GENERATING LEADS – WHAT’S YOUR BEST SOURCE?

By Brien O’Brien

Marketers in the B2B space know that generating leads for the sales department is one of the most critical jobs they do.  Leads equal sales.  Sales equal revenue.  Revenue traced back to marketing dollars equals a positive ROI.  But in the maze of generating quality leads, what are the best sources for those leads?  And which ones are most cost effective to obtain?  In a recent article from Software Advice, 77% of the 200 B2B marketers surveyed rated tradeshows as the number one source of high quality leads.  This is why many companies spend hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars a year, investing in trade show exhibits, PR, travel, entertainment and the like trying to capture and develop these high quality leads.  But is this source of leads cost effective?  The same study indicated that tradeshows were the most expensive form of lead generation, although often yielded the most quality leads.

So what are some other, less expensive ways to generate quality leads?  Internal email campaigns along with social media continue to be the most cost effective, however, the leads are only as good as the list and the message.  For these campaigns to be successful in getting information on potential customers they must have a compelling message and offer.  In fact, social media and email marketing which includes a video component can increase your overall response rate by more than 88%.  The video message, which should be less than a minute and a half, tends to demand engagement since clicking on the arrow is so hard to resist.  The most appealing aspect of video is that it gives the marketer the opportunity to visually showcase the product through the message.  Other lead generation sources that rank on the cost effective scale are organic search, advocate and referral marketing and third party email marketing.

Looking at what B2B marketers have spent on lead generation in 2015 so far revealed some interesting new trends.  Although trade shows is still near the top of the list along with social media and email marketing, it would seem some old school technique are coming of age again.  Print advertising moved significantly up from last year showing a possible resurgence in emphasis on new lead generation techniques used for print advertisers.  The QR code is making a new debut after years of failed attempts because of the misuse of their value.  When using a QR code on a print advertisement (or in any format) make sure that the experience the user gets is a rewarding one and not a link to your home page.  Take them to a video, to a chance to win a prize, to a live chat.  The print ad with a value add QR code can produce very quality leads.  It is also recommended when generating leads from print ads that each ad have a dedicated landing page so the message and metrics can be tracked.  Another interesting swing in 2015 is that marketers are spending more on direct mail than in the past several years.  After decades of junk mail coming to our desks, the shift to spam in our email boxes makes consumers long for an envelope to open.

Lead generation is here to stay.  The key is getting the best possible leads in the most cost efficient manner.