B2B Lead Generation Tips

Business-to-business (B2B) sales leads are often highly sought after by both marketers and salespeople due to the high revenue amount that a 'good' lead can generate for a business. Every business needs high-quality leads to convert into loyal customers, and if a lead generation campaign is implemented correctly, business growth is inevitable.  But not all leads are born equal and businesses need to have clear criteria to ensure sales efficiencies are optimized for a business.

High Quality Leads is the Key

The best criteria for leads is “quality.” You may increase your amount of leads, but if they are not interested in what you are selling, they serve no significant purpose. Creating a lead generation strategy to increase your volume of leads without decreasing your quality is difficult, but far from impossible. There are many proven tactics that will help you generate quality B2B sales leads.

Tips to gain more B2B Sales Leads

• Account Based Marketing (ABM)

  Account Based Marketing (ABM) is one of the latest and most effective sales lead generation strategies for B2B. It is a marketing strategy that concentrates its resources on a set of targeted or key accounts within the market. ABM is about creating personalised campaigns that are intricately designed to engage each individual account. 

  This strategy goes beyond lead generation and encourages lead nurturing, upselling, and cross-selling, and this is one of the keys to getting the most value from your lead generation campaign. 

  Learn more about Account Based Marketing, and how it can benefit your lead generation efforts, here. 

• Content Marketing

Most prominent B2B businesses have consistent and informative blogs as well as content-rich resource centers on their websites.  This is because information and education is vital to B2B marketing as it establishes the business as a thought leader in its particular industry.  Buyers trust a brand that offers industry insight, helpful information, and is able to solve their problems - and all of this can be done through strategic blogging. 

Content marketing also comes with an added benefit. Not only will you build trust with your website visitors, but you will build your presence on search engines. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of growing the quality of your website traffic by increasing your website visibility. This is done through quality and consistent website content, specifically blog content.  Lead generation is about driving prospects to your landing page or website, and content marketing combined with the added benefit of SEO, will get  potential customers to your page. 

Learn more about content creation for lead generation, here.

• Create Enticing Lead Magnets

A lead magnet is a marketing term that refers to a free service or item that is given away for the purpose of gathering the contact details of prospective customers. For example, lead magnets can be free downloadable white-papers, coupons, e-newsletters, or free consultations.  Lead magnets are important in B2B lead generation campaigns as they provide you with two significant benefits. Your potential customer will develop more of a trusted relationship with your business because of the free, and helpful content you provide, and you will also be able to collect data through this process.   For example, in order to access your lead magnet, the user will have to fill out a form with their email address. Their email address can then be transferred into your database and all collected email addresses can be used to nurture leads, and turn them into customers. This can be done through targeted and automated email campaigns. 

Learn more about creating the ideal lead magnet for your business, here. 

• Create Referral Programs 

Referral programs are an effective way to gain new leads. This is because potential leads trust their friends and peers more than they would trust what a business has to say about itself. A personal recommendation is always a winner.

Referral programs can include an incentive for your customer, giving them a reason to refer their peers to you. This could be a discount code, a free month of service, or a product giveaway. 

What makes up a successful referral program?

• Provide a variety of ways for customers to refer your services to potential leads. This can be done in a variety of ways including through social media and email. Or you can generate a unique referral link that they can copy and share with their friends and peers. 
• Make it a requirement that the referred party has to purchase a product or service before the benefit is made available to the customer who did the referring. 

Learn more about creating a successful referral program for B2B lead generation, here. 

• Create an AdWords Campaign

Google AdWords is a powerful way to connect with leads. This intent-based platform is designed to present your ads to people who are actively searching for what it is you are offering. Being able to capture the attention of a user who is in the process of searching for your service or product is hugely valuable and can result in a rise in sales. 

SEO as mentioned above, has the ability to drive your website to the top of search engine results  - but this does take some time. AdWords is a quick way to get to the top of the ranks, but does come at a cost. SEO is probably a greater investment but does not offer such instant results.  AdWords relies heavily on keyword targeting in order for it to be successful.

You can learn more about AdWords and running an AdWords campaign, here. 

• LinkedIn for B2B Sales Lead Generation

As of 2020 and according to LinkedIn’s Marketers Guide, 94% of B2B marketers are actively using the platform for content distribution. As stated previously, content distribution is one of the most vital parts of any lead generation campaign. Therefore, LinkedIn should never be ignored as a means of content distribution for your B2B sales lead generation campaign. 

The reason LinkedIn is perfect for B2B sales lead generation is because LinkedIn users are on the site specifically for professional content. They use the platform to actively find important and helpful information to assist them in their business endeavors, and if your business is able to provide them with the content they are searching for, they become easier to convert into leads and ultimately, paying customers.

However, it is important to have a clear strategy in place when using LinkedIn for sales lead generation. In our blog Sales Lead Generation Using LinkedIn, we provide insight into how you can generate leads and build a strong brand identity on the social media platform.  

In Conclusion:

B2B lead generation is vital if you are looking to grow your business but many mistakes can be made along the way if you fail to create a customer-centric strategy.  There are a number of different lead generation tools that you can use to create a successful campaign in-house, but it also makes sense to engage with B2B lead generation specialists who have the expertise and experience to help.

Does your business need a regular flow of qualified sales leads?  We can help. 

Nexa has been generating highly qualified sales leads for businesses of all types for almost a decade. We have both the experience and track record to help businesses in all industries generate highly qualified sales leads.

Contact us and begin building your B2B sales lead generation campaign.