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Did you know that an outbound lead generation service is one of the most effective ways of not only generating quality leads but also successfully nudging them along the sales funnel toward purchasing your products or services? Let’s first find out what an outbound lead generation strategy is and how it differs from inbound marketing tactics you may be already using.
Next, we’ll go through some proven outbound lead generation tactics that your marketing and sales teams should be made aware of if they’re not already using them. And finally, we’ll look at how outbound lead generation strategies can be implemented into your sales pipeline by hiring a services provider that has the right kind of expertise in this field.
What Is Outbound Lead Generation?
Potential leads are potential customers who with a little convincing from experienced sales reps can be converted to paying customers. There are many ways to generate leads, and outbound lead generation involves reaching out to your target audience through the marketing channels available in the hope of creating interest in your products or services. Outbound lead generation efforts can be launched through cold calling, direct mail, email marketing, social media, television & radio advertising, and even in-person sales reps.
The outbound lead generation process is normally handled by a company’s sales and marketing teams if they have the resources and skills to do so. Alternatively, a small or medium-sized business that doesn’t have a dedicated outbound sales team or massive marketing budget can hire an outbound lead generation services provider.
Hiring a professional who understands the outbound sales process will go a long way to present your brand with a high level of credibility in the eyes of the target audience. This is especially important for companies involved in business-to-business (B2B) lead generation. Therefore, the services provider needs to have solid experience to understand which outbound strategies work for their client and how they could be implemented into the sales funnel to generate qualified leads.
Inbound Lead Generation Vs Outbound Lead Generation
You may be aware that outbound lead generation campaigns are not the only way to generate new leads. Inbound lead generation campaigns are another way to do this. The difference between them is that while inbound lead generation focuses on drawing potential customers towards your offerings, outbound campaigns require you to actively reach out to them.
Outbound marketing is the more traditional way of generating leads by pushing your message to the target market through advertising. It’s much more of a direct sales process, requiring sales reps to personally contact the customer or decision-makers of B2B clients to generate qualified leads. Since outbound lead generation techniques utilize print, television, and radio advertising among other things, it can be a bit expensive compared to inbound methods.
Inbound marketing on the other hand was made possible through newer digital marketing techniques. This involves creating content that is useful and relevant to the target audience so that when they search online for a solution to their problems, your brand will come up. Your focus here is on helping your audience instead of selling explicitly like an outbound strategy.
Social media posts, blog articles, and high-quality video content are just some of the ways you can attract these potential leads to your website. You will have to conduct keyword research to understand what your audience finds engaging and optimize your website content for search engines through SEO methods. With an attractive landing page and an alluring call-to-action, you can turn these website visitors into qualified leads which can be followed up through your sales team later.
Proven Outbound Lead Generation Strategies
Now let’s look at all the ways you can successfully generate outbound leads.
Cold Calling
While cold calling might be one of the most obvious and traditional outbound tactics, it’s still in use because it still works effectively to achieve sales goals. Phone calls add a personal touch when reaching out to customers, who are interested in your offerings, and can learn a lot about your products and services.
To get cold calling right, you’ll need a bit of research conducted on what the best times are to call, and your sales representatives need to be well-trained in making a great pitch. They have to be able to secure a meeting in person or a demo of the product for cold calls to generate quality leads. Prospecting lists have to be made which contain the list of contact numbers along with other relevant information on the prospective customers.
The downside to cold calls is that it’s not easily scalable, and the team that takes the phone calls needs to be properly trained. Companies also need to invest in outbound lead generation tools like special cold calling software and customer relationship management (CRM) tools to manage prospect lists.
Outbound leads can also be generated from emails. This of course will be less intrusive than cold calling which can seem a nuisance if the prospect receives the call at a bad time. Email is also one of the more cost-effective lead-generation methods. It can be a very powerful tool when combined with CRM and automation software that can handle outgoing email campaigns.
When emailing prospective clients, you need to know how to draft an eye-catching subject line, provide your value proposition clearly, and include a simple call to action to encourage engagement. You don’t want to appear spammy, and it might take some time to get the messaging just right. Email does make it relatively easy to experiment with different styles until you hit the perfect subject line or copy that will bring in lots of outbound leads.
Direct Mail
Direct mail is much more than simply pushing a leaflet under somebody’s front door. Personalization is the key to success in lead generation efforts aimed at specific decision-makers of companies when using direct mailing. Personalization is time-consuming, but doing so will help grab attention from these contacts and generate interest in your products or services.
Content Marketing And Social Selling
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram opened the doors to people’s homes, allowing social media campaign marketers to reach their target audiences whenever they log in. Targeted ads can be set up to be displayed to both new and existing customers when they scroll through their feeds. By studying the target market, these advertisements can be made to blend in with the usual posts they see, decreasing the chance they will disregard it as an ad.
High-quality engaging content such as photos, videos, infographics, and even blog articles can be posted on social media and boosted to reach wider audiences. Users will appreciate the useful content, which effectively turns into a bit of brand marketing, strengthening your brand in their eyes before launching the ad campaigns.
If you require B2B outbound sales leads, then LinkedIn is the platform your marketing team needs to be present on. You will be able to reach out to decision-makers of companies directly on LinkedIn, allowing you to make your sales pitch without going through multiple contacts of an organization.
Online Paid Advertising Campaigns
Outbound sales leads can also be generated through paid advertising on other channels although this may be more expensive than doing this on social media. There is of course pay-per-click or PPC advertising which can place your ad in search engine results pages (SERPs) when a user types in a relevant search query with the right intent.
While it is possible to be successful with outbound efforts like this, a lot of effort must be placed on performing the keyword research, organizing the campaigns, creating ad groups on platforms like Google Ads, and creating the landing pages to greet the leads delivered from these ads.
Networking
When looking at outbound lead gen strategies, you cannot forget that networking is a very viable method that can help you get leads that eventually generate sales. Representing your brand at conferences, and local events are the best way to do this. Networking can also bring in referrals through good word of mouth about your brand. While referrals technically count as inbound marketing since you’re not reaching out to these customers, it is the result of outbound lead generation efforts.
An Outbound Marketing And Sales Team Vs Outbound Lead Generation Services
If you already have an outbound marketing team ready to bring in more qualified leads, then great. If you’re a new company or a small to medium-sized business, then having a dedicated team for your outbound lead gen strategies might be a bit of a challenge. On top of recruiting talent, you’ll also need other resources like CRM systems, email marketing software, and SEO tools.
Instead of acquiring the talent and resources to do this by yourself, you can instead choose to hire an experienced digital marketing agency that can perform all your outbound and inbound lead generation for you. This will be far more cost-effective, and you will be able to experience sales success far more quickly.
How To Choose An Outbound Lead Generation Service
There are plenty of agencies that provide these kinds of digital marketing services, and a quick Google search will help you find many of them. Go through their websites, read about their services carefully, and make a shortlist of service providers you would like to contact directly. Keep the following things in mind while evaluating and selecting an outbound lead-generating service that can handle your unique requirements.
How Lead Generation Services Get Their Leads
A professional agency that provides these services should be transparent and be willing to provide you with a clear outline of their approach from start to finish. Always make sure to request details on how exactly they get the best leads. You should ask them whether they conduct their prospect research, which third-party data sources they access, and how often their lead databases are updated.
If the company is forthcoming with these details, then it’s a good sign that they know what they’re doing, and their credibility as a service provider you can trust.
Do They Have The Resources To Meet Your Requirements?
Today, carrying out lead generation requires a few technological resources and the talent to utilize them. You should be checking if the agency has access to CRM systems, email automation, call tracking, as well as various other analytics and reporting software that is required to efficiently manage your campaigns. These systems also need to be compatible with your business workflow.
How Do They Track And Report The Lead Generation Performance?
To benefit from lead generation, the decisions that need to be taken should be based on cold-hard facts supported by data. Performance tracking and reporting is a crucial element here. You should be checking how frequently the service will provide progress reports, and how they can customize reports to suit your specific business needs.
Do They Have A Proven Track Record In Outbound Lead Generation?
And finally, you should check the reputation of the service provider before hiring them to work on your outbound lead generation work. This is very important since the work they do will affect not just your sales cycle but how you will reach potential customers through your marketing efforts. They will shape how leads and eventually customers will perceive your brand in some way.
If the company has fully documented its processes and track record on past projects, your evaluation will be much easier. Many professional agencies will include case studies on past projects and customer testimonials on their website. Go through these and find out if they have helped anyone in your industry niche achieve sales success through their services.
It’s not a good sign of there is no information available on their experience, although you could always look line for reviews and what customers are saying on social media as well. You need to make sure that their services are comprehensive and that the agency can support you beyond sharing a few leads.
Looking For Outbound Lead Generation Services?
If you’re looking for somebody with experience in generating outbound leads, then Inquivix is the digital marketing partner you’ve been looking for. Whether it’s email marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, or social media advertising, we know how to approach clients, manage your campaigns, and create optimized content for your website that will enable you to generate leads both outbound as well as inbound. For more information on what we can do for you, visit Inquivix today!
FAQs
Generating outbound leads through reaching out to prospects directly by cold calling, direct mail, email campaigns, social media, paid advertising campaigns, and networking.
A professional agency can do research on prospective clients, create prospect lists, and maintain updated lead databases. They will also have the expertise in utilizing email automation, cold calling software, CRM, and various other analytics tools needed to generate leads.