Lead Generation has always been an important goal of marketing, whether people doing it use that exact word or not. In recent years, however, as companies are expected to perform better in lower budgets, the pressure is to ensure that they are focusing on the most promising business prospects.
It is also creating urgency for lead generation among those companies, who had never thought it much before.
A targeted lead generation strategy helps companies focus on opportunities that have the most potential to maximize returns on marketing investments. It also provides a framework for identifying best practices for attracting and retaining profitable customers.
Here are a few lead generation trends to look out for in 2019.
Focusing on Eligible Leads
Even for those companies whose marketing strategies are well implemented, many leads do not comprehend to much conversions as a result. By spreading a wide network, they attract a group of listeners who are not eligible to become a customer.
As a result, many marketers are starting to shift their attention to large numbers than quality.
In a study of LinkedIn Technology Marketing Group, 59 percent of respondents said that generating high quality leads was their top priority in the coming year. This does not mean that businesses will stop caring about the lead volume – that means they will start seeing the quality of those leads more.
There are several ways to accomplish this, but we suspect a move to more targeted original content. Which leads to another trend …
More content
As marketers try to increase the quality of leads, they will need to take steps to attract more targeted audiences. One of the best ways to do this is to create content that conforms to the needs and concerns of their potential customers.
You can also choose content topics that are interesting for your target audience, with the goal of changing them into loyal readers and customers. Regardless of the topics, however, one thing is for sure – marketers will build more on-going material.
It should not come as a surprise, because content has been a major part of marketing for the last few years. The fact that the trend continues is that it shows how effective it is.
Expect more blogs, more downloadable guides, more videos and more infographics from all types of companies. More importantly, hope to spend more time in making it so that your business can compete.
Increased use of automation
Increasing content production and lead generation is a challenge, and so is to manage a large amount of incoming leads. Some companies may choose to keep new employees to deal with these challenges, but others will seek ways to automate their marketing processes.
Automation tools can be used for many tasks, from content publishing to tracking and analysis. When you implement automation in your lead generation plan, not only will you make content development and management more competent – you will be able to regulate which efforts are working and what need improvement.
Some tools will also help the next evolving trend.
More personalization
Lead Generation journey may start with potential customers to be aware of your company, but it does not end there. These leads must be nurtured to turn a unintended interest in your services into a clear intent to purchase. One of the ways of businesses are keeping leads’ attention is by personalizing their content and communication.
Most marketing platforms allow you to personalize email messages with fields for first names and companies. However, advanced marketing tools and platforms make it much more advanced.
As soon as visitors come back to your site, you can provide personal site content based on their past actions. You can also show personalized incentives and product offerings to increase their chances of keeping them in attention and converting them into customers.
Better tracking and analysis
Most businesses are taking steps to generate leads, but the result is a mixed bag. Some companies are still trying to optimize their campaigns for best results, while others are still trying to implement an analytics program.
They will focus more on measurements in the coming year.
This is not a new practice, because the analytics programs have been widely used for years. What will change for B2B marketers is the use of multichannel analytics tools, which measures all channels, including email, social media and even phone calls such as offline calls.
This big picture analysis will allow marketers to implement another best practice for B2B lead generation.
More attribution
Some channels are most suitable for obtaining a large number of leads, while other channels are great for getting a small number of qualified leads. With other marketing strategies, a handful of channels are responsible for making the most leads, in terms of both volume and quality.
Identifying and maximizing those channels will be a high priority.
Traditional analytics tools will help, but cross-channel attribution tools will make your efforts even more precise. Some prospects can see your communication on one channel but convert to another. The possibilities of tracking the entire spectrum of channels will help you to identify which channels are not converting directly, but still valuable to increase awareness and increase interest in your brand.
Want to advance your lead generation tactics?
Now that you know what the business is doing to generate more leads, it’s time to think about what your company’s strategy will be. Where do you invest more resources? What goals do you want to achieve?
If you are ready to generate more qualified leads, Beyond Codes – a lead generation company can help. We have years of experience in creating and managing successful strategies for our customers, and we will do the same for you.
