Lead Automation on LinkedIn: 5 Tips for Efficiency
by Heather Timmerman Moller
B2B marketers know that campaigns are often evaluated by the leads they generate. The general theory is that high-value marketing attracts quality leads that become profitable customers. Finding the best leads becomes even trickier as buyer journeys continue to spread across new channels and customers expect more personalized experiences. Not to mention, the B2B buyer consists of an entire committee who has different needs and attributes.
LinkedIn is an excellent source to fuel growth and generate leads, but traditional manual processes don’t deliver top-tier results. In this article, we’ll review the basics of B2B lead generation and explain how automation enhances your strategy.
ABC’s of B2B Lead Generation
Lead generation doesn’t happen by accident; it involves intricate campaigns designed to lead a potential customer to a sale. We’ve created an in-depth guide to lead generation, and our marketing labs course walks you through more details. Here are the basics of lead generation and five tips for success:
Generate Interest Across Channels
Reaching people across channels is both a challenge and an opportunity. Social media, webinars, gated assets, and email are just a few examples of where to generate interest.
Qualify Leads
Qualified leads seem simple — they are leads deemed more likely to buy based on specific criteria such as accessing a gated asset. Unfortunately, marketing and sales teams don’t have the same definition of qualified leads, but agreement on the criteria of each is an important part of the process. There are Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL), and Sales Qualified Leads (SQL). Regardless of how they are identified, a qualified lead is a priority in the lead conversion process.
Score Leads
Lead scoring ranks the likelihood a specific prospect will convert. Methodology varies, but many companies are automating scoring through predictive analytics. Predictive analytics combines data mining and algorithms based on machine learning and are often more accurate than manual methods.
Close Leads
Ultimately, the goal of lead generation is to convert a lead into a customer. When it isn’t possible to make the sale, leads are closed to avoid wasting resources on those unlikely to convert.
5 Tips for Lead Generation Success
Successful lead generation strategies have several steps in common. We’ve rounded up 5 tips and a few of our partners to help you improve your lead generation.
1. Align Sales and Marketing
There’s a push to marry sales and marketing into “smarketing” and structure lead generation as a partnership. When sales and marketing aren’t butting heads, the combined efforts pay off. Some of the benefits of collaboration are:
- Shared objectives and KPIs
- Better insights and understanding
- Clear accountability and workflow
- Measurable increase in conversions
2. Attract the Best with Audience Insight
It can be tricky to determine the best audiences for your messaging. LinkedIn’s Conversion Tracking and our marketing partners can help you find, evaluate, and reach the best leads.
6Sense uses a Customer Data Platform (CDP) and predictive AI to pinpoint your ideal targets. Their solution matches anonymous buying behavior to accounts to uncover hidden leads. 6Sense helps align sales and marketing and creates highly targeted multi-channel campaigns at scale.
Rollworks identifies target accounts, enables campaigns across channels, and measures the effectiveness of your account-based advertising, across the entire buying committee.
3. Bring it All Together with Integration
The best strategies are holistic, and these marketing partners bring together everything you need into one seamless integration.
LeadsBridge integrates Linkedin Lead Gen Forms, Linkedin Matched Audiences, hundreds of CRMs, email platforms, and more. LeadsBridge produces highly targeted audiences, fresh data, and customizable lead capture capabilities.
Convertr optimizes and routes LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms data into your marketing automation or CRM. Convertr enhances LinkedIn advertising value by quickly funneling quality leads into your systems.
4. Automate Lead Gen Forms
AI is constantly improving, and automating forms yields a quick and easy bump to efficiency and profitability. Tools such as LinkedIn Lead Gen forms make the process quick and easy for users and increase conversions.
Lead capture and reporting is important for any campaign. With lead gen automation marketers are able to enhance lead nurturing strategies and clearly attribute conversions and revenue with marketing partners like Adobe and more. Learn how to create Legendary Lead Gen Campaigns on LinkedIn.
5. Maximize Performance with Marketing Automation
Further streamline your LinkedIn advertising with automation using these marketing partners:
Better Leads, More Conversions
The right lead generation strategy increases efficiency, yields better results, and helps marketing and sales align. See our full list of Lead Generation Marketing Partners to find your perfect solutions.