What is Marketing Lead Generation?
Marketing lead generation is a process designed to attract and convert potential customers into someone who has indicated interest in a company's product or service. A 'lead' in marketing terms refers to the contact information (and potentially some associated details like job title or company size) of a person who is potentially interested in making a purchase. The goal of lead generation is to build a database of potential customers who have shown some level of interest, and then nurture these leads towards making a purchase.
How is Lead Generation Established for a B2B Business?
Here are a few examples of how businesses establish lead generation in a B2B (Business-to-Business) context:
1.Content Marketing:
Businesses create valuable content such as whitepapers, blog posts, ebooks, or webinars that require visitors to provide their contact information in order to access them. This is often done through a form on a landing page.
2.Email Marketing:
Companies may use email newsletters or targeted email campaigns to engage with potential leads. People who sign up to receive these emails have expressed an interest in the company and can be nurtured towards making a purchase.
3. Social Media:
LinkedIn, in particular, is a powerful lead generation tool for B2B companies. Through engaging posts, sponsored content, and LinkedIn InMail, companies can reach potential leads in their respective industries.
4. Events:
Trade shows, webinars, and industry-specific events provide opportunities to gather information from potential leads. Attendees who express interest in your company or products become leads to be nurtured.
5. SEO and PPC:
Businesses can use search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to drive potential leads to their website. By optimizing for keywords that potential leads are likely to search for, businesses can draw in relevant traffic.
6. Referral Programs:
Some companies establish referral programs where existing customers are incentivized to refer other potential customers. This can be an effective method for generating highly qualified leads.
Once a lead is generated, the marketing or sales team will often follow up with a series of communications to try to convert the lead into a customer. This is often done through a combination of email marketing, phone calls, and in-person meetings.
Tips and Advice to get the most from your marketing lead gen strategy. c
Navigating the changing marketing landscape to generate demand and acquire customers is challenging. The following tips drawn from industry leaders aim to streamline your business's B2B lead gen strategy in 2023.
1) Formalizing a Demand Generation Strategy:
Your marketing efforts should focus on generating demand, keeping revenue in mind. This strategy includes:
- Defining target audience
- Identifying the channels your audience uses
- Creating compelling content for this audience
- Promoting your content on relevant channels
- Measuring campaign results
2) Strategy Optimization:
Audit and identify customer journey drop-offs.
Consider the following:
Online Presence: Ensure your business appears accurately on Google.
Website: Monitor visitor numbers, session durations, and other key metrics before making unnecessary changes.
Data: Utilize customer data wisely. Understand how your database functions, validate the records, segment customers, and ensure customers are opted into communications.
Lead Generation: Analyze current lead generation processes, focusing on conversion rates and reasons for non-conversion. Use tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to resurrect disqualified leads.
Communication: Ensure consistent and timely interactions with customers. Avoid brand dilution caused by multiple teams communicating independently.
3) Know Your Audiences:
Understand the importance of your employees, current customers, and prospects. Each group plays a significant role in your lead gen machine.
4) Spend and ROI:
Spend money effectively. Identify costs per lead, opportunity, and customer. Regularly evaluate your tech stack, discarding underused or ineffective systems.
5) The Marketing Team:
Organize your team effectively, give ownership of specific responsibilities, and avoid overextending efforts. Regular meetings allow recognition of individual achievements and adjustments of tactics based on results.
Conclusion:
Growing demand involves more than defining customer personas and generating resonating content. Embrace your employees, current customers, and prospects in amplifying your business message. Consistently interrogate spend, and value your marketing team for their distinct functions. Remember, a strong demand gen system isn't built overnight, but through consistency, recognition, and nurturing.
If you are planning on enhancing your marketing lead gen team, we're happy to help with that search: email us at info@mrktsearch.com, requesting a demand gen template.