Lead Generation– this particular term is quite famous. But do you have an idea about what it is? Well, this blog is all about lead generation in the B2B sector. In B2B, every lead’s worth is a lot more compared to B2C and it is important for them to understand these leads in an effective way.
We thought of curating a blog that covers everything that one needs to know about lead generation. Make sure to stick with us till the end and you will have a clear idea about everything related to lead generation.
- What is a lead?
- What is Lead Generation?
- Different Lead Generation Practices?
- Lead Generation Process
- Lead Tracking
- B2B Lead Generation Starter Pack
- Lead Generation Strategies
- How to Qualify a Lead?
- Effective Tips for Lead Generation
- Lead Generation Statistics
- Role of Marketing Automation in Lead Generation
- Why Marketing Automation is Important?
- Wrapping it Up
What is a Lead?
Let’s get the basics right!
A lead is nothing but a person who shows interest in the company’s service, product in any form. Usually, the leads are the first one to open communication with a company. They have to provide their personal information by exchanging their details for any subscription, offer, or trial.
This is a process that is completely contradictory to companies buying contact information and getting in touch with the clients by cold calling. There is a lot of difference between these two and brands must be aware of it.
Let us take an example and understand this in a simple way. There is a couple who are pregnant and they searched for some pregnancy and parenting tips online. The first thing that popped up in the SERP was from a company that deals with baby products.
This company has curated a guide for pregnant ladies and their lifestyle with the help of a gynecologist and also shared some parenting tips after intensive research. Now the couple will get access to this pregnancy lifestyle guide and some parenting tips in exchange for contact details.
They can directly download these guides after sharing their email, name and phone number. These details change according to companies’ requirements. This was just an example of how information exchanges between a B2C company.
B2B companies offer some industry insights, case studies, ebooks that aid their target customers and ask for the company name, size, official email, etc. This way the businesses will get a clear idea about the customers that are approaching them and get an idea that they are open for communication.
The leads can be classified into two types. This division is done depending upon the stage in which the lead is present at this point.
- Marketing Qualified Lead: This type of lead is attracted to the brand but is not ready to make a purchase yet and needs some nurturing. An example of this lead can be a person who gets onto your landing page and fills the form that is present there. This lead just gave you the details and are open to communication, however, they still need nurturing.
- Sale Qualified Lead: The sale qualified lead or in short SQL refers to the people who are ready to make a purchase and are in contact with the sales team already. With just a few prompts, this SQL can be turned into a customer.
What is Lead Generation?
Lead generation is a process that helps in attracting prospects and put them through a sales funnel in a quest to turn them into customers. Usually a visitor is turned into an opportunity in lead generation. This sales funnel consists of nurturing them, engaging with them at regular intervals and much more.
But getting started with lead generation is the toughest thing for every B2B business out there. Blog posts, gated content, live events, coupons, and online content are some of the ways people usually opt for.
As a marketer, it is not possible to just create content and grab the eyeballs. There is a process that one must plan and implement to generate leads.
Different Lead Generation Practices
There are a multitude of possibilities for lead generation. Marketers have two different approaches that they can opt to generate leads.
- Traditional Lead Generation and
- Digital Lead Generation
Traditional Lead Generation Process
Traditional lead generation process has been in existence since a long time ago. There are different types of lead generation processes that organizations opt for. Right from inbound/outbound calls to advertisements on hoardings, TVCs, print and digital media publishing, etc. are some of the most common traditional marketing channels that companies use.
Leads are generated through this process; however, it is not easy to know from where the revenue is coming in.
Digital Lead Generation
Now this is something that has been practiced a lot lately. With the advent of mobile phones, laptops and the internet, digital marketing has been on a rise. Companies are able to generate leads via different digital media marketing channels and are able to get desired results as well.
When it comes to digital lead generation, lead tracking is easy. With tools like Office24by7, businesses can see from where they are getting leads and the quality of these leads too. In the digital lead generation process, companies publish blogs, gated content, social media posts and implement various other strategies to get attention from the readers.
Then they convert these visitors into leads. We will discuss this in the blog later.
We have created a separate blog discussing inbound marketing. Do give it a read!
Lead Generation Process
In the lead generation process, we are going to discuss the inbound marketing methodology. Outbound marketing is a process where the company reaches out to agents in one way or another. Outbound calls are an example for that.
Inbound marketing is an entirely different concept that needs to be discussed. In this process, the company prompts visitors to take an action and reach out to the company. Here is how they do that!
- Conducting interesting marketing campaigns. The companies implement a multitude of marketing campaigns on different channels to garner the attention of the audience. They try to attract the audience to their website, social media pages or the blog.
- When the audience lands on these channels, they will be prompted with a CTA button. Once they click on the CTA button, they are redirected to the landing page.
- As they come onto the landing page, they are provided with some content in exchange for their information. This is where the details of a lead are captured. If the visitor provides their details here, it is imperative that they are going to make a purchase.
Lead Tracking
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 visitors come 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 is coming 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 comes 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.
B2B Lead Generation Starter Kit
Lead generation is not going to be an easy process and this is where our lead generation kit is going to come in handy. Here are the pointers that you should stress on.
Customer Persona
This is the first thing that you have to focus on. Know about your customers. Define your target audience. When you have an ideal customer base to target, you can work even more effectively and create campaigns that align with their requirements.
When you create a proper customer persona, it will discuss the pressing pain points of them. You will understand the gaps in their knowledge, and how they are consuming the information. So, what are you waiting for? Create an effective customer persona now.
Content
Once you are ready with the persona, you have to start working on creating content that will address their pain points and fill the gaps in their knowledge. This content can be considered in various forms-
- Blogs
- Ebooks
- Webinars
- Whitepapers
- Freebies
- Podcasts
- Video tutorials, so on and so forth.
When it comes to B2B, it is not easy to analyze and create content that will please your audience. Their needs are quite specific and you have to provide them with in-depth and extensively researched topics in order to gain their attention.
Landing Page
The next step in the process is creating a landing page. A landing page is where you will be publishing your content. On this landing page, you will be creating a hook line describing why the user has to give their details and download your content. This should be interesting and catchy.
You can just give them an outline of the things that are present in the gated content. This will create even more interest in them.
Form and CTA
Users are not going to give you their email address just like that. They need something that is worthy and this is where you are going to provide them the gated content. This gated content will drive them to give you their contact details in exchange for the information.
Filling out their form here is how you are going to turn a simple visitor into MQL.
Lead Generation Strategies
Now, it is time for us to discuss various types of lead generation strategies that brands can opt for. We can consider this as the front end lead generation method or in short the lead generation marketing.
Social Media
No matter in which industry you are in or what business you are doing, it is important to have proper social media presence. It is quite easy to attract your followers and divert them to your website or the landing page. You can put up the link to your website in the bio on Twitter and Instagram, post a creative done with an interesting copy and drive the traffic.
In Facebook, you can directly post the link with creatives. Even if you have less number of followers, regular posting will help in getting attention on these platforms. You can also run ads and sponsored posts here.
For B2B, LinkedIn is the most important social media platform. This is where the CEOs, CXOs, CFOs and various other management of businesses spend most of their social media time. So, focusing on this platform is going to yield better results.
Content Marketing
At present, content is ruling the world. It is important for businesses to focus on creating lots of content that delivers value. When you do this, it will automatically attract the audience and give them an impression that you have knowledgeable people at your perusal. This will help your organization in the long run.
PPC
Pay per click has been one of the most common methods opted by businesses to get the traction. Businesses usually run ads on Google search engine for some targeted keywords. If anyone searches for those keywords, these ads will popup on the first page of the search engine.
They will be landed directly on the required page from where it becomes quite easy to collect the information.
Pop Up Ads
There are so many websites that run pop up ads. As soon as the visitor is closing the website or stayed idle on the website for some amount of time, the pop up ad will be displayed asking them to take some action. Here if the visitor takes any action, the information will be captured by the CRM.
Email Marketing
Automated emails are the need of the hour right now. Companies usually nurture leads using automated email streams and this has increased the opportunity by 30%. Automated emails are nothing but a sequence of emails that are sent at regular intervals.
These emails are sent in a format creating awareness first, making customers interested in the product next followed by some prompts asking them to take an action. These emails can help in attracting the leads and turn them into customers.
You can also work on A/B testing. Unaware of this term? Then let me explain it in an easy way. A/B testing means sending out one campaign in different formats. Here is an example-
- Buy 1 Get 1 Free on this weekend sale
- This weekend sale, you can purchase two dresses at one dress price. Purchase two dresses and just pay for one.
In email marketing, a set of audience will get the first message, the another set of audience will get the second message. The success rate of these two messages will help in understanding which of these is a success and which of these isn’t attractive to the audience.
Why does your business need lead generation in the first place? Read our blog to find about it.
How to Qualify a Lead?
Understanding at which stage a lead is present will help in creating marketing content that is suitable for them. Qualifying a lead is not an easy process and one must be very careful while doing this. Here are two methods that you have to implement to understand a lead.
Measuring Lead’s Interest
You know there are different people who will come onto your landing page or the targeted web page. The way they are going to give you information will help in understanding their interest. Here are two ways you can do this-
- Coupon: Businesses usually offer a coupon, gift voucher in exchange for the visitor to provide their details. If a visitor finds this coupon/voucher valuable enough, they will share their details such as email, name, etc. to claim it. This set of visitors are interested in your product or service.
- Content: Then comes the other set of visitors. These people are interested in the information (educational content) that you are offering. So, they provide their details in exchange for an ebook or webinar. These are a set of people who want to get educated about your product or service. It is important to keep prompting these people in order to get their information.
Lead Scoring
Lead scoring is another effective way to qualify the leads. Each lead will be assigned a numerical value determining the level of interest they have on the business, product or service. Depending upon this score, a lead will be nurtured. Every business has their own set of rules when it comes to lead scoring.
One thing that companies must be careful about here is that both marketing and sales teams are on the same page when it comes to lead scoring. This way one would have a clear idea of where a particular lead is standing from a business perspective.
The lead scoring is done depending upon the information that a particular visitor has provided, the engagement, or any other criteria according to your sales team. As the lead score increases, the chances of that lead becoming SQL will also increase.
Effective Tips for Lead Generation Campaigns
Lead generation campaigns require a lot of attention and nurturing. While there are a lot of things to do, companies have to focus on the right things that will help in better lead generation and lead tracking. Here are some of the best practices that companies must follow.
Right Tools Matter
Be it lead generation or lead tracking, companies have to focus on using the right set of tools that will bring them results. If you are looking for a tool that will help in proper lead tracking and prevent any kind of lead leakages, then Office24by7 should be your go to option.
Companies have to invest in the right tools to get the desired output. Why not invest right at the very first time and reap the benefits out of it?
Provide Offers at Every Stage of Buyer’s Cycle
You will get a lot of visitors onto your page and not everyone of them are ready to see your product demo or the free trial that you are offering. These leads are present at different cycle and need different types of nurturing.
For example, if there is a visitor who came onto your website for the very first time, offering them an ebook or webinar is important. Then comes a visitor who has been interacting with your brand for quite some time, such people would look for a demo or free trial.
Once the lead is past this phase, they may expect some kind of discount or offer on the product or service. You have to be ready to offer these too. This way you should have something ready to offer at each touchpoint. This will not only generate curiosity but also helps a lead to stay in touch with brand all the time.
Be Consistent with Marketing
No matter what happens, a company should never stop their marketing. No matter which way of lead generation you are opting for, it is important for you to be consistent. And whatever you promise in the marketing stage must be fulfilled as you move forward.
This is how you can conduct successful lead generation campaigns. When you are conducting different kinds of marketing campaigns, you must remember that every aspect of your website is reflecting that.
Lead generation campaign isn’t just about getting the email address of a person. It is about gaining a new customer, bringing in more business to your company. So, make sure that you are focusing on that.
Deliver Knowledge
No one will show interest in giving you their email address just like that. This requires a proper and preset process and one of the best ways companies can get customer information is by delivering knowledge. You can provide gated content of different formats.
When you give knowledge, it will eventually help in attracting the right leads.
Have a Dedicated Landing Page and Link it to CTA
This may sound like an obvious tip but most of the marketers don’t do this. CTA should be used to direct people to a particular landing page that has some offers. They shouldn’t be linked to any of your web pages and this includes the homepage too.
There should be a targeted page and that is where you have to send the traffic derived from CTA. Use the CTA and drive the traffic to the landing page from where it becomes easy to convert them into leads.
Sales and Marketing Team Should Work Together
It is important for both the sales and marketing teams to work hand in hand. Lead scoring is an important part in the sales and without reps help, it is impossible to do it. So, it is important for both the marketing and sales team to be on the same plate and have a clear idea about a leads’ journey.
Lead Generation Statistics- 2022
Let us look at some of the important lead generation statistics that you need to know about.
61% Marketers are Struggling with Lead Generation
A Hubspot report has stated that 61% of the marketers are struggling with the lead generation process. The process was easy at first but now it is not easy to generate leads easily.
53% Marketers are Spending 50% of their Budget on Leads
Although lead generation has become a hassle right now, companies are not backing down. The marketers are spending 50% of their budget on lead generation process and they are also focusing on lead tracking as well.
Very less percent of marketers are spending less than half of their marketing budget on lead generation.
80% of Marketers Trust Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is on rise in the lead generation process. According to the reports, 80% of the marketers are using marketing automation tools in the lead gen process lately. The best part is 77% of them are converting more leads when compared with those who are not using this tool.
Leads Convert Quickly with Immediate Follow Ups
Following up with a lead quickly will help in turning them into a prospect customer. When anyone raises a question on social media, answering them within the next five minutes will increase the lead conversion rate by nine times.
This is where marketing automation can help businesses. CRM or a social media marketing tool will respond immediately when a customer asks something on the internet. This will help in garnering their attention and your sales rep can get in touch with them whenever it is necessary.
For B2B Businesses, LinkedIn is a Gold Mine
When it comes to lead generation in B2B, then LinkedIn is miles ahead. It is a gold mine for lead generation but is often underutilized. Only 47% of the marketers are using LinkedIn and 45% of those are gaining good results and customers.
It is important for the B2B marketers to explore this platform even more effectively.
Role of Marketing Automation in Lead Generation
Marketing automation is playing quite an important role in lead generation. This section of the blog is going to discuss the role of marketing automation in lead generation.
Drive Visitors to Opt-in to your Email List
If your website has an ample number of visitors and traffic, you have to give away some important content in exchange for the email addresses. You can integrate with a third party automation software to capture the details of your customers.
You can also repurpose your content and use it for marketing.
Send Warm Leads to Sales
When a particular lead keeps on interacting with your brand, they are considered as warm leads. These warm leads are segmented with the help of a marketing automation software and sales teams will be prompted immediately to contact them. The following up becomes quick and easy.
Warmup the Cold Leads and Re-Engage
Cold leads are a big hassle for any business. It is time to warm up these cold leads by re-engaging with them. You can send important and interesting content to your cold leads and get them engaged in the brand.
Why Marketing Automation in Lead Generation?
It is important to understand why marketing automation is important in the lead generation process. Here are some of the benefits that it offer-
To Offer Personalized Strategies
Giving a personal touch to your marketing material is quite important. You can do this in various ways. With marketing automation, you can send personalized emails, messages on social media and interact with customers on a different level.
Have Accurate Focus
Losing out on the leads will hamper the ROI of an organization. The marketing and sales team as well should focus on generating the leads, properly tracking them and also ROI tracking. When all of these are done in a systematic process, a business will survive and provide better results.
Wrapping it Up
Lead generation and lead tracking are two important aspects of an organization. While lead generation is done using social media platforms, multiple marketing methods, it is important to focus on proper lead tracking too.
If your business is able to generate leads but are unable to keep a track of them and follow up thoroughly, then you need Office24by7. This lead tracking tool will ensure that you are not missing out on any of the leads and are able to follow them up effectively. It also helps you with ROI tracking, a feature that you will find rarely in other tools.
I know you want more details, what are you waiting for? Call us on +91 7097171717 or drop an email to us on sales@office24by7.com now.
