How To Generate More B2B Leads

Lead generation is the bread and butter of all B2B companies, so generating more B2B leads should be at the top of your list of priorities. 

However, it’s completely fine if you’re stumped about how to do it. In fact, you’re not the only one. Generating new leads is getting progressively harder each year since customer expectations have gone through the roof.

With that said, some techniques are perfect for attracting new B2B leads, here are some of our favorites.

Let’s get going!

B2B Lead Generation Explained

The main goal of lead generation is attracting new customers and leads through different methods. A major part of this process is collecting contact information of potential customers so your sales team can qualify them and introduce them into your sales funnel. 

Once you’ve got a healthy amount of qualified leads your trusty sales reps can become nurturing the leads, which helps turn them into paying customers.

There are multiple ways to generate B2B leads and they mostly fall into two categories:

1. Outbound marketing

2. Inbound marketing

Outbound Marketing Techniques

Outbound techniques are all about contacting and reaching out to prospects you recognize as great potential customers. The challenge here is you’ll be trying to convert individuals that haven’t yet expressed any interest in your offering.

Here are some of the best techniques for reaching those B2B leads:

1. Cold emails

Cold calls are dead, but cold emails are still alive and kicking. They’re also vital to the process of lead generation and they are usually the first contact established with prospects.

However, not all emails are created the same. The quality of your emails matters and you definitely have to avoid writing spam.

When putting together an email, you need to come up with an attention-grabbing subject line that has the potential to intrigue your prospect. Next, introduce yourself, your company and explain why you’re reaching out.

A great way to come up with an engaging concept for an email is to ask questions about the challenges the company is facing, which you can swiftly solve with what you’re offering. Give them actionable insights and mention real-life examples of other companies you successfully helped.

Finally, end the email with a call to action to increase your chances of capturing the lead.

With the technicalities out of the way, what is the best method of sending out cold emails? After all, you’re not planning on sending them out manually?

You could try LeadArm, a tool that allows you to automate the entire process. You can start by identifying companies by location and industry, enter your email and just hit send. You can also import your own contact lists if you’re not sure if you want to discover leads automatically, whatever rocks your boat.

2. Paid ads

Another integral strategy you should consider if you want to increase your B2B leads is paid advertising. Our advice here is to diversify and divide your budget across different social media platforms and paid search channels.

Here is where things get a bit complicated as nothing is set in stone. A channel that works for another company might not work for you.

A great way to solve this is to put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. What publications do they read? Are they on Facebook or LinkedIn? Where are you most likely to pique their interest?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you can adjust your budgets accordingly and receive some valuable clicks.

3. Social media

Social media sites aren’t just glorified ad platforms, you can use them to engage directly with valuable prospects and generate some B2B leads in the process. Naturally, this method isn’t as fast as the others, but what it lacks in speed it makes up for in its effectiveness.

You can start by discovering which groups decision-makers are a part of. Join the same groups and try to build rapport with the members by becoming an active participant in discussions, asking questions, sharing articles, etc. 

After you build rapport with some of the members, you can start a conversation that might help you snag a high-value lead.

4. Attending industry events

Being present at industry events is a great opportunity to get introduced to relevant prospects and to engage them in person. After all, these B2B leads will usually be highly-qualified so you shouldn’t miss this opportunity to fill out your lead lists.

Research your options, while you could simply attend, you could also find a way to speak at these events or even host your own booth.

5. Ask for referrals

If you’ve got customers you have a good relationship with, you can ask them to refer you to tiger colleagues. Naturally, this is a way to extend your network and boost social proof. After all, when someone you trust recommends something, you tend to take the recommendation more seriously.

For instance, your trusted customer can tell their colleagues just how amazing your offering is and how it helped them solve some of their pain points.

Inbound Marketing Techniques

In contrast to outbound strategies, inbound marketing is about attracting leads and funneling them to your website or a landing page. Your goal is to get them to fill out your lead form. 

Here are some essential strategies:

1. SEO

Search engine optimization is the process of increasing the organic traffic to your website through search engine queries. In other words, you’re attracting B2B leads while they’re looking for information. 

The people you attract organically are usually there for a reason which means you have an opportunity to provide them with value and inspire them to take action. 

Keep in mind that SEO is a long-term strategy so you shouldn’t expect instant results. 

2. Content marketing

By publishing valuable content such as videos, blog posts, ebooks, and such, you can attract B2B leads and help them solve common challenges and problems. It’s also your opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and position your company as a valuable resource in the industry.

The content itself is seldom promotional, it’s simply there to provide value for potential customers.

Along with SEO, it’s the best way to attract B2B leads organically. 

There are many types of content, but for B2B leads, what works best is gated content. For instance, you could offer a free ebook that your audience can access after filling out a lead form. This is a win-win scenario for both sides. You get their contact information and they get valuable content. 

3. Email marketing

Once you’ve got some contact details under your belt, you can use them in your email marketing strategy. You can leverage this strategy to nudge the leads in the right direction and get them to finally engage with you. 

For instance, you could send them your blog posts, send announcements, etc. The sky's the limit as all of your emailing efforts will contribute to B2B lead nurturing.

Keep in mind, just as with cold emails, the content here matters too. Include a clear CTA, keep the emails short and to the point, and don’t forget to segment your emailing list to have an easier time with personalization.

The Tried and True Strategies

Generating B2B leads is not that hard if you know what you’re doing. While the process can get overwhelming sometimes, there are many options at your disposal. The best thing is, they all work and their effects are cumulative. 

All of these tried and true strategies will work well in tandem and by combining both outbound and inbound methods, you’ll quickly see the number of your B2B leads skyrocket.