Lead generation and digital selling tools (websites, social networks, sales automation, etc.) have matured and proven their effectiveness. However, they have also begun to show their limitations, as evidenced by the debate around "Content Shock" in the Web Marketing sphere.
Now that these sales methods have become the norm, only those who have mastered the art of using them have a chance of succeeding.
And if this thought gives you – like many others – a few cold sweats, here is some advice to survive the internet lead generation arena.
1. Review the weapons at your disposal
As previously mentioned, Marketing now plays a role in most stages of the sales funnel (revisit our article on sales organization for software companies).
In other words, you'd better make sure you have a 'killer' marketing strategy if you want your prospects to choose YOUR SaaS software solution over your neighbor's (and on the web, ALL your competitors are your neighbors!).
The first step in your preparation as a « gladiator of lead generation » is therefore to review the weapons already in your possession, to get an idea of your chances of survival and to « upgrade » them:
- What tools and channels do you already use: website, social networks, emailing campaigns...?
- How are they used: how often? with what content?
- What volume of visitors or subscribers do they generate?
- What are the sales-related outcomes?
Conduct this assessment without complacency or sentimentality: the better you know your weaknesses, the more likely you will be to correct them.
2. Refine Your Positioning and Know Your Target Audience
Once this initial assessment of your Web Marketing tools has been carried out, it is essential, in order to use them as effectively as possible, to start with your competitors and your targets: to use your weapons wisely, there's nothing better than knowing who you're dealing with...
- What are the characteristics of your market on the web, its opportunities and risks?
- Who are your main competitors, and what is their web marketing and sales strategy?
- Which clients do you want to attract and convince first, using your Lead Generation tools?
This last point should be related to your "Gold, Silver, and Bronze" targets, defined during the construction of your commercial model. And because you are here in a Marketing logic and approach, you will convert these targets with generic outlines (type of company, turnover volume, etc.) into "Buyer Personas", endowed with human and personalized traits.1
3. Develop a "warrior" strategy.
Once you know which Buyer Personas you're targeting, everything becomes clearer: how you're going to talk to them, through which channels, and most importantly: what to say to them!
Address their concerns, show them what problems you will solve for them and what benefits they will gain; in short, let them know what they will gain thanks to YOUR solution. This will first create trust, and then the desire to work with you.
Does that seem a little too simple? You're right.
There's no point in knowing how to speak well if your prospects never give you their number to call them back!
An effective Web Marketing strategy relies on a well-defined scenario, which first ATTRACTS visitors related to your target audience, but also then CONVERTS them into identified and qualified prospects – meaning you have their contact information and nurture their interest in your services – and finally, SELL your solution!
For your scenarios to produce results, you must first have a clear vision on these different points:
- Towards which objective will you direct the flow of your visitors (the « contact » page of your site, the « demo request » landing page, etc.)?
- How does the transition from one channel (web or otherwise) to another happen for your visitors?
- How do you identify their level of interest in your solution?
This will allow you to define a content strategy that meets your objectives: that is, to plan the production and distribution of your "lead magnets" (attractive content that encourages a visitor to leave their contact information) and the "calls to action" that accompany them: downloading a technical sheet or a white paper, completing an online assessment, requesting a demo, etc.
4. Don't let chance decide the outcome of the battle
Implementing an Inbound Marketing strategy requires working in an agile manner (we will come back to this shortly), but it is not managed "by instinct" – quite the opposite!
To be effective, lead generation via Web Marketing tools must be guided by specific objectives and rely on the careful monitoring of pre-defined indicators.
In connection with your sales funnel, define quantifiable objectives and corresponding KPIs.
For example (in simplified mode):
QUANTIFIED OBJECTIVE OF:
Traffic generated
Volume of identified visitors
Number of leads passed on to sales representatives
Revenue generated
KPI:
Number of unique visitors to the site
Number of contacts generated via the contact field
Number of qualified prospects obtained
Cumulative revenue from sales made on transmitted leads
It is essential to track these figures via dedicated monitoring tools (SEO tools, dashboards, etc.).
And to do this, score your leads: each time a step is completed in qualifying a contact (identification, obtaining a phone number, etc.), a new "score" is assigned to them, bringing them closer to the lead being passed on to the sales team.
Scoring also relies on 'rich information' relating to the profile and behavior of your visitors (job title, areas of interest, level of autonomy in the purchasing decision, etc.) that you have obtained via online interactions and recorded in a CRM tool, for example.
5. Learn from your failures and celebrate your successes.
Let's be honest: deploying a Lead Generation web strategy from start to finish, from its definition to its implementation, is a long process and sometimes fraught with pitfalls. This is especially true when it comes to automating processes and interfacing the various tools used (CRM, marketing automation solution, SEO tools, etc.).
That's why you should start modestly, allow yourself to implement actions gradually, and deploy your scenarios iteratively.
It is possible to start by testing "short" loops with a limited number of contents: 1 lead magnet, 2 articles and 1 infographic (or video) to feed your first email series, for example. This allows you to "get the hang of" content production and its distribution tools, to test processes in agile mode and to generate your first identified leads.
Early wins fuel motivation and always bring their share of instructive mistakes.
Depending on your resources – and provided you have not skipped the evaluation of your tools, the definition of your personas, and the formalization of your objectives – it may be more effective to start simply and gradually increase power, than to want to build a complex system or immediately start with expensive tools that will need to be amortized.
The Gladiator who wins the fight is not always the one who had the best weapons at the start: more often, it's the one who knows his opponent well and uses his own to the best of his ability once in the arena!
1. In marketing, a persona is a fictional character representing a target group or segment. They are generally given a first name and social and psychological characteristics. For example: Sabrina, 40 years old, 2 children, urban, senior executive, closely follows fashion, travels by metro, enjoys trail running, etc. Personas are used, among other things, for developing website content and optimizing customer journeys, but also, originally, for designing the product and service offering itself.
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