Lead Generation Ideas for B2B (5 Best Methods to Try Now)

The success of your business depends in large part on the people connected with it. This means that B2B lead generation strategies must focus on not only your product or service but the people involved.

Of course you want to get leads, but you don’t want them to turn into simply a number or a statistic. So, let’s look at 5 lead generation ideas for B2B that will ensure your focus remains prioritized on the people.

1. Be a thought leader.

One of the most important B2B lead generation strategies is for you to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry or niche. This is invaluable to your lead generation because, with the ability for comprehensive online research, a majority of the customer’s time in the stages of the life cycle now happens pre-purchase.

A creative way to accomplish generating content as a thought leader is to interview those who are well-known experts in your field. So, rather than putting the pressure on your own business to create meaningful content from scratch, find the industry insiders who are able to share their information. The bonus here is that expert interviews also provide a humanizing element to relate needed information to your audience.

2. Leverage videos.

Video provides human connection and storytelling in the most interactive form, which increases engagement. B2B lead generation best practices include creating how-to or explainer videos to distinguish your product or service. This also helps you gain status as a thought leader.

And while you’re at it, take your videos to the next level with personalization. Vidyard reveals 82% of B2B marketers report success with video marketing initiatives, and personalization has been proven to increase ROI by 10 fold for marketing campaigns. It’s a simple and effective way to generate B2B leads while maintaining a personal connection.

3. Analyze your current data.

B2B lead generation ideas need to be backed up with data about trends from your customers, so you can continually work on refining your methods and channels. Use analytics software, send out surveys, or ask for feedback from people at every stage of the consumer life cycle to gather as much information as possible about your lead generation effectiveness.

Many websites have built-in analytics trackers that you can use to find out simple stats like which landing pages or videos have the most traffic. This will enable you to start asking why and honing the elements of those parts of your lead generation ideas that provide effective conversions.

4. Understand your Consumer.

While this relates to being a thought leader in your industry, content marketing is a separate category here to emphasize the importance of providing value to your consumer. Once you’ve analyzed your data, then you can focus on creating the kind of content that consumers are actually looking for.

This could include anything from infographics, templates, email courses, lists of your most useful tools, resource spreadsheets, case studies, etc. The point is to leverage the information you hold and share it with your leads in such a way that brings them value they otherwise could not get, which is a highly effective B2B lead generation idea. In fact, Crazy Egg reports that 91% of B2B respondents make use of content marketing.

5. Target your audience.

Making use of the most compelling words and emotional appeals throughout your content and your brand will let people know inherently that you care about them. If your lead generation ideas for B2B are intended for too broad of a segment, you’ll end up missing those who could benefit most from your company’s offerings.

Consider creating a customer testimonial video with someone who represents your “ideal” client, so that leads understand more clearly how they would fit into your company. As well, if you can target the keywords that your customers are searching for and make sure to incorporate those in your campaigns and copy, you’ll be better set up to reach the people who need your products or services.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, because of the constant variety of the digital marketing space, B2B lead generation best practices are rooted in the understanding that relationships between real people are important, and adaptability based on feedback and data will serve you well.

Whatever your B2B lead generation strategies are, you’ll stand out by remembering to keep people at the focus, through understanding their needs and wants, targeting specifically to them, and keeping your content as personal as possible.