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1. Be aware. The fight just got harder

The first thing to recognise is that, as B2B marketers, we're now working in a tougher environment. Corporations are concerned about future revenues and are wary of spending. Plus, with higher interest rates, borrowing to invest in new technologies and services is now much less attractive than it has been.

This means that there are less projects being signed off and less money being spent on those that are. B2B marketing and sales professionals must get tough to win their share of customer cash. And we all have to be even more careful with our own budgets, as we claw our way towards our lead goals.

2. Rethink your marketing plan

Chances are that when you planned your 2008 lead generation spend, things appeared considerably more rosy. So why not take a few hours to review your plan with a view to cutting back on any less effective activity?
The first to go from my plan are campaigns that don't measurably deliver the leads I need (display advertising for example), quickly followed by those that tend to result in small numbers of leads at high expense (product launch seminars/roadshows are also early victims for me).

When reallocating your budget we recommend that you realign your spend with highly targeted, measurable, low cost-per-lead activity, such as online or email marketing.

3. Cast a wider net

There's no set script for business decision makers when the economy heads south. While many rational executives instinctively slash costs to keep their balance sheets looking healthy, other companies invest as much as possible, in the hope of increasing their market share as their competitors reign back. There's not a list selection in the world that can help you identify who'll do what.

And this is where email marketing comes into its own. The cost of reaching an additional thousand/ten thousand targeted contacts with email is much, much less than alternatives such as telemarketing and direct mail. So, by using email you can reach more decision makers for less, thereby increasing the likelihood that you'll uncover 'live' projects.

4. Offer free value content guiding targeted decision makers

We've covered how we're now operating in a more challenging economic environment. Importantly, your messaging must change to reflect the new mood. So offer free whitepapers, guides, webinars, podcasts etc.
My bet is that messages designed to appeal to respondents ' need for safety/security will pull particularly strongly in the coming months. Those that suggest how decision makers can make things easier for themselves as their workloads mount, could also do well.

In its 'B2B Marketing Handbook' MarketingSherpa pointed to a 5 work-related emotions to which your content should be directed:

• safety


• ease


• greed


• power


• ego

Read more about this fascinating insight here

Whichever direction you choose to take, be aware that an increased sense of uncertainty and insecurity now prevails and our messaging should reflect this.

5. Leads to close and leads to nurture

Every lead generation campaign we undertake yields two types of lead: those that are close to making a purchase and can therefore be passed straight to the sales teams, and those whose interest in our products, services or solutions is in an earlier stage but who, with the proper management, could become purchasers later on. It's vital that your lead capture mechanism (eg. online form) enables you to differentiate between the two. That way, the best quality leads can be passed quickly to your highly motivated sales teams and you can communicate regularly to the others so they know to choose your company when the time comes to buy.

We advise our customers to ask 3 quick questions of everyone who responds to their adverts to they can instantly identify those most likely to buy and ensure that they're followed up immediately.

For more tips on successful lead generation by email, visit the reference section of emedia's website

Pioneers in business to business email marketing since 1999, emedia publish free opt-in email bulletins covering a range of markets: From Technology to general business management areas covering Small Business, Finance, HR and Marketing as well as more specialist areas such as Education, Public Sector, Construction and Healthcare.

Our email bulletins enable organisations to communicate information, privilege content and exclusive offers to the business community to help them keep ahead of the competition.

It is emedia’s policy to only launch a new bulletin when it is 100% confident that the title will continually provide subscribers and marketers alike with real value. This approach has seen emedia successfully expand its reader base to over one million subscriptions.

emedia is an active member of Return Path’s Sender Score Certified program, the leading third party email certification program.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Successful B2b Lead Generation in the Credit Crunch