Top 9 B2B lead generation techniques for 2024

Trying to get more B2B leads in your sales pipeline? To boost your lead generation efforts, you might want to take a step back and understand the changes that have been happening over the last few years to the B2B buyer journey.

With over 77% of B2B buyers sharing how their latest purchase was complex or difficult thanks to complicated internal processes and stakeholders involved, the way an effective B2B lead generation strategy works has changed.

Back in 2020, 70% of B2B decision makers preferred remote human interactions or a digital self-service, this remains true in 2024 at an increased capacity.

In this blog post, we guide you on the best B2B lead generation tools and tactics you need to know for 2024. Let's go.

What does the B2B lead generation process look like?

The B2B (business-to-business) lead generation process involves identifying and cultivating potential customers for a company's products or services and enticing them to purchase. Over the last few years, the B2B buyers journey has changed due to change in customer behaviour. Your potential leads are more likely to do some research before deciding whether or not to have that initial chat which means that your inbound marketing strategy needs to be strong.

Why it's important for your sales leads to work with your marketing teams

It's no secret that sales teams and marketing teams have often been in competition with each other traditionally. But it's time for that to change. If your marketing and sales team aren't already working closely together, now's the time to build bridges between them.

It's increasingly important to have your sales reps and marketing teams work closely to meet their demands so that you can:

• Craft a demand generation strategy that aligns with both departmental goals.
• Build a strong content marketing strategy and create valuable content such as sales enablement content to help drive conversations.
• Create relevant blog posts that your sales team can share with potential buyers.
• Reach a wider target audience through organic search, email marketing and social media marketing campaigns.

9 effective B2B lead generation strategies you need to know

Inbound lead generation strategies are crucial in B2B sales because they attract customers organically and enable companies to reach potential clients who are actively searching for related products or services.

Ready to pivot from your existing sales funnel and start getting some high quality B2B leads? Here are some effective B2B lead generation strategies every B2B sales lead needs to know.

Inbound lead generation strategies

Inbound marketing focuses on creating quality content that pulls people toward your company and product. For this to work, your content strategy needs to take into account content pillars to know what stories to tell and avoid being too product or service heavy, and distribution channels so that the content is getting in front of the right people.

1. Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO involves optimizing website content and structure to improve visibility in the organic (non-paid) search engine results pages (SERPs). This is achieved through the use of keywords, high-quality content, backlink building, and improving site structure and performance.

Using the right keywords in your content marketing and SEO strategy will help you get in front of the right target audience organically. But this isn't about keyword stuffing – it's about finding a balance between the keyword you're targeting and what value-add content you can create.

Importance in B2B sales: SEO is essential in B2B sales because it helps businesses reach prospects at the very start of their buying journey. By ranking highly in SERPs for relevant terms, businesses can attract leads that are looking for specific solutions, ensuring a higher likelihood of engagement and conversion. Effective SEO drives sustained, cost-effective traffic over time, unlike paid strategies that require ongoing funding.

2. Search engine advertising (SEA)

Have you ever seen a sponsored link on your Google search result page? Search engine advertising (SEA) is a form of digital marketing where advertisers pay to display ads in search engine results page. Some core components of search engine advertising include:

• Keywords: You'll have to know what keyword you want to target and what landing page you want to potential customers to be led to that will trigger their call to action.
• Pay per click (PPC): How does your chosen search engine operate? Most operate on a pay per click model, which means that you'll only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad.
• Ad auctions: When a search query includes terms that multiple advertisers are targeting, a bidding war starts.  This triggers the search engine to determine which ads to display based on bid amount, ad quality, relevance and landing page quality.
• Ad copy: Persuasive ad copy is crucial if you want people to click on your page. Make sure your headline, brief description and call to action is relevant and clear.

Importance in B2B sales: SEA is a powerful tool for B2B companies because it offers immediate visibility in search engines, which is crucial in a competitive market. It allows companies to appear at the top of SERPs for highly competitive keywords where organic ranking might be slow or difficult. SEA can quickly generate leads and is flexible, allowing businesses to adjust their campaigns in real time based on performance and market dynamics.

3. Affiliation

Affiliation, or affiliate marketing, involves a business partnering with individuals or other businesses (affiliates) who promote the company’s products or services. In return, they receive a commission for each lead or sales generated through their promotional efforts, usually tracked through dedicated links or coupon codes.

Importance in B2B sales: Affiliation extends a company’s marketing reach by leveraging the networks and audiences of its affiliates. It's particularly important in B2B sales as it allows businesses to target specific industries or niches through partners who already have established credibility and influence. This strategy can be highly cost-effective because commissions are only paid on successful conversions, minimizing upfront marketing costs while maximizing outreach and lead generation.

Outbound lead generation strategy

Outbound lead generation strategies require a proactive approach by sales teams to directly approach potential customers. It's still relevant in 2024 because it allows sales teams to reach out to target specific prospects that fit their ideal customer profile (ICP), and potentially speed up the sales process by initiating direct contact. However, the trick is to not appear as spam as it can also harm your reputation if executed poorly.

4. Outbound calling (cold calling)

Outbound calling, or cold calling, involves making unsolicited phone calls to potential customers who have not previously expressed interest in the offered products or services. The objective is to introduce these prospects to the company's offerings and gauge their interest or move them into the sales funnel.

Importance in B2B sales: Despite being considered traditional, cold calling is still being practiced especially by B2B SaaS companies and remains effective in B2B sales because it allows for immediate feedback and personal interaction with prospects. It can be especially effective in reaching decision-makers directly, bypassing some of the digital noise and fostering a personal connection that can be crucial in business relationships.

5. Outbound emailing (cold emails)

Similar to cold calling, cold outbound emailing involves sending unsolicited emails to potential customers. These emails aim to introduce the company and its products, providing enough value and information to spark interest and encourage a dialogue.

Importance in B2B sales: Cold outbound emailing is an essential strategy because it allows for scaling outreach efforts without the resource intensity of phone calls. With the right approach, including personalized content and clear calls to action, it can effectively generate leads and drive engagement.

6. Reach out based on social media engagement

This strategy involves monitoring social media platforms such as LinkedIn to identify potential customers based on their interactions—such as likes, comments, or shares—related to content that aligns with the company’s products or services. Sales teams then reach out directly to these engaged individuals or entities.

Importance in B2B sales: Engaging prospects who have already shown an interest in related content on social media can lead to higher conversion rates. This strategy allows businesses to connect in a more personalized way, acknowledging the prospect's interests and prior engagements, which can help in building rapport and trust.

7. Trade shows and conferences

Attending or booking a stall at industry-specific trade shows and conferences where teams can meet potential customers face-to-face, demonstrate products, and quickly gather leads can be an effective lead generation strategy to get quality leads. This is great for sales engagement and marketing as a way to get email addresses and phone numbers of potential customers. You can also use it as an effective way of appointment setting for any demos or follow-up calls.

Importance in B2B sales: Industry trade shows and conferences are not only great networking opportunities – they can also boost your brand visibility and offer a way to see what competitors are doing to understand emerging industry trends.

8. Webinars and seminars

Have you ever been contacted after attending a LinkedIn live? Webinars and seminars are a great outbound strategy but leans heavily on high quality content, hosts and guests that can add value to your audience. It's also a great way to get qualified leads who already know about your product and boost your brand authority.

Importance in B2B sales: Hosting webinars and seminars is beneficial for lead generation and can position your startup as a thought leader in its field, which is great for building credibility and trust with potential leads. It's also an effective way for engaging with your prospects. The trick is not to have a sales-centric approach, but a value-add approach.

9. Account-based marketing (ABM)

ABM is a strategic approach in which the company targets specific high-value accounts rather than trying to reach a broader market. It involves personalized marketing and sales efforts designed to resonate deeply with each targeted account, fostering higher engagement and conversion rates.

Importance in B2B sales: Using the ABM approach requires close collaboration between sales and marketing teams to identify key accounts, craft customized campaigns, and follow up effectively. This alignment can significantly improve the conversion rates and the sales cycle length.

Keep track of your new leads with folk

Looking for a CRM to help you keep track of your new leads and an eye on their conversion rate? While most CRMs are sales-centric, folk's CRM provides a space for your sales and marketing teams to work together to solve their pain points, easily access a prospect's contact details and keep track of all the relevant content you've been sharing with them.

Key features

• Pipeline management: Easily add new users from both your sales and marketing team to folk's pipeline management area and choose from a Kanban-board view that can be personalized to align with your internal sales process, or listicle.
• Mail merge and marketing automation: Save time as you focus on your lead generation work with folk's marketing tools. Make use of email sequences that can automate the emails you send out depending on the recipients behaviour and get the help of AI to personalize every touchpoint.

Pros

• 1-click enrichment: Have some missing gaps or want to enrich your contact information? folk has a contact enrichment feature that can help you level up your B2B data.
• Import search lists from LinkedIn sales navigator: Use the free folk X Chrome extension that can help you save contact information straight to your folk CRM uninterrupted including search lists from LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
• Price and plans: On an annual plan, folk starts from $18 per user, per month making it an affordable option for those looking to boost business growth, the premium plan starts from $29 per user, per month.
  

Cons

• Reporting: Not yet available on folk yet but coming soon.
  

Conclusion

The B2B sales journey has changed over the last few years. Which means that if you're still adopting a more traditional method and have yet to pivot from this strategy – now is the right time to do so. To be fully prepared, you'll need to be aware of new sales tactics that can help you align with the behaviour of today's buyers. What's more, you'll also need a CRM that can help both your sales and marketing teams collaborate effectively. Try folk today, free.

More resources

Looking for more resources on sales and marketing strategies? Check out the following:

• Founder-led sales 101: Actionable strategies for early stage startup founders
• How to leverage social selling on LinkedIn to drive new business
• The modern sales stack for SMBs
• How to setup your inbound sales process