Is outbound lead generation really necessary when you already have a well-established inbound marketing strategy?
While we understand your point, outbound lead generation can be a valuable addition to your sales and marketing approaches.
Despite its challenges, outbound lead generation strategies offer unique benefits that cannot be achieved through inbound methods alone.
Well, consider these scenarios:
By implementing outbound lead generation strategies, you can address these challenges. Plus, you can drive more revenue for your business.
An outbound lead is a B2B prospect you have approached through an outbound channel. They may have expressed interest in your company’s products or services but have not purchased yet.
Such leads then enter the outbound sales funnel – where you can nurture them into customers.
Two common types of outbound leads are Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs).
Outbound lead generation has become essential in the current business landscape, mainly due to the following reasons:
The following are some of the benefits of using outbound lead generation:
Outbound lead generation can help accelerate your sales cycle by targeting leads ready to purchase. By focusing on these leads, you can spend less time qualifying prospects and more time closing deals.
Outbound lead generation strategies are excellent for companies that need quick results. By using outbound tactics, you can generate tangible results within a shorter timeframe.
For example, cold email marketing campaigns had a conversion rate of 8.17% in 2022. It implies that a well-targeted campaign can deliver immediate results.
Outbound lead generation can increase your brand awareness without requiring significant effort. By sharing your content with your prospects, you can ensure the right people see it when they need it the most.
Moreover, even if they are not currently interested in your product or service, you still have an impression in their mind. It can help you increase brand recognition and recall.
One of the most significant advantages of outbound lead generation strategies is the ability to target high-value prospects. As a result, you can bring your messages directly to the people you want to reach.
For example, you can target LinkedIn-sponsored content ads based on the following:
With outbound lead generation strategies, you have complete control over the number of leads you generate. You can tailor your campaigns to your goals and resources.
Plus, you can choose the number of leads you want to bring in. It gives you greater control over your marketing and sales strategies.
With inbound tactics, you may need to invest significant time and resources to generate results. On the other hand, outbound lead generation can help you generate leads quickly without requiring as many resources.
For example:
Another critical element of successful outbound lead generation strategies is identifying buyer personas and understanding their pain points. It involves deeply understanding your target audience's characteristics, needs, and motivations.
To create effective buyer personas, you may need to:
Once you understand your buyer personas, you can tailor your messaging and outreach efforts to resonate with their needs and pain points.
Successful outbound lead generation strategies involve close collaboration between sales and marketing teams. This collaboration helps to ensure leads are effectively identified, engaged, and converted into customers.
The sales and B2B marketing teams comprise different roles, including:
Pinpointing the proper platforms for outreach and developing a communication plan is critical for successful outbound lead generation. It involves recognizing the channels and touchpoints most effective for reaching your target audience.
For example, your target audience may be active on social media. Then, you can develop a social media strategy that includes the following:
Alternatively, if your target audience is more likely to respond to email outreach, you should focus on developing a targeted email marketing campaign.
Successful outbound lead generation strategies begin with tailoring content and marketing to attract desired customers. It involves:
Let’s say you’re targeting a company in the ed-tech industry. Then, you may want to create content that addresses specific challenges such organizations face. It could include white papers, case studies, or blog posts that offer solutions to common problems, such as:
In addition to creating content, developing a digital marketing strategy that reaches your target audience is essential. It may involve using social media, email marketing, or other channels – to promote your content and attract potential leads.
Successful outbound lead generation strategies typically involve developing a lead scoring system to ensure your outreach efforts get priority. This system helps focus on leads based on their:
For example, you may assign a higher score to leads who engaged with your content, attended a webinar, or downloaded a white paper. You can ensure your team focuses on the most promising opportunities by prioritizing outreach efforts to leads with the highest scores.
Finally, you should create lead nurturing approaches that help keep potential leads engaged and interested in your offering. It involves developing a series of targeted communications, such as – email campaigns or webinars – that provide value to potential leads over time.
Now that you have gained more insight into outbound lead-gen, consider taking the next step to generate leads for your business. Let's explore 10 most effective outbound lead generation strategies that can yield positive results to assist you with this.
Cold calling involves reaching out to potential customers who may need to be made aware of your business. However, if you give them personalized information, they could be interested in your products or services.
It is a popular B2B lead generation approach and can be very effective if done correctly.
In the past, cold calling involved randomly dialing numbers from a phone book. However, with modern sales technology, cold calling has become a more efficient practice. It focuses on contacting only qualified and high-quality leads.
Today, sales reps can quickly leave hundreds of voicemail drops to qualified leads, making the process more scalable and streamlined.
However, remember that cold calling can also be challenging. It’s especially true when dealing with gatekeepers who may block access to decision-makers.
Nevertheless, you can overcome these challenges and leverage cold calling as a successful lead-generation tool. Here are some tips:
Cold emails are among the most effective outbound lead generation strategies – and for a good reason. They require minimal investment and can be one of your first approaches for outbound campaigns.
One of the best things about cold email campaigns is that you can customize them for each recipient. As such, it can increase the chances of getting a response.
In addition, cold emails bring a higher ROI than other outbound strategies. In fact, they are 40x more effective than Twitter or Facebook.
You can also automate cold email campaigns and send communications at specific times of the day to suit your leads. Hence, you can even reach prospects while you're asleep!
To create a successful cold emailing campaign, you can check out the following tips:
Dark Social is a lead generation technique for social sharing that can't be tracked through traditional web analytics. It occurs when a user shares a link through private messaging platforms like email or instant messaging.
It ditches the popular public social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook. Here are some points to understand Dark Social as a lead-gen technique:
Direct mail involves sending physical mail to potential customers or clients. Despite the prevalence of digital marketing, direct mail remains effective in 2023.
Combine it with other outbound lead generation strategies to maximize direct mail. When you execute correctly, direct emails are incredibly effective. In fact, you can personalize it – using creativity – to a great extent.
Plus, you can create and send custom postcards with QR codes to interlink your online and offline campaigns. This approach allows you to merge the power of digital marketing with the physicality of direct mail.
You can use direct mail campaigns to achieve various goals, such as:
With the right message and targeting, direct mail can be a highly effective tool for generating leads and closing deals.
Content syndication involves distributing your content through various channels to reach your target audience. It is a powerful tool to increase your brand visibility and generate leads.
Content Marketing Priorities
By leveraging content syndication, you can achieve the following benefits:
Next, how can you execute content syndication effectively?
In inbound marketing, the content is put out there for anyone to discover. However, content syndication lets you choose who reads your content and when. Hence, you can ensure your content reaches the right audience at the right time.
As per HBR:
Referral marketing is a powerful strategy to generate leads and increase sales. It leverages existing customers' trust and positive experiences to attract new ones.
Here are some insights on how to create an effective referral program:
Examples:
Referral marketing asks customers to write testimonials or leave reviews on relevant platforms. As a result, it can increase your brand's visibility and reputation. Plus, it provides social proof to potential customers.
Remember to make it easy for customers to refer you. Provide clear instructions and accessible referral links. Consider using referral software or plugins to automate the process and track the results.
Finally, always thank your customers for their referrals and show appreciation for their loyalty. It can strengthen your relationship with them and encourage them to refer you again.
Among social media platforms, LinkedIn stands out as one of the largest professional networks, with members in 200 countries and regions worldwide.
Plus, it has around 65 million decision-makers among its users. Hence, it is a highly effective platform for lead generation.
You can specifically target individuals who fit your ideal customer profile using LinkedIn's search function and various filters, such as:
Here are some more tips to make the most of LinkedIn marketing
The marketing world needs to pay more attention to online communities, such as Facebook groups, Subreddits, and forums. They can be a unique and effective way to generate leads.
Rather than reaching out to individuals from a lead pool, you enter a community that is the lead pool. But it's crucial to refrain from using this as an opportunity to spam people with promotions.
Instead, provide value by offering helpful advice and tips when someone has a problem that you can solve. Building relationships and trust with community members is essential. It will make selling a lot easier in the long run.
Job boards can be a practical addition to your outbound campaign. It’s especially beneficial for service-based businesses – although some marketers may not consider it a valid form of outbound marketing.
Job board leads are warmer and often looking for someone with similar skills and services. With advanced search filters, you can narrow down your targeting. Then, you can create personalized Loom videos for each job posting.
However, remember that your ideal lead pool may be smaller and less qualified.
For example, if you're a digital marketing agency looking to target SaaS companies, you could use Glassdoor to find companies currently hiring marketing managers.
You could research each company to learn more about their marketing needs and goals. Next, craft a personalized outreach message showcasing your SaaS industry expertise.
This approach allows you to generate highly targeted leads and start conversations with decision-makers actively seeking help in your expertise.
Let's move on to our final outbound lead generation strategy – networking events. Although not the most scalable approach to marketing your business, they're a fantastic way to connect with a highly qualified group of leads.
Attending niche events with your ideal lead is essential to generate leads through networking events.
For instance, if your SaaS company specializes in helping e-commerce brands, attending an e-commerce event, not a SaaS meetup, is more targeted. By doing this, you'll be able to meet your target customer and potential leads.
Even if you don't acquire any leads, the insights you gain will be valuable. According to a study, networking is vital for the success of 78% of startups.
CRM software can help you store and track every interaction between your B2B company and a lead.
Marketing automation software, on the other hand, can save time, cut down on manual tasks, and provide analytics on various KPIs.
These tools are now essential for your outbound lead generation campaigns.
Personalization can enhance customer experience, highlight the value of your services to a lead, and increase sales.
You can personalize almost anything in your outbound lead generation efforts, including:
NOTE:
In fact, 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging.
Next, deploy multiple channels for outbound lead generation, such as:
Multichannel outreach can increase customer retention rates, spread company awareness, and create an entire customer journey.
For example:
Digital generation takes over sales, with 80% of B2B buyers using mobile devices at work. Mobile optimization can:
Your website must load fast and look good on mobile devices. However, don’t forget about landing pages, whitepapers, and any other possible links you may include in your outreach. Everything moves fast, and so should your outbound.
Interactive content can increase engagement, grab attention, and entertain. So use quizzes, questionnaires, surveys, and contests to generate more outbound leads.
Plus, work-from-home reality doesn’t mean you have to quit events. You can go online. Adjusting to remote activities can help you maintain your outbound lead generation efforts even when you can't meet with leads in person.
Outbound lead generation is a powerful tool for businesses looking to increase sales and generate leads quickly. With the ability to start direct conversations with key decision-makers, you can target prospects that fit your ideal customer profile.
Remember, you don't have to choose one or the other. A combination of both can be effective. To maximize your outbound lead generation efforts, focus on individual connections, relevance, and thoughtfulness during the prospect's journey.
Contact Revnew today to learn how we can help you optimize your outbound strategy and achieve your sales goals.