The 5 Most Important Business Lead Generation Tools
Saturday, August 21st, 2010Do you find yourself overwhelmed by the business lead generation tools available today? If you do, you are not alone. When it comes to business lead generation, it can be hard to decide what tactics and tools are right for your needs. How much should you draw upon traditional marketing tactics? Do you know enough about some of the newer internet marketing tools and tactics to use them effectively? And, how do you know which tools are right for business customers as opposed to consumer marketing?
Business lead generation is like any other task: you need the right tools for the job. If your customers or clients are businesses, here are some of the most important tactics to include in the tools you take to the job.
1. Customer intelligence. Relationship is everything in marketing today. You simply must do the research to understand your customer thoroughly. Until then, you will not be able to deploy other tools beneficially. You also will have difficulty segmenting prospective clients and customers by preferences and demographic data.
2. Sophisticated understanding of search. You need to know how people search the web to find you. When you interact with people (on your web site, for example) you need to know why they are visiting and where they are in the buying cycle. People at different stages in the sales process use different keywords to search. In business lead generation you need to direct searches to the right kind of landing pages so you don’t present the wrong message or cause them to leave.
3. Establish expertise or thought leadership. Make it very clear that you are an expert and that you know your subject or field. This is very important in business lead generation. The product or service you want to sell to customers must clearly meet their needs or show reliable evidence of ending their pain. This is commonly done with an article marketing strategy and with white papers, special reports, e-books and seminars.
4. Seminars and webinars are vital in business lead generation. These events attract the attention of potential customers or clients and address their needs. They also demonstrate thought leadership. Finally, they are an outstanding way to begin a conversation or a relationship with a prospective client.
5. Social Media. Today, even business lead generation success requires some presence in the social media. Before you start opening accounts with every social media site, take the time to think about your customer and where you are likely to meet that customer. If you are trying to reach a business client, for example, you are far more likely to find that prospect on LinkedIn than on MySpace.
Other tools you will want to have nearby might include telemarketing, events and trade shows, and direct mail. You will also want to consider the appropriate ad venues for your products or services. No matter what additional tools you use, you will definitely need customer insights, internet search, established thought leadership or expertise, seminars or webinars and social media. You will probably find, as well, that using these tools in combination will be very effective for business lead generation.
If you own a small business or professional and want to learn more about lead generation, see the free video, “How Article Promotion Can Send 25,000 - 50,000 Visitors to Your Site Each Month - For Free.”
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