In B2B business, your leads are your livelihood. Unlike B2C purchases, which can be made both spontaneously and emotionally, a B2B purchase is (usually) made after much thoughts, research and consideration prior to a commitment. This is often as the B2B purchase requires a large outlay of money or a commitment to service terms, so it makes sense, really. As a result of this buying process, quality leads is a vital component of driving business, and something that is a key focus for marketing teams across the B2B industry. Many B2B marketers use content marketing to drive their business and to generate leads, but what are some of the other ways to get more quality leads? Let’s take a look at some here.
Webinars
The webinar is usually considered a high value item, and so people are often more than happy to provide their contact details for the opportunity to receive some free education and information. When you’re hosting a B2B webinar with the goal of driving new leads, make sure that you ask some lead qualifying questions of your prospects to better figure out the intent of your registrants. Think about asking people who register for your webinar about their interest in your products or services to find out where they sit in the sales cycle. This will allow you to tailor eDMs and other newsletters to their specific needs.
When you’re hosting your webinar make sure you follow these steps:
- Pick a topic that relates to your target audience and make sure you present it to them in an inviting way.
- Make the title catchy and then create assets that speak to your subjects in an interesting an engaging way.
- Think about holding a Q&A session after the webinar so that people have a chance to ask some burning questions of the expert (bear in mind that the Q&A may reveal some new concepts and blog post ideas for your business).
- Choose a great speaker who is going to keep people engaged so they don’t multitask, and stay engaged.
- Hold a survey at the end of your webinar so that people can let you know what they did and didn’t like about the webinar. This will allow you to prepare for your next event.
- Record it for future use to people who signed up and didn’t log on, or as a resource for future video content.
Industry Events
The humble industry event is a goldmine for creating leads and generating interest in your product. You can choose to ramp things up further by actually speaking at an industry event, and then use the content for future cross-promotion.
Follow these tips to get ahead and get more leads:
- Offer tips for the event about how to network at the event, restaurants nearby, and other helpful advice about the event.
- Use the event hashtag as soon as it’s available and use it whenever you’re promoting across the various channels.
- Try to become a speaker at the event by offering educational presentations for people who are attending. Include as much information as you can in your speaker pitch and make yours stand out.
- Live tweet or live update the event to stand out, and encourage others’ promotion of the event by re-tweeting or re-posting their engagement as well.
These are just two of the possible ways that you can leverage events to generate B2B leads for your company with content marketing. A successful B2B marketing strategy will think outside the box and generate leads from as many places as possible. Consider all of the different ways that you can get ahead in B2B marketing and make sure that you’re following a plan for success.