B2B (business-to-business) is a type of commerce that includes exchanging products, information, or services between two business entities instead of from the business to customer. According to Grand View Research, B2B e-commerce would reach a level of US $20.9 trillion in 2027, which signifies an average growth rate of 17.5% during 2020-27. B2B lead generation involves successfully convincing people or businesses that are potential customers to have business relationships with you. In addition to succeeding, you need to nurture these leads till they are not fully convinced through various tactics and practices.

Inbound campaigning involves attracting customers to one’s brand by putting out specific kinds of content through various media and mediums. 

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Best practices to nurture and recycle inbound leads

Once you have generated leads, you need to nurture them continuously so as to not let them drift off to competitors, and at the same time, you need to keep pitching new ideas and content to place in front of them to keep things interesting.

• Refresh, refresh, refresh

Never let your contact list go stagnant. You do not wish to send mails to just be marked to spam. Get rid of inactive leads. They not only consume time and resources but also mess up your analytics. Keep your list fresh and updated.

• Numbers over gut

There is no point in what you “feel” in a business. Maybe you landed in a good place following your gut, but that was just luck, right! Invest well in analytics to know advanced future patterns and then design a plan that prevents any predicted downfall and boosts profits.

• Serve them, not yourself

While you wish to sell for profit, you need to make sure that what you are selling is what your customer asks for. Try to be oriented and centered around them; continue to keep them connected with relevant messaging.

• Custom offers

A major practice that can be taken up to recycle leads that wish to opt-out due to budget issues and pricing is providing them with custom offers. This will not only look like a beneficial offer by them but will also show that you went an extra step for them, thus building their trust in you.

Tools and integrations that help in nurturing and recycling inbound leads

An amazing number of tools can smartly improve your lead nurturing and recycling, getting you greater profits in lesser the time.

• Inside Sales Box

This solution acts as an inside sales hub between your marketing automation platforms, combining your follow-up and nurturing processes into a single dashboard that monitors your activities and where your team should go next.

• LeadSquared

LeadSquared combines real lead behaviors with previous data to evaluate the chance of conversion, emphasizing hot leads, while marketing automation nurtures your prospects using machine learning.

• AWeber

AWeber is largely used as an email marketing tool and autoresponder. Autoresponders make it easy to stay in touch with leads while app connections expand your contact list. It’s the simplest kind of customization.

• Pipeline

It includes sales tracking, email, and content engagement capabilities, as well as data tracking and movement into your CRM. Through goals and notifications, its sales-focused UI keeps reps informed.

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Examples of great inbound campaigns by successful B2B marketing and sales teams

• Couchbase

Couchbase is a multi-award-winning distributed NoSQL cloud database with a 1.5 million USD sales pipeline.

Reasons for growth

• Uses Account-Based Marketing
• Centered around a higher value audience
• Implements social persona data
• Uses keyword volume to remove the guesswork.

• Drift

Drift is a sales and marketing team’s cloud-based live chat, in-app messaging, and email management system.

Reasons for growth

• Capturing leads via alternatives instead of forms
• A major shift from form to live chat proved beneficial
• Trying various data capture methods

• Milkshake

Milkshake is a US-based email outreach platform for sending effective emails. 

Reasons for growth

• Believing in quality over quantity
• Long-form content in 6 months
• Keyword targeted and completely relevant content.

• Adobe

The famous computer software got a new audience after taking up Omniture, a marketing analytics company.

Reasons for growth

• Thought leadership 
• Making content relevant to marketing leaders
• Successfully became the best content marketing hub through utilizing content marketing and social media.

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