Effective Lead Gen Tips — Tech Companies
Bentz’s Note: Hey there, and if you’re actually seeing this, thanks in advance for clicking over. I’ve been interested in contributing to Steemit for years. As a way to get started, I figured I would see if I could import content from my old blog — GetBentz.com. The site is dormant and the domain is currently owned by some overseas domain name squatter, although I’m not sure why they wanted it so badly. Below is a recap of an expert roundup I was included in back in 2013 on CIO.com. Links and insights are below.
Earlier this month, I connected with Jennifer Schiff of Schiff and Schiff Communications to offer my three cents on the most effective lead generation strategies for tech companies. Jennifer is a freelancer for a variety of tech and B2B publications, including CIO.com, Internet.com, Penton Media, Valassis Direct Mail and GE Capital — pretty nice resume. Follow her on Twitter @jenniferlschiff.
The story she was working on ended up getting featured — with my insights included — yesterday on CIO: 9 Proven Ways To Generate Sales Leads
Note: while the article provides tons of great tips on lead generation from some of the smartest marketers in the business, my tips are featured on page 3.
Below, I’ve included the full list of lead generation tips for tech companies I sent to Jennifer for her article.
3 Effective Lead Generation Tips For Tech Companies
Add Live Chat To Your Website
At Netrepid, we added a live chat box to our website and generated a request for quote the very first night! Can’t stress how important that was for a proof of concept, especially since most IT pros are looking for fast answers without possibly getting stuck on the phone with a “pushy sales person.”
Additional Insights: If your website doesn’t utilize online ordering or publish pricing online, chat is an easy way for visitors to inquire about your rates without getting on the phone. The types of deals that come from online chat tend to be smaller in annual contract size, but the person chatting with you is often the decision maker.
Have A Contact Form On Every Page
This is probably best for tech companies that have customized service offerings, like managed service providers, etc. With search engines being such an important driver of inbound website traffic, you can’t always predict where people are going to enter your website. Having your important contact info on every page of your website increases the likelihood that people will contact you and decreases their need to “dig around your site” to figure out how to contact you.
Additional Insights: This is a common inbound marketing tactic for lead generation, and the reason its so common is because it works. With search engine optimization as a core marketing strategy, you can position web pages for specific keywords — but you can’t always predict the intent of the searcher. It’s great to have a contact form for lead generation — but make sure you have one or two other calls to action on the page for visitors at different points of the buying cycle. For example, including a special offer for people ‘ready to buy’ and a newsletter sign up for people in the information gathering phase.
Offer Downloads Of Your Brochures In Exchange For Name/Email
This works really well in other B2B industries, and most people aren’t afraid to hand over their digital contact info to get access to vital technical specifications or pricing. Plus, as a business, you get that important email address to add to your database, and that contact can be added into your marketing automation programs.
Additional Insights: Most companies don’t actually believe their potential customers are willing to provide contact info in exchange for their sales and marketing literature. You can still offer that content online for free — but embed that information in other online media. For example, make a SlideShare presentation of your sales brochure! Another option would be to upload your product photography into a Flickr account, then provide the specs and a link to your website in the product description. Content like this can be optimized for search and expand the reach of your brand online — leading more people to your site and increasing the chances you get their contact information in exchange for a download!
What lead generation tips for tech companies would you add to my list? Please share in the comments below so we can have an extensive list of tips for companies looking to generate leads.