Lead Generation for B2B Content Marketers

Lead generation plays an increasingly vital role in B2B content marketing. Find out how understanding purchasing panels, moving beyond the lead funnel model and focusing on repeat and referral business are the paths that “lead” to business success.

We can use content marketing at any state of the B2B buying journey. Conventionally, brands saw content as a way to build brand awareness in the interest phases of the process, after which the sales force would solidify leads and convert potential customers.

In today’s post-pandemic, online world, potential clients probably review at least a dozen online content items before ever contacting anyone at your company. So, content now plays a critical role throughout all buying journey stages.

That makes B2B marketing content that generates qualified leads essential to growing your business. Too often, content creators don’t have a complete grasp of the desires, wants, needs, experiences and pressures that drive potential customers.

Every Lead Is a Human Being

Although we’re creating content for mass consumption, and we’re targeting organizations rather than individuals, it’s important to understand that every lead is a human being.

So, to connect with our audiences in ways that generate leads, we need to understand buyer psychology at least as well as a top-ranked sales representative. So, in this edition, we’ll cover some of the barriers that prevent B2B marketing copy from generating qualified leads that generate sales.

As we know, B2B buying journeys are longer and more convoluted than in the consumer world. There are several reasons for this, but perhaps the main consideration its that B2B purchasing decisions are group decisions.

Any Substantial Purchase Gets Made By Committee

Just about any substantial purchase an organization makes gets made by committee, or what many B2B marketers calling a purchasing panel. Panel members typically include the users themselves, the departmental manager, representatives from finance, IT and maybe facilities, an executive, and often an executive assistant.

The marketing jargon for these panelists is typically:

• End Users
• Purchasers
• Decision Makers
• Influencers
• Gatekeeper

Not all purchasing panels have a specific person assigned to each and every one of these roles, and some people may play multiple roles. For example, a departmental manager with sign-off authority might be an end user and a decision maker, and a gatekeeper with no formal authority often has some degree of informal influence over the final decision.

Target Content to Each Purchasing Panelist

Purchasing panels have two implications for B2B lead generation. We need to target marketing content to each of these types of panelists, and we need to understand the role that the person behind each lead plays on the purchasing panel.

This leads to another key consideration. The interaction between purchasing panelists is informal, abstract and it moves in fits and starts.

So, concepts like the lead funnel are too simplistic to structure a B2B content marketing strategy. I realize this statement is controversial and that a lot of sales and marketing professionals are heavily invested in the concept, but, like the castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, “it’s only a model!”

Lead Funnel Model Is Misleading

There are three reasons why the lead funnel model is misleading. First of all, in the B2B world, there isn’t some sort of nozzle hooked up to an endless supply of potential customers.

So, you can’t simply pump more and more potential clients into the big end of the funnel. Many small and medium-sized B2B brand managers could sit down and write a list of every potential client that’s realistically available to them.

This narrower market focus makes B2B lead generation a much more targeted affair. Through research, networking and input from your sales force, B2B content marketers can find out precisely who the decision makers and influencers are at each of their target organizations and even a get broad sense of what makes them tick.

Funnels Don’t Leak, Buying Journeys Do

The second reason the mental image of a funnel is deceiving is that funnels don’t leak. All the water we pour into the big end of a funnel eventually comes out the small end.

Because human group interactions are messy, informal and complicated, purchasing panels’ needs change, conflicts arise and panelists change their minds. You can lose potential leads if you don’t allow for these kinds of situations and contingencies.

Thirdly, there’s the 80/20 rule to consider. Since roughly 80% of your brand’s sales likely come from repeat and referral business, why would you focus on cold prospects at the “big end of the funnel”?

80% of Sales Come From Repeat and Referral Business

B2B marketing content aimed at promoting advocacy from satisfied customers is far more likely to generate qualified leads than broadly targeted content items aimed at building brand awareness.

Lead generation has become a central focus for B2B content marketers, and this trend will continue throughout the “interesting times” the business world seems to be facing in the near term.

Brands that create content that takes the complexity of the buyer journey into account, move beyond the traditional lead funnel model, and aim content at advocacy can generate more qualified leads and land more conversions.

The golden rule of marketing, “know your customer,” is the path that “leads” to business success.

Learn more:

B2B Lead Generation

Shattering the ‘myth’ of a b2b sales funnel

I'm a freelance writer and commercial blogger, creating marketing content for select business-to-business clients in Canada and the United States. Feel free to contact me to discuss your needs.

https://davidmortonrintoul.com