When it comes to B2B lead generation, we’re all given basically the same objectives – get more leads and ensure they are high quality. As marketers, the pursuit of these goals keep our minds occupied almost constantly. But, one factor is more important than the other. For example, if you can’t generate leads, then their quality is going to be the least of your concerns. So, for this reason alone, lead generation needs to be the primary focus for B2B marketers.

Prospects to leads

A lead is a prospect that has engaged with your brand and your communications in a positive way. This can include replying to an email, downloading a piece of content, or signing up to a newsletter. So, with this in mind, these are the ideal places to start when looking to generate leads. Remember though, emails, blogs and newsletters are a great way to distribute links to your latest content, so start at the very beginning – with the content itself. Whether it’s infographics, ebooks, tip sheets, or some other format that you know your prospects engage with, be sure to research and confirm the subject matter is of interest to your target audience. Now, once the content has been created, host it on a gated landing page that requires prospects to enter their contact details to receive it.

Go on the offensive

You have a good piece of content, and the infrastructure to capture leads’ details, so it’s time to get the word out there. Send emails, write related blogs, even post on social media, but be sure to always link back to the content landing page. Additionally, on channels like emails and blog posts, always be sure to add options to subscribe to blog posts and newsletters too, as this is another opportunity to gain leads. Even if your prospects don’t download the content, they may still subscribe to your blog. At this stage of the process, quantity is a great deal more important than quality.

The thinning process

So by using channels such as content, emails, blogs, and a variety of others, you’re gaining interest in your product/service, and the lead numbers are building. Now, not all of these people will have budget, authority, need, or the time scales that you can work with, so it’s time to trim them down – while still pushing the good leads towards a sale. This trimming process is of course the activity of qualifying leads and nurturing the rest. And the best way to do it? More content and landing pages. By updating the form question on landing pages to delve slightly deeper each time a lead engages, you’ll soon be able to determine who is worth nurturing and who is a non-starter. From here, it’s simply a case of having the inside sales team call the ‘best’ leads to determine their suitability, and then they can be passed to sales for conversion to a customer. Simple.

It’s a numbers game

If your sales team need you to send over 20 ‘hot’ leads per month, and you know that from every 100 leads you generate, there are 2 legitimate opportunities. Then you need to be generating 1,000 leads per month. So, with this in mind, investing in the activities mentioned above should be a vitally important part of your multi-channel marketing activity.

 

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