The massive Facebook outage that downed the network including Instagram, FB Messenger and WhatsApp for as much as six hours this month reminds business owners and marketers of the importance of “owned media” channels as part of a robust lead generation strategy. This ensures that you have control over your list of prospective customers and can engage them even when social platforms are facing issues.
Many people may claim email is dead, but in our experience, building B2B email lists is still vital. Email marketing continues to be the greatest driver of revenue for many businesses. In fact, a McKinsey & Co research revealed that email marketing is still 40x more effective at reaching your target audience compared to social media platforms.
Here are a few ways you can build effective B2B email lists:
Develop content and encourage newsletter subscriptions
Before your target customer decides to purchase from you, you must first prove your value and that you offer a solution that is beneficial. Content can help you gain brand and product awareness. Blogs don’t only provide information that position you as an expert and thought leader in your field, but it also increases the indexable pages on your website that helps you rank well on Google and other search engines.
Once you hook their attention and they start consuming content, this becomes an opportunity for you to invite them to sign-up to your newsletter. Content helps you bring traffic to your website while your B2B email lists will allow you to consistently touch base and nurture relationships. This in turn helps push them along the sales funnel and eventually convert them into paying customers.
Be active on LinkedIn and add a custom button for email sign-up
LinkedIn celebrated its 18th birthday this year. It boasts of 722 million members, and according to HubSpot, is the most trusted social network in the US.
So, if you are not engaging on LinkedIn, you are missing out. To make the most out of the platform, you must identify your target industry and companies within those verticals. Follow their company pages and key decision-makers. If you see common connections with those individuals, consider asking for an introduction and regularly engage with their posts.
Share blogs from your website on your feed and make sure that when they click on the link, they can easily find the button to subscribe to your newsletter. You can also customize the call-to-action button on your company page to link to your newsletter sign-up landing page. These are just a few ways to keep encouraging newsletter sign-ups that help you build robust B2B email lists.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool that connects you with people professionally. Use it in a targeted manner. Always aim to add value to others, and you will soon start reaping rewards.
Collect email addresses by organizing free webinars
Webinars can be a great addition to your lead generation strategy. Creating relevant content is key to organizing your webinar. Content will set your company apart from your competition and will improve your conversion rate.
Carefully identify your audience and assess their needs and pain points. This will ensure that your webinar topic hits the right prospects. Create a hassle-free sign-up page that only requires basic information such as their name, email, company and role. Asking too many questions may turn them off and decide that it’s not worth joining.
You should also ask their permission to receive communication from you including your company newsletter. You can use your webinar to start building your B2B email lists. Make sure you send a calendar invite once they sign-up so that they can be reminded of the event.
After the event, don’t forget to send a thank you note. You may want to share slides from the webinar. Again, Invite them to sign-up for updates, if they haven’t opted in already.
Choose a CRM software that allows you to nurture leads
A Customer Relationship Management or CRM software helps you manage your business relationships and interactions with clients and prospects. It streamlines and automates your email campaigns and gathers and records data on who opened your emails and which links they clicked. This allows you to qualify leads so that you can focus your attention on those who are most engaged with your emails.
Without a trusty CRM system, it will be very difficult to keep track of your target audience. Some may even slip through the cracks leaving deals on the table. We recommend using HubSpot if you are a small business. You can sign-up for free with the option to upgrade later when you are more familiar with the system.
Re-engage inactive subscribers through personalized campaigns
Let’s face it, your database can get stale and obsolete very quickly if you do not do anything to re-engage inactive prospects. People may move to different departments or even change companies completely. It can be tedious to keep track, but as mentioned earlier, a CRM system can be your best friend.
One of the core principles of developing effective email campaigns is to customize the messaging to make it relevant to the recipient. Having huge B2B email lists wouldn’t benefit your business if they are not remotely interested in your product or service. If you are constantly failing to grab the interest of your prospects, it would be worthwhile to invest time developing buyer personas.
Buyer personas are fictional representations of your ideal customer. You can start by defining characteristics that will help you narrow down your target market. Biographical info such as age, gender, educational attainment, income, and profession are important to consider, but even more useful are psycho-graphic details such as your customers’ goals, pain points, ambitions and values. This will help you develop the right messaging that will pique their interest.
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