How to build a successful B2B lead generation program

By Alan Graner

Lead generation is vital for any company. But how do you develop a successful B2B program? Here are some tips.

Email

Develop a successful email lead generation program in five steps:

1. Carefully build a prospect list.
   
2. Offer something prospects want: white papers, research, free trials, limited time discounts.
   
3. Write a compelling email that makes them want to respond.
   
4. Build a landing page to gather names and qualify prospects before they download or receive your offer.
   
5. Use the information to establish a dialog.
   

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a proven platform for generating leads—if done correctly. Among the tactics you can use are:

1. Optimizing your company profile to define your target audience and to highlight some of the benefits you offer.
   
2. Publishing posts that offer useful content and help establish you as an industry expert.
   
3. Participating in LinkedIn Groups where you can offer information, make comments, build trust and reaffirm your expert status.
   
4. Use InMail to reach people outside your primary connections.
   

Social media

To use social media effectively you need to :

1. Identify your target audience(s), establish your objectives and determine the best platforms to reach your targets.
   
2. Establish core messaging that will form the bedrock for all your content regardless of platform. Such messaging could be you’re the quality standard of excellence, you’re obsessed with great customer service, you’re an industry leader in design, etc. All content should support your messaging.
   
3. Quality is more important than quantity. Simply supplying tons of content is self-defeating because the frequency will cause prospects to ignore you.
   
4. Close with a call to action. Tell prospects what to do next: click here, go to your website for more information, enter a contest, ask a sales rep to create a custom solution, email, phone, write.
   
5. Track leads to determine where they come from, then adjust your campaign to provide more content for popular platforms while eliminating underperforming ones.
   
6. Analyze leads to determine which platforms, offers, information, etc., provide the most qualified leads and which provide the most sales and allocate your budget accordingly.
   

Website

Think of your website as a hub that all your marketing efforts revolve around. Increasingly, advertising, PR, articles, blogs and other tactics are employed to drive traffic to your website where you have the space to convince prospects to buy from you or at least to initiate the buy cycle.

Additional lead generation tactics include:

• SEO to make it easy for search engines (and prospects) to find you.
  
• Testing to determine what’s working and what isn’t
  
• Social proof (case studies, testimonials) to develop trust
  
• Analytics to determine where your highest conversion rates are coming from so you can better allocate your time, budget and resources.
  

What elements in your lead generation program have been the most successful?

Image: Public domain from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) via Wikimedia Commons

Alan Graner is Chief Creative Officer at Daly-Swartz Public Relations, an Orange County, CA business public relations and marketing content firm. For content that makes you stand out from the crowd, email Jeffrey Swartz at jeffreyswartz@dsprel.com. Or visit www.dsprel.com.