8 Benefits of Using Online Directories for B2B Lead Generation
As a B2B company, you’ve probably tried a range of tactics for lead generation. From paid ads to multi-year marketing strategies, you might feel like you’ve tried it all. But have you considered using online directories?
B2B online business directories offer you a chance to list your business profile on a legitimate, high-traffic website and find other listings with potential clients. This article outlines exactly what these directories have to offer and how they might improve your lead generation.
What are B2B online directories?
You’re probably already familiar with online directories. Users of directories like Whitepages can easily find a person’s phone number or email address.
Similarly, online business directories are databases full of contact information about businesses. They can also include additional details, such as industry niche, company size, location, and even individual contact details within a company.
B2B online directories are useful for businesses on both the seller and customer side. For example, customers searching for the best remote desktop for Windows can use online business directories to find companies that sell the software they’re looking for. For the seller, online business directories are full of potential leads.
You may be asking, what about hard copy directories? In an increasingly digital world, it’s vital you appear in an online business directory. Hard copies are disappearing and have drawbacks, such as the inability to update your information or ensure the information you find is correct and authentic.
So along with tactics like creating a Google business profile for your company, it’s highly beneficial to get your business listed in an online directory to find new clients.
8 benefits of online directories for lead generation
1. Find the decision maker
If you’re generating leads for your B2B company, you’ll know it’s crucial to contact the decision maker. After all, there’s no point contacting a junior team member who has no say in what new solutions or products a company invests in.
For example, let’s say your business offers secure remote access solutions. Rather than reaching out to the business owner with limited time or admin assistant with limited power, sales agents should contact a company’s business support lead or IT director to secure the sale.
With a B2B online directory, you can find contact details of key decision makers, rather than generic company contacts. A direct email or phone call to the decision maker will significantly improve the quality of your lead and reduce the chances of your calls going unanswered.
2. Ensure contact details are up-to-date
You’ve found the decision maker, you’ve crafted your pitch email, you’ve clicked send – then the email bounces back.
Finding the correct contact details is essential, not to mention a huge time saver. Moreover, if an email goes to the wrong person, it can damage your credibility.
Digital directories are regularly updated with the most recent and accurate information, including business addresses, emails, and phone numbers.
With an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent, the benefits of using email marketing for lead generation can be vast. But only if you can find the correct email addresses for those leads. Online business directories can help you confirm contacts and ensure they see your pitch.
In addition to ensuring contact details are correct, you can also protect your company by using directories that can screen business contact details for potential fraud and brand impersonation.
For example, you’ve got a list of leads and you’re ready to start reaching out. Rather than risking reaching out to fraudulent companies, you can use sites like Whitepages to double check business details and even run background checks.
3. Increase visibility and credibility
Not only can you find leads using a B2B online directory, your leads can find you.
By adding your business listing to a business directory, you ensure you don’t miss out on any potential clients. Appearing on business listing sites also ensures your business appears across the web and on search engine results pages, so your business website isn’t the only place potential clients can find your contact details.
Having a business directory listing can also increase your overall credibility and trustworthiness. When you search for leads, chances are you check various websites or search engines to find business profiles and ensure the company or client are legitimate.
Potential clients and leads you pitch will do the same, checking out a range of websites and reading negative and positive reviews. So ensuring your business profile is identical across different sites will give them confidence in your company.
4. Boost website traffic
Online business directories allow you to link directly to your website. Of course, this means that potential customers can easily access your website, but it has other benefits too.
Adding your business profile to an online listing service is a quick way to add an external link to your website on a trusted platform with a strong domain authority.
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If you’ve ever chatted to an SEO specialist, they’ve probably told you about backlink and domain authority strategies for ensuring your website appears high up in search rankings. External links to your website from other trusted websites can improve your domain authority. While this is usually achieved with content marketing, adding your website to an online directory is a quick and easy alternative.
5. Locate niche markets
With many online directories including service categories to help searchers find a specific type of business listing, they also offer a chance for businesses to ensure their potential leads are in the right industry or niche.
When listing your business, you can often specify what your niche market is. Not only does this help potential customers understand what you offer, it means you can quickly find contact details for businesses within any target markets or industries in your next lead generation campaign.
Rather than spending hours trying to figure out what niche a potential lead fits into or scouring the web for the right businesses for your pitch, filtering options and details provided by the business saves you valuable time and effort.
6. Save money
Listing your business on an online business directory is often free, and you can be confident that your details will remain there, ready for you to edit and update as needed. At a free or low cost, these listings are more cost-effective than other marketing and lead generation strategies, such as SEO services or LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms.
What’s more, services like Whitepages for Business allow increased flexibility. Besides exploring potential leads, you can export full contact details and ensure emails are verified before you reach out, so the potential for new business far outweighs the small monthly fees.
7. Discover small and new businesses
While you may know the value of a business website, many small businesses or new companies don’t yet have a website, while others solely utilize social media. That’s where online business directories can help you discover smaller clients you may otherwise not be able to find.
Businesses can be listed on online directories even if they don’t yet have a website. Instead, they can include a phone number and email address for customers or other businesses to get in touch.
This works both ways. There may be leads out there that don’t appear in your standard Google search because they don’t have a website (or their website is new and has a low search ranking). Online business directories curtail this problem and can quickly provide all of the information you need to pitch to another business that may benefit from your services.
8. Increase local and international business opportunities
Whether you’re looking for local businesses or trying to reach further afield high-profile clients with a .qa domain, B2B online directories can help you find leads according to your business needs and ambitions.
Online directories generally list business addresses, so they’re an easy way to figure out where a company is based. You can even filter your search by location if you have target areas for your lead generation.
This can help avoid mistakes, such as contacting a business in Birmingham, United Kingdom, rather than Birmingham, Alabama. But more importantly, it can quickly show you what businesses are in your target area and allow you to export these contacts for pitching. This saves huge amounts of time so you can focus on perfecting your pitch instead.
Generate leads with an online business directory
The potential for lead generation via online business directories is two-fold. Not only can you find potential customers’ business listings with ease and filter your search according to your needs, you can list your business too.
With an online business listing, you ensure customers know where to find you. The days of physical phonebooks being delivered to your door may be waning. Still, online business directories like Whitepages offer new and beneficial ways to find clients and generate high-quality leads to help your business grow.
