The Best B2B Lead Generation Strategies | 9 Tactics That Actually Work
Lead generation is vital for any business, but it can be especially challenging for companies with a B2B business model. That’s because finding potential customers can be harder when you’re selling products or services to other businesses rather than to individual consumers. There are still plenty of ways to generate leads for your B2B business. You just need to get creative and think outside the traditional lead generation strategies. We implement B2B lead generation strategies for various clients on a regular basis and can verify that there are quite a few that work effectively.
What is B2B lead generation?
If you’re new to B2B lead generation then here’s a quick overview. B2B marketing is the process of promoting products or services to other businesses or organizations. This can be done in a number of ways, such as through online advertising, email marketing, content marketing, and even events and tradeshows. This is different from B2C marketing where companies market their product or service to consumers or end-user-facing customers. An example of B2B marketing would be one business that sells software targeting and selling their software to other companies that can utilize the software. An example of B2C marketing would be a business such as a retail shop or e-commerce store that sells t-shirts, video games, massage services, or a wide variety of other products and services. So let’s dive into some of the best B2B lead generation strategies.
9 Lead Generation Strategies for B2B Businesses
1. Find where your audience spends time
One of the best ways to generate leads for your B2B business is to find out where your audience is spending their time. There are a variety of ways to do this but most of it comes down to testing. In digital marketing and advertising, we must test a variety of platforms and figure out where our audience is the most active. If you can figure this out, then you can spend more time focusing on those channels which will ultimately save you time and money in the long run.
2. Use LinkedIn for B2B lead generation
We absolutely love using LinkedIn advertising for B2B leads. People are on the platform or in the “work” mindset and typically respond professionally. In addition, advertising on LinkedIn comes with a ton of unique targeting features that other platforms don’t have access to. There are a few different types of LinkedIn ads you can use to reach your target audience.
Sponsored content is a great option if you want to get your content seen by a wider audience.  Sponsored InMail is an excellent way to send personal messages directly to your target audience’s inbox. Conversation ads are another option similar to InMail. Lead ads allow you to capture leads directly on the platform without ever having the user leave the platform, which can be super effective. And finally, dynamic ads are perfect for retargeting people who have already visited your website or shown interest in your products or services.
3. Attend events and trade shows
Another great way to generate leads for B2B businesses is by attending events and trade shows. This is a great way to get in front of potential customers who might not be familiar with your brand yet. You can also use these events as an opportunity to build relationships with other businesses in your industry. These relationships can be beneficial down the road when it comes to things like joint ventures or even referrals. Networking and word-of-mouth referrals are always the best leads.
4. 4. Create helpful content
One of the best ways to generate leads is to create helpful content that solves your target audience’s problems. If you can show potential customers that you understand their needs and can help them solve their problems, they’ll be more likely to do business with you. Creating helpful content isn’t always easy, but it’s worth the effort. Not only will it help you generate leads, but it will also build trust and credibility with your target audience. Couple this with a strong SEO or social media strategy and you’ll be good to go.
5. Utilize leaders in your business
If you have people on your team who are active on LinkedIn and willing to post, be sure to utilize them. If your company is doing something innovative or unique then urge people within the company to share content. Having others share your content is a great way to spread the word. The leads that you get this way are typically high-quality and a little more trusting.
6. Strategic Email Outreach
Last but not least we have strategic email outreach. We all get those cold emails but guess what, they actually work sometimes. If you can find a way to get quality leads and master your pitch then this can be a good strategy to leverage. Remember that one email won’t likely do it. You’ll need to find someone with experience doing cold outreach to be successful with this B2B marketing tactic.
7. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Writing educational content around topics in your industry can showcase that you’re a thought leader. Ranking at the top of Google for those topics can drive traffic to your website and lead to more customers. SEO can be viewed as more of a long-term strategy but it isn’t one to be ignored. Find someone who has experience implementing an SEO strategy for businesses with a B2B business model because if it’s implemented incorrectly it can do more harm than good. If you’re looking for help coming up with and executing an SEO strategy please be sure to contact us.
8. SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
Search engine marketing and be an effective way to get in front of a tough audience. It’s all about showing up at the right place at the right time and SEM can allow us to target specific keywords and phrases to ensure our B2B business is showing up first when our target customer is searching for a product or solution we offer. This can be an effective way to drive awareness around a company or brand that you can later leverage with the final strategy we’ll share below.
9. Retargeting
Last but not least we have retargeting. Retargeting is when we re-target users who have already visited our website. We can retarget users on a wide variety of platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Utilizing this strategy can help you win back business and close more deals. Intent and education are a couple of key factors when people make decisions to purchase something. If someone has already been to your website then they’ve already been educated about what you have the offer and they ended up there because they intended to (hopefully). All that’s left to do is bring them back and seal the deal.
Can businesses leverage B2B and B2C marketing strategies together?
Yes! In fact, many businesses do just that. A common lead generation strategy is to use a mix of both B2B and B2C marketing tactics to reach the widest audience possible. For example, a company that sells software as a service (SaaS) might use content marketing to attract leads from other businesses, but they could also use online advertising to target consumers who are interested in business-related products and services.
This is a great way to reach your target market and generate leads from both businesses and consumers. However, it’s important to note that B2B marketing requires a different approach than B2C marketing. That’s because businesses are usually more interested in the features and benefits of your product or service, rather than just the price. They’re also more likely to have a longer decision-making process, so it’s important to keep that in mind when you’re crafting your marketing messages.
B2B Lead Generation That Works
Try using some of the lead generation strategies mentioned above and see what works best for your business. We work with businesses every day implementing these strategies and can assure you that they work if implemented correctly. If you’d like us to train your team on how to generate B2B leads we invite you to learn more about our consulting services. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help plan and execute a B2B lead generation strategy for you, please feel free to contact us.