Focus on these 10 fantastic B2B lead generation and marketing platforms in 2022.
You have a significant edge over B2C enterprises as a B2B company. This is because you now have access to even more sales data from previous years. This is due to more sales staff, more marketing spending, and more direct conversations with clients. You may use this information to determine your lead generation strategy for the coming year by looking at prior trends, lead sources, and effective tactics.
Do you want to get a leg up on your rivals? Then you’ll want to be ahead of the game by discovering the most effective B2B marketing methods early on. If it takes a long time, B2B marketing and lead generation is far more difficult than B2C marketing and lead generation (B2C). Using the same material and techniques year after year will fail since social media outlets are always changing and updating. The most essential takeaway from this article is to ensure that your organization stays current with industry developments to stay ahead of the competition. It’s also crucial to note that not every marketing strategy you try will be successful, and that’s just fine. It’s best to find out what your customers think sooner rather than later.
Let’s look at the lead generation and marketing channels that your company should prioritize in 2022. time for your team to figure out what works and what doesn’t, you may lose business.
Lead generation channels: pros and cons
Keynote Speaking
Presenting a keynote speech at an in-person industry conference is the single highest-ROI lead generation channel.
Pros:
Having the stage bestows authority that no other medium can match. You’ll also have your audience’s full attention, providing you the best chance to make an impact. The in-person event also provides several opportunities for networking afterward, and giving a fantastic speech assures that your audience will want to speak with you in the first place. When you become a regular speaker at events, you gain credibility in other areas as well.
Cons:
The disadvantage of giving a keynote speech at a high-end conference is that it is practically hard to earn and prohibitively expensive to purchase. Conferences are events, and their organizers want to provide guests with the greatest experience possible, which typically includes recruiting well-known specialists or celebrities as keynote speakers. While you can work your way into one of those positions, the combination of inherent talent and years of reputation-building required to achieve a top keynote speaking slot is vanishingly few.
Thought Leadership SEO
Thought leadership-centered SEO is the next best thing to keynote speaking—basically the written version of it.
Pros:
When done correctly, this lead-generating channel provides a high return on investment as well as long-term viability. Without further work, a single outstanding post with a high Google ranking can provide quality leads for years. It also results in increased visitor trust and, as a result, higher conversion rates as an organic route. Finally, you may repurpose your content for other organic channels like LinkedIn and email marketing.
Cons:
The difficulty and length of time required for SEO are disadvantages. It necessitates knowledge of both your industry and the creation of high-quality thought leadership content. This content should always aim for the proper keywords, satisfy search intent, and guide visitors through the B2B marketing funnel. Furthermore, it will take 4–6 months from the start of a campaign to see results, which will be longer if you post less than twice a week. Thought leadership marketing, on the other hand, offers significantly lower Customer Acquisition Costs when done correctly.
Email Marketing
Due to its low cost and utility in nurturing leads, email marketing is an exceptionally successful lead generation strategy.
Pros:
All that is required is a list of contacts and content to send to them. Of particular note is that when a company already has a thought leadership campaign, that content has already been created.
Cons:
When your lists have been organically grown over time and categorized based on industry, customer type, and any other relevant category, this channel is most effective. Frequent emails act as reminders or updates about your company to present and new consumers, and can even resurrect a dormant lead. Sending too many emails, However, sending emails more frequently than once a month can result in unsubscribe requests and may hurt your connections with prospects, which is why we recommend sending emails no more than once a month.
LinkedIn Organic
When done over time, posting on LinkedIn has a high return on investment, because it’s an organic channel that your entire B2B audience is likely to use.
Pros:
When you publish on LinkedIn, you can be confident that your readers are already thinking about business and will be interested in what you have to say. You can also build your LinkedIn content library by reformatting existing information.
Cons:
This platform also reaps the benefits of a previous thought leadership effort. Your blog entries and white papers can be condensed into LinkedIn articles, saving you money.
PPC / SEM
PPC is a tried-and-true paid channel with a wide range of costs and reasonable outcomes.
Pros:
Because of their quantitative nature, search ads, particularly through Google Adwords, are a go-to for B2B web marketers. PPC is effective for achieving short-term, targeted objectives. Paid search campaigns that are properly managed, with a close eye on performance and budget, can generate leads almost immediately.
Cons:
Successful PPC campaigns are challenging to implement because they necessitate ongoing keyword research, testing, and refinement, as well as a well-defined scope. In two scenarios, they’re most effective when combined with an organic SEO effort. The first is to close the gap between when an SEO effort starts and when it starts to generate leads. The second option is to try out a new market or target a secondary audience without making the long-term commitment that SEO entails.
LinkedIn Advertising
LinkedIn advertising is more effective than many people realize, and while it doesn’t have the same high ROI as the organic channels mentioned above, it’s a well-paid performer.
Pros:
You can tailor your advertisements to specific job titles, areas, industries, and even corporations with LinkedIn Advertising, allowing you to build the right pitch for each audience you target. For a paid channel, conversion rates on LinkedIn advertising are also rather strong.
Cons:
An ad will not receive the same level of confidence from LinkedIn users as a well-written article. One thing to bear in mind concerning LinkedIn Advertising is that it is more expensive than its organic cousin, as is the case with most sponsored channels. Similar to PPC, you can only create leads if you keep spending money on advertisements, and LinkedIn boosts its ad prices every year.
Trade Shows
Face-to-face chances, particularly in the post-COVID environment, can generate warm leads; but, the quality of conferences and the level of confidence participants have for vendors vary greatly.
Pros:
Trade exhibitions are a quick and concrete approach to do market research and gain exposure to your target demographic. In-person contacts are also more meaningful than those made online, and if you’re in a non-geographically reliant business like B2B SaaS, trade events are one of the only methods to meet faraway customers face to face. The event can also serve a dual purpose by providing your employees with an opportunity to learn about current advances in your business.
Cons:
Trade shows, on the other hand, are a costly option. Even if the exhibition venue or conference itself is inexpensive, the expense of tangible marketing items, travel, and housing quickly adds up. You’ll also be fighting for attention with other exhibitors—even with companies that aren’t in your industry.
Podcasts
In 2021-2022, if people can find your show in the crowded world of podcasts, you’ll be rewarded with a highly engaged audience.
Pros:
When properly targeted, a podcast may be one of the most engaging B2B lead-generating platforms. You have a captive audience of potential consumers who are on their way to work, exercising, or otherwise in a state where they are susceptible to influence.
Cons:
You must have audio production experience to create a high-quality podcast for your listeners. Moreover, you will need to hire experts who are charismatic and able to devote enough time to personal recordings.
Public Relations (PR)
The results of public relations are on the lower end of the spectrum, but the right press hit can be extremely valuable.
Pros:
Traditional public relations, which focuses on news outlets, blogs, television, and radio, requires a significant amount of personnel, resulting in an expensive lead generation channel with the potential to have a significant influence. It’s impossible to mimic the trust and goodwill that comes from a reputable media outlet publishing positive stories about your company.
Cons:
In general, the cost-benefit analysis dictates that only the wealthiest organizations can afford to hire experienced public relations personnel or agencies. The PR process is also so hit-or-miss that it’s not uncommon to lose a few hundred thousand dollars with no discernible results.
Video
It is the blending of words, music, and images that makes video so compelling. Video is not a top-of-funnel lead generation channel, though it is very useful for conversion.
Pros:
Video is an effective approach to explain difficult concepts and may also establish a one-way social connection with your viewers, which helps to build trust. It allows your customers to put a face to your products and services without having to meet you in person.
Cons:
Video, like audio, can quickly become prohibitively expensive. Professional video creation costs well into the six figures, and low-quality video can sometimes cause more harm than benefit. Unlike podcasts, videos require undivided attention, thus busy decision-makers may not be able to devote the time to watch a lengthy film.
Direct Mail
Direct mail is expensive and its return is minimal, making it an ineffective lead generation channel.
Pros:
Direct mail, such as traditional paper-in-envelopes or postcards, has a retro vibe these days and can be used in more traditional businesses. A physical reminder might sometimes aid someone in remembering your company’s contact information if they intend to contact you later.
Cons:
Direct mail is costly when all of the disadvantages of paid channels and physical media are considered. Even if you do manage to reach a decision-maker who hasn’t had their “snail mail” screened, you must captivate their attention in the 5 seconds it takes them to go from their mailbox to their trash bin.
Conclusion
It takes creative, industrious marketing teams to execute the highest-ROI lead-generation strategies, whether they are in-house or external. If you have never run a successful lead generation campaign through a certain channel, working with a vendor makes more sense.
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