A Framework for Creating the Best B2B Lead Generation Campaigns

December 1, 2022

|In Lead Generation, Strategy & Consulting

“B2B lead generation is easy.”

Said no one, ever. B2B lead generation campaigns are no walk in the park. Lead generation campaigns are challenging in part because there are so many “cooks” in the kitchen so to speak when it comes to stakeholders and decision-makers in the buying process.

According to industry expert and CRM, Hubspot 61% of marketers say website traffic and lead generation is their top challenge.

We believe that generating quality leads for your business has never been more difficult.

With more B2B companies turning to lead generation services of various types, choosing the right lead generation agency partner for a small to medium size business is an important decision.

Smaller businesses who are working with limited budgets feel a sense of urgency to get the right campaigns in place quickly so sales teams start to receive fresh new leads before the budget is gone, along with the appetite to tackle such a complex undertaking.

No need to panic, though! We’re here to give you a framework for success – and some great ideas to get you started. so you can evaluate your own lead generation efforts, and perhaps raise the bar and try some new techniques.

Find out more about lead generation.

Framework for a Successful Lead Generation Campaign

When creating a lead generation strategy, some essential components must be part of the plan. Let’s highlight some of the must-do practices for your lead gen campaign.

A Strong Process for Capturing Incoming Leads

Getting new prospects to submit their details will fail if your process isn’t both simple. Here are some tips to make your prospects convert into leads with ease:

A Landing Page and Compelling Offer

Landing pages serve for one purpose: a focused place to get your prospects to accept an offer after responding to a call to action. This is the entry point for your sale funnel. So, the page shouldn’t have any affiliation to your website or contain any link that could direct your clients away from the offer. Using exit intent popups can also grab their attention and be highly effective.

Speaking about the offer, you should always make an offer that makes it seem like your clients are stealing from you. Your offer must be worth the precious details they provide, such as their contact details and email address. The social persuasion law of reciprocity is at play in your success in attracting new buyers to your product or service.

Also, you shouldn’t present your brand as the solution to their problems. That dated sales approach has been replaced with more context sensitive “solutions” approach that address buyer pain points.

Finally, always target one persona at a time with your offers. Understanding the prospect’s behavior and crafting an offer to suit their needs increases the chance of getting quality leads.

Use A CRM to Capture and Manage Leads

Having an effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to capture and manage leads is essential to a streamlined process. CRM software can also help automate email communications, delivering valuable engagement metrics. Having a CRM is a good investment any small or medium business should make.

Content for Each Stage in the Buyer Journey

The Buyer Journey

Tracking your leads buyer journey with funnel metrics provides insight into their overall value as a lead, allowing you to qualify leads and measure your conversion rate… Not to mention the likelihood of making a sale in the next 90 days.

One essential way of doing this is through great content. At each stage, you should make content to guide them through to the next stage. For example, content in the awareness stage should highlight their problems. At the consideration stage, proffer solutions to their problems and how your business can solve them. At the final stage, deliver content that instigates them to take action.

Implement An Effective Strategy for Each Stage in the Buyer Journey

The goal of an effective B2B lead generation strategy is to move them to book a call with a sales rep. For B2C the strategy is to make a sale, which can be directly on the website for an e-commerce company or with a call to your business to book an order.

To get them to the final stage of the buying process, you need to have a content strategy that converts blog or email content into sales and sales appointments.

We’ve compiled these lists of ideas for each stage of the buyer journey, from awareness to decision. Use the list to add to your current program, to provide ideas on improvements to the program or to manage a brain-storming session with sales and marketing.

Ideas for Generating Awareness

Create Google PPC Ads
Conduct website audits
Offer a free trial
Add exit-intent popup forms
Build quality content to generate leads
Post regularly on social media to drive traffic
Use social media ads to acquire high-quality leads
Create a free course
Host webinars
Start a B2B podcast to attract leads

Ideas for the Consideration Buyer Stage

Build The Blog to Drive More Interest Across More Use Cases and Markets
Optimize All of Your Content to Improve Your Ranking
Share Long-Form Content to Engage Readers
Build Expert Status By Writing Q&A Style and FAQ Blog Posts
Use On-Site Retargeting to Re-engage Leads
Perform Market Research to Inform Your Audience
Add Testimonials to Your Content for Social Proof
Build the Value of Your Newsletter with Insider Insights
Optimize Your Website for Mobile Devices
Write Whitepapers to Showcase Product Benefits

Ideas to Increase Lead Conversion

Automate Your Email Marketing Campaigns
Personalize Email Campaigns to Drive Leads
Use Ad Retargeting to Bring Leads Back To Your Website
Use Case Studies to Encourage Purchases
Use FOMO to Entice Leads to Convert
Run A/B Tests to Improve Lead Conversions
Ask Your Customers for Reviews and User-Generated Content
Ask Your Best Customers for Referrals
Build Trust and Demonstrate Expertise By Offering a Free Consultation
Conduct Surveys
Build Online Community User Groups

Set Adequate Budget to Scale the Process

Once you have a solid strategy in place, it will benefit from testing and experimentation. When you begin to see results, the next step is to scale the program to increase its impact. To do this, you need to have a sufficient lead generation budget. Sufficient funding would give you enough time to experiment, pick a strategy, then scale it to deliver the expected results.

Consistency and Commitment to Steady Improvement Over Time

In B2B lead generation, there are no overnight results. You need to stay consistent in the game and keep at your strategy. Patience is key.

Hugely Successful B2B Marketing Campaigns for Lead Generation

Here are three blockbuster examples of successful B2B lead generation campaigns to get your creative juices flowing:

Mailchimp – Customer Feedback

Mailchimp realized that many of their leads were unclear about the connection between their name and marketing automation. To take advantage of this, they launched a campaign based on the confusion, including a mispronunciation of their name in ads. As a result, people in their target market joined in the fun, creating and sharing memes under the hashtag #mailkimp.

Mailchimp went all out with their videos, like KaleLimp, which starred a digital dog made of kale. They responded to feedback and created a campaign based on a trend, which proved to be a great lead-generation tool. This unique identity helped Mailchimp secure more high-quality leads when businesses were selecting a marketing platform.

Oracle – Original Research

Oracle sought to increase its presence in digital banking through comprehensive research. They converted their findings into content that contrasted consumer desires and current banking practices and included a measurement tool. This content was spread across multiple outlets and amplified by influencers, as well as further events like boot camps.

Oracle was able to use its unique findings and reports as fixtures for its thought leadership and B2B lead generation efforts at the end of the campaign, which included 350,000 new contacts, potential leads, and $28 million in the pipeline.

Prophix Software – Visual Storytelling

Prophix Software created a campaign that was full of great customer stories, with guidance on career growth, in order to generate new business from current and aspiring CFOs. A well-designed landing page connected their audience to influencers in videos where they shared their first-hand knowledge on how to successfully climb the professional ladder.

The LinkedIn campaign capitalized on an organic carousel format to fully capture the campaign’s beautiful visual storytelling.

The well-crafted content was a huge success. It blew Prophix’s benchmark for organic carousel click-throughs out of the water, exceeding them by 63x and bringing in eight times the engagement.

Step Up

Having all this information is no good if you don’t take any action. To create a successful campaign, you need to get creative, innovative, and impactful with your marketing. If you want a professional digital marketing agency in Toronto to help you get your creative juices flowing, sign up for a free consultation with one of our in-house experts.