When developing an effective B2B lead generation strategy, there are a few questions you need to ask: “What are our key selling points?”, “How well established is our brand?”, “Who are our customers?” One particularly critical question is “What channels should we be using as part of this strategy?”
In this blog, we’ll be taking a look at five channels that you should consider for your B2B lead generation plan.
Social Media
The largest social media channels are packed with potential leads. Facebook has 2.7 billion users. Instagram, 1 billion. LinkedIn is growing and has recently reached 740 million. Twitter still boasts 330 million. From the number of users alone, social media channels present a great opportunity for B2B organisations to generate leads, but this is not the only benefit it offers.
Social media allows you to:
- • Easily increase brand awareness through content marketing and paid advertising
- • Connect with people outside of your target demographics
- • Reach specific niches within your target demographics
- • Boost SEO
- • Advertise cost-effectively
Events and Trade Shows
Events and trade shows aren’t just great for the industry talks, afterparties and, of course, showcasing your products. They’re a great tool for generating new leads and extending your network. Business2Community highlights how trade shows can:
- • Create lasting impressions when they are done right
- • Be highly valuable as a face-to-face marketing channel
- • Offer great lead generation potential
- • Create direct sale opportunities because of the audience attending
- • Deliver cost-effective networking and advertising, if you lay down the groundwork beforehand
- • Level the playing field between large enterprises and smaller businesses and startups
Content Marketing
In many cases, leads don’t start off as leads. They start off as someone who has a question, and what content marketing does is allow you to answer that question. With the right content marketing strategy you’ll be able to:
- • Build trust and improve the reputation of your brand with a lead
- • Grow conversions through useful, engaging and entertaining educational content
- • Improve your SEO
Depending on the type of content marketing you use, the cost can vary; but generally speaking, content marketing is a cost-effective marketing channel.
Email Marketing
When we talk about email marketing, we’re talking about a focused email strategy that targets people who already have an interest in your brand. These are individuals who have already shared their contact information with you and are curious about what you have to offer. You can help satisfy that curiosity with a variety of email content, such as tutorials and tips, stories from existing customers, information about updates to your products or services.
Business2Community highlights the benefits of email marketing. Email marketing allows you to:
- • Deliver targeted and personalised content
- • Improve credibility
- • Improve brand recognition
- • Increase sales
- • Strengthen customer relationships
- • Market quickly and cost-effectively
- • Track results with easy to understand metrics
- • Boost website traffic
- • Establish authority
Telemarketing
The final channel you should consider is telemarketing — but not just any telemarketing. Not all B2B telemarketing agencies rely on unfocused, “spray and pray” cold-calling to generate leads. Successful B2B telemarketers instead work from lists of existing contacts or will take the time to develop their own lists that are likely to be interested in your product. Unlike traditional cold-calling, where the telemarketer has little or no idea if the contact is actually a good fit for the product, B2B telemarketers take steps to avoid this.
B2B telemarketing services provide businesses with a number of additional benefits, including:
- • Personalised, scriptless experiences
- • Cost-effectiveness
- • Measurable, real-time results
- • Localised telemarketing services for international companies
Picking The Right B2B Marketing Partner
In the highly competitive B2B marketing space, you need every advantage you can get to get ahead of the competition. Our ebook, Best Kept Secrets in B2B Marketing, can help you achieve this goal. In this ebook, we take a look at one of the most unexpectedly potent channels in your B2B lead generation toolkit.
If you’d like to find out more about how GCL's lead generation services can help you reach new leads and grow your revenue, contact us today.
