How to Use an Inbound Marketing Strategy for B2B Tech Lead Generation

Ask any marketer for a software company what their main digital marketing goal is and the majority will say lead generation. While brand visibility and engagement are important goals, lead generation is what brings in revenue and ROI, which are the two vital ingredients to a successful inbound marketing strategy (and 83% of marketers agree). To create an effective strategy which generates high quality leads, you need to implement the principles of B2B inbound marketing. 

How can an inbound marketing strategy generate leads?

There has been a surge in technology and SaaS companies over the past decade, thanks largely to advancements in technology and sophisticated servers, capable of hosting thousands of users. However, these companies are finding that traditional or ‘outbound’ marketing techniques such as cold-calling and email shots simply don’t work. This is because outbound tactics rely on interrupting people, who are either poorly targeted or haven’t been warmed up. Inbound marketing, however, works by letting prospects find you, through nurturing and educational content which helps solve common problems experienced by prospects. 

Use a call to action to catch a prospect's eye

A big mistake that some tech marketers make is forgetting to place calls to action on their website. A call to action is essential, as it ensures that prospects follow their journey with your business and progress to the next stage of the buyer’s journey where they become a lead.

Including a call to action is especially important for technology companies. A proportion of customers won’t invest without using the software first hand. A call to action promoting free trials can help clear any reservations regarding the usability and usefulness of your software, making a purchase more likely. 

While a call to action is commonly used within a blog post, don’t think that they have to follow a formulaic approach. They can be used on blogs, service pages and even within page copy – every business is different. For your own business, you can carry out A/B testing – enabling you to examine how placement, images and copy impacts click through rates and conversions. Use tools such as HubSpot to initiate A/B testing, helping you refine your CTAs over time.

To create a compelling call to action, make sure you use an action-orientated verb, such as ‘download’ or ‘claim’ to help catch a prospect's eye. The call to action needs to be relevant to both the page it is on and the landing page it’s linking to. For a higher click rate, make CTAs bespoke to their hosted page when possible. However, be sure that the landing page copy is still relevant or you risk confusing potential leads. 

Create irresistible landing pages

Landing pages are an indispensable part of inbound marketing, as here is where prospects’ information is captured by forms and lead conversion happens. Therefore, it’s essential that both the page copy and form are right! The purpose of your landing page copy is to sell in the worth of your free trial, so it needs to be compelling, but focused. 

As a benchmark, summarise the key points and topics covered in five short sentences or bullet points. For example, on a landing page advertising a free trial, summarise the main benefits of your software and features which are accessible during the free trial. Where relevant, you should also include a relevant image which clearly portrays what the offer is about. 

When a prospect visits your landing page, it is your goal to make it as easy as possible for them to fill in the landing page form and claim the advertised offer. Therefore, remove navigation menus, sharing icons and any other distractions.

Align forms with the value of your content offer

A form is the most important element on your landing page – get this wrong and your chance of generating leads is dismal at best. While at first glance, form creation looks pretty straightforward, you need to think carefully and strategically about which questions to ask on your form. To decide what to ask, answer these two questions:

What do you want to find out? 

Are you looking to just generate leads? Then a standard email, phone number and name form is sufficient. Perhaps you want to conduct some audience research? In this instance you may wish to also ask for company name, size and job positon – information which is especially useful for developing personas.

How valuable is your content offer?

While it is tempting to ask a multitude of questions, think about how willing your prospects will be to supply their information. It is important to align the value of your offer to how much you ask from your prospects. As an example, for a free 30 day trial, your prospects should be more than happy to give away more detailed personal information. However, for a two page introductory guide to your software, prospects will only be prepared to give away basic details.