1.

1 Introduction

In marketing, B2B lead generation is the act of identifying and initiating an interest of
potential customers. Or in other words, it’s the first step every business must go through
before making a sale. Identifying potential customers means finding businesses who may
have an interest in the product or service your business is offering (your target audience).
Initiating interest is about capturing information from these contacts and feeding them into
your sales funnel. A lead can then be converted into a customer with a sale.

Lead generation traditionally falls under the umbrella of advertising, but it isn’t limited to
paid-for channels and tactics. Any channel that generates interest in your website or business
can be classed as lead generation, both online and offline. The most common channels used
include email, event marketing, social media, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising,
cold calling and content marketing.

One of the most important elements of modern lead generation marketing, is a well-designed
website that is fully optimized, and geared towards generating interest in your services.

1.2 Importance of Lead Generation

Whether a business is big or small, all of them rely heavily on lead generation to find people
who'd be willing to buy from them. These leads spend a considerable amount of time
interacting with your site and show an interest in your products, deals, and offers.

Every new lead is the opportunity to create a potential customer, increasing your chances of
making more revenue. As a result, lead generation is an essential part of a B2B business too.

More specifically, lead generation helps sales and marketing in the following ways:

 B2B lead generation helps you identify your target market and how much of it will
respond favourably to your pitch. This is possible as you get a chance to understand
your customers and learn about where they spend most of their time to see if your
pitch aligns with their interests
 It helps you contact and engage with the right customers by providing you with the
most recent data of your customers
 With the awareness of your customer's interests, you can create targeted content that
is valuable and relevant. Such content, coupled with its amplified online presence,
will build brand awareness and those who previously didn't know you will get a
chance to do so
 B2B lead generation allows you to track and measure all your marketing activities to
avoid a scattergun approach
1.3 Types of B2B Leads

So, now that we know the basics of what a B2B lead is, let’s take a closer look at some of the
ways we can categorize them. As we’ll see, one lead can fit into multiple categories, so it’s
worth outlining the different types of leads.

1. Warm leads vs Cold leads

This is one of the most important distinctions to make when it comes to qualifying leads. A
cold lead is one that is unaware that they’ll be contacted by you. For example, a call that
comes out of the blue trying to sell a product or service. A warm lead, on the other hand, is
someone who has already shown an interest in your business. They’ll also have taken some
action to engage with you, such as signing up for your emailing list.

2. Information Qualified Lead (IQL)

What is an IQL? Well, it’s perhaps on the weaker side of the spectrum. Essentially, these are
people who know very little about your business and are unlikely to take action. They appear
towards the top of the sales funnel.

3. Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)

The next step along the sales funnel is a marketing qualified lead. MQLs take further action
to engage with your business, such as by signing up for a free course or downloading a PDF.
What is an MQL? It’s someone who has shown interest beyond sharing a phone number or
email address.

4. Sales Ready/Accepted Leads (SRL)

Next, what is an SRL? A sales-ready (or accepted) lead is someone who is towards the
bottom of the sales funnel. They may have asked to speak with a sales rep at your company,
and are ready to speak about the potential to do business with you.

5. Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)

What is an SQL? Well, these are people who have moved from MQL and are ready to make a
decision. They’ve likely had a conversation with a salesperson, and there is the potential there
for a sale. A sales qualified lead can be a valuable asset.
 6. Member Service Request Leads (MSR)

An MSR lead is a consumer-generated lead that comes when a new member signs up for your
service. They can be valuable, as they give you the chance to engage with the straightaway.

7. Inbound

An inbound lead is someone that initiates contact with you, either directly or through one of
your referral channels. For example, someone may read about your business on LinkedIn and
decide to reach out.

8. Outbound

Outbound leads are those that you develop by reaching out. These are usually cold leads that
haven’t opted into marketing communication with you, making them harder to reach.

1.4 Lead Generation Methods

By this point, you’re probably itching to get out and start finding some hot B2B leads. But
where should you look? There are several methods worth considering:

1. Cold calling

Although a somewhat outdated technique, cold calling still has its place for lead gen. It puts
you in direct contact with your prospects, giving you the (limited) chance to make a good
impression.

2. Automation

With services like Bant, you can automate your customer acquisition, giving you lead
generation and sales acceleration that can make the entire process a whole lot easier.

3. Peer-to-peer meetings

A face-to-face meeting with other sales reps is always a good way of securing some sales
leads that are primed and ready. Again, another old school method of marketing, but one that
can certainly work.
4. Strategic partnerships

A strategic partnership is when you form an alliance with a parallel company. It has to be a
mutually beneficial arrangement, where you can share leads and expand your prospect base.

5. Customer referrals

Good news travels fast, and your existing customers can be an excellent source of new leads.
This hinges on you developing a strong relationship with the existing lead but can result in
new customers.

6. Events

Again, being physically present with people can be a hugely successful way of meeting new
people interested in your business. Whether it’s an event you’re holding or attending, there
are few better ways to make industry connections.

7. Content marketing

Content is vital to a successful lead generation campaign. You want to be able to back up
your words and actions with some strong materials that can further sell your business.

8. Social media

As well as sites like LinkedIn, it’s also possible to engage with prospects on other social
media sites. Try and join groups that are related to your industry and provide insight, advice,
and expertise wherever possible. Social outreach is a hot trend right now.

9. Chatbots

Rule-based logic chatbots can engage customers visiting your website, resulting in qualified
sales leads. Such a method can get the conversation started, even when you’re not directly
talking with prospects.

1.5 Components of lead generation

Lead generation programs don’t end at simply generating your leads, there are various other
components that are just as important to the lead generation strategy.
 A lead generation database:  As leads come in, you’ll need to be able to track, attribute
them to the appropriate source, score, and segment them to begin nurturing. While you
can do some of this manually, you’ll need an automated system in place if you want to
scale your efforts.   
 Supporting content and lead-ready channels:  Content is the foundation of your lead
generation efforts. Think of content as the fuel for all of your marketing campaigns—
from email, to social, to event collateral. You’ll also want to see how your website,
landing pages, social media, email marketing, paid programs, and sales tactics fit in to the
lead generation execution plan
 An analytics engine:  Now that you know how much you’re investing you can accurately
track returns on your lead generation programs. But looking at only the first or last touch
to determine how your overall strategy is working won’t give you a full picture—
common wisdom is that it takes seven touches to convert a cold lead to a sale.
 A martech stack:  The right lead generation technologies will save you money, help you
do more with less, measure and optimize your programs, and ultimately allow you to
grow your lead generation programs—and company—faster.

1.6 Lead Generation Process

If you’re serious about increasing B2B sales, you’ll need a strong lead generation process.
This aligns marketing and sales teams and gives reps a proven framework to follow.

We know that B2B lead generation describes the process used by sales/marketing teams to
turn prospects into paying customers. But what do these steps entail?
  Step 1: Finding B2B leads

The first step towards generating B2B leads is finding the contact information of potential
buyers.

This information is often sourced in-house, generated by a third-party “lead gen” company,
or bought from a lead database (not advisable for B2B lead generation).

 Step 2: Reaching out to leads

With a list of (hopefully) high-quality leads, reps reach out to leads through cold outreach,
social media, or by replying back to inquiries.

 Step 3: Qualifying & prospecting high-quality leads

While interacting with leads, reps measure how likely leads are to buy.

They’ll do this by gauging the stage leads are at during the buying process. These stages
include:

1. Research & awareness: The customer is aware of a solution they need, or problem
they face, and they begin to learn more about it.
This is the stage where they’ll consume content like blogs, whitepapers, and case
studies.
2. Consideration: The lead knows the exact service/product that is needed. He/she will
now detail their specific needs before researching and “opening up” to vendors.
3. Decision: Filtering through vendors that best suit their needs, the buyer will have
multiple meetings and check-in with other decision-makers to complete a purchase.
Depending on what stage a lead is at, reps will initiate nurturing campaigns or focus
on getting the prospect to book a call or demo.

 Step 4: Closing leads

Success! After multiple meetings with different vendors, the prospect picks you and the deal
is done. They’ll now be transferred to customer success for onboarding.
1.7 Lead Generation Strategies

Online lead generation encompasses a wide range of tactics, campaigns, and strategies
depending on the platform on which you wish to capture leads. We talked about lead capture
best practices once you have a visitor on your site … but how can you get them there in the
first place?

Let’s dive into lead generation strategies for a few popular platforms.

 Facebook Leads Generation

Facebook has been a method for lead generation since its inception. Originally, companies
could use outbound links in their posts and information in their bios to attract strangers to
their websites. However, when Facebook Ads was launched in 2007, and its algorithm began
to favour accounts that used paid advertising, there was a major shift in how businesses used
the platform to capture leads. Facebook created Lead Ads for this purpose. Facebook also has
a feature that lets you put a simple call-to-action button at the top of your Facebook Page,
helping you send Facebook followers directly to your website.

 Twitter Leads Generation

Twitter has Twitter Lead Gen Cards, which let you generate leads directly within a tweet
without having to leave the site. A user's name, email address, and Twitter username are
automatically pulled into the card, and all they have to do is click "Submit" to become a lead.
(Hint for HubSpot users: You can connect Twitter Lead Gen Cards to your HubSpot Forms.
Learn how to do that here).

 LinkedIn Leads Generation

LinkedIn has been increasing its stake in the advertising space since its early days. When it
comes to lead generation, LinkedIn created Lead Gen Forms, which auto-populate with a
users profile data when they click a CTA, making it easy to capture information.
  PPC Leads Generation

When we say pay-per-click (PPC), we’re referring to ads on search engine result pages
(SERPs). Google gets 3.5 billion searches a day, making it prime real estate for any ad
campaign, especially lead gen. The effectiveness of your PPC campaign relies heavily on a
seamless user flow, as well as your budget, target keywords, and a few other factors.

 B2B Leads Generation

B2B is a particular business model that requires a particular approach to lead generation.
HubSpot found that SEO is the top resource for capturing business leads, followed closely by
email marketing and social media. Not to mention, effectiveness varies by channel.

1.8 Benefits and Results of Leads Generation

1. Generate Awareness:

Brand awareness is a measure of how well your brand is known within its target markets.
This is when customers think of you first when they need to make a purchase within your
product category. The more the people are aware of your brand the stronger is your
reputation, the greater your profit potential and overall brand value is. Lead Generation
educates and informs people in your defined market regarding your product and its features,
thus creating a scope for 'word of mouth'.

2. Increase in Sales and Profit Ratio:

Over 55% of B2B marketers spend more than half their marketing budget on lead generation.
One of the most important benefits accrued by using lead generation is that of increase in
sales of your products or services. Businesses that use lead generation programs are more
likely to make more sales by turning leads into full-fledged customers. This can also increase
the profit margins of the business. Lead generation is a must to stay in this competitive
market.
 3. Contributes to a Positive ROI:

Since it is a marketing technique, lead generation contributes to a better Return on

Investment. You pay only for the leads received and hence a greater chance of squaring your
ROI by reducing CPL.

4. Target Desired Customers:

Lead generation allows you to target your desired customers at different demographic
locations, thus reducing and making clear your target audience. Therefore you decide on
where you think you might make more sales.

5. Beneficial to both Buyer and Seller:

The buyer can do some detailed information research on several providers at once whereas
the seller is pitching their product or service to a buyer who has already given them
permission to do so. So it's a win-win situation for both of them to do business.

6. Collects Important Information about Prospects

Lead generation allows you to collect important information about a prospect, his needs,
preferences which helps you tailor the value of your product or service to meet their wants,
interests and/or needs when your sales team makes contact with the prospect.

7. Costs less than Other Advertisements:

Since advertising is a requirement for a business to succeed, it is important for a business to

go for the most convenient marketing strategy that will be cost-effective and also better
produce results. Lead generation is that option for a business.

Leads (Marketing Qualifies, Sales Qualified, Highly Qualifies, BANT- Budget Authority
Need Time) The demand for providers of these leads is constantly increasing because Lead
Generation agencies have a price set per lead, choice of the product or service they wish to
market. Your paid leads can be targeted to your niche market. Plan available where you can
purchase what your monthly budget allows. And you pay only for those sales leads or
marketing leads that you want.

1.9 Common Problems that Lead Generation can Solve

Simple batch and blast advertising doesn’t appeal to the self-directed buyer, and having a
solid lead generation program in place can help you navigate the new complexity surrounding
lead generation. Below are a few problems lead generation can help solve.

 Problem: I need to generate a high volume of leads. If you’re just starting out, a
lead generation program can result in increased brand awareness, new relationships,
higher quality leads, and more sales. If you’re looking to optimize an existing
program, you may want to revaluate your audience profiles, buyer journey, channels,
and tactics. Keep your goals, customer concerns, and challenges in mind, deliver
content that solves their pain points, and keep nurturing those relationships—soon
you’ll have a funnel filled with qualified leads.

 Problem: My sales team says that I’m not delivering high-quality leads. There are
several reasons why your sales team is struggling to convert leads into customers.
First, sales and marketing should be in agreement about what constitutes a qualified
lead, and when that lead should be handed off, keeping in mind that 96% of people
visiting your website aren’t ready to buy yet. If sales contact them too soon, they may
feel put off—buyers today do not want to feel sold to. Lead quality is important, but
it’s a major challenge for marketers, so it may take some time to start bringing in
qualified leads.

 Problem: I’m bringing in leads, but don’t have a strategy around what to do
next. Generating leads is just one part of lead generation. Once you bring these leads
in, you must utilize lead scoring and nurturing to qualify said leads before sales can
do their job. According to Forrester, buyers might be anywhere from 75 to 90% of the
 way through their buying journey before they contact the vendor, after they’ve
completed their own research. Keep this in mind when determining what point in the
funnel sales should step in.

 Problem: I need to be able to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) of my

marketing team. To show the impact of your marketing team, you’ll need to plan out
a strategy and determine what to measure, when to measure, and how to measure.
Choose metrics that show how marketing is increasing effectiveness across the board,
generating qualified leads, amplifying sales pipeline velocity, and improving sales and
marketing alignment through leveraging lead generation software.

 Problem: My lead generation program isn’t working anymore. If your lead

generation strategy has yet to catch up to the age of the self-directed buyer, it’s time
to revaluate. Using modern lead generation software can help leads find you by
increasing brand visibility and capturing interest with informational content buyers
can use during their own research before they’re ready to purchase.

1.10 ROI of a Successful Lead Generation Program

The ROI of a successful lead generation program depends upon determining qualified leads
and moving them along the sales funnel at their own pace.

 Lead generation drives content marketing. 85% of B2B marketers say lead
generation is their most important content marketing goal (Ring Lead, 2017).
 Lead generation helps you to direct users to relevant content. Targeting users with
content relevant to their position along the buying process yields 72% higher
conversion rates. (Aberdeen)
 Lead generation can grow revenue in any size company. By building a lead
generation strategy, we’ve seen mature companies achieve  133% greater revenue
versus their plan  than average companies, and 174% more than the least mature
companies.