Maximizing Lead Generation: The Complete Guide for B2B Marketers Book

About the Author vii

Acknowledgments vii

We Want to Hear from You viii

1 The Case for Lead Generation 1

Defining Terms:What a Lead Is and What It Is Not 2

How Lead-Generation Campaigns Differ from Other Types of Marketing Communications 4

The Lead-Generation Process 6

Market Research for Lead Generation 10

Organizational Roles and Responsibilities for Lead Generation 12

Case Study in Lead-Generation Excellence: How Anritsu Reached Key Decision Makers with a Three-Touch Campaign 13

2 Campaign Planning: You Can’t Leave It to Luck 19

Who? What? When? Where? Breaking Down the Buying Process 20

May I Have This Dance? 23

How Will You Know When You’re There? 24

The Goldilocks School of Lead Flow Planning 25

Planning for Your Campaign Budget 28

3 The Marketing Database: Not Sexy, But Essential to Success 33

Data Sources and Types 34

Data Fields You Need for Lead Generation 46

Data Hygiene Best Practices 50

Database Analysis, Segmentation, and Modeling 54

4 Campaign Development Best Practices 59

Best Practice I: Research and Testing 60

Best Practice II: The New Importance of Content Marketing 66

Best Practice III: Marketing Automation 71

Case Study: When the Chips Were Down, Marketing Got Automated 73

5 Campaign Media Selection 75

B-to-B Lead Generation Media: The Top Five 77

Set the Stage for Lead Generation with PR 84

B-to-B Lead Generation Media: Three to Avoid 86

Using Web 2.0 for Lead Generation 88

How to Select the Right Media Mix 92

Mixing It Up: Multiple Media 93

6 Campaign Execution 101

Campaign Target Selection: Finding the Winning Combination 102

Seven Steps to Successful Lead-Generation Creative 106

How to Develop Offers They Can’t Refuse 110

Getting the Best Work from an Agency or Creative Freelancers 118

7 Response Planning and Management 123

Response Management Step-by-Step 124

Six Strategies to Capture the Response Data You Need 124

The All-Important Landing Page 126

Why Responses Are Often Mishandled 131

Inquiry Fulfillment: The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship 132

Six Rules of Fulfillment 134

8 Lead Qualification 139

Setting Qualification Criteria: Can’t Beat BANT 140

What to Ask and When to Ask It 141

Need for Speed: Moving Qualified Leads into the Pipeline 142

Lead-Ranking Strategies 145

Qualifying Leads at a Trade Show or Event 150

Marketing Checkup for Telephone-Based Lead Generation and Qualification 151

The Whos and Hows of the Handoff 153

9 Lead Nurturing 157

A Marketing Function with a Big Sales Benefit 158

The Lead-Nurturing Process, Step by Step 159

Nurturing Best Practices 161

Case Study: How a Comprehensive Rethinking of Lead Generation and Management Strategy Improved Lead-Nurturing Response Rates and Lowered Costs 167

10 Metrics and Tracking 175

Response Rate 176

Cost Per Lead 179

Inquiry-to-Lead Conversion Rate 181

Lead-to-Sales Conversion Rates 182

Expense-to-Revenue Ratio (E:R) 183

Seven Techniques for Tracking Leads to Closure 185

When a Lead Doesn’t Close 190

11 The Fast-Evolving Future of Lead Generation 191

1. More and Better Marketing Automation 192

2. Sales and Marketing Will Finally Get on the Same Page 192

3. New Data Sources for Prospecting 193

4. Social Media Will Get Real for Lead Generation 193

5. Affinity Marketing Will Come to B-to-B 194

6. Face-to-Face Events Will Resume Their Importance 194

7. New Ways to Nurture 195

8. Ever-Evolving Customer Behavior 196

9. More and Better Video 196

10. Mobile Will Happen 197

Index 199