B2B lead generation is made up of groups of activities that are challenging to quantify. Sales and marketing are sectors of your business reliant on quantifiable information, but the ambiguous nature of lead generation is a deterrent for many marketers. In this article, we’ve broken down the top online practices for B2B lead generation.
How much is a lead worth to my business?
Is every lead really worth the same amount?
How can I drive more leads if my product is expensive?
If you’re a B2B business owner, you’ve probably asked yourself these questions more times than you can count. Fortunately for you, we have the answers! In this article, we’ll show you how to break down your user funnel to attract new customers all while providing them value along every step of the way.
Funnel Lead Generation Tactics:
Value Ladder:
A value ladder is a way to structure your sales efforts to appeal to your target audience at different phases in their purchase lifecycle. It gives you a competitive edge because it offers customers value at every tier or rung of the ladder.
As your lead ascends your value ladder, they’re offered more value, either in products or services offered, or another value-added concept. These are usually broken down into tiers, with the top tier being the most profitable end goal for your business.
Tiers:
Initial Offer
- The initial product or service you offer that ideally cover the cost of advertising, or freebies, such as lead magnets. The goal is to qualify prospects and find people interested in your products.
1st Tier
- The mid-range products and services you offer generate profit while simultaneously building trust. An e-book or other paid professional guide is a great 1st tier offering.
2nd Tier
- The high-to-mid range products and services you offer generate profit. By this stage, customers have purchased from your brand and are ready to move to higher tier items. Membership and continuity programs are a perfect fit for this tier. The user gains values from continual content and profit is maximized with recurring revenue
Top Tier
- The most extensive product or service offering your business provides. Although only a small percentage of customers will ever get here, they will become your brand advocates and generate considerable revenue. Use this customer to create whitepapers and testimonials to show to potential customers lower in the value ladder.
Lead Magnets
Lead Magnets are the freebies you give away to grow your list and get people in the door. The perfect Lead Magnet will offer value within five minutes of the offer being accepted. The goal is to qualify and capture leads, who can then be entered into an automation that guides your prospect along your sales funnel.
Lead Nurturing
Taking care of your leads is akin to guiding them through a system of education, value-addition, and customer service that you have designed specifically for your business. Once you generate a lead, you have to take care of it, and guide it along its life cycle path.
A cornerstone of lead generation is lead nurturing. The process is customer-centric, anticipating what customers would want before they even know they want or need it. The process is as follows (with a few deviations depending on your product or service offering):
- Identify the problem your prospect needs to address
- Highlight a couple of ways the prospect might start to think about that problem
- Suggest one specific way to solve that problem
- Ultimately, demonstrate why you are the right one to help fix that problem
Social Relationship Building
In the B2B business sector, there’s rarely a ton of buzz surrounding your product or service. A healthy social media following is an imperative duty for nearly all businesses, however, getting too caught up in the number of followers, likes, and other measures of the sort can be misleading.
Social media as a lead generation tool is a simple and powerful way to build and nurture relationships. The key for B2B businesses is to use social media as a way to influence and add value for your prospects. Rather than shooting 100 arrows and hoping something lands amongst your target, shoot 5 arrows at a specific target with such detailed precision that there is virtually no chance of missing.
The key word is engagement. Quality most definitely trumps quantity when it comes to contemporary social media practices. Engage in groups, provide helpful and informative answers, and become a reliable resource of high-quality content tailored specifically to your industry, your client’s needs, and your brand.
Give a few of these processes a try: Lead generation takes time to become effective, so have patience and diligence.
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