April 11 (PR): You've probably heard how marketers are leveraging email marketing to drive leads and the excellent ROI it provides. I mean, how hard could it be? 

There are readily available email templates to choose from so you'll just go with the one that feels right for your business. Right? Right?

Unfortunately, no.

Not if you actually want to see tangible results from your efforts. You'll need to think about your target audience's interests and preferences, the message you're putting forth, and how to convince readers to take action.

To that end, we'll explore five email marketing tactics that may help generate B2B leads. Well, along with other lead generation strategies to file up your pipeline.

Email Marketing Tips for Lead Generation

Let's dive in:

• Put together irresistible offers. This is directly tied to how well you know those you’re targeting and the content they respond to. A highly valuable resource will reel them in, as may promotional discounts. 
• Segment subscribers depending on behavior and interest. Share a few questions with people subscribing to help you understand their interest level. It will make the nurturing process easier as you will know the precise content to send to each group. You also get to zero in on leads who're closer to buying to maximize conversions.
• Forgo the “no-reply” email addresses. How will they get in touch with you if they have questions? A no-reply email address says you're unreachable and they need to find other channels to communicate with you. Your emails will probably Your email will likely end up in the spam folder.
• Split test often to improve metrics. Test subject lines, formats, layouts, and colors, length of emails, featured images, CTA placements, and sending times. There's always something you can improve to boost conversion rates.
• Outsource your email marketing needs. Professional SDR companies understand that a solid lead gen strategy is about attracting the right audiences and boosting their customer's brand in the eyes of these audiences. They have the expertise to bring in more leads to improve conversions and revenues.

  Host Industry-Specific Webinars

The nature of debate, questions, and problems tackled in industry-specific webinars makes them attractive to a particular audience.

You delve into sought-after topics to showcase your knowledge of the subject, empower audiences, and build brand equity.

As a result, these webinars establish trust among audiences and attract leads to your business.

There are several webinar types you can consider, including:

• Educational webinars. Ideal for both prospects and customers, these webinars improve the audience's knowledge of the subjects or issues they face. They also show audiences how to fix these issues. 
• Product webinars. As the name suggests, this type explains to audiences the benefits of your solutions and how to derive full value from them. They are suited to your existing customers and those who are interested in exploring your products/services.
• Panel webinars. These bring together different people within your industry for discussions about industry-relevant issues. You can host different influencers, industry experts, and thought leaders to share their views and experiences.
• Q&A-style webinars. If you already have an engaged audience, Q&A-style webinars are great for tapping into their thoughts, answering their questions, and building credibility. This type encourages audiences to engage you further.

  Cold Calling

Attracting leads requires differentiation.  Showcasing how superior your solutions are compared to the competition requires an array of tactics. 

One such tactic is cold calling. 

Here, you identify companies that may benefit from your solutions, call them and share how your products/services can get them to their goals. 

Best practices include:

• Research your prospects. Identify your buyers, what they are looking for, their buying patterns, and your capacity to solve their challenges. 
• Look for sales triggers. Changes happen in the B2B world all the time. Companies merge, expand, appoint new top executives, etc. Identify situations that create a need for your solutions and leverage them.
• Analyze your script and change it. Rejections are no fun. Identify sections in your script where listeners shut you down regularly and rework them until people stop rejecting you.
• Create a calling schedule. Identify the time of day when you're likely to elicit positive responses thorugh cold calls. These times will depend on your target industry, so check activity records of past buyers to find patterns, then focus those precious hours on high-value prospects.
• Measure efforts. There are multiple metrics you can check to know if your efforts are bearing fruit or need tweaking. Top metrics include monthly conversion rate, average call-to-conversation rate, and monthly won contract value.

  Optimize Your Landing Pages

Typical lead gen landing pages collect the visitor’s contact information with the goal of facilitating future communication. 

Top considerations include:

• Focus on functionality. Avoid using designs, images, or copy that may hinder the viewer from taking action. Let all directional cues lead them to your main message and CTA.
• Sell the need. Keep the copy focused on the business issues you can solve. Content that tackles prospects' needs will lead them to your offerings.
• Again, sell the benefits. Features and technical specs are nice to know but most people are interested in how your solutions can better their lives. Sell the benefits they stand to enjoy through your services.
• Remove barriers. Ever come across an opt-in form that feels like an interrogation? Most prospects don't like divulging too much information earlier on, so only ask for what's necessary. They will be happy to share more details as you build a connection.

  Gain Trusted Backlinks

Having someone rave about your brand is great for building trust, right? In the digital space, a trusted website referring their customers your way does a similar job.

In securing backlinks from these trusted websites, your credibility goes up in the sight of both audiences and search engines.

How can you do this?

• Guest blog. Identify authoritative websites that are relevant to your niche, have substantial engagement rates, and accept guest blogs. Check their requirements and put together amazing content that the site will want to link to and audiences will want to read through.
• Create linkable assets to improve visibility. Interactive content, like calculators and quizzes, as well as case studies, infographics, and industry reports are highly attractive. You may find other B2B marketers linking the asset to their content to add credibility to their work, which also serves to boost your brands' awareness. 
• Look for unmentioned brand links. Set up Google Alert for brand mentions to help you find content that mentions your brand without linking to it. You can reach out to the site owners and request them to include a URL link to your website.