How Landing Pages Fit into your B2B Lead Generation Plan
B2B lead generation can be complex, but one tool has the power to energize your conversion efforts overnight: Landing pages.
Let's discuss…
- What is a landing page
- Where landing pages belong in your B2B sales & marketing funnels
- Why your homepage is Not an effective landing page
- How to match landing pages with a campaign
- When you should implement landing pages
What is a Landing Page?
In its simplest form, a landing page is a page where every element is dedicated to getting your Web visitors to take one, single action. That’s it. Nothing stands in the way of that one goal. No extraneous links. No site navigation. No nothing.
If the purpose of a landing page is to motivate action, every header, paragraph, and image is a step toward that goal. Each one should stoke the reader’s curiosity, address potential objections, build excitement, and kindle a sense of urgency.
Every page on your site does at least one of these things, but your landing pages do it all.
Landing Pages Cut Webpage Bloat So You Can Make More Money.
The average Web visitor reads only 20% of text on a page and spends about 20 seconds on each one. With only seconds to spare, each one is precious. To-the-point landing pages:
Get you more conversions.
Lower your cost-per-click.
Provide a focus for conversion optimization.
Landing Pages Belong at Every Stage in the Buyer Cycle
No matter where visitors are in their buyer journey, a landing page can capture lead information for you while providing critical insights for the prospect. Create a landing page to offer…
Infographic illustrating benefits of cloud computing for prospects gathering information
Whitepaper comparing two CRMs for a distribution company weighing their options
Free demo of an ERP system for a prospect primed to purchase
These three offers appeal to prospects in three different circumstances. But if your landing page succeeds in converting, you will have a new lead! It's then becomes your job to figure out how follow up.
Why not leave your homepage to do the work? You probably worked hard on that, right?
Well ...
Your Homepage is NOT an Effective Landing Page
Every website has a homepage, and the homepage has important jobs to do ... but converting isn’t one of them.
When companies try to use a fancy homepage for B2B lead generation, a fundamental misunderstanding is at work: The goals of a homepage are completely different from those of a landing page.
A landing page is for conversions and conversions only.
Compare that to a homepage:
It contains “broad net” information for all your buyer personas.
It doesn’t focus on a specific offer – visitors have to FIND one.
It might have dozens of different click points to get distracted by.
In short, homepages inevitably have poor attention ratio. Attention ratio describes the number of links on a page over the number of conversion goals – which is always just one. Having just one extraneous click point cuts attention ratio in half!
Landing Pages Should Always Match a Specific Campaign
Landing pages are for specific offers, not broad categories.
The closer your landing page matches the search users made or the ad they clicked on, the better. Carrying elements like headlines and graphics across from ads into your landing page helps clue users in so they know they’re in the right place.
Landing pages have the unique power to make users focus in on why your offer is relevant and compelling. That's why 48% of marketers build a new landing page for every offer.
When Should You Implement Landing Pages?
Landing pages are ideal for vital B2B lead generation tasks:
Offering more information on a specific products.
Providing whitepapers or case studies for download.
Promoting upcoming events to capture registrations.
Scheduling a demo of a specific product or service.
Validating ideas with preliminary market research.
Many B2B enterprises use landing pages to test ideas in the concept stages to see what level of market acceptance they can expect. If a well-honed landing page can’t capture prospects' interest on day one, an offering might have limited potential.
Bottom Line: Landing Pages Help B2B Marketing Be More Effective
Landing pages garner more conversions than regular web pages – period. If you’re not using them as part of your B2B lead generation strategy, you’re leaving revenue on the table.
Your users have limited time and attention to invest in learning about your offer. They want clear, concise, immediate information on what’s most relevant to them.
That’s exactly what your landing page should be designed to provide.
Once a landing page is converting, it's an automatic sales machine. It can only get better (using your trusty analytics, of course!) and your results can only improve.
Don't wait: The sooner you get quality landing pages on your site, the faster you'll see results and grow your business.