If you work for a business-to-business (B2B) technology company that has spent years using methods such as trade shows and cold calling for lead generation, it’s time to recognize the value of a new approach. Technology buyers are changing the way they shop for products and services, as well as how they generate leads. They want information at their fingertips or through product demonstrations. It’s time you started following suit with a lead generation strategy that fits today’s trends.
The importance of lead generation can’t be overstated. Almost all software companies have to generate leads to fill their sales funnel and turn prospects into paying customers. There are a number of techniques that can be used to generate leads for your software or SaaS business including trade shows, cold calling, advertising, etc. All of these techniques have their strengths and weaknesses but which is the most effective? One quick way you can tell the relative effectiveness of a technique is by analyzing the cost that’s involved in generating each lead. A technique that is more costly than others is less effective at generating business opportunities. It would require an investment larger than what other tactics would cost. For instance, imagine you had companies A and B each trying to sell a product that costs $100/month to customers using two different paid tactics: Company A is spending $1 per click on Google Adwords while Company B is spending $10+ per click on Adwords.. If you were looking at lead generation returns based on revenue CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) it could take Company A 4x as long as Company B to fund the sales side of its operations (based on likely average customer lifetime value), even though they were both using the same tactic – paid advertising!
The lead generation market has exploded in the years since the first dot-com bubble. In the new millennium, companies big and small have entered a dog-eat-dog arena of lead generation and marketing. And not just in one industry — everywhere you turn, you find tech companies competing with each other for market share. These days, any company can be a software company with enough engineering savvy. That means that the upper hand isn’t just going to be software companies anymore, but rather it will be the companies who know how to employ lead generation techniques to their advantage.
Software companies, start-ups and established businesses alike need a way to bring in leads onto their platform. Generating leads online is the life blood of any successful business. Here are ways you can generate leads for your software company or business.
Why B2B Lead Generation Is So Hard for Technology Companies
The process of earning trust from readers can be long and for good reason. If they’re trying to find out ways to achieve a goal or seeking out solutions for a pain point, they want to get their information from a credible source.
Establishing this level of trust is a big undertaking, but once you become an authority in the reader’s mind, they’re far more likely to want to hear from you more. This is when they provide their contact information to you, usually for a unique content offer or to subscribe to your blog.
But that process of driving conversions and gaining those leads is especially tough for technology companies because the world of B2B is riddled with several unique challenges.
Some Content Is Unclear.
Communication is key when it comes to marketing and sales. Today’s market has a sharp focus on building relationships and being in touch with businesses.
Even in highly technical industries, where the information communicated can be complex, there should be clear and consistent engagement between you and the customer.
Unfortunately, though, it’s not uncommon for a webpage or other such online content to feel too complicated for leads to understand. Industry jargon, fluff, and an unclear presentation can cause obstacles when attempting to convert leads to customers.
Sometimes, the learning curve is just too steep.
Customer Centricity Is Rare.
By isolating your potential customers through unclear content and a lack of proper communication, then it’s pretty likely that your team isn’t operating with a customer-centric mentality either.
Lead generation only works if you’re focused on your audience and their needs, not just showing off what it is you can do for the world. They want to know what you can do for them. A common challenge comes from balancing the need to sell with the need to provide value.
The latter should always be priority, but that’s rarely the case.
It’s Easy to Target the Wrong Audience.
One of the most common lead generation challenges for any company is figuring out who you’re trying to reach.
Too often, technology companies forget to re-familiarize themselves with their buyer personas and wind up targeting the wrong audiences
Marketing plans and campaigns can become too broad, drawing in leads that aren’t qualified matches with your business. Unless you know what your ideal customer’s pain points are, you’re not going to be able to target them effectively.
Not All B2B Lead Sources Are Known.
There’s a common question you will hear in the B2B world – where did these leads come from?
Unfortunately, no one’s actually certain in some cases.
Yes, strategies like email marketing, organic searches, and social media pull prospects in, but there’s a large percentage of unidentifiable behavior and activities that factor into B2B lead generation.
HubSpot’s research found that the highest percentage of leads came from “other.” In other words, the most successful channel for lead generation is hard to fully comprehend because “other” doesn’t mean any one specific strategy.
Source: HubSpot
That makes maintaining marketing efforts that much more important, with a high demand of constantly adapting and adopting new strategies. In the long run, that’s a lot of resources, time, and cost put into simply finding leads before they even get truly started in your sales cycle.
Strategies Are Difficult to Choose.
With such a wide array of strategies and techniques available that boast incredible conversion capabilities, it can be difficult to know which ones to implement in your plan.
And that decision carries a lot of weight since the average marketing team doesn’t have a lot of resources to work with.
It’s not often that having a surplus of opportunity becomes a problem, but, unfortunately, that’s the case for tech and software companies. Narrowing that list down to a handful that are going to drive the right results is unique challenge that requires trial and error.
It’s Common to Ignore Metrics.
Speaking of experimentation, a self-imposed challenge would be when B2Bs don’t take the time to monitor and analyze the data received from the strategies they do practice.
You can’t just put a campaign into effect and then walk away from it. Measuring and assessing metrics is an important step in identifying what’s working and what isn’t. If a lead generation strategy or tactic isn’t performing, then it should be either adjusted or dropped and replaced.
What Is Lead Generation for Technology Companies?
A lead is anyone who has shown interest in the product or service of the company in some way. And in most cases, it’s someone who has given you their contact details.
Most of the time, these leads will permit you to contact them through email. Once they do that, they’re in the middle of your funnel where you’ve got to start nurturing them.
Image via WordStream
Lead generation or “lead gen” forms the beginning of your middle of the funnel after the awareness stage. On the other hand, a lead generation strategy is the method that you leverage to generate those leads.
For example, NetRivals, a B2B tech company used LinkedIn for their lead generation efforts. They published one post with a link to get a free demo of their products and services. This, in essence, is the action that will convert them into leads.
Once they got these leads, they remained in touch with them with the help of the platform. In this manner, they were able to leverage LinkedIn to generate leads and then nurture them. They used a combination of ads and organic posts simultaneously to find people who became their leads.
Source: LinkedIn
Now that you understand the concept of lead generation for technology companies, let’s discuss the strategies that you can use to drive your lead gen efforts.
1. Build Engaging Landing Pages for Your Website
No matter what your ad or lead campaign is about, people will visit your website. And your website is the digital identity of your company and that’s why it needs to be designed well.
The same applies to your landing page. It needs to be well-designed and optimized so that it not only attracts leads but also provides them with a good browsing experience. You must also ensure that the website opens fast and is optimized for phones.
But at the same time, you should see that the landing page aligns with your campaign. The motive of the campaign is to get people to become your leads by giving you their contact information. This can only happen when your page is well-designed and the copy is attractive too.
Image via Instapage
Here are some design tips you may follow for your landing page:👇
- Stick to a single objective.
- Make the copy focused.
- Look at numerous landing page templates.
- Use the right colors.
- Have a compelling headline.
- Create relatable content.
- Improve readability by using correct fonts and short paragraphs.
- Optimize the content above the fold the most.
- Have a persuasive CTA in a prominent place.
- Use videos to explain complex data.
- Add links to your social media accounts.
- Display social proof.
- Design shorter forms.
- Use two-step sign-ups.
- Add countdown timers to compel your web visitors.
- Display an FAQ section.
- Add exit intent pop-ups to drive lead gen.
2. Organize Webinars
One of the best lead generation techniques for technology companies is to organize webinars. They’re super informative and also help you interact directly with your audience. Thus, they not only help with lead generation but also nurturing.
You can launch webinars on a range of topics related to your business and share your knowledge with them.
The idea is to attract people to these webinars as you’d be sharing something valuable with them. In the process, you can ask them to register for it, and when they do so, they’ll become highly targeted leads for your brand.
Do you know that as many as 55% of those registering do turn up for your webinar? This can be quite a large number if you can get many people to register for it through your marketing campaigns.
Here are some of the benefits of webinars for technology companies:
Build Trust
Webinars are a great way to showcase your expertise in the industry. The content that you share in them can help the attendees solve their problems. As a result, they’ll soon start seeing you as an expert in the industry and will trust you.
Your target should be to create shareable and memorable content for the attendees. The goal is to impress them with the content so that they see you as an authority figure. Also, it should prompt them to talk about the webinar in their circles.
Many technology companies also offer free guides and discounts for webinar attendees. These behave as a hook to turn them into leads.
Quicker to Organize
Unlike other lead generation tactics for technology companies, webinars take a short time to organize and execute. Additionally, you will begin attracting leads from the first day you start promoting the event.
Once you’ve got their information, you can start sending details about the webinar through email marketing. You can also share your blog posts with them.
Other lead generation processes for technology companies may take a month. However, the complete webinar hosting process will take 2-3 weeks. And the main event, that is, the webinar will take only a day or two.
Easy to Confirm Leads
Through a webinar, you will instantly learn how many people are willing to become warm leads. You can gauge it from the interest that they show in your brand.
If not, you can send a quick follow-up just after the webinar asking them questions. Surveys like these will help you learn whether they are showing any interest.
You can also leverage the webinar to convert these leads into customers by directing them to your product pages.
Even big technology companies use webinars to generate leads and nurture them. For example, IBM uses webinars to generate leads. If you go through their website, you will find a lot of webinars.
Image via IBM
3. Provide Free Trials
Everyone loves free trials. They are not only a free offering but can also work as great ways to generate leads. This is because free trials give your prospects a hands-on experience of your products and services.🛒
That is the reason car dealerships offer test drives, and there are trial rooms in clothing stores. People like to use and see how the product or service is working for them.
When you start a lead generation campaign, ensure that your landing page has a free trial section. If it’s a software solution, you can let them opt for the trial away.
There are several benefits of offering free trials to your prospects. Here are a few.
You Can Reach More Potential Customers
Offering trials is among the top lead generation tactics for technology companies. Since technological products are generally costly, people want a free run.
So, if you can give them a chance to try your product or service hands-on, they’ll have a better idea of its effectiveness and this can convince them to buy from you.
Giving them the chance to verify that your product is up to their expectation is a good way to sell. You will easily convert a lead to a customer if you give them a free trial.
Reduces the Long-Time Use Fear
Most tech products and services are meant for long-term use. However, potential buyers are always skeptical as they have to spend a considerable amount of money on them.
A great way of avoiding this fear is by providing flexible payment options in the form of monthly and yearly payments.
It’s a benefit for the business when it’s an annual payment. However, most customers go for monthly ones as that gives financial security as well.
They may want to try the product or service first to understand if it’s well worth the yearly investment. You can eliminate this situation by providing a free trial. Once you let them have a go at the product, they will be ready to pay yearly, hence getting you long-term customers.
However, you must make the trial user-friendly. The more you can impress at the trial phase, the more the chances of purchase and referrals.
Image via HubSpot
You Get Genuine Feedback
Many technology companies do not like using free trials as a lead generation method because sometimes leads don’t convert. Most leads just have a go at the product for some time and then abandon it.
If you have faced this situation for your company, it’s okay.
As a marketer, understanding your lead’s reaction is crucial. Your goal should be to get the right set of customers. If your leads are giving up right after the trial, it’s a signal that they’re not your target customers.
So, you should accept these silent signals after the trial. However, if most of your leads do not convert, you should try to find the fault in your product or service and fix it.
But with trials and demos, there are more chances of getting conversions. That is why most free trials are considered an excellent way of lead generation for technology companies.
For example, Intuit uses emails to send free trials to people to learn more about their products. They also have a free trial button on their landing page.
4. Collaborate with Influencers
Did you know that 90% of businesses that use influencer marketing consider it to be effective?
Influencer marketing is booming and a great lead generation technique. You can’t neglect this marketing tactic no matter what type of business you own.
Many technology companies such as Cisco, Squarespace, Microsoft, and more have used influencer marketing in different campaigns.
In influencer marketing, you partner with a social media or blogger influencer who then promotes your product or service to their audience. Typically, their audience is highly engaged and similar to yours.
The influencers may review your product or service and then put up the review on their social media account or blog. When their followers see good things written about your brand by a person they trust, they’ll want to check it out.
For this, they can add a link to your website or landing page. Their followers will then land on your website and many of them might end up becoming your leads.
However, any business planning to use influencer marketing for lead generation should verify the influencer’s audience. You need to find a genuine influencer and not someone with fake followers.
Additionally, they must be from the same niche as you. If your product and influencer are from the same niche, the influencer’s audience might be interested in you. For instance, you can’t expect lead generation for technology companies by taking the help of a beauty influencer
So, take the help of various influencer networking platforms such as:
These networking websites will help you connect with influencers of a particular niche.
5. Referral Programs for Current Customers
For any business, customers are the most valuable assets and they can make or break a company.
And you can leverage their influence on their near and dear ones to grow your leads and conversions. That’s where referral programs come into the picture.
Customers generally know others who might be as interested in your product. However, for them to recommend them to others, it’s essential that they’re satisfied with your products first.
A referral program works as a great incentive for them to recommend your brand to their friends and family.
To make things simpler for your customers, you may create a “Refer a Friend” page on your website. You can also provide a link to them that they can share with their referrals for signing up.
Many technology companies even go for referral program rewards to further encourage referrals. In these reward programs, there are incentives for both the customer and the referral.
However, for a successful referral program, you need to keep a few things in mind:
- You must know your customers well.
- Plan your incentives carefully so that they are motivated to refer.
- Consider well who to invite to these programs. Invitees can be your current customers, social media followers, past customers, and more.
- Find the right platforms to promote your program.
- Use emails to promote your program.
- Be quick to engage with your customers.
- Make referral link sharing easy.
- Follow up with your customers.
- Leverage a referral marketing solution.
In this way, you can boost your lead generation through the “Refer a Friend” page on your website.
For example, Adobe Creative Cloud has a page for referrals. Under this section, the customer and the referred friend will get an Amazon gift card when buying products from Adobe.
Source: Adobe
6. Send Surveys
Surveys can be an excellent lead generation method for technology companies. And as a marketer, it is also vital that you conduct surveys from time to time.
Market research answers several questions about your audience and gets you leads. Here are a few questions for which you will get an answer.
- How likely are you to refer our company to a friend?
- What problems do our products or services solve for you?
- Do our products or services meet your expectations?
- What do you like the most/least about our product or service?
- How would you rate your experience with us?
When you create a survey form, make sure that you add its link to your website. It should be visible to everyone coming to your websites. This can help you get a larger number of people to fill your survey. Many times, you might also find new names in survey forms.
These are people who have an interest in your company. Luckily they would also discuss their problems in the survey form. It becomes your duty then to solve the problem.
When you send surveys to people, they will understand that you are genuine and care about their needs. After they are done filling the surveys, you can divert their attention to any other products, services, or a nurture program.
The surveys also can be a great lead generation channel as people would have to give you their contact information through them. For best results, ensure that your survey page is attractive. If it’s boring, your prospects may abandon it midway.
Note how Slack uses surveys regularly.
Source: Really Good Emails
Here are the ten steps to creating a good survey and generating leads:
- Find out what you want to cover in the survey.
- Put only necessary questions.
- Keep the survey short and straightforward.
- Ask one question at a time. Don’t combine two questions unnecessarily.
- Avoid the use of jargon.
- Decide whether you will go for open-ended or close-ended questions.
- Dedicate time for survey design on your website.
- Check the analytics data after the survey.
- Create a summary report and a conclusion.
- Prepare a list of any new names you have got and follow up with them
Host webinars
Your tech company exists to meet a particular need. Presumably, you know enough about this need to tell others how to address it—even without the help of your products and services. Provide this information through a series of webinars, which will not only educate potential leads and position your company as a thought leader, but also pique their interest in your products.
At first glance, this might look like a one-time opportunity to capture new leads from your attendee list. And while this is true for live in-person events, online events can be recorded and archived for future viewings, meaning you can continue registering new attendees—and generating leads—for days or even weeks after the event. Don’t forget to follow up after the event to keep these new leads engaged in your business.
Conclusion
Contact lead generation strategies can be a difficult task for some businesses. The competition is stiff. There are many channels to create forms and pages to collect leads such as on the website, or on social media sites.
Companies want to generate more leads and sales, but they’re not sure how to. They know that there are marketing and lead generation tactics that work, but they aren’t sure how to identify their highest return on investment strategies.