Experiencing a plateau in leads? It might be seasonally related — or it might be time to think outside the box with where you are targeting your B2B lead generation efforts.
Consider this. In a research study of 500 professional services firms, we found striking connections between online lead generation and firm growth and profitability.
On the low end of the graph below, representing firms with lower levels of online lead generation, we see profitability of 14-15% of revenue. On the high side, more than 30% of revenue is profit—these are firms that are committed to finding leads online. Put simply, professional services firms that generate 60% or more of their leads online are likely to be twice as profitable as their counterparts that generate less than 20% of their leads online.
There’s data to support higher growth for firms that generate more leads online as well. Firms that generate at least 40% of their leads online grow 4X faster.
Interested in higher growth and increased profitability? The answer should be a resounding “yes.” But many professional services firms have exhausted traditional lead generation ideas and struggle to find fresh arenas to expand their reach and get to new prospects.
Consider SlideShare, a hosting and sharing platform that can connect your presentations and content with other professionals.
comScore reports that SlideShare has five times more traffic from business owners than Twitter or Facebook. And because SlideShare is now owned by LinkedIn, it’s simple for B2B audiences to both find and use it.
Not familiar with the platform?
Here are some best practices to help you get started, get connected, and get more leads online:
- Let your presentations do the talking. You won’t be there to guide your audience through the ideas you’re presenting. The visual content in each of your slides should speak for itself.
- In the digital age, remember that your audience may be scrolling through your presentations on screens of different sizes. Keep your slide decks focused and image-driven. Don’t count on text-heavy slides to get read, much less make an impact.
- Tell a story. Have a narrative or a point with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
What about the technical details?
Here are a few tips to bear in mind:
- Uploaded content will be converted into a SlideShare presentation; for best results, save content in PDF formats.
- Animations will not convert.
- Make sure your content is of the best quality: invest in securing the rights to high-resolution images when needed.
And here are some great features to take advantage of:
- Sharing. You can easily share presentations publicly or privately with other users and across social networks. There’s even an app to feed SlideShare content to your LinkedIn profile.
- Embedding. The platform provides code to help you embed content on other websites and blogs, greatly increasing its exposure and reach.
- Video and audio. Embed YouTube videos in your presentations, or provide a synced MP3 soundtrack.
- Interaction and engagement. You can follow other users, “favorite” presentations, comment on content, and email it directly from SlideShare.
- Search engine optimization. Your slides’ contents are automatically made into transcripts, which accompany your presentations. When you apply keywords, your presentations can make a good showing in search engine results.
- PRO features will soon be free. SlideShare recently announced that advanced capabilities that once required a subscription will be made free in the coming months to all users. These features include:
- Customized forms to capture leads.
- Company branded channels.
- Collection of detailed analytics like performance metrics, user identities, and interaction details.
As with all B2B lead generation tools, the growth and profitability you experience from SlideShare will be dependent on the quality of your content, the attention you give your online networks, and the efficacy of your conversion strategies.
Firms that have a solid understanding of how to leverage online sharing and networking platforms—or firms that enlist expert help to do so—have a better chance of generating online leads. And, following the research, they have a greater chance at larger profit margins. If your firm isn’t performing up to your expectations, it might be time to invest more deeply in online marketing techniques—including adding SlideShare to your online marketing toolkit.
Download our Online Lead Generation Guide to learn more marketing strategies to boost your inbound leads.
On SlideShare? Keep up with our latest presentations here.
