10 B2B Lead Generation Strategies for 2016

Lead generation is any company’s lifeblood, and coming up with a strategy to increase and sustain leads is important.

The challenge in planning a lead strategy arises not so much from the fact that little can be found when one does a search on the topic — but that there is so much information out there, it’s hard to know what the best strategy is. It doesn’t help either that people seek one killer lead tactic that masks all ills while failing to realize that a good B2B business generation is made up of many activities, which much be measured and tested to find out what’s working best.

Marketing executives are reporting that lead quality is a top priority for lead generation — and ironically, the biggest challenge they face. In Marketo’s study, 61 percent of marketers reported that generating high-quality leads was problematic for their organizations.

Given such crystal clear data, B2B marketing professionals must gear up their marketing campaigns and map out strong lead generation strategies for the coming year.

In helping you generate new lead ideas, here are strategies to fill in the lead gaps for 2016.

1. Build social media relationships.

There’s no denying that social media as a lead generation tool is a powerful way of building and nurturing relationships. Stop using it mainly as a broadcast tool, and instead rethink influencing and adding value to around 50 to 100 prospects.

LinkedIn is a good reason to leave all those industry and job title-related groups you signed up for, and find 2 or 3 groups where your actual prospects hang out and look for advice.

Start asking and answering questions in these groups. Start building trusted relationships based on your expertise and your network, start referring others and connecting these people to the tools, answers, and resources they need, and you’ll begin to generate the right leads in social media.

2. Seminars and webinars.

For most B2B lead generation environments, one of the most effective tactics involves in-person education through seminars and webinars. When a prospect gets to see and hear that you provide valuable advice and that you have an answer or two for the particular challenges they are struggling with at the moment, some instant affinity can occur.

And from a content creation standpoint, the ongoing series you create can also be turned into a powerful trust-building asset or even a product in itself.

3. Make lead scoring dynamic and behavioral.

Consider what makes a lead qualified, and work on enhancing a lead score with information that you have about your leads beyond demographics.

Focus on how the individual reached your website and other actions they’ve taken, as you calculate your scores.

4. Supplement inbound tactics with outbound.

Look for a point of diminishing returns where your campaign investments provide the greatest value.

Inbound strategies like content marketing are strong channels, and should be maximized to a point. But, beyond that, inbound tactics need to be supplemented with outbound and other paid channels to create a sustainable demand and generate new leads.

5. Collaborate with sales.

Engage early with your sales teams and continuously seek their qualitative feedback — combining it with your own quantitative analysis to determine how you should adjust your investments and targeting to generate the most dynamic mix of demand to fuel sales.

6. Optimize website conversions for lead generation.

A well-performing website converts 7% to 14% of visitors and is optimized for this goal. Most people think that beautiful websites are better, but studies show that even less attractive yet functional websites can be just as successful — if not more successful at converting leads.

That said, it is important to limit the amount of options a person has for the website to be explored. The more incomprehensive and overwhelming it is, the greater the chance an audience will lose interest and leave.

Moreover, it is important to place CTAs in every section to drive the audience to web forms and gated content.

7. Guest blogging.

An effective tactic for generating leads for small businesses, in particular, is guest blogging on popular industry-related websites.

In addition to helping small businesses build up their SEO through link building, guest blogging can be an excellent lead-generating source. You can even get creative and structure the content in a way that prequalifies your leads.

8. Mobile is the place to be.

In 2015, Mobile surpassed desktop in terms of global usage. People are spending 3 hours more per day on their mobile phones, with time spent on mobile about to beat time spent watching TV.

There is absolutely no doubt that marketers need to invest in the mobile space. Consumers are relying on their phones for discovery, research, e-commerce, social engagement, and simply to pass the time.

It is predicted that by 2017, Facebook’s revenue from mobile ads in the US will grow to 7.53 billion dollars. This is tremendous growth considering it was only a few years ago that Facebook launched mobile ads.

9. Understand buyers’ needs.

In 2016, companies that are active in understanding their customer’s buyer persona are most likely to win.

Building and understanding these personas ensure that the efforts of marketing and sales are focused on the customer.

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal client. Although it does require a lot of work, putting in the effort will vastly improve your customers’ experience when engaging with marketing and sales.

10. Earn an audience with content marketing.

With 75 billion pieces of content shared every day, 8 billion photos uploaded and shared, and 500 million Tweets posted, it is no wonder that content marketing is relevant in the world of lead generation and digital marketing overall.

However, with numbers this huge, it’s no surprise that 60 to 70 percent of content marketing goes unnoticed, as it doesn’t serve the needs of marketers or audiences.

Unfortunately, this means missed opportunities for brand exposure, leads, and conversions. To make content useful, it is important to create content that has a specific destination.

Content must serve a distinct purpose or else it’s not content marketing — just content. Lastly, ensure that your content is valuable to your audience.

The digital age has certainly opened up various ways of generating leads. As a B2B lead generation company, understanding the dynamics of lead generation is critical to your success.

Originally published at pureb2b.com.