Sales Lead Generation, Online Marketing, Direct Marketing

The world of marketing consists of a lot data. Various lead generation analysts and researchers are always coming up with new trends and market forecasts of what will happen. The simple fact is that nobody knows what the marketplace will be like in 2 months let alone 2 years. That being said, there are some long-term b2b lead generation trends that can be predicted with some degree of accuracy. According to Forrester Interactive Marketing Research, 86% of Marketing Managers expect to increase social media assets in 2010. The trend across the board is switching away from traditional media to emerging interactive media. SEO is one of the frontrunners of this trend. Is your company currently doing everything it can to utilize search engine optimization marketing? There are five things your company can do to correctly implement search engine optimization marketing into your long-term marketing strategy.

1. Create a Game Plan:
The big reason why most lead generation marketing strategies fail is lack of planning. All too often ideas get implemented into action without the proper foresight to know if the idea is tangible or not. Carefully plan out a lead generation strategy from beginning to end and try to come up with possible problems that might arise. Before you start any of that, you need to clearly define your b2b lead generation goal. What do you want SEO to do for your company? Generate leads? Increase your online presence? Create sales?

2. Evaluate Your Resources Honestly:
Before you being your search engine optimization marketing quest, you need to honestly evaluate if your company has the capabilities to perform the task. Many times companies will sign up for the whole package only to find that SEO is an ongoing and arduous process. Ask yourself if you have the personnel to manage the job or if you will need to outsource the project. This involves content developers, programmers, competitive researchers and technical personnel to handle code and server issues. After your site is properly optimized it is going to take an ongoing team to promote the site, keep it current with fresh content and build a network through backlinking. Is your team knowledgeable with all aspects of SEO? Once you have determined that you have the necessary personnel and you have a good plan, you need to figure out if you have the budget to accomplish the task. Do you have the long-term budget to do search engine optimization marketing correctly?

3. Establishing Metrics:
After your goals have been set you need to see if your lead generation strategies are working. Different companies will have different goals for their search engine optimization marketing campaigns. Before you start your campaign you should implement analytics software into your websites code to track your progress. A lot of companies view an SEO campaign as a success by the amount of #1 rankings they achieve. This way of looking at things is irrelevant to the success of a lead generation campaign. Search results can be radically different depending on what computer you’re logged on to, if you’re currently in your Google Account or by the location of the searcher (Geotracking). You should be looking for keyword rankings over a period of time, the number of people coming to your site based upon keywords and most importantly conversions. It doesn’t matter if you bring 2,000,000 people to your site. If they don’t pick up the phone or fill out that form you are ultimately wasting your b2b lead generation efforts.

4. Ongoing Promotion:
Search engine optimization marketing is not a “One and Done” strategy. Search engines view websites almost like living creatures in the sense if they don’t grow and evolve they will not be ranked as important as other sites. Once you have chosen the right keywords, that fit your business, are ranked highly and have low competition, then you must implement those keywords into your content. Content is King! It is not enough anymore to simply stuff your website with keywords. Your lead generation team needs to produce regular content, promote the site through social networks using micro sites and landing pages as well as building an extensive backlinking network.

5. Establishing a Long-Lasting Image
Search engine optimization marketing is just one tool your company can use in this new age of digital media. SEO should be integrated with social media, video, podcasts, webinars, lead nurturing, email marketing, directory listings, affiliate marketing, mobile and sms marketing, pay per click and teleprospecting. All of these b2b lead generation tools put together, along with traditional marketing efforts, should create a long-lasting brand for your company that creates excitement for your customers. Coordination between public relations, brand managers, the creative team, sales and the website team takes a lot of effort but only through teamwork will your marketing campaigns pay off.

To Your Success,

John Clifford

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