Content-Driven B2B Lead Generation Strategy

The marketing landscape is under continuous transformation. While the basics of marketing continue to be the same(reach out to more prospects), the delivery systems, ways & sales practices have changed. With the rapid infusion of technology, there seems to be a shift in power balance, weighing down more towards the value-driven marketing efforts than simply eye-catching branding efforts.

You know the marketing method, goals, and strategies for B2C and B2B sales methodology are quite similar, but there’s a significant point of difference.

When marketing B2C, there’s a lot of attractive mind games that can do the trick for marketers, however, when marketing B2B, prospects often look for value rather than the mere appearance of the product/service. So, what we basically mean to say here is that the buying stages in B2B take much longer consideration from the buyer’s end than B2C.

B2B Lead Generation is convincing and procuring lead from a prospective customer. There are so many different manners through which businesses can generate leads such as social media and cold calling etc. The literal meaning of B2B marketing depends on your purposes and goals.

In B2B sales practices, many businesses initially put their brains on direct and outbound techniques, in which you send messages directly to clients or prospects. This type of marketing somehow still has a role in your marketing mission. But, B2B marketing knowledge has broadened, and the buying behaviour of buyers has also improved.

Before buying anything, they will Google to learn more information and examine your company, even compare with others. They like searching on their own rather than knowing from direct personal references. It is the reason that the information which provides readers with the best conception of your business, products turn them into your clients and that’s why B2B businesses need to concentrate on now.

Content Marketing is the only lead-generation trick that works equally for both B2B and B2C marketers. There is nothing without content. You can never entice people to your website and social channels without content.

Some of the most beneficial ways to generate B2B Leads Online are:

1. Attract B2B leads through Content Marketing

This is your call; you have to choose which type of content suits your audience the best. But, remember when you write content for a B2B audience, you need to write to inform them not to just market your services to them. The best part of a content-driven strategy is that it can take over so many forms like videos, blogs, ebooks, and so on. Additionally, a content strategy is a long-term investment that can attract prospects for a long period of time as opposed to catchy social media posts or ads. You have so many options through which you can do content marketing, some of them are:

• Articles
• Webinars
• Videos
• Content Round-ups
• Infographics
• Long-form guides
• Audio Content
• Podcasts
• Blogs

2. Generate compelling lead magnets & nurture them

A lead magnet usually is a form of free valuable content that you utilise to attract/introduce prospects to your brand. After all, who doesn’t enjoys free services? In different words, you’re marketing a useful piece of content for the exchange of information like the user’s email address, phone number, occupation, etc.

However, once you have these leads, it is important to nurture them and sieve them through a marketing funnel. This is an important step since it converts your cold leads into warm leads. Moreover, B2B marketing is a process as compared to B2C which usually involves instantaneous decision making.

Lead magnets offer value far and beyond what you might publish on your regular blog. Hence, they’re directly useful for your target audience.

Some of the best B2B lead generation magnets are:

• E-books
• Free demos for your app
• Free trials
• Case studies, white papers, research papers
• Tools
• Free templates

3. Engage with your audience on social media platforms

Social media is a fantastic way for not only creating brand awareness but also converting followers into leads.

There are over 3.2 billion social media users in the whole world, which means 42% of the world’s total population. This makes social media platforms a fantastic way for not only creating brand awareness but also converting followers into leads. But it’s not as simple as it sounds. Leveraging social media for your B2B campaign involves regular engagement with your audience and offering them value, every time they scroll through your brand’s social profiles.

Social media has redefined the way we do business, and it is not just for the B2C world.

Here are some of the most widely used social media platforms:

• Linkedin
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Youtube
• Instagram

4. Optimize your content for search engines

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a crucial method for attracting organic traffic from different search engines and mainly Google. You have only two options; either pay for it or get organic traffic through SEO.

Keyword Research helps a lot in this B2B sales methodology. Those keywords which have high volumes suggest a high level of interest and intent from the user.

5. Design high-converting landing pages to keep the visitor hooked

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) helps in boosting the opportunities of your leads converting on your offers.

Obviously, a bright and colourful landing page can entice many individuals. Yet, we’re not simply searching for any guest here – we need qualified leads. That is the reason that putting the interests of the targeted audience initially is so vital for producing more qualified leads.

A website that hasn’t been optimised for mobile will battle to rank in the search engines. Also, people who are entering your website through mobile devices can leave because of the poor user experience.

You should also add CTAs because these are the spine of any B2B lead generation campaign. A good CTA helps in improving visibility.

Make people sign-up more of your newsletter. You must add a signup form in the site’s sidebar tasks.

Also, use chatbots to connect with website visitors. Chatbots help your prospect feel personal.

6. Focus on pillar page strategy

A pillar page covers all parts or aspects related to a particular topic on a single page, with having space for more deep information in detailed cluster blog posts which should be hyperlinked back to the cluster page.

To create an amazing pillar page, you must put the content connected with the interests and challenges faced by your target audience.

Just choose a topic that is wide enough that it will generate more related blog posts that will satisfy as cluster content but also not that broad which you won’t be able to cover in a single pillar page.

Conclusion:

B2B marketing is a kingdom that survives on creating value for its audience and ‘content is the king’ that rules it.

Read more: Strategic Marketing for 2020 that Yields Maximum Profit