B2B Lead generation is a process through which you identify ideal customers for a service or product and you attract them so they buy. This is an essential part of B2B marketing and sales. However, this does not mean you can use any strategy and expect great results.
Let’s go through everything that you should know about B2B lead generation and highlight the most effective strategies you have to consider.
Table of Contents
B2B Lead Generation Importance
B2B lead generation is very important for business success. It is used by 2 important departments in a company:
- The sales department
- The marketing department
To put it as simple as possible, these two departments can take advantage of email hunter software and several strategies to find and contact leads.
As an example, the Snovio Email Finder locates thousands of leads based on many different filters and with the use of several methods. You then take the leads and contact your target audience. This is the classic way to do it and one of the most effective methods available. However, there are also other strategies you can use.
Content Marketing
Just like consumers, all businesses want to be informed before buying something. This is why content marketing is much more effective for B2B lead generation than what many think.
Any business can use tools like SEMRush in order to identify very good keywords to then create content that would draw in B2B clients.
Content marketing is preferred to running ads because the long-term ROI gained is much higher. Also, the content you create remains online and keeps getting leads. With ads, your leads stop coming in as soon as you stop buying ads.
LinkedIn is very effective for B2B lead generation because it is a professional network. It is filled with industry professionals from entry-level staff to CEOs.
The big advantage of using LinkedIn to find and contact leads is that you gain access to highly specific targeting criteria. It is very easy to reach the company’s decision-makers. You can even combine your strategy with content marketing elements. For instance, you can offer free eBooks to the leads you identify.
Google Ads
If your budget allows it, running Google Ads can be very effective at generating new leads. However, when you create ads that focus on service or product benefits and how the buyer benefits from what is offered, conversion rates can be very high.
As already highlighted, the big disadvantage, in this case, is that when the ads are not active, leads do not come in. It is thus a very good idea to focus on both long-term strategies, like content marketing, and short-term strategies, like using Google Ads.
Extra Option:
If you do not like Google Ads or you are unfamiliar with it, the business can also use Facebook ads to create lead campaigns. While it is more difficult to reach the decision-makers and Facebook is inferior to LinkedIn from this point of view, the campaign can still be very effective.
Live Chat
There are many different automated outreach platforms you can use but one option that is rarely considered is live chat technology. Customer service representatives can deliver numerous messages every single month. You can find them with something like the already-mentioned Snovio Email Finder. Then, you would direct people to a landing page that has a live chat included.
The reason why live chat is effective is that business owners and important people get to interact with actual people. They can ask any question and get answers in real-time. This makes it so much easier to convert as you convince businesses to make purchases.
Live Video
As technology evolves, it becomes simpler and simpler to broadcast live video on the internet. You can thus easily take advantage of live video as a way to generate B2B leads.
Right now, around 87% of businesses are using video content in their marketing campaigns. You can take everything one step further by integrating live video in campaigns.
The trick with using live video is to have a well-prepared strategy when it comes to what will be presented. Obviously, you need to also promote the date of the video so that interested decision-makers would know when to join.
FOMO
Using FOMO in B2B lead generation campaigns is very effective because of the fact that you create scarcity. When you do this, your conversion rate is instantly increased.
People are wired so that they want something that they cannot have. As a result, creating scarcity works since it makes people think that they will not get the offer if the time runs out. However, this does not mean you can put a countdown timer on a page and expect results. False offers are very easy to spot.
The best way to use FOMO is to do it sparingly. Preferably, it should be used only when an actual campaign is created and it is a time-sensitive offer that you promote. For instance, when you organize a webinar, you can restrict the number of participants. As the webinar date comes close, you can use scarcity to convince people to join.
Final Thoughts
B2B lead generation revolves around data and how you use it. This is why all the strategies above are very effective. They take into account what corporate buyers want and need. However, you cannot rely on strategies developed by others.
In order to get very good results with a B2B lead generation campaign, you need to provide realistic offers and real quality. Never try to trick customers. Use tools to research as much information as possible about your target audience and if you decide to contact them directly, like through the Snovio Email Finder option, you need to keep things short and to the point.
On the whole, B2B lead generation is very similar to B2C lead generation. The only real difference is that your target audience is made out of people that have a lot more knowledge. This is why your campaigns have to be smarter and rely on good information.
