Customers are the lifeblood of any organization. There is no doubt about that. When it comes to B2B organizations, they have to put in extra effort in converting their leads into customers. B2B leads are different than B2C leads and are usually harder to get. However, as a business owner and entrepreneur, you can still generate precious leads by using the right tactics.
The tactics used today for generating B2B leads are quite different than those used in the past. Quality leads were only available through personal sales and business meetings. Now, you can get the attention of prospects using content marketing, video marketing, webinars, case studies, blogs, social networks, landing pages and tradeshows. Here are 5 major tactics you can use to generate B2B leads in a short period of time.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is king in the B2B world. By creating valuable, original and relevant content, you can easily establish yourself as an authority in your industry and you can reach your business goals. According to Digital Current (https://www.digitalcurrent.com/content-marketing/creating-content-every-point-sales-funnel/), brands can generate an average of 1,200 leads on a monthly basis by posting fresh content every two days. Additionally, after reading an article about a product, potential customers are 62% more likely to buy it. Another stat that spells out the importance of content marketing is the long term loyalty between customers and brands. Companies that create original content are considered professional and trustworthy by consumers. Over 78% of B2B prospects are interested in building long term relationships with these brands.
According to Demand Metric (https://www.demandmetric.com/content/content-marketing-infographic), 93% of B2B businesses declared that content marketing is the single marketing tactic that generates more leads than any other marketing strategy. Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing tactics and generates up to 300% more leads in the same period of time.
Needless to say, content marketing is a proven B2B lead generation tactic that works in any environment. To make the most out of this B2B marketing strategy, you need to have well defined landing pages, a company blog and a strong social media presence.
First off, create an enticing landing page with plenty of shareable content such as infographics or videos. Next on, design your WordPress blog and post regular articles that provide value to your readers. Your blog articles should answer some of the most important questions of your readers, reveal groundbreaking information about your products or provide insights and stats about your industry.
The last part of your content marketing strategy is using social media to promote your blog posts and to make a name for yourself in your niche. Rather than littering your Twitter and Facebook profile with casual updates, post leadership advice and resourceful content that is of real help to your leads.
LinkedIn has grown to become the most important social network of B2B companies, According to Sales Hacker (https://www.slideshare.net/saleshackerconference/lead-generation-tips-for-b2b-sales-people), top sellers spend up to six hours a week on this large social network. The reasons business professionals spend so much time on LinkedIn is because this large social network has ROI. To capitalize on that, you need to find an active group in your niche and subscribe to it. Use the advanced features to find a group in your industry that is active and is authoritative. Moreover, make sure the group you find is not promotionalish. This means there are few marketers in this group eager to molest the members to buy a product or try a service. A good group is one with over 90% industry discussions and less than 10% promotional posts.
Once you find a good group, get involved in the discussions and bring your expertise to each discussion. Connect with participants and provide value to them. By simply being an insightful, active participant, you can get precious leads.
According to the graph below, the quality of leads from trade shows & events is superior to the quality of leads from social media advertising, SEO or direct mail.
https://blog.marketo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/qualityofleads_snip.jpg
Most of your leads are already waiting for you at a tradeshow. People interested in what you have to offer who choose to visit your booth will be ready to buy from you and become your business partners. In order to maximize your impact at a tradeshow, you need to do the following:
- Live demonstrations: tell your personnel to engage with potential B2B leads, not just to display a message.
- Interactions: focus mainly on the quality of each interaction rather than on the quantity.
- Speak: nothing gives more credibility to a business than an official person speaking in front of the audience.
With the advent of Vine, Viddy and other similar video sharing apps, companies have started to realize that video marketing could prove to be a game changer for them. As a B2B company, you need to outsmart your competitors by creating fresh videos that spike emotions and bring value to your leads. When designing videos, keep in mind the following:
- People love to laugh: injecting humor into your videos is the surest way to success.
- B2B leads love to experience first-hand: you can give a virtual tour of your facility or show customers a glimpse of the production process to enable them to see firsthand what you are actually doing.
- Problem solving is paramount: videos that offer a solution to customers’ problems have twice as many viewers as those that don’t.
- Micro videos: people would rather love to see short videos about your business than to read a long article or to spend more than 2 minutes watching a video update. Keep your videos short (maximum one minute) for maximum impact.
Thanks to their interactive nature, webinars represent the perfect marketing channel for getting B2B leads. Additionally, webinars provide you the opportunity to reach potential leads that missed the event or were not able to attend it. According to a report from Right Mix Marketing (https://www.rightmixmarketing.com/webinars-and-public-speaking/webinar-attendee-registration-stats/), 25% of registrants end up viewing the replay. 62% of B2B marketers already use this lead generation tactic and have had a resounding success so far.
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