Top 6 Lead Research Strategies for Small Businesses in 2022

Generating leads is critical for growing your business. But unless you focus your B2B lead research strategies your efforts could come to naught.

Here then are the top six channels to think about when crafting your lead research strategies this year.

1. Drive Organic Traffic to Your Website

Organic traffic means the visits your website receives through search engine results. This excludes visitors who have clicked through from a paid advertisement, or from a link on another website.

The leads landing on your site as organic traffic may be especially valuable for one reason: they have brought themselves to you. Having searched with intent for the kinds of services you offer, you haven’t paid a penny in advertising costs to acquire them. Thus, you achieve high quality leads for a low expense.

The key task for maximizing your organic traffic is to focus your B2B lead research on which topics related to your business are most relevant for your prospects. You should then attune your search engine optimization to draw these visitors toward your site.

2. Qualify Your Leads

Every business strives to offer its product to as many clients as possible. However, not every lead is equally valuable. Some leads will be eager buyers of what you have to offer, others less so. Devoting too much time and effort to leads you are never likely to do business with can end up as a dead-weight cost.

To identify the most profitable prospects for your bottom-line, you should attempt to qualify your leads. This will enable you to focus your attention on those potential clients you are most likely to convert to a sale.

The primary aim for your B2B lead research will be to determine which leads are the best fit for your business, and how you should refine your marketing efforts accordingly.

Remember that a successful business partnership is like a lock and key. Not every key will fit in every lock. But if it does, you may open the door to a successful, enduring B2B relationship.

3. Boost your Engagement

Engagement is the level of interaction between your prospects and the content you provide. If your engagement rates are high, you are more likely to convert a prospect to a lead, or a lead to a paying client.

With your website, engagement will refer to things such as the number of times visitors are clicking through to other pages on your site to see what you have to offer.

For email marketing, engagement metrics such as opening, forwarding and sharing can serve to reveal the effectiveness of your B2B lead research in developing your email marketing campaign.

Finally, when it comes to social media, you’ll want to be looking for a high number of likes, shares and comments.

If your engagement rates are poor, then your lead research provider needs to determine how best to ignite the curiosity of your prospects in the content you provide for them.

4. Make the Most of Social Media

Social media can be a powerful avenue for B2B lead research and lead generation: unlike your website or newsletter, it is much more of a two-way street.

On the one hand, you can conduct well researched marketing campaigns and promotions through your own posts and content. But it also lends you a portal through which you can gain greater understanding of your potential leads through their own social media activity.

As such, you should seek to follow the accounts of your potential clients and industry partners – ideally homing in on their key contacts so you can establish a direct link to their decision making process.

Look carefully at what they are getting up to – what are they saying, and to whom are they talking? Like, share and comment on their content if appropriate. Respond to their invitations, surveys and events as much as you can.

The more you participate in what they have to offer, the more likely it is that you will gain a greater understanding of their priorities and preoccupations.

5. Quizzes, Surveys, Feedback and Online Events

Special content and occasions can provide you with something unique: the chance for a potential client to tell you in their own words precisely what they are thinking. Not only will you form a connection with the immediate participants, but you can also gain important insights into the whole of your potential client base.

With quizzes and surveys, your lead research provider should aim at structuring questions that will entice participants into revealing the kind of information you are searching for.

Online events may take any kind of format – talks, seminars or discussions, for instance. Set an agenda that encourages active involvement as much as possible.

These events can be promoted on your website, by your email newsletter, or through your social media accounts.

6. Don’t Forget Your Existing Clients

Almost forgotten among lead research strategies is tapping into your existing client base – those businesses who have actually rewarded you with sales.

Make sure you are in touch with them often to ask if everything is going well for their business. Do they expect problems in the future? What is their mood of the general business environment? Are there are any other needs that you could help fulfill for them?

There is a strong chance that the priorities and preoccupations of your present customers will be shared by new or potential clients too. Why splash out on lead research elsewhere when you are already sitting on a goldmine of information?

Moreover, no client likes to feel as though they are being taken for granted. Tending to your existing clients with care and attention will help to show them how much you value their business, cementing your partnership for the long term.

Bonus: Outsource Research to a Lead Research Provider

Lead research for small businesses can be a costly, time consuming exercise to manage yourself. So why not consider the expertise of a specialist lead research provider to take care of the heavy lifting? Their focus and dedication should ensure that your lead research strategies remain up to date and relevant for your business.

Contact us by email at vitalii@ld-solution.com or by contact form Contact us