This article will look at what a lead is, and what B2B lead generation means. We will also try to understand why lead generation is important for business, along with the steps involved in the process.
In this article
The current business landscape is a competitive one. In order to stay ahead of their competition, many businesses might be looking to adopt the right B2B (business to business) lead generation strategy. Before we delve more into what is lead generation, let us first understand what a lead is.
What is a lead?
In simple words, a lead (sales lead) is a potential customer or ‘prospect’. The prospect may be interested in the product or services that your business offers. There are multiple sources a company can attract leads from, and once they find that lead to be a suitable fit for their business, they may try to convert that lead into a customer. Businesses may convert leads using various strategies like sales, marketing, relationship building, follow-ups etc.
What is B2B lead generation?
The practice of acquiring a list of contacts of potential customers with the purpose of nurturing and qualifying them as sales possibilities is known as lead generation. B2B lead generation —in particular— is the process of identifying potential clients which are other companies or businesses, increasing their interest in your business and trying to convert them into customers. In contrast, B2C lead generation —or business-to-customer lead generation— focuses on marketing products and services to individuals instead of businesses.
Lead generation software can help businesses by digitising the process of lead capturing and data tracking. This means that businesses can potentially track a lead, see the page a visitor landed on, and later target them with the right content. Lead generation software can also possibly help them with marketing campaigns by sending campaign reminders, scheduling, and launching campaigns etc.
Now that we have an understanding of what lead generation is, let us understand why lead generation may be important for businesses.
Why is lead generation important for small businesses?
It could be important for businesses to know their target audience so that they don’t spend time and money promoting their products to a customer who isn’t interested in their business. Advertising their brand to the target customer base may help businesses with recognition, which in turn may make it easier for them to convert leads since a lead that is already familiar with a brand is more likely to place their trust in them. Below we list some advantages of lead generation for small businesses.
Aids in better customer service
By having a lead generation strategy in place, businesses can potentially focus more on serving their existing customers better rather than spending a lot of time and resources on acquiring new clients.
Helps sales teams utilise accurate data
Lead generation is likely beneficial for companies’ sales processes. For sales teams, it can help ensure that sales departments are targeting leads with accurate and relevant data. It can also help them engage with the right audience and give them an idea of how much the market is receptive to their product.
Improves target marketing
Marketing teams can benefit by knowing more about the behaviour of their potential customers, creating customisable content to target them better, and help increase brand awareness.
Now that we know why it is important for businesses to have a lead generation strategy in place, let us look at how you can potentially generate leads for your business.
How can you generate leads for your business?
An article by Gartner states that in order to prevent missing out on high-quality leads (leads with high conversion potential), marketers frequently send a large number of leads to their sales staff. A high amount of undesired contacts —on the other hand— might compel sales professionals to spend time sifting through low-quality leads (leads with low conversion potential), and developing connections with prospects who don’t meet the ideal customer profile. As such, we list a few steps that can help you in this process.
Identifying the lead
In order to convert a lead successfully, it is potentially important to understand who qualifies as a lead. Knowing what your ideal customer should be like may take you closer to the goal. Businesses should define their ideal customer by outlining their most important traits as well as the attributes that influence their behaviour.
Capturing the lead
Now that we know what our ideal lead looks like, this step is the time to attract them via channels like social media, websites, blogs etc. using different types of content that may tempt them to explore your product or service. The Gartner article mentioned above also emphasises that B2B marketers must discover and deploy high-performing content where their potential buyers are most likely to find them.
After taking interest in your content, the lead may click the call-to-action (CTA) button and land on your landing page, which should be ideally created to collect information on the lead.
Converting the lead
After the information on a lead is collected through forms or other means, businesses may want to leverage that information by giving lucrative offers or promotional plans to potential customers. In case the lead does not show interest instantly, the same information can be used to send them targeted and personalised communications again in an attempt to stir their interest.
In conclusion
Building a good lead generating strategy might take some time, and there might be some trial and error involved. However —just like with any sort of marketing— you might want to ensure that you’re targeting the right demographic and thinking about their concerns and best interests. That could allow you to send a more personalised message to a potential client, as well as engage in a more authentic business discussion.
