Innovative B2B Lead Generation Practices for Today’s Business

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B2B

In the face of fierce competition, how does your business plan on standing out?

Because you should know right now that basic marketing tactics aren’t always enough—especially if your goal is lead generation.

It’s time to harness your creative energy and inject some of it into how you target customers and deliver value.

Luckily technology has your back, and you can leverage it to revolutionize your campaign messages for greater impact. Here are five innovative lead generation practices for businesses today.

1. Interactive Content

In a sea of B2B white papers, research reports, and case studies, creating content that stands out can be a tall order. Even brilliantly written B2B content must now contend for audience attention alongside thousands of others.

Static content isn’t pulling audience interest like it used to. 

This is where interactive content comes in. 

A Demand Metric study found that 88 percent of marketers found their differentiator in interactive content. A further 93 percent indicated that interactive content is hugely effective in educating buyers compared to static content.

Interactive content is specifically designed for engagement, with the content changing depending on how a user engages. Examples include calculators, quizzes, infographics, solution finders, assessments/graders, and videos.

Tips for creating effective interactive content include:

  • Creating irresistible titles. The title is primarily what compels audiences to engage with the content, provide their info, and even share the content. Words like “which”, “what”, and “you” may help attract audience participation and improve shares.
  • Add real and immediate value. Quizzes and calculators are perfect for providing immediate, personalized value. The user should access their results quickly. You can use the information users provide to address the problems they face and share useful tips.
  • Make it entertaining. With ever-shortening attention spans, visual elements like images or GIFs may help keep the users engaged and entertained as they interact with the content.

2.Provide Real-Time Personalization

Real-time personalization allows you to automatically serve tailored content to people coming to your site. You can, for example, set up triggers that recognize visitors from specific industries and immediately adjust the content and visuals to suit their needs.

We know that most people visit websites anonymously, so how will you serve up personalized experiences to visitors you know zero about?

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Most marketing automation software come with real-time personalization abilities that gather IP addresses from these anonymous visitors so you can categorize them based off business demographics. 

With that sorted, you can now offer relevant content anytime these “anonymous” visitors come to your site.

Use real-time personalization:

  • To provide content based on company type or industry. This ensures potential buyers only see relevant content—remember the furniture story above—preventing time wastage on irrelevant offers.?
  • In Account-Based Marketing. When targeting specific accounts, you could use the IP addresses of anonymous visitors to check whether they are among the accounts you’re targeting. If so, you can tailor your website to address them and increase the chances of conversion.
  • For location-specific content. If you host live events or trade shows, you may find that some content is only relevant to those locations or regions. You can pick up anonymous visitors from that region and serve location-specific content.

3. Make Cold Calls

4.Podcasting

Many salespeople excel at building relationships with potential customers face-to-face but fall flat on their faces when they have to replicate the same over the phone.

Yet cold calling is among the first lead nurturing phases customers pass through to get to that meeting.

Without the right skill set to initiate and carry through a cold sales call, even the most customized calling list will not generate face-to-face meetings.

Important skills you’ll need going in, include:

  • Persistence. It may take several attempts before reaching your contact. You may encounter cold-hearted gatekeepers, get hung up on, and receive some rude responses. Take it in stride and keep reaching for your aim.
  • Stay calm no matter what. There are times when your head will be reeling from dealing with a difficult prospect or you’ve just landed your ideal buyer. Maintain a clear head to ensure you make the best choices and use the best words to capitalize the situation.
  • Be relatable. Research the contact beforehand to pick up cues on their personality and find a way to relate with them at their level. People tend to trust those they can relate to so go on and show the prospect that you care.
  • Think on your feet. When you’re on the call you don’t have time to refer to your notes or list of “dos” and “don’ts.” You’ll need the quick-thinking ability to help you decide on the best response or next step.
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4.Podcasting

4.Podcasting

Whether you’re starting your own podcast or appearing as a guest, the podcasting strategy is a fantastic option for lead generation. It allows you to delve into topics where your expertise shines. 

As people listen, they find value in you, which may lead them to take quantifiable action such as reaching out to you or visiting your website.

So, it’s no longer about whether podcasting can help generate leads, but rather how to maximize this strategy. Consider the following:

  • Incentivize your CTA. Listeners are likely to look up your brand on their own but you can potentially secure more leads by offering an incentive. These may take the form of free trials, discounts, or downloads so be sure to add a link in the episode description.
  • Pique curiosity and interest by pitching the topics you’ll discuss in the podcast. From specific pain points to new product/service/book launches, offering previews of upcoming podcasts gives your listeners something to look forward to.
  • Promote upcoming podcasts on multiple platforms. It increases exposure and searchability. Determine the communication channels your target audiences use and promote your podcast there. If you’re co-hosting or making a guest appearance then check with your partners so you can create and use a uniform promotional campaign. 

5. Create Infographics

podcasting

Infographics hardly receive rightful recognition yet many marketers consider their contribution to driving traffic and engagement impressive. Studies show that using color in visual content makes it memorable. Up to 82 percent of readers will recall the visual content they read if it contained colors. Besides, people are 30x more likely to read an infographic than a complete article.

How do you use infographics to boost lead generation?

  • Use simple designs. Cluttered text-packed designs drive readers away. Think about visual appeal and a functional design that includes an outline and flow of information. Use legible fonts to form a hierarchy of information, leave lots of white spaces, and, where possible replace text with illustrations, icons, and photos.
  • Showcase your infographics in blog posts. To increase viewership, create a blog with supporting SEO-optimized content to expound the infographic. Your blog can start with a short intro, the infographic, and then content that dives into the infographic.
  • Create mini infographics for social. Posting your infographic as is on social media may leave you with cropped-out versions that don’t communicate effectively. Check the size requirements for the social platforms you intend to use on and break down the infographics accordingly.