In today’s rapidly changing global B2B marketing landscape, lead generation is critical. In business to business (B2B) marketing, you have to generate a regular flow of leads to gain revenue. Any lapse in lead generation affects revenue streams and can hurt your company’s bottom line.
The prominent role of lead generation in B2B marketing has led to increased spending. 53% of marketers say they spend at least half of their budgets on lead generation. Another study shows that companies that nurture leads generate 50% more sales. A recent report says B2B lead generation is the biggest challenge for 61% of marketers surveyed. There are many lead generation tactics available, and new tactics come into play every year. It is essential to find the best channels to market your products and services in ways your customers want to engage with you.
This post explores types of lead generation that you can leverage for your B2B lead generation efforts.
Inbound Vs. Outbound Lead Generation
Business to business marketing continues to evolve with new techniques and approaches emerging. Lead generation falls into two categories:
Outbound lead generation
Outbound marketing involves a company initiating the conversation and sending its message out to an audience. Examples of outbound marketing include more traditional marketing and advertising forms such as TV and radio ads, print advertisements, tradeshows, cold calling, and email.
Through outbound lead generation, you push your message out, hoping that you’ll catch the attention of potential customers. You don’t first assess the intent of the target audience, and this has led to the use of the term ‘interruptive marketing.”
Outbound techniques are fast to deploy, and this made them popular for targeting the mass market. You don’t wait for the leads to opt-in to any advertising campaigns you have. Instead, you proactively reach out whenever you think there might be interested customers.
Top 66 B2B Lead Gen Tactics for Businesses
Inbound Lead Generation
The advent of internet technology and the shift to digital has revolutionized business marketing. Your B2B customer is not the same as the one from two decades ago. Today, you have more Millennials in charge of businesses, and these are your target customers. More importantly, your target audience is more aware of their market, products, services, and much more.
In this rapidly evolving marketing environment, you have to adapt your strategy fast or lose out of the market. This approach contrasts with outbound lead generation in that marketers work to bring leads in instead of going out after them. Here, leads have more say on how they interact with your business, and they do so on their accord.
The best inbound lead generation is targeted. Targeting is the process of narrowing down your ideal customer. As a marketer, your role is to encourage these prospective clients to continue interacting with your business throughout the sales pipeline until they make a purchase and beyond.
Inbound techniques entail creating content and strategies to attract visitors to your site and turning them into leads and eventually into long-term customers. This method works by making your business more discoverable online through search engine optimization (SEO), social media campaigns, targeted email marketing, and other techniques.
This B2B lead generation method is more about providing value and assistance to the potential customer rather than selling your brand, products, or services.
Types of Lead Generation
Most marketers mix inbound and outbound lead gen tactics for the best marketing outcomes. Below are some of the different types of lead generation you can use to gain leads.
Content Marketing
Content is king in digital marketing, and it can revolutionize your lead generation efforts. You have the opportunity to create content that fits all stages of the sales funnel. You can break down the lead generation process into three stages: top of funnel, middle of funnel, and bottom of funnel.
Through each stage, you have different types of content to help you achieve your objectives. Here are some examples:
TOF: Use infographics, viral content, and interactive tools
MOF: Use blogs, videos, white papers, e-books, newsletters
BOF: Use CTAs that offer consultations, quotes, trials, demos, or purchase promotions.
Email Marketing
Email marketing remains one of the most powerful tools in B2B marketing. You can deploy it for effective lead generation by segmenting your audience and offering personalized email newsletters and content, with triggered email correspondence based on their engagement.
There are close to 4.9 billion email users, and research shows 73% of Millennials prefer email communication from businesses. Email is one lead generation technique you cannot afford to leave out of your B2B campaigns.
Search Marketing
Most internet interactions start with a search engine, and this fact highlights the importance of search marketing. Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical for lead generation because it increases the visibility of your B2B Company on search engine result pages (SERPs).
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising also plays a critical role in your lead generation as one of the most effective search marketing tactics. In the data-driven digital marketing landscape, you can target your leads with well-designed ads to boost conversion.
Social Media Marketing
Social media is the next frontier in B2B marketing and for many good reasons. It might not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of B2B lead generation, but it can rejuvenate your marketing efforts.
The best social media marketing strategy can help you capture qualified leads and draw them into your sales funnel. Businesses already following you on social media have some interest, and you can turn these leads into long-term customers.
Some tactics for lead generation through social media include hosting online events, building an engaging social media community, and running paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
You can also leverage the power of influencers, run contests on your platforms, and use social media networks for content distribution.
Final Thoughts
Without a stream of consistent leads, your B2B business faces a bleak future. You have to think beyond the comfort of traditional marketing techniques and embrace new ideas to get quality leads. From email marketing to social media marketing, there are many techniques you can deploy to rejuvenate your lead generation efforts.
