59 B2B Lead Generation Ideas to Steal
Having trouble getting more leads into your pipeline? You’re not alone. According to HubSpot, 61% of marketers say traffic and lead generation is their top challenge.
So marketers are implementing different B2B lead generation ideas to grow more conversions. But this requires a bit of trial and error to see what works. The methods you use will depend on your target audience and their preferences.
For example, those using video on their landing pages are seeing as much as an 86% increase in conversions. Then other B2B marketers using blogging are 67% more leads than those that don’t. This is why 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing. But what works for one brand may not work for another.
The key is finding the best B2B lead generation strategies for your business. So we put together a list of 59 B2B lead generation ideas you can try.
What Are the Best B2B Lead Generation Ideas?
It’s time to look for lead generation ideas to enhance your B2B marketing efforts. There’s a long list to go through, so let’s jump right in!
1. Add Exit-Intent Popup Forms to Gather Leads
Sometimes, visitors will leave your site before converting. So to help capture their information before they go, you can use exit-intent popups. These appear whenever a visitor is about to click away from your window. The goal is to entice them to share their information before they go. For example, you can offer a free download or discount code in exchange for their name and email address.
2. Use On-Site Retargeting to Re-engage Leads
Another way you can use exit-intent popups is to use retargeting methods. This involves using the visitors’ past site behavior to make recommendations. For instance, when a visitor is about to leave, you can have a popup appear showing a discount for a product they viewed.
3. Automate Your Email Marketing Campaigns
As a B2B marketer, you likely don’t have time to sit around sending out emails each day. And nor should you have to. With email marketing automation, you can drive traffic to your business with little effort. Just take a week to set up segments, write the emails, and choose activity triggers to determine when they send. For example, those who sign up for your newsletter will be placed in the lead nurturing campaign. Then a returning customer may receive an email with a discount code if they abandon their cart.
4. Use Case Studies to Encourage Purchases
Some of your leads are on the rocks about buying your product or service. So what can you do to convince them to convert? One way is to show proof of your product’s benefits. Case studies are excellent tools for proving the worth of your products and services. Consider adding them to your email campaigns, blog posts (as links or stories), and social media marketing (i.e., boosted posts or social ads).
5. Create Ads On Social Media to Drive High-Quality Leads
Do you know which social media outlets your target audience uses the most? Then it’s time to take advantage of this knowledge by creating highly targeted social ad campaigns. Develop segments for the personas you’re targeting to create messaging and offers that resonate with each.
6. Publish Social Media Posts Regularly
Social media platforms are excellent to use because millions of people use them daily. And it’s the same among B2B customers. You’ll find 55% of decision-makers using LinkedIn to vet organizations. So having a business profile filled with helpful posts will establish your company as a thought-leader. This may entice visitors to convert into leads and eventually into buyers.
7. Build a Business Blog to Drive More Interest
Blog content works because, when done right, it helps your audience to make decisions. Educational blog posts, such as how-to’s, tutorials, buying guides, and listicles are widely viewed because readers value them. By offering insights, you can build interest in your brand by becoming an industry expert.
8. Create More Content to Build More Traffic
Focus on generating more content for your blog to drive more engagement. Just make sure not to sacrifice quality and depth. Continue adding value to appeal to both users and search engines.
9. Optimize All of Your Content to Improve Your Ranking
Google and other search engines pick up all sorts of digital content. This includes press releases, blog posts, guest articles, photos, memes, videos, and infographics. Whatever content forms you use, optimize them all with relevant keywords so they’re ranked and found by your target audience.
10. Share More Long-Form Content to Engage Readers
B2B customers enjoy long-form content because they’re more likely to be highly informative. This is why you’ll find long-form posts between 1,900 and 2,000 words performing the best on LinkedIn.
11. Add Push Notifications to Extend Reach
The beauty of push notifications is it gives brands permission to reach out to website visitors on mobile devices. So after a mobile user leaves your site, you can continue sending notifications about deals and new blog posts to get visitors to return.
12. Write Q&A Style Blog Posts to Build Expert Status
Your audience has questions and your brand has the answers. At least, that’s what you want to portray to build your reputation as an expert. So add Q&A style posts to your lead generation strategy. You can find questions on Quora, social media, comments, and from your customer support team.
13. Perform Market Research to Inform Your Audience
Your audience should turn to you when they want information and advice. By offering market research reports, you can showcase your brand as a trusted industry leader and advisor.
14. Add Testimonials to Your Content for Social Proof
There’s nothing like having social proof to showcase the quality of your products and services. Consider adding testimonials to your email campaigns, website, landing page, and social media profiles.
15. Develop Lead-Gen Offers that Are Irresistible
If you study your B2B audience’s habits and interests, you should know what they need (and want). Use this information to create a lead magnet they’ll want to download (i.e., guide, checklist, template, eBook, course, etc.).
16. Create PPC Ads On Google to Drive More Traffic
Google continues to reign supreme as the go-to search engine. So consider creating PPC ads here to drive more leads to your business. Be sure to optimize your landing pages for each target group.
17. Use FOMO to Entice Leads to Convert
The fear of missing out (FOMO) continues to be a driving force for converting leads. You can do this by adding timers to your emails and website that contain offers. Or you can offer limited-time discounts or products.
18. Run A/B Tests to Improve Lead Conversions
Some headlines, copy, and offers work better than others. The best way to find out is to run A/B tests to see what performs best. Do this for your web copy, ads, email campaigns, and CTAs.
19. Create a Free Course as a Lead Magnet to Entice Leads
B2B customers value education, especially when it’s free. Consider ways to train your audience on relevant topics. For instance, how to achieve a result using your product or service. Or it can be more subtle with your product/service CTA at the end of the course.
20. Make Your Newsletter Valuable with Insider Insights
You want to collect leads for your email campaign. But to do this, you need an enticing offer. Why should they add another weekly/monthly newsletter to their inbox? If you offer credible insider insights, then that’ll make it worth their while.
21. Repurpose Content Into Other Formats
Some people enjoy reading blogs, while others like videos or audio content. So consider repurposing videos into blogs (and vice versa), videos into audio, and podcasts into audio snippets. Share them across social media and your blog to connect with leads.
22. Optimize Your Website for Mobile Devices
Did you know 80% of B2B buyers use mobile while working? So eight times out of ten, they’re going to visit your site using a mobile device. Make sure your site is optimized for mobile to keep them engaged with your content. This is especially essential with more B2B buyers increasing their mobile usage. Over the past few years, 70% of B2B buyers increased mobile use significantly.
23. Get Featured On Guest Blogs to Extend Reach
Find non-competitor blogs in your industry to write guest posts for. Doing so can potentially drive more leads to your website. Your post should be long-form and high-value to entice readers to check out your blog and site. This gives you the chance to connect with leads you otherwise wouldn’t have.
24. Build a Chatbot for Your Website to Engage Visitors
Chatbots are widely accepted by B2B buyers, especially when they’re helpful. And according to Drift, 27% of American adults are ready to buy through a chatbot. This is why 28% of leading companies use chatbots for marketing.
25. Write Whitepapers to Showcase Product Benefits
B2B customers don’t care about what your product or service does. They want to know how it can benefit them. Create whitepapers to showcase how your product or service can resolve their problems. Listing all the benefits and discussing real-world results will get more leads trusting your brand.
26. Attend Online Events to Expand Network
With the pandemic locking down cities and preventing live events, more brands are hosting online events. You can take advantage of this by attending these events and networking with attendees. Focus on events within your industry so they’ll attract your target customers.
27. Host Your Own Webinars to Attract Leads
Hosting webinars is a great way to showcase your expertise as a brand. Consider webinar topics that are educational to entice more people to attend. Then at the end, you can ask attendees to convert into customers. Either way, you have information on all of your attendees, which you can use to nurture those that don’t convert.
28. Host Live Video Events for Better Engagement
Webinars are typically pre-recorded and shareable after production. And while they do well, you may find more engagement when you host live videos. You can turn these into Q&A sessions, expert interviews, or product demos. Consider repurposing the video into social media posts and blog content.
29. Create SlideShare Presentations to Demonstrate Expertise
Another way to establish your brand as an expert is to create SlideShare presentations. B2B buyers regularly view these, especially when they contain information and stats. Consider turning information from your webinars and videos into presentations.
30. Develop Fun Quizzes to Engage Leads
Another way to engage prospective customers is to develop fun quizzes for them to take. Of course, the quiz content should be relevant to the customer and industry. For example, you can have a quiz asking questions to see how well they’re growing, marketing, or operating their business. The results could be helpful in coming up with content and product/service ideas.
31. Build a B2B Podcast to Target Audio Lovers
B2B podcasts are on the rise, now that 52 million households are casual fans of business podcasts. Podcasts are a smart move because it does to things: builds your reputation and visibility, and edutains your audience. The key to being high-value is to offer great information, but in an entertaining way. Focus on interviewing industry experts and creating conversations that carry over to other channels, such as social media.
32. Add CTAs in Your Podcasts to Grow Leads
You’re having great conversations on your B2B podcast. What can you do to turn more of your listeners into leads? Like a blog post or web page, you want to add CTA throughout each podcast episode. Make sure to include the link to complete the CTA on the podcast page so listeners can take action easily.
33. Be a Guest On Other Podcasts to Expand Reach
It’s hard building your listener base when you’re a new podcast. One way to grow your listeners is to tap into other podcasts’ audiences. You can do this by being a guest on their podcast. This will give you free promotion and will help to build relationships and network within your industry. Make sure to share the link to the episode on your social media accounts.
34. Create Infographics for Your Audience to Share
Visual content performs exceptionally well. In fact, over 40% of marketers say original infographics are the best-performing visual content. There are various tools you can use to create infographics. Or you can work with an expert to create them for you. The idea is to create infographics that contain survey results, steps in a process, or other informative/educational content your audience will use and share. You may even get backlinks to it from blog posts that feature them.
35. Ask Your Customers for Reviews for UGC
UGC (user-generated content) is another form of social proof. This includes online reviews, testimonials, and customer story videos. If there’s anything we know about customer reviews, it’s that they help leads make buying decisions. So by asking customers for reviews, you can gather social proof to add to your content, such as emails, blog posts, and social media.
36. Ask Your Best Customers for Referrals
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could duplicate your best accounts? There’s an opportunity to do so by asking these customers for referrals. Chances are they’ll know one or more prospects who would make great opportunities for your business. Try offering incentives to get more customers giving referrals. For example, a free month off a subscription or discount on their next purchase in exchange for 3 referrals.
37. Offer a Free Consultation to Build Trust
Some B2B buyers are wary about hiring a service provider without knowing if they’ll get results. So to build trust, you can offer a free consultation. Consider using a simple booking tool to make it easy for leads to schedule a call with you and your team.
38. Create a Free Interactive Tool to Engage Visitors
You can consider interactive tools as another lead magnet. If you’re in an industry where calculators and formulas are commonplace, then you can create a tool to automate the calculations. Other ideas include product builders and simulators. Just make sure to gate it, so leads will have to insert their information to access the tool.
39. Offer a Free Trial to Create Interest
Another way to build trust with prospects is to offer free trial versions of your product. You can either provide full access to see why they should opt for a paid or higher-tier version. Or you can only allow them limited access to entice them to upgrade.
40. Create a Buyer Converter Product
A buyer convert product is a smaller tier product or service that’s cheaper and less comprehensive than your staple products. The purpose of these is to build relationships with your customers and potentially get them to upgrade to higher-tier products. An example would be a low-ticket product for $5/mo compared to your $75/mo product.
41. Give Special Offers to Create Exclusivity
People love feeling special, so why not offer leads a VIP deal? Exclusivity is a powerful driver of conversion, but only if the offer is enticing. For example, you can offer a discount for a yearly subscription. Or an inside look of a new product, delivered to their front door. Being the first to use something new creates interest and can build visibility if you allow them to create a blog, podcast, or video about it.
42. Optimize Your Opt-In Popup Forms to Improve Conversions
If you’re not getting as many signups for your newsletter, then it could be an issue with your opt-in form. Maybe there are too many fields, or you ask for too much information. Ideally, you only want to ask for the necessary information. The shorter your forms, the more likely people are to use them. So focus on name, company, and email. Then gather further details once you have them on board. Split test your forms to see which perform the best.
43. Split Test Lead Magnet Offers to See What Works
If you’re still struggling to get visitors to sign up for your email newsletter, then maybe it’s your lead magnet. You should test different downloadables to see which performs the best. Perhaps a checklist won’t do well, but a step-by-step guide will. Another option is to beef up your offer with several downloads bundled into one. For instance, an eBook guide, to-do list, and a workbook. Note that actionable content is high-value to B2B audiences.
44. Segment Your Lead Magnet Campaigns
The lead magnet that entices one group will likely differ from other groups you target. So it’s vital to create lead magnets based on the segment you’re targeting. For example, you can have magnets based on where a lead is in the sales funnel. Or the job role they have within an organization.
45. Turn Out-of-Stocks Into Opportunities
Running out of inventory is bad news for revenue. But it can turn into an opportunity to capture leads. For example, you can create email fields on out-of-stock products to notify visitors when they’re back. This does two things — it captures leads and boosts sales by getting visitors to return to buy as soon as it becomes available.
46. Personalize Email Campaigns to Drive Leads
Today’s consumers (B2B and B2C) desire personalized content from brands. This is why email segmentation works. Using lead insights and lead scoring helps identify who to target, when to target them, and with what content. By creating email campaigns around these triggers, you can create personalized experiences that convert. For example, sending an email with an offer after a lead views a product page. Or sending a discount code to return to an abandoned cart to checkout.
47. Conduct Surveys with Leads and Customers
The more you learn about your audience, the better you’ll become at marketing to and converting them. With online surveys, you can gather information to improve your inbound marketing strategy. Try to keep them short, so people are more likely to complete them. You can do this by segmenting your surveys based on topic, so they’re highly targeted. For example, a survey on marketing, sales, retail operations, procurement, and so on.
48. Build a Network On LinkedIn
Business has always been about who you know. And this couldn’t be any more true in the B2B industry. Networking with others in your industry and other relevant markets helps bring more opportunities to your door. This may be through directly working with those in your network, finding business opportunities, or receiving referrals. LinkedIn enables businesses to easily build a network of industry professionals within their market or niche.
49. Conduct Regular Website Audits to Improve SEO
When’s the last time you performed an SEO audit for your website? It’s common for businesses to treat their website like a set it and forget it deal. But leaving your website to collect virtual dust will only hurt your inbound marketing strategy.
Not only does it become outdated over time, it can also hurt its ranking when you don’t continue to optimize it. Google’s algorithm is constantly changing, so it’s critical to maintain a properly optimized site, or your ranking will suffer.
SEO is vital to getting more organic traffic to your website. This is important because organic leads have a higher chance of converting because they are looking for what you offer. You can optimize your site to improve your copy, CTAs, design, user experience, and messaging. Continue to test new ideas to see what works and what doesn’t.
50. Partner with Influencers to Grow Visibility
The role of an influencer is to generate views, engagement, and followers. This is their currency for getting business deals with companies like yours. They do this by creating content their audience gravitates to. In the B2C industry, this may be doing product unboxings, doing tutorials, and offering tips. You can take advantage of their hard work by partnering with them.
In an influencer relationship, you pay them to create content that promotes your brand or product/service. The idea is to choose influencers in your niche so their followers are likely to check out your website and maybe even convert. You can provide a discount code to track how many conversions your influencers generate.
51. Get Rid of Broken Links
Over the years, pages are removed or relocated to a new URL. If you fail to change the links pointing to these pages, then you’ll potentially send qualified leads to a broken page. These 404 pages hurt your SEO and frustrate visitors. It also damages your reputation and user experience. You can use tools and services to find broken links and pages so you can replace them quickly.
52. Send Corporate Gifts to Prospective Customers
Receiving a gift from a brand can make a great first impression of that company. Taking the time to choose, personalize, and ship an item speaks volumes of the business. And it’ll make a lasting impression in the minds of prospects. This is what makes corporate gifting excellent for lead generation.
You can use virtual gifts like gift cards or physical gifts like wine baskets to entice prospects to contact your business. For example, if you learn a client enjoys a particular wine, you can send a basket of it with a hand-written note. Then the next time you reach out via email, you can ask about their gift and whether they’d like to schedule a demo. There are corporate gifting platforms like Sendoso you can use to monitor your gifts from concept to reception.
53. Build an Online Community Using Groups
The future of marketing revolves heavily around humanizing brands. And one of the best ways to do this is to create a community. Social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to create groups. You can invite others to them and allow others to join on their own.
Use these to create start conversations with your target audience. This will position your brand as a thought leader and community manager. Make sure to have someone monitoring and engaging with the group daily to keep discussions going. Focus on bring value, not promoting your brand or products.
54. Answer Questions On Quora to Build Leads
Quora is a resource people use to learn about various topics. You can use it as a tool to position your brand as an industry leader. Create an account on the platform and then answer questions relevant to your niche. For example, if you’re in procurement, you can answer questions about sourcing products and supplies. Some even go as far as asking questions and then answering them to drive conversations. Make sure to include a link to your website in your profile and as a signature in your answers.
55. Host a Contest or Giveaway to Generate Buzz
Have a new product or service launching soon? Then offer a contest or giveaway to give a lucky winner free access when or before it hits the market. The contest can be something like sharing a story or creating a post with a snapshot or video of them doing something, then the people vote. Try to make it relevant to your audience and industry, so folks are more likely to participate.
56. Offer a Freemium Option to Hook New Customers
Another way to generate leads is to use freemiums. This is an alternative to free trials, but this option lasts longer. Free versions of a tool never end, like with a 2-week trial. This is a great lead-gen solution SaaS companies use. You’re capturing leads this way, so use their contact details to entice users to upgrade to your paid subscriptions.
57. Build a Landing Page for Each Target Audience (and Product)
Landing pages work better when they’re highly targeted. So focus on creating them for a particular product and a specific group. If you have a single product with several personas, then create one for each. Or if you have multiple products, each targeting a specific group, then you only need one landing page for each product.
Make sure to split test your CTAs, offers, and messaging to see how to improve conversions.
58. Target Top-of-the-Funnel Keywords
Organic traffic brings high-quality leads, so you want to target them by focusing your optimization strategy on top-of-the-funnel keywords. This will attract folks who are looking to learn more about their problem and how to resolve it. By building landing pages for lead magnets using these keywords, you can drive more quality traffic and conversions.
You can also use them in your blog posts. Focus on creating evergreen content optimized with those search terms. Then use a popup to ask readers to download a free eBook guide on the same topic. Consider segmenting by creating different guides for each persona and pain point.
Then connect them with relevant blog posts and PPC ads.
59. Use Ad Retargeting to Bring Leads Back
If visitors are browsing through your products and even placing them in your cart, then they’ve qualified themselves. With ad retargeting, you can bring these leads back to complete their purchase or provide their information. Let’s say a visitor views a product and then leaves. Your ad will show up to them throughout the web, showing that same product. To get them to return, you can offer a discount code to complete their purchase.
Then for those who abandon their shopping carts, you can have ads that say something along the lines of, “You forgot to check out — here’s a 15% discount to use today!” The goal is to craft messaging around the behaviors and personas of your visitors.
Start Building a Lead Generation Strategy that Converts
Your business’s growth relies on having a solid lead generation strategy. By implementing some of these tactics, you can automate the process and optimize your campaigns for success. If you’re interested in using corporate gifts to drive more conversions, then Sendoso may be for you.
Through our platform, you can create gift-giving campaigns and monitor them from start to finish. You can select gifts from our warehouse or our various partners, and then customize them with your branding and/or a hand-written note.
Prospects appreciate brands that take time to craft personalized gifts, increasing the odds of them converting. If you’re looking to build lasting relationships with your prospects, then request a demo with us today!
