Top B2B Strategies for Effective Lead Generation

Someone once likened generating B2B leads in today’s market to swimming without hands or feet. You battle hordes of competitors to get your voice heard only to encounter buyers who are shrewder than you thought.

Tough. 

Yet B2B leads are necessary if you want to increase sales. How you go about it is what we are going to tackle here.

1. Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

B2B buyers are increasingly demanding exceptional buying experiences. 

This goes beyond providing products/services and into personalizing their entire experiences—which is where ABM gets exciting. Through ABM, you identify your ideal customers, hone into those accounts, and engage with them on a personal level.

To increase effectiveness, companies employ an account-based salesforce strategy where specific accounts are entrusted to individual sales reps. 

The sales reps practically own the accounts assigned to them and handle their progression. They curate the most appropriate content to boost engagement, offer timely solutions, and carry the customer through the journey to conversion.

Top benefits of using ABM include:

• Improved optimization. Being a data-driven strategy, ABM allows you to comprehend needs and preferences. You personalize content based on your target account’s industry and stage in the purchase journey, then send it through their preferred communication channel.
• Better reporting. If your marketers stammer whenever you ask for a progress report, then ABM is for you. Since this is a focused strategy where detailed plans are drawn at the beginning, your team has fewer KPIs and metrics that can be tracked easily.
• Facilitates higher engagement and retention. It’s easier and cheaper to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one. Through personalized content, you boost engagement and trust and forge stronger relationships with customers.
• Offers higher ROI. Research shows that ABM yields higher ROI compared with other strategies. And thanks to the data and metrics in place, you can measure the revenue generated through this strategy.

2. Cold Calling

A key question from buyers nowadays is, “Does this product/service make sense to my business?” Given how frugal consumers have become, you’ll need to give them a reason to buy and cold calling is the perfect strategy for this.

It affords you direct access to prospects, allowing you to sell the key benefits that will help reach their goals.

Best practices include:

• Research your leads. Accessing information about challenges, needs, and preferences in just about every industry is easier now. Most companies also have digital footprints or publicly available information that you can factor into your pitch.
• Personalize your script. People will tell you “use a script,” we say, “no one wants to feel sold to, so use the information you researched to personalize the script.” Set aside high-value customers and personalize the conversation you would like to have with them.
• Keep small talk on the low. Greet your prospect, then quickly move on to introduce yourself and state the reason for the call. Asking the prospect if they can spare a couple of minutes to talk sounds polite, but you’re simply giving them the ticket to get out of the call. They can say no and hang up.
• Measure ROI. It’s easy to make 50 to 100 calls every day, but how many of those are converting into tangible results? Consider the monthly call-to-conversion rate, how many calls translate to meetings, and the number of deals closed from your cold calling efforts.

3. Use Case Studies

A solid case study embodies businesses, problems, solutions as well as experiences that your target audiences find relatable. It introduces the problem a consumer faced, their objectives for a solution, the processes they used to find the solution, and the results of implementing those solutions.

Case studies validate the value behind your solutions in addressing consumer needs building credibility, generating interest among audiences, and encouraging engagement.

But how exactly can they help you?

• They are proof of success. A case study shows you know precisely what you’re talking about. It showcases successful solution implementation and the buyer’s satisfaction level.
• They outline your processes. Case studies go into detail about the specific processes you used to identify, suggest and implement solutions. They reveal your commitment to resolving your buyer’s problems from start to finish and the positive experiences you offer.
• They appeal to emotions. Effective case studies go beyond information sheets, ROI, and solutions. They weave a compelling story that appeals to potential buyers’ emotions and influences them to engage you. 

4. Email Marketing

Permission-based email marketing is an excellent way of connecting with audiences, boosting awareness, and raising a tribe of loyal customers. We say “permission-based” because buying email lists gives you access to people who haven’t voluntarily shared their personal information with you. 

Your emails will probably be labeled spam which is no way of generating leads.

Sure, it may take time to build a permission-based list, but it will be worth it since you’ll be speaking to willing and welcoming audiences. You can consider can outsourcing the process to professionals if your team is stretched or you don’t have the time to build the list yourself.

Here’s how you can secure leads correctly:

• Start by identifying your ideal audience. A detailed buyer persona will help you understand the motivations, pain points, and buying preferences of the customers you’re targeting.
• Create irresistible offers. Use what you’ve learned about your ideal customers to create resources that solve the problems they face. As they download these resources, they will exchange their info with you.
• Work with social media. Run ads on social platforms, promote your offers, and create interesting posts around your offerings. With billions of active social media users browsing these platforms, you will gain followers and generate email leads.
• Share valuable content. Signing up an email lead is just the beginning. You’ll need to create valuable content that piques their curiosity, engages, and nurtures them so they convert to customers.

5. Leverage Landing Pages

Opt-in pages provide a wealth of lead conversion opportunities. They are dedicated distraction-free pages for capturing prospective customers’ information. 

Best practices include:

• Conversion starts with the design. Go for an easy-to-follow layout with theme-specific colors, well-spaced texts, and visible CTAs.
• Write for conversion purposes, not SEO. With good reason, too. The person is already on your website and your present goal is to move them to action. Use compelling CTAs to trigger action, add testimonials for credibility, and highlight key benefits for the consumer.
• Monitor performance. Metrics like the number of landing page views, average time on page, visitors-to-contact ratio, and bounce rate reveal the value of your landing page. You can then determine if you need to make adjustments to drive more conversions.