COVID-19 tested companies across industries and the globe, forcing many to adjust business models and operating practices.
With shifting consumer demands and economic downturns, many old revenue-generating strategies lost value and had to be replaced with “band-aid” digital-based tactics.
As we move on from the pandemic, brands are again reviewing their strategies once more. It’s unlikely we will go back to our old ways—rather, we’ll see hybrid operating models that support growth and reflect the times. To that end, let’s explore five lead gen strategies that may aid recovery and growth post-pandemic.
1. Empathy-Based Marketing
It’s interesting how brands forget that companies are run by living, breathing humans. Behind every B2B lead and every customer are people, and these people prefer working with other people who are empathetic and likable.
Having weathered one of the most challenging crises of our time, the pandemic took a toll on people (who run businesses) both mentally and financially. The last thing they need is another ill-timed marketing message that pushes products/services in their face.
This strategy involves walking in your lead’s shoes to understand their reality and inform the best approach.
Best practices include:
- Understanding your leads’ pain points. What reality are your prospects experiencing? Use social listening to gather sentiments around the pain points that leads care about the most and what gives them sleepless nights.
- Adapt to your leads’ changing needs. With the info, you gathered regarding what your leads are experiencing, brainstorm steps you can take to help them overcome these challenges. You may need to consider your customers’ everyday work lives and how you can improve them.
- Make your content interactive. Rather than cast every piece in stone, create interactive content, especially cost calculators and the like, that people can tweak to see differing outcomes. Videos that let the viewer click on them for more info also work.
2. Automating Lead Generation
This strategy doesn’t just collect more leads, it is time-saving and enhances user experience. To maximize the automated lead generation tactic, you’ll need a capable lead gen tool and an effective strategy.
Leadfeeder, Snov.io, FindThatLead, Outgrow, LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator, Hubspot, and OptinMonster are all fantastic tools for lead generation.
For this section, though, we’re going to focus on the effective strategy aspect.
- Optimize for search engines. Nearly everyone is putting out content that can severely limit your ability to reach your ideal audience. By understanding what information your audiences are searching for, you can optimize your content to tackle these issues.
- Lead magnets work. Value-packed ebooks, checklists, cheat sheets, industry reports, webinars, and free consultations are perfect for collecting lead contact info. Some magnets have extended shelf lives, you only need to update them occasionally to maximize relevance and continue reaching audiences.
- LinkedIn is your friend. Share the latest market statistics, thought leadership content, and, inspiring statuses on your newsfeed. Monitor industry-relevant group conversations and share opinions/answers that reflect your expertise and desire to help aka no sales-y stuff.
3. Hosting Virtual Events
While virtual events gained traction following the pandemic, marketers soon realized how valuable this lead gem was. With wide viewership, teams could reach prospects in regions and market segments they only imagined previously.
The second best thing? Data analytics. Virtual event tools allow hosts to gather data-driven insights based off attendees’ behavior and engagement.
You can use the information to distinguish hot leads, inform your next virtual event (topic, speakers, etc), or improve your offerings.
Consider the following:
- Choose a platform that addresses your needs. Zoom has been a logical choice for most people but will it work for you? Start by listing what you need from the platform and shop around for one that offers them.
- Make sessions immersive and interactive. The remote nature of virtual events can make them lonely experiences especially if all you do is broadcast the event without attendee participation. Provide Q&A sessions, encourage side chats, and run surveys or games to foster a community feeling.
- Keep events short. People plan to attend—they shift priorities and block time to attend your event. If you make the sessions overly long, they are likely to get distracted and leave. For all-day events, aim for no more than 4 one-hour sessions.
4. Cold Calling
While sales are pegged on numbers, aggressively intruding into people’s day with no knowledge whatsoever of their needs has no place in today’s marketplace.
We mentioned earlier, that prospects have no time for ill-timed messages, meaning post-pandemic cold calling requires a shift in methodology and mindset.
Best practices include:
- Incorporating buyer intent data and other marketing intelligence to identify potential buyers. Intent data allows you to pick up hot leads from the crowd of searchers so you can reach out. Similarly, look for sales triggers that can open opportunities for you to make a sale.
- Seeing yourself as a professional capable of helping businesses solve their problems using the best solutions. When you know your stuff and are committed to genuinely committed to helping your lead succeed, it boosts trust and encourages engagement.
- Record calls for review later. As you review your conversations check for scenarios you could have handled better, veiled opportunities, and new objections that need to be addressed. You can use these calls to train other staff so they can handle their own calls better.
5. Q & A Forums
Memories of the lockdown are still fresh on our minds and now more than ever people are gravitating toward online community groups.
They are becoming part of communities that share their interests, ideas, passions, and beliefs and where they can find peer-to-peer support.
Quora, Reddit, and other industry forums have evolved into online customer communities that digital marketers can leverage in their outreach efforts.
B2B communities are great for observing conversations develop. You can use them to build genuine rapport with prospects or to inspire thought leadership content, new product/service lines, or improve customer experiences.
Within these communities, you’re likely to find one strong voice (perhaps two) that often emerges with useful insights. You can target these people for mutually beneficial influencer partnership programs.