Lead generation is at the very core of B2B marketing. But the B2B lead generation strategies that work best are often the ones tailored to the needs of your target audience and your unique business needs.
And when marketing teams put in a lot of effort but are not generating quality leads, it not only amounts to a waste of time for the sales teams but also a waste of resources for the business. This is why every company looking to make the most of its lead generation campaigns needs an effective lead generation strategy.
If you're having trouble capturing leads that actually convert, this post is for you. Here's a rundown of 15 of the best lead generation strategies that actually work for drawing in qualified leads to your business.
Tell me the difference between lead generation and B2B lead generation?
Lead Generation is short for Lead Generation from Businesses. The term is used when identifying companies that offer lead generation services to Other Businesses. One mile starts in a few steps.
B2B lead generation is one of the key components of most sales funnels. Lead generation is aimed at collecting customer details like names, emails, company titles and job descriptions if a company needs them.
B2B differs in terms of lead generation from businesses-to-client (B2C), where a product or service is sold directly to customers.
Content Marketing
For obvious reasons, content marketing comes top of the list. Whether you're driving customers through your sales pipeline with outbound or inbound marketing, you can't do without content marketing. It is a necessity. Plus, the better the quality or relevance of your content in addressing your customers' pain points, the higher the probability of winning more conversions from potential customers. Most marketing teams implement content marketing as an integral part of their lead gen campaigns.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, 85% of B2B marketers admit that lead generation is a principal focus for them, but when it comes to the effectiveness of their lead generation efforts, only 44% think their effort is neutral. But really, one strategy can hardly cut it most times, meaning that you need a combination of different applicable strategies to generate high-quality leads.
Gartner estimates that more than 65% of purchasing decisions occur before a buyer ever makes contact with a supplier. This is because buyers now read pieces of information they can find about the product or brand. They use the insights gained from researching most companies to make an informed purchasing decision. This is where companies have the opportunity to leverage a sound SEO strategy.
Search Engine Optimization
Content marketing and SEO go hand-in-hand. It is an effective B2B lead generation strategy. The sooner sales and marketing teams begin to implement SEO as part of their sales funnel, the sooner their lead generation process will improve.
Aside from bringing you organic traffic from search engines, an SEO marketing conversion sales funnel helps marketers visualize the steps that potential customers take before they decide to purchase a product. Luckily, there are great SEO tools out there, such as SEMrush, Surfer, Moz, HubSpot, etc. Even if you intend to generate leads using blog posts and articles, a solid SEO strategy can help you attract high-quality leads.
Facebook Leads Ads Campaigns
No doubt, Facebook is still a very effective platform for high-value lead generation. Compared to LinkedIn, it may not be as promising, but do not be quick to dismiss Facebook when it comes to building great B2B lead generation strategies.
In a post by HubSpot, where it highlighted several marketing statistics, about 74% of consumers also use Facebook in professionally. While a lot of people on Facebook are there for fun (unlike LinkedIn), the fact remains that it is an effective B2C and B2B lead generation platform.
Social Media Marketing
62% of marketers believe that marketing on social media platforms is effective for lead generation. Besides LinkedIn and Facebook, other platforms like Twitter and Instagram are typical places where marketers go to search for more leads.
But the thing about social media is that the majority of people aren't there first because they are looking for business; most people just want to catch up with friends, follow up on the latest gist and news, and just get entertained. The catch here is that your content should be created around what your target customers are searching for to provide the best engagement. This is a pro tip for sales and marketing teams.
You can also split test your content on each of these platforms and stick to the ones that provide the most engagements from your target audiences. Consider working with an expert to help you attract more qualified leads from your social media accounts.
Custom Landing Pages
For each campaign you put out there, you want to make sure that it is optimized for the right kind of audience. But most importantly, be sure that you are sending customers to the right landing page.
Effective B2B lead generation involves using custom landing pages for each new campaign. You want to avoid the mistake of using your home page or the same landing page for every single campaign, especially when the target audience or service you're marketing has changed.
Each product or service, as well as each unique audience, requires an optimized marketing message, and this is another reason why digital marketing is superior to traditional marketing. This way, your site visitors will be able to navigate easily and find what they are searching for.
Don't forget that something brought them to your site, and the sooner they find it, the better your chances at customer success or generating leads that actually convert.
The Fear of Missing Out - FOMO
FOMO marketing is another highly effective B2B lead generation strategy that can generate leads for businesses instantly. FOMO refers to the use of marketing messaging or copies that appeal to consumers' desire to immediately take advantage of a great opportunity before it slips through their fingers.
An important feature of this kind of strategy is a timed offer. Many people would rather make an impulse purchase than regret failing to act later, even if they do not need the item at that moment. Some marketers even go as far as using a real-life example to paint the picture they want the audience to see and get them to act fast.
Video Content
Nowadays, there are many useful ways that businesses can use video to improve their marketing strategies and fast-track the sales process. Staring with live videos on your social media platforms, video ads, LinkedIn video, etc. to using videos to discuss the benefits of your services and products to customers and how-to videos, there's a lot that you can do by pushing out video content. And B2B lead generation is definitely one of those.
With great video content, businesses can attract qualified leads and achieve higher click-through rates, impressions, and conversions. Consider channeling more of your resources to creating and sharing quality videos if you're looking to acquire more leads.
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LinkedIn B2B Marketing
B2B lead generation on LinkedIn is probably the best route to go after content marketing. With about 830 million registered members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, LinkedIn is a force to be reckoned with in the marketing world.
As a matter of fact, LinkedIn marketing should be top of the list for a business looking to amp up its B2B lead generation. With the multitude of opportunities and strategies that your marketing and sales team can implement on LinkedIn, it is no doubt one of the best B2B lead generation strategies you can have in your marketing arsenal.
With LinkedIn ads, you can target potential leads with robust campaigns optimized for a specific target market. LinkedIn ads can be used to target high-value leads. You can also turn your LinkedIn company profile into a lead magnet. You can include links to your landing page in your posts, ads, and profile, with a compelling call to action (CTA) to attract more site visitors.
Another interesting perspective on LinkedIn marketing is that you can also take advantage of marketing automation. There are several LinkedIn marketing automation tools that you can leverage for improved B2B lead generation.
Free Stuff
Let's also not forget the age-old tactic of using freebies to woo and attract people. Your marketing and sales team can leverage this strategy to garner more high-profile sales leads. Most SaaS and tech companies have used creative options, such as free trials, free versions, and free tools to attract qualified leads.
Most times, people want to pay for your services or products, but they also want to take a test drive to see if your offerings match their business needs.
Offering a free tool with limited validity or functionality is a great strategy for marketing qualified leads.
Google Ads
PPC or Pay-Per-Click advertising is a great way to attract paying customers to your brand. Unlike traditional advertising, you can define your target audiences, work with a specific marketing budget, and also define your goals for your ad campaigns.
Whether you're looking to get more client conversion, increased traffic to your site, or more awareness and click-through rates, Google ads is extensive enough to accommodate your unique marketing needs.
In fact, no marketing campaign is complete without paid ads, unless you're not looking to convert customers any time soon. PPC is one of the best approaches to generating high-quality sales leads in any industry.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the indispensable sales tools. As outdated as email marketing might sound, it is still one of the best B2B lead generation strategies you can use today. It gives you the pilot control over your sales process and equally allows you to monitor the engagement of the audience with your content.
You can tell how many site visits came from links in the mail you sent, and you can decide which campaign is most effective for the lead generation process. An analysis of your email performance can help your sales and marketing teams improve your marketing and sales activities.
Great Marketing Copies
The importance of writing great copies cannot be said enough. The copies you put up on your ads or landing pages can either make or mar your lead generation efforts. First, consider the buyer's journey, then look into how to weave your brand story and offering into the copy in such a way as to convince the audience that you have the answer to their needs. A great copy must be concise, yet detailed enough to shed light on gray areas.
Watch out for conflicting messages, as that can breed mistrust in the minds of your customers. Then end your copies with great CTAs each time. But a more effective method for using your sales copies to generate leads is adding the CTAs at strategic points through the copy. This also applies when you're using a blog post to promote a product or service.
Lead Generation Automation Tools
B2B lead generation is actually more effective when you use lead generation tools, which are typically automated in functionality. For instance, you can integrate an automation tool for your email campaign and LinkedIn marketing.
These tools are designed to attract the ideal customers to you, take out the guesswork, and increase your conversation rates.
Case Studies
Consider using case studies to encourage purchases. Customers are often impressed by the positive stories of other customers. Case studies is a great tool for showcasing the worth of your products and services to potential customers. You can use compelling case studies in your email marketing campaigns.
You want to also ensure that you are putting your messages in front of the right target group.
Hire a Lead Generation Company
Working with an experienced B2B marketing expert helps you take out the guesswork, as well as save you resources that would otherwise end up getting wasted on repeated trials and errors.
Lead gen can be a hard nut to crack if you're not getting your strategies right. You can forget about all the strategies and the stress associated with implementing them correctly by simply consulting a professional digital marketing company or hiring an in-house pro to assist your marketing and sales team.
This can either be your point of first call or last resort. Either way, it is a good call, as you get to reach your target audience and generate more leads with less far struggles.
