Tag Archives: lead generation

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

87% of B2B companies aren’t unlocking full value of buyer intent data

Lead generation is the critical driver of growth for B2B businesses and the first step in building a meaningful relationship with customers in every industry.

But getting lead generation right is one of the biggest challenges in-house marketing and sales teams continue to face.

According to a new survey of US and UK senior marketing and sales professionals, commissioned by Leadfeeder, 82% of B2B companies continue to find lead generation a challenge, with enterprises of over 250 employees more likely to describe it as a “large challenge” than SMEs.

The research also found 65% of B2B companies are looking to invest more in buyer intent data to overcome their lead generation challenges.

Buyer intent data is now a vital way companies can grow their leads. Intent data consists of aggregated behavioral signals that indicate interest in a service or product, helping marketers and sales teams to nurture and convert new customers.

According to the research, over three-quarters (76%) of businesses now use buyer intent data to inform their marketing and sales strategy.

Of the in-house teams who use buyer intent data, frequency of visits was cited as the strongest indicator of a sales lead, followed by time spent on site, requests for more information, completing a contact form and downloading assets.

Furthermore, the most reported benefits of using buyer intent data were higher conversion rates (47%), bigger deal sizes (43%) and more deals closed (38%). Only 1% of respondents reported no performance increases, highlighting its value when used correctly.

B2B companies need a lead generation funnel for the simple reason that, in most cases, a purchase takes a long time to develop. It’s a lengthy process, with 90 percent of B2B sales taking more than one month to close, while 10 percent take more than one year.

While there are a lot of differences in the way individuals make a purchase, there’s still a process leading up to a buyer’s decision. And increasingly, B2B companies are tracking intent data signals to help them develop a smarter, more customer-focused marketing and sales strategy that’s designed around the modern buyer cycle.

But despite a growing appreciation for the value of buyer intent data, a knowledge gap remains.

The study reveals 87% of senior sales and marketing professionals still have more to learn about this method. The majority of B2B companies aren’t fully leveraging the power of buyer intent data and may need expert external support to unlock more value.

Of the B2B companies that don’t use buyer intent data, lack of internal knowledge and budget limitations were cited as the main reasons why.

Jaakko Paalanen, CRO at Leadfeeder commented on the findings:

“Our survey provides a valuable insight into the challenges faced by B2B sales and marketing teams when it comes to lead generation but also highlights the benefits of taking a more data-led approach.

“It’s clear that lead generation is still a priority of B2B marketers and a major headache. But with the help of intent data, marketing teams can drive more qualified pipeline and sales teams can focus on the right prospects, creating a more efficient process that delivers revenue.”

News, Tech

Clarity Stack announces major revamp to its sales intelligence software

Rapidly-growing sales intelligence SaaS provider, Clarity Stack, today announces the release of its new product offering along with a complete website and platform overhaul, giving customers the best experience to date.

The award-winning start-up company, founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Ben Harper, continues to enhance and evolve both its technology and vision for the future with this latest development, which sees the merging of its separate sales stack products into an all-in-one platform to streamline user experience and help businesses champion a more efficient sales process, enabling them to close more deals.

With the new product release, customers can build a tailored sales intelligence bundle that best suits their business requirements and current sales needs giving them greater flexibility; whether that be access to basic prospect contact details and business data, full access with additional features such as qualified, ready-to-buy sales leads, or something in between.

What’s more, shifting focus to one overarching platform and investing in cutting-edge machine learning technology allows Clarity Stack’s sales intelligence to become even more streamlined, accurate, and valuable to customers – enabling them to make more effective fact-based sales decisions for faster revenue growth.

“Following our successful rebrand in January 2022 and the launch of our mobile app in May, our new product release is the natural next step for us to provide further functionality enhancements and a better-quality service and user experience for our customers.” Said Clarity Stack founder and CEO, Ben Harper.

Scott Roberts, CTO, added, “After all the hard work that’s gone into building our new product offering, including a complete overhaul of our website, I’m looking forward to seeing our customers benefit from the changes we’ve implemented and ultimately win more business.”

 

About Clarity Stack

Clarity Stack were founded in 2018 and specialise in B2B data, insight and lead generation. Its mission is to help businesses sell better by harnessing the power of sales intelligence to enable teams to make better decisions.

The company is registered in the UK and US with its HQ situated in Warmington, near Peterborough, and employs more than 50 people across the two locations with more than 700 active customers. The software caters to all types of businesses around the world. Find out more at www.claritystack.com.

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

5 ways marketers can optimise their lead generation activities

Lead generation is one of the key pillars of a successful business, yet many still report wasting time on ‘bad leads’ that never convert.  For marketers working for small and medium sized enterprises in particular, it’s often a familiar story: how can efforts be optimised to ensure a limited budget goes the distance?

Christelle Fraysse, CMO of cloud-based CRM vendor Workbooks, reveals five strategies to help marketers boost the outcomes and ROI of their lead generation activities.

1. Become data-obsessed

As marketers, we have access to a lot of data. But too much data will only lead to more questions than answers. Becoming data-obsessed is not about collecting as much information as possible, it’s about collecting the right, high-quality information to serve your purpose – to better engage your audience, for example.

The first step towards optimising lead generation activities is to therefore consider what data is being collected and why. There should be two main focuses when collecting data: demographic and behavioural.

Demographic data is important to truly understand the ideal customer profile for your business. This could include what the organisation looks like, the size of the business, the industry it operates in, where it is located, and the people within it (your core personas, job roles, seniority levels, interests, and whatever you feel is relevant for better targeting and segmentation).

Behavioural information is also key and this includes what your prospects and customers are doing, how they are engaging with you and your content, what channels they are using, and what topics are resonating with them.

The combination of both demographic and behavioural information becomes extremely powerful. It can be used to take personalisation to the next level, and it allows tailoring of communication during the qualification process and beyond to ensure relevant and timely outreach.

2. Grade and score your leads

Not all leads are created equal. Does a lead sit within your target audience and is it right for the business? Is this contact ready to engage with sales or is it too early? The quality of the lead may not always be good enough and this is often the main source of tension between sales and marketing departments. The sales team may feel leads are lacking in quality, while the marketing team say leads are not being qualified or followed up on in an effective, timely manner. Lead scoring and grading can address this and add value.

First, sales and marketing teams must work together on the rules and principles that help to define a ‘good lead’ and ensure time is being spent targeting those of most value to the business. A lead must be graded directly against what your business’s ideal customer profile looks like. Upon collecting data, it is easier to make a direct comparison of the two and ensure a focus for both sales and marketing teams on those closest to the ideal profile.

The second element is to score leads on behavioural information. If a prospect views a blog, it shows some engagement. However, if they also visit the pricing page, this demonstrates greater intent and higher scoring, and – if attending webinars – even higher points can be awarded, as it shows commitment.

Grading leads creates opportunities to nurture them in a bid to upgrade their status. Score them and get them to engage until sales-ready, approaching them differently to those who have shown more interest and intent.

3. Work collaboratively with a common language

The relationship between the sales and marketing departments is often not the easiest to manage. The reality is that without a solid understanding between sales and marketing, the ability to generate quality leads is vastly limited. Is there a common understanding and agreement around what constitutes a sales qualified lead, a marketing qualified lead, and an opportunity entering your pipeline?

Both marketing and sales teams must work on building this relationship by having regular meetings to ensure there is a shared agreement on goals and approach, and that a consistent language is used across departments. Without agreed definitions or consistent management of leads through the sales funnel, the business will be held back. The two departments must not simply co-exist. When collaborative working processes are introduced properly, that is when value will truly be created and the quality of leads will increase.

4. Track everything

As a marketer, you should track everything you do. In a number of organisations, marketing is still perceived as a cost and it’s essential to shift this perception and become known as a revenue generator in your business. Often, marketing budgets are in the firing line when cuts occur, but once you track and demonstrate value it allows the marketing team to be seen as an equal contributor. This will result in more trust and, potentially, access to a larger budget for future activities.

The whole prospect and customer engagement process should be monitored and tracked, from the first click on the website, to the sales funnel, and the final closure. Visibility of when a deal closed and where marketing contributed to initiate or further the engagement and move the opportunity along the sales funnel, demonstrates value to your organisation and changes perceptions. This can help to fuel better relationships across departments and improve sales figures as teams work together.

5. Test, test, test!

The importance of testing should not be underestimated – refining your activities will maximise their value. For example, using AB testing on email layouts to see the impact on click-through rates can help to optimise the best email format, subject headers, and sender information. The same for landing pages on your website. Again, this comes back to data collection. The more data you collect and the more this is analysed, the better the return on marketing activities.

Unlock value with CRM

Access to high-quality data and insight is needed for marketers to optimise lead generation activities, whether you are a larger organisation or an SME. At the heart of this is a robust CRM platform.

According to a survey by Workbooks, the main driver for a CRM initiative for 52 per cent of companies was to better manage data and gain insights. Yet many businesses are still failing to use the technology properly to unlock its true value, with only 47% of CMOs having a framework for data collection.

With the right CRM, it’s possible to optimise and transform marketing campaigns, segmenting and targeting them to the individual needs of a high-value list of prospects based on relevant, real-time data.

Using shared tools across the business ensures a single view of the truth, a consistent process and the most efficient customer journey. Graded and scored leads and targets worked on collaboratively with the sales team increases the chance of closing the deal.

For marketers, the ability to demonstrate true value throughout the engagement process through to the sale is vital to progressing as a revenue generator. CRM may be an investment, but the right solution will offer complete sales and marketing integration to transform lead generation activities and ensure the recognition you, as a marketer, deserve.

News

Embracing AI leads to awards success for Moseley marketing consultant

One of the UK’s leading Google advertising specialists is celebrating after securing a string of award wins and shortlists.

MCG Digital Media founder, Gez McGuire, became one of the first people in the UK to earn the prestigious AI Business Strategies and Applications qualification from Berkley University earlier this year and has since gone on to become a finalist and award winner in four awards.

More than £11 million was generated for clients in the last 18 months as a result of Gez’s AI enabled approach to landing page design and optimisation, leading to his work being shortlisted against major brands including North Face, Asda and Audi.

Having secured finalist positions in the Best Lead Generation and Best PPC campaigns at the Performance Marketing Awards as well as being shortlisted for Marketing Agency of the Year at the UK Business Awards, MCG Digital Media beat off stiff competition from brands including Debenhams to secure Best PPC Campaign at the UK Agency Awards.

Gez said: “AI can have a transformative effect on campaigns, particularly when it comes to lead generation. For some of the companies we have adopted this approach with we’ve seen as much as a 164% uplift in leads generated. The results speak for themselves, but to have the added benefit of winning awards and being shortlisted against some of the world’s biggest brands is a major endorsement.”

As a result of the continued success of his approach Gez has launched Lead Accelerator, which allows agencies and in-house teams to quickly and effectively develop AI enabled landing pages and advertising campaigns.

Gez added: “Lead Accelerator allows us to open up the possibilities of AI to more businesses. Developed from more than £5 million worth of advertising spend this is a proven method of increasing website visits and new digital enquiries.”

For further detail visit www.leadaccelerator.co.uk email gez@mcgdigitalmedia.co.uk or call 0870 300 9400.

Connect with Gez McGuire on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gezmcguire/

 

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

6 signs your digital advertising campaigns are underperforming and what to do about it

Poorly performing paid search campaigns could be costing businesses tens of thousands of pounds every month.

Pay-per-click is often a victim of its own success. With even the most basic of setups delivering results, marketing managers and agencies can see it as a fit and forget solution. A closer look, however, will often reveal significant wastage.

Lead Accelerator founder and AI marketing expert, Gez McGuire, reveals six of the most common issues and how to address them.

 

  1. You struggle to maintain consistent results

Often businesses find that the amount of traffic driven by digital marketing is inconsistent, or in gradual decline. One of the key factors affecting this is a much too simplistic campaign structure. Having just one ad running for a given search term is rarely if ever the best approach. Multiple ads optimised for different times of the day, different devices and locations provide much more oversight on exactly what is and isn’t working. In this way each campaign can be assessed, tested, optimised and scaled to achieve consistent results.

 

  1. PPC visitors aren’t converting into enough enquiries

In some instances, businesses can be seeing good or even high levels of traffic to their website through PPC, but visitors are simply failing to take the next step to get in touch. In this case it is often where potential customers are being driven to rather than the advert itself that is at fault. A poorly optimised landing page will be costing businesses £1,000s in lost revenue.

In the past, addressing this issue meant creating a single landing page with a clear and direct call to action. While this principle remains correct, there are now a series of advanced features that can supercharge conversions. Taking advantage of the latest advances in AI and machine learning, it’s now possible to quickly and effectively create intelligent landing pages that use multiple multi-step forms. Geared a lot more towards website visitors taking immediate action, we’ve adopted this approach across all of our clients and are seeing conversions increase to as much as 30 to 40 per cent.

Introducing AI and machine learning eliminates the need for a “one-page-fits-all” approach to conversion optimisation by delivering the most relevant content to each visitor. Through analysis and learning AI powered landing pages send visitors to a landing page variant where they are most likely to convert.

 

  1. Your competitors seem to be everywhere and are stealing your share of voice

Smart businesses make sure that they have multiple touchpoints with their prospective customers. Engagement in the form of conversions or enquiries often happen after the 9th or 10th time that a prospect sees a relevant and timely ad.

One effective way to do this is through remarketing. Incorporating a tracking pixel onto a website or landing page allows businesses to retarget prospective customers across digital platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn and Google.

There will soon be a shift in the way that digital marketing is carried out when the use of third-party cookies is phased out, impacting the way thousands of advertisers use platforms such as Facebook to target their desired audiences. One way advertisers can stay ahead of this change is to gather as much first-party data as possible, through the implementation of remarketing pixels and data collection, from lead generation.

Creating your own multi-touchpoint campaign funnel will be important and ultimately, rewarding.

 

  1. You cannot identify how and where to scale your campaign reach

Many companies with sizeable digital marketing budgets still have very limited ability to leverage their campaigns as a result of a poorly thought-out strategic approach from the offset.

Time and again we have re-structured clients’ digital campaigns to allow for greater transparency in terms of understanding where the greatest engagement and opportunity lies in terms of campaigns / devices / time segments and many other factors.

This leads to being able to be data driven when making key decisions in terms of where to spend budget as being informed by results is far more effective than anything else.

As a result, we can easily identify where to reduce ad spend and where to scale it up and the results are always impressive, with an average reduction in waste of approximately 25% and an increase in productivity of 20% – 30% in terms of increased conversion rates and lower cost per enquiry / sale.

The main takeaway here – do not take your in-house marketing manager or incumbent agency’s word when they say that nothing more can be done to improve your digital campaigns. We’ve heard that and within 30 days turned things around in a big way.

 

  1. You do not have full autonomy or ownership of your digital strategy

All too often the ownership of many companies’ digital marketing lies with either one person in their marketing department or with the incumbent agency that manages it.

This is very dangerous as we’ve seen accounts spending £30,000 per month where the main people in the business don’t know how to even access it to view performance.

In these situations, a company can be given very bad advice by their in-house staff or by their incumbent agency. Meaning that not only could they be missing out on opportunities to streamline and increase the efficiency of the campaign, but they could also be wasting a significant portion of their ad spend.

Companies that find themselves in this situation often have to play a difficult game to get a fresh perspective from someone else but it’s ultimately worth it. If this describes you then act today to start putting things right.

 

  1. Your marketplace is just too expensive to advertise in and you don’t know a way around it.

Sometimes it’s just too expensive to advertise in an online auction, such as Google Ads, for certain sectors as the click costs can run very high. This is due to advertisers in those sectors ramping up their bids in order to dominate the paid search results.

This may seem strange but we’ve seen this happen when a company receives venture capital investment, for example, and one of their marketing strategies is to play the long game, as they can afford to do this. They can therefore pay high costs to get enquiries as they know most of their competition cannot afford to do this.

However, there are multiple advanced bidding strategies that can allow advertisers to compete in very expensive markets without paying the inflated costs that their competitors have created.

Take a look at all of the smart bidding options that allow advertisers to set goals in terms of target cost per acquisition, return on ad spend or even to target by impression share. The suite of bidding options available allow advertisers to test and measure different campaigns in the same auction until you find one that works for you and your sector, and your budget.

Gez McGuire is an award-winning AI marketing specialist and founder of Lead Accelerator.

For further details visit www.leadaccelerator.co.uk