B2B Lead Generation Ideas for 2020
Generating good leads is a difficult job. The quality of your B2B leads and where they come from is always in question. Test new ideas and see what works for your company in 2020.
Every new year brings in new marketing challenges. The world is moving as the speed of tech, changing and evolving so fast that it’s difficult to adapt unless you’re light on your feet. Things move a little slower in the B2B marketplace, but you still need to act on new information every year. If you’re still using the same lead generation techniques that you’ve been doing for the last 5 years, it may be time to update them. Time for some new ideas!
Here, we’ll focus more on ideas that work for online lead generation, because of the enormous differences in how B2B businesses operate in traditional marketing.
Jump on the SEO Bandwagon
Make it exceptionally easy to find your business online. Search engine marketing draws a lot of traffic to your website by putting you in the line of sight when someone is searching for a relevant keyword. Whether you’re doing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) yet or not, there are some great ways to refresh your strategy and draw in more leads in 2020.
You don’t necessarily need to think big when it comes to SEO. While the broad search traffic numbers are tempting, you may face a lot more competition for broad search than you would for locally targeted searches. Turn your SEO local and capture traffic from specific areas. This is one way to step around your competitors as well. If they’re hooking the broad search traffic, you can catch the location-specific traffic instead.
Search engine means a lot more than just Google. This may be the main search engine used to navigate the web today, but it’s also a very limiting way to picture SEO. There are a lot of different search engines and search functions you could look at optimizing beyond Google.
For example, did you know that YouTube is also a search engine? Not only that, it’s also the second largest search engine, second only to Google (which also owns YouTube). Although the two are connected, the search algorithms used by each are different, with YouTube yielding relevant video content results are tailoring more specifically to each user.
If YouTube is a little too outside the box for you, look into other dedicated search platforms like Bing, Yahoo!, or DuckDuckGo. These aren’t as large as Google, but they’re also generally less competitive. Ad space may be cheaper on these platforms, and ranking may be determined differently, giving you a chance to show up higher on the list.
Instead of trying to draw traffic from every possible keyword, narrow your focus to dedicate your efforts and budget to the most useful keywords in your arsenal. Make sure these are the most relevant keywords and the ones giving you the best results overall. By narrowing your keyword targeting, you can put more resources into being the best in that category, even if it means giving up other keywords to your competition.
Transform Your Email Marketing
Email marketing may be one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it’s still one of the highest ROI activities you can do online.
Email marketing might be something you do on the fly or something you automate, but it should never be done without an overarching strategy in place. Don’t walk into email marketing without a good idea of how you want to progress with every new lead. Your strategy should guide every email you send out, pointing you in the right direction with types of emails, content within those emails, the purpose of the email list, and more.
When you send an email, you’re sending something directly to the recipient’s personal inbox. You should be providing a high level of value for taking up their time and filling up their inbox. Treat it like a privilege and don’t abuse their attention. Email marketing campaigns that are too promotional or aggressive tend to result in a lot of unsubscribing, spam labels, or trashing.
Craft a chain of emails that gives the reader something they’ll consider valuable. This may mean sending out different emails to different subscribers, based on factors you’ll identify over time or upon subscription.
- Create a Strong Lead Magnet
Take the time to make something useful that you can distribute in exchange for an email address added to your mailing list. Lead magnets should be functional digital products that the person can’t just go and get elsewhere. This might be anything from an eBook to a tool or access to a certain feature on your website. The lead magnet should be strong enough to drive people to exchange their email for access. In your industry, try to be unique and provide the most value.
You can hook your email marketing system up to a lot of other systems your business is already using. Integrate everything from a CRM to VoIP phone app together with your email marketing automation software. Collecting all the data in one place makes it easier to send out the right emails at the right time to the right people. Email marketing tools and CRM systems are a particularly useful combination, since you can more easily monitor how well your campaign is doing.
Become a Valuable Source
Content marketing is one of the largest leads generating tools you’ve got. Take it a step further and go beyond the basics. But, make sure you’re doing the basics right first before you try to build up from there.
Your business may work better with a few specific types of formatting. The only content format that works well universally is blogging. If you don’t already have a blog that you’re actively updating, this should be your first step in 2020.
Beyond blogging, video is the most promotable format currently. Every content sharing platform wants to promote short-form and long-form content. Live video is especially popular. Look for content formats that make the most sense for your company and your business, then use and spread them to promote your company.
Content creation needs to be consistent. If you don’t have the manpower or expertise to do it in-house, outsource it to contractors or agencies who can do it for you. Always make sure your content is high quality, but also that you’re releasing it on a regular timeline. The upfront cost of investing in content creation can be more than made up from the value of the leads generated from high-quality content.
Give Social a Closer Look
Social media is not always a great place for B2B brands, until you learn to use it right. This looks different for some businesses, but in general there are some principles that apply to all B2B companies.
This is the central location for B2B lead generation on social media. No other social network comes close to LinkedIn. Make sure you have a full, informative profile, you’ve joined relevant groups, you post new content and updates regularly, and that you’re using all the features of the site to their best advantages.
Social media platforms favor the active and connected. LinkedIn is no different. Simply by remaining active and posting consistently you can improve your visibility for your target audience.
On every social media platform, you can find space in groups, pages, or other similar areas to create more meaningful interactions with people. Most people are unable to see your content and posts organically, even those who like your pages and follow your accounts. If you’re using groups, pages, and the like, people in those circles with you are more likely to see your posts in their feed than if you just posted them independently.
- Don’t Shirk Paid Features
Organic reach isn’t the same as it used to be. If you rely only on organic reach, you’re going to grow slowly and your messages won’t end up in front of as many relevant eyes. Sometimes, paid features are the best pay forward on social media. Use them wisely and target specific types of people or companies that might be relevant for your brand. Put your money to good use with highly specialized paid features, not just general advertising.
Generating good leads is a difficult job. The quality of your B2B leads and where they come from is always in question. Test new ideas and see what works for your company in 2020.