Getting B2B leads is never an easy task. Even the most amazing advertisements and thousands of marketing emails won't guarantee a constant flow of customers. Not only do marketers have to break through hundreds of daily ads with their message, but they also must get across to the right target audience. In the case of products and services targeted to the business sector, it's essential to have thought through a strategy that will help identify potential clients and gain their loyalty.

In the face of legal restrictions related to GDPR, as well as the Facebook policy that restricts access to users’ personal data, it’s even harder to build a base of potential clients. Although getting sales leads is a challenge, thanks to the right approach of marketers and modern tech solutions it can be more effective than you think.

What are the leads?

Before you start planning your actions in the aforementioned area, define what exactly leads are for you. In general, a lead is a person or company who can potentially become your client. In practice, it's a subject that is interested in your product, looking for similar solutions and has planned a budget for the specific product or service. When it comes to online marketing, a lead is a person who voluntarily left contact information on your site. The person has shown interest in contacting you and potentially using your services.

Every company needs to identify its audience to adjust the style and communication platforms in the process of acquiring B2B leads for their needs. The best solution is creating a marketing persona containing the most important characteristics of the target audience, its problems, goals and challenges. Thanks to this you'll know who you're directing your message to and in what way you can find these people.

It may seem like the more leads you acquire, the better. Your job is to generate as many leads as possible, but only the valuable ones. Instead of collecting millions of addresses from which a small percentage of owners can get to know your product or service, gather a few hundred of those who will most likely be interested in finalising a transaction or at least will show some interest.  

How to start a lead generation campaign

Start by refining your website. It's basically a business card for your company. In practice, this means that it should transmit the most important and available information about products and services and also allows quick contact with the representatives of the organisation. Keep your users' experience in mind with a transparent design. Don't forget about the responsive mobile version which continues to be used by more and more internet users. An important issue is also the speed of loading a page. A few seconds of waiting can seem like a short amount of time, but it's long enough to discourage a user from browsing the given site.

Website optimisation for search engines is an absolute must when it comes to getting business leads. Make sure to add keywords to the content you post on your company’s blog that users typically search in the context of the given industry or topic. Collaborate with owners of other websites to gain valuable links that will raise the position of your site in rankings. Long story short: you should look for potential clients, but also let them find you!

How to get sales leads

Once you know who your audience is and you've updated your website with the key elements, it's time to choose the right communication channel. Currently, there are many platforms and tools available on the market thanks to which online marketing gives interesting opportunities. Below we present a few ideas worth using or at least considering for generating leads while creating a strategy.

E-mail marketing

This form of company-client communication has been present for many years and continues to be valuable. E-mails are used and sent by practically all internet users. It can be quite effective in business contacts because entrepreneurs and marketers aren’t always available to talk through the phone and are more likely to look through their e-mails. It’s worth using the CRM system (to manage relationships with clients) to contact the suitable people. The key to getting sales leads is personalisation and the right research.

Furthermore, the functions of marketing automation allow you to automatically send messages to those who made the right move on your site. This will enable you to get through to a suitable audience at the right time. Remember that your messages shouldn't spam potential clients and should be an answer to their needs.

How do you build a base of subscribers? Bring out this function on your website or even add a pop-up that will make sure the function is hard to miss. You can also offer your audience premium content as an exchange for them leaving their e-mail.

Web Push Notifications

This is another marketing automation solution. It has similar functions to e-mail marketing, but can be an interesting and effective alternative in terms of acquiring business leads for the channel presented above, taking into account the number of e-mails that are sent to entrepreneurs every day. Web push notifications are notifications that are presented to subscribers of a specific website after opening the web browser, considering the said site had already sent a message directed to this user before.

In order to become a subscriber, all you need to do is allow notifications (with one click instead of signing up for the newsletter). While creating the notifications make sure you keep it short and simple, but also attractive. This form of communication can be very suitable for businessmen because it requires minimal involvement. If the notification is interesting, all you need to do is click, and you'll be taken to the right site, but if the user prefers to ignore the message they just click the X.

Web push notifications can be used as a platform for distributing content, but also to inform about new products or discounts that the potential client might be interested in. Create a plan and send relevant personalised messages.

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Landing Page

It’s worth considering making a simple website for a specific campaign for acquiring B2B leads. Thanks to this the potential client won’t be overwhelmed by an overload of information about your business and will only read the relevant parts. You can add an offer to your page that is directed towards your target audience. Remember to form a transparent call to action.

Content Marketing

By creating valuable content, you can get across to those who are interested in specific issues or are looking for information about a topic related to your brand or product. The content can be in the form of articles, videos, infographics, slideshows, podcasts, live videos or interviews. It's important to answer questions through this material that can relate to the challenges your client faces. Present a few solutions to the given problem and make sure only one of them is your product. This way you can build your name as an expert and also a relationship with a potential client.

Facebook Lead Ads

Social media can be used to distribute content, but it's also worth using them in advertising. Facebook offers an interesting option- Lead Ads. This solution is about creating something that is eye catching and encourages you to fill out the form. The user's information is automatically filled in thanks to Facebook, so it doesn't require a lot of effort.

Another idea in using social media in the process of getting B2B leads is activity on LinkedIn. It’s great for building relationships with potential clients. It’s also worth having a decent profile and regularly checking your articles or sharing your opinion about the industry in which your working in. Try to create a community by answering questions in different social media groups as quickly as posts appear.

Chat and chatbots

No matter how specific you are with presenting your company's offer or the benefits of the products you offer, there will still be users that will have extra questions for you. To make it easier for them, consider using live chats. Thanks to this feature, website visitors can receive an answer quickly instead of waiting for an e-mail response. Another solution is chatbots that can be programmed to give automatic answers. Implementing these solutions are offered by tools thanks to which programming conversation scenarios is possible without any special skills. The most important thing you need to know is how to lead a conversation with a potential client.

A similar function is also available on Facebook where after entering your brand’s page, a messenger chat window opens automatically. It also offers automatic messages that give a quick response to clients. The easier it is to contact you, the more potential clients will do the same.

We hope that after reading the article above you know how to get sales leads. Trying out a few different solutions can be a game changer because they use the technology available on the market to it's biggest potential. Test many platforms and see which ones are best for your target audience in the long run. There isn't only one effective strategy for every company which is why optimisation and constant customisation of lead generation campaigns according to the brand's needs are so important.