B2B lead generation is all about identifying prospective buyers of certain products/services to ensure the business growth of an organization. The post discusses two main ways you can plan your B2B lead generation for the best results, and their comparative strengths and weaknesses.
Top providers of B2B lead generation services like The Global Associates understand the fact that the process is fundamental to the success of a business in the year 2022 and beyond. B2B lead generation is primarily about identifying potential customers for your business, and prospects who would likely find value from using your products or services, or solutions.
The process moves forward with reaching out to those prospective buyers, qualifying leads, making proposals, and getting the decision makers on the same table with the sales teams.
Generating quality B2B sales leads is the constant endeavor of lead generation companies in India; they formulate novel strategies in order to make their effort more effective and result-oriented.
We will talk about two main lead generation ways:
Inbound lead generation and outbound lead generation today; but first, it’s important to note here that B2B sales leads are mainly of two types:
1. Marketing-qualified leads or MQLs:
These are targeted leads that are considered to easily become paying customers. They are identified on the basis of their engagement with the marketing team, such as-
-Those who frequently visit a page on the company website
-Those who fill a form (or multiple forms) on your website
-Those who download some content displayed on the company website
-Those who show a keen interest in an event or webinar hosted by your company
2. Sales-qualified leads or SQLs:
MQLs having progressed through the funnel and are considered ready for engagement with the sales team are called SQLs. To be categorized as engagement-ready, a lead must show clear intent to buy from your organization in certain ways, such as-
-A telephonic conversation with your sales rep
Through an email expressing their intent to use your product or service
-Making a request to know more about your product or service
-Requesting a demo of your product
Effective ways for maximizing B2B lead generation in India:
Talking about B2B leads in the manner they are generated, we can categorize them mainly between-
-Inbound leads, and
-Outbound leads
Let us discuss here the similarities and differences between inbound lead generation and outbound lead generation, their comparative benefits, and the ways they are employed by lead generation services to make your lead generation campaign more successful.
Let us discuss the main differences between the two first.
- Inbound lead generation is considered basically as ‘pull’ marketing, and outbound marketing as ‘push’ marketing.
- You encourage the prospects to reach out to you for more information as far as inbound lead generation is concerned. They may ask for demos or make purchases. You are basically striving to pull leads to your website.
- On the other hand, you reach out to customers, as far as outbound lead generation is concerned, through advertising, emails, phone calls, and so on. You basically push out your brand to the prospects.
- You request for the prospect’s permission to interact with them therefore, it’s also described as ‘permission marketing’, while outbound lead generation is about going directly to the customer, thus it may be described as ‘interruption marketing.
Main characteristics:
The main characteristics of the two are given below.
Inbound lead generation
- You educate the prospects about your products or services
- You encourage the prospects to proactively interact with you
- You draw the customers by presenting unique, valuable content
- You seek the customer’s permission to interact with them
Outbound lead generation
- You go out to proactively sell your product or service to the customer
- It’s basically a one-way communication with the prospects
- You invest money in advertising and other means to attract leads
- You send constant messages to cause interruption
Effective methods you can use:
Inbound lead generation gives an opportunity to the customer to choose the time and place of interaction. These leads have a higher success rate and shorter sales cycles. B2B lead generation professionals may use the following methods to make their effort successful:
- Search engine optimization SEO
- Content marketing
- Social media platforms
- Email marketing
Outbound marketing involves one-way communication and it’s used for big-ticket products. Since you interrupt the routine life of the decision makers, you often don’t get very positive responses. The success rate is comparatively low and sales cycles are long, however, it is best suited for long-term engagement and targeted audience. Some of the most effective methods lead generation services may use are as follows:
- Contact syndication on as many platforms as possible
- Selling through social media and social contacts
- Reaching out through cold calling and cold emailing
- Paid advertising and campaign marketing
The primary goal of both inbound and outbound marketing is to generate quality leads for your business. Lead generation companies while using either of these methods need to understand and segment prospects and leads within their target market.
You can use both inbound and outbound lead generation measures to successfully maximize your B2B lead generation effort and create quality opportunities in abundance all the time. Many companies mix the two to achieve excellent results and grow their businesses exponentially.
