Maximizing lead generation : the complete guide for B2B marketers

Lead generation is "Job One": B2B marketers' single most important objective. Maximizing Lead Generation brings together everything you need to know to do it right. Fast-paced and 100% practical, it will help you achieve outstanding results in any B2B marketplace--from enterprise technology to industrial equipment to professional services. World-renowned expert Ruth P. Stevens helps you bring science and systematisation to all facets of lead generation, building on process, best practices, continuous testing, and ongoing improvement. You'll learn how to maximise the value of tried-and-true B2B tools and the newest social, web, and search technologies. Stevens offers indispensable insights for the entire lead lifecycle, including qualification, nurturing, measurement, and tracking. Organised for clarity, usability, and speed, this book will help you supercharge salesforce productivity--and company profits. You'll Learn How To: Develop and refine rules that consistently lead to higher-quality leads Gain deeper insights into your customers and their buying processes Build sophisticated, accurate marketing databases Identify the media most likely to work for you Execute highly effective campaigns Drive huge ROI improvements Use BANT and other qualification criteria Apply new "nurturing" techniques to convert "duds" into "diamonds" Track results and quantify the business value of campaigns Utilise best practices content marketing and marketing automation Integrate continuous improvement into lead generation Discover 10 trends that will transform the way you prospect

Author Notes

Ruth P. Stevens consults on customer acquisition and retention, and teaches marketing at Columbia Business School. She is past chair of the DMA Business-to-Business Council, and past president of the Direct Marketing Club of New York. Crain's BtoB magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Marketing, and the Sales Lead Management Association listed her as one of 20 Women to Watch in lead management. She is the author of Trade Show and Event Marketing and has been a columnist and feature writer for DMNews, DIRECT, and EXPO magazines. Currently a director of Edmund Optics, Inc., she has held senior marketing positions at Time Warner, Ziff-Davis, and IBM. She holds an MBA from Columbia University.

About the Author	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. vii
We Want to Hear from You	p. viii
1 The Case for Lead Generation	p. 1
Defining Terms: What a Lead Is and What It Is Not	p. 2
How Lead-Generation Campaigns Differ from Other Type of Marketing Communications	p. 4
The Lead-Generation Process	p. 6
Market Research for Lead Generation	p. 10
Organizational Roles and Responsibilities for Lead Generation	p. 12
Case Study in Lead-Generation Excellence: How Anritsu Reached Key Decision Makers with a Three-Touch Campaign	p. 13
2 Campaign Planning: You Can't Leave It to Luck	p. 19
Who? What? When? Where? Breaking Down the Buying Process	p. 20
May I Have This Dance?	p. 23
How Will You Know When You're There?	p. 24
The Goldilocks School of Lead Flow Planning	p. 25
Planning for Your Campaign Budget	p. 28
3 The Marketing Database: Not Sexy, But Essential to Success	p. 33
Data Sources and Types	p. 34
Data Fields You Need for Lead Generation	p. 46
Data Hygiene Best Practices	p. 50
Database Analysis, Segmentation, and Modelin	p. 54
4 Campaign Development Best Practices	p. 59
Best Practice I: Research and Testing	p. 60
Best Practice II: The New Importance of Content Marketing	p. 66
Best Practice III: Marketing Automation	p. 71
Case Study: When the Chips Were Down, Marketing Got Automated	p. 73
5 Campaign Media Selection	p. 75
B-to-B Lead Generation Media: The Top Five	p. 77
Set the Stage for Lead Generation with PR	p. 84
B-to-B Lead Generation Media: Three to Avoid	p. 86
Using Web 2.0 for Lead Generation	p. 88
How to Select the Right Media Mix	p. 92
Mixing It Up: Multiple Media	p. 93
Campaign Execution	p. 101
Campaign Target Selection: Finding the Winning Combination	p. 102
Seven Steps to Successful Lead-Generation Creative	p. 106
How to Develop Offers They Can't Refuse	p. 110
Getting the Best Work from an Agency or Creative Freelancers	p. 118
Response Planning and Management	p. 123
Response Management Step-by-Step	p. 124
Six Strategies to Capture the Response Data You Need	p. 124
The All-Important Landing Page	p. 126
Why Responses Are Often Mishandled	p. 131
Inquiry Fulfillment: The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship	p. 132
Six Rules of Fullfillment	p. 134
Lead Qualification	p. 139
Setting Qualification Criteria: Can't Beat BANT	p. 140
What to Ask and When to Ask It	p. 141
Need for Speed: Moving Qualified Leads into the Pipeline	p. 142
Lead-Ranking Strategies	p. 145
Qualifying Leads at a Trade Show or Event	p. 150
Marketing Checkup for Telephone-Based Lead Generation and Qualification	p. 151
The Whos and Hows of the Handoff	p. 153
9 Lead Nurturing	p. 157
A Marketing Function with a Big Sales Benefit	p. 158
The Lead-Nurturing Process, Step by Step	p. 159
Nurturing Best Practices	p. 161
Case Study: How a Comprehensive Rethinking of Lead Generation and Management Strategy Improved Lead-Nurturing Response Rates and Lowered Costs	p. 167
10 Metrics and Tracking	p. 175
Response Rate	p. 176
Cost Per Lead	p. 179
Inquiry-to-Lead Conversion Rate	p. 181
Lead-to-Sales Conversion Rates	p. 182
Expense-to-Revenue Ratio (E:R)	p. 183
Seven Techniques for Tracking Leads to Closure	p. 185
When a Lead Doesn't Close	p. 190
11 The Fast-Evolving Future of Lead Generation	p. 191
1 More and Better Marketing Automation	p. 192
2 Sales and Marketing Will Finally Get on the Same Page	p. 192
3 New Data Sources for Prospecting	p. 193
4 Social Media Will Get Real for Lead Generation	p. 193
5 Affinity Marketing Will Come to B-to-B	p. 194
6 Face-to-Face Events Will Resume Their Importance	p. 194
7 New Ways to Nurture	p. 195
8 Ever-Evolving Customer Behavior	p. 196
9 More and Better Video	p. 196
10 Mobile Will Happen	p. 197
Index	p. 199

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Table of Contents