“Sixty-one percent of B2B marketers think generating high-quality leads is one of their biggest challenges,” and 75 percent say they’re looking to improve the quality of their leads.

And it can be especially tricky for newer businesses that don’t yet have a lot of brand equity. 

So, for this post, I’m going to provide you with the most essential B2B lead generation best practices to help springboard your campaign so you can get more high-quality leads.

I’ll also include plenty of examples so you can see exactly what I’m talking about and use them for inspiration along the way. 

Here we go. 

First, Identify What a Qualified Lead Is

Let’s start at the top. 

The absolute first best practice you need to address is determining who constitutes a qualified lead.

Sounds pretty 101, right?

It is. But the amazing thing is that 31 percent of businesses only have an informal definition of a qualified lead, and 19 percent have no definition whatsoever. 

And that’s a big problem because of the negative impact it can have on conversions. 

More specifically, only “34 percent of companies with no formal definition are able to advance a lead to a first discussion more than half of the time.”

But that number nearly doubles to 63 percent when they do have a formal definition. 

So, I can’t stress enough the importance of taking the time to pinpoint precisely what a qualified lead is. 

One of the best definitions I’ve come across is this one from B2B marketing agency Ironpaper, which is as follows.

“A qualified lead is someone who could become a potential customer to you, based on criteria and identifying information that they have freely provided.”

They also provide an example using ultra-specific criteria such as having a lead score of 90 points, being an SQL, and having five engagements. 

Once you know exactly who you’re pursuing, it should provide you with better direction on how to go about connecting with them.

Create Several Landing Pages

I think we can all agree that having a solid landing page is vital for generating leads.

But a common mistake many B2B companies make is stopping at just one.  

This limits your ability to segment your audience, reduces your chances of appearing in targeted search results, and generally makes it more difficult to generate leads. 

When it comes to landing pages, most experts say the more the merrier. 

In fact, “studies have shown that business websites with 10 – 15 landing pages tend to increase conversions by 55 percent over business websites with less than 10 landing pages,” says Wishpond. 

“And those with more than 40 landing pages increase conversions by over 500 percent.”

The more landing pages you have (assuming they’re high-quality), the larger the net you cast.

It’s simple mathematics. 

A great example of a B2B company that totally nails their landing pages is HubSpot. 

They have, for example, several landing pages for different CRM users, including sales leaders…

…salespeople…

…marketers…

…customer service teams, and more. 

This allows them to keep everything hyper-targeted and pull in way more leads than if they only used a single landing page.

So, in my opinion, this is one of the most essential B2B lead generation best practices pound-for-pound. 

That’s why I suggest pinpointing every segment you’re trying to reach and building an individual landing page just for them. 

Get Serious About Your LinkedIn Profile

Most B2B companies recognize that having a LinkedIn profile is important. 

But I don’t think they all understand just how big the impact can be. 

Studies have found that 62 percent of B2B marketers successfully generate leads with it—more than two times more than the next biggest social channel. 

And it’s the number one channel for content marketing for B2B companies. 

While LinkedIn may not necessarily be a huge deal for B2Cs, it clearly is for B2Bs, which is why I would consider getting serious about your LinkedIn page.

This is something we’ve done at Sleeknote where we’ve taken measures to create a robust LinkedIn profile that’s continually updated with what we think is great content. 

For instance, users can find posts like these…

…helpful videos…

…a detailed “About” section, and much more.

For a full overview of how B2Bs can win at LinkedIn, I suggest reading this post from Foundation Marketing. 

Get Cozy with a CRM

A CRM does much more than provide you with a way to create a customer database. 

It allows you to automate your marketing, manage your different channels, and improve customer service. 

But most importantly, it helps you understand your audience.

For example, many CRM platforms feature built-in analytics that gives you insights on:

• Audience demographics
• Location
• Industry
• Website browsing habits
• Buying habits

Here’s an example of some of the specific metrics offered by Zoho CRM, where a company can get details on lead generation by source, leads generated, and deals closed daily. 

In turn, this gives you a bird’s eye view of trends so you can continually modify your outreach approach to connect with qualified leads more effectively. 

Research has even found that over half (53 percent) of today’s top B2Bs use CRM platforms. 

If you want to stay on the offense with your lead generation, it’s definitely smart to use a tool like this. 

Create a Steady Dose of Quality Blog Content

Blogging is no longer the sleek, sexy B2B lead generation strategy that it once was. 

Some may even question whether or not it’s still relevant in 2020. 

But I can say for sure that it most definitely is still relevant and, if done correctly, can get massive results. 

In fact, 81 percent of today’s businesses say that their blog plays a vital role in them generating leads. 

Further, companies that use blogs to drive traffic are 13x more likely to see positive ROIs. 

That’s why I would definitely consider blogging as one of the most fundamental B2B lead generation best practices. 

It’s one of the main ways we pull in targeted leads at Sleeknote. 

After all, you’re reading this blog post right now, aren’t you?

By creating a steady stream of high-quality content that delivers legitimate value to your readers, you can keep the B2B leads coming without having to invest huge money. 

There are a ton of companies with great blogs, but one brand that completely blows it out of the water is Crazy Egg with their blog called The Daily Egg.

It covers a wide array of topics like website optimization, helpful tech tools, and how to boost productivity and is a gold mine for actionable advice.

So, if you’re looking for a template on how to approach your B2B blog, Crazy Egg is a brand you can learn a lot from.

And for an in-depth guide to B2B blogging, this eBook from HubSpot is super helpful. 

This brings me to the next of the essential B2B lead generation best practices. 

Develop Content for Leads at All Stages of the Sales Funnel

Once you get your blog off the ground, it’s ideal to develop a more comprehensive body of content that caters not only to leads at the top of the sales funnel but also to those in the middle and bottom of it. 

This is important because a lead at the top of the funnel who’s simply exploring your site and doing some preliminary research will have very different interests than someone at the bottom who’s ready to pull the trigger and buy.

To illustrate the types of content that work best for the three stages of the sales funnel, check out this graphic from Single Grain. 

Like I just said, blog posts are perfect for top-funnel leads, along with infographics, videos, and social media updates.

For middle-funnel leads, eBooks, whitepapers, webinars, reports, guides, and case studies tend to work well.

And for bottom-funnel leads, there are demos, testimonials, and customer stories.

Let me give you some examples from the Sleeknote site to see what this looks like in action. 

Again, there’s our blog, which covers a wide range of topics that are perfect for leads that are in the initial stages of exploring our products.

We’ve got eBooks…

…webinars for those in the middle of the funnel. 

And for those at the bottom who are just about ready to buy we’ve got customer success stories…

…and product demos. 

So, no matter what stage of the sales funnel a lead happens to be in, we’ve got content they should be receptive to.

Now to be completely honest, it does take a lot of work to get to this point.

You may even need to enlist the help of outside experts like writers and designers. 

But the long-term impact it can have makes it worth it, and you’ll have a built-in framework for generating leads at all stages of the sales funnel.

And best of all, it’s available 24/7.

Use a Chatbot to Turn More Random Visitors Into Qualified Leads

As artificial intelligence improves and evolves, it’s playing a bigger and bigger role in lead generation. 

In particular, chatbots have become wildly popular, with 40 percent of major companies already using at least one of them in 2019. 

Further research found that the majority of companies that use chatbots are B2Bs at 58 percent, while 42 percent of B2Cs use them. 

While they were more of a novel concept a few years ago, they’ve quickly become a legitimate way to turn random visitors into qualified leads while automating much of the process.

And by and large, most people are receptive to interacting with chatbots as long as they provide the support they need. 

35 percent of people would even like to see more companies using chatbots. 

That’s why I would officially consider using a chatbot as falling under B2B lead generation best practices. 

Let me show you one in action on the Sleeknote site. 

When a visitor arrives, they see this box in the bottom, right-hand corner asking if they have any questions about Sleeknote. 

When they click on it, the “SleekBot” appears prompting them to answer whether or not they’re a Sleeknote customer so we can point them in the right direction. 

So, if it’s a new visitor, they would click “No, I’m not.”

Then, the SleekBot greets them and asks how it can help. 

From there, they simply enter whatever question they may have, and the SleekBot will direct them to the right resource. 

Say, for instance, they were curious about pricing and wanted to check out a demo. 

They would get a response like this.

Given the power of modern chatbots, their around the clock availability, and how receptive most people are to them, it would be crazy not to use them to generate leads in 2020 and beyond. 

For info on how to get started with Chatbots, I suggest checking out this guide from Sprout Social. 

It’ll walk you through the basics and help you learn the ropes. 

Conclusion 

Generating quality leads is an ongoing struggle for many B2B companies. 

And as competition levels continue to rise, this, unfortunately, isn’t likely to change any time soon. 

While there is no magic bullet for bringing in great leads, there are several B2B lead generation best practices that can simplify and streamline the process. 

It first starts with identifying what a qualified lead is and building multiple landing pages that cater to the different segments of your customer base. 

Having a strong presence on LinkedIn and using a robust CRM platform is also important. 

Beyond that, you’ll want to produce a steady stream of blog posts, as well as other content that targets leads at various stages of the sales funnel. 

Finally, leveraging cutting-edge technology like a chatbot can automate much of your lead generation and help move potential customers through your sales funnel more efficiently. 

So, when it’s all said and done, your lead generation will be firing on all cylinders where you’re not only getting your brand in front of a lot of people but connecting with key decision-makers who have the final say. 

What’s been your biggest challenge with generating B2B leads?