B2B Lead Generation : 12 Methods And Definition

Conquering the B2B domain is quite an art, especially when it comes to B2B lead generation.

Finding prospects who not only have a need, but also a budget for what you offer, can be as complex as a game of chess. However, if you play your cards right 🃏 this step becomes a golden opportunity to boost your sales and boost your profitability. 📈

In this article, we’ll lift the veil ⛵️ on the mysteries of B2B lead generation.

Whether you’re taking your first steps or are already a master in the art of B2B lead generation, get ready for a panoply of practical advice and examples to follow to propel your results. 🚀

What Is B2B Lead Generation?

B2B lead generation is a process by which a company identifies and initiates other companies’ interest in its products or services, with a view to developing sales opportunities.

It involves recognizing and targeting potential businesses, qualifying these leads into assessing their relevance and their potential to convert into customers, and above all, using various marketing and sales strategies, such as emailing, web content or SEO and SEO strategy to attract 🧲 and engage prospects.

What Type Of Business Is B2B Lead Generation For?

Well, lead generation is mainly aimed at companies in the b2b (Business to Business) sector, and can be of any size various types:

• 🔵 Manufacturers and distributors.
• 🟣 Technology and software.
• 🔵 Financial and insurance services.
• 🟣 Providers of professional solutions and services.

Be aware, however, that B2B lead generation is less common in sectors directly oriented towards end consumers, such as retail or food services. 👀

The Basics Of Online B2B Lead Generation and Prospection

Having a site is a good start, but generating leads is even better. To stand out from the competition, one of the key elements of B2B lead generation online is to inbound marketing.

Your company’s credibility depends in part on the image you project. Even if you have quite rightly opted for a multichannel strategy, optimize your profiles if you’re targeting 🏹 a B2C market.

The content you share must be impeccable. Don’t produce just to produce, offer quality. ⭐️

This is the way to generate engagement on social networks and improve the visibility of your publications. It takes work, but the results are there.

If you’re looking for a digital prospecting, it would be a mistake to rely entirely on inbound marketing, whereas outbound marketing will enable you to get in touch with your qualified prospects.

Prerequisites For Your B2B Lead Generation Strategy

1) Who Will Be Your Ideal Prospect?

Defining the target audience for the B2B prospecting strategy is a crucial step that requires an in-depth understanding who your ideal customers will be!

This target audience is made up of companies or professionals who would benefit most from your products or services.

To identify them, you can define :

• 🟣 Company size.
• 🔵 The business sector.
• 🟣 Geography.
• 🔵 Specific needs.
• 🟣 The challenges they face.

2) How To Collect Reliable Data, For B2B Lead Generation?

The collection of reliable data is essential for the generation of BtoB leads, and just as much to guide strategic decisions and optimize business operations. 👀

To do this, it’s important to implement systematic collection methods and rely on credible sources. Use advanced technological tools, such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, to track customer interactions and gather valuable information. 😇

Surveys and direct feedback from customers are also effective means to collect relevant data.📊

However, please ensure that your data collection methods comply with current legislation, in particular the RGPD for the protection of personal data.

If you don’t, watch your back! 😲

Top 12 B2B Lead Generation Strategies

Leads are potential customers, generating leads means obtaining new contacts with the aim of turning them into customers. 🚀

The aim is to turn them into real customers. B2B lead generation can be achieved through various channels to increase interest in a product or service.

Let’s go for 7 strategies! 🚀

1) Outbound Marketing For B2B Lead Generation

Outbound marketing as mentioned above, this is a more direct sales technique, which involves contacting your prospect directly, without having to wait for them to come to you. The basics of outbound are now :

• 🎯 Targeting.
• 💬 Advertising.
• 💻 Scrapping.
• 🥶 Cold Email.

Over the years, advertising has developed on the Internet: LinkedIn Ads, YouTube Ads, Google Ads, AdSense… It’s becoming more and more precise, but also more and more sought-after, as many companies fight for advertising space.

When it comes to scrapping and Cold email, these are very recent B2B lead generation marketing techniques. It used to be door-to-door canvassing, then with digitalization, we started buying databases to be able to contact these people by email. 👀

Now, for the sharpest strategists, it’s possible to scrape data online: Google, LinkedIn, and add these prospects directly into a Google email prospecting campaign. 😇

Of course, the key is once again to have the right segmentation to contact the right people, and to deliver the appropriate message to convince them. 💪🏼

2) Chat On Your Website, For B2B Lead Generation

Live chat is a powerful lever for B2B lead generation. It offers the opportunity to engage in instant dialogue with your visitors, answering their questions, providing value and prompting them to action.

For example, at Waalaxy 👽, we use Intercom. Here’s what it looks like! ⬇️

Next, train your teams to become experts on the tool, but also on the different sales techniques.

Finally, define your different objectives 🎯 and KPIs (we’ll talk about them below), i.e. what you want to achieve with it (for example, improve customer service or increase leads).

I almost forgot, the most important thing is to personalize the experience! What do I mean by this? Well, don’t hesitate to personalize the interface to match your company’s brand image, setting up, for example, automatic welcome messages to engage visitors as soon as they arrive. 💟

3) Inbound Marketing For B2B Lead Generation

Inbound marketing is the opposite of outbound marketing, which consists of going out and finding customers potential by calling them, by making mailing or by canvassing them in one way or another. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, is all about bringing the prospect to you, often by gaining their attention. So far, it sounds like the definition of content and marketing strategy.

But inbound goes beyond content marketing 🚀:

It’s the whole process from first contact with your brand to conversion, and then the process of improving and repeating the process.

In other words, inbound marketing encompasses all the means of attracting and converting potential customers.

4) Online Review Sites For B2B Lead Generation

Review sites play a strategic role in B2B lead generation. They offer a golden opportunity to establish your credibility, collect testimonials and get yourself discovered by prospects looking for solutions like yours.

But that’s not all, here are a few other reasons:

• 🥇 Building credibility and trust: prospects are more apt to trust a company with positive reviews, as they reflect the experiences of other customers.
• 🥈 Improved SEO: search engines emphasize fresh, relevant content, and customer reviews can help with this.
• 🥉 Increased visibility and engagement: this leads to increased web traffic and higher engagement and conversion rates.

Okay, now that you know why you need to sign up to review platforms, how do we go about it? 🤔

Well, first start by identifying the most relevant review sites for your sector. Take advantage of platforms like Capterra or Trustpilot to collect reviews and boost your visibility. The positive reviews of users will help you in the generation of B2B sales lead (and/ or B2C). 🚀

Then all you have to do is create your profile, encourage customers to put in reviews via post-purchase emails, or even light incentives, and above all, most importantly, respond to reviews, even the bad ones! ⭐️

5) Create The Right Content, For B2B Lead Generation

Always think about your prospects, they need to match 💟 their needs, their problems and interests.

Here are some ideas for content types for your B2B lead generation :👇🏼

• Case study.
• Blog posts.
• Infographics.
• White papers.
• Webinars.

Don’t forget to include CTAs (calls to action), which are important for attracting leads. 🧲

6) Use Social Medias, For B2B Lead Generation

Why use social networks? Here’s why:

• Quality content and engagement ➡️ publish content that brings value to your audience.
• Choose the appropriate platforms ➡️ identify the platforms where your target audience is most active.
• Targeted advertising ➡️ use the targeted advertising options offered by social networks to reach specific segments of your audience.
• Active networking ➡️ actively engage with other accounts.
• Trend tracking and relevant hashtags ➡️ Stay up-to-date with industry trends and use relevant hashtags.
• Analysis and performance measurement ➡️ use analysis tools to track the performance of your campaigns and publications.
• Consistency and frequency ➡️ be consistent in your social networking presence.

7) Create a Facebook Community, For B2B Lead Generation

Facebook remains an unshakable giant for B2B lead generation. It’s an ideal space to expand your audience, actively engage your prospects and learn more about them.

Whether it’s : ⬇️

• 🔵 The creation of a page dedicated to your company.
• 🔵 Building a brand community.
• 🔵 A private group to connect.
• 🔵 Offer exclusive content.
• 🔵 Strengthen loyalty.

For example, we have a Facebook group where users can ask and answer questions to each other! ⬇️

Facebook is a tool to be used without moderation. 📈

8) Facebook Ads, For B2B Lead Generation

Making marketing on Facebook with advertising, well, precision and efficiency are the watchwords for B2B lead generation strategies.

They enable you to precisely target your audience 🔪, integrate contact forms and accurately evaluate your return on investment.

Facebook is not the only place where you can use advertising. You can also advertise via Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads.

9) LinkedIn, For B2B Lead Generation and Prospection

LinkedIn is the professional platform par excellence, opening up a world of possibilities for B2B leads. If your company is B2B oriented, prospecting on this social media isn’t just essential, it’s a must! 😱

It is a goldmine of profiles, enabling professionals to connect and build a network. This is a strategic choice if you want to generate B2B sales leads. Every company needs to communicate where its customers are. 📍

That’s good because it’s also the place to disseminate quality content, lead groups, take part in events and more business events, send targeted invitations… And use tools like Waalaxy too to identify and approach prime prospects. 🚀

The advantage of a professional social network is that you don’t need your prospects’ e-mail addresses. But we’re talking about prospecting, and therefore new customers.

Unlike emailing, which loses effectiveness over the long term, prospecting via LinkedIn has a much higher message read rate.

10) Automated Prospecting Software, For B2B Lead Generation

Using a free prospecting tool will allow you to automate B2B lead generation, you can also easily contact your prospects. The latest tools help you contact up to a hundred people a day. 📆

With Waalaxy in fact, you can do this in just 10 minutes, and free of charge every month if you subscribe to the freemium offer. Tracking your KPIs is easy, and you can say goodbye to Excel. 🛸

Effective prospecting is first and foremost modular and easy to adapt. An automated prospecting CRM allows you to select scenarios to better adapt them to your needs targets. Lead generation cannot be achieved without targeting.

For effective prospecting, you need to : 👇🏼

• Target your prospects,
• Work on making contact by personalizing your prospecting message,
• Reply to messages using the AIDA method.

Above all, a prospecting tool must be easy to use and effective. You need to be able to combine emailing and LinkedIn prospecting (for the B2B). With a multichannel approach, you’ll get more results.

11) Launch A B2B Lead Generation Campaign

We call drip marketing automated message campaigns sent according to a specific calendar or action taken by your prospects. 🌈

Let me explain! 😇

These messages are usually e-mails or faxes. LinkedIn messages you can do the same thing with SMS or Facebook Messenger, for example, especially if your target is B2C.

These messages are written in advance and are often triggered by so-called triggers at Waalaxy, we use the term “auto-import”. For example: when someone comments on one of your posts, they enter your CRM and appear in a dedicated campaign.

Drip marketing is like anything else: if it’s overused or misused, it can overwhelm your contacts. You can use it for B2B lead generation, as well as for:

• educate users,
• reward your best customers,
• write to users who consult a specific page on your site,
• users who have downloaded your app. 👽

In short, concentrate on certain essential aspects, but avoid as much as possible contacting your prospects constantly to sell them something because, spoiler alert, it doesn’t work ❌.

Bonus : Measure And Optimize B2B Lead Generation

But wait, how can you evaluate the effectiveness of your actions?

How can you sharpen your b2b lead generation process so that it cuts through the clutter in 2024? Now’s the time to dive into the details. 📊

Boosting your b2b sales lead strategy is simple: set concrete objectives 💥, equip yourself with relevant KPIs, and equip yourself with top-notch tracking and analysis tools.

Here are a few KPIs that will transform the way you measure the power of your prospecting: 👇🏼

• Number of leads generated➡️ How many contacts have you collected and converted? This figure reflects the volume of your strategy and its effectiveness in attracting prospects.
• Cost per lead (CPL)➡️ how much does each new lead cost? This KPI sheds light on the financial efficiency of your b2b sales lead generation techniques.
• Lead conversion rate➡️ What portion of these prospects become loyal, profitable customers? This will tell you the quality of your leads and the relevance of your approach.
• The return on investment (ROI)➡️ what is the sum of the benefits compared to your expenditure on b2b leads? This figure will show you the real impact of your strategy on your finances.

To track and understand these KPIs, tools like Google Analytics or Salesforce are your best allies. They will enable you to collect, visualize and decipher the information essential to your B2B lead generation.

What To Do Before Thinking About Lead Generation?

Don’t put the cart before the horse. Before you start doing B2B lead generation leads, you need to ask yourself whether everything is in order on your side: 👇🏼

• 1️⃣ Do you have a good product-market fit?
• 2️⃣ Have you identified your personas? Do you know where to find them?
• 3️⃣ Have you created a sales tunnel that takes you from B2B sales lead to lead nurturing?

If these terms still seem vague, it’s because you’re not fully ready to generate new B2B sales leads; you need to focus on your marketing strategy first digital.

The Basics Of Lead Generation

Lead generation is an important first step in the sales tunnel. It has to be well-thought-out to support the prospect right through to purchase. Visit prospecting allows you to find your audience and start building a relationship with them. To streamline the sales process, your sales representatives must be able to draw on a list of prospects.

Two fundamental pillars govern lead generation: 👇🏼

• Identification.
• Qualifying prospects.

To define your qualification criteria, you need to take your budget into account, purchasing power and the need for the product you are proposing, then you will be able to qualify your prospects based on their actions.

• 🌨️ Froid: He doesn’t seem interested.
• ☁️ Tepid: He needs to be convinced of the relevance of what you’re proposing.
• ☀️ Chaud: He’s interested in what you have to offer.

Some people also use the term lead scoring the score advances according to the prospect’s actions in the purchasing process.

How Do You Create A Digital Conversion Tunnel?

Visit conversion tunnel corresponds to all the stages through which your prospect passes or can pass. Each company or site has its own conversion tunnel, defined in the marketing strategy the stages the prospect will go through. ✨

This tunnel is generally made up of 4 key stages:

• 1️⃣ Attracting customers (this is the purpose of B2B lead generation).
• 2️⃣ Personalize their experience.
• 3️⃣ Convert.
• 4️⃣ Building loyalty.

Different channels are available for each of these stages.

Why Is B2B Lead Generation Important?

Without further ado, here are 5 reasons why the B2B lead generation is essential:

• 1️⃣ Sales pipeline development: without a constant flow of new leads, a b2b company can struggle to maintain and increase sales.
• 2️⃣ Business growth and expansion: making immediate sales, but also building long-term relationships.
• 3️⃣ Better understanding of the market: target marketing and sales efforts on the most promising prospects.
• 4️⃣ Competitive edge: identify and seize opportunities faster than competitors.
• 5️⃣ Long-term sustainability: ensures a steady flow of new customers.

You now know why B2B lead generation is essential. To launch your strategy, it will be necessary to have well-defined certain prerequisites upstream.

How About A Recap?

Now you’re armed to the teeth with in-depth knowledge of B2B lead generation: its meaning, its importance, its methods, not forgetting the famous KPIs to track your success. 🎉

You have the keys to seducing and converting ultra-qualified prospects we’re always on the lookout for the best, exploiting the crème de la crème 💟 of tools and the hottest trends on the market.

You’ll also be able to measure and fine-tune your B2B lead generation strategy with precise, straight-to-the-point data!

B2B lead generation is a bit like a wild river, it moves all the time and requires agility to navigate well. 🌊

It’s crucial to keep your eyes wide open 👀 to new opportunities, the latest technologies and innovative practices to continually up your game and capture more top B2B leads.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Here are the questions often asked by our customers, so we hope to enlighten you on your latest questions about B2B lead generation (or not).