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For any B2B business, the ultimate marketing goal is to design a campaign that creates a steady stream of high-quality leads. Unfortunately, this isn’t always easy to establish. While there are many ways you can attract leads, not all of them are effective for a business-to-business brand.
For B2B companies, lead generation is all about improving trust and establishing a strong connection. This is commonly done through social media, content marketing, and search engine marketing. However, if you want to attract the best leads possible, you also need to be sure your lead generation tactics are working appropriately.
Let’s check out three tactics you should be using if you’re trying to bring new high-quality leads to your business!
Key Takeaways:
- Social media platforms like LinkedIn enable B2B companies to attract new attention online.
- Content marketing and SEO can help curious customers find the information they need to make smarter purchasing decisions.
- Trade shows and conferences can foster strong customer relationships by generating leads in-person.
1. Attract Attention with Social Media
Social media is a great way to connect with leads, customers, and clients. Your social platforms enable you to engage with your target audience on a more personal level, helping you create strong relationships and attract long-term customers and clients. However, a B2B business needs to approach social media a bit differently than B2C companies do.
For a B2C business, connecting with customers on social media is all about entertainment and information. However, this isn’t true for B2B businesses. Instead, a business-to-business company needs to focus on providing education and professional materials. This means that B2B brands are more likely to find success on more professional social platforms, such as LinkedIn, rather than traditional sites like Facebook and Twitter.
If you’re hoping to use social media to attract new leads for your B2B business, you need to focus on the value you’re providing to your target audience, such as in the above example from LinkedIn. Not only does this mean providing high-quality content to your friends and followers, but also remaining active in social conversations. Engaging with your audience, jumping into LinkedIn groups, and properly filling out your profile can also help you improve the number of leads you’re attracting.
2. Capture Leads with Content Marketing
Trust is crucial for any business-to-business transaction. When a company chooses a product or service to purchase, they depend on that item to improve their own business. If the purchase does not meet their expectations, they’ve risked time, money, and the success of their business. In other words, they don’t make purchasing decisions lightly.
Content is one of the best ways to improve trust with a B2B audience. The content you create can provide your potential customers with the information they need to understand your value and decide whether or not your offerings are right for them. Content is also a great way to grab audience members who are browsing the web or searching online for other things.
To attract new leads with content marketing, you need to first consider the many forms your content can take. For a B2B business, this includes more in-depth content, such as webinars, long-form blog posts, and informative videos. However, when creating your content marketing plan, you need to consider the unique preferences your audience may have. Try using a mix of different content types, to ensure that you’re providing something for everyone. In the end, however, the quality of your content is what causes repeat visits and customer loyalty.
3. Gain Recognition Through Search Engine Marketing
Search engines have become the go-to source for any questions, concerns, or problems that both B2B and B2C customers have. To appeal to potential customers looking for solutions or answers, you need to appropriately market on search engines. For a B2B business, this means using both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising to attract new leads.
When it comes to appearing on a search engine results list, organic results are going to drive more traffic your way. This means that your SEO strategy is likely to bring in more attention than a PPC strategy. However, SEO can be difficult to implement and will take time before you see real results. To offset the drawbacks of SEO, you can use paid advertisements to push target audience members to your website:
To create a strong SEO strategy for your B2B business, you need to truly understand how your target audience is using the search engine. This means doing the proper keyword research to find words and phrases that are not highly competitive but are still being used by your target audience. As the base for both SEO and PPC, choosing strong keywords will help you attract high-quality leads for your business.
Bonus: Make Connections via Trade Shows and Conferences
When we think about lead generation, we often focus on digital connections. However, in-person conversations can also lead to high-quality leads. In fact, speaking with potential B2B customers at trade shows and conferences can be an excellent way to generate new leads and grow your business.
Having a face-to-face conversation about your company, products, or services enables you to establish a deep connection with your potential customer. When you’re speaking with a representative of a company you’d like to do business with, you’re able to create both a personal and professional relationship with that individual. These stronger relationships will not only encourage more sales, but may also spark some recommendations and referrals.
However, if you’re hoping to attract new leads while at a trade show or conference, you’ll need to find a way to make yourself stand out. Depending on the size of the event, there may be a lot of competition looking to accomplish the same thing. Offering a promotion, handing out a free sample, or finding another way to make yourself memorable can go a long way. After the event, you want to be sure to follow up with the connections you make to properly nurture them into customers.
Conclusion
In order to grow your B2B business, you need to attract high-quality leads who are excited to do business with you. However, not all lead generation tactics are going to give you the results you’re looking for. You need to be strategic about the tactics you use and how you implement them.
Let’s recap the four lead generation tactics you should be using to grow your B2B business:
- Use social media to effectively attract attention to your brand.
- Capture leads through a strong content marketing strategy.
- Create a search engine marketing plan to gain organic recognition.
- Make connections at trade shows and conferences.
How do you think these lead generation tactics will improve your business? Let us know in the comments section below!
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