Business to Business need lead generation focused websites
Business leaders, in a recent study, cited company websites as the main source of information when looking at a business to business purchase. Company websites were used more than trade magazines, search engines and social media.
The business decision makers are telling us the story that with big purchases they are definitely interested in browsing through a website to find out more about the product they are looking at purchasing. In business to business environments a company website has great potential to add to the sales leads and referrals for your sales team by ensuring that it utilises a strong lead generation strategy.
Interestingly enough, although the decision makers use company websites the most to gather information the decision maker is mainly influenced by word of mouth and social media channels.
This information should influence the way in which we manage our online communication strategies. These strategies should not simply incorporate a company website, SEO strategy and presence on Facebook and Twitter. The bar has been raised and we now need to start looking at our communication strategy in a different way.
- Approach your online strategy with a PR mindset – PR helps to create ‘non advertised’ awareness of a product or service. If your business is organically grown online by people out side the business then this “word of mouth” recommendation goes along way to building a positive impression on the internet of your company/products. This reputation becomes a major influence for decision makers in business to business purchases.
- Listen to people in social media as if their opinions matter – Every person in social media has a following of some sort and most of the time their opinions matter (to someone at least). You may not think they have as much credibility as you in your area of expertise but their followers may think differently. Listen to what they have to say and be careful who you engage them online to make sure that you promotoe a positive opinion in the publics eyes.
If all of this seems a bit Greek to you then think about attending a Social Media Bootcamp or look into a social media coach for personal or skype based coaching on social media.