Successful and strategized B2B lead generation feeds your international sales representatives and arms them with what they need to get deals done and ensure the continued growth of your tech business. The aim of the game is to bring in as many new customers and point them toward your product or service.
Lead generation strategies, such as the five strategies suggested by Forbes, are used to attract potential customers and guide them down the right path toward your product, service, or even current offers. Forget cold calling or telemarketing tactics of old. Successful website optimization is the best way to develop an efficient lead generation strategy. But how can you increase your efforts? Is it as simple as adding a “Click Here” button to your website and social media pages, then sit back and wait for the results to flood in? Or is it something deeper than that? Casual visitors to your site are all well and good, but you want to turn them into paying customers. They click on a call-to-action — maybe that’s a link in a blog post that’s of interest to them. That takes them to a landing page where they can register interest and you can collect their details via a form. In turn, they are thanked for visiting and you now have a lead to work with.
Let’s take a look at how to increase lead generation efforts online, and by doing so strengthen the quantitative and qualitative leads that will convert to sales.
Homework comes before any improvement strategy. Look first at the current state of affairs in order to know where your business and lead generation efforts need improvement. Where does the most traffic currently come from? Use your analytics tool and work out exactly which area performs best. Compare the results from tracking your lead generation traffic and use the tool to compare conversion rates. You should be looking at the following areas:
Identify where your leads are coming from now. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it—but, do improve where you can. Ensure that whatever pages the leads are landing on are functioning correctly, and are optimized to the max. Once you have audited the process, you will have a clearer view of what to do next. Ensure all those forms are added, and that you’re making the most of your landing pages.
Set some KPIs for B2B lead generation. KPIs for lead generation are the metrics that will help your international sales representatives and outbound lead generation teams to be better. You will improve the prospective lead value and thus increase the lead conversion rate.
Put the right potential customers into your funnel right from the outset. Don’t send them off somewhere else. By this, we mean if you have, for example, a blog about why sales outsourcing is a great fit for SaaS then you are attracting readers who want to know why it’s a good fit for them and for their SaaS business. So, the content will be driven around that subject and the links will take them to the landing pages where they can register interest, where you can then have a conversation with them about what they require. You want to capitalize on their piqued interest, so show them what they’re looking for. Your service, product or current offer should always be related to the page they are on. If you don’t do that then your competitor will, and they are always just one tab away.
We all judge a book by its cover! Branding has to be kept simple and smart, and your call-to-actions (CTAs) should follow suit. They’re critical to get right as part of your strategy to increase lead generation efforts online. If you want to attract those leads, look attractive, and personalize them. From blog subscriptions to encouraging a potential lead to leave a comment, to something as obvious as using your brand colors — there are many ways to keep your CTAs smart and visually appealing. Hubspot shows us eight types of CTAs you should absolutely try out. Make it as easy as possible for potential customers to follow your business, subscribe, comment, connect and contact. CTAs open the door for international sales leads to communicate with you directly, allowing your sales representatives to pick up the baton.
Live chat is attractive. It’s a confidence booster for a lead to have the ability to ask whatever they need to know and be given an instant answer, or to be directed to where they wish to go. Perhaps you’re considering a scale-up to Europe? You will be required to perhaps integrate your live chat function with your customer service team. If you choose to use the services of an outsourced sales agency like ours, for example, then you will also be communicating the right message to the right culture. Via multichannel Europe lead generation, available in ten languages. A one-size-fits-all simply doesn’t fit! It's targetless. Be prepared to do business how the lead wants. A customer in Italy or Spain or Poland will be more comfortable communicating in their own language, with its own nuances. Don’t allow your business to get lost in translation or commit a linguistic faux pas. A slip or blunder may cost you a customer.
Pay-per-click (PPC) is another way to increase lead generation for B2B businesses. One of the best ways to target prospective new customers, and allows you to perform audience segmentation — it allows you to break down an interested —because they clicked in the first place — group of people into different segments, including:
This allows you to use a refined approach to get to know who is more likely to buy your product or service and where they are based, comparing them to metrics of past customers and observing any changing habits in purchasing. PPC is especially useful in a new or unknown market for scale-ups. Pose the right questions and you will be able to know how much they typically spend, and how often.
It's also a very valuable tactic to retarget those who have already visited your website without converting. A Facebook retargeting campaign often has a really high ROI because your target audience is more open-minded while just scrolling.
Just because you develop the best strategy on how to increase lead generation efforts online, does not mean you can sit back and think of it as a job done. Change happens. Habits change, pandemics happen and the world keeps on turning. So buyers change too, and you will need to keep testing, testing and testing some more. Constantly look at those KPIs for lead generation, keep checking the metrics, keep abreast of change and move and act with it. What’s your ROI like? It’s probably the single most important metric in your business. Concise and regular conversion tracking on your blog or site and lead generation landing pages and forms is paramount for a successful strategy and improving lead quality for your tech business. If you are not measuring then how can you manage and improve? You cannot.
And remember, when you have it all down right and working, and you’re successful, use your boasting rights to full capacity. If you have satisfied clients then shout about it. We all only use tradespeople that come recommended, right? It’s the same with your service or product.
Likewise, letting the world know who your international partners are, it adds to your reputation, and trust and instilled confidence are two of the essential elements of good business. Both will increase your stance right at the beginning of a business relationship, from lead generation online to a satisfied and returning customer, who may well boast about you.
