The infographics featured this week nicely summarize some of the basic of B2B lead generation. The first is the B2B Lead Generation Manifesto, created by a landing page platform, Unbounce. The original post introducing the infographic is also worth a visit because it not only embeds the infographic but it also expands on the principles and provides some statistics for you to retweet to your followers. Oli Gardner of Unbounce boils it down to 5 principles that every B2B company should employ:
Principle #1: Thou Shalt Create Content
As I have discussed previously, this is easier said then done. It is of prime importance to create unique, engaging and valuable content. Instead of listing the “how”, Unbounce lists the top vehicles B2B marketers use to publish content. I have listed them below in the order of popularity:
- Blogging – 81%
- Case Studies -62%
- Whitepapers – 61%
- eBooks – 61%
- Press Releases – 58%
- Videos – 52%
- Webinars – 46%
- Infographics – 43%
It is interesting that Unbounce has added a condensed “how to create an eBook in 24 hours” and claims it does not have to be a lengthy process. Thank you for the idea – but in reality, in my experience, based upon the amount of research, thought and care that I invest in blogging and publishing quality content every week, even if my team and I stayed up all night, I am not certain we would be able to create a quality eBook that quickly. Creating quality valuable content takes time. What is interesting to note is Unbounce discovered 85% of people would prefer to provide their email address to receive a free e-book instead of “paying” for the eBook with a Tweet.
Principle #2: Thou Shalt Optimize Your Lead Gen Pages
Improve the conversion rates on your website by conducting A/B testing such as testing two variations of a sign up form.
Principle #3: Thou Shalt Market After the Conversion
Using a Hubspot webinar as an example, the statistics were for 31,000 registrants, 65% of people did not login to the live webinar. How do you nurture this large group of people who showed some interest but failed to attend? Unbounce suggests in the case of a webinar to promote the webinar recording and invite them to the next webinar.
Principle #4: Thou Shalt Embrace the Mobile Market
In the US, 64% of decision-makers read email on a mobile device. eMarketer estimates the US mobile ad industry will grow 96.6% in 2012 to $2.3 billion.
Principle #5: Thou Shalt Nurture Your Leads
Unbounce claims 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales. For regular readers of my blog, you know I am going to point out that we need to first work with a universal definition of a lead. Based upon the context of this infographic, a more accurate description should probably be 79% of inquiries never convert into sales.
Why should B2B markers nurture leads?
- nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads
- nurtured leads produce on average 20% increase in sales opportunities
- 50% of leads are qualified but not ready to buy which means they need nurturing so your company can stay top of mind.
Below is the full infographic. In my view, this is not a comprehensive summary of the principles for B2B lead generation, but it does provide a good start:
Unbounce – The DIY Landing Page Platform
