The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the way we do business. A year of national lockdowns and social restrictions forced marketers to develop novel strategies to engage with prospects and customers. The business survival strategies adopted during the pandemic have become the new normal. Businesses must adapt to the new normal to thrive in a post-pandemic world.
What does the new normal mean for B2B companies? Research conducted by McKinsey has found that more than 75 percent of B2B buyers now prefer digital engagement over face-to-face interactions in their shopping journey. Gone are the days of conferences and lunch meetings to generate more leads. You must digitize your B2B lead generation strategies to stay competitive after COVID.
What are the most effective B2B digital marketing strategies to generate more leads? Below, Best SEO Service Companies will provide six tips to help you attract more B2B buyers in a post-pandemic business world:
Build an Emotional Connection
COVID-induced digitization has increased the speed and convenience of doing business. Increased adoption of technology has made life easier, but it has also deteriorated human-to-human connection. An increasingly socially distant world is yearning for emotional connection. Now more than ever, people don’t want to do business with other businesses; they want to do business with other people.
Developing a personal connection with prospects is among the most effective B2B lead generation strategies post-pandemic. B2B buyers are less impulsive than consumers, but emotions still influence their purchasing decisions. B2B marketing strategies that appeal to buyers’ emotions generate seven times more sales and profits than rational messaging. Adding a human touch to your digital marketing messages will help you attract more leads post-COVID.
Implement an Omnichannel Strategy
The pandemic altered traditional B2B lead generation channels as in-person meetings and conferences became off-limits. To keep their businesses afloat, forward-thinking marketers adopted omnichannel B2B lead generation strategies. An omnichannel strategy combines all your channels into a unified lead generation journey to help you build more business.
Omnichannel lead generation can look something like this:
- Find a potential prospect on LinkedIn who could use your products/services
- Send cold emails to the business offering your solutions
- Follow up with cold calls
- Schedule a virtual or in-person meeting to discuss more business
Omnichannel marketing maximizes outreach and improves your lead generation efforts. Using an omnichannel approach in your B2B lead generation strategies results in 250 percent more engagement from potential prospects. Take advantage of all your physical and digital channels to generate more leads post-pandemic.
Produce Thought Leadership Content
The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented level of uncertainty in the world. Increased feelings of vulnerability and insecurity have made trust the most important factor after price in people’s purchasing decisions. Enhancing trust in your brand is one of the most effective B2B lead generation strategies after the pandemic. B2B companies must position themselves as industry experts to build brand trust and generate more leads.
Producing thought leadership content is the most cost-effective digital marketing strategy to enhance your brand’s integrity. Quality content that educates and delivers value to the target audience will boost your credibility and help you build more business. Thought leadership content also delivers great SEO value. Google ranks web pages with quality content higher in its organic search results, increasing your brand’s exposure to a wider audience.
Organize Virtual Events
Event marketing is a powerful B2B lead generation strategy. Organizing events are necessary to help you network with other businesses. The pandemic’s social restrictions made it impossible to host in-person events. Many B2B companies have started to host virtual conferences to promote their products and generate more leads. Virtual events are here to stay as they increase accessibility and help you reach a wider audience.
Planning virtual events should be included in your post-pandemic B2B lead generation strategies to help you connect with more businesses. Virtual events provide many advantages over in-person conferences. Along with eliminating cost barriers to entry, virtual events provide valuable data on attendees to help you create more personalized and memorable experiences. Use attendees’ data to curate engaging content and draw more leads to your business.
Start Social Selling
Social media use skyrocketed during the pandemic as people turned to these platforms to fight boredom and isolation. You should take advantage of increased social media use to boost your sales opportunities post-pandemic. Including social selling among your B2B lead generation strategies can help you attract more prospects. Social selling is when companies directly contact potential customers on social media platforms to establish business relationships.
If you’re not reaching out to potential customers on social media, you should do so right now. More than 78 percent of companies that leverage social selling outsell peers that don’t practice this lead generation technique. How can you start social selling? Get yourself a social selling tool like Google Alerts to make researching for potential clients easier. Use the tool to “listen” to online conversations and connect with potential B2B buyers who could use your services.
Leverage the Power of SEO
In a time marked by unprecedented confusion, people turned to the internet in record numbers to seek answers. Traditional radio news listeners turned to Google for real-time updates. Others increasingly relied on voice search to find their needed products and services. The internet habits picked up during COVID will stick long after the pandemic ends. In a post-pandemic world, SEO will become more important than ever for your B2B lead generation strategies.
SEO drives more organic traffic to your website to increase exposure and maximize lead generation. Leads generated through search engine optimization have an average conversion rate of 14.6 percent compared to 1.7 percent for direct mail. Keep up to date with the latest SEO trends to stay on top of Google and attract more B2B buyers. You can also partner with a reputable SEO digital marketing agency to improve your B2B lead generation strategies.
Prepare Your Business for a Post-Pandemic World
The pandemic has upended the way we do business. Your old marketing playbook will no longer help you succeed in a post-COVID world. You must overhaul your marketing strategy to thrive in an increasingly competitive B2B marketplace. Use the tips above to develop a new digital marketing plan for driving more leads post-pandemic. If you need more tips on B2B lead generation strategies, follow Best SEO Service Companies’ blog to get expert guidance.