This article was originally published in The Marketing Scope on Jan 29, 2018.
Trying to pick the best combination of B2B lead generation channels is like trying to pick the best Drake song (or Steely Dan, if you’re over a certain age). There are so many options that getting started feels overwhelming.
Unlike picking your favorite song, however, picking the right multichannel approach is essential for your B2B company to succeed. But where do you begin?
Consumers are four times more likely to watch a video about a product than read about one, yet videos are expensive. Two-thirds of marketers say the ROI on email blasts is good, but emails aren’t as popular as videos. More than 2 billion people were regularly active on social media in 2016 — but what’s the best strategy to reach them?
Fortunately, you don’t have to pick just one platform. By understanding the challenges ahead and curating a comprehensive approach, you can develop an effective multichannel lead generation strategy without breaking the bank.
Struggling to Succeed
If you’ve been in B2B marketing for a while, you’ve probably developed some bad habits. For your lead generation efforts to succeed, you must generate meaningful ROI. It sounds obvious, but you could be making aspirational calculations to justify costs—or worse, no calculations at all.
Lifetime value (LTV) over customer acquisition cost (CAC) is one of the most common—and most useful—SaaS measurements. Typically, SaaS companies want to see a 3:1 ratio of LTV:CAC, but that doesn’t work for everyone. When you measure this metric, think about your own costs. When your average deal pays $99 per month, and customers usually stay for six months, don’t spend $10,000 acquiring one customer.
If your team struggles to close sales calls, don’t blame the leads—that’s the easy way out. Rather than move away from a successful lead generation tactic because leads aren’t turning into deals, think long and hard about what the real problem is.
You might not appreciate your marketing as much as you should. That doesn’t mean more slaps on the back at the Christmas party; that means remembering that no product, no matter how great, sells itself. People do, and when your team discovers a successful, replicable method to market your product, don’t attribute their marketing success to development’s ingenuity.
When a strategy works—especially a multichannel strategy—don’t let the team go. Instead, give your team members leeway to continue refining their approach.
How to Create an Effective Multichannel Strategy
The best lead generation strategies combine the strengths of multiple platforms. Follow these lead generation tips to take your multichannel strategy to the next level.
Demo with every lead generation and marketing firm around.
This is a free, fast, and underutilized strategy that works. You might not hire the firms that demo for you, but you will learn something every time you meet with one. They want to sell you something, and they’ve done all the research to supply the information you need.
Listen for industry averages and strategies that have been effective for companies like your own during each company’s pitch. Use the most applicable strategies you learn from these demos to improve or adjust your existing marketing plan.
Get new information quickly.
Books are great, but not for real-time marketing. Swap your books for podcasts to get the real news on information that’s constantly changing. Check out “The Brutal Truth About Sales & Selling” and “The B2B Revenue Leadership Show.” They’re always dishing out information on new technologies, best practices, and rising thought leaders.
Seek out your favorite industry influencers, and listen to the podcasts they like. Set Google Alerts to stay up-to-date on breaking news. Fill holes in your own experiences by listening to a wide range of experts, from tech barons to market analysts to social media stars. The more you know about industry trends, the faster you can adjust your strategy.
Don’t differentiate between sales prospecting and marketing.
When you separate these areas, you run into a fundamental problem: What if sales prospecting is your best lead generation channel? If that’s true, your marketing team is wasting time on suboptimal channels while your sales team struggles to maximize its opportunities.
You might discover that advertising ROI is low, and your marketing department should instead focus on cold outreach through social media and email. Align your marketing and sales prospecting teams as closely as possible to discover the strategy that works best for you.
These strategies will help you develop a multichannel approach that generates better leads. Don’t make the same mistakes as everyone else; stay abreast of the latest information, and optimize your lead generation strategy to push ahead of the competition.
Have you found success with your multichannel lead generation strategy? Let us know what you’ve learned in the comments.
