Proven B2B Lead Generation Strategies that work in 2020

There’s a difference between people who are interested in buying from you and people who are actually buying from you. Leads and converted users, that’s where you drive your business from, and B2B marketers know the importance of having a good supply of potential consumers.

Before you jump into ideas for your new strategy, you need to know that B2B lead generation is a completely different ball game than B2C. B2B firms prefer long-term business instead of one-time sale and thus your lead generated strategies can’t be ONLY sales oriented.

Lead generation in B2B cycles depends a lot on relationship-building and branding. Influencers and referrals assist in reducing the length of the process, but the long drill of data and terminology still persists.

Now that the world has been shifting to only digital since the outbreak of this global pandemic, the lead generation strategies will not be the same anymore. Neither for B2C nor for B2B. If you are comparatively new to this technology-dominated scenario, it will overwhelm you. 

So, if you’re looking for impactful lead generation strategies in the Post-COVID world that can generate business for you in 2020, you’re looking at the right page. Let’s get started!

Lead Generation Strategy 1: Content Marketing is Evergreen

Why? Because It generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less.

Personalization is the key

Relationship building is a primary component in B2B sales cycles and there’s no one-size-fits-all to convince B2B decision-makers. Tailored content that encompasses prospects’ interests, pain points, motivation for work, and solutions has proven to be multiple times more convincing than generic content.

Thus, to generate high quality leads, create original and detailed content that adheres to the preferences of the prospects. Stick to a content calendar to maintain the momentum. When your potential clients engage with this content, they relate to the cited situation and consider your sales attempts as authentic advice.

Pop-ups are not all bad

Though pop-ups have a very bad reputation, they STILL WORK if you know the dos and don’ts of Popups. Your visitors don’t like to be interrupted while reading your content, so don’t use it to block them from reading ahead. Plus, more than one popup on the page can instantly turn into a slimy sales technique.

Here’s how we use it, at DealsInsight to keep our readers engaged with more marketing resources:

Instead, use creative pop-ups to bring the attention of the visitor to a particular product or a specific offer that you might be giving. Sometimes, attractive giveaways and discounts also work on pop-ups. You can also drop exit-intent popups with a personalized message depending on their reading behavior or use slide-in opt-ins for a more subtle approach.

READ MORE: 6 Impacts of COVID-19 on the Content Marketing Trends in 2020

Lead Generation Strategy 2: Capitalize on the Old-is-Gold, Email Marketing

No, email is not dead, at least not for this 79 % who think it is their most successful channel.

The CTA game

CTAs drive instant action to the one-way channel of emails provided it triggers the right spot in the reader’s brain because the cliched “Sign up for our newsletter” doesn’t work anymore. 

Carefully measure their interest, add value statements, highlight with attractive colors and buttons, and put it at places where they’re bound to catch the eye of the viewer. And of course, be creative. Here’s a peek into what works in CTA buttons. 

Use the eagerness displayed by the user to prompt them to engage further with you. It can be urging them to download a piece of content, an entry on an email list, an incentive for sharing or subscribing, or any other action you think will help you grow. Direct them to more relevant content and watch them convert to leads.

The subject line is the First Impression

There are dozens of other firms reaching out to the same prospect in an attempt to convert them to leads. Make your emails stand out by crafting them like they’re your last hope at conversion.

Emails with influential subject lines have a larger probability of not being ignored, and if you can channelize your wit into a humorous one-liner, a pun or a provoking question, it is sure to catch the attention of the receiver. 

When you know your creative emails are working, follow-up with a couple more and you’ll be near to getting leads on a chat or in a lucky case, even a meeting.

Lead Generation Strategy 3: Tap into the masses via Social media marketing

Social is the present and the future for more than 73% of B2B marketers.

Don’t underestimate the power of video content

Humans are processed with the bias of interpreting graphic content better, which is why video content draws more attention than text. What really counts when you’re using video is the kind of material you use in it, because it’s a waste if prospects only view your content and not engage with it.

Prepare informative graphics on your products, like demos, guidelines, etc. You can also conduct a survey among your existing consumers to know if they would like something to be discussed or addressed. Don’t let the video-views walk away without further engagement, attach signup CTAs at the end to capitalize on it.

The way ahead is with webinars

No one can deny the chance of being guided by the experts, so webinars are an easy way to generate high-quality leads. Get to know about the trending hot topics in the market, the conversation-starters, and incorporate them in a webinar. The time and date of your scheduled Webinar will impact the number of registrations. BloggingX revealed some numbers to justify this. 

Create a webinar registration landing page, with a short video description about the topic and highlights, upload a few testimonials to reinforce your value and build a bio of the host conducting the webinar. 

Compel prospects to register with a catchy title and meta description. Once your event is a success, you can collaborate with partners and automate your webinars according to demands. It’s a tried and tested plan.

READ MORE: How Social Media helps small business flourish: All you need to know

Lead Generation Strategy 4: Fathom the power of SEO

Why look for a reason when 57% of B2B marketers think that it’s the best strategy for lead generation?

Be omnipresent and in style.

Prospects tend to engage more with brands that they see everywhere, which is why having an omnichannel marketing strategy is essential in garnering more leads.

It connects you with the potential buyers across various platforms like email, phone, website, in-app and social media, making it easier to track and communicate with leads on their preferred channels. It segments your audience according to their choices, giving them the impression that you genuinely care for their interests.  

Chatbots are yet another way of working on leads. They ask relevant questions, assist in categorizing your visitors, and are immensely helpful in providing customized interactions with the potential buyers. 

Go Local

A majority of consumers prefer to deal with businesses that lie in their local vicinity, so if you haven’t optimized yourself for local searches, you could be missing out on a lot.

The best way to expand your business locally is by listing yourself on the sought-after Google My Business. Create content that appeals to the prospects in your region, list yourself on online directories, and maintain consistency in your citations online.

Location tags help you optimize the area nearby and tap the local consumers. The local clientele has a higher probability of being your loyal end-user and are the best when it comes to referrals.

READ MORE: B2B SEO – Beginner’s Guide – Digital Marketing

Lead Generation Strategy 5: Don’t be afraid to invest in PPC (Pay-Per-Click)

Well, 74% of brands are not afraid because it is a ‘huge driver for their business’.

Google is the player

Google Ads has established itself as one of the widely used platforms for PPC campaigns. Most B2B marketers start their research independently, so having a dominating presence over this search engine will definitely be an advantage.

Use analytical tools to research and long-tail keywords that are relevant, widely searched and appropriate. Differentiate between high, low, and research intention keywords for the different categories of prospects.

Create dedicated landing pages for all of your products and services and optimize them with the keywords. Once Google authenticates your account, it will drive organic traffic to your pages when the keywords are searched for. Simple, easy, and effective!

It’s the trend of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is not an uncommon scene on social media platforms. It is indeed a necessity of the marketing world.

B2B firms are the most apprehensive when it comes to decision-making because they want long-term contracts and it is difficult to trust firms.

When you have an influencer working in your favor, you indirectly add their credibility to your brand, which goes a long way in winning trust in the B2B market. However, you have to be careful in choosing your influencers because in B2B relevance is more important than popularity.

Last Words

Lead generation is not an overnight process, especially when you are dealing in B2B space. Since it has a smaller group of prospects, it is a long-drawn battle before they become leads for your firm.

When you are working on your strategy, you must ensure that your conversion rate is optimized. It makes no sense if your leads aren’t converting in the long run, hence the need to track your progress.

Lead generation is a game, which requires frequent updating of strategies and innovation, but if you channelize your efforts in the right way, you’ll have an overwhelming supply of leads sooner than you expected.

However, if you think you can’t keep up with the pace, contact expert B2B sales and marketing consulting firms with their expertise and experience draft the game-plan for you and take care of the full sales life-cycle while you attend business!

Still confused about where to start? Drop us a text at Priya@dealsinsight.com and we will take it up from there.