It’s probably one of the biggest challenges a b2b business faces, but unfortunately there is no getting away from the fact that like every business, you need leads! They don’t just magically appear out of nowhere, if you are lucky then your existing customers may hand a few referrals in your direction, other than that it can be a scratch your head moment for many!
o how do you do it? How do you reach those people and get b2b leads?
Let’s use social media for lead generation, it’s free!
Social media is a vital part of any marketing campaign but you can’t just ‘do’ social and nothing else. A lot of businesses embark on social media because it doesn’t cost any money, just time and after all if I tweet a few times a day then someone is bound to call me and offer me millions of bounds worth of business right? I mean think about it, if you are targeting those b2b clients, do you really think they will be hanging out on Twitter all day looking for new suppliers? No, of course not. That’s not to say you can’t reach them, just to say that most do a really lousy job of it.
You’ve all seen the broadcast Kings and Queens right, the look at me look at me aren’t I fantastic, give me your business crowd. They are the hunters at a networking meeting, well on social media platforms they go into overdrive. These people are either desperate for business or very ill-informed.
The clue is in the name ‘social’ it’s about sharing and collaborating, offering free advice and information that is of value. Not walking up to someone you have just met, shoving your business card in their hand and telling them that you sell the best xyz and the best prices in the land.
So what does work for b2b lead generation
Image from Placester.com.
You will notice that social media is right at the bottom of this chart. Not because it isn’t a valuable tool for lead generation, but because the vast majority of companies out there are doing it completely wrong.
So here are the top online lead generators for b2b companies…..
Online lead generation starts with content
This is the part where a lot of businesses struggle, but it is without a doubt the most important part of any digital marketing lead generation strategy. It’s also where the process should begin. Firstly you need to devise a strategy for your business that is realistic, consistency is key here and you need to have an idea of how much time and effort you are going to put aside for this.
Deciding to post one blog a month, every month is a much better idea that trying to post every day and failing after the first week. But it doesn’t have to be a blog post, as long as any new content is user centric then you can’t go far wrong.
A good place to start is to think about the questions that your customers ask you, what is important to your prospects in the decision making process. Ask you existing customers and start to build up a picture of the businesses that you are trying to attract. Who are the decision makers? What are their pain points? How can your content address some of these issues?
Prepare to spend time really getting this first stage right as this will determine your content marketing plan, it’s very easy to happily go along producing lots of content, but if it isn’t perceived as valuable then you are wasting your time.
Content can take many forms:
blog posts
content pages on your website
images
audio/podcasts
e-books
whitepapers
webinars
video
emails
You need to think about your potential customers again, what type of content appeals to them and how technical should it be. For example, if I am trying to attract a Finance Director my content is going to be very different than if I’m trying to attract Head of Marketing for that business.
If you aren’t sure where to start, then start with a blog, it’s one of the most effective ways of starting to build up an audience. Don’t be afraid to give free advice and make your blog posts informative not salesy.
Share, share and share some more
So we are back to social media. Once you have your fabulous content in place you need to share it with the world and there is no better way of doing it than by using social media.
The B2B industry is notoriously bad as making the best use of social media to generate leads and so here are some top tips:
1. Share your content. Make sure you link back to the original content on your website to direct traffic there.
2. Use call to actions. In the same way you would encourage people to take action on your website, the same is true across social media platforms.
3. Encourage engagement, ask questions, encourage discussion, comment on other people’s posts.
4. Utilise LinkedIn, for a B2B company NOT using LinkedIn properly is really not making the most of the opportunities it brings. It is the most effective social media platform for B2B lead generation.
5. Be Present. Just posting isn’t enough, you need to be active across social media, connect with people and start interacting with them. It’s supposed to be social after all!
Social media and the content you share helps you to raise your profile and be seen as a trusted source of valuable information. So when your contacts are ready for your products and services, it’s you that is going to come to mind, they have already built up a solid relationship with your business, they trust that you know what you are doing and when they do get in touch they are already open to doing business with you, making conversion rates much higher.
Conclusion
So whilst this is a brief overview of the main elements of a lead generation campaign aimed specifically at b2b businesses, there are some main takeaways for you to get started.
1. Have a plan
2. Create quality content on a consistent basis
3. Share your content
4. Engage with people online, by social
Of course lastly, monitor adjust and improve your campaign.
I hope you have found this of interest, if you are interested in finding out more about lead generation then please click on the button below to download our e-book.