The conventional B2B lead generation wisdom is accessible to everyone and is being used too – like B2B leads come from a perfect email marketing campaign with more perfect subject line type, length of the email, benefits focused content and many more. There are no statistics to prove these methods bring in either marketing qualified leads (MQLs) or sales qualified leads (SQLs). Email marketing campaign with all the ticks on check boxes still generates accidental leads.
For years now marketers constantly face two questions – first why are competitors winning more deals than my sales team? Second – Is email marketing enough?
Knowing exactly where every lead comes from isn’t absolutely required; but touching all the forms of communication to hit the right prospects is essential as ever. There are many ingredients that go into optimal lead generation campaign from segmentation to content. Executing 360 degree approach to acquire leads to a well segmented database will generate that are truly qualified for sales team.
Modern mechanics of lead generation
Customized or personalized lead acquisition strategy is a highly effective but unfortunately underutilized. This approach touches multiple points of communication to prospects to generate targeted leads for sales team, advantageously cutting down all the non-sales activities they perform.
Using web well: Having a social presence on major platforms or tweeting every day is not enough to get leads. Leads generated through social media averages out to 12% almost equal to email marketing with 13% (source: hubspot). Whilst social media is much younger than email marketing, it is still doing a great job in B2B lead generation process. It is time to include social media as part of bigger marketing campaign plan to hear prospects’ voice. Blogs, news publications, media outlets and other influencers need to be captured and reacted in coordination for targeted customer acquisition and retention.
Email marketing is a veteran in the game, but surely needs a new approach: There are currently 3.3 billion email accounts in the world (source: Mashable). A blind blast of emails to all of them is only an act of ‘hit and pray’. Email marketing generates 2X returns compared to other channels, this means a cohesive strategy can bring higher returns. Well mapped communication strategy to back-up emails to a researched database will lead the entire campaign towards success.
Voice – Personalization is complete only with a human touch: Digital marketing is growing at a tremendous pace; still they all have people in the background. People who can build customer confidence about the product or service. Voice tactic to contact prospects real-time is one of the proven ways of increased lead generation. Webinars and whitepaper opt-ins can trigger interest. Voice action on email opens and clicks can nurture leads for quicker closures, cross-sell and up-sell by sales team.
Data scientists to tie them all together
Data is useful only when it is enhanced and converted into intelligence. Finding an industry veteran who have been there and done that is central. Amalgamation and enhancement of data in silos is vital to create targeted database. This is the first step towards a comprehensive lead generation campaign.
