What Is B2B Lead Generation? The Complete Beginner's Guide
What is business-to-business (B2B) lead generation? How does B2B lead generation work? How can I implement effective B2B lead generation strategies? If these questions are currently on your mind, we’ve got you covered.
We’ll go over the basics of B2B lead generation on this page and dive into how lead generation works. And we’ll go over some top tips for implementing an effective lead generation strategy for your business.
Did we mention that WebFX offers unparalleled B2B lead generation services that can drive results for your business? Our award-winning team of digital marketing experts has over 28 years of experience generating more than 24 million leads for our clients.
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What is B2B lead generation?
B2B lead generation is the process of developing interest in your products and services through various marketing strategies that will ultimately result in conversions and sales for your business. In other words, B2B lead generation helps you identify your target audience and entice them to convert into a customer by making a purchase.
Why is B2B lead generation important?
Lead generation is essential for any B2B company for many reasons, including:
- Attract high-quality leads: A high-quality lead is most likely to convert into a customer and make a purchase. By generating these types of leads, you can boost your sales and revenue.
- Grow your business: Without leads, you won’t be able to grow your business. Lead generation provides the best way to attract and convert prospects so that you can take your business to new heights.
- Create a better user experience: An excellent user experience is essential for your leads to remain on your website and continue reading your content until they want to convert. Lead generation can create a seamless user experience so your audience can navigate through the buyer funnel at their own pace.
Implementing effective lead generation strategies can ultimately help you attract new customers, boost your sales and revenue, and continually grow your business.
4 results-driving B2B lead generation strategies
Are you ready to start generating leads for your business? Here are 4 B2B lead generation strategies that can drive results for your business:
1. Use search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to drive traffic
Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website and help you generate more leads. SEO is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on your website’s ranking in search results on search engines, such as Google.
SEO strategies can help you rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs), increase your visibility online, and ultimately help drive the success of your business. Many businesses begin searching for products and services online. In fact, 93% of all online experiences start with a search engine.
With statistics like that, SEO is essential to ensure that your business appears higher on the results page so you can reach those shoppers and start generating more leads. SEO works by focusing on optimizations that can improve your site’s ranking, including:
SEO is an excellent way to begin generating more leads for your business and driving relevant traffic to your website by attracting users who are searching for relevant keywords and phrases.
2. Create valuable content to boost leads
Content marketing can double the number of website conversion rates, so if you aren’t currently using content as part of your marketing strategy, you could be missing out on tons of leads and sales. An effective content marketing strategy can also help you show off your expertise and establish your business as an authority and expert in your industry.
When creating content, you will want to consider your target audience and their problems and interests to be addressed and answered. Once you know what your audience is searching for, you can create informative content that will provide them with solutions.
For example, if your business sells tacos, you could create taco recipes to attract qualified leads searching for this keyword.
Creating content that provides users with the information they need is essential to keep qualified leads on your site for longer until they are ready to purchase.
3. Invest in pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements are another valuable strategy to help you generate more leads that are likely to convert. In fact, users who click on paid ads are 50% more likely to make a purchase than users who visit from an organic search result.
As the name suggests, with PPC ads, you only pay when a user clicks on your advertisement. Once you know which keywords you want to target, you can place a bid on those keywords so your advertisement will appear at the top of the search results page once someone searches for that phrase.
PPC ads are essential for attracting users who are searching for your products and services. With an effective PPC campaign, you can earn high-quality leads that are the most likely to make a purchase.
4. Use social media to extend your reach
Social media is one of the best marketing tools that can help you increase your visibility online, spread brand awareness, and help you generate more leads and sales. With more than 43% of B2B marketers getting clients through social media channels, like Facebook, this is a strategy you won’t want to ignore.
You can use social media marketing campaigns to:
- Advertise your products and services
- Engage with customers and clients
- Reach and expand your target audience
- Share your content
- Increase brand visibility and awareness
Ultimately, social media can influence consumers and what they purchase. In fact, 74% of people use social media when making a purchasing decision. Using social media is one of the best ways to engage with your audience and ultimately drive more leads for your business.
3 essential B2B lead generation tips
Are you looking for even more ways to create a successful lead generation strategy? We can help. Check out these three bonus B2B lead generation tips.
1. Track your leads
Understanding which marketing strategies are driving the most leads for your business is essential to continually develop successful marketing campaigns that will drive results. Fortunately, lead tracking software, like MarketingCloudFX, can help you track leads through different channels.
MarketingCloudFX is an all-in-one marketing automation software that’s powered by IBM Watson. With MarketingCloudFX, you can track the sources of phone calls, see which marketing strategies are driving the best results, track leads through form submissions and emails, and much more. This data will allow you to stay in contact, follow up with your leads, and develop marketing strategies that will continue to generate leads for your business.
2. Use sales team insights
Many leads will connect with your sales team to ask questions, make purchases, and give feedback. You can collaborate with your sales team to better understand the customer experience, what customers want or need in a product, and what information leads want to know.
By understanding your leads, you can create an effective lead generation strategy that covers the information your leads want to know to convert those leads into sales.
3. Use relevant calls to action (CTAs)
Calls to action (CTAs) are anything that entices a user to complete an action on your website. They help move the user one step closer to converting.
CTAs are among the best ways to get users to take the next step and eventually become a customer, whether that is reading more content, signing up for a newsletter, calling your business, or making a purchase.
By using relevant CTAs in your content, on your website, and on social media, you can effectively move your leads through the buyer funnel until they convert into customers and ultimately help you increase your sales and revenue.
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FAQs about lead generation for B2Bs
Looking to learn more about lead generation for B2Bs? Check out our FAQs:
What is B2B marketing?
Before diving into the ins and outs of B2B lead generation, it’s important to first understand what B2B marketing is. B2B stands for business-to-business. In other words, B2B marketing is the process of promoting your products and services to other businesses and organizations.
Unlike business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, which focuses on marketing products to individuals in their everyday lives, B2B marketing focuses on individuals making purchasing decisions on behalf of their company.
It requires different strategies and campaigns to successfully target business professionals’ needs, interests, and challenges to generate leads and sales. This definition brings us to the question, what exactly is a lead, and how does B2B lead generation work?
What is a lead?
A lead is someone who shows interest in your brand, service, or product.
Because not every visitor to your website or social media page is part of your target audience, attracting and converting qualified leads, or those most likely to make a purchase, is the top priority. You can also nurture leads to move them down the buying funnel.
The buying funnel is a customer’s journey from discovering your business to eventually making a purchase. The top of the funnel is where consumers gain an awareness of your business and the bottom of the funnel is where consumers are ready to make a purchase and become a customer.
There are four different types of leads:
- Sales qualified lead (SQL): SQLs are usually in the lower stages of the buying funnel by showing an immediate interest in your services.
- Marketing qualified lead (MQL): MQLs are usually in the top stages of the buying funnel and aren’t ready to make a purchase yet. They can come from your marketing efforts, such as long-form content or “how-to” guides.
- Service qualified lead: Service qualified leads have an immediate interest in your services because they already pay for them.
- Product qualified lead (PQL): PQLs can also show an interest in your products. They might need a bit more nurturing to help them make a purchase, such as testing a free trial or asking your sales team questions.
Compared to B2C marketing, B2B lead generation focuses on identifying, attracting, and converting leads from other businesses.
Some common lead generation strategies for B2B companies include social media, content marketing, and paid advertising to move your leads down the buying funnel. We’ll explain these B2B lead generation strategies in more detail below.
How does B2B lead generation work?
One of the first stages of lead generation is using marketing strategies and campaigns to attract qualified leads. Once these users visit your website, you can begin nurturing these leads to encourage them to spend more time on your website and move down the buyer funnel to ultimately result in a sale.
Once visitors are in the buyer funnel, you can give them more information about your product and services and stay in contact until they are ready to make a purchase.
Using multiple channels to generate and nurture leads is the best way to expand your company’s reach and stay in contact with your leads in various ways.
So, how can you use marketing channels to develop an effective lead generation strategy? We’ll explore some of the best B2B lead generation strategies below.
How much does B2B lead generation cost?
B2B lead generation costs $2500 to $12,000 per month. How much your business invests in B2B lead generation will depend on your industry, lead generation strategies, and whether you manage your lead generation in-house or with the help of an agency.
Get started with effective B2B lead generation services to grow your business with WebFX
Are you ready to get started with effective B2B lead generation services to boost the success of your business? At WebFX, we’ve generated over 24 million leads and driven more than $10 billion in revenue for our clients over the last five years.
Want to hear more about what our clients have to say? Check out our reviews and testimonials to learn more about how we drive results for our clients. And if you’re ready to get started with our B2B lead generation services, speak with one of our strategists today!