B2B Lead Generation Basics

It should not be too much of a surprise to see how technological progress tends to change even the most basic human processes – purchasing products is a great example of that. Convincing a customer to buy something has become a rather problematic process when the only tools that you have are all classified as “traditional” marketing tactics or channels.

One of the biggest reasons for this particular change is the accessibility of the research as a whole – pretty much any customer can research and compare all of the alternatives depending on specific factors, and that is even before the initial demo or trial stage. This is why there is an abundance of new terms and tactics that we have to talk about – starting with lead generation.

In this context, a “lead” is also an important term – it is how a potential client is defined, if they’re showing an interest in your product or service. The interest is an important factor, even if the client in question is not yet convinced that they need your product. Any company is interested in turning said interest into an actual purchase – including both B2B and B2C clients, no matter how different these two approaches are.

B2B and B2C are two of the main client types here – Business-to-Business and Business-to-Company, with the former being a representative of the enterprise clientele, and the latter representing regular customers. When it comes to a B2C market, this particular process is as simple as a trial period registration that may or may not turn into a purchase at some point in the future.

For B2B, on the other hand, this process is far more complicated – and it is not easy to name one specific reason. Lead generation as a whole in the B2B field often consists of multiple different levels of interaction with the potential client – as such, the process of selling something takes an incredibly long time.

Another reason for the B2B lead generation process to be this complicated is the aim of every lead generation strategy to interact with different levels of audience within the same company. As an example, we can take a client with the need for an enterprise-level backup and recovery system – in this case, the original sales pitch would be mostly targeting data center managers, administrators, and similar positions, while the following step would be to contact the IT management in some way (CTOs, CIOs, etc.).

That’s not the end of it, either – sometimes, other parts of the company should also be contacted, including CEOs, CFOs, procurement chief, and others, so that all of the company’s managers are aware of why the company needs this particular product. This single example presents at least three different levels of target audience within the same company, with each level having its own requirements and standards.

More information about this particular topic, as well as multiple examples of B2B lead generation for technological companies, can be found in this article: https://iunisov.com/enterprise-b2b-lead-generation-for-technology-companies/. 

In this context, we can describe one of the personal examples from the article above – using templates, whitepapers and e-books as assets for lead generation. This method mostly works in cases when the material you’re planning to use is of some relevance to the theme of the lead generation process. Which is why keyword generation is an important first step here – allowing us to figure out which keywords are more popular and could bring more leads.

Alternatively, a whitepaper or a template is next to useless when it is not connected with a specific keyword combination – rendering it useless as the lead generation material. For this specific reason, case studies are also not particularly useful in terms of lead generation – since there is no connection to a specific keyword.

In my specific case, whitepapers connected with specific keyword combinations served as a useful method of lead generation for two companies: Cipherpoint and Bacula Systems. It was formed as a call-to-action block that focused on specific topics – disaster recovery, backup and recovery RFPs, ransomware prevention, etc. Using the results of keyword collection, I’ve managed to figure out the dependency between disaster recovery as a whole and a disaster recovery plan, which is why the whitepaper on this particular topic was used in the first place.

On the topic of differences between B2B and B2C lead generation, we can also go over PPC (Pay-per-click) advertising. As with lead generation as a whole, PPC is far easier to use when aimed at the B2C market, and it is a bit more problematic with B2B clients. More in-depth material on this topic can be found here: https://iunisov.com/ppc-b2b-lead-generation/. 

As we’ve mentioned before, B2B lead generation can use multiple different types of assets – ebooks, whitepapers, templates, checklists, and more. Each and every one of these assets can be promoted using PPC advertising. In the example from the article above, I’ve explained a specific use case – a promotion for a “Disaster Recovery Plan Template”. 

The page itself is rather simple – a short explanation of the template itself and a download form. In this case, we’re targeting IT managers and system administrators – the ones responsible for disaster recovery plans, as a whole. This is why it’s a useful tactic that reaps a generous amount of results, with the cost-per-lead being around $20-25 (depending on several factors, from geography to the current season).

You can see in the article above that the demand for this specific keyword combination is quite impressive, offering over 400 leads per month – which demonstrates the interest in the product as a whole. The conversion rates for this search campaign are also rather high – 12,11%.

This, and several other examples of PPC being used for promoting lead generation in the B2B sphere, can be found in the article above. Additionally, a plethora of industry-specific information, as well as multiple articles about SEO, promotion, lead generation, as well as many other interesting topics, can be found using this link: https://iunisov.com/.