Typically B2B companies do a terrible job with their digital marketing strategies. In this article, we will discuss five B2B lead generation strategies you can implement for more leads in 2019.

 

Imagine a bucket that's filled with holes. Now, imagine trying to fill that bucket with water. The water will be leaking out of the holes, right? Even as you add more water into the bucket, it continues to leak and the chances of you filling the bucket is nigh impossible.

 

For B2B companies, the leaky bucket effect is an industry norm. It’s a vicious cycle that so many B2B companies seem to have, with builders / construction companies being one of the worst affected.

 

In B2B, the leaky bucket is a metaphor for your marketing funnel. Your marketing team is pouring more traffic (water) into the funnel (bucket) to keep it full. This will inflate your acquisition costs and deliver below average results.

 

We won’t get into the ins and outs of funnels in this article, so let’s wrap this up.

 

Essentially we’re just saying don’t let any leads fall through the holes. This can be done by:

  • Making sure your landing pages are high-quality
  • Revise your copy
  • Follow up with your customers / leads, don’t stop until they say no or opt out of your email marketing
  • Phone them
  • Set up retargeting on Facebook or run Google Ads.

 

1. Email Marketing

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Email marketing has always been a strong marketing channel. However it’s changed quite a lot over the past few years. Automation is now the key to a successful email marketing strategy. Marketing automation tools allow you to send hyper specific emails based on actions that happen in your CRM for example.

 

You could send the user an email if their status has changed in the CRM, i.e let’s say it’s been a week since they’ve been contacted last. You could send an email to ensure you’re fresh on their minds. Then using the automation system you could add them to a custom retargeting ad on Facebook. This omni-channel approach allows you to ensure your lead continues to interact and see your brand in multiple locations.

 

It also allows for a great deal of personalisation that consumers appreciate a lot these days.

 

This ability for automation has allowed marketers to get a lot smarter with how they target users in their inbox.

 

2. Content Marketing: From Blogging to Microsites

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When it comes to content there’s so many types of content that you could create. However no matter what you create it has to provide some sort of value, otherwise it offers no real value.

 

There’s a common cycle that always happens in B2B companies. They will spend some money / time on content and post it on their blog or social media. Nothing happens and they give up on content.

 

So why does the above example happen so often? Businesses are concerned about investing a lot of money into content so they will tone it right back to test if it works. The problem with content is you have to go all out or there's just no point in doing it really…

 

By all out, we don’t mean sinking thousands of pounds into your content. We mean thinking about your target audience, research, spending the time creating visually appealing content or just generally ensuring your content provides value.

 

By all means experiment with different types of content but you have to ensure it offers value.

 

3. Search Marketing

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Organic search is one of the best and most valuable long-term strategy for generating B2B leads. Bringing in organic traffic can actually be a really cheap method for acquiring leads too. Ranking for position 1 in Google is very hard these days, but it still is an essential tactic for any online business.

 

4. Social Media

Social Media typically is a very bad strategy for B2B lead generation. It’s hard to make this strategy effective, or is it? Most B2B companies have a poor social media strategy, typically they take the same approach with social media as any other company on the internet.

 

Let's show some pictures of the office or a picture of our managing director at an awards ceremony. Look that's all okay, it gives a bit of character to your brand but do the people you want to talk to actually care about it?

 

In most cases, these types of images are NOT the way to go with your social media strategy. Value, value value.. No matter what type of  strategy you implement, providing value has to be the key focus.

 

4.1 LinkedIn

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LinkedIn is a fantastic way to generate B2B leads. Engage with the brands you want to work with. Put out helpful content and join relevant groups or connect with people you would like to network with.

 

4.2 Copronet

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Platforms like Copronet are popping up for every industry. If you’re in the construction industry you would be silly not to make a profile on Copronet. Copronet lets you find projects, jobs and the people you want to work with in the building and construction sector.

 

5. Video

If you aren’t taking advantage of video, you have to start now. Construction companies are streaming live video feeds, taking time lapses, using drones to get aerial footage. Video content will show your businesses capabilities.

 

Video marketing is essential as it gives online viewers a better look at the work you actually do. New clients will love it, leads will love it and even the general public will too!

 

*This commercial content is compiled via expert opinion. Clicking in certain hyperlinks within this article will redirect you to a 3rd party.