Last Updated on April 17, 2020 by
This is one of those questions we are asked about by both our online and offline audience, that is… how to come up with new leads for businesses of all kinds. There are a number of ways to go about generating these types of B2B leads, but the ones we’ve seen that perform the best are those that are generated organically and effectively; let’s consider them both.
Generating B2B Sales Leads Organically
When you think about something that is organic, in almost every case it’s a better and/or higher quality item; and that definitely applies when it comes to B2B lead generation. So, what are some of ways to go about doing this? Consider 3 ways:
- Organic Traffic – This form of lead generation is proving to be by far the highest converting when compared to any other kind; largely due to the fact that organic traffic is the result of someone searching online for a specific product or service that you may be offering and they end up on your company website because of your website’s visibility in the search engines. Getting leads this way is perfect for those in the B2B space since most of your potential customers are going to do a ton of research higher up in the sales funnel, but when they are ready to choose a company to work with… the fact that you have an easy to use and accessible website, along with the fact that you’re ranking in the search engines, your conversion rates will be much higher than if it was a random person visiting your website as a result of you handing out a ton of business cards at a marketing event.
- Social Media – This is one area of marketing that is proven to make or break many companies in the B2B space. What’s nice about generating leads here is that you can organically gain a following or you can advertise directly to your target audience based on their demographics, education, interests, etc. In that way you can put your products and services in the face of your ideal client, and from there they can choose if they are ready to reach out to you. This form of gettng more B2B sales leads can and does really pay off for those companies that implement it.
- Referrals – No matter how fast technology improves and advances, it seems that this form of advertising will never go away or slow down. And when you think about it, both of the types of sales lead generaton suggestions mentioned above are primarily based on referrals. So… how do you get more referrals? One way can be by simply asking your clients to tell their friends and aqcuantances to spread the word about the wonderful product and service you are offering to them; did you notice the word “wonderful”. What that means is you have to take care of your existing clientel first, and then you have to be concerned about getting even more businesses to work with. Not the other way around.
If you want to talk about being authentic, AKA organic, when it comes to generating new leads for your business, what was mentoned above should help.
Generating B2B Leads Effectively
This aspect of lead generation, that is… doing so effectively, is unfortunately overlooked by so many companies, the idea of purchasing leads is frowned upon and trying to come up with new and creative ways increase the number of leads is often times not taken serious. More so than not this is a result of the company historically not having a good experience with trying to come up with more B2B leads or they have heard plenty of the horror stories associated with this form of business marketing. Below are some of the tips we encourage companies to follow to make sure they don’t set themselves up for failure:
- Avoid the spray and pray method – This doesn’t mean that the method doesn’t work, but there are plenty of other ways to generate leads in the B2B space that can be both measured and fine tuned. However, throwing everything at the wall and waiting to see what sticks is definitely not the best way to do things; especially if you’re working with a budget.
- Measure performance – As you try different forms of lead generation… take some time, however much is needed, and see how things are performing, what your cost per lead is, and which methods can be accelerated.
- Learn approximately howe much competitors are paying – This information is probably the first thing you want to find out before you do any form of sales lead generation. The reason is because it’s the best way to get realistic expectations on how much budget you need to be working with as well as understanding what a successful campaign should or shouldn’t cost you.
- Be realistic – Every method of lead generation you try is not going to work the first, second, or even tenth time. For most businesses that are in the B2B space, it can take months of even years to get a system in place to make this type of investment worthwhile; which is the reason so many businesses outsource this area of marketing so that experts can properly manage and maintain these types of campaigns.
Hopefully the above points will help you better understand some of the ways you can successfully get more B2B sales leads coming in for your product or services. For some people, they are skeptical about whether or not generating leads for the business is possible; but the truth is… if you see other businesses succeeding with it, you can too! It’s just a matter of finding the best way to do so based upon both your needs and your budget. Again, there are tons of ways to bring in more qualified leads, but historically and factually the best way of doing so is making sure it’s done effectively and organically. Nomvo!