What is an outbound marketing strategy?
Unlike inbound marketing where you hope leads come across your content, outbound marketing makes the first step and reaches out to leads directly. An outbound marketing strategy makes the first connection with a lead. It can be an excellent tool in improving B2B lead generation if used correctly.
With B2B outbound marketing strategies, your goal should be to build relationships with potential customers through engagement, personalization, and timing. Let’s build on this.
Best channels for B2B outbound marketing strategies
These are the top-performing channels for B2B lead generation.
Cold email outreach
Reaching out to potential leads via cold email outreach can improve B2B lead generation. The key is how to approach it. In B2B lead generation, you’re always targeting the decision-maker of the company. This means the emails sent should be specialized for them. Cold email outreach can be beneficial to a business if there’s a focus on the lead first and value is provided before asking something of them.
Cold calling
Like cold email outreach, cold calling can be a powerful and impactful business tactic. Cold calls connect with leads right away. It’s a fast and intuitive way of building rapport and developing trust and comfort with leads. It’s easy to make cold calls personal because there’s a chance to speak with leads and find out what they value and need based on their tone, personality, and the conversation with them.
Direct mail
Despite so much being digitized and automated, direct mail is still useful. We need to remember that we have so much to our lives that doesn’t revolve around technology. People still get mail and look through each parcel to determine its worth.
If you can send leads mail that will entice them, and mail that offers them something, they’re much more likely to open it than to toss it away. Direct mail essentially guarantees getting in front of the eyes of a lead. It’s up to you to make them open it with creativity, personalization, and value.
Search ads
It might not be in everyone’s budget, but paid search ads are another boost to B2B lead generation. It might also feel like a cross between inbound and outbound marketing strategy because a lead has to be searching for something, but you’re paying to put an ad in front of them.
The key to paid search ad success is similar to others. Provide value to a lead, use local SEO techniques and metadata to ensure it’s targeting the right keywords, and embed a call to action so potential leads do something with the ad.
Social media ads
A common marketing technique is to be where the leads are and they’re most likely perusing social media. Paid social media ads ensure an ad will be seen by leads but it doesn’t ensure they’ll still pursue a product or service.
Social media ads need to meet the same criteria as search ads. Draw leads’ attention. Give them something personalized, unique, and different from all of the other ads they’ll have seen.
Trade shows/events
Trade shows or events might feel outdated, but they’re still happening, and they’re still a viable option for B2B outbound marketing strategies. Most trade shows and events center on specific industries, which means it’s a hotspot for leads looking for a service or product in their industry. Participating in a trade show or event surrounds you with already warm leads, the ability to personalize with ease, and to build rapport by talking with the leads.
5 Tips to boost B2B lead generation through outbound marketing strategy
All of the mentioned B2B outbound marketing strategies can lead to improved B2B lead generation if the following tips are acted on:
Personalize content
Leads will be more likely to connect with a business if they feel the content is relevant to them and the solution provided would benefit their business. Use names, build rapport, and listen to prospective leads to find out how to best approach a sales pitch.
Do research
Research the intended audience first to know what they value, how to provide value, what they need, and what content they enjoy. This will help personalize content.
Then research competitors to provide a unique product or service and original content. Sometimes, researching competitors can also highlight new ideas to try with an improved twist. Offer what competitors offer in terms of the customer journey, and a specialized product or service on top of that.
Use Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Use a CRM tool to track leads, their information, and notes learned along the way from touchpoints to provide them with an awesome customer journey and improved lead nurturing. When more leads start pouring in, a CRM platform will keep them organized and assign deadlines to upcoming touchpoints.
Use LinkedIn
To further connect with cold leads, use LinkedIn. This platform is great for B2B networking since it’s filled with accounts looking for growth opportunities and new strategies to improve their business. LinkedIn is like a virtual trade show or event.
Track your ROI
Make sure to compile the data and results received to determine what factors make a marketing outbound strategy efficient and what analytics show it’s in need of improvement. Tracking data is always beneficial to the growth of a business as it outlines how monetary input determines the output.
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Jaclyn
Jaclyn joined the bant.io team as an Account Manager in early 2018 and now proudly supports bant.io as CEO, where she is responsible for wrangling and organizing our team initiatives.