How Does B2B Performance Based Marketing Work?

There are many different models & pricing structures out there when it comes to B2B lead generation & marketing. Choosing the right model or agency is the difference between hitting your revenue goals or falling short.

In laymen’s terms, performance based B2B lead generation should work just like B2C. You don’t pay anything unless the agreed upon lead is delivered.

However, there are some things to consider. 

1: Is the provider simply buying dated lists and cold calling?

2: Are they full service meaning that they manage everything from soup to nuts?

3: Are they just blasting out emails?

4: How are they representing your brand?

Lead vs MQL vs Sales Ready Lead

If you’re investing in performance based lead generation services, you need to know what you’re getting.

Some agencies just deliver basic Leads that aren’t ready to buy. Or, these leads never showed any buying intent beforehand nor were they segmented using data to determine if they were in the buying behavior. Many times, this is the form of a list that’s purchased or created by a data company.

MQLs tend to have more intent, are targeted more strategically and have downloaded a piece of your content. These still need to be worked by a sales person or marketing automation but have a much higher likelihood of closing into revenue.

SQLs or sales ready leads have surpassed MQL status by either speaking with a sales team member or doing predetermined things that push them into SQL territory.

Pricing

CPL (cost per lead) & retainers range here tremendously. You can be charged up front costs to kickoff your campaigns plus a monthly retainer or it could be as simple as you pay per lead.

Pay for performance should be simply that. If the agency is confident in their solution, they shouldn’t be charging additional fees on top of lead delivery.

Typical B2B Marketing Agency vs Pay for Performance

Working with a Typical Marketing Agency 

Pros: You’ll have a more holistic approach to your entire marketing strategy. This includes SEO, Brand, changes in your business etc.

Cons: Many times, the fees are very high, you wont gain any sort of knowledge of ROI on your monthly retainer spend. Also, if youre working with a larger agency, you’ll have a team of inexperienced Account Managers managing your account.

Working with a B2B Pay for Performance Agency 

Pros: You’ll be able to focus your marketing budget on generating leads of your target B2B buyers that your sales team can focus on selling to. No additional dollars will be “wasted” on social media likes, website updates or miscellaneous marketing tasks that don’t translate to real revenue.

Cons: Due to the narrow focus of pay for performance, if you stop paying for leads, you’ll have nothing coming in if you’d dedicated all of your marketing resources to this tactic. This is why we recommend allocating only a portion of your marketing budget to lead gen. Check out this free calculator here.

To summarize, B2B pay for performance marketing can be a smart decision for your company. Especially if you’re in a space where you need to truly HUNT down those ideal buyers across the world or if your sales team is struggling to make contact.