Make Omnichannel B2B Lead Gen Work for You

What does Omni-channel Mean?

Omni is Latin for ‘all’. Omni-channel simply means that you use all of your channels, that blend into one cohesive experience. For example, using an omni-channel retail strategy means using your social media, in-store service, online retail platform and advertising to attract prospects through the various stages of your sales funnel.

What is Omnichannel Lead Generation?

Omni-channel lead generation is the process of using various channels to reach out to potential prospects and draw them in. For example, we find potential prospects by using intent data based upon our client company’s target customer profile. After that, we send cold emails offering their products/services and follow up with cold calls. Our fractional sales executives then engage our client’s prospects on platforms like LinkedIn in order to provide a seamless transition of mediums within the sales funnel. The most important element of our omni-channel campaigns is human interaction, because qualified leads need to feel they are being taken seriously. Our sales reps have an average of 5 years of experience, guaranteeing quality service for your team. They seamlessly become part of your team in order to increase our understanding of your company’s specifics. We use omni-channel campaigns that have up to 12 touch points with every prospect to maximize prospect engagement and retention.

How is it Different from a Multi-Channel Lead Generation?

The main difference between a multi-channel campaign and an omni-channel one is that the latter changes according to the prospect targeted. The prospect is put at the centre of the campaign instead of the company. Rather than having a system which treats every prospect the same way, we have sales reps who engage them with personalized sales campaign cycles. Multi -channel lead generation aims to use as many channels to market their product, however omni-channel lead generation aims to use as many channels to reach out to prospects and have personalised interactions. This helps the lead generation relationship become more natural. For example, when a prospect responds to an email or a LinkedIn invite sent by us, they then get a follow up call by our sales reps. This difference makes omni-channel lead generation more engaging.

Why is it Effective?

Omni-Channel lead generation campaigns work because they are tailored to attract the attention of each specific prospect. It’s a much more direct approach that converts a much higher amount of leads. A report by Omnisend estimates that omni-channel campaigns fare 250% better at converting customers than single channel campaigns. Furthermore, Omnisend also reports that companies that used three or more channels in their marketing campaigns achieved a 90% higher customer retention rate over marketers who used one channel. This is because omni-channel campaigns achieve a higher engagement rate and higher rate of customer satisfaction. The omni-channel approach feels smoother, more personal and engaging for your prospects, which is why it is a very effective lead generation strategy.

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What’s the biggest mistake companies make when executing an omnichannel lead generation campaign? And how can my company avoid it?

One of the biggest mistakes businesses can make when adopting the omnichannel approach for lead gen is failing to understand the ideal prospects. I’ve seen many B2B companies get too excited about acquiring new leads, so they jump straight into action and end up forgetting what’s really crucial — knowing the target audience.

Chasing the wrong prospects has a range of negative consequences, including poor quality leads, low engagement, and lower conversion rates. No matter how perfect the execution is, sales and marketing teams will eventually just be costing the company time and resources.

The good news is your company can easily avoid this by developing an ideal customer profile (ICP) in a few simple steps.

First things first, you have to conduct thorough market research by studying your target industry as well as your most successful competitors. If you want an informative ICP that maxes out your lead generation performance, you must go beyond basic demographics and actually include psychographics and behavioral attributes.

Analyzing your current customers is an excellent way to fill in any knowledge gaps related to the needs, desires, and preferences of your target buyers. By reviewing your existing clients, you’ll be able to identify a lot of key traits that constitute your ideal customers.

Now that you have your initial ICP, you may start looking at reports and analytics on your website or social media profiles to determine who’s interacting the most with your brand. Higher levels of engagement can only suggest that leads with certain characteristics are more interested in your solutions.

When executing an omnichannel lead generation strategy, your ICP should always be a work in progress. The more you interact with your prospective customers, the better your understanding of them will be. So be sure to always be testing and updating your customer profile with the new knowledge you gain.”

Edward Young, Vice President of Sales Operations

FAQs: Omnichannel Lead Generation

What Is Omnichannel With Examples?

Let’s say that you’re a B2B software company looking to acquire more leads through omnichannel lead generation. A simple example of how your strategy should work would be:

A prospect finds your website through an educational blog piece on Google.
After a while, you decide to retarget them with an ad on Facebook where they’ll start following your company page.
Once they start seeing more of your content, a new blog article you publish drives them again to your website.
After reading the piece, they decide to join your newsletter to learn more about the solutions you provide.
You start sending them informative emails to push them further down the sales funnel.
Once a lead is identified as “sales-ready”, your sales reps could pick up the phone and reach out to them directly.

Notice how all stages are interconnected and cohesive. With each step, the prospect is moving closer to making a purchase decision by gaining more knowledge about your brand and having more positive interactions with it.

It’s crucial to understand that the stages in this example could be skipped, switched, or repeated. As long as the customer experience is consistent and the message is received across all channels, it doesn’t matter which steps come first or last.

What Is the Difference Between Cross Channel and Omnichannel Lead Generation?

While both cross-channel and omnichannel lead generation use multiple channels to reach prospects, the way they approach it differs widely. Cross-channel tactics aim to provide a unique experience to each lead on each medium, whereas omnichannel strategies focus on providing a joint experience across all channels.

Sounds complicated?

Here’s a simpler explanation:

Both methods use online and offline mediums — such as social media marketing, email marketing, paid advertising, or even trade shows and seminars — to reach target audiences and bring in more leads.

Cross-channel lead generation focuses on leveraging those mediums at once to reach more prospective buyers and convert them. Each marketing channel will be used to its full potential using distinctive tactics and unique messaging — regardless of the lead’s previous experience with the brand on other channels.

On the other hand, omnichannel lead generation uses those multiple channels to create a consistent experience for prospective clients and increase engagement. This means that omnichannel tactics take into consideration the lead’s customer experience and aim to keep all touchpoints connected and synchronized.

How Do You Create an Omnichannel Strategy?

An omnichannel lead generation strategy is meant to help you attract the right buyers and increase engagement. Here’s how to create one in a few simple steps:

Define your target audience: the first step in developing an omnichannel lead gen strategy is to create a buyer persona that best represents your target audience. You should be as detailed as possible about the demographics of your audience as well as their needs and preferences.
Develop a cohesive brand message: once your ideal buyers are identified, you can start working on crafting a consistent, appealing message to represent your brand across multiple channels. This step is especially crucial because your value proposition needs to be clear upfront. Otherwise, your sales and marketing people will struggle to communicate with your top leads effectively.
Nurture prospects with educational content: informational content plays a huge role in keeping new leads interested during the early stages. Potential buyers need to trust your brand and gain more knowledge about your offers before they decide to buy. That’s why you must create a variety of educational content pieces in different formats (blog articles, infographics, short, social media posts, webinars, etc) to serve your audience.
Diversify outreach channels: based on your audience preferences, what are the best marketing channels to deliver your message across? Choose the most popular platforms that your audience is using, then test them out for engagement using the content you created. Some of the best lead gen channels to get started with are LinkedIn, email marketing, paid advertising, and Google organic.
Integrate all channels to form a seamless experience: There are a lot of tactics to use if you want to integrate all channels together. For example, you should promote a consistent brand identity and message across all platforms. Your email campaigns need to be personalized and tailored to each prospect based on where they are in the sales funnel. Another simple example would be optimizing your website to be mobile-friendly to ensure a flawless experience for all prospects using any device.
Track and optimize your omnichannel strategy: gaining more insight through performance tracking is essential for optimizing your omnichannel process later on. You should always be monitoring key metrics such as impressions, response rates, and conversions and use them to make data-driven decisions. After all, acquiring more knowledge is the best way to understand your target audience.

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