10 B2B Lead Generation Tips to Smash Your Targets This Quarter

B2B lead generation has come a long way since the days of cold calling, and the constantly-evolving digital realm is really hotting up. We are surrounded by a wealth of new opportunities; however, too many options can be confusing both for marketers and the clients they are vying to reach. The secret to smashing your sales targets is finding the most efficient, scalable B2B lead generation strategies out there. Here are ten ways to help you do just that.

1. Focus on your target audience

If you want to generate the right leads, you need to know exactly who you’re targeting. To do this, focus on your audience by creating a series of three to five buyer personas based around key questions such as:

Who are they and what makes them unique?
How will they find out about your company?
How will they engage with your company?

The more detail you include, the easier it is to create a B2B lead generation strategy that works. Research your audience carefully and collect demographic details to analyse what they have in common.

2. Know your desired outcomes

Once you know who your audience is, be clear on your desired outcomes and align them with your sales expectations. Plan exactly how many and what type of sales you want to get so you can analyse the best way to achieve your targets.

Think carefully about what actions you want your leads to take. For example, do you want people to pick up the phone and call you, or would you prefer them to subscribe to your email list?

3. Get smart on social media

It’s no secret that LinkedIn is the primary social network strategy for B2B lead generation, but all social media can generate leads if used strategically. Whatever platform you choose, make sure you use it to direct qualified leads to your website, ideally to key landing pages which convert visitors into email subscribers.

Don’t be afraid to include calls to action in your social media posts by requesting feedback, linking to landing pages or suggesting the next step.

4. Content marketing

To develop an effective content marketing strategy, constantly relate back to your personas and goals. Your goals might include attracting new sign-ups, building customer engagement, getting repeat business, improving client satisfaction or increasing referrals.

Once you know the purpose of your content you will then need to decide if you want to create a standalone piece of content or a series. The final step is to consider the best way to deliver the content to your audience. This could be through blog posts, videos, webinars, eBooks, infographics or any format that suits your audience and purpose.

5. Email marketing

Email based marketing is a powerful and cost effective way to engage directly with your audience and capture their attention. Email management tools such as AWeber, MailChimp and Mad Mimi can help you build email lists, make it easy for people to opt in or out, and allow you to send emails to a segmented audience.

6. Automation

The beauty of email marketing is that it can be automated so new subscribers can receive a series of emails as often as you see fit. For example, you may want to send emails daily, every other day or weekly, to give them new information, request feedback or promote offers.

7. Paid advertising

Google Ads can be highly targeted and lucrative if set up correctly. You need to bid on key words or phrases that match what your audience is searching for and you can set a monthly advertising budget. This allows you to avoid overspending and to test new key words and phrases cost effectively. Google pay-per-click advertising allows you to quickly gauge which key words or phrases are most effective and have the highest return on investment.

Online advertisements should lead to a key landing page which will convert browsers into email subscribers or enquiries.

8. Search marketing

Organic search engine marketing continues to change and become more competitive but opportunities still exist. If you want to get listed on the first page of search results you will need to evaluate the competition, seek keyword opportunities and work on hidden elements of your website such as site architecture and metadata, as well as visible content.

Fortunately, the latest Google algorithms focus more on ranking user-friendly sites that provide useful content, rather than on techniques such as link-building which are open to exploitation.

9. User-friendly presence

Everything you do online needs to be user-friendly to create a good first impression and grab people’s attention fast. In particular, online forms should be easy to use and work seamlessly across a range of devices.

As mobile usage continues to grow, be aware that your audience will increasingly be engaging with your business and content on their cell phones. Make sure that every element of your website is optimised for mobile viewing and not just viewable on a mobile; there’s a big difference in terms of usability. You will soon find that an enhanced user-friendly site design directly corresponds to increased engagement.

10. Data

The real beauty of digital marketing is that it allows you to track data on who is engaging with your website, LinkedIn page or emails. Key data to track includes:

Google Analytics for website views, popular pages and acquisition sites
Email management tools for email click-through rates and subscriber demographics
Conversion rates which can be tracked through Google Analytics, landing page enquiries, eBook downloads and more
LinkedIn Company Page Analytics for overall performance, engagement and demographics

By tracking your data carefully, you should be able to fine-tune your B2B lead generation strategies, discarding efforts that aren’t working and optimising those that are. This will involve setting up a clear B2B lead gen strategy to reach your target audience with trackable results.

When done well, digital lead generation can be more efficient, more measurable and more scalable when compared to traditional methods. Are you still smiling and dialling? If so, it’s time to take a digital approach to B2B lead generation.