Modern B2B Lead Generation – 5 Key Areas to Manage

Successful B2B marketing is a moving target, so it’s critical for marketers to keep up with new trends and opportunities. 

Business buyers are becoming more savvy with social networking and other modern tools, using them to search for product information and exchange that information in peer-focused meeting spaces. Today’s marketers need to factor this into their lead generation tactics in order to attract and convert these prospects into qualified leads. Here are five key areas leading marketers are paying attention to now.

1. Create content through buyer personas.

   Content creation is essential to the B2B marketing mix. Without it, most marketers would quickly see a drop in engagement and the number of leads they generate. However, not all content is created equal, so it’s important to generate focused content based on the needs and wants of your target market, as opposed to dealing in generic topics designed for a broad industry audience.

   With this in mind, marketers are now taking the time to develop a comprehensive persona for each type of buyer. This makes it far easier for them to flesh out a content plan that drives leads.

2. Boost your data quality.

   As more and more data feeds in from prospects and current customers, marketers need to ensure the lead data they have is quality. Those who haven’t evolved past spreadsheets or homegrown databases may incur lower-quality data, which will result in poor lead generation.

   In 2011, a rapidly growing number of companies are launching lead generation management systems to help them filter and maintain consistent, error-free data that will boost their lead generation campaigns.

3. Go mobile with your marketing.

   Mobile marketing strategies are becoming a requirement for those looking to increase their sales-qualified leads. With both iPhone and Android activating nearly 500,000 handsets a day, mobile is one of the fastest growing marketing opportunities to come along in a long time.

   This, coupled with the fact that most smartphones are powerful mini-computers that give prospects instant access to whatever information they are seeking, anytime and anywhere, equals an opportunity marketers can’t afford to miss.

   Since buyers have this type of access, modern B2B marketers also need to be using mobile apps and to create mobile versions of content that are specific to their targeted prospects. They also need integrated marketing analytics for mobile-based buyers.

4. Integrate social media strategies.

   While many companies are still pondering the question of how to calculate ROI from social media, some companies are pulling away from the pack and yielding results from their social media marketing efforts.

   The biggest B2B social media mistake to avoid right now is to jump in without understanding what social media is, and how to leverage it for lead generation. These days marketers are investing significant time to create structured plans to manage different social networks and get as many good leads out of them as possible.

5. Make sure your team is trained.

   It’s one thing to have great tools, but knowing how to use them is another matter.  As applications are updated, people move in and out of departments, and marketplaces and buying cycles change, it’s critical to ensure that the people using the above tools are well trained.

   This year, training has become more important than ever for the majority of digital marketing implementers. Marketers are relying increasingly on external and agency-based training to fully comprehend and implement effective campaigns that raise lead generation numbers and contribute to the revenue cycle as a whole.