Looking for ways to support sales?
All cards on the table... you are literally in the middle of an inbound lead generation campaign at this very moment.
By reading this blog post, you have taken the first step in an inbound lead gen campaign that I laid before you. But don't let my honesty prevent you from reading on. This is good stuff... and it clearly accomplished what it was meant to accomplish.
So, what is inbound lead generation? It's a method of digital marketing that leverages your website to generate permission-based leads. In this article I describe exactly how it works.
Why Inbound Plays a Critical Role in the Lead Generation Process
Inbound lead generation has become a staple to b2b growth strategies over the last 10+ years. It shouldn't be the only discipline you exercise in your quest for growth, because it is just piece of the pie, but it has certainly established itself as a growth standard.
To learn more about why inbound works, and what shifts have occurred that have laid the groundwork for its success, check out this Guide to Getting Started with Inbound Marketing:
Step 1: Attract
The first step in the lead generation process is to bring your target audience to your home field.... your website. To do this, there are basic tactics you should be executing.
- SEO
- Blogging
- Social Media Marketing
- PPC Ads
There are other non-digital ways to generate traffic as well, such as offline campaigns, PR, and outbound ads. And maybe you deploy those too, but they're going to vary in their impact, are hard to measure, and aren't considered core components of inbound lead gen.
SEO is changing - be sure to consider a "Pillar" strategy over your traditional keyword ranking strategy. Hubspot's knowledge base does a good job explaining how to build a proper Pillar page.
Blogging is STILL relevant! Even if visitors don't comment... in fact, the value of commenting is almost negligible when you think about the actual role that blogging is supposed to take. Your blog posts are SEO crack. They're the supporting pages to your pillar content, and the portals to your lead magnets.
Social Media Marketing also isn't going anywhere. Sharing your content and getting involved in others' conversations is another great way to drive traffic to your website.
Many inbound marketing agencies consider PPC ads to be anti-inbound, because you're paying for traffic. But most of our clients need to see quick results, and waiting 12 months isn't an option, so PPC is an integral part of our b2b lead generation efforts.
Step 2: Convert
Once traffic has arrived at your website, you want to leave little breadcrumbs for them based on individual interests... to help them find answers to their questions without involving a live human being. This helps qualify visitors, and lead the good ones to your lead magnets.
Breadcrumbs come in the form of links, CTAs (Calls-to-Action), and pop-up windows (although, many might argue that this is outbound... but it all just depends on how you use them).
A "lead magnet" is a piece of content that you give to visitors who fill out a form. It can be a white paper, Excel calculator, or even an asset on your website. We have a DIY Growth Plan Builder that provides a summary analysis of our visitors' sales and marketing challenges - with solutions to overcome them. And it's all embedded in the website. Although it doesn't generate a LOT of leads, those who do go through the process are in buying mode, and we've generated hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue through it.
Step 3: Close
Once your lead has been generated, inbound takes it a step further by helping you nurture them through automated email sequences. It takes it three steps further by automatically notifying sales of buyer behaviors.
Step 4: Delight
A customer is not just a customer... they're potential evangelists and promoters of your business. The "final" phase of inbound lead gen is to maintain strong relationships with customers, and help them elevate their voices as they tell the world how much they love working with you!
CONCLUSION:
Inbound lead generation is a method of digital marketing for creating your own leads. Your database stays fresh and relevant, and you OWN your outcomes. To learn more about lead generation marketing tactics like this and others, visit our Inbound Lead Generation Services Page:
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