Lead generation is a critical aspect of any B2B marketing strategy. I’m going to outline some lead generation strategies that software companies can use to generate quality leads through content marketing. I’ll also provide an example of a lead generation guide we developed for one of our SaaS clients.
If you’re looking to generate leads for your software business, this post is a must read. I have used just about every type of inbound and outbound lead generation method on the market. As a business owner, I get asked by marketing agencies, copywriters and smaller businesses about how to create an effective lead generation strategy for their software companies. Every single business has a different objective and follows a different model.
To do business today, you need to attract leads. Sometimes, however, you are trying to sell something that nobody is asking for. In this instance, you will need to rely on lead generation strategies in order to succeed. Here are strategies for generating qualified leads for a software company near Nigeria or anywhere else in the world.
Software business owners often think that by having a product or service can be enough to get people to use them. In reality it is not the case, and the competition in this business is very tough. To sell your product or services efficiently you need to understand how to create lead generation strategies for software companies. If you fail to do so, you will not meet success even if you have a hot product.
Create Content Offers That Align With Your Prospects’ Pain Points.
Marketing begins with your knowledge of your prospects. It’s vital to understand what question or problem brings them to your site. Do they need to reduce hiring costs? Are they interested in new software?
Buyer persona research can assist in defining these pain points, providing insights on how and when these issues come up for your customers. Understanding each persona’s unique experience will allow you to align your content offers with the right stage in their buyer journey.
Each individual problem should be associated with a giveaway – an ebook, video series, or other content they have to subscribe to your mailing list to receive.
Deliver Thought Leadership Content.
Once prospects get educated about their problem and possible solutions, they usually look at several potential vendors.
To differentiate from the competition, focus on developing high-level content like whitepapers or case studies that show the unique value your products offer. This is especially important for B2B tech companies who often have to walk customers through a lot of highly technical information.https://giphy.com/embed/tCL2IFQGi7COAvia GIPHY
By focusing not only on what you do differently but why your way is best, you set the tone of the conversation.
It builds brand trust and enhances your reputation, both of which are often direct influences on a decision maker’s business.
Companies like Openview Labs and GE’s Txchnologist share educational content purely to provide value and expand their audience’s knowledge base. And because of it, they’re trusted online above several other tech companies.
Ensure Your Online Presence Is Mobile Optimized.
A Google study found 42 percent of B2B decision makers used mobile devices during the buying process. What’s more surprising, the average American spends 10 hours a day interacting with their phone, including making purchases.
Simply put, mobile use is growing, reflecting the challenges buyers face as they make more complex decisions with less time.
As a result, your entire digital presence should be optimized for the mobile web. Otherwise, leads won’t be able to access or act on your offers when they need to.
Mobile marketing has become incredibly competitive. If your strategies, website, and offers aren’t accessible, then buyers will easily decide to go back to a SERP and find another company that is.
Build interactive landing pages
One of the goals of any ad or campaign, whether online or off, is to motivate people to take action. When a viewer or follower clicks a link to your site, do they know what they’re supposed to do? Landing pages built specifically for your different campaigns will let them know—and bring in more leads in the process.
Put a simple design together that highlights your company, the product you’re promoting and the call to action. This could be a request for more information, a downloadable document or a free trial (more on that later). Whatever it is, make sure it includes an interactive form on which visitors submit their names, email addresses and other key information that allows you to follow up.
Offer free trials
No one wants to buy a product without knowing it will work for them. That’s why car dealerships offer test drives, clothing stores offer changing rooms, and tech companies offer free trial periods. It’s also a terrific way to generate leads for your business.
Consider making a free demo the primary offer on a landing page, or offer it directly on your homepage. Simple products such as video games are better offered over short trial periods, an hour or so, while more complex products could either be offered in full for shorter periods or indefinitely but with limited features. Once potential customers know what the products will do for them, they’ll consider buying.
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.
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
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.
B2B vs. B2C Leads
The first type of lead is a business-to-business or B2B lead. This type of lead is the person directly responsible for making purchasing decisions within their organization and is the individual you want to speak with directly.
The second type of lead is business-to-consumer. In business-to-consumer, you as the business are speaking directly to your prospective customer. The tone and words you choose to convey your thoughts with them will be more conversational and different than addressing a B2B lead, which will be more professional and transactional in tenor.
Depending on your product and offer, you may be looking for both B2B and B2C customers, but again, how you message each is going to be done differently.
Conclusion
Generating more leads is essential for achieving growth in software companies. Lead generation is a process of converting visitors into leads, and leads into sales. The goal of lead generation strategies is to drive website traffic with the goal of generating several types of business leads.
A lead generation strategy is one of the most important elements of any business, as it allows your sales team to contact customers interested in buying into your product. There are a lot of lead generation strategies for software companies that can help you grow your business, but it is essential that you do not use them all in the same period.