How to Find B2B Leads: Proven Strategies for 2024
6 Strategies to Find Leads With B2B Marketing
Finding B2B leads is a core task of marketers.
It is both challenging and important to support sales and the company’s success. This gives your marketing credibility.
Gone are the days of cold calls or launching generic email campaigns. Today, B2B marketers must be precise, strategic, and data-driven in their approach to B2B lead generation.
This article will show 6 proven strategies for identifying, nurturing, and converting high-quality leads into business relationships.
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Table of Contents
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What are B2B Leads?
A Definition
Before diving into actionable tactics, we need to define what we mean by B2B leads. Here’s the definition:
B2B Lead Definition
A B2B Lead is a business contact who shows interest in your product or service and fits your ideal customer profile (ICP).
Unlike B2C leads, B2B leads have longer sales cycles, higher-value transactions, and more stakeholders involved in decision-making. This is often reflected in different marketing approaches in B2B and B2C.
For a B2B lead to be valuable, they must:
Be the right fit for your product or service (company size, industry, and job role).
Be in a position where they have decision-making authority or strong influence over purchasing decisions.
Have a pain point or problem your product can solve.
Have an interest in solving the problem in a reasonable time.
Components of a Valuable B2B Lead © B2B Marketing World
These criteria are often referred to as BANT criteria. An acronym for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeframe.
This definition is straightforward.
But the challenge lies in how to find B2B leads and what steps you take to convert them into loyal customers. Your B2B sales team rely on these leads.
The key lies in creating tailored, strategic content and marketing actions that guide prospects through every stage of the buying journey.
How to Find B2B Leads: 6 Strategies
Proven Marketing Tactics to Generate Leads
These 6 strategies work especially well in a business-to-business environment. While these marketing strategies and tactics are broadly used by B2C marketers, too, they are essential in knowledge-intensive B2B markets.
Before we go into details, let us connect the dots. This overview shows how to combine the 6 strategies and create a constant flow of B2B leads:
Maximize B2B Lead Generation A Step-by-Step Guide © B2B Marketing World
1. LinkedIn for B2B Lead Generation
With over 770 million professionals, LinkedIn is the most powerful social platform for B2B lead generation. However, just being present on LinkedIn isn’t enough. You must actively engage with potential leads to leverage the platform’s possibilities. In addition, LinkedIn PPC advertising is a very powerful way to collect leads.
Optimize Your Profile and Company Page
These are the very basics. Your LinkedIn profile and company page are your digital storefronts. Ensure that both clearly communicate your value proposition, highlight key services, and create trust.
Your personal profile is much more than a virtual business card. It is the landing page within LinkedIn. 100s or even 1,000s visits a month are not uncommon.
Your headline should immediately convey what you do and who you serve. Use the highlight section, about section, and service section to make your point.
LinkedIn Ads and Targeting
LinkedIn’s ad platform offers some of the best targeting options in the digital marketing landscape. It is unmatched for business purposes. No other platform offers this many targeting options.
You can target ads based on industry, job title, company size, companies, interest, seniority, and other highly relevant segmentation criteria.
The advertising formats range from classic text, images, and videos to more subtle forms. Thought Leader Ads disguise ads as organic posts by a person. They look like organic posts but are pushed by the company profile, which includes all advertising options.
Use LinkedIn ads to either collect leads on the platform or send users to your website lead magnet.
Be active on LinkedIn
To attract leads, you need to be visible on the platform. There is no better way than posting consistently. Not product pitches, but helpful and honest content that shows your expertise. If you struggle to post regularly, at least comment on other posts. See a comment like a micro post. Every comment and every post put yourself in front of prospects. This is a classic pull strategy, contrary to push activities like advertising.
2. Build and Optimize Your Website for Lead Capture
Your website is the heart of your online marketing efforts. A well-optimized website is more than just a digital business card. It’s a lead generation tool. You must design your website to capture B2B leads.
Create Targeted Landing Pages
Landing pages are single-focus pages designed to convert visitors into B2B leads by offering something of value in exchange for their contact information. See it as a trade: your offering for their contact information.
Your offering could be a demo, a free trial, an eBook, a recorded webinar, a whitepaper, an infographic, or a case study. Ensure that each landing page is highly focused and addresses your target audience’s specific pain point or need.
Lead Magnets
Lead magnets are free content, tools, or other assets that aim to gather contact details and create leads. Examples include free calculators, eBooks, how-to guides, templates, case studies, and the like.
Advertise these lead magnets, e.g., on LinkedIn, drive traffic to your website, and convert them into leads with these lead magnets.
Good lead magnets are:
- Valuable
- Unique
- Easy to understand
- Reusable and sharable
SEO and Content Marketing Integration
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) drives organic traffic to your site. By targeting relevant keywords (like how to find B2B leads), you can attract visitors who are already searching for solutions that your business offers. Combine this with high-quality blog posts, whitepapers, and other content that speaks directly to your audience’s needs and pain points.
Pro Tip: Ensure that all your gated content—such as case studies, eBooks, and whitepapers—is promoted across different channels. Use email marketing, social media, and even PPC ads to drive traffic to these pages. Combine this with the lead magnet strategy for maximum impact.
3. Implement Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a highly targeted strategy in which you focus your marketing efforts on specific, high-value accounts rather than a broad target group.
ABM works exceptionally well in the B2B space, where the sales cycle is long and multiple decision-makers are involved. The ideal case is when you are already familiar with the targeted account.
Identify Target Accounts and Stakeholders
The first step in ABM is identifying companies that match your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Use your own data from CRM or LinkedIn Sales Navigator to gather data on potential target accounts. Once you’ve identified the companies, map out the key decision-makers and influencers within those organizations. This is essential, as a buying center typically makes B2B decisions. This aspect makes ABM so powerful because you target multiple people (with different needs) within the same company. Personalization is, therefore, mandatory.
Craft Personalized Content
Personalization is the heart of ABM. Tailor your content to each account that directly addresses their specific challenges and pain points. For example, if you’re targeting a manufacturing company struggling with supply chain issues, send them case studies showing how your product can streamline operations and reduce costs.
Remember—multiple decision makers as members of the buying center require multiple contents. Modern automation tools allow hyper-personalized messages. Well made, they almost feel like 1:1 messages.
Align Sales and Marketing
Successful ABM requires close collaboration between the sales and marketing teams. Both teams need to work on a synchronized approach for each account, from the initial outreach to post-sales engagement. Marketing provides the research and content, while sales closes the deal.
Lead management is a great way to connect the two departments and make them work on a common goal.
4. Use Webinars to Attract and Nurture Leads
Webinars are one of the most effective tools for B2B lead generation. Not only do they allow you to demonstrate your expertise, but they also offer the opportunity to engage with potential leads in real time. Live discussion and Q&A are powerful ways to do so.
B2B industries with high explanatory demand for products and services are ideal for using webinars to attract B2B leads.
Here’s how to do a webinar:
- Choose Timely and Relevant Topics
- Promote Your Webinar Effectively
- Maximize Post-Webinar Follow-Up
Choose Timely and Relevant Topics
The key to a successful webinar is addressing a problem or pain point that your target audience currently experiences. For example, if you’re in the IT industry, a webinar on the latest cybersecurity threats because of AI will likely attract decision-makers looking for solutions.
Make sure you choose a topic that fits your expertise. Generic webinars are bad for your reputation and harm the trust you try to create with your target group.
Promote Your Webinar Effectively
Leverage your existing email list, social media channels, and paid ads to promote your webinar. Partner with webinar providers, such as industry platforms, media, or industry influencers.
Collect registrations up front and follow up shortly before the webinar starts, e.g., a day or two before the event. A nice way to drive engagement is to ask people on social media what to expect from the webinar and incorporate their demand in your presentation. Calling for questions to fill your Q&A at the end of the webinar is another way of creating a buzz up front.
Maximize Post-Webinar Follow-Up
Your job doesn’t end once the webinar concludes.
Make sure to follow up with, e.g., the recorded webinar or answers to questions you could not address during the live session. A short webinar summary makes a great social media post, and you can continue to collect B2B leads that way. Send personalized thank-you emails to attendees, including any promised resources. This is an excellent opportunity for sales to engage with warm leads interested in attending the event.
5. Attend Industry Events and Conferences
Despite the rise of digital marketing, face-to-face interactions still play a critical role in finding B2B leads. Conferences, trade shows, and industry events offer opportunities to network with potential clients and showcase your expertise.
True, the market for B2B tradeshows is still smaller than it was before COVID-19. However, tradeshows are recovering, and the U.S. tradeshow market is predicted to be worth close to 15 billion U.S. dollars in 2027.
So, there are plenty of opportunities.
Research Events in Your Industry
Identify the top industry events that your ideal customers are likely to attend. These might include trade shows, conferences, or networking events. You can find them, e.g., in industry magazines or online platforms. These media typically feature year plans for exhibits and tradeshows.
Engage and Build Relationships
Make sure you come prepared with a lead capture system, whether it’s a digital app, business card scanner, or even a simple notebook. The key is not just to collect contact information but to have useful conversations first. Ask questions that allow you to uncover their pain points and offer solutions. Only ask for contact information after you give away value. Again, think of it as a trade.
Follow Up with a Personal Touch
Your post-event follow-up should be timely and personalized. Reference the conversations you had during the event and provide additional resources relevant to their needs.
Do not use marketing automation for this task. Trust me. It’s worth doing this individually and manually.
6. Maximize Your Email Marketing Strategy
Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to nurture and convert B2B leads. It has a big advantage over many other marketing channels.
Email marketing is a so-called “owned” channel, meaning you own the data and Email list. The difference is that you do not rely on other platforms. If, e.g., LinkedIn may die one day or TikTok gets banned, your Email list is still yours.
Success depends on providing valuable, targeted content to your audience. Do not create advertising newsletters and sales pitches.
Here are three aspects to consider:
Segment Your Email Lists
Segmenting your email lists allows you to tailor your content based on a B2B lead’s position in the sales funnel. For example, top-of-funnel leads might receive educational content, while bottom-of-funnel leads may receive case studies or product demos.
Create Personalized Content
Your emails should always provide value. Whether it’s a how-to guide, industry news, or a special offer, ensure that your email content aligns with your lead’s needs and pain points. Personal data of your B2B leads can be used to segment your list further. With modern marketing automation Email tools, the send-outs remain manageable.
Use Drip Campaigns to Nurture B2B Leads
Drip campaigns are automated email sequences that nurture leads over time. By delivering the right content at the right time, drip campaigns guide prospects through the buying journey until they’re ready to purchase.
These drip campaigns can also include recipient behavior. Depending on whether the user has opened, clicked, or scrolled the Email, you can follow up with different Emails. Again, automation is key.
The Importance of Lead Management
Use Lead Management in Your B2B Marketing
Finding B2B leads is only half the battle. Your success depends on how you manage those leads and how many convert to opportunities.
Lead management is defined as the methodology, process, and software for generating, nurturing, and qualifying leads using sales and marketing strategies.
There are three core functions of Lead Management:
- Lead Generation
- Lead Nurturing
- Lead Qualification
Lead Generation
This is the task we have discussed in this article. Finding and creating B2B leads with the help of B2B marketing. It is the first step of the lead management funnel and is essential to fill the lead pipeline.
Lead Nurturing
Many leads won’t be ready to buy immediately. By nurturing leads through regular communication, personalized content, and timely follow-ups, you can build trust and stay top-of-mind until they’re ready to make a purchase.
It is the task of nurturing a B2B lead from cold lead status to hot lead status. This hot lead marks the interface between sales and marketing. A fully nurtured lead is also called MQL, short for Marketing Qualified Lead.
Lead Qualification
The final step is to manage the qualified leads within the sales pipeline. The MQL is already part of this step as it is input from the marketing funnel. Further lead qualification includes all necessary checks to determine whether the B2B lead is ready to be contacted by sales. If yes, the lead turns into an opportunity, and sales start the hot phase of the process.
This is a quick overview of lead management. If you need more details, here’s a full article on lead management and how to use it properly.
Summary [TL;DR]
How to Find B2B Leads in A Nutshell
Finding B2B leads requires targeted strategies to address the specifics of B2B markets, e.g., long sales cycles, complex products, and decision-making groups (buying center). Here are seven methods for your B2B lead generation:
LinkedIn for Lead Generation:
- Optimize your profile and company page to communicate value.
- Use LinkedIn Ads for precise targeting based on industry, job title, or seniority.
- Actively engage by posting and commenting to increase visibility.
Optimize Your Website for Lead Capture:
- Create dedicated landing pages with lead magnets like eBooks or demos.
- Use SEO and content marketing to drive organic traffic.
Implement Account-Based Marketing (ABM):
- Identify high-value accounts using tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
- Personalize content to address specific company pain points.
- Align sales and marketing for a synchronized approach.
Use Webinars:
- Choose relevant, timely topics to attract decision-makers.
- Promote webinars through email and social media.
- Follow up with personalized content post-event.
Attend Industry Events:
- Network at conferences and trade shows.
- Capture leads through meaningful conversations.
Maximize Email Marketing:
- Segment email lists and create personalized, valuable content.
- Use drip campaigns to nurture leads over time.
Effective Lead Management has three steps: Generate, nurture, and qualify leads to convert them into opportunities.
Stephan Wenger
B2B Marketing Expert, Editor and Marketing Management Consultant
Stephan Wenger is a seasoned B2B Marketing Expert with more than 10 years of experience in leading global companies. His extensive expertise lies in the realms of B2B online marketing, content marketing, strategic marketing, and driving synergy between sales and marketing, including effective lead management.
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