The biggest challenge in B2B marketing isn’t about deciding what to wear to the presentation. It’s all about the leads.
A lead is how it all starts with. With no leads in sight, there will be no clients and no revenue. Without leads, it’s zilch. There are reasons why:
- Digital advertising spending in lead generation is expected to reach U.S. $3.2 billion in 2023 (Source: Statista)
- B2B organizations with focused lead generation processes score 133% higher ROI as compared to their competitors (Source: Finances Online)
- Over 75% of B2B organizations consider the number of lead conversions as a performancemetric (Source: CMI)
- 74% of marketing specialists consider web form as an effective lead generation tool (Source: HubSpot)
- COVID-19 has changed B2B lead generation processes as over 70% of B2B decision-makers prefer remote interactions with potential clients (Source: Mc Kinsey & Company)
So, marketers worth their salt would focus on one question: how to score leads? Before we answer this question, let’s focus on answering, “What is B2B lead generation?”
So, what is B2B lead generation?
B2B lead generation entails the identification and initiation of interest of the potential customers. In layman’s language, this is the first step each business should undertake before it proceeds towards making a sale. To identify potential customers, it’s crucial to find businesses that may be interested in purchasing your product or service.
In the initiation interest stage, businesses capture information about potential customers and feed it into the sales funnel. Then, they convert the lead into a customer with a sale.
Whatever channel you use for generating interest in your business or website, will be part of the lead generation process. It can include both online and offline methods. The most common channels used are event marketing, emails, social media, email marketing, cold calling, pay-per-click advertising, and content marketing.
Another important part of the lead generation process is getting a fully functional website that’s also optimized. It will build up interest in a business’s product or service.
Lead generation isn’t something that takes less time. It will require dedication and attention. However, it’s fairly easy to navigate.
For this purpose, businesses must create a landing page that details the product or service. It should target the right people: the audience. Couple it with a persuasive call-to-action and you are done! The whole process should be rounded off with a web form for collecting the contact information of potential customers. In this manner, you can contact them later.
This isn’t always easy. We have to split up the whole process into different parts. Each part requires detailed planning and execution. Successful businesses allocate a proper budget for each step.
Does your company need lead generation?
Marketing has always been about reaching people and introducing your product or service to them. The online arena has given a new shape to marketing but the basic principles remain the same. To be successful in the current area, businesses need to be well-versed in digital platforms.
Instead of pushing the product in front of people and insisting them to listen to your sales pitch, B2B lead generation is the way to go. It’s all about making the right people come knocking at your door. That’s how you get stronger and more reliable leads. You can turn those leads into paying customers.
This methodology is customer-centric. Businesses that implement B2B lead generation techniques are able to acquire customers who are more perceptive towards their offerings and less hostile towards any marketing strategy.
B2B lead generation can benefit you in several ways.
You’ll get to discover the total size of the potential market. With this method, you get an estimate of what proportion of your target audience is tuned in to your sales pitch. With B2B lead generation, you can be sure that you’ll have all updated information about your potential customers. B2B lead generation makes you more aware of where your ideal customers are and on which online and offline platforms you can target them. This is an effective way to identify market segments.
B2B lead generation increases conversion rates. Since you’ll be interacting with customers who are most likely to buy your product or service, there will be higher chances of closing a sale.
B2B lead generation also helps businesses put a predictable process in place which will yield sales every time. It also enables businesses to create content that hits right on the spot. With continuous efforts, your marketing system will achieve reliability. We can measure each marketing activity against a marketing metric. You can track the metrics and use them for a better marketing approach.
The key players in B2B lead generation
B2B lead generation isn’t a one-man show. The process is led by marketing and sales professionals. They can work individually or in teams. For the best B2B lead generation process, the marketing and sales teams should work hand in hand for better coordination.
Sales
A sales team working for lead generation will source leads, engage with them, and book meetings. To be specific, Business Development Managers are responsible for conducting demos, closing deals, and bringing in more revenue for the organization.
This approach has several advantages. First of all, it puts into place a solid lead generation process. The sales team creates many opportunities. Business development managers seize those opportunities, take action, and close a deal.
Marketing
Generally, there are two categories of marketers working towards B2B lead generation. Their work may overlap but their approaches towards marketing will be different.
So, what are those two categories?
The first one comprises demand generation marketers. This group focuses its efforts on the B2B lead generation cycle. Their purpose is to nurture leads and take them from the basic stage of brand awareness to being loyal customers.
The second category includes growth hackers. This group focuses on generating quick revenue growth without incurring much expenditure. Their main work tends to be more experimental. Generally, their activities are less scalable.
Despite the differences, these two groups have some similarities. They both use analysis of data and testing to make decisions.
Should B2B lead generation be outsourced?
It’s no surprise that generating B2B leads can be a time-consuming experience and should be handled by an expert. Business owners must decide if they should train in-house marketing and sales personnel for scoring high-paying leads. Another option is to outsource the entire process. Doing the latter helps businesses focus on more crucial tasks such as customer retention.
These dos and don’ts will guide you to make a sound decision:
Do consider in-house lead generation:
· If you can dedicate a team for it that can focus solely on targeting, content, and logistics.
· If your primary leads are coming from inbound marketing and they have indicated an interest in filling out the form on your website.
Do consider outsourcing when:
· You cannot dedicate an entire team to carry out lead generation processes.
In a nutshell
Without good quality, it’s challenging for businesses to be on the track to B2B lead generation. With technology, we can automate many sales activities such as outbound calls and cold calling, which can help with B2B lead generation. Businesses should make use of this to achieve significant growth in sales.
