Recent years have brought significant changes to business lead generation strategies. The prevailing digitalization, technological advancements, and the impacts of the global pandemic impacted both businesses and consumers changing their behaviors, demands, buying habits, business models, and marketing approaches. These changes trigger the advent of new methods of getting B2B leads.
Which trends will determine B2B lead generation activities in 2022? Businesses are already implementing omnichannel outreach, automation tools, and artificial intelligence in their everyday marketing efforts. Let’s discover which trends will shape the future of B2B lead generation.
Popular B2B Lead Generation Trends
Finding B2B Leads Online
Organizations are continually digging for the best ways to reach out to their prospects, which have predominantly moved to the digital environment. Although offline venues, such as exhibitions, conferences, and shows, start becoming available again, a great deal of the lead generation process still occurs online. This means the prevalence of a digital-first marketing approach and the prioritization of online advertising and content.
Fueled by the breakthrough technologies and the vast opportunities for personalized outreach, online B2B lead generation methods are on a rise. Some of them utilize conventional digital marketing channels, but the availability of new tools and techniques breathes a new life into traditional approaches. This, in particular, is the case with email marketing and social media marketing. The channels themselves appeared years ago, but the ways they can be engaged with contemporary digital technologies make them extremely efficient.
Online lead generation comprises multiple techniques that help obtain qualified leads and expedite your customer journey throughout the sales funnel. B2B lead generation by Belkins.io will help you optimize our strategy by combining the most efficient digital marketing channels.
Email Outreach Revamped
Retailers have varied attitudes to email marketing and some even doubt its efficiency. However, content marketers assert that email newsletters are performing best of all content types in terms of nurturing leads. No wonder though, since over 25% of sales are attributed to email marketing.
A powerful marketing tool, email marketing today needs a careful implementation strategy in order not to finish with the time and money wasted on messages that will get into the spam folder or will be ignored by recipients. So, which are the new email marketing tactics?
Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
One of the implications of a data-driven approach is account-based marketing, which is also going to be a significant upgrade for a B2B lead generation strategy in 2022. ABM requires careful lead research and provides personalized and focused communication at an account level and adds relevance to every messaging. ABM tactics allow businesses to adapt efficiently to newer buying signals and intent buying patterns.
Marketing Automation
Although the automation tools are not new, they will continue simplifying the life of marketers and enhancing customer communications. Professionals assert that about 40% of sales and marketing activities can be automated with the existing technologies. Automation allows for saving much time and effort on routine assignments and focusing on more creative and strategic jobs. With regard to email marketing, automation can bring the following benefits:
- Audience segmentation;
- Content personalization;
- Automating triggered campaigns.
Ultimately, automation tools allow you to create tailored emails, which are more likely to be opened, and direct them to the right prospects at the right time.
Email Deliverability Enhanced By A B2B Lead Generation Agency
Although content is crucial when it comes to open rates, there are also other factors that influence email deliverability. Email service providers continually improve their defenses against spammers. Marketers should be exceptionally careful when composing their emails for outreach campaigns in order to prevent them from getting into the reader’s spam folder. Belkins, a leading agency that specializes in b2b lead generation, has developed an email checker – superior software for email deliverability. With this convenient tool, you can be sure that all your messages will securely reach their destination.
Social Media Lead Generation
The role of social media is hard to overestimate. Social networks have become an indispensable part of our personal and business life. Marketing through social media platforms is efficient since it provides high levels of engagement and helps establish trusted relationships with customers. It also has targeting and contact information built-in, so you can create the relevant lead lists.
How to enrich your database with quality leads by leveraging social media marketing?
- Optimize your profile and profile information. Your profile should evoke interest and urge prospects to interact with your brand.
- Create relevant, valuable, and diverse content. Apart from being interesting and precious to prospects, your content should also be engaging. You can include contests and special promos, and share stories and videos.
- Leverage paid ads. Thanks to the targeting opportunities, social networks allow you to direct your messages right to the selected audience to drive conversions.
AI-Driven Tools At Your Service
Artificial intelligence (AI) can significantly help you in your struggle for lead generation. Thus, AI technologies can perform a great deal of research work by extracting meaningful insights from large market data sets. Specifically, AI tools can do the following:
- Research customer profiles, transaction information, and behavioral data from diverse sources including CRM and social media.
- Identify the optimal customer profile by utilizing real-time data.
- Determine the best tech stack to engage prospects and recommend the communication style that would facilitate sales.
- AI-powered platforms can extend your lead database. With these solutions, you can fulfill lead generation research and obtain leads based on multiple complex filter parameters, such as industry, position, location, services used, and more.
Therefore, AI helps you to create relevant databases, which would facilitate your data-driven approach, segment your audience, and improve the interaction with your prospects.
Influencer Marketing Is On The Surge
Flooded with tremendous volumes of various content, consumers become increasingly skeptical about trusting the brands’ messages. In this situation, influencers can significantly change the game. By using their own expertise and their rapport with followers, influencers can effectively spur purchase decisions. Therefore, by collaborating with the right influencers, you can conquer the attention of your potential clients as well as their trust. Cooperation with influencers can also be instrumental in generating organic website traffic and accumulating qualified leads.
Furthermore, a smart influencer marketing strategy will also help you push conversions and increase revenue.
That’s the reason why 60% of marketers plan to increase the budget for their influencer marketing in the next year.
Where To Look For The Right Influencers?
In B2B, influencers can be found not only on social media networks and blogs. The potential range includes:
- Reputable entrepreneurs;
- Podcasters;
- Thought leaders;
- Researchers.
- Keynote speakers.
How To Choose The Right Influencers?
The number of followers and the relation to your industry are not the only parameters that need to be assessed before you select the influencer that can help drive your sales. Analyze your potential partners based on their:
- Reach on social media;
- Audience engagement rates;
- History of cooperation with brands;
- Presence on the other digital channels;
- The efficiency of their content.
Besides, evaluate the influencer’s audience to see whether or not it will resonate with your clientele, as well as the influencer’s publications.
Make sure to clearly communicate your goals yet provide your selected partner with the freedom for creativity.
Summing Up
So, which changes is 2022 going to bring? Businesses should get ready to experiment with strategies, techniques, methodologies, and approaches in order to boost their lead generation process. Only by keeping up with the new digital technologies can organizations fill their sales funnels with an unrestricted flow of new leads. Email marketing, social media, and AI-powered tools are among the leading methods to enhance communication with prospects. However, leveraging these tools efficiently can become a challenge to salespeople.
Partnering with a professional B2B lead generator such as Belkins will lighten your path in the complicated business environment. Let the modern tech stack and innovative approaches help you replenish your sales pipeline with qualified leads and skyrocket your business.
