Lead generation for companies: strategies for finding new customers

In this article we look at what Lead Generation Campaigns are for Companies, why to use them and what benefits they can generate.

B2B lead generation significance

B2B lead generation is the process by which a company selling products or services to other companies (Business-to-Business) identifies and attracts potential customers interested in its offering, with the goal of converting them into actual customers.

Key elements of B2B lead generation

Targets other companies or professionals, not end consumers
Aims to generate qualified contacts of potential business customers
Use specific strategies and channels for target business (e.g., LinkedIn, email marketing, B2B content marketing)
Has generally longer sales cycles than B2C
Focuses on building long-term relationships with clients
Requires more technical and professional content and messages
Aims to provide valuable information to support corporate purchasing decisions
The ultimate goal is to acquire new qualified business customers through targeted marketing activities to intercept and cultivate the most promising contacts, guiding them throughout the B2B buying process.

Lead generation for Companies: an Entrepreneur’s request

On a daily basis I talk to Entrepreneurs who ask me how to find Customers, in the jargon we say implement lead generation campaigns for Companies.

Often times they contact me via referrals, sometimes via email, and often via the agency’s Social Channels, or directly to personal ones.

And it is always a pleasure to be able to give suggestions and insight into what can and in many cases … should be done, to ensure the proper success of our Companies.

I report the message I received via Linkedin a couple of days ago.

Hello Mr. Cremonesi, I am the owner of a small electronics company of 10 people, and my biggest handicap is to find new customers. Should I take the car and drive 500 km a day? and then who runs the production? do you have any advice for me? thanks Luca

My answer to the question: How to find customers

Good morning Luca, you have perfectly hit the nail on the head.

To find Customers, we do not have to move from the Company.

We need to be able to intercept them in “other ways.”

With the advent of the Internet and social media, everything has changed.

The decision-making phase that used to take place during the business meeting has shifted to the Web.

Today when we want or need to buy a product and/or service, the first thing we do is go online.

Or we go into a store, see what we like, and then buy it online.

Web & Social are used to check the features of the product and/or service, compare it with that of other companies, understand technical or after-sales support, warranty etc….

Basically make a decision in total autonomy.

And that is the Goal. To use the power of the Web to reach our potential Customer, as you asked…to find customers.

B2B lead generation strategies: key points

Here are the key points to keep in mind:

Goal: The main goal is to generate a list of qualified contacts (leads) that can later be converted into customers.
Approach: It is based on inbound marketing techniques, offering valuable content in exchange for users’ contact information.
Significance: Allows you to intercept people who are genuinely interested, with a potentially higher conversion rate than other methods.
Tools: Use various channels such as websites, social media marketing, email marketing and content marketing to attract the attention of potential customers.
Process: It involves several stages, from the initial attraction of contacts to their “cultivation”(lead nurturing) to guide them toward purchase.
Benefits: Allows you to build lasting relationships with potential customers, earning their trust over time.
Evolution: It has largely replaced traditional methods such as cold calling, adapting to the new consumer buying behavior in the digital age.

Generating B2B leads is therefore a key component of modern marketing, enabling companies to acquire new customers in a targeted and effective way.

B2B lead generation campaigns: what is the process:

Understand which companies use your service.
Check what keywords are used to intercept its services
Check how Competitors are positioned, with respect to the Market and those specific keywords. analyze their sites and possibly social channels to see where they are stronger than us.
Making a Web strategy to win against Competitors and be found first. That is, to generate inquiries through the Web from Companies interested in its services/products.
More simply integrate the website, enriching it with valuable content. You must come across as an expert in your subject matter. First of all in the eyes of Google, then Google will give you visibility through the search engine.

Fundamental questions we need to ask ourselves:

Is there a market? If yes we can increase our shares, it is not a problem.
Why should a Customer choose my Company over my competitors?
Have I done everything necessary to show that I am reliable, competent and professional in my work? It is not enough to “be” we have to communicate it to the world and then through the web. Often times job orders are won by those who are less good and professional than us, but are better at “communicating.”
What are my values and services? Are we sure that our current Clients are aware of them? We often worry about increasing the number of Clients, without taking into consideration that the current ones do not know everything we can do for them. It is better to increase revenue per Customer than to acquire new Customers.

I analyzed the website of Luca’s Company.

Let me point out some urgent changes that need to be made:

a) The site still appears to be in HTTP format instead of HTTPS (secure). This means that since June 2018 Google has been penalizing your site, so it is seen by fewer and fewer people (possible Customers)

(b) The photographs are old and grainy. To this day we constantly have to prove ourselves on the cutting edge. We are valued on first impressions. We cannot afford to miss the opportunity to “catch” users coming to our site.

(c) There is little content. Why should Google show us before our Competitors? If we do not believe in ourselves, do not invest in our “communication,” why should Google make us visible through the search engine?

Lead generation campaigns: what actions can we take to find customers?

My agency updates the website daily.

We produce content that has a dual purpose:

Providing comprehensive answers to user research
Indexing the website in search engines

We take two extremely important factors into consideration when making content:

Who are our ideal customers (Buyer Personas)
What is the type of interaction they have at that particular moment with our Agency(Buyer’s Journey)

These two factors are part of the strategy that goes by the name of Inbound Marketing (content creation).

Ostensibly they might sound like “marketeering pippe,” but I assure you they are not.

If we study the right content that targets the right user, at the right time, we have simply scored a goal.

Each of us when we do a Google search is doing so because we are looking for an answer, or for an opportunity.

For example, it is looking for customers, or a strategy to find new customers!

To provide the right answer at that precise moment is to gain his trust.

Demonstrate that we can be the right answer to your needs.

B2B generation: what results can we achieve?

The content marketing activities we carry out every day enable us to achieve several important results.

I report the main ones:

We are constantly growing from the standpoint of positioning
People (possible Clients) when they contact us have already read several articles on our site and contact us because they feel we are competent in our subject matter. This immediately unbinds the “trust” aspect towards us.
We receive almost daily requests for advice or to implement a Marketing and Communication strategy. This allows us to relate to and work with our Ideal Clients.

Donato Cremonesi

What are the elements that we need to take into consideration when carrying out lead generation activities? Read these articles

Lead generation for companies to find new customers