B2B email lists may sound like the answer to all your marketing prayers. And there can be quite a bit of benefit had from renting B2B email lists.
But before you can plunk down a couple thousand dollars – and start celebrating your hundreds of new leads – it’s important to know exactly what you are, and are not, paying for.
So, here are 5 things every marketer should know before wading into the deep end (and quite expensive end) of B2B email lists:
How to Use B2B Email Lists Like a Boss
#1 – There are a Metric Crap Load of Companies Who Do This
Skim this post on Quora and you’ll see a litany of vendors mentioned (often by the vendors themselves) offering their services:
Which one should you go with?
Well, there are some heavy-hitters that come up again and again: such as Thomson Data, Blue Mail Media, and InfoDataPlace. But which one you go with will depend your industry and price point.
#2 – The Devil (and the Profits) are in the Details
B2B email list companies are kind of link insurance companies: they all kind of sell the same thing. The big difference is in tiny little details.
State Farm is known for great customer service. USAA is known for aggressive defense of their clients. Geico is known for cheap group rates. Esurance is known for technology that appeals to Millennials.
In the B2B list rental game this means focusing on two things:
- How do they segment their list? (How granular can they get?)
How do they handle list hygiene?
If they only clean their list every year and can only parse their list by industry, not role within that industry, then you may want to look elsewhere.
#3 – Don’t Ask for a Huge Commitment
It’s tempting to rent email lists of the B2B variety and ask folks to head to your landing page and take immediate action such as schedule a demo or download a free trial of software or opt-in to a mailing list.
And this can work…
But often a better approach is to send people to a content page. A helpful content page that subtly asks for contact info, but doesn’t require it.
And then use retargeting to serve those people future ads on platforms such as Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
This will generally boost conversion rates and also promote your content for the awesomeness that it is.
#4 – There are Other Ways to Reach These Folks
The new sexy way to reach B2B leads is Quora. A souped-up, modern version of Yahoo Answers, this Q&A site is a great way to reach decision-makers based on specific keywords. (Quora also does a great job of promoting their users through sound promotion email techniques.)
But there are venues:
- LinkedIn Pulse is always a good option; those B2B leads are on there all the time
- YouTube, under the right circumstances, can be a great way to build a B2B email list based on the right keywords
- Amazon.com and its millions of users — especially if you have some course or white paper to give away — can be a great way to build a list quickly and easily.
“A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned”
Spending copious amounts of money on B2B email lists might feel productive, like you’re really doing something to hit your bottom line, but it can often lead to disappointing and catastrophic results. (I have the B2B advertising scars to prove it.)
Go slow, be diligent and ask for a low barrier-to-entry and you might just find you getting far better results than that slick, aggressive campaign you had planned.
What’s Your Take on B2B Email Lists?
Have you dipped your toe into the waters of B2B email lists? Let us know how it went int the comments below. (Horror stories encouraged!)
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