8 B2B Lead Generation Hacks That Will Work

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Today, there’s a hack for everything. Want to cut off your strawberry stems? Push a straw through the center! Don’t have a clip for a bag of chips? Trim the edges of a pants’ hanger and use that.

While those hacks are useful, they’re more for everyday life. What if you’re interested in lead generation for B2B? Well, guess what? There are hacks for that as well.

We’ve gathered up eight of the most useful of these B2B lead gen hacks that are all super-current and ready to be used today. Whether you’re looking for a handy new tool or email software or some new campaign tricks, read on.

  1. Provide a High-Value Offer Through Gated Content
  2. According to marketing legend Neil Patel, a high-value offer will incentivize your customers to buy. He recommends following this formula: “High value offer + persuasion = irresistible.”

    It’s not very complicated, but that’s not a bad thing. What exactly constitutes an irresistible offer, you may be asking? That’s a good question. The value of an offer varies depending on your industry and your audience.

    As a consumer, think of an offer that’s been irresistible to you. Perhaps you were at the mall and had one thing in mind to buy. Then you pass a store that’s offering everything half-off. Who can resist that? Maybe you planned on cooking at home, but then you see a commercial where if you buy one pizza, you can get a second one free. You decide to go out and buy a few pies.

    These are all examples of high-value offers across several industries. Now, as a marketer, you might offer such high-value content in a gated context. This means that the most valuable content requires an opt-in for a lead to access it.

    To make gated content a success, you must keep your opt-ins simple. You also need to make sure you’re providing only the most high-quality content that will be worth the lead’s time to opt into. Don’t get too gate-happy and protect every last piece of content, as this can get annoying. Your lead may move on to the competition.

  3. Start a Referral Program
  4. Speaking of irresistible offers, people love freebies. Whether this is free money, food, or other stuff, people are motivated to get moving at the prospect of a reward. Only you can decide what the best reward is for your audience based on their interests, but once you figure it out, you can start your own referral program.

    Money is a pretty universal motivator. Perhaps you give a customer money off their next purchase if they refer a friend or they get $50 for their efforts. Regardless of the reward, your referral program will give your customers a reason to mention your company to their friends, family, and coworkers. You get cheap led generation and they get rewarded for their efforts. It’s a win-win.

    According to a LinkedIn article, it was found that “consumers are 92% more likely to trust their peers over advertising when it comes to purchasing decisions“. That makes sense when you think about it. Companies are always trying to sell, sell, sell. Friends and family aren’t, so if they genuinely recommend something, it must be for a good reason.

  5. Take Old Content and Make It New Again
  6. If you’ve been regularly publishing blog content for years, then you probably have a wealth of great material. Do you ever go back and look at those old blog posts and wish you could share them again today?

    Well, who says you can’t? To pad your editorial calendar and draw in new traffic (and thus leads), take what’s old and make it new again. You might do some light rewriting, come up with new and more current examples for old posts, add new stats and case studies, update links, and pepper in some flashy images and maybe even a video or two.

    That’s really all you have to do. Then you can share the content and promote it like it’s brand new.

  7. Make Videos
  8. Did you know that video is a valuable teaching tool because people learn better with it? It’s true. We’re not saying you should take your editorial calendar and toss it out the window, but you might want to start slotting videos into that calendar at least weekly (and more if you can!).

    According to Harvard Business Review, today’s consumers care more about having an emotional connection with a company even more than they do about stellar customer service. One way to forge such an emotional connection is through video. This humanizes your company. Now, instead of being a random marketing firm, you have real people getting on-camera. They have names, faces, and lives. Your audience will remember that and connect with it.

    Everyone has a smartphone or tablet, and that’s all you need to make a video these days. It’s easy to register an account with YouTube and start uploading videos. Again, promotion is key here, as you need to let your audience know your video exists. If you get enough shares and views, your videos could even go viral!

  9. Try SlideShare
  10. Slideshows have gotten a sleek new update with LinkedIn’s SlideShare. This free slideshow uploader lets you create your very own presentations and then publish them online.

    Like all things social, you can tag your SlideShares with relevant keywords that make them more searchable. The most popular presentations make it to the homepage of LinkedIn, which always posts a list of Today’s Top SlideShares.

    If a lead wants to know about such and a such a topic and they search for it and your SlideShare pops up, you could have just made yourself a brand new customer. You can and should upload SlideShares about a variety of topics, as LinkedIn categorizes SlideShares by almost every category imaginable, such as business, art, tech, finance and economy, careers, food, entertainment, education, health, mobile, retail, politics, science, sports, and so much more.

  11. Secure Your Website
  12. It used to be that only select websites had an HTTPS URL, but today, more and more websites are adding that all-important S. Here’s a quick lesson on HTTP: it stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, and the S means Secure.

    That S is everything for the peace of mind of both leads and customers alike. Take a minute and go to some of your favorite websites right now and see how many of them are HTTPS. If it’s a social media platform like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram, then they’re HTTPS. Google, Bing, and other search engines are the Even major marketing resources like Neil Patel, Marketo, and Wishpond are all secure.

    Not every last website has made the move to HTTPS yet, but you don’t want yours to be left in the dust. First impressions are everything, after all. If a lead finds your website and sees it isn’t secure, why would they feel comfortable giving you their contact information or making a purchase on your server? They wouldn’t.

    To make the switch yourself, you’ll need an SSL certificate for the hosting account of your site. You’ll also have to use 301 redirects so that each time a lead or customer searches for or accesses your site, they don’t get a broken link or error message.

  13. A/B Test Often
  14. This is one of those common-sense hacks that you might overlook, but you definitely shouldn’t. A/B testing is a necessity for today’s marketer, as it gives your customers a chance to let their voices be heard.

    In case you need a refresher, an A/B test, also known as a split test, pits Variation A against Variation B to determine which version attracts the most traffic, views, clicks, or other important metrics.

    You shouldn’t be afraid to A/B test even the smallest changes to your website, blog, or landing pages. We’ve all heard of those fabled case studies about companies that changed their website font, background color, or moved a CTA button and had a huge boost in conversions.

    While some of those case studies may be a little exaggerated, there’s something to say for the power of small changes. Of course, if you do a bigger website overhaul, you should A/B test this as well.

  15. Use Automation Software
  16. We saved arguably the best hack for last. Automation software for lead generation and lead management is so useful we want to shout it from the rooftops. You’re a busy person, we’re sure. Time is a commodity, and everyone knows that lead generation takes up quite a lot of time.

    This is where automation software comes in. EngageBay provides such automation with its all-in-one marketing suite. Competitively priced, the average plan starts at just a dollar a day. For that low cost, you can automate email marketing, social media marketing, and lead gen as you manage subscriber count. With an included landing page builder, a web form designer, and an SEO toolkit, you get a great value.

Conclusion
If you’re a marketer with too many ideas and not enough time, you should try out any of these great B2B hacks for lead generation. They’re sure to make a difference in terms of how you bring in leads and even the quality of your leads.

Runa Tripathy
Locuz
Runa is an inquisitive blogger passionate about reading & writing everything under the sun. Currently writing for Tech Start ups, SAAS, CRM, and automation. She is a Digital expert with 10+ years of experience in the industry.

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