What Are Targeted Leads?
According to a study, companies that invest time and effort into building a targeted lead list have 133% more revenue than businesses that follow a more generic approach. Targeted leads are potential buyers who have already shown interest either in your own product or a similar solution that belongs to a competitor. All B2B lead generation strategies should make it their priority to attract targeted prospects and stop wasting resources with broad targeting that doesn’t bring in qualified audiences. Imagine that every targeted lead will want to have long conversations with you about your solution and possibly buy it if you convince them. However, lead generation is only the first step in converting clients. You must build strong lead nurturing foundations that take customers by the hand through the sales funnel and showcase why your product is the best.
Of course, not all the new leads you generate are targeted. Sure, you may have used niche lead targeting techniques, but still, you end up with people and accounts that are not as fitting. This is where segmentation comes into play. We will explain exactly how you can build and segment your contact lists so you engage only with the highest-value, highest-quality prospects.
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The 5 Steps To Help You Generate Targeted Leads
1. Create Your Ideal Customer Profile
To create the best lead generation techniques and lure high-value customers, you must first know who you are talking to. For example, let’s say you have developed payroll software. To make your payroll marketing work, you should identify which companies are your target audience. Is it small businesses, medium-sized companies, or large corporations? And which sectors are they located in? All this information is included in your ideal customer profile (ICP). Targeted sales leads are those who need your proposal the most and will engage in conversations about your product. They don’t require endless persuasion since they are already searching for such a solution. But how can you build your ICP? Start by surveying and interviewing existing customers to understand their needs and demographics better. Then, turn to general consumer data to get a better idea of the market you operate in. This information should give you a clear picture of who belongs to your target market.
2. Build Your Database
Once you gather your targeted leads, you can start storing their details. Even in this highly digitized B2B landscape, many companies do this process manually, meaning they fill spreadsheets with each prospect’s information. While this is very time-consuming and laborious, it may be the only viable option for SaaS startups or small companies. If, however, you have the resources, you can invest in automation software that takes your lead lists and organizes them perfectly. And that’s not all automated lead-generation tools offer. Platforms like Cognism generate your leads for you. Buying leads the smart way helps you save time and significant effort. Therefore, your team members can focus on building a successful content marketing strategy and contacting prospects in meaningful ways. But don’t just buy leads from anywhere online, as many sellers provide the same leads’ information to multiple buyers.
3. Segment Your List
Once you’ve created your target audience list, it’s time to segment your prospects and build ideal buyer personas. Why? Not everyone on your list is interested in the same things or has the same needs and pain points. Creating different categories helps you curate content that aligns with people’s preferences and challenges. The more personalized and targeted your content is, the more chances you have of getting clicks. You can segment your targeted leads using the four most popular filters. Demographic segmentation focuses on age, gender, education, income, job role, industry, and company size. Behavioral segmentation cares about people’s online behavior, including their purchasing habits and patterns, brand interactions, engagement, and pain points. Psychographic segmentation relies on someone’s beliefs, values, personality, and overall lifestyle. Lastly, you can segment prospects based on their geographic location and language.
4. Start Engaging
Now, it’s time to start engaging with targeted business leads. Each persona requires a unique course of action, which you will have to think through. Having a streamlined database helps you organize your content and personalize your messaging for each persona. Before sending messages or jumpstarting your email drip campaigns, answer a few key questions about each segment. What are their pain points, and how can your product help them solve them? What makes you stand out from your competitors? Which channels do they prefer to communicate on, and what types of content do they consume while at different sales funnel stages? It’s crucial to answer these questions, as they will make your messaging even more personal and relevant to people’s needs. Audience generation can be based on generic, irrelevant proposals that offer no value.
5. Nurture And Build Trust
We’ve talked so much about lead generation until this point. Let’s not forget about your lead nurturing strategies, which will help you build trusting relationships and maintain happy and loyal customers. And why is that so important after you make a sale? Well, B2B depends on returning business, and happy customers mean increased retention and lower churn. Once you’ve gained the trust of a targeted lead, they are more likely to come back, double their spending, and refer you to their peers. To achieve this, you should keep the conversation going even after a purchase. Ask them whether they have further questions about your solution and if you can help them with potential struggles. Maybe they need extra onboarding services. Also, you can keep promoting relevant content to them if you plan on upselling or cross-selling. There is always the opportunity to offer them a new feature you will add some time in the future.
10 Strategies That Will Propel Your Targeted Leads Generation
1. Brand Awareness
Brand awareness and lead generation are often seen as opposite forces that companies have to choose between. However, this couldn’t be more wrong. When you target leads, you don’t only promote your product to them, but you also let them know who you are. Sure, you can focus on either one at different times depending on your goals. Both of them should be equally strong, though, if you want to keep your pipeline healthy.
Brand awareness means that people know your brand and visit your website regardless of whether they want to buy something. They may view you as an expert in the field and want to get the highest-quality information. So, when the time comes, they will choose you to buy the solution they need. Another way brand awareness accelerates business growth is by attracting partnerships. When you collaborate with other players in the same or a different field, you expose yourself to brand new audiences and increase your revenue generation promise.
2. Cold Outreach
Cold calling and emailing are often frowned upon due to their unwarranted nature. You can’t just call anyone when they haven’t consented to you contacting them, right? In a sense, yes. Sliding into people’s inboxes can harm your email reputation and get you in the spam folder. This happens when you target the wrong people and use irrelevant messaging. Cold customers are the hardest to convince since they don’t even know who you are and how you got their number. That’s why you should investigate each potential customer and have a script ready when you call them. If you are sending an email, make your tone and content personal. Offer a solution to an issue they are already facing. Keep in mind that cold leads may often be negative on the phone. Try to stay positive no matter what. However, if they appear utterly annoyed, simply apologize and end the call.
3. Engaging Landing Pages
The first thing your targeted prospects see when they click on one of your lead magnets is a landing page. A well-designed, clear, and specific page offers them all the information they need and allows them to decide whether they want to buy something. You can create multiple landing pages depending on your offers, including eBook downloads, webinar signups, email subscribers, and booking calls. Your goal should be to stand out from your competitors. But how do you optimize a landing page for lead generation? Starting with your copy, it should be clear, eye-catching, and descriptive. Your CTAs should also stand out and indicate to customers what is expected of them. Additionally, iterative testing, especially A/B testing, helps you identify the best design and copy that generate more desirable clicks. For example, if you want to drive more email signups, you can test two variants: “Sign Up Now” and “Subscribe”.
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4. Effective Content Marketing
Content isn’t only used to boost brand awareness during the initial stages of lead generation. It can also assist during the consideration and conversion stages when targeted leads want to ensure that you are the best option. Being consistent with your content creation is pivotal if you want to build a loyal fan base that visits your blog daily for updates. If you struggle to do that, you can outsource your needs to content marketing services. They will research your audience, pinpoint the most sought-after topics, and curate top-quality content.
If you are creating the content, don’t overdo it with multiple articles per day. Too much information may actually drive people away and hurt the quality of your produced material. Don’t forget that targeted selling also requires a Search Engine Optimization specialist who will improve online visibility and help you rank highly on Google. You may promote your content on your social media and even leverage content syndication to expand your reach.
5. Social Media Engagement
The future of digital marketing belongs to social media, as they help you grow your targeted consumer list. Everyone is online nowadays, and they are not just browsing for pairs of shoes but also for eLearning courses and HR software. Platforms like LinkedIn allow you to establish thought leadership and build trust with your audience. When your content isn’t overly salesy and you provide useful free resources, potential buyers deem you trustworthy. Therefore, they are more receptive to your ads or sales pitches. Not only that, but they won’t hesitate to give you their details upon clicking on your lead magnet. Whenever possible, engage with your followers in the comments and provide additional help when they ask for it.
Many marketers are now facing a Facebook vs. YouTube dilemma. While we can’t tell which one will work better for your brand, we will say that videos are a powerful tool for B2B marketing. You may upload longer videos on YouTube and shorter versions of them on other platforms.
6. Paid Advertisements
Paid ads are among the top customer targeting strategies, as they allow you to maximize your reach and target your segments. Whether you choose Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Meta Ads, or other platforms, you can create highly targeted ads that appeal to specific customers. For example, if you are segmenting based on demographics, you can target on a micro level. On the other hand, if you are using behavioral and psychographic segmentation, you might want to target on a macro level. Therefore, your targeted leads see your brand wherever they go, and they start familiarizing themselves with it. But SaaS lead generation requires good timing, too. You should show someone your ad when they are actively searching for it. Banner ads are particularly successful in capturing people’s attention the moment they visit a domain.
7. Lead Magnets
Great content can be a highly effective targeted leads generator, luring clients to click on your links and give you their contact information. This mainly refers to gated content that your prospects really want access to. Such content includes whitepapers, eBooks, interactive tools, templates, guides, and courses. For example, if you are a marketer trying to score new clients, you can create a marketing plan template and use it as a lead magnet. However, these targeted sales leads may be far from purchasing. They probably require a lot of nurturing until they are convinced about the usefulness of your solution. Based on their actions, you can create a map so you always know what your next move will be. For example, if they downloaded a free demo video, they may be actively looking for services like yours. So, you can propose a meeting with your experts.
8. Live Chat
Chatbots are one of the top applications of Artificial Intelligence in marketing, and you can’t overlook their promise. Imagine a potential buyer wanting to reach you to ask about your pricing. If you don’t have a chatbot and your product prices are nowhere to be found, the prospect might look for an email address. Then, it may take up to five days for your representatives to reply. During this time, that person might move on to the next suitor. A chatbot, on the other hand, can offer this sort of information in a matter of seconds while gathering data about your targeted leads. Another advantage is that chatbots are always available. Since many of you appeal to international clients, it would be impossible to have reps working around the clock. So, a bot can answer all simple questions no matter the time or day. That’s why these tools are among the top marketing industry trends.
9. Referrals
You are not entirely alone in your efforts to acquire high-quality business leads. Your customers can be your advocates and potential promoters. Think about the last time you bought something because someone you know recommended a product. Well, B2B doesn’t rely on word of mouth, but peer recommendations can play a serious role. So, every time someone buys something, send them an email notifying them about the unique offers for every new client they refer. For instance, you could offer a discount, additional features, free event attendance, or merch. However, it’s quite hard to track referrals. Some clients could already be saying the best about you to their network without you knowing about it.
As a solution, you can launch a partner program with traceable links and codes. This way, you can identify referred clients and reward your existing buyers for their loyalty and hard work. But isn’t this like affiliate marketing? Basically, yes—but an upgraded version. It may take time to set up, but it is definitely something to keep in mind.
10. Webinars And Events
85% of marketers treat webinars as a crucial aspect of their targeted lead generation strategies. Webinars aren’t like traditional PowerPoint presentations where audiences grow bored after only ten minutes. Interactive content helps engage leads and keep them with you until the end. Make sure you pick a platform that is easily accessible and offers great sound and image. You don’t want your sound to glitch when 100+ people are watching you. Leave time at the end of the webinar so participants can ask their questions and engage in conversation with you.
While the digital world is dominating, some marketers and business owners are still big fans of event digital marketing. Conferences allow you to showcase your expertise and get exposed to new ideas and opinions. You also get to know other thought leaders in your field and potential clients. Remember that people don’t do business with companies but with people. You have to earn your targeted leads’ trust if you want them to purchase. Unfortunately, events are quite pricey to attend. So, pick them wisely and make sure to create a press release so your audience knows you will be attending.
How Can Lead Automation Software Help You?
Instead of manually tracking the performance of your lead magnet ideas, you can enforce lead automation tools that optimize lead capture, qualification, nurturing, and scoring. The first benefit of using software like this is that it frees up time from your calendar for more meaningful tasks, including talking to clients and closing deals. Additionally, automation software identifies and qualifies targeted leads quickly, helping you proceed with the rest of your actions, including creating relevant content. But these tools can help you even with that. They can craft personalized experiences with ad and email copy that speaks straight to people’s needs and wants. Moreover, they offer detailed insights into every prospect’s behavior, preferences, and intent so you can improve your practices and appeal to their personas more accurately.
That’s not all. With an automated company-targeting tool, you don’t have to rely solely on team members to qualify and score leads. We don’t mean that you need no human power at all. Tools are amazing, but they still need the human touch to work effectively. You can just decrease costs and allocate them to other areas. Lastly, if you are building a growth strategy for SaaS, you are probably interested in scalability. The more you grow, the more complex your needs become. Automation tools scale your efforts efficiently.
Key Takeaway
Targeted sales leads are probably the number one goal of any business wishing to grow its brand and compete with the most successful in its field. Yet, it’s not an easy feat, as it takes carefully coordinated efforts. From building your ICP and segmenting your leads to engaging with them and nurturing them post-purchase, you have a long road to cover. Unique content marketing ideas help you appeal to all your segments and explain why you are the best option to solve their problems. Cold outreach may not be the best solution, but if done properly, it can actually win you some customers. Then, you should definitely enforce referral marketing to bring in new clientele. But your social media presence and landing pages are of even greater importance, as they function as your shop window.
Moreover, paid ads, lead magnets, and webinars can increase your subscriber numbers and help you build your audience. Live chatbots can also direct prospects to your website and get their contact information. It’s quite obvious that AI marketing benefits are nothing short of a revelation.
