Effective lead generation, combined with a systematic process that will properly nurture prospects until they convert over to your revenue stream can be confusing at best, and disastrous at its worst. Confusing because of all the various techniques available today for attracting the right audience in both the B2C and B2B environment; disastrous because leads that are not properly nurtured result in a reduced marketing ROI, an increase in your cost per conversion, and ultimately, lost sales.
Acquiring new leads begins with understanding where your audience resides, and where they are most comfortable communicating. We all know that the use of cross media channels, whether they be direct mail, email, web advertising, social media advertising, and any combination thereof, will result in a higher response rate. But what about the difference in messaging and timing that is required? In a B2C environment, the audience tends to be more reactive, and you can gain new business and loyal customers by tapping into the tendency many shoppers have to make impulsive decisions about their purchases. In a B2B environment, however, the sales cycle is much longer, and it’s getting longer. It is also not uncommon to find that three or more individuals might be involved in the buying process. Through the use of multiple, informative touches over time, it becomes imperative that you position your company as the one most able to deliver desired outcomes. Marketers need to understand how many touches, how frequent those touches should be, and what constitutes the proper content (white paper, video, product comparisons, case studies, etc.) that will keep the prospect engaged as they progress through the buying cycle.
Developing landing pages where the prospects fill out their contact information prevents them from the need to enter the same information in the future. You are now ready to employ some progressive profiling practices with personalization and targeted messages that will allow you to collect a little more intelligence each time the prospect connects until they ultimately feel more comfortable engaging with your brand.
In the end, tracking results and progress from each prospect every step of the way, whether in the B2C or B2B environment, provides the ability to constantly monitor and alter messaging and impact the success of your efforts to generate new customers. Every business is unique, and every business’s needs fluctuate and vary from company to company. Contact us today to learn more about how an R.C. Brayshaw Marketing Analysis can help your company identify areas where you are losing business to your competition, and how we can help you capture those opportunities you are currently missing out on.
Tom Brayshaw, President & CEO