Methods for lead generation in B2B companies
Getting prospects and new customers is always one of the priorities of most B2B companies. For this reason, specific strategies have been developed to systematise lead acquisition.
What is a lead in marketing and sales?
A lead is a person who has voluntarily given their contact details to a company. Most often it is their email address. In this way, they become part of the company's contact database and a sales opportunity for the company.
A lead can come from a wide variety of sources: a contact form on the corporate website, campaigns on social networks, in-person corporate events...
Quality is better than quantity
Lead acquisition covers all those methods aimed at obtaining the contact information of potential customers: the people who make purchasing decisions in the companies to which your products or services are destined. In other words, it must be based on a digital strategy aimed at profiles that are as similar as possible to your buyer persona.
Because B2B lead acquisition is not a question of quantity. It is about getting high quality leads, which are the key to success in such a competitive environment as B2B.
Strategies for lead generation in B2B companies
The best way to generate leads is to use methods that have already been proved for your specific objectives. For industrial and B2B companies the most effective are the following.
Outbound marketing
This is considered "traditional marketing", because it ignores the online to focus on going out to find your customers through advertising campaigns in the media, face-to-face meetings, trade fairs and professional events, cold calls or emails... Although this is a type of lead generation strategy that still works, especially with older buyer personas, in recent years it has been losing some of its appeal. For example, according to a Demand Gen Survey Report, up to 90% of B2B customers reject prospecting phone calls, a method that is increasingly seen as invasive.
Inbound marketing
Inbound marketing focuses on the digital environment, positioning the company so that the potential customer finds it online and ends up becoming a lead. It must be taken into account that nowadays, before making a purchase decision, more than 90% of B2B buyers search online first. This research is done through various channels that must be taken into account in the lead generation strategy. The most popular are:
Search engines
61% of B2B prospects first search for information on Google, according to a Demand Gen Survey Report. There are two techniques with which you can impact them at this stage of the buying process:
- SEO, for the organic positioning of articles and content that are interesting to the buyer persona and that respond to their search intent.
- SEM, for the positioning of paid ads that direct traffic to a landing page designed to capture leads from those search something related to your services and products. To maximise the ROI, here it is essential to fine-tune the keywords you use.
Social media
Again, content is king. You can disseminate on platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter interesting information that catches the attention of users who fit your buyer persona profile. For example, post on your social media profiles the most valuable content of your website. This will attract users that are interested on your sector, products and services. You can use the content with the highest added value as a lead magnet, offering it to users in exchange for their contact details. This content can be an ebook, a case study, an online course...
Another option is pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns on social media or social ads, which allow you to discriminate by user profile. For example, on LinkedIn it is possible to exclusively target professionals in a certain sector with a certain position within their company.
In all cases, inbound marketing requires a thorough understanding of the pain points of your target audience. You have to ask yourself: what subject matter and type of content will be most attractive and useful to your buyer persona? The effectiveness of your inbound marketing strategy depends on your ability to offer your target just what they are looking for.
At BCM Marketing, as a marketing agency in Barcelona specialised in meeting the needs of companies in the industrial sector, we advise you on the whole process of capturing B2B leads, we help you to convert these prospects into real customers and extend their life cycle.
