Lead generation and hot leads are challenging processes for most B2B companies. According to different surveys, more than two out of three or 67% of companies are not satisfied and feel that they either have difficulties with – or even don’t get – the leads they need.
Lead generation should not be equated with simply getting a lot of traffic. More traffic may not result in profitable customers. So it’s all about generating the hot leads that end up with a sale.
So what are leads?
A Lead is a person who has shown interest in your business over a short or long period and for whom you have collected contact information. The two main pieces of information you need to have as a minimum are name and email. You can get this contact information by signing up for newsletters, and competitions, offering them a free product, etc.
Additional information, such as a phone number and company, will benefit you in the long run. It can help sales and marketing departments sort, select, and find the most exciting leads. Leads can be divided into two groups:
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- Hot leads: are those potential customers who have the most significant interest in your business and are therefore most likely to buy your product or service.
- Cold leads: are potential customers who have a lesser interest in your business.
They might have “wandered” into your contact information system because they were interested in some of your content. However, they are not interested in what you are selling. However, cool leads can be converted into hot ones if you follow up appropriately.
What is lead generation?
Lead generation is about getting customers. It is the process of gathering information and data from potential customers. This could be done through newsletter sign-ups, contact form completions, customer events or direct contact with the customer. Generally, the volume of data you have on a lead defines the lead generation’s chances of success.
Generating leads is particularly suited to B2B since this is typically more complicated, and the buying processes are longer. Several surveys, however, show that 2 out of 3 are not satisfied with their lead generation.
However, this certainly doesn’t have to be the case. So we’ve put together 6 tips that will give you more hot B2B leads. Then all your sales reps have to do is concentrate on closing the hot leads that are ready to buy.
This might be because they don’t get to identify where the problems arise. You should think of the lead generation process as a funnel through which potential customers must pass. In reality, this is a customer journey a typical customer goes through before they are ready to buy from you. Using tools like Google Analytics, you can identify your challenges in the funnel.
To help improve your online lead generation, we have compiled 6 tips to give you more hot B2B leads. Then, let your sales reps concentrate on closing the hot leads ready to buy.
First, the big picture
We need to get the basics right before we jump into solution mode and give you the 6 tips. There are 2 ways you can drive your lead generation. You could work in an inbound-oriented setup, attracting the right leads by being present online on Google (and Bing and others) with the right messages. So that when the need arises with buyers/users, you’re the one they are attracted to.
Alternatively, you could choose to work in an outbound setup. You approach potential customers with messages that resonate with their pains. There are advantages and disadvantages to both types.
What we recommend is a combination. The benefit of combining is that you cover the market and control your approach to new subjects. Process and mechanics are different. However, the components are, by and large, the same.
6 Tips When You Need More Hot Leads
Now that you have a better understanding of lead generation, in the following we will share six tips that will help you generate more hot leads.
Get to the heart of your potential customers’ pains and build personas
Understanding your leads and potential customers’ pains is critical to your success. So the first thing you need to have in place is a thorough mapping. As a rule of thumb, your focus should be on your leads’ top 3 and 5 pains. The reality is that there are rarely more. After all, it is extremely rare for someone to switch suppliers or change how they do things for fun. There is a direct correlation between what they do and their pains most of the time.
Once you have control of the pains, you will have the core of your lead generation. This is also the time to define the persona or personas you want to speak to. A great tip is to start with the most important one. There is a difference between talking to everyone at once and targeting the exact persona you want to speak to. Communication will be sharp and direct. And results follow.
Your content is the fuel of your lead generation
Content is important. When working with content, you must see the world through the eyes of your leads and potential customers. The most important thing is that potential customers see your content as relevant to their pains. I say it solves the task when it answers your leads’ unasked questions. And then, the content needs to be designed to hit exactly where your potential customers are right now in terms of their decision-making process.
Staging your content is critical to how attractive it is perceived. So this is where it’s essential to use the right behavioural psychology to increase the perceived value of your leads.
Staging that your content is limited
Frequently, your leads’ perception that there is a risk of missing out on something interesting will help to increase interest in your content. That is if it is seen as relevant. So purely behavioural, this makes us want the product even more. So think about limiting availability. You could do this both in terms of time and quantity. You could also do it by staging that the content is only for me, as the reader.
Most of us do what everyone else does
We are herd animals. Therefore we copy each other – most of the time without being aware of it. We like to be part of the herd and the social community. That’s what studies in behavioural psychology show.
So, when the people we mirror engage in something, we do the same. Your content is perceived as more valuable when others are also interested in it. Therefore, it is a good idea to note how many other leads have downloaded, viewed and shared your content.
Creating content for each stage of the decision-making process
The overarching goal of any marketing department is to send hot leads to the company’s sales department. That’s why it can be tempting to send every lead to sales as quickly as possible. But this is far from always a good idea! Not every lead is ready to buy now. And throwing them into the arms of a salesperson creates frustration for both parties.
This is why it’s important to build your lead process in a way that takes into account the stages your leads and potential customers go through. You typically need to work with 3-5 sub-phases. And you must develop content for each of these phases.
Call to actions are crucial for your conversion
The call-to-action (CTA) is the trigger that makes your leads, and potential customers click and drives them towards your content. For this very reason, you must leverage your knowledge of their pains to ensure that your call-to-actions hit the heartbeat and create just the right emotion.
Wherever it makes sense, use your CTAs. You draw attention to your content on your site, SEO, online banners, emails, direct mails, etc. However, it is far from certain that the same wording will work equally well everywhere. For example, there are big differences between targeting your audience in their Facebook feed and when they search on Google.
Make your CTAs eye-catching
From a purely practical point of view, click-to-actions work best at the top of landing pages and other web pages. Heat map analysis shows that content further down the web page is only seen by about 50% of visitors to your site. Therefore, always have your CTAs in more places on the page. This way, you catch your readers’ interest when it suits them.
Be specific and clear
Sometimes, more energy is spent in marketing departments on writing something that sounds good than something easy for your leads to decode and understand. In the case of CTAs, communicate the benefit of clicking. For example, if you’re offering a free e-book, say “Download the free e-book here” instead of “Download now”. And the more specific you are, the higher your conversions will be.
Focus and engagement with specific landing pages
The landing page is one of the most important elements of the process. This is where you “capture” your leads and visitors with targeted and relevant information.
The advantage of working with specific landing pages is that they give your potential leads peace of mind and focus. When you direct your leads directly to your content without being distracted by other messages on your site, they will simply convert better.
They clicked for a reason, of course. They are interested in the content you are offering them. Now, they need the peace of mind to finish by filling out the form.
Take navigation off the page
Once you’ve got your leads onto the landing page, the key is not to tempt them with other things. They should stay on the page until they’ve filled out the form. Therefore, linking away from the landing page increases the risk of your visitors clicking away from the page and not filling in your form. It might also be a good idea to remove the navigation.
Less is more
When we talk about landing pages, it is often most effective to be short and to the point. A text-heavy page will often increase drop-off. The key is to be concise and make the visitor want to download your content – and become a lead. This is where a short headline, a short introduction, bulleted list explaining the benefits of your content along with the form can often be the most effective solution.
Be conscious of what you ask for in your forms
The form is an important element of a good landing page. It is the one that converts your visitors and turns them into leads.
The right amount of information
You might have already thought about how much information you should ask your visitors for. There is no clear-cut answer to that question. However, one good rule of thumb is to only ask for the information you need. The fewer fields you have in your form, the better your chances of visitors filling out the form and converting themselves into a lead.
The simple reason is this. The more questions you ask, the more effort it takes for your visitors. Meanwhile, some data is more sensitive than others. For example, requesting a mobile number can be a show stopper in some contexts.
Giving your forms credibility
We have become more cautious about sharing our information for fear of spam and annoying salespeople. So you must build trust and credibility around your forms. The following elements can help:
- Make it clear how you handle the information and what it is used for.
- Referrals and quotes from existing customers can reinforce your credibility. For instance, if you are offering a free trial of your product, it’s good to include customer quotes about that particular product.
Use every channel you can get away with
In principle, when working on lead generation, use all the channels you can get your hands on. For instance, consider social media, emails, maybe even SMS and direct mail. You should also consider trade fairs and all other physical contact points.
Use all channels that give you access to your leads and potential leads. It is about meeting them where they want to meet when they are researching, reviewing and buying your product.
Email marketing and nurturing flows
Email marketing requires permission. And therefore, permission is a must once you have converted your visitors into leads and beyond. It is essential that you design your email flows or nurturing flows to be carefully tailored to each of your personas and their customer journey.
When you work with email and nurturing flows, consider doing so in a dedicated marketing automation system. We recommend that in this context, you also look at HubSpot, one of the leaders when it comes to marketing automation and inbound marketing.
A nurturing flow can run for quite a long time, dependent on the product and the decision-making process. Some of the longest ones we’ve helped design run for up to 10 years. And speaking of regular B2B sales, Nurturing Flows of 2 or 3 years are not uncommon. Whatever the case, the key is that those who receive your emails find the messages relevant – and that they receive the information at the right time in their decision-making process.
Social Media
For the vast majority of businesses, Social Media plays an important role. And for a good reason. You’ve got easy access to existing and potential customers. It is easy to communicate company values, professionalism, interests, etc. The best way to make the most of social media is to pay attention to the following three elements:
Gain loyal followers
Developing a relationship with potential customers is the first and most important step. Social media relationships are built more on personal relationships than the relationship between your prospects and your business. So, know your followers and share the information that captures them. Knowing your audience also makes it easier to generate new leads.
Keep the focus on the dialogue
Businesses that only use social media for self-promotion and the latest news from the archives are not using the medium effectively enough. The aim is to interact with your prospects and offer your help. When sharing content on social media, it does not always have to be something related to your business. Also, share other things you’ve found online that you find interesting.
Allow for sharing
Publishing and sharing content that sends traffic to your targeted landing pages is the biggest lever for increasing results through social media. Sharing your new content offers by linking to your landing pages while sharing relevant blog posts, analysis and other valuable resources.
Put your B2B lead process in place
A unified lead model allows you to manage the process from the leads you don’t know about to the leads that are ready to buy from you. Integrating sales and marketing into a unified lead model extends the sales force’s reach, ensuring that your customers and leads know that salespeople are there at the right points in the process with the right, pertinent knowledge and information. Without actually spending time on it. Because it all happens in a fully or partially automated flow.
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The various sub-elements of the lead process
No two businesses are the same. Your company is no exception. Either you can get help to build a comprehensive lead process. Or, you can have help working on one or more of the sub-areas below:
- SEO/SEM based lead generation
- Inbound marketing
- Dialogue-based lead generation
- Benchmark
- Nurturing flows
- Digital marketing
Online Marketing Automation is the top-tuned hot lead generation engine, which helps automate and customise your content and conversion. It is invaluable in every modern marketing department.
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