Lead Acquisition is one of the most important aspects of a business, however it is not easy. Especially, when it comes to B2B lead generation, there are a lot of processes and tests that are involved. Your marketing team might be doing a lot of planning and strategies for lead generation.
However, if it is not optimized properly, there is no point in those strategies. B2B sales are tricky. The thing with B2B companies is that there will be a limited client base and attracting them to the brand is very important. Whilst doing this, you have to stay ahead of the competitors too.
All of this might seem a bit tough for the organizations that are into B2B space. But, fret not. We are here to help you. We are listing the ten powerful techniques that are essential for B2B lead generation and tracking.
Without further ado, let’s get started with our techniques.
Table of Contents
- What is the B2B Lead Generation Process and Why is it Different?
- B2B Lead Generation Process
- B2B Lead Generation Techniques
- Lead Tracking with Office24by7
- Wrapping it Up
What is the B2B Lead Generation Process and Why is it Different?
B2B lead generation stands for Business to Business lead generation. The companies that offer their product or service to other businesses are present in this sector. In the B2B arena, the clientele is limited however the income from those clientele is huge.
Convincing a business owner is not as easy as convincing a normal consumer. If you want a business to invest in your product, you have to make them trust you. Garnering this trust is not an easy task.
B2B lead generation involves collecting the particular details like lead name, company details, official email, job title, etc. Using these details you can further send customized sales ads, pitches, etc. .
The targeted customers for B2B and B2C are present on different platforms. B2B customers are aimed on social media platforms while B2C customers can be reached via traditional advertising techniques.
It is important for companies to ensure that they are not interchanging these platforms. Apart from platforms for lead generation, companies should also realize that the lead nurturing is also done in a different way.
However, let us discuss lead generation in this blog and leave nurturing for the future blogs.
B2B Lead Generation Process
The lead generation process for the B2B arena is going to be quite different. There are multiple stages that will be covered here.
The lead generation process must be quite intense in order to generate more leads. You have to ensure that the marketing and sales teams align effectively in order to generate leads effectively.
Different steps involved in lead generation.
Find B2B Sales Leads
This is the first step of lead generation. You have to find the contact information of leads and trust me this is not going to be a cakewalk.
There are myriads of strategies that companies usually employ and some such strategies are to provide gated content filled with a lot of information in exchange to the contact details of customers.
Businesses also can try using different lead generation tools to gather the contact details. It is important for companies to remember that they opt for only legally binded methods for lead gen rather than purchasing the leads, etc.
Contact the Leads
Now, it is time to reach out to these leads. There are multiple ways to get in touch with them. Right from sales reps contacting the leads to email marketing, etc. It is important to keep this outreach as subtle and simple as possible.
Qualifying the Leads
In the B2B arena, high quality leads are going to make a world of difference. Every lead is valuable and you just cannot waste your time on the leads that are not of high quality. There is a sales funnel and understanding at which phase a particular lead is present in the funnel will help with pitching as well as qualifying the lead.
- Research and Awareness- The customer got to know about your brand via research and they know that you are offering a tool that might solve their issue. Whenever they start consuming your blogs, whitepapers or any other content present on your website, then it is called awareness.
- Consideration- The lead has complete idea of the product or service that they need. They are done with the research stage and are seriously considering about making the purchase.
- Decision- Now, the lead in a phase of making the decision. Pushing out the content that will help them in moving forward with their decision will have an impact here. Depending upon the stage where a lead is in, the marketing team keep sending them content.
- Closing the Deal- The lead to deal conversion is done by sales reps. After discussing with the reps about the product, the lead finally purchases the product. The sales reps can upsell or cross sell after this.
B2B Lead Generation Techniques
Want to generate more leads for your business? The best way to do that is by having the right kind of lead generation techniques at your disposal. You have to focus on tailoring your techniques as per the industry, buyer and product.
This personalization is quite important and which is why we are going to focus on learning about different B2B lead generation techniques in this blog.
Conduct A/B Tests
Landing pages are used a lot when it comes to lead generation. They play quite an important part. If you are creating a landing page for your brand, you can play with colors and do A/B test on the key aspects.
For example, there is a landing page in gray color. It has 68% of conversions. Now, the color of this background is changed to white color, the conversion rate increased by 8% and reached 76%. This is called A/B testing. Right from the background color to fonts or images along with content, you can change anything on the landing page and push it out.
This way you will get an idea of what attracted the audience and what not. It is important for businesses to frequently conduct the A/B tests. A small tweak on your landing page or homepage might bring in more conversions, you never know!
Offer a Free Trials
When you are into the SaaS or technology field, it is important to give a clear idea of what you are offering to the customers. In order to give a clear picture to your customers, is there any clear way other than free trials?
When you offer these free trials, your customers will get an idea how your product is going to be. Trying before buying will ensure that they keep trusting your brand. Ubersuggest, an SEO tool offers free web analytics report, LinkedIn offers one month free premium for the users so that they can get the gist of how their paid platform is going to be.
Likewise, you offering a free demo, trial period will make customers realize how effective your tool is and once they get habituated for your offerings, there is no going back.
Leverage Quora
Knowing what your customers are searching for, what all questions they are asking related to your product is not going to be an easy task. Quora is a social Q&A site that users get on to know about some burning issues, get their queries cleared, etc.
Companies can focus on leveraging this quora to their best and make the most out of it. Now, getting the content in front of users has neer been this easy and B2B marketers should be present on this platform.
Search for the questions that your targeted audience are frequently searching for, answer those questions and link it back to your website. One fact is that this backlink is going to be a no-follow one which means that it is not going to increase your visibility. However, it is going to help you by attracting the prospects and generating quality leads.
Make Use of Email Marketing
Email marketing is another way to approach your customers. COVID has made many businesses work remotely and this has increased the importance of emails. Most of the company staff are now checking their emails frequently and being in their inbox is going to help you.
You have to ensure that your content is interesting and will keep them hooked to the email. The attention span for anyone will be some seconds only, 5 seconds to be precise so the first thing that they will see is the subject line. Keep it interesting.
This should be followed by the email content where you can take the liberty and use some images or graphics. The email should have personalized touch.
Host a Free Webinar
When you showcase the industry expertise that you have, it will help your target audience to trust you. The business owners should get an assurance that you know your work and can deliver what they want.
You can prove this by offering a free webinar. In this webinar, you can discuss a multitude of things ranging from the product or service coupled with the after sales service that you offer. Address the problem your clients are facing first and provide your service as a solution that they would want.
The webinar must be engaging and prove your expertise.
Publish Original and Informative Content
According to a study, on average the B2B buyers read at least 13 content pieces before they proceed with the purchasing. Here the content starts from the website content to in-depth reports, case studies and more.
The industries have to leverage this and improve their visibility. Here’s how-
When the business owners are looking for content that can provide them with some value, you have to offer it to them. You can start with trends, industry related information, data, thought leadership articles, etc.
All of these will give them an assurance that you know properly about the industry, you have done your homework. The thought-leadership blogs will help in
- Proving you as a respected authority in the industry
- Generate strong SEO backlinks
- Provides PR coverage
- Deliver value to the high quality leads
In-depth YouTube Videos Will Help
B2B content must be repurposed and the best way to do this is by publishing YouTube content. Do you know that 90% of marketers agree with this? YouTube is the second largest search engine standing right next to Google and having your content up there will be quite helpful.
You don’t have to create videos featuring actors or something. There are various companies that use whiteboard videos or animated ones that read out the script which is just a blog to be honest.
The way you design this video will have a great impact on YouTube. You just have to repurpose the blogs that you are creating, make them into conversational script and publish it. The process is as simple as that.
Videos connect you with the buyers and that is something that you need.
Create Powerful Lead Magnets
Lead Magnet, without a doubt is main part of the entire lead generation process. Now, you may ask, what is a lead magnet? The lead magnet can be anything that you offer your target audience in exchange with their information.
The lead magnet must be so powerful that it prompts the visitors/ audience to share their contact information such as their name and email with you. In order to make your lead magnet more powerful, you have to work on creating buyer personas. Once you are done with this, you have to focus on delivering value according to that.
Most of the businesses are making one particular mistake lately. They are offering the most basic content that is easily available in a blog and call it gated content. Do you really think that a user will exchange their information for something that is already available on the internet for free? No, right!
Until and unless you are quite confident that your content is going to come in handy, you shouldn’t make it gated. Here are some of the types of gated content that you can offer to your users.
- Comprehensive how-to’s
- In-depth guides
- Resource libraries
- Detailed case studies
- Templates
- Workbook or checklists
Experiment Lead Generation on Different Platforms
Lead generation is a hit and miss technique. One thing that works for one business may not work for another. This is the reason why it is important for businesses to try out different lead generation techniques. LinkedIn and Twitter are some of the common platforms that businesses usually use.
You can change the technique and try pushing out content on Instagram or Pinterest. You may wonder why anyone would read business related content on apps like that but here is a twist. A company named Robin (workplace platform) has leveraged Instagram and generated more leads than usual.
Instagram is all about aesthetics and Robin made the most out of it. Likewise, you can select a platform that is suitable for your business and leverage it to the fullest.
Use Long Tail Keywords for Effective Lead Generation
Long tail keywords are very specific and niched down. Only people who have that particular requirement are going to search for it. So, it is important to optimize your website accordingly.
Lead Tracking with Office24by7
So, you have seen the lead generation process. Does it work? Yes, it will but what about the conversion percentage? Converting visitors into leads is not an easy task and has been haunting organizations for a while now.
Increasing traffic on a website is easy and will help in ranking higher on the SERPs along with increased domain authority.But that doesn’t mean, it will help businesses with their sales right!
For doing sales, conversion matters. Converting the visitors into prospect leads will make a lot of difference. This is why companies need to employ an effective CRM like Office24by7. Here we offer you visitor tracking, visitor to lead tracking and lead tracking. You can also track the ROI, let’s discuss it another time.
Visitor Tracking
Anyone who visits the website and stays on certain pages for sometime is considered as a visitor. While this visitor just came on to your site for some information or to read a blog, you can use this opportunity to turn them into a prospective lead with Office24by7.
Here are a few things that Office24by7 will help in the tracking process-
- The web page that visitor comes on to
- The time he spends on particular web pages and on the whole website.
- The browser from which he is visiting- for eg. Safari, Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc.
- Visitor’s location.
- How many times the visitor comes on to the website, what is the repetition number!
- Device of the visitor- whether it is a mobile phone, desktop, laptop, tablet, screen resolution.
- What all pages does the visitor come on.
Visitor to Lead Tracking
Once someone comes onto the website, it is time to give them different prompts so that they can turn into our prospective leads. With Office24by7 CRM, you can try using various types of prompting.
- Virtual Number
-Inbound calls
-Missed call
- Chat
- Gated Content
- Form
- QR Code
Virtual Number
We can use this virtual number in two ways.
1. Inbound
2. Missed Call
Share the virtual number on your website and you can see who all will contact you using it. In inbound calling there is messaging and voice call.
You can offer a missed call service to your customer, and the inputs they give will be recorded in our system. You can take the lead forward with our virtual number.
Chat
The chatbot is present on the website and landing page. When any visitor gets onto your website or landing page, a chat box will open from where you can collect the required information.
The chatbot can also be installed in mobile applications and on messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.
WhatsApp marketing is the new trend. Whenever you run a marketing campaign through WhatsApp, the links that you add into your messages will be tracked using our CRM. The average time visitors spend, what pages they have visited, etc. are tracked instantly with CRM.
Gated Content
Offer something informative to the visitors on your website. You can create ebooks, case studies, and downloadable infographics targeting particular set of customers. Adding a CTA and asking them to download will take the users to a form where they have to submit their details. This can be anything, their name, email, phone number, business name, etc. It is completely customizable.
This way whenever a visitor wants to get some information from you, they will provide you with their contact details which can be used to get in touch with them.
Form
The contact form on websites is another way to generate leads. Customize the form according to your requirements and put it on your website. You can use this to track the visitors and also anyone who fills the form will become a lead whom you can track on CRM.
QR Code
QR code is the new trend. Right from your website to the live location, you can add anything in QR code. Office24by7 can help in tracking the scans that these QR codes are getting as in how many people scanned and came to your website or to any landing page that you have linked.
Push Notification
Send a push notification as soon as any visitor gets onto your website once again. We will track how many are entering their information in the push notifications.
Lead Tracking
The number of digital marketing sources are increasing with every passing day. There are a huge number of marketing channels and conducting marketing campaigns on all of these is not going to be a cakewalk. This is where lead tracking will step in.
No matter how many types of lead generation processes you are using, with our CRM you will know from where the leads are generated. Every source will be tracked and you will have the information of where you can concentrate and spend your marketing resources.
Here are some most important and popular lead tracking CTAs that you can embed on your website using Office24by7 CRM. Every lead generated from these sources will be brought onto our software.
- Cookie preference notification(Push notification)
- Virtual number
-inbound calls
-outbound calls
-missed call
- SMS
-Inbound SMS
-Outbound SMS
- Chat
- Downloads
- Form
- QR Code
- Short URL
- Long Code
- Manual
- Landing Page
- Social Media
- API
Cookie Preference Notification
The first thing we can do is present them with an option to accept the cookies. With this we can get all the information related to the visitor browser. After this we can send a push notification to give us related information or feedback, etc.
Virtual Number
Outbound call- When you get leads from different marketing activities, you can call those leads and sell your product or service online. This is called Outbound calls. With our CRM, the stages of this outbound call can also be tracked.
SMS
SMS is another marketing activity that companies can do to generate leads. You can opt for inbound SMS or outbound SMS and we will track the stage of that lead in your pipeline.
When you opt for our messaging service, you can send URLs or a virtual number to get in touch with you. The clicks and calls will also be tracked using the CRM.
Short URL
Short URLs are used for sharing on different platforms. Usually, website links are shared on different platforms to generate leads. However, it becomes tough to know from which platform more clicks/leads are coming. This is where a short URL helps.
It helps in tracking from where the leads, clicks are coming to your website.
Long Code
Long code means sending promotional messages using a 10-digit long phone number. This will give a sense of personalization to the customer. We can track the clicks and calls that you are getting from this long code.
Manual
If you already have a database with all the prospective clients, you can just upload the data in our CRM manually and get going with the sales process. The CRM provides you an option to export an excel file onto the system or you can enter each of the leads manually.
All the leads will be assigned to users, tracked and provided with priorities accordingly.
Email marketing means contacting your prospective customer directly via email. You can send any kind of promotional email or newsletter and track how many of them are opened. If you have sent a newsletter, the people who opened it will be tracked, the same happens with promotional email.
Anyone who clicked the link will be tracked- their device, location, how many times they have opened that particular link, everything will be tracked with our CRM.
Landing Page
You can integrate your landing page with our CRM and all the leads that are generated via that particular landing page will be tracked. This way you will have the data about everyone who came onto the landing page.
Social Media
Social media marketing is the need of the hour. You have to be active on these platforms and generate traffic but how are you going to know whether that ad campaign you are running on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter is successful? How will you know that you got the traffic from those platforms?
This is where Office24by7 will step in. Our social CRM will help in monitoring all the traffic that you are getting from multiple platforms.
Winding it Up
Hope you got an idea about what lead generation and tracking is. Office24by7 is an effective lead tracking software with advanced technology that helps in knowing different parameters related to the website visitors, etc. Lead tracking is as important as lead generation. So, know more about our lead tracking software by getting in touch with us on +91 7097171717 or email us at sales@office24by7.com.
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