Lead Generation can comprise a variety of strategies, campaigns and activities, all of which we can perform with clear aim in mind – get that lead!
Whereas Traditional Marketing and Outbound Marketing have been the most popular tools among agencies and IT sector B2B companies in recent years, it is now clear, that there is life beyond campaigns of telemarketing and emailings to IT department decision makers from databases.
New Lead Generation campaigns have gradually won their way into Marketing Plans and budgets of numerous firms in their desire to innovate. This has led to greater resources being allocated to these activities which in turn are providing us with ever better results both in the medium and long term. We are now losing our fear of backing new initiatives as the ROI becomes more and more encouraging. And if we were still in any doubt, the fact that the competition is using this system has only proved to be a greater incentive.
Emailing a technological Database helps us filter contact interest quickly leading us to the point of generating BANT leads, while telemarketing finishes the job and qualifies these registers and Leads, looking for business opportunities and needs. We can also go a step further and cold call given partners and manufacturers within the framework of a specific telemarketing campaign.
However for those prospects that we know need face to face contact, Traditional Marketing offers a variety of tools such as Networking Events, which can showcase services and solutions for sales in more congenial surroundings and atmosphere complemented by well-planned/thought out fun activities. The key to the success of such opportunity generation activities based on either live or virtual events is ultimately down to how creative and original we can be in the planning stages. Because although an event is not in itself a campaign, in the future the results such events achieve may well form an intrinsic part of future campaigns.
Innovation within Lead Generation campaigns
New Lead Generation campaigns innovate by analyzing the current state of the market, the companies comprising it and the prospects, while defining new routes able to reach contacts and generate leads.
A methodology that is proving increasingly popular over recent years is that of Inbound marketing, where the idea is to create an attraction for users to check out our services or products on their own initiative. Not bad eh? The idea is to establish a mid – long-term global campaign to generate Leads via different Online Marketing channels.
A successful Inbound campaign requires a variety of Online Marketing tools: an emailing platform, a CMS, blog, Community Manager Etc. Just as well we have such a handy Automated Marketing tool as HubSpot to lend us a hand.
Inbound Marketing is content based and generation of new and exclusive value content has proved to be a bit hit with manufacturers when it comes to attracting new business. Content Marketing is based on a strategy and planning of creating materials: eBooks, Datasheets, Infographics, Videos… all of which help set us apart from the competition as we offer our expertise via a form or direct download. Like last year, in 2016 everything points to video remaining at the top of the content leader board.
Automated Marketing helps simplify our tasks. The state up and planning stages are the most complex, as we have to program the steps our workflow will follow, focusing on the most suitable and personalized lead nurturing for our Buyer Persona to enable us to successfully automate the processes required. The key is to create an automated workflow capable of making leads progress through the Sales Funnel.
Social Sales is another lead generation activity or campaign option open to us. It goes hand in hand with foresight in social networks and monitoring of social media. Selling via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. is a real challenge for long-term sales staff that have understood the need to grow their knowledge or hire tech savvy community managers, who are becoming pivotal figures within their companies.
An increasingly popular way of bringing IT sales and marketing teams up to date with the latest developments, is that of training and workshop activities held in kick off events. This offers an ideal opportunity to get all the Company staff together and train them in selling over the Internet. While it may be true that workshops themselves do not generate leads, in the mid – long term it will enable firms to win new clients or sell to those we already know through the social networks thanks to the work of the sales and marketing teams, who gained them through what they learnt in such training events.
As explained earlier, we must be aware of the Lead Generation campaigns already underway out there in today’s market and which fit out Product and Service and more than that, which are right for our Buyer Persona.
Most important – we have to get rid of our fear of innovating, get out of our comfort zone and go for new activities, which will enable us to keep a step ahead of the competition. For all your needs, contact us at PGR. We are an integral marketing agency with over ten years’ experience running new online lead generation campaigns and activities.
