If you’re a B2B digital marketer, you’ve probably noticed that the possibilities for lead generation are almost infinite.
From stalwart strategies like email marketing to novel techniques like social media platforms, it can be hard to know where to begin.
In all fairness, some lead generation strategies work better than others. This is especially true for B2B as opposed to B2C.
Here, we’ll show you some of the best B2B lead generation tactics. Read on to find out how to get leads from digital marketing and boost your ROI.
Social Media
Many of us think of social media as a consumer-facing platform. It can also be a useful tool in B2B digital marketing strategies. After Facebook, LinkedIn is the second most popular social platform for B2B marketing.
A social media marketing strategy is your first port-of-call for generating brand awareness. In terms of generating leads, this targets the top of the funnel.
Simply by posting regular, useful, and interesting content, you can become a better known brand, even eventually an industry thought leader.
Aside from this form of “organic” content marketing, you can also use paid content or social media advertising to raise brand awareness and target prospects at the middle and bottom of the funnel too.
The advertising platforms for both Facebook and LinkedIn let you create campaigns with specific purposes, from brand awareness to lead generation.
Content Marketing
Most people hear content marketing and think of blogs, but content marketing is so much more. Importantly, it’s also essential to B2B digital marketing strategies.
Content marketing can be used at all stages of the buyer’s journey, from the top- to the bottom-of-the-funnel.
Let’s look at the different parts of the funnel and what types of content are you would want to use for lead generation.
Top of the Funnel
This is your brand awareness stage. Content should offer interesting and useful information, without attempting to make a sale. It should help generate interest in your business and your offering.
Types of content to offer for early funnel campaigns will include:
- Infographics
- White papers
- Blog posts
- Videos
Middle of the Funnel
This is where you can start generating leads among the audience who knows your brand and finds your content useful.
Start to capture contact details for your leads, such as email addresses and phone numbers. This way, you can offer them more tailored marketing messaging in the future.
Types of content suitable for mid-funnel campaigns include:
- Case studies
- Product reviews
- Testimonials
Bottom of the Funnel
By now, your leads will be engaged with your content marketing, and they’ll be closer to making a purchase.
Help get them over the line with quality content that makes them feel confident about their purchase. Things like:
- Free trials
- Product demonstrations
- Pricing quotes
- Free consultations
Retention
According to HubSpot, customer retention is as important–if not more important–than generating new leads. This is because it can cost 25x more to get a new lead as compared to retaining an existing customer.
Use content marketing to keep existing customers in the loop. Their loyalty to your brand will translate to a boost in your ROI. Loyalty boosting content can include:
- Customer satisfaction surveys
- E-newsletters
- Loyalty offers
Lead Magnets
By now, you’re beginning to notice that there is no single B2B digital marketing strategy that will be your silver bullet. Instead, you should use a number of digital marketing strategies in tandem to form a holistic approach.
Lead magnets incorporate the strategies we’ve talked about above: content marketing and social media advertising.
Your lead magnet will be a piece of content used to attract leads, especially to capture contact information like email addresses and phone numbers.
Lead magnets are also called “gated content,” because a user has to give some of their information away to access the content. The key to lead magnets is that they have to be irresistible as well as useful to your audience.
Any of the content listed above could be used as a lead magnet. But here are a few more options:
EBooks: publish a booklet, brochure or playbook containing useful nuggets of information
Quizzes: Help your customers better understand their needs through a quick online survey. Ask for their email address in exchange for the results.
Calculators: Similar to the above, these tools can help your prospect calculate things like costs or savings. People love the interactive quality of quizzes and calculators.
Webinars: Webinars can be a powerful lead generation tool when used at the right place in the funnel. You’ll host an informative video session and let your guests ask questions at the end.
Once you have an exciting lead magnet, you can then use social media advertising to promote it and build a list.
Conclusion: Test, Measure, Adjust
While the above lead generation strategies are some of the best that we’ve come across, your results may differ. That’s why the only way to unearth the best tactics for your specific B2B digital strategy is through testing your own digital campaigns.
Always measure success so you can make improvements in the future. With this practical method, you can use the top lead generation strategies to improve the ROI for your marketing and campaign investments.
Feature Image Credit: CC 0; Public Domain. Feature image sourced from flickr.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
This guest post brought to you courtesy of Return On Now, Professional Austin SEO and PPC Services Company.
George Glover
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