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Let’s face it: B2B email marketing lead generation requires an ongoing process of adaptation and refinement. With digital noise stronger than ever and attention capacities getting shorter every year, it’s no surprise email lead generation continues to be a challenge for marketers.
This struggle’s confirmed in the fact that there was over a 30% drop in belief that email marketing is critical to business success.
The traditional playbook is losing its edge, and the rapid evolution of strategies leaves many marketers struggling to keep pace.
But what if we continue to optimize our strategy to stay ahead of the game? B2B tech marketers like these are still experiencing a high ROI (return on investment) of $36-40 for every $1 spent, bringing in over $10 billion in revenue in 2023 thus far.
So, it seems we have two options – spend time we don’t have to keep up with continuously evolving email lead generation strategies or admit defeat and watch our email success drop.
I’ll offer a third option, let’s call it our secret shortcut.
Keep reading…
Why is B2B email marketing lead generation getting harder for tech marketers?
Let’s first break down what B2B email marketing lead generation is in the first place.
Email marketing lead generation focuses on attracting potential customers and gathering their contact information.
Did all my marketers in the back hear that? This technique focuses on attraction and gathering, not nurturing. I’ll save that for later
So, what are some of the greatest challenges plaguing the email marketing game?
Recent B2B email marketing challenges:
1. Increasing competition
The tech industry is witnessing a surge in competition, resulting in a crowded marketplace.
Even if you’re in a particularly niche space, you might still see numerous players vying for attention. That’s making it much harder to stand out and capture the interest of potential leads.
2. Complexity of tech products and services
With tech products and services becoming more complex, communicating and promoting these solutions to address decision-makers’ challenges becomes key. Now more than ever, tech marketers need a highly segmented and educated audience.
3. Low marketing budgets allocated to email
It’s no shock marketing budgets are feeling the effects of the waning state of the economy.
4. Shift in B2B buying behavior
B2B tech buyers are doing their due diligence more now than ever, deeply researching products and services before engaging with vendors.
This shift encourages tech marketers to provide valuable, information-rich content and establish credibility earlier in the buyer’s journey.
Email lead generation is the first step in the email marketing funnel where the goal is to expand your audience base. Expanding your audience base has its fair share of challenges like I mentioned above. But, as with most things – it’s not as hard as it seems if you know where to look and what to expect.
How do you collect emails for lead generation?
1. Earned: Creating opt in forms/value exchanges to collect emails
Earned email lists are given the gold-star of approval by many marketers because they meet data compliance standards. Meaning, the user has opted-in and freely and willingly gave you their data.
Understanding the source of your data can prove crucial in buying B2B contacts list, like the data gathered from zero-party data sources.
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Earned lead lists provide you with opportunities to grow your list through real, value-added relationships with your audience. Also known as, email marketing lead nurturing.
While you may be thinking, “this is definitely the way to go!”, we can’t overlook the challenges it may pose.
Let’s take a brief look at them below
This is an organic (i.e. LONG) process. Anything worth your time usually takes up a lot of it. Earned B2B email lead generation is a lengthy process, and if your team is looking to bolster up your email lists pronto, this may be an issue.
The outcome’s slightly unpredictable. You’re relying on your audience to take action. (Aren’t we always?) The success of your opt-in leads lists is almost fully dependent on the diverse and often spontaneous nature of how subscribers join and engage with the list.
Geared more towards engaged audiences. Of course this makes sense. They’re most geared towards an engaged audience because your leads have to voluntarily sign up meaning they’ve interacted with your company enough, found value in your thought leadership content, and made the active decision that receiving emails from your company is worth their time.
Now, let’s take a look at the flip side of the coin, paid email lists.
Conquer B2B email marketing like a pro! In this guide, you’ll understand the factors that may be impacting your email performance, and get tips and frameworks for email marketing success.
2. Paid: Buying leads lists
So, you looked at the other option and thought, “that seems like a lot of work..” bringing us to your other option – paid lead lists.
Buying a targeted email list typically looks like working with a third-party vendor to find and purchase a list of names (hopefully within your target audience).
Remember that “party” data concept we talked about a few minutes ago? Well, here’s the kicker.
Sometimes, working with third-parties to obtain an email list means there’s not full transparency on matters like:
- where the email addresses came from
- if the email address are in use anymore,
- or if that data was legally obtained.
Some companies give the same leads lists to multiple customers, meaning you’re back in the ring fighting for attention again.
The benefit? It’s easy.
Some marketers prefer using the “close your eyes and throw a dart at a wall” approach and hope that out of every 10,000 emails they receive, maybe 5-10 are valid and worth their time. For some teams this is sustainable, for others, it’s a waste of time.
So what’s the easier way to approach email marketing lead generation?
Lucky you, you came to the right place. Remember that shortcut I mentioned earlier?
Well, here it is.
The “I have no time” but “I also need to be strategic” tech marketers prefer working with verified partners that almost blend the earned and pain approaches to email marketing lead generation. Specifically:
- the quality of contact data like in the earned approach,
- but the ease of campaign set up experienced in the paid approach.
We call this the community-based approach, where we match tech buyers with tech marketers or sellers, at scale.
How the community approach works for tech buyers (your prospects)
Instead of the usual process where tech buyers, aka your prospects or leads, voluntarily opt in to the mailing lists of several solution providers they’re interested in, the simply join the ViB Community.
There, prospects (aka community members) are able to specify what they’re interested in.
Based on their interests, they then gain access to the latest news and tech buying experiences in their industry; whether its the latest cybesecurity trends, or webinars on cloud AI, and opportunities to network or meet with emerging tech companies.
In other words, millions of members voluntarily opt-in to receive emails from tech solution providers, in one place
How the community approach works for tech marketers (you)
In turn, with this strong commuinity of tech professionals, the other side of the equation is all kinds of tech companies, with results-driven marketers who are looking for new leads in their market.
By understanding the marketer’s ideal customer profile, we are able take your message (in an email html format), and send it out as an email to community members who fit that targeteing. Prospects can then enage and interact with each email, and become your leads.
So why would this approach make sense for marketers?
1. High lead quality
Not only does this communtiy-based approach give you and your marketing team access to a large group of your target audience, but it gives you access to decision-makers actively looking to solve their problems. I.e. data quality is top notch.
2. Minimal set up
Under this approach to lead generation, we simply take any exisitng email you have, in an HTML format, and resend it to targeted community members through our email domain.
We do the send, meaning there’s no need to buy lists, scrub them, segment them, launch email campaigns, and review performance. All those are done for you.
3. Full branding and messaging control
Even with such a heavy outsourcing approach, you retain 100% control (sounds a lot better than the fishy paid lists, doesn’t it?) of your messaging, targeting, and desired results. It’s the easy and effective solution you’ve been looking for.
This community-based approach to email marketing is called ViB Emails.
ViB is a proven email marketing lead generation vendor with a community of millions of dedicated and active tech professionals. ViB Emails is a great top-of-funnel tactic to drive awareness and generate leads. Leveraging your existing email and CTA they’ll resend it to our community that matches your ICP (ideal customer profile).
The result? An instant boost of awareness and an increase in CTA engagements — typical clients see ~30 CTA engagements per email.
Interested in hearing more? Win back your time and grow your leads list today.
Looking for some proof? Let’s look at some successful email marketing lead generation examples
It sounds almost too good to be true. But, don’t just take our word for it – let’s take a look at some companies who have found success in this email marketing lead generation shortcut!
AtScale: Software automation company
AtScale experienced several challenges when working with other lead generation partners. In fact, they realized that while these partners with mass blasting out emails, AtScale didn’t see any qualified lead growth on their end.
Some challenges they faced were:
- Brand mentions didn’t translate to brand familiarity
- Leads had no prior interest to meet a sales rep
- Fewer meetings delivered than promised
Mary O’Hara, Marketing Specialist, realized it was time to put their time and money into more effective resources. That’s when she reached out to ViB.
Together, Mary and her ViB partner decided to leverage ViB’s email marketing service to create an all-encompassing and comprehensive brand experience for her prospects.
With a branded end-to-end journey, the leads she received at the end of each campaign were true, marketing qualified leads looking to take action.
What was the result of working with a partner with a nurtured network of over 1 million tech professionals?
519 net new registrations, including a challenging-to-capture ABM prospect.
Real, quantifiable results.
Not only did ViB deliver on their promise, but Mary pointed out that they are interested in the results and identifying opportunities to deliver even better outcomes. It’s a continuous learn and grow game.
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from ViB emails.
- High scalability with consistent results and no audience fatigue
- Precise targeting
- Qualified and interested leads who anticipate follow-up meetings
- Excellent customer service
Getting started with ViB Emails
If you’re looking to grow your leads list quickly and organically with interested tech professionals, you’re in the right place.
Want more info about how our email marketing process works? Check out our Email trial, or grab a copy of the ViB Emails datasheet below.
And remember, if you need any help in strategizing, exploring our audience, or understanding our approach, you can always chat with a team member!
There’s a better alternative to buying lead lists and tedious list cleaning.
Try ViB Emails’ unique community-based approach to lead generation and reach engaged technology professionals with a low-cost trial.
