EARTH WEEK
Now through April 22, save up to 70% on digital learning resources. Learn more.
Register your product to gain access to bonus material or receive a coupon.
This eBook includes the following formats, accessible from your Account page after purchase:
EPUB The open industry format known for its reflowable content and usability on supported mobile devices.
PDF The popular standard, used most often with the free Acrobat® Reader® software.
This eBook requires no passwords or activation to read. We customize your eBook by discreetly watermarking it with your name, making it uniquely yours.
The Hands-On, Up-to-the-Minute Guide to Generating Better-Qualified, Quicker-to-Close B2B Leads!
Lead generation is “Job One”: B2B marketers’ single most important objective. Maximizing Lead Generation brings together everything you need to know to do it right. Fast-paced and 100% practical, it will help you achieve outstanding results in any B2B marketplace—from enterprise technology to industrial equipment to professional services.
World-renowned expert Ruth P. Stevens helps you bring science and systematization to all facets of lead generation, building on process, best practices, continuous testing, and ongoing improvement. You’ll learn how to maximize the value of tried-and-true B2B tools and the newest social, web, and search technologies. Stevens offers indispensable insights for the entire lead lifecycle, including qualification, nurturing, measurement, and tracking.
Organized for clarity, usability, and speed, this book will help you supercharge salesforce productivity—and company profits.
You’ll Learn How To:
• Develop and refine rules that consistently lead to higher-quality leads
• Gain deeper insights into your customers and their buying processes
• Build sophisticated, accurate marketing databases
• Identify the media most likely to work for you
• Execute highly effective campaigns
• Drive huge ROI improvements
• Use BANT and other qualification criteria
• Apply new “nurturing” techniques to convert “duds” into “diamonds”
• Track results and quantify the business value of campaigns
• Utilize best practices content marketing and marketing automation
• Integrate continuous improvement into lead generation
• Discover 10 trends that will transform the way you prospect
About the Author vii
Acknowledgments vii
We Want to Hear from You viii
1 The Case for Lead Generation 1
Defining Terms:What a Lead Is and What It Is Not 2
How Lead-Generation Campaigns Differ from Other Types of Marketing Communications 4
The Lead-Generation Process 6
Market Research for Lead Generation 10
Organizational Roles and Responsibilities for Lead Generation 12
Case Study in Lead-Generation Excellence: How Anritsu Reached Key Decision Makers with a Three-Touch Campaign 13
2 Campaign Planning: You Can’t Leave It to Luck 19
Who? What? When? Where? Breaking Down the Buying Process 20
May I Have This Dance? 23
How Will You Know When You’re There? 24
The Goldilocks School of Lead Flow Planning 25
Planning for Your Campaign Budget 28
3 The Marketing Database: Not Sexy, But Essential to Success 33
Data Sources and Types 34
Data Fields You Need for Lead Generation 46
Data Hygiene Best Practices 50
Database Analysis, Segmentation, and Modeling 54
4 Campaign Development Best Practices 59
Best Practice I: Research and Testing 60
Best Practice II: The New Importance of Content Marketing 66
Best Practice III: Marketing Automation 71
Case Study: When the Chips Were Down, Marketing Got Automated 73
5 Campaign Media Selection 75
B-to-B Lead Generation Media: The Top Five 77
Set the Stage for Lead Generation with PR 84
B-to-B Lead Generation Media: Three to Avoid 86
Using Web 2.0 for Lead Generation 88
How to Select the Right Media Mix 92
Mixing It Up: Multiple Media 93
6 Campaign Execution 101
Campaign Target Selection: Finding the Winning Combination 102
Seven Steps to Successful Lead-Generation Creative 106
How to Develop Offers They Can’t Refuse 110
Getting the Best Work from an Agency or Creative Freelancers 118
7 Response Planning and Management 123
Response Management Step-by-Step 124
Six Strategies to Capture the Response Data You Need 124
The All-Important Landing Page 126
Why Responses Are Often Mishandled 131
Inquiry Fulfillment: The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship 132
Six Rules of Fulfillment 134
8 Lead Qualification 139
Setting Qualification Criteria: Can’t Beat BANT 140
What to Ask and When to Ask It 141
Need for Speed: Moving Qualified Leads into the Pipeline 142
Lead-Ranking Strategies 145
Qualifying Leads at a Trade Show or Event 150
Marketing Checkup for Telephone-Based Lead Generation and Qualification 151
The Whos and Hows of the Handoff 153
9 Lead Nurturing 157
A Marketing Function with a Big Sales Benefit 158
The Lead-Nurturing Process, Step by Step 159
Nurturing Best Practices 161
Case Study: How a Comprehensive Rethinking of Lead Generation and Management Strategy Improved Lead-Nurturing Response Rates and Lowered Costs 167
10 Metrics and Tracking 175
Response Rate 176
Cost Per Lead 179
Inquiry-to-Lead Conversion Rate 181
Lead-to-Sales Conversion Rates 182
Expense-to-Revenue Ratio (E:R) 183
Seven Techniques for Tracking Leads to Closure 185
When a Lead Doesn’t Close 190
11 The Fast-Evolving Future of Lead Generation 191
1. More and Better Marketing Automation 192
2. Sales and Marketing Will Finally Get on the Same Page 192
3. New Data Sources for Prospecting 193
4. Social Media Will Get Real for Lead Generation 193
5. Affinity Marketing Will Come to B-to-B 194
6. Face-to-Face Events Will Resume Their Importance 194
7. New Ways to Nurture 195
8. Ever-Evolving Customer Behavior 196
9. More and Better Video 196
10. Mobile Will Happen 197
Index 199