Five Myths Of B2B Lead Generation Campaigns

When promoting your business, you probably have tried out a variety of marketing tactics and strategies that you think will bring you the B2B leads that you need. Lucky for you if you succeed, but it would be a different story if it did not pan out. In any case, your aim here is to  ensure the overall success of your B2b lead generation campaign. And if you think that you know everything there is to proper marketing and appointment setting, well, you might want to think again. There is that high likelihood that you are basing your marketing efforts on myths. Honestly, that is the last thing you would want to experience in your business. So, what are these myths that you should know about?

First, some marketers believe that the customers care about your business. Renowned advertising executive and blogger Bob Hoffman has long disproven that. Customers do not care about you at all, they care about themselves. That is why they are your customers in the first place. If you think that all those sales leads nurturing that you are doing will get you the sale, you should reconsider that thinking. Chances are, you have lost the deal.

Second, you use the same message in different mediums. That is one mistake that you should never make. Yes, your message may be clear and concise, but how sure are you that it would be relayed right with different mediums? In the same manner that you do not use transfer a B2B telemarketing script to television, you should also craft your message according to the medium that you will be using. You have to be careful in that regard.

Third, you send the same message to all business prospects. This is one of the biggest no-no’s in the marketing field. Any sensible marketer will tell you that each prospect is different, and that requires a different manner to communicate with them. Some like it informal, while there are those who wish for a more formal approach. Others enjoy the conversation, while some might prefer going straight to the point. The trick here is in PERSONALIZATION. That will get you better results.

Fourth, you sound just too smart in your promotions. Yes, you want to say your entire piece to your sales leads prospects, but you would want to put your efforts on a leash if you notice that your prospect is losing interest in you. Match your wording and approach according to the person you are talking with. In this way, you not only personalize your marketing (which satisfies point number three), you also make your prospects think more on how you can help them (which point number one has mentioned).

Lastly, you think that B2B lead generation is easy. To be honest, it never was. Success can only be had through hard work and constancy of your efforts. This is the secret to generating customers for your business.

If you can correct your way of thinking, especially with regards to the above myths, then your B2B lead generation efforts will not go to waste.

Building Relationships To Help In B2B Lead Generation

Marketing and B2B lead generation evolve over time, and this observation could not have been truer than today. In the past, we look for B2B leads for the sake of making a sale. Yes, that is true at that time, since we have something good to offer and the market is large. But these days, things are being done quite differently. It is no longer just about making a sale happen. This is now about establishing a Relationship with your sales leads prospects. You see, in today’s highly competitive B2B market, the customers you successfully gather today will affect your continued survival tomorrow.

Still, reality shows us just how poorly employed building-relationship is in business. Let us put it this way: have you ever seen a billboard ad, a business brochure, or a B2B telemarketing that you can really relate to? That you feel like the company is actually interested in your life and that they really have something you need? If the answer is mostly no, then you will understand why these same companies may not really have good revenue streams. Sure, the market still follows the motions, still buying, but the moment a better-priced or better-quality competitor steps in, then these customers will move away.

Establishing a relationship with your business prospects is not really that hard. You see, it is all about knowing what really sticks into the mind of your audience. Aside from that, it also pays to know what B2B appointment setting medium will truly get the attention of your people. But you need to know which one will work well with your intended audience. I mean, you have to identify which medium are your B2B leads prospects are most involved in. It does not make sense to invest in a marketing strategy that would not be able to reach your prospects effectively. This requires you to study your market well, maybe conduct some phone surveys to understand what the prospects exactly have in mind.

Researching more about your prospects is also an important part of your marketing campaign. You need to know more about your business prospects. Information about your business prospects is the first important step in the B2B lead generation process. Inquire more about your customers. Talk to them in person, interact with them more, ask them about their problems, learn their main issues, and use the information you obtain to come up with viable solutions for them. What you need to remember is to talk to your prospects as naturally as you can. You have to put your prospects at ease, which will give you better opportunities to convert your prospects into an actual sale or a deal.

In any case, if you do not feel like up to this kind of task, then you can also opt for the alternative:outsource to a professional B2B lead generation company. This would also be perfect for businesses that do not have their own marketing team. As a business investment, this is worth it.

5 Indications of an Ineffective B2B Email Newsletter

Given the success of email marketing in B2B lead generation and its consistent presence in most businesses’ marketing campaigns, it’s hard to imagine that email newsletters would fail. But it does happen, and the problem is that marketers tend to be in denial of the fact that it’s not working and that they need to do something about it.

Marketers need to identify the signs that tell whether or not an email campaign is successful. Although these indications are pretty obvious, they’re the ones that marketers need to take a look at so they can make the necessary adjustments. These indications are as follows:

1. Low subscription rate; high unsubscribe rate. If your list of subscribers got stuck at 20 and no longer growing, then you obviously have a problem. Also, if people seem to unsubscribe constantly, that’s another problem. To address this, go back to the mechanism that allows them to subscribe – is it a tick box on your landing page? Is it a full-pledged form? You may want to rethink your subscription offers, too. Check whether the frequency and/or content are making them happy.
2. Awful open rates. Your subscribers may not be quitting on you, but if they’re not opening the stuff you send them, it’s pretty much the same thing. It could be your subject line. It could be the timing. Or it could be a previous content piece they so disliked that they've decided not to read anything from you, and they’re just too kind to unsubscribe.
3. Unpromising click-though rates. The industry standard is currently at 4.3%. Is your CTR reaching that target? If no, but intermittently, then you might still be in the game. If no with consistency, then you might as well refocus your energy on something else.
4. Calls-to-action are in oblivion. CTAs measure the very purpose of lead generation. If they are being ignored (or worse, if they are becoming invisible), then you need to check what’s going on. Is it the presentation style of the CTA? Is it being too pushy? Does it make the process too complicated for prospects?
5. Spam rates are unusually high. Being marked as a spammer is the ultimate symptom – it means your would-be readers are just too unengaged and will only generate more spam complaints in the future. If your spam rates are going through the roof, it may be best to pull the plug on email marketing (for a while), rethink the strategy and redeem yourself next time.