Hello!
Welcome to the eighth lesson in the B2B lead generation and nurturing course.
My name is Jo Gniewek, and I am the Senior System Implementation Officer at the Sales4Team Agency, which has developed and implemented a system that organises, streamlines and automates the process of generating B2B leads on LinkedIn and nurturing them through email marketing automation.
Together with the agency's specialists, who implement lead generation strategies for our clients daily, we have created a series of step-by-step lessons to introduce you to B2B lead generation.
Here we go!
Generating and warming up leads based on events
In the previous lessons, we prepared you to generate conversations with potential customers via LinkedIn messenger. This is the first of the two most effective ways to generate B2B leads.
In this lesson, we will focus on the second method. I'll walk you through how to use the events your company organises, to generate and nurture B2B leads.
Checking the definition, we find that a webinar is "learning via the internet."
In business, the popularity of webinars is undoubtedly growing, yet most companies still have not adopted this form of communication. Why? Of course, it's a matter of strategy and openness to progress among managers. Modern companies that eagerly share knowledge to build credibility and an expert image are the ones turning to webinars.
This, however, is very good news for you!
If you are organizing webinars or planning to implement them soon, you will harness their potential and get ahead of a significant portion of your competition.
Organizing webinars faces several barriers that mean not every company implements them.
Let's look at what is needed to implement webinars:
The above list of requirements effectively discourages many managers and marketers. But is this justified?
At Sales4Team, we have been using webinars to generate and nurture leads for 3 years and have developed an optimal model that doesn't require excessive involvement.
You will learn more about this during this lesson.
The easier access you provide to webinars for leads, the more you will generate and the better you will nurture them. However, frequent live webinars require a tremendous amount of work.
This is where automated webinars and on-demand webinars come to your aid.
(photo: Various types of events in ClickMeeting. Automated webinars occur at specific times and are repeatable, while on-demand webinars can be watched at any time)
On-demand webinars, or VOD (video on demand), provide the most convenient access to your materials. The easier the access, the more likely potential clients will register and watch the content.
On-demand webinars are excellent for generating leads on your website. If you are optimizing your site for search engines like Google and driving traffic through high-ranking articles on your blog, you can insert a simple banner in the content encouraging visitors to expand their knowledge through a free, on-demand course.
Your potential client, visiting the article, clicks on the banner, leaves their name and email, and receives a link to the webinar.
They can play it back at the most convenient time for them. Similarly, you can utilize on-demand webinars by promoting them in emails and banner campaigns outside your website.
On-demand webinars can be accessed by any number of viewers at any time.
There is tremendous potential for B2B lead generation through promoting webinars on LinkedIn.
The platform allows you to create and promote events. Importantly, registration for the event can include a marketing consent form granted to your company. Remember to set up the event using your company page (not a personal profile) and enable participant registration.
Events on LinkedIn must have a specific date and time, which is why automated webinars are necessary. Unlike on-demand webinars but similar to live webinars, automated webinars are scheduled for a specific time.
To promote your event, a single employee can send invitations to up to 1000 people within just 7 days on LinkedIn. With teamwork, you can effectively reach thousands of decision-makers in a short time.
Those who register for the event on LinkedIn will be added to a list that you, as the organizer, can easily download. This is how you can generate tens or even hundreds of leads monthly.
Participants registered for automated webinars through LinkedIn can receive an email informing them that instead of waiting for the event day, they can participate at their convenience in an on-demand format.
(image: Registration form for an event created by a company page with optional marketing consent)
From one of the previous lessons, you remember that a webinar is a highly effective lead magnet in LinkedIn communication efforts. Messages themselves, thanks to email notifications, reach a larger percentage of your target audience than event invitations alone.
Therefore, you can combine event promotion through invitations with messages on LinkedIn.
(image: A link to the LinkedIn event placed in a private message containing all essential event details: date, time, duration, title)
At Sales4Team, we use live webinars to record content for automated and on-demand events. As a presenter, I prefer this method because I feel more comfortable engaging with the audience compared to presenting without them.
At Sales4Team, we recommend a strategy of dividing webinars into 2 groups:
Group 1 - Lead Generation Webinars
Group 2 - Lead Nurturing Webinars
In Lead Generation Webinars, emphasize more general content and limit promotion of your offerings to about 10-20%. Both the title, agenda, and content of the event can serve as a universal knowledge dose, appealing to a broad audience of potential clients.
This approach will help you reach a larger pool of leads and contribute to building brand recognition and an expert image.
For example, consider a webinar titled "Video Course: Best Practices for B2B Lead Generation and Nurturing", where we share experiences and our offerings are only a small addition.
On the other hand, in the Lead Nurturing Webinars group, we recommend content strictly related to your offerings so potential clients can learn about your services and products. An example could be a webinar titled "Sales4Team System Tutorial Course".
Upcoming trade shows or conferences are another excellent opportunity for communicating with potential clients. You can easily create an event on LinkedIn announcing your company's presence, for example, "Opening of booth at Trade Show/Conference Name," and send invitations to potential attendees.
Additionally, using the messaging feature and sending direct messages will further strengthen the effect.
If an upcoming event your company is participating in also has its own event on LinkedIn, with the help of the Sales4Team System, you can import the registered participants from that event and direct automated communications to them.
Which platform should I use for webinars?
On the webinar tools market, there are already several dozen different products. When making your choice, consider stability, popularity, as well as functionalities that support lead generation.
The strategies I described in this lesson can be successfully implemented using the ClickMeeting platform, which also provides good-quality support and services tailored to marketing departments.
ClickMeeting is a platform that integrates easily with the Sales4Team System, and through it, with LinkedIn as well.
(image: Setting up an automated webinar on the ClickMeeting platform)
Your webinars are a valuable piece of knowledge that you can exchange for marketing currency, namely the email addresses of potential clients.
Therefore, I emphasize that video materials should be accessible only after registration.
However, it's worth considering whether to also place webinars on YouTube with unrestricted access.
YouTube is said to be the second largest search engine in the world, and having promotional videos showcasing your company's image and offerings can help reach another valuable audience segment.
Generating and nurturing leads through events can take a form other than webinars.
An example is the course you are currently participating in.
Automated lead generation for LinkedIn events
A significant advantage of lead generation through LinkedIn events is the ability to automate the entire process 100%.
Create an event on LinkedIn and add it to the webinar promotion in the Sales4Team System. Specify your target audience, and the system will handle the entire promotion process automatically. The system will also organize the transfer of participant data to the corresponding event in ClickMeeting and automatically send them emails, for example, inviting them to other on-demand events.
(image: Settings for automatic event promotion in the Sales4Team System)
Webinars combined with the ability to promote them on LinkedIn are a great opportunity for any forward-thinking marketer. The key is to implement a proven and thoughtful strategy that will strongly support sales efforts while remaining a manageable organizational burden.
The potential of LinkedIn is immense. The platform allows users to send up to 500 messages weekly and as many as 1000 event invitations. These numbers can easily be multiplied by engaging additional team members.
Users of the Sales4Team System have access to a range of tools that organize and automate lead generation and nurturing based on events. From automatic messages and event invitations to importing participants from other events and integrating with ClickMeeting tools, as well as email automation.
Using the Sales4Team System not only saves time but also fully utilizes the potential offered by LinkedIn and intelligent automation.
I invite you to Lesson 9 in just a few days. :)
They will receive an invitation to enrol in the course at the indicated email address.
The number of free places is limited!
COMPARISON OF LEAD GENERATION METHODS WITH LINKEDIN
MAKE THE BEST FIRST IMPRESSION
POSTS AND ARTICLES ON LINKEDIN TO SUPPORT B2B LEAD GENERATION
INVITATIONS TO CONNECT
HOW TO FIND MORE OF THE RIGHT DECISION MAKERS ON LINKEDIN
HOW TO GENERATE CONVERSATIONS WITH POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS?
MANAGEMENT OF CALLS AND QUALIFICATION OF LEADS
