As a B2B marketer, complacency has no place in your marketing strategy.
You must consistently generate interest in your brand so your business can survive, grow, and thrive. In other words, you need a steady inflow of quality leads. Inbound lead generation is one of the most effective ways to achieve this, with inbound tactics generating 54% more leads than traditional methods at half the cost.
Inbound Lead Generation Doesn’t Stop At ‘Blogging’
If you think having a blogging regimen is all you need to do to get inbound sales leads, think again. If your ultimate goal is to turn strangers into customers, you must nurture them with valuable content. Only then will they remember your brand and be inspired to sign up for your product.
Here are ten proven strategies for generating inbound leads you can use to your advantage.
10 Proven Strategies for Inbound Lead Generation
#1 First Impressions Matter: Make Your Website Engaging
Nothing drives people away faster than a poorly designed website. (Worse, some customers may assume that your products and services are also poor-quality.)
Put your best foot forward with a clean, easy-to-use website that encourages customers to engage with your content, product pages, and lead forms. Another way to lengthen their stay is to add an automated ‘live chat’ feature (an interactive chatbot tool) where they can ask any questions they may have while browsing your website.
Here is how ZoHo does it:
#2 (Valuable) Content Is King
Your content needs to be:
- Targeted: Are you reaching the right audience?
- Valuable: Does the reader get any value from reading the content? Does it inform them about something new? Does it solve a problem? Does it answer a burning question?
- Trustworthy: Do you have any sources to back up your claims? Are you providing proof to the reader?
- Engaging: Do people stay and read? Is it well-written and well-formatted? Does it have accompanying images, infographics, videos, etc., where needed?
- Original: Are you saying something new, or if you aren’t, are you doing it in your unique way?
Publishing consistent, high-quality content elevates your inbound lead-generation process like no other. With targeted content, you communicate to your buyers what your brand can help them achieve and why they should do business with you.
#3 Tutorials, Explainers, And How-Tos
B2B buyers are heavily focused on research. Before they invest, they want to know the following:
- How your product works
- How will it help them
- How to use it optimally
So, educate them with How-to blog articles, tutorials, and guides. In addition, you can publish a series of blog posts, ebooks (which make terrific lead magnets), videos, and even bite-sized FAQs.
Not only will your readers be satisfied, but they will also appreciate the transparency you give them so they can have an informed B2B buying experience.
Here is how HubSpot uses this technique on the Knowledge Base section of its website. They also have a live chat feature where readers can resolve queries as they browse.
#4 Show, Don’t Tell: Video Marketing
Today, marketing using video content is crucial for B2B SaaS companies.
- 90% of customers make buying decisions based on videos.
- 64% of customers say watching a video makes them more likely to purchase.
- Landing pages with videos have 86% higher conversion rates.
Source: 12 Statistics-based Strategies for B2B SaaS Video Marketing
People engage more with videos, and video content is highly shareable on multiple channels. Create short educational videos about your products, showcase product demos, and publish video reviews to build trust.
Here is how we make a case for BambooBox with a video on our homepage:
![bamboobox video on website](https://bamboobox.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/image2-1.png)
#5 Stand Out With Top-Notch SEO
Any content marketing strategy will fail without proper SEO.
Hire a team of SEO experts to help you understand search intent, target the most relevant keywords, include suitable backlinks, and strategically publish guest posts to expand brand visibility. It is also crucial to keep optimizing your published and upcoming content as per Google’s webmaster guidelines to maintain your SERP rankings.
#6 Webinars: E-Learning And Marketing Rolled Into One
Did you know that 61% of B2B marketers say webinars are ‘the most effective content marketing tactic?’ And it makes sense because inbound lead generation relies heavily on educating your prospects.
Webinars are an excellent way to reach the most critical types of inbound leads: the ones towards the middle of the funnel who are ready to start with their research phase.
A well-conducted information webinar is a powerful driving force to unlock the consideration phase. And you only need four ingredients for a successful webinar:
- A relevant topic: How important your topic is to your target audience will decide your registrations and attendance.
- A good speaker: Select a speaker who can captivate the audience.
- Expertise: Webinar attendees are delighted to connect with experts who can answer live questions. You can either select an expert who is a good speaker or have someone host the webinar and have an expert as a guest speaker.
- Good promotion: Spread the word about your webinar and what attendees can gain from it.
#7 Hop On The Social Media Train
Social media channels have something for everyone, even B2B marketers. So, your brand must be active on social networks your audience frequents. Here are the top social media channels used by B2B buyers:
If you have a blog, it is fine (even recommended) to repurpose the content for social media posts. However, make sure you do not plagiarise, newsjack, or resort to low-effort cross-posting.
#8 Know What’s Up: Use Social Listening
Do you have a social media presence? Do you monitor metrics? Great. The next step is to track social conversations and discover how your audience feels about you. This process is called social listening.
First, monitor social media channels for mentions of your company, competitors, and industry keywords. Next, analyze this data to understand how customers feel.
For example, suppose a sentiment analysis of your Facebook page reveals that people are dropping product-related questions in the comments. You can ask your customer support team to work harder on their Facebook presence and offer these customers the necessary answers. Thus, social listening insights can determine how to modify your social media strategy for the better.
#9 Highlight Your Contact Details
If your inbound leads do not know how to reach out to you, your marketing efforts hit a dead end.
Include a curated landing page where you spell out all your contact information, such as your customer support email, toll-free numbers, social media links, associated domains, etc.
You can also have a short pop-up lead form where the customer can give you their contact details, book a demo, arrange a call with your support team, sign up for newsletters, or download reports and whitepapers.
Here is how SEMRush does it, with different options for website visitors of all needs!
![semrush contact page](https://bamboobox.ai/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image1.png)
#10 Craft CTAs That Work
A CTA (call to action) is what makes marketing content work. Do not leave your readers hanging – tell them what to do next.
Here are the ABCs of a compelling CTA:
- Always include a CTA.
- Be clear and direct when stating your CTA, so the reader knows what to do.
- Connect the CTA with the content’s intent. For example, if your blog is about “What is New With X,” your CTA can be “Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated about X.”
Accelerate Inbound Lead Generation Today!
Now that you know how to strengthen inbound lead generation, time to apply yourself. Empower your inbound strategies with these tactics; you cannot go wrong. Over time, as you forge ahead with a mix of inbound and outbound strategies, your sales team will never run out of qualified leads.