Did you know that almost 91% of marketers consider lead generation as their most important goal and that content marketing generated three times as many leads compared to outbound marketing also costing less than half? Research says, that the most commonly used b2b lead generation strategies are content marketing which is 67% and email marketing which is nearly 78%.
B2B lead generation is not a simple or straight-forward process. Hence, marketers should avoid repeating the same strategy each time. For best results, one should invest time and efforts in analyzing each stage of the funnel and adopt some unique methods to ease some of the challenges in lead generation.
B2B involves a lot of decision-makers at various stages. Therefore, one needs to deploy variety of methods to nurture leads at different stages of the sales funnel in order to finally convert leads into business. In such a scenario its best that marketers get to know the buyer persona and then customize solutions as per the need of the customer.
Communication is the key-
Communication is important with the customers and with internally too with the team. Cross-functional communication is also important in lead generation. It may not be a technique, but it can help on a certain level.
Once you know the objectives, processes and strategies and the plan, there will be more clarity within the organization. You can then study, compare and analyze the campaigns, resources and later on the results too. For all this to happen smoothly, communication within the organization is critical for success of any campaign.
Right lead information-
Before one proceeds to establish contact or communicate with the prospect, a thorough study of the prospect is necessary. Capturing the right information of the lead can help you to convert that lead easily. Lead-forms play a significant role in conversions too. How you build the form can impact your results and the information you get at the end of the day from the lead.
Analyzing the funnel-
Analysis of the funnel is a significant process in lead generation.
Lead generation processes involve different stages and the funnel plays an important role in determining how quickly the leads are likely to get converted and to know what the status of the lead is at each stage of the funnel.
In order to get best results, marketers must analyze the funnel performance from time to time. Each resource who is involved at different stages of the funnel must monitor and analyze the results and be very vigilant so that there is a record of which leads are performing as per expectations and which stage of the funnel has maximum loss of leads. After this analysis, steps should be taken to rectify mistakes and create solutions that will reduce the loss in the number of leads at that particular stage of the funnel.
Conclusion-
More techniques and processes can be deployed to make sure each stage of the funnel is optimized so that leads don’t drop out. Lead forms should also be built smartly so that you get the right data. Lead generation is not a simple process, so a combination of techniques and methods can help marketers to accelerate lead conversion.
(Statistics source- Rule analytics, Pipeline, Startup Bonsai)