IDEAS FOR B2B LEAD GENERATION ... information available online has changed the traditional buying process ... sell produ
TIPSHEET Ideas for B2B Lead Generation
IDEAS FOR B2B LEAD GENERATION Sales leads have always been a high priority in B2B marketing, and while there is no doubt that generating leads can be challenging, the ability to provide qualified opportunities to your direct and channel sales force, is one of the highest ROI marketing activities you can undertake. The abundance of information available online has changed the traditional buying process, and marketers need to find new ways to reach prospective customers. This tip sheet discusses some of the most effective modern approaches that have been shown to generate high quality B2B leads for companies in the technology sector.
your website, they will happily give up their content details to get further information.
DON’T RELY ON ONE TYPE OF CONTENT
CREATE ARTIFICIAL SCARCITY AROUND CONTENT Product information is no longer a scarce resource, a result of which has made the ability for B2B marketers to generate a stream of qualified leads a lot less straight-forward. The growth of the internet and the subsequent increase of readily available information has served to diminish traditional lead gen approaches, i.e. bingo cards, which enabled readers of tech publications to request more indepth product information to that identified in specific articles. While marketers may have adopted modern approaches to lead generation, there is still an opportunity to consider traditional approaches, for instance by creating an artificial scarcity around additional content, giving readers the opportunity to request more detailed expertise on technology or market intelligence, by putting the content behind a registration wall. If potential customers see value in the content made freely available on
There is no one type of content that you should use to generate B2B leads – in fact we recommend to our clients that they use several types. The key to making any campaign effective is to deliver materials that offer the readers true value, give help that goes well beyond making it easier for the customer to use your product and service, and that isn’t just promotional material dressed up as a whitepaper. The most effective – and easiest to generate – content includes white papers, technical guides, technical & customer videos, webinars and screencasts. Additionally, you should consider using content from other sources, for instance in some technology industries, analyst reports are highly valued, and a customised analyst report will appear to be unbiased and independent.
OLD SCHOOL METHODS CAN STILL WORK Whilst much of the recent talk about leads focuses on the move from requesting printed literature to finding content marketing strategies that work in the 21st century, some old school methods still work. Companies that sell products and services direct from their
website can experiment with offers – this is particularly effective when customers buy development tools as the first step of an evaluation or development process. Offering promo items at trade shows can still generate targeted leads – although today you’re likely see competitions that allocate prizes based upon QR codes, rather than business card draws. Reader offers and competitions remain effective in many industries, and in some cases even a lowvalue prize can attract a significant number of high-quality entries, provided that it is something people want. Even telemarketing can still be used as an effective B2B lead generation tool.
LANDING PAGE OPTIMISATION Any B2B website should be designed to optimise prospect acquisition and nurturing. Having good-quality, highly effective content is no good if it cannot be easily located on the website. To overcome this you should use customer-focused navigation which targets your prospects needs so that they can find exactly what they want to know. While website optimisation has become an obvious thing to consider, it can be all too easy to lose track of older pages and outdated offers on your website. Consider reviewing your website every six months to determine which pages and forms aren’t proving effective, enabling you to turn around pages that aren’t delivering on their potential value.
Despite the fact that customers may no longer call companies or circle bingo cards to request basic information, there are still many ways to generate high-quality B2B leads. We recommend that companies link the sales generated to the source of the lead to identify the most effective tactics. Campaigns should not base metrics on a simple cost-per-lead analysis, but on quality metrics to get a better view of the value that the campaign delivers. Working closely with an experienced agency such as Napier will help you build campaigns that deliver the best return on your marketing investment.
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Launched in 1984, Napier was one of the first agencies in Europe to specialise in the electronics market, subsequently expanding to help clients in a range of B2B technology sectors. Initially a PR agency, Napier responded to the clients’ need to manage information across every element of the marketing mix by bringing together a team of multi-talented and multi-lingual engineers, linguists and technical journalists as well as PR and marketing professionals.
