Every business thrives on sales, and the sales wing of every business is dependent on lead generation. However, is it easy to find qualified leads and nurture them so they reach the top of the sales funnel? No! In fact, in the B2B industry, it’s nearly impossible to nail down a lead generation formula that works for all industry verticals. Did you know that only 27% of B2B leads are sales-ready when they are first generated?
What about the other 73%? Scouring databases and scrambling on the web for the right B2B sales leads can feel like an uphill battle, but with the right strategy, B2B lead generation can be easy. Whether you are a seasoned marketer, or just beginning your journey in the world of B2B sales leads, understanding effective lead generation can make or break your business growth. So, without further ado, let’s dive into what the B2B lead generation process is all about, how the strategies actually work, and what are the techniques to stay ahead amidst the fierce competition.
What is B2B Lead Generation?
At its core, B2B lead generation is all about identifying and attracting businesses that can potentially invest in your products or services. B2B lead generation plays a massive role in any sales funnel because the process focuses on connecting with decision-makers in other businesses rather than individual consumers, unlike B2C advertising.
Although the definition seems pretty straightforward, generating B2B sales leads isn’t as simple as casting a wide net and hoping for the best. It’s about delivering personalized, relevant content that nurtures potential buyers through their journey, eventually leading to a purchase decision.
Why is B2B Lead Generation Important?
Effective B2B lead generation can enable your sales team to focus on prospects that are already primed to make a decision. By doing so, and implementing top-of-the-line B2B lead gen principles, enterprises can increase the efficiency and success rate of their overall sales efforts and bolster their ROI, and this isn’t just a statement or speculation; it’s a fact. According to HubSpot, companies that ace their lead nurturing game can generate about 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower costs. Now isn’t that something worth your time and effort?
The B2B Lead Generation Process
Before you get started with B2B lead generation, here’s a quick breakdown of the steps:
- Identifying Your Target Audience: Every B2B lead gen strategy focuses on understanding who your ideal business customers are. Try considering factors like your company size, industry, and the user intent of key decision-makers to narrow down your audience.
- Attracting Leads: Use marketing techniques like content marketing, a structured B2B SEO strategy, and email campaigns to attract potential leads because the goal in this stage is to engage and draw your potential leads into your sales funnel.
- Capturing Leads: Once your marketing or sales team has piqued a lead’s interest, the next step involves jotting down their buyer profile. You can do this via forms, landing pages, or gated content that your audience can willingly fill out.
- Qualifying Leads: Here you need to segment your leads into Marketing-Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs). The reason behind doing this is to differentiate between those just browsing and those ready to make a purchasing decision.
- Nurturing Leads: Now comes the follow-up phase. Here you need to nurture the leads with valuable content and this will push your leads further down the sales funnel, hence transforming the MQLs and SQLs into final paying customers.
Proven Strategies for B2B Lead Generation Success
Searching for some proven strategies you can implement to generate qualified leads for your business? Here you go!
Content Marketing
Content marketing is by far the most effective B2B lead generation strategy. In fact, as per stats, in a world where 97% of people ignore cold calls, about 76% of marketers use content to generate leads because content marketing is effective like that. Businesses can provide valuable, educational, and relevant content to their audience to establish business authority in the field. They can work on content types including SEO-optimized blog posts, e-books and whitepapers, webinars and video content, and even social media carousels for acting as their lead magnet.
Leverage the Power of LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a goldmine for B2B sales leads. Its professional network allows you to target specific industries, job titles, and companies. Did you know that LinkedIn accounts for 80% of B2B leads generated through social media? To improve your B2B reach through LinkedIn, you can use sponsored content or lead gen forms to capture leads directly, share thought leadership content directly on your feed, or reach out to industry leaders with personalized messages.
Paid Advertising with a B2B Focus
While B2C advertising typically focuses on consumers, paid advertising for B2B purposes requires a more targeted approach. Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads offer the ability to target specific demographics and industries. One powerful tactic is account-based marketing (ABM), which targets ads directly to key accounts that matter most to your business
Use Email Marketing to Nurture Leads
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to nurture B2B leads because it facilitates personalized and targeted communication. To solidify your B2B lead generation strategy with email marketing, you can shoot welcome emails to start every business relationship on the right foot use drip campaigns to send targeted content over time, and segment leads into MQLs and SQLs to tailored brand messages according to every lead’s specific stage in the buying process.
Conclusion
Businesses struggle with many challenges in devising a foolproof B2B lead generation strategy. While some businesses struggle with long sales cycles, others face challenges with personalization. As per stats, about three-quarters or 74.6% of B2B sales cycles take at least 4 months to close, and around half, or 46.4% take over 7 months.
Another challenge is ensuring the quality of your leads. Not all leads are ready to buy, and focusing on the wrong ones can waste valuable time. To avert this issue, businesses can maintain a rigorous lead qualification and nurturing process, so they can ensure that all MQLs can become SQLs. Want to shorten the lead cycle and implement marketing automation tools that can streamline and enhance your B2B lead generation process? Reach out to the professionals and get better results in your B2B lead generation campaign.
About The Author: Lovetto Nazareth
Lovetto Nazareth, owner of Prism Digital, brings over two decades of experience in advertising and digital marketing. Renowned for managing countless successful campaigns, he has generated millions in new leads. An avid adventure sports enthusiast and singer-songwriter, follow his diverse pursuits on social media @LovettoNazareth.
