor has access to the offer and the company has obtained a lead!
Please note: the information collection form can be found on a landing page , its natural habitat, but also on a specific page of the site or be part of the Lead Ads on social networks .
Let's activate the campaigns
Below, you can find a quick overview of some valid resources, worthy of being mentioned, because, if implemented in a workmanlike manner, they will allow you to fully hit important goals.
Content Marketing
Focusing on content marketing proves to be the first step to complete in order to implement a memorable B2B lead generation campaign.
Focusing on your audience and knowing how to intercept their desires regarding the content that they would find most relevant to their purposes prove to be essential aspects.
The same goes for communication style. Which would be more appreciated between a formal and an informal style?
By segmenting its audience, a company must define which variables and factors best frame its typical customers.
The latter are called buyer personas.
Once you have developed a scheme that allows you to have a well-defined overview of the subjects to address, to best approach them it is advisable to put an editorial calendar down on paper: contents of excellent quality and appropriately planned have as their primary purpose that of attracting the defined buyer personas.
From a B2B lead generation perspective, this strategy is appreciated because it clearly contributes to increasing brand awareness.
Original, unique, creative, well-formatted content that truly adds value to those who read it makes that brand appear very authoritative in its reference category. The best? Reaching the prestigious position of "top of the class".
The company image, in fact, will benefit significantly from this.
LinkedIn advertising
LinkedIn and Facebook are usually the most suitable social channels to promote your brand if you decide to focus on social networks.
To best promote the company brand, in particular, LinkedIn advertising must be seen as a precious opportunity to be exploited at all costs.
There is no better social channel than the one dedicated to the world of work and professional networks, if you want to make your way in terms of B2B lead generation.
The name of the company you work for, your educational qualifications, geographic location, profession, job title, hobbies and interests represent a significant amount of data that you should exploit to best target your audience.
It is also worth noting that there are various advertising formats to count on: video Ads, for example, are options that ensure a high conversion rate.
LinkedIn guaranteed rates may represent the ultimate ROI among social media platforms.
In conclusion...
The rules for an excellent B2B lead generation strategy differ significantly from those for B2C.
Among the major opportunities in terms of return on investment, B2B lead generation proves to be one of those that truly bring results.
To fully understand its multiple potential, we need to start from the basic idea that a lead is not just a potential customer, reached by chance, but much more.
The correct interpretation of the lead consists in seeing it as that subject not far from becoming a full-fledged customer, one who is interested in a specific commercial offer and aims to complete the purchase transaction.
In order to complete the sale, in fact, it is necessary to capture their attention. Only that specific service or that specific product provided on the B2B market can contribute to the resolution of a specific problem that perhaps occurs frequently or rather sporadically.
In essence, it is a purchasing journey with interesting possibilities for success.
Having a clear idea of how to generate leads, in the current state of affairs, is essential to orchestrate a valid B2B marketing strategy, allowing companies to grow gradually but steadily.
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