Every business wants more qualified and meaningful leads. The end goal for any business in the B2B space is to generate a consistent pipeline of qualified prospects that turn into customers. This is the first step every business must go through before converting a lead into a customer. Follow this quick 7-step B2B lead generation strategy and see how your business can stand out from the competition.
1. Market Research and Target Audience Segmentation
First and foremost, research needs to be done on the target audience and demographics. The target audience can be classified based on the industry and size of the organization. Segmentation and profiling can be done based on the following 5 parameters:
• Size of the business
• Their business goals and requirement
• Price range and buying habits
• Digital channel to reach them
• Communication message
Once you have the above information, the digital marketing efforts should be tailor-made for each of the segments. This approach will help in identifying which segment is performing better in terms of leads and fine-tuning the campaigns and activities for other segments.
2. Informative and Engaging Website / Landing Page
It is very important to create a content-specific landing page that is suited for your target audience which is mobile-responsive, has a call-to-action like getting pricing, scheduling a demo, etc. Showcasing your testimonials will be an added advantage since this will build more credibility on the product or service that you offer.
3. Search Engine Optimization and Blog
Creating a blog on your website is a must as this not only helps improve search engine optimization (SEO) but also helps you to position yourself as a thought leader in the industry. Look for outside engagement and guest article opportunities that can link back to your blogs and website. This technique works to increase awareness of your content and is an effective digital marketing strategy.
4. Paid Campaigns
Pay per click (PPC) strategy needs to be used to direct traffic to key landing pages and capture users searching for specific terms. The various channels that can be used for paid campaigns are Google Ads (Search and Display Network), Adroll, Youtube ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram ads, Linkedin Sponsored updates, and Twitter Ads. Make sure that the PPC budget is tracked for cost-per-lead and the campaigns are achieving the desired return on investment. If a campaign or ad group is not performing, the budget needs to be allocated to another channel that was converting at the desired cost-per-acquisition.
For small businesses, campaigns can be run on Facebook, Instagram, Google Adwords, and email campaigns. These channels work better because the decision-makers in this segment are typically active on these channels.
For Medium & Large size businesses, campaigns can be run on Google Adwords (Search and Display Network), Youtube ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram ads, Linkedin Sponsored updates, and Twitter Ads. Twitter and Linkedin work better for medium and large businesses as the decision-makers and influencers are very active on these channels.
5. Social Media
Having regular updates on various social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter Linkedin, and Pinterest maximizes engagement and customer touchpoints online. Make use of Quora and similar various other online forums to answer questions as a thought leader in the industry.
6. Tools to be used
There are numerous tools in the digital marketing space but here are few tools that most organizations use for their marketing purpose. Google Analytics, Keyword planner, Google Ads, Google Search Console, SEMRush, Hubspot, Mail Chimp, Facebook Ad Manager, Twitter Ad manager, etc.
7. Performance Metrics
It’s always the number that speaks for themselves for any kind of marketing effort. Measure and monitor your marketing activities based on the following metrics.
Impressions, Clicks, Cost per thousand impressions, Cost per click, return on ad spend, and the number of inquiries that you receive. The ROI needs to be calculated based on the overall ad spend and the business value that has been generated using campaigns.