Hsin-Ling Hou (Albee)
ID 0574312
Digital Marketing & E-Commerce
B2B Lead Generation
According to mih.com (n.d.), B2B lead generation is a procedure that needs
creativity, flexibility, an awareness of the complexity in different markets and
industries, an understanding of buyers’ behavior, and a long-term commitment. It
creates a value chain between suppliers and potential customers, using multiple tactics
and ample focus, perseverance, and business savvy to find leads, and then transform
them into customers.
In a marketing survey from Capterra, an online directory of business
software and vendors, it shows that lead generation was the second most
popular answer the B2B software marketers wanted to learn more about in 2014,
which was only behind the topic of the SEO that the B2B software marketers
cared mostly. Because of the large competition in the software industry and the
expanded marketing landscape, it is reasonable that so many B2B marketers
want to learn about new lead generation strategies (Malamut, 2014). Besides,
selling the products and services is the final goal in businesses as always. That is
why B2B lead generation becomes important because it is the most effective way
to lift your sales.
In the 21st century, B2B businesses use some form of process for lead generation
no matter if it is digitally or physically. According to a study conducted by Demand
Metric Research Corporation, the leads that these businesses’ marketing generated
underwhelmed 90% of these businesses (Simpson, 2014). In addition, Price (2013)
mentioned that 78% of B2B marketers are facing the biggest challenge that is

generating more leads, which from a recent study, and 61% of B2B marketers think
the biggest challenge for them is generating high-quality lead. These facts also
show that lead generation is one of the important elements in B2B businesses.
According to a B2B lead generation survey, 43% of marketers focused mainly on
finding new customers, 41% focuses on existing customers with an eye towards
expanding outside of that circle, while the 9% of core goal was retentionor reactivation.
The 7% remainder used different methods, including cross-channel strategies and
rebranding to tie up with leads generation. To measure marketers lead generation ROI,
65% of B2B marketers look at the cost of prospects that ultimately change (cost per
acquisition). 22% see the cost of collecting prospects’ datum (cost per lead), and 13%
examine at how many prospects are intercommunicated with a salesperson (cost per
opportunity) (Loechner, 2014). Those numbers reflect that the function of B2B lead
generation in most of B2B businesses is that expanding numbers of new customers, and
most B2B businesses like to count the acquisition in each cost as their ROI.
The budgets for lead generation in about 50% B2B marketers are going up. 44% of
B2B marketers will keep the budgets the same, and 7% will decrease (Schulze, 2013).
From the growth of budgets in lead generation, it can be known that B2B marketing
sees lead generation more important than before.
B2B marketers seek new leads mostly from content marketing, website
registrations, social media, and pay-per-click advertising to achieve the most
significant benefits. A B2B Lead Generation Survey from the Chief Marketer 2014
illustrated B2B marketers who would use content marketing increased from 53% in
2013 to 67% in 2014, and relied on website registrations grow from 58% in 2013 to

probably 70% in 2014. Moreover, content marketing becomes the top three of the
common tactics to be used in B2B lead generation. This is because of the channels used
or planned for lead generation in 2014. According to demandmetric.com (n.d.),
content marketing generates approximately 3 times leads than traditional
marketing in per dollar spent, and it also costs 62% less than traditional
marketing. However, in social media channels, Malamut (2014) has pointed out that
44% of B2B marketers have generated leads through LinkedIn, however, only 39%
have generated via Facebook and 30% via Twitter. The reason why LinkedIn is the
most important channel to generate B2B leads is all about building trust. According to
Multiview.com (n.d.), potential business clients like to give their purchase decisions
based on the weight of B2B companies’ reputation and employment because the
potential clients need more reassurance in order to insure they are making the right
decision. Also, most B2B brands have fewer emotional draws and identity to
consumers. From these points, B2B businesses start to build their leads from the
professional social medias, such as LinkedIn.
In fact, Loechner (2014) has explained that social media went up to 68%, even
though the channel is still untrustworthy for B2B marketers. This is because social
media has offered a way to communicate with prospects and existing consumers, even
though conversion via social has been slow moving and challenging. In addition, social
media gives prospective leads the chance to hear a company’s voice and understand
their personality even before meeting in person. Stadd (2013) has found out that B2B
companies, who blog to generate 67% more leads than the companies who did
not. However, some B2B marketers still struggle to put social media to work on lead

generation. According to emarketer.com (2013), 49% of B2B marketers site social
media marketing as the most difficult lead generation tactic to execute. This is
because the biggest barriers to generating new leads through social media are content
requirement of social media, prospects waryof social marketing, inability to effectively
measure ROI, social leads not sufficiently qualified, too many channels to understand,
and social media not relevant to core audience (Loechner, 2014).
Using Internet to generate leads is getting common in B2B businesses as well.
Except the channel of social media, in 2014, over 65% of marketers are utilizing email
as part of their strategy to generate leads, and only 15% of marketers have no plans to
utilize email because they fear prospects will look email as spammers, have low open
rates, gain low ROI, and be difficult to effectively reach prospects by way of mobile.
The ways that marketers use email to get prospects’ names, citing from web
registrations or opt-ins directly is 73%, renting data from brokers or compilers is 31%,
using third-party email opt-ins is 20% and 26% are utilizing media or publishing
partners. Only 4% confess to use addresses for collection through automated harvester
software (Loechner, 2014). Therefore, most B2B marketers use web registrations or
opt-ins to get their database for direct marketing.
In fact, Price (2014) has illustrated that the most effective tactics for B2B lead
generation are inside sales, executive events, telemarketing, tradeshows and
conferences, and email or e-newsletter. From this data, it is obvious that B2B
marketers are not utilizing enough any digital tactic, such as social media, blog,
and websites, for this Internet generation.
Even thoughplentyof channels or tactics can be used in B2B lead generation, a lot

of B2B businesses still fail in their B2B lead generation. However, according to Smith
(2014), there are four simple strategies to improve lead generation for B2B marketers.
First of all, B2B marketers should use social media strategically. Some marketers think
social media is full of sources, because everyone is using it. This is not 100% true
because it will turn marketers to target at mass customers and reduce the effectiveness.
In fact, social media can be a perfectly fine source to generate leads, but the problem is
that most of B2B industries do not trust the social media. This is because they think
they cannot get leads on social media. There are three steps that B2B marketers should
do in order to generate their leads via social media. First is conducting the visitors from
social media to the company website. B2B marketers should provide multiple links,
which can direct visitors to their companies website, in social media. It would be
perfect if B2B could capture leads withemail signups or free offers from landing pages.
Second is allowing newsletter signups to be available on your Facebook page. In this
way, you can gain the social media visitors’ email addresses, who want to have the
companies’ newsletter, without the problem of losing them from the process of linking
to the main website. Third is using the call to an action. B2B marketers should not be
afraid to promote their companies, and set up the bottom to stimulate social media
visitors to link it, give feedback, or suggest a next step. If B2B businesses follow those
three points, they will see their leads are increasing.
Second tip is that launching a consistent content marketing plan. If B2B marketers
can do it right, content marketing is a great way to get B2B leads. A study which was
sponsored by ContentMarketing and MarketingBrofs shows that 91% of B2B
marketers are using content marketing. This number reflects that content marketing is

the most important tactic that B2Bbusinesses use for getting more leads. There are four
tips to do a consistent content marketing plan. First tip starts with finding a topic that
will catch the selected targets’attention, and host a webinar on the topic. The webinar is
not used for selling your product, it is for communicating with your audience about
something theyare interested in. Using webinar is a low-cost way to pass a message for
a huge audience, and attract more leads perfectly. Second tip is that publishing research
reports. When B2B marketers are using some research reports to gain information for
their blog or articles, they can publish some free research reports in order to make
connections with their leads. This is also a great way to increase the credibility of your
articles or promotion. Third tip is that utilizing videos. There is no doubt that videos are
the most popular form of spreading information. Therefore, YouTube has become one
of the largest available sources for lead-generating content. Fourth tip is that doing blog.
The best wayof content is always the blog. Blogging helps B2Bbusinesses to influence
organic search engine results, improve their status in the industry, and gain recognition
for the company.
Third way is that giving away tools. In lead generation, the way that giving free
tools to exchange the potential customers email address has been tested and proven as
an effective to gain more leads. No matter what B2B marketers are going to choose for
giving away, they should make sure it is relevant directly to the audience who are their
targets. This technique is popular between B2B marketers. For example, creating an
eBook and give it away for free in order to get more email subscribers. Taplin (n.d.),
who uses this method, has shared the conversion rate in Blog Tyrant about giving a free
eBook. The conversion was 10.8%, which was a lot of leads. Before using this

technique, B2B marketers should know that free stuff is typically content marketing,
free tool should be digital in order to gain email information, ebooks are the most
popular, but other options are still available.
Last effective way is that making it automatic. Using marketing automation helps
the company generate more leads, but it is not a strategic only for lead generation.
Marketing automation is an extensive digital marketing that includes lead generation,
and it can be expensive and complicated. Therefore, B2B should use marketing
automation when they know their marketing budget can adapt a big investment with a
period of zero to little in ROI, their website is increasing some leads already, their
website traffic is having 5k more unique visitors per month, they active plenty of social
media accounts, and have a complete plan about content marketing strategy already.
While B2B marketers are generating their leads, lead scoring will be one of the
standards for B2B marketers as references to pick up more appropriate leads.
According to Marketo.com (n.d.), lead scoring is a sale and marketing methodology for
leads ranking, and it determines leads sales state. B2B marketers can score leads based
on how much interest they showed in your business, their current buying cycle, and
whether they fit in with your business or not. Lead scoring helps B2B businesses decide
whether their potential customers should be fast-tracked to sales or be developed with
lead nurturing. Due to this function, lead scoring becomes necessary for enhancing
revenue cycle, driving ROI effectively, and coordinating sales and marketing.
To sum up, lead generation is not only a popular topic, but also a challenge for
B2B businesses. Even though there are several ways or channels to generate leads, the
most important question is how to do lead generation cost effectively. Utilizing social

media strategically, being consistent on content marketing plan, giving away free tools
for exchanging leads information, and doing marketing automation smartly will be
primary elements to do lead generation effectively, especially in this generation of the
digital revolution.

Reference
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http://mih.com.au/b2b-lead-generation/
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Davidson, S. (2013, June 03). Where do marketers get leads? Retrieved from
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-fastest-for-lead-generatio.html
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Price, S. (2013, November 26). B2B lead generation trends for 2014: What's hot and
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Retrieved from http://blog.crazyegg.com/2014/04/14/b2b-lead-gen/
Taplin, R. (n.d.). Is the Free eBook Giveaway Dead? Retrieved November 10, 2014,
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