By Paul Matthews
Lead generation is a core element in every single business. Whether if it’s done via email or by phone calls and cold outreach, it’s important to have everything in the right place at the right time. What are the winning strategies then? To properly convert and capture a considerable amount of leads from your campaign, it’s important to get the foundation right, especially if you’re trying to compare your lead generation process to competitors or case studies.
Feed a “working machine”
To have a proper lead generation process, the entire business should work properly so you’re able to take advantage of generated leads. This applies even to startups that are working within the tech world: many times if the lead generation process is working properly, it will be easy to encounter problems, especially if the software isn’t fully developed or is still living in a beta/pre-release status.
This is called the “leaky bucket effect,” which is more harmful than helpful. To surpass this stage, you have to make sure your lead generation process is only starting after every other department has been controlled and is ready to launch the product/service you’re selling.
[amazon_link asins=’1119144752′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’succeedingi0d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’725780c1-8e82-11e8-bb8a-ed1a78837923′]One single marketing strategy is not enough
Launching a marketing campaign is not an easy task, especially if that strategy is the result of months and months of studies, split tests, competitors’ research and so on. What happens, especially with B2B marketing, is a “natural limitation or focus;” many marketers rely on a single form of advertisement, forgetting that a combination of multiple channels is indeed the key to victory. Today, especially within the e-commerce world, these are the best avenues a marketer should take:
–Email marketing
Marketing automation tools are able to connect with your CRM to enable you to send specifically targeted emails to all those leads that are associated with that specific campaign.
–Search marketing
SEO is not just “reaching page one” but is indeed a natural boost to your organic traffic. By using your lead generation process as a data funnel, you are able to decide which keywords you should target to convert those leads into proper sales.
[amazon_link asins=’B00IX6V26O’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’succeedingi0d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’79febbea-8e82-11e8-bb02-d97c9b4d9dba’]-Social marketing
To generate B2B leads from social media, you can start by using LinkedIn. A professional indemnity insurance company was able to generate over £1 million by using a very simple outreach strategy on this platform.
–Content marketing
Content marketing is pretty much related to SEO and keywords optimisation. To do so, you must be proficient in tools such as Google Analytics and its Keyword Tool, to research through competitors and see which keywords are ranking and could guarantee you big results in a short timeframe.
How they all work together
To make them work together, it’s important to set targets and understand how big your ROI could be by using these strategies. Email marketing is renowned to be a successful strategy especially if it’s done by targeting a specific type of impressions but combined with a solid keyword research and a proper content optimization could be a significant boost in your landing page traffic and conversion (if you’re working in an E-Commerce business, that is your top priority).
[amazon_link asins=’0789741148′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’succeedingi0d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’87725620-8e82-11e8-9ca0-eb4b40628246′]Many different case studies were done on the subject and most of them were pointing at the fact that there are no fixed rules, especially in the B2B segment, when it comes to combining different lead generation strategies. This is because many different times the entire lead generation process could focus on a very niche audience, or product.
Experimenting with all the previously listed strategies is and will always be the starting point for achieving great results.
[amazon_link asins=’1514280574′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’succeedingi0d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’92ddc497-8e82-11e8-975c-0bbeaa0942be’]Case studies are not everything
As said above, it’s important to understand the fact that case studies, especially when it comes to lead generation applied to the B2B world, are not the Holy Bible and most of the time are just data that is relevant to the product/service and haven’t got a unilateral value. There are many studies regarding, for example, the impact social media marketing campaigns have on the entire lead generation process. Many different businesses are indeed relying on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as their first choice when it comes to increasing impressions and gathering leads. Many other businesses, on the other hand, refused to have a social media presence, increasing their conversion rate by 4% within the first month. In the end, lead generation should understand the product and the entire business’ setup and, if it’s not relying on social media, then that avenue could easily be skipped.
To conclude
Combining marketing strategies and using the right channels at the right time is the core of having a successful lead generation machine. The results may vary, depending on the product and the business’ setup, but, if correctly applied, these strategies will surely work for every single company.
_____
Paul Matthews works closely with the Immigration Solicitors London in order to better inform business owners on how to run a successful business.
