Effective lead generation is winning sustainable business from influential consumers – not acquiring low-grade prospects who may or may not convert down the line. It should come as no surprise that effective lead gen marketing can be difficult even for the world’s largest organizations. In a recent survey from Eloqua, CMO.com and Software Advice, nearly all B2B brands report using an impressive number of channels to generate leads. Email marketing and SEO content are the most popular tactics, and every surveyed brand uses trade shows, telemarketing initiatives, social media marketing ads and behavioral retargeting.
More, 97 percent of B2B Fortune 500 companies use web tracking tools to evaluate leads, and 78 percent use content marketing to draw in web users. ClickZ noted that Fortune 500 brands often fail to follow up with lead submission forms – only 55 percent followed up with potential customers. Every ignored lead is a missed sales opportunity. Brands trying to find the best next steps should consider smart content marketing strenghtens lead gen and extends into sales and loyalty.
Only 55 percent followed up with potential customers.
The survey (covered by ClickZ) supports the idea that active marketing methods offer extended interaction opportunities, which outperform passive content blasts. Marketers must realize that organic and honest engagement performs better than standardized emails or scheduled social media posts, and this may be an area overlooked by B2B organizations.
The survey concluded that the most endorsed lead generation tactics were email marketing and SEO campaigns. These practices put branded content in front of readers, but the copy must be written with personality, or leads will look the other way. To increase the volume of new customers flowing into the sales cycle, marketers must adapt their strategies to become active and dynamic processes, as these efforts have proven to be most effective in the B2B space.
