Internet leads in B2B for information and as influencer
Joe Pulizzi reports in his blog about an interesting presentation by Ed Abrams, VP of Marketing – IBM General Business- Express Advantage and Business Solutions, at America Business Media – Spring Meeting
Communications: online in – conventional out
For IT Professionals online communications and information gathering are the sources of information as traditional publications like: IT Publishers, Magazines, Conferences, Seminars and Trade shows are lagging far behind.
The ‘On Demand’ aspect of the online information wins over the served information from the other traditional channels. People insist to get their information only when they want it. Not when someone pushes it to them.
In order to catch the interest of a possible customer, companies in IT should even more focus on their Internet presence:
- Findability on search engines
- Getting mentioned on specific or specialized websites
- The company website.
Online influences more than Word Of Mouth!
A study from a different research group finds similar behaviors for leading influencers in B2B:
The Word Of Mouth is less popular than one would expect as influencer, as both WOM of a Peer and WOM of a Friend are less valued than:
- The Vendor website
- The Search Engines
- The Information Websites.
Trade Publications, Trade Shows and online trade journals are least important.
The combination of Search Engines and the information resources of company websites and industry information websites have created an online trade show that operates 24 x 7 the entire year.
Be online to obtain visitors and leads
Any company in IT should make sure:
- Their website provides clear information
- The website or products are being found on Search Engines
- The company or products are present on Industry Info Websites
If they don’t find your web presence (website or any other), they will find the presence of your competitor.
If your company in IT wants to stay in the game, you better get found and have decent web presence on the Internet as your future sales depend on it.
Before the Internet the company needed to be present physically: a building, trade show, in printed media.
Now the company’s presence has become virtual: website, industry information websites, reviews, blogs, …
Virtual lead generation – virtual selling
Once your company is being found on the Internet, the people will visit virtually: no identification.
Then you need to identify the visitors (by company name: like a ‘Caller ID’) for lead generation.
Next qualifying the visitors as leads as else there wil be too many leads to follow-up.
Sales can start with a communication (Cold calling on warm leads) or even a conversation.
All these communications can happen virtually (online), without requiring face-to-face meetings.
Your potential customers are changing their behavior and work methods for decisions on purchases. Time for any vendor to adapt and change.
More from LEADS Explorer
- How and why to use LinkedIn for lead generation
- Stop looking on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter for leads – look on your B2B website
- Blogging for leads and sales requires crossing communication channels
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Thanks for the mention. Mr. Abrams noted that leading people into the conversation means that an organization has to continually create valuable content and information to be welcomed into that conversation. This means more than sales content, but valuable, relevant and compelling content that meets the informational needs of the customer.
More and more companies are starting to get this – and this truly is marketing for the present and future.
Best
Joe