by Claudia Bruemmer

Since B2B marketers have been dealing with smaller budgets, it is important to use the most effective marketing tactics for generating leads and conversions. Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising (PPC) have proven to be cost-effective for generating quality leads and driving revenue. This article will provide some tips based on research (Marketing Sherpa, 2011; Google/Forbes, 2009; Google/Slack Barshinger, 2009) that can be used to improve your conversions and marketing ROI.

Evaluating Lead Quality
Research has shown that lead quality is the number-one B2B marketing challenge. B2B organizations need to generate both high-quality and high-volume leads.

The first step toward improving your leads is to understand inquiries versus leads by tracking and evaluating raw inquiries (all leads) and accepted leads (filtered inquiries that warrant follow-up). Some B2B marketers selling to a very specific niche market can get a lead acceptance rate as low as 50 percent.

The next step is to create a lead-grading system. A common system sometimes used is the A-B-C-D format where:

• A leads are inquiries with the highest sales potential (large companies with purchasing power in your target market and desired geographic area)
• B leads are from slightly smaller firms in your target market
• C leads represent companies with potential, but not in your target market
• D leads warrant some follow-up but do not have high-potential

It is important to create a marketing-sales feedback loop. Communication between sales and marketing teams is critical, especially for companies with a long and complex sales cycle.

Lastly, lead grades should be reviewed and updated by the sales team and shared with marketing on at least a monthly basis to complete the marketing-sales feedback loop.

Increase in B2B Search Volume
Research shows that B2B Google searches have increased well over 200 percent since 2009. That makes a good case for investing in search marketing. You need to be in front of your target audience when it counts, and you can be there by fine-tuning your search engine optimization and pay-per-click campaigns.

Business buyers are using search engines. Research shows 65 percent of C-Suite personnel conduct six or more work-related searches daily. Not only that, 100 percent of policy influencers use the web to research the issues. Search is used by large and small businesses alike. In fact, 99 percent of small business owners believe search engines are the most effective tool for finding suppliers.

Multiple Personnel Decision Making
Many times, B2B conversions require a decision by a number of personnel. More often than not, an average of three individuals are involved in the decision making and purchasing process. So how do these personnel gain the information needed to make these decisions? It’s a foregone conclusion that they use search engines for research; what else? When asked if search marketing is effective, 93 percent of B2B marketers said SEO is effective, and 80 percent said PPC is effective (Marketing Sherpa, 2011).

The above study also revealed many B2B organizations are managing search marketing in-house with 59 percent handling SEO in-house and 45 percent handling PPC in-house. This is especially true of larger organizations.

However, B2B search departments focus mostly on the basics of SEO, including keyword research, on-page optimization, Meta tags and content development, ignoring link building, social optimization and blogging. It would be advantageous to use more advanced SEO tactics.

Personalization and Landing Pages
It is advantageous to use personalization in marketing materials and messaging, and most firms do that today. Additionally, B2B marketers can use Landing Pages and Downloadable Content for successful lead management.

Determining Marketing ROI
Valuable metrics for determining marketing ROI include Cost-Per-Lead and Cost-Per Acquisition, as survey respondents said these metrics are 90 percent effective in helping businesses evaluate marketing ROI.

Tracking these metrics can be done with analytics, as SEO and PPC programs can successfully track cost-per-lead and cost-per-acquisition, making search marketing programs very quantifiable.

In conclusion, B2B marketers need to be exposed to their target audience at the right moment, and the best way to do that is with well-managed organic and paid search campaigns. It’s important to evaluate and categorize leads. And it’s a good idea to develop supporting marketing materials to help move leads through the sales cycle by targeting messages to various decision makers. Finally, it’s important to use landing pages and personalized messaging to improve conversion rates and lead quality.