Lead generation is one of the biggest challenges for B2B marketers. A HubSpot report found that 61% of marketers consider traffic and lead generation their biggest test. But with the right strategy in place, you can make lead generation sound like a piece of cake.
What is B2B lead generation
B2B lead generation is the process of obtaining critical information, such as a potential customer’s contact information, names, job titles, etc. This enables you to create content and communication tailored for the leads. The motive is to convert these leads into customers.
Lead generation is essential for any business, especially those based on sales.
Why is lead generation important
Lead generation is a method of converting existing demand in the market to leads, which eventually results in sales and revenue. Lead generation is important for the sustainable growth of any business.
Four critical B2B lead generation strategies you should focus on
1. Content Marketing
Content marketing is producing quality content and distributing it across relevant channels. The motive here is to make your content reach the maximum number of people. When this happens, your website gets more hits, and you generate more leads.
Here are a few tips to get you started with content marketing:
- Find your target segment and discover their pain points.
- Figure out a content strategy.
- Craft quality content that’s valuable to your target audience.
- Post the content on your website, social media handles, or where your audience hangs out.
Pro tip: While developing content, keep SEO in mind. This will help your content rise through the top of search results for relevant keywords, which, in turn, will increase website traffic, resulting in more leads.
2. Cold Emailing
Cold emailing, if done right, can help you generate high-quality B2B leads. In addition, it enables you to reach out to people who haven’t opted for your email marketing. By 2025, the number of email users is estimated to rise to 4.6 billion. That’s a sea of opportunity.
All you got to do is choose the correct method, which doesn’t include spamming people with dozens of non-personalized emails.
A golden rule of thumb is to research your prospects, learn about their pain points and behavior, prepare an action plan, and send out personalized emails. Make sure you add an impactful subject line and CTA. This way, your click-through rate will improve, and you’ll generate quality leads.
3. PPC
If you think pay-per-click ads work only for B2B e-commerce brands, think again. PPC ad campaigns are sector agnostic and work well for all businesses.
While it was earlier limited to Google, PPC ads now extend to Twitter, Facebook, and even LinkedIn. All you need is the right approach. Something like this:
- Write a crisp copy for your PPC ad campaign.
- Include all relevant keywords.
- Make sure you keep in mind the target audience while initiating campaigns.
- Direct the ones who click on your ad to a quality landing page and capture the leads.
4. Social Media Marketing
Social media is a gift that keeps on giving. Especially when it comes to generating B2B leads. Although you may find the most relevant B2B clients on LinkedIn, other platforms are worth a shot too. Here’s how you can proceed with social media marketing:
- Determine your target audience.
- Start posting valuable and insightful content on social media.
- Engage with your audience.
- Run social media ads and direct your prospects to a lead gen form.
Note. You must remember that lead generation is not just about generating leads. It’s about generating quality leads that convert. If you implement strategies keeping this in mind, you’ll notice better conversions.
How to make lead generation effective
Demand generation
Demand generation is the process of exposing your brand to a larger audience in the hopes of creating awareness. When people know about your brand already, they’re more likely to become leads and even customers.
You can generate demand by simply distributing your content on different relevant websites (content syndication.) Or you can go for tele-calling or cold emailing and distribute your content to let your prospects know about your brand.
Lead scoring
Prioritize your leads; otherwise, they might get lost in the crowd, and you won’t get enough conversions. For prioritizing leads, you can go for lead scoring. It’s the process of ranking your leads according to their buying behavior.
There is no doubt that B2B lead generation is more complex than it appears. However, you can make the process easier and more effective with the right strategy.
