Key Ideas To Generate High Quality Leads And Sales

“B2B lead generation can be easy.”

You said that no one has ever said it, right?

It’s not easy to increase sales by using B2B lead generation strategies.

Swimming without your hands and feet is difficult. It’s like being asked to solve Diophantine Equations, even though you have barely finished Algebra. It is not easy to find B2B sales leads.

You’ll need to navigate a maze of smart buyers and fight hordes of hungry competitors. But you also have to deal with tons of misinformation such as:

There is conflicting research on the best way to generate B2B leads.

Giant corporations have overhyped their case studies. They could tweet a picture of their lunch to increase sales.

Experts are unanimous in their belief that lead generation strategies and tactics are the best ways to generate B2B sales leads. The ugly truth is:

Your approach must be tailored to your organization, industry, product/service, audience, and location.

This often means that you have to ignore your self-deprecating horns and try new ways to generate leads that work for you.

More leads equal more sales. To drive growth, you need more leads.

Are you ready to discover the best B2B lead generation strategies that will work for your business? Let’s start with the basics.

What is B2B Lead Generation?

B2B is shorthand for business-to-business (or business-to-business) lead generation. This refers to businesses that primarily sell products or services to other businesses.

One step is all that is required to make a journey of 1,000 miles. In a typical sales funnel, the B2B lead generator is that one step.

Lead generation involves gathering information about potential customers, such as name and email address, company name, and job title, and then using that information to target them through sales pitches or ad campaign targeting.

B2B is different from business-to-consumer lead generation (B2C), where products and/or services are sold directly to consumers.

B2C and B2B companies also find leads in other places. This means that if you try to find potential customers using the same strategies used by a B2C company, you will fail.

Hubspot identifies that SEO (14%), Email Marketing (13%), and Social Media (12%) are the top three lead sources for B2B businesses.

B2C however, receives more leads via traditional advertising, social media, and email.

It doesn’t matter where leads are coming from, the nurturing process between B2B & B2C is quite different. Marketers need to get off to the right start.

The B2B lead generation process

This is only one aspect of the process.

A strong lead generation process is essential if you want to increase sales. These processes align sales and marketing teams and provide reps with a framework they can follow.

B2B Lead Generation is a process that sales/marketing teams use to convert prospects into paying customers. What are these steps?

Step 1: Locate B2B sales leads

Finding contact information for potential buyers is the first step in any B2B lead generation strategy. We’re here to help you.

Contact information can be sourced internally, created by a third-party “lead generation” company, or purchased from a lead database (not recommended for B2B lead generation).

Step 2: Reaching out and contacting leads

Reps are equipped with a list of high-quality leads and can reach them via cold outreach or social media or by replying directly to inquiries.

Step 3: Prospecting high-quality leads and qualifying them

Reps can measure the likelihood of leads buying while interacting with them.

This is done by asking them to gauge where the stage leaders are during the purchasing process. These stages include:

1. Research and awareness: Customers are aware of the problem or solution they require, and they start to research it.

This is the stage where they will consume whitepapers, blogs, case studies, and other content.

2. Take into account: The lead is familiar with the product/service they require. Before they start to research and “open up” to potential vendors, they will detail their needs.

3. Decision: After narrowing down the vendors most suitable to their needs, the buyer will meet with multiple people and consult with other decision-makers before finalizing a purchase.

Reps can either initiate nurturing campaigns depending on the stage of a lead or work to get them to book a demo or call.

Step 4: Make a sale by closing leads

Success! Success! After many meetings with various vendors, the prospect chooses you and the deal is closed. The prospect will be onboarded to customer success. Woot!

Strategies for B2B lead generation that work

You can increase sales by tailoring your strategy to your industry, product, and buyer.

I cannot give you one or two B2B lead-generation strategies and call it a night.

Sales and marketing teams need to be open to learning, trying new things, and implementing them to increase B2B sales leads. You will need to test multiple strategies until you discover what works.

Are you ready to try something different? These are 19 B2B lead generation techniques that you can try.

1. Test key pages with A/B testing

WallMonkeys had thousands of people browsing their site looking for office wallpapers. WallMonkeys used heat maps to determine where their visitors’ eyes were first landing on their website. The WallMonkey team was confident they could increase their B2B sales leads after receiving the results.

They split-tested a new background and search bar and increased conversions by 550%. It’s not bad at all.

received 34 percent more sign-ups when WorkZone, a project management tool, changed its testimonial bar to white.

Is it possible to increase conversions by changing the landing page image?

Can a redesign of the homepage convert more visitors to leads?

Split testing is the best way to find out.

2. To (continuously) generate leads for B2B sales, use epic content campaigns

Snack Nation, a snack supplier to offices, had less than 100 monthly searches of its target keyword. This made it difficult for the company to increase its B2B sales leads via its SEO efforts.

They created an amazing post about “employee wellbeing” to reach a wider audience and target their ideal buyers.

They took extra care when creating the post to make sure it was “epic enough” to generate leads.

Results from the “employee wellbeing” post:

Snack Nation surpassed competitors with 121 ideas for “employee wellbeing”.
These included many contributions from industry experts.
They also used an aggressive outreach strategy to get influencers to share their posts.

This post helped SnackNation reach the #1 spot on Google for their keyword.

This post, despite being more than three years old, generates tons of traffic and leads.

Snack Nation’s story demonstrates that evergreen content can lead to evergreen B2B lead generation.

If you can create content that is superior to your competitors, then do it.

3. Social proof can help you win the trust of your buyers

Social proof is an important part of many B2B lead generation strategies.

Buyers may question the claims you make about your product/service. They will look for social proof to make an informed buying decision.

It is easier to increase trust and sales if you have more social proof.

You can add social proof to your landing pages, homepage, and reviews via social media. Also, consider creating case studies and collecting positive reviews on G2Crowd. This is a great way to build trust.

4. Create a tool for B2B sales leads

HubSpot provides a free CRM.

Crazy Egg offers a free Heatmap tool.

Ubersuggest provides free SEO analytics reports.

Do you see a pattern?

A free tool is one of the most effective B2B lead generation strategies for SaaS companies and tech companies.

A free tool is a great way to generate leads B2B because:

It allows them to “try before buying.”
This allows you to create a solid opt-in offer that will attract high-quality leads to your sales funnel.

5. To generate more leads for B2B sales, use Quora Q&As

It is not a new idea to use content to answer questions and educate buyers.

B2B marketers are faced with the following challenge:

Selling content to buyers
Find out the questions buyers are asking.

Quora can solve both of these problems.

Quora, a social Q&A website, is a great platform for B2B lead generation.

Quora is a great place to find buyers. Answer their questions and link back to your content.

6. Kobe Digital can be used to increase B2B social selling

AlertOps had difficulty identifying the company that was visiting its website. AlertOps knew that warm leads were leaving their website without providing contact information.

Kobe Digital was integrated into their sales process, allowing them to identify the companies that visited their website — even if they didn’t fill out a form or download a lead- magnet.

They increased their sales demo rates by 700% in a matter of months. They were even granted a demo with a Fortune 500 company.

Nathan Rofkahr (Director of Growth at AlertOps) says that Kobe Digital plays an important role in our [sales] system to schedule demo calls and qualify sales leads.

Pair Kobe Digital and LinkedIn Sales Navigator to increase your social selling.

Start following or targeting cold visitors on LinkedIn to personalize your approach.

Kobe Digital will notify you if they return to your site.

7. Promote and publish more case studies

B2B buyers are extremely analytical and risk-averse. They often require the approval of several ROI-minded decision-makers before purchasing.

Case studies are a form of sales enablement content that can be used in the middle to end stages of lead generation, as many buyers have accepted.

Do not let case studies languish on your website. Promote them shamelessly to boost your credibility.

8. To generate sales from smart buyers, publish original research

High-Speed Training saw a huge ROI when they published an in-depth report to buyers in the hospitality sector.

The report not only positioned them as the leader of their field but also increased their visibility and earned them coverage by 38 media outlets.

On average, B2B buyers encounter 13 content pieces before purchasing. Information on the vendor’s website, detailed reports, and third-party reviews are all part of the content.

This reverence for data can be used to transform your inbound lead generation. How?

Be a source of industry-related trends and information. You will be a leader in your industry if you think strategically.

Be a respected authority within your industry.
Strong SEO backlinks are essential for PR coverage.
Your potential leads will be happy if you offer value.

9. Landing page tweaks can generate quick wins

Everyone loves low-hanging, ripe fruit.

Your landing pages are the best way to increase B2B sales. They can be the most transformative point in the buyer journey.

Follow these steps to get quick B2B leads for your landing page:

Social proof can back up your copy
Your call-to-action copy (CTA) should be more relevant.
To grab buyers’ attention, upgrade your headline
To educate and overcome objections, you can use the live chat function on your page.

10. Dynamic web pages allow you to personalize your website

Personalization of websites is no longer an option in B2B lead generation strategies. It is a requirement.

Use dynamic pages to personalize your website’s buying experience and content that adapts to the needs of your visitors.

Name
Localization
Industry
Company

ABM initiatives add a personal touch to the buyer’s journey, creating a deeply personal experience.

11. Make hard-hitting incentives and lead magnets

Lead magnets are the key to your B2B lead generation butter.

Richard Wood, Managing Director of Six and Flow describes it as: “A lead magnet can be anything you can offer prospects that has enough perceived value to exchange for their email address. To create an effective lead magnet, you must first focus on your buyer personas. Also, identify a problem they are facing and address it.

However, most companies make the mistake of focusing on lead magnets. They provide surface-level content that is already on a typical blog post. It’s not “magnetic”, is it?

Avoid making the same mistakes.

If you aren’t sure it is valuable, drop the high-level content. Instead, share your real-world experience using the format:

In-depth guides
Comprehensive how-tos
Case studies in detail
Resource libraries
Workbooks and checklists
Templates

12. With in-depth YouTube videos, cater to visual B2B audiences

Here are two reasons to use videos in your lead generation campaigns if you don’t already.

Ninety percent agree that video is the best method to repurpose B2B Content.
YouTube is also the 2nd-largest search engine.

It’s both simple and attractive to do the math:

Blockbuster videos are not necessary. It’s possible to convert your existing content into informative videos which generate leads.

A guide for selling videos was written by us. This prompted the panel discussion. Who doesn’t love a good theme?

We are all attracted to video as a way to connect with our buyers. We win more business when we do that.

13. Try out creative outreach

Ash Ambirge was a copywriter for The Middle Finger Project. She received a 100% response rate from mailing physical roofing tiles to her prospects.

To get responses from his leads, sales rep Jeremy Leveille rapped a song for B2B in his emails.

Your competitors are using boring email scripts and you can generate B2B leads by adding some creativity to your outreach.

14. LinkedIn leads with high value

LinkedIn is the best place to go for high-value, big-deal B2B lead generation. Advertise on the platform

Templafy generated 25 qualified marketing leads in a week, with a 475 percent ROI.
Reed Exhibitions generated 20% of all revenue from its SNSR Risk and Security Expo.
The mismatch has increased its supplier base 10x to support its engineering materials platform.

Although there is much competition and the cost-per-click on other platforms is higher, this is not a disadvantage. The tradeoff is the ability to hyper-target your audience.

If you are going to post on LinkedIn, be sure to offer:

Premium B2B products and services. A higher lifetime value (LTV), usually allows you to spend a larger budget on LinkedIn
Unique, high-level education. LinkedIn members are skilled and career-oriented. Your ads will return more if you offer content that helps them.

15. Try out other social media platforms

Robin, a platform for workplaces, took a chance by directing their lead generation to platforms where B2B leads can be harder to find. It paid off.

They posted user-generated content to Instagram and Pinterest, instead of increasing their traditional channels like Twitter or LinkedIn.

It paid off, to Robin’s delight. The company saw a 50% increase in web traffic and received 20% more leads.

Robin’s story shows that even though you are B2B, it doesn’t mean that you can’t make sales through B2C social media channels.

Do not be afraid to try new platforms such as TikTok and Clubhouse. You might find the diamond in the rough if you get there first.

16. With guest posts, you can reach a larger B2B lead generation network

Hubspot Inbound lead generation professionals still use guest posting to increase their B2B sales.

It is a well-known strategy that works, but it is often misunderstood.

A survey conducted by Aira found that 42 percent of digital marketers polled used guest posting.

Guest posting, despite its controversial history, is still the best link-building strategy SEOs recommends.

Guest posting can be a great way to improve your SEO and make you an authority to new B2B leads.

17. Mobile marketing is a new way to reach B2B buyers

Optimizing for mobile is an important part of a B2B lead generation strategy. Mobile traffic continues to grow.

According to DemandGenReport

91% of B2B buyer search results are made on mobile devices.
74% of B2B buyers conduct research online on half of their purchases before they make a purchase.

The study also revealed that B2B marketers who have optimized for mobile experience “reduced buying time” and “higher customer loyalty”.

It takes only seconds to verify your website’s compatibility on mobile devices. There’s no reason not to be mobile-friendly.

18. To get more qualified leads, optimize for long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are three words or more in length and are very specific. It is also very specific and often gets very little search volume.

Target the right, long-tail keyword and you can trade search volume for very high purchase intent which increases sales with very little SEO effort.

19. You can run campaigns based on competitor keywords

One of your strategies if you are Nike is to look at what goes on behind the scenes at Adidas. Below is an overview of adidas.com/us. However, Nike might also be interested in clicking on their organic and paid keywords.

It’s not a big deal if your competitors are clamoring for backlinks from certain sites or prefer optimizing a specific group of keywords.

This means that they have found keywords that are highly effective in generating leads.

You can use SEO research tools such as Ahrefs or SEMrush to target the same keywords and sites to drive more sales-ready traffic.

A quick tip: Before spending time optimizing for a keyword, you can run a small paid ads campaign and see if it attracts and converts the ideal B2B leads.

Lead generation tools for B2B

Sales reps will tell you that the more time you spend selling, the more you’ll sell. We know this shocking truth.

Reps often find themselves immersed in manual tasks that are increasingly tedious and time-consuming, which is a problem.

Research shows that only a third of them spend their day making sales.

Their work hours are consumed by emails, prospecting leads, and data entry.

Reps can automate manual tasks with the right B2B lead-generation tool and spend more time closing deals.

There are many sales tools available, but these are the essentials that will help you boost your B2B lead generation.

Lead generation tool #1 Kobe Digital

Kobe Digital lets you see which companies visit your site, even though they don’t interact with it or contact you.

The tracking information is enhanced with contact information from employees of the visiting company. With the help of behind-the-scenes insight, you can reach out to buyers, launch social selling campaigns or follow up on potential customers during the research phase.

#2: Hubspot Sales Hub

Sales Hub was designed to increase salesforce productivity. It includes email templates, follow-up automation, scheduling, and automated data entry.

Lead generation tool #3 – Reply.io

Reply.io makes it easy to find prospects’ emails on LinkedIn within a matter of seconds. Automate LinkedIn email searches, personal outreach, calls, tasks, and more.

#4: Hunter.io

Hunter.io allows you to search for emails by entering the name of a lead and their company. You can also view all email addresses at a company. Free for the first 100 email searches

Lead generation instrument #5: Bombora

Bombora analyzes the content consumption of millions of companies to reveal what topics your leads are looking for.

It is a powerful tool for lead generation that will help you capture B2B leads in the research phase.

I will repeat: This is a basic list that will help increase your B2B leads regardless of what B2B lead generation strategies or tactics you employ. For more information, see this lead-generation tools post.

Find out what works for you.

It’s difficult to generate B2B leads or increase sales, but it is possible.

It is easy to become entangled in the maze of lead-generation strategies and tactics. It’s easy to get lost in the web of lead generation strategies and tactics.

Which is the best B2B lead generation strategy for you?

This tactic could increase sales.

What is the best way to get the best results?

My advice?

Stop.

It doesn’t work to increase your lead generation results by overthinking and optimizing.

Instead, talk to your team and agree on some strategies and tactics. Then, get busy taking action.

Find out what works and discard the rest. This will increase sales and reduce stress.

Instead, learn:

The place where your buyers hang out.

They know who to turn to for help.

They make purchasing decisions.

Their biggest concerns.

This information will allow you to pinpoint the B2B lead generation strategies that work best for you and your customers.