Every business worth its salt knows that a non-existent lead generation channel means doom. There are two types of leads that businesses get- inbound and outbound. Inbound leads are prospective customers who knock on your doors because they have heard about you through a blog, a PR article, or listened to a podcast of your CEO and were impressed by your product.
There are hundreds of ways you can get inbound leads, the same goes for outbound leads as well. Outbound leads are those who you acquire by targeting and prospecting by going out of your way to establish the first contact.
If you have an inbound lead generation channel that keeps you giving leads, that’s great for your company. No business can afford to not have an outbound lead generation channel. Why? Because you never know when an inbound channel dries up and stops giving you leads on a platter.
Here are some of the best ways to generate outbound leads for your business:
#1 Personalized cold emails:
Email marketing will always be your cash cow when you are looking for outbound lead generation channels. It offers you $42 for every dollar you spend on it, there is no other channel that comes anywhere close in terms of ROI. Emails are also your best bet to distribute content, and more than 87% of marketers use email as their primary channel to do so.
If you send personalized cold emails, 17% of your prospects are more likely to open it, compare it against a non-personalized email where there is only a 7% response rate. With each click, you are bringing them deeper into your sales funnel. Email personalization shows that you care about your customers and if the content in the email is in line with a solution that they were looking for, the chances of conversion into a paying client is extremely high.
Email as an outbound channel is great for initiating contact, nurturing them, keeping them engaged and interested in the product, content distribution, handling prospect queries, and making sales appointments.
#2 LinkedIn:
The world’s largest professional platform is also one place where there is a lot of potential to get leads for your business. If you are in the B2B sphere, then you can safely expect most of your target audience to lurk here. Anyone who logs into LinkedIn is looking to consume intelligent and sophisticated content that will help them in their business.
While you can keep churning out such content and hope your target buyers will reach out to you, it will take a lot of time for the content to provide results. Another thing that you can do to get your outbound prospecting on steroids is to use its search function and connect with the prospects there.
By having a well-maintained profile and posting relevant content, you will have a professional LinkedIn profile in place. At this point, you can send in-mails and direct messages to these prospects by understanding and researching their needs. There is also a range of LinkedIn automation tools that you can use to connect and engage with them.
#3 Social Media:
While posting social media as an outbound lead generation tactic might seem like a no-brainer, the question that begs is “Are you using it rightly?” For those who do not know how to use social media, it can be frustrating. Most businesses complain that they are not getting leads from social media.
If you are a B2C business, then the best places to sell will be on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest. If you sell your products to other businesses, then the social media channels that you need to concentrate on are LinkedIn or Quora. The content for each of these channels is different and the consumption patterns are different too. You need to be aware of where your audiences are present and use one or two social media channels to cement your position.
#4 Attending Events/ Trade Shows:
Thanks to Covid-19, it will be some time before events and trade shows will start happening in full flow like earlier. For your outbound lead generation efforts, attending events and trade shows is one of your best methods. You will run into your target market, and by attending the event, you can be sure that they are looking for a product like yours. All you need to do is get them to engage with you at the show and you are good to go.
Make sure that your booth is attractive, have all the marketing collaterals ready to hand them over to prospects, and keep your pitch ready. Trade shows and events are great places to connect with big accounts or forge strong partnerships with peers and become known in your ecosystem.
#5 Paid Advertising:
As the name says it, this involves spending money exclusively with the hope that it will bring in leads. From spending on social media ads to getting your brand’s name plastered on billboards, everything is a paid ad. You need to find out the ROI of each paid advertising channel and make sure that your prospective customers will engage with them so that you can go ahead with paid ads as an outbound lead generation channel.
Conclusion:
There are a variety of outbound lead generation channels that you can use. While all of them will not fetch the same type of results, you should not shy away from experimenting on the ones that make sense. Once you have leads becoming interested in your offering, you need to ensure that you have the rest of the steps ready to keep them engaged enough to convert them into a paying customer.
For businesses that are looking for an email marketing automation platform that will complement its outbound lead generation channel, get on a call with Adapt.io’s customer success team. We will be able to help you with your outbound lead generation requirements.