The Absolute Best B2B Lead Generation Tactics

Hey LinkedIn, Dacia Coffey here and welcome to Wednesday!

This is the written edition of my weekly series called, Corporate Caffeine.?Today's focus is on?The Absolute Best B2B Lead Generation Tactics FYI - I host this series live on?Facebook ?&?LinkedIn , post these episodes to?YouTube , and have a bonus?podcast ?covering a lot of this content and more.?

?

So, let's jump right in!?

The Absolute Best B2B Lead Generation Tactics

(Click here to watch the full video)

?

Hey, you guys! Dacia here, and welcome to corporate caffeine.

I've got two topics that actually have a lot of consistency between them. I'm going to start with the personal one, but then I'm going to give you an exhaustive list of the absolute best business-to-business lead generation tactics.

You Have To Keep Going Forward

First of all, I want to give some encouragement to you guys about success. This year has not been easy for me. This is not complaining, but it really has been a challenging year, personally. There's also been a lot of work, professionally speaking.

As a leader, I know nothing is easy. It sounds a little depressing, but it's an encouragement and a challenge to say, "So what? I can do hard things." And you can do hard things.

The number one thing I've learned in life and this year is that you cannot create a narrative in your own mind. When going through hard times, have gratitude. Challenging times will sharpen your edge.

They will produce diamonds inside of you, but only if you let them. So this is important: Think about your most profound moments. The moments that changed you forever created impact and escalation in your life. They were probably not the easiest of times.?

So, why do we run away from them?

It's not about flying through these difficult moments gracefully. It's about learning and believing in yourself. Believe in a power that can get you through, and make sure you do not slide into excuses.?

Go the distance. Do what it takes, no matter what external thing is happening, in order to achieve that outcome. It can happen unless you're limiting yourself.

The only magic bullets in life and in marketing are consistency and perseverance, so you have to keep persistently moving forward. Remember, tiny little steps and progress every single day add up to a mountain of achievement.?

Do not look for shortcuts.?

You're just wasting your time in regard to making real progress. When you're thinking about success, the pathway to success is your ability to serve others and create transformation in other people's lives.

Your potential and your success are never about you! It's about what you give to the world and what impact you're able to create for other people.

Be careful of navel-gazing: It is only a distraction from what is meaningful, joyful, and effective in life.

All of These Rules Apply To Business-to-Business Lead Generation

Why? Because nothing hard is easy. Progress over perfection. Consistency. Be your best and make sure you maintain a point of view that is a servant leadership one.?

I promised an exhaustive list, so for those of you who are on the business-to-business side and looking for growth, let's go ahead and dive.

First of all, I won't get on a soapbox, but be careful about the phrase "lead generation." Very few people in the business-to-business world have a consistent definition of lead generation.

For some, lead generation means warm and informed people, people ready to buy. However, for other people, especially marketers and people who are on the pipeline side of business development, lead generation means something completely different.?

A lead is anyone who tells you they're interested in you. You have to know their name, or you have some indication of who they are. There is a huge difference between these types of leads and others. We call these marketing qualified leads.

Remember, there is no single magic bullet or trick up your sleeve.?

All those things that you see on YouTube and all of the stories that you hear from friends about this being the one thing that changed the game; remember—there is never one thing, because humans do not live in a funnel or a silo. They do not think from a single point of view. Like us, our leads live in an ecosystem. As such, you have to live in your buyer's ecosystem.?

The more consistent you are, the luckier you will get. You'll hit a certain tactic at the right time, hit a certain amount of traction with that tactic, and it will accelerate your success.

Eventually, that tactic will stop working because marketing is dynamic, and humans constantly change. There is no resting on your laurels when it comes to lead generation. With that being said, let's talk more about the exhaustive list that I promised you.

Paying for Google Adwords and Social Media

Paid ranking on Google will give you incredibly warm leads.

You're responding to things that someone actually typed into the search bar, so there is intensely specific and timely intent behind them.

That is a huge lead generation tactic, depending on your industry. This can be incredibly affordable or incredibly outlandish...it just depends. You have to get the information to confirm how much money it will take to compete.

This is very important: Do not underinvest in Google Adwords.?

You could be wasting tons of money.

You should be given numbers telling you, "For this dollar amount, Google says the number of leads we will generate." We call those conversions in the digital world. You should be able to track your progress against that.

Keep in mind you can do paid social media ads for the same purpose. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Some people say that these ads have better targeting, so they must be more effective. Well, the better the targeting, the more expensive it is. Keep that in mind.

Here's the flip: Those social media ads aren't quite as warm as a Google AdWords lead. It's because you're going after the person. You're trying to stir up their latent demand and pique their curiosity.

So, you're showing up on a social network when someone is looking for something else. As such, your ad has got to be effective enough and consistent enough to get them to start thinking, "Hmmm, maybe I'm interested in that."

It does take a longer amount of time to really warm that lead up and create enough touches and impressions for those leads to start getting traction.?

I am gonna have one of our amazing digital marketers go into a deep dive on that in the future, but for right now, just know that paid social media is a really, really effective lead generation tool, especially if this suits your business.

This may apply better if you have a service-oriented business or your product comes from a unique point of view.

Cold Calling and Appointment Scheduling

If you're like me, you're getting a million different companies trying to help you book appointments. Some of these work. Some don't.

These folks have to be really good at this — they have to have the appropriate hunter mindset and the right training. Some of these people are TERRIBLE, though. They just want your dollars.

So, you got to do your research and validate anyone who wants to cold call for you. Make sure you do not abdicate responsibility around the messaging and scripting.

Of course, this can be done in-house. It is just super time-intensive. Remember that there are different types of personalities in terms of salespeople.

Generally speaking, you've got a couple of different sales personalities:

They are people who are amazing at hunting. They love the game, and they love doing the work it takes to get people's attention and create something out of nothing.

Then you've got the gatherers: The people who are amazing at follow-up, at nurturing interest in a relationship. They are very good at servant leadership.

Some people are great at both, but typically, that's not the case. You have to be aware of these different personalities and put them in the right slots.

SEO

This is a broad one. This is about how ranking on Google for the relevant queries that people type into the Google search bar.

Just like Google Adwords, you need some information about how likely it is that you can rank compared to your competitors. There are some really tough industries when it comes to SEO ranking.

If you have really, really large competitors, then they have something called high domain authority. It's going to be very difficult to beat them. It's not impossible. You just have to be clever and work with somebody that understands how to do this.?

The good news is you can see SEO progress in a relatively short amount of time. Keep in mind that ranking high doesn't always turn into a lead.

A lot of times, SEO is at the top of the funnel.

These are future leads, more likely to be qualified leads, resulting in an increase in latent demand.?

What that means is you have to have amazing content on your website. The content has to make your brand really, really stand out. Then you have to have a thoughtful, conscious effort to convert interest into inquiry.

We just want that lead to take a step closer to us. This is about filling the future pipeline, so you have to give them something of high value to get their contact info and interest.?

When it comes to SEO, you've got to be thinking and playing the long game. This is the marketing funnel, plus email and follow-up, and lead scoring.

There's a whole system that needs to go behind this, called inbound marketing. There has to be a significant focus on conversion and nurturing to make this work.?

Creating Marketing Funnels

A marketing funnel is an amazing piece of content that is truly high value to the audience that's reading it. It needs to come with a call to action.

You're giving someone something for free.?It can be a wide range of things, including videos, downloads, text tools, free versions of your products, and all sorts of stuff.

If it's something that they really, really value, you nurture them with additional high-value content, typically given through emails or text messaging. Sometimes, you may engage in a direct sales follow-up.?

In doing this, you are creating a position in their mind of a servant leader and an excellent brand and thought leader. This is about converting interest into inquiry. The good news is that all of these marketing funnels can be optimized.

You can continue to get more and more conversions if you test and if you change things on pages.?

Partners and Referrals

There are a lot of our clients that work with channel partners or affiliation programs. This can be really effective, but it's not a magic bullet.

Just because you find a partner that likes you and believes in you doesn't mean it's the be-all, end-all.

Partners that work are no different than someone sending you leads. Keep in mind that people are putting their reputation on the line to refer you.

This means that you have got to do a great job and make sure that if they are a sales partner, they are armed with the ability to sell you and to do so in a manner that is beneficial to them.

Related: You can run referral programs that are paid.

Again, this goes back to the human relationship, where your values align with someone. This means that it behooves another person or business to refer you, as it makes them look good.

It helps them be a resource, and you do the same thing back for them while looking for ways to try to make sure that they are successful. Remember, referrals are a lead generation tactic that you don't have to hope or wait for.?

There are lots of cool amazing things that you can do to delight your customers.

This is important: It maintains that "top of mind delight" status that creates evangelism for your brand. It makes them want to refer you, and not just because you delivered amazing value.

That is why people refer you sometimes: You go above and beyond, blowing their expectations out of the water.?

Sponsored Content and Account-Based Marketing

Sponsored content means your thought leadership can show up in areas people naturally orient to. It also means that there's a high level of trust and authority there from the publication, partner, or outlet.

It's also a paid platform that can generate leads.?

Account-based marketing is hunting. It happens when you have a small list of clients or prospective clients — think 20 or less.

These are the type of clients who, if you land even one of them, it changes the game for your revenue growth and ability to go to the next level.

Account-based marketing is a choreographed system of dedicated outreach to the small VIP list that you are targeting.?

This might happen with a combination of direct mail, digital advertising, cold calling, phone calls, and follow-up events invitations.

It is doing everything that you can do where you are deliberately mapping sales and marketing touches to reach out to specific human beings to try and open a door into this opportunity.

You can use technology to track the data and make sure that you're maintaining high integrity around the number of follow-ups and leads. Keep in mind that this tactic is very follow-up intensive.?

Traditional Ads

You can put ads on podcasts, those can be both very effective and inexpensive, but you need to make sure you’re getting in front of the right audience. You can also use ads in trade publications.

Generally speaking, these are very expensive, so these are oftens more about visibility than conversion.

However, if you have a great offer or are really amazing at your message, this can be an opportunity for you.

Trade Shows

Trade shows are very expensive. Typically, what I saw pre-2020 was a lack of choreography. After the first couple of hours, people would be sitting in their booths and not even making eye contact or trying to generate traffic.

It's awkward to walk up to a trade show if you're a prospect and you don't want to be sold. It requires good choreography and an amazing personality in your booth.

I rarely see amazing follow-ups for trade shows, and that's wrong.

There needs to be pre-show selling and post-show follow-up if you're to be effective. You have to be ruthless in terms of follow-up and leave no lead left unworked.

Reconnecting with Stale Leads

This means going to your current database and basically beating the bushes. In other words, you call or email these stale leads, you beat those bushes and see if you can get some renewed prospects.

This can help drive short-term revenue and warm up that lead. Remember, at some point, they were interested in you. They already trusted you. All you're doing here is re-triggering the trust that was already built.?

I guarantee it: If you've been in business for any amount of time, there are opportunities hidden in your past. There are people hidden in your network that are ready to listen to you.

?

The Right Technology

Make sure that you are arming your salespeople with technology or automation or messaging that makes follow-up a guarantee.

Otherwise, you are flushing money, opportunity, time, and attention straight down the toilet.

?

Nothing hard is easy, but it's all worth doing.?

Stop looking for shortcuts, and be amazing. Think about your lead generation as a total system. Go get some business!

?

Make Sure To Catch The Latest Corporate Caffeine Content Below!

Subscribe on YouTube

Subscribe on iTunes

Subscribe on Spotify