Adapting to new technologies and tactics can make lead generation hard for B2B startup organisation as they basically lack the budget. If you are an owner of a small business or a startup there’s one thing you will always need – “Customers”. You need to catch-all marketing strategies to get these new customers or, more precisely, called leads.
Generating a steady supply of new leads and building your sales pipeline is a critical part of developing a profitable business. Organisations have to come up with new ideas to grow their leads and this is a very complex process since quality leads are the soul of any organisation.
By consistently analyzing the lead generation practices you can easily stay at the top of the game. With ever-changing technology and business environment, it is quite challenging for startups to acquire leads but with hard work and efforts, you can shoot up conversions and captivate more leads for your startup.
Are you struggling to acquire new leads for your startup? Are you thinking of strategies that can help you build your sales pipeline?
To help you generate new leads we have come up with the best lead generation practices for your startup
Let’s begin!
1. Publish lots of Landing Pages:
The first question you need to answer is how many landing pages do you have. Huge mistake startups make is that they do not have enough landing pages. It is really never enough. About 62% of B2B organizations have six or fewer landing pages.
It is important to boost lead generation. The more landing pages, the more are the chances. For your website, you need lead magnets, calls to action, and landing pages everywhere.
Here are the steps for prospecting –
Create a lead magnet
You cannot have an opt-in without a free resource. A lead magnet is very vital. It is a resource that attracts leads like a magnet. So you need to offer a resource that attracts a very particular type of audience i.e the right kind of audience for your product or services.
Remember,
Too general = low quality leads.
Niche = high-quality leads.
Lead magnet ideas include:
- Brochures
- Checklists
- Cheatsheets
- Webinars
- E-books
- Newsletters
- Videos
- Gated content
- Magazines
Once you create a lead magnet, hop on the next step
Make the landing page
You will need to make a landing page where users will be able to opt-in for the resource. Use tools like Mailchimp and WordPress to create a good landing page for your startup. It is essential for a good landing page to have the following
Minimal navigation:
People should not get distracted because you have more than one option on a page to maximize conversions. Remove any links from the header and footer besides copyrights and policies
Calls to action:
You should use several calls to action to increase how many users opt-in on the page
Provide value:
It is essential to clearly explain what the user is receiving when they exchange their email address and the benefits of doing so.
Solve problems:
Touch on the reader’s pain point through copywriting and align the lead magnet as the solution.
After this publish the landing page and move onto the last step.
Place it everywhere
A landing page needs to be promoted to maximize the number of leads a startup generates and adding a call to action on other relevant pages, buttons, and graphics can do the trick.
Other places to include landing page links are:
- Headers
- Email signatures
- Social media
- Sidebars
- Footers
2. Email Marketing is an Essential
Once you start collecting user’s information to aid the startup lead generation process, you need to apply email marketing in the big picture. 81% of businesses claim that email drives customer acquisition and retention. Just remember to not get over the top with promotion and keep spamming them. Build the trust, momentum, and revenue will definitely follow.
Here are some tips to maximize email marketing:
The subject lines matter more than you think, so go for a catchy subject line
About 47% of recipients open an email because of the catchy subject line alone. It is so crucial to writing one that cuts through the static. Here are a few strategies to cut the static
Use their first name:
Using a customer’s first name in the subject line makes an email more personal and genuine
Company name:
Similar to the above method, using a subscriber’s company name also makes an email more genuine and interesting
Bold statement:
Tell something against the norm. Tell something subscribers would not expect you to say
Question:
Enquire a question related to the subscriber’s experience, values, pain points, etc.
Numbers:
Use numbers, percentages, and specifics to make subject lines more appealing.
Benefit oriented:
State the benefits readers will gain from the email.
80% of emails should be value-oriented
According to Pareto’s principle, 80% of results come from 20% of our actions. It is effective to directly focus on value and information in every email. Educate the subscribers about an industry or services and this will make them understand what you have as an offer, so when you pitch the sale, they will understand it’s value and importance.
About 20% of emails can be promotional
Approximately one in every four email newsletters can be promotional. These advertise a product, service, or offer.
Startups can use the same idea for promoting –
- Consultations
- Affiliate programs
- Products
- Registrations
- Demos
3. Use an Automated Live Chat System
If a startup’s lead generation strategy is completely automated then the realistic scenario is that you will not need to worry about lead gen and you can work back on the important tasks.
You can achieve great results by –
- Create customized prompts for each page like services, products, case studies, etc.
- Use Live Chatbots
- Respond quickly and provide links to deeper pages.
- Choose live chat services like Intercom, HubSpot, or MobileMonkey.
- Follow-up with leads in the back end via email.
- Or have one-on-one conversations with your prospects with callback softwares like Limecall
4. Scale an Outbound Sales Process
There is an easier and more effective way to connect with prospects and it is called cold emailing.
How do you do cold emailing? Follow these steps:
Create a list of prospects
The first step is to clearly pinpoint who would make excellent customers. Make a list of the prospects. You can use Dribbble, LinkedIn, Angel List, Zoominfo, etc to gather information and make a list.
Run their domains through Hunter
There’s a free tool called HUNTER that extracts emails from a domain and this makes the search less complicated and time consuming.
Click the “Bulk” tab and “Domain Search” in the tool and then paste in the list of the URLs and they will extract email. Download the CSV and import the details into a CRM.
Send out more personalized emails
The key to successful cold emailing is customization. Each email needs to be tailored for each prospect for maximum return. Some elements you really need to consider before personalization are –
- First name or company name in the subject line.
- Address the prospect by their first name.
- Offer a custom compliment.
- Briefly mention who you are and what you do.
- Mention the company name at least once in the body.
- End with a call to action.
5. Create Content For Each stage of the Funnel
No customer is alike so it becomes a necessity to target each segment differently. You will need to create content for each type of customer.
Top of the funnel content
It attracts a wide variety of users to your website and other assets. Startups can then segment users based on behavior, buying temperature, and other activities to deliver relevant messages. These content are easy to create and are capable of being repurposed into other formats quickly.
Middle of the funnel content
Middle of the funnel content includes lead magnets, case studies. These often require an email subscription
Bottom of the funnel content
The hottest leads get upfront and personal. They will want to see the product in-person or talk to you on the phone or meet in person and this is why consultations and demos come handy. So Scheduling a call or demo before getting close.
Wrapping Up
Generating a consistent pipeline of leads is the toughest part of any startup. However, there are some strategies that can be deployed that will keep sales growing and steady. Make landing pages for different offers, topics, and target audiences and this will create a list of subscribers who need to be sent email newsletters, content, and promotions. You can make use of the above-mentioned methods to generate leads and convert them for your startup. Do you find these helpful? Tell us what you feel in the comments below! Do you have any other suggestions that can be useful for a startup? Let us know, we would love to hear it from you.
Let’s generate some leads with Nexuses. We have solutions to all your startup problems. Leads? Landing Pages? Email Marketing? Automated live chat systems? Content for your prospects? name it and we have them all. If you are struggling with these issues and is clueless about how you will make your startup a success. What are you waiting for? Why are you waiting? Connect with us today!
