Are you still practicing cold calling? 

If yes, you need to sit down and think. 

In 2022, more than 75% of marketers believed inbound lead generation as a more effective strategy than outbound methods like cold calling. Instead, inbound strategies, such as content marketing, have taken the B2B world in a storm. 

Check out 6 B2B strategies for generating inbound leads. These strategies will help you build trust between your brand and audience, eventually converting them into customers. 

Inbound Lead Generation | Everything You Need to Know

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Lead generation is the process of bringing prospects closer to your brand by increasing their interest gradually through content, events, or related actions. 

In simpler words, it’s the process of converting prospects into customers. 

You can generate leads in two ways 👇

• Inbound {prospects contact you}
• Outbound {you contact prospects}

You can generate outbound leads through cold-calling, cold-emailing, PPC, multi-channel outreach, etc. 

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Definition

‍Inbound lead generation is the process of bringing your potential customer base to your business through websites, blogs, newsletters, video content, social media content, ads, etc. 

Why is it important? 

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Instead of picking one from inbound vs. outbound lead generation, think about combining both. The majority of successful B2B businesses combine both of these lead-generating strategies. 

To know why outbound lead generation is profitable in the long run, go here. And, read ahead to find 5 Reasons to Go for Inbound Strategies. 

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To build a trustworthy brand-customer relationship

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B2B marketers fail to generate outbound leads because more than 71% of consumers don’t feel safe trusting unknown brands. Inbound marketing strategies provide the content and time for developing a trustworthy relationship with the leads. 

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To build credibility 

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You cannot go around claiming that you have the best product. Building brand credibility in your prospects’ eyes is crucial for a successful business. And, the best way to do that is by hosting webinars, writing relevant articles, and creating customer-centric content. 

Think about it. What else can make you credible in your prospects’ eyes if you are not creating a solution for their problem? 

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Bring organic traffic

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Around 60% of B2B marketers use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a part of their strategy because 33% of their leads come from random internet searches. 

So, believe it or not, organic traffic plays a vital role in any successful marketing strategy. Here swoops in inbound leads. 

You create customer-centric content, and your leads will find you automatically on the web. This will not only increase the number of sales but also save the big bucks that you are going to spend on paid traffic. 

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To produce high-quality leads

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Sometimes, if you don't find active leads, cold email campaigns (or even cold calling) can be like a shot in the dark. In comparison to such scenarios, inbound leads are of great quality. 

Remember, they need something, and they seek you out while finding the solution for it. Such leads are more likely to convert into loyal customers. 

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To nurture leads

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Inbound marketing is the best when it comes to nurturing leads. Even if somebody isn’t ready to buy, they have found you because they are interested in your niche.

How to Generate Inbound Leads [Tools Included]

1. Create Problem-Solving Content 

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Have you ever seen salespeople in front of a hospital? I guess you haven’t. 

Do you know why? Because people go there to get fixed, and if the doctors can help them once, they are guaranteed to return. No matter what. 

The same idea goes behind creating content for inbound lead-generation strategies. Marketing is a complex process, and there are various methods and tools that can enhance it. Some people get stuck while buying those tools while others get stuck using them.  

So, your content must be able to do the following things:

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 👉Help them make business decisions

 👉Guide while creating strategies

 👉Inform them about effective tools/software

 👉Buying guide for the software

 👉User’s guide for the unavoidable software

 👉Make their life easier

 👉Help them become a better business

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FYI, around 69% of business-to-business marketers use blogging and content marketing as a part of their sales strategy. Here’s how you can create content for your potential buyers. 

• Blog writing with informative articles
• YouTube videos 
• Helpful newsletters
• Emails
• Infographics
• Ebooks

Additional Tip: Use automation tools for sending emails and newsletters. 

Take a look at the video to understand how to create content for inbound marketing. 

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2. Provide Material on Social Media Handles

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First, figure out the social media handle where you are more likely to find your targeted audiences. Then, create a profile with your brand name or company name. If you want, you can also go with your name. 

Next, start posting brief content that your targeted audience might find helpful. If you are into B2B, I recommend using Twitter and LinkedIn regularly. 

The next (and the most effective) step is to provide material that will help other businesses grow along with yours. Take a look at the above screenshot to get an idea.

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3. Make the Website SEO-optimized 

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As mentioned above, almost 60% of B2B companies include SEO in their marketing strategy. The goal is simple–to come to the top in the search results when a prospect Googles you. 

But, is an article (blog) the only way? 

Nope. You get SEO-optimize your website too. For example, Smartlead is a cold-emailing tool. Now, we want to use SEO in such a way in our website content that every time somebody Googles “cold emailing tool” our website comes up. 

This is why website content matters so much. 

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4. Personalize the Website for Visitors

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Your targeted audience will reach your website through

👉Internet search

👉Your blogs and articles 

👉Your bio on Social media profiles

👉YouTube video description

Now, what? 

The next step, and the ultimate one, is to provide a personalized, out-of-the-world, unbelievable experience to the visitors. So that even if they don’t buy your product right away, they will come back soon to do that. 

And, how to do that? 

👉Intuitive pop-ups based on visitor activity 

👉Collect email addresses or contact info with list-building tools

👉Creative exit pop-ups

👉Personalized landing pages

👉Visitor’s guide around the website

👉Mobile-friendly pop-ups and forms

👉Creative, convincing CTAs

👉Spin-to-win wheel and relevant prizes

Hey reader, use the above tactics and turn every visitor into a loyal customer. 

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5. Host Industry-Relevant Events

Hosting industry-relevant events is one of the brilliant ways to captivate inbound leads, especially if business owners or decision makers (of a company) are your targeted audience. You can do it by

➡️Hosting webinars, seminars, or conferences

➡️Starting a podcast

➡️Inviting industry experts to a panel discussion

➡️Conducting workshops

➡️Providing classes

➡️Product demos

Creating events targeting your audience/customers makes you credible and increases your brand value. 

These events will attract your prospects and will make a god-father-like image in the industry. 

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6. Add Activities for the Audience 

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Now you know that inbound strategies are undoubtedly easy bait for your potential clients. You put effective (cum informative) content out there, and they are bound to check out your brand like swarming bees. 

But are they going to stick to your brand? 

So, you have created content and personalized the website; what else can you do? 

A study conducted by McKinsey & Company says 76% of consumers feel frustrated with non-personalized marketing content. So, you are going to do the opposite of this. 

After personalizing the website, it’s time to personalize your already informative, problem-solving content. 

All you need to do is to add activities for your customer base. Trust me, interactivity-based content can do wonders in inbound strategies. Here’s how you can implement this strategy:

👉Add quizzes in blog articles

👉Add a small task that they can do using your product/service

👉Add games in emails or blogs

👉Add surveys and polls in blog articles

Take a look at this email by Canva to understand how one can increase interactivity.

7. Keep the Paid-Leads in the Loop

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It takes a while before you see the results of inbound strategies. This is why many marketers often try paid marketing via advertisements. And, that’s okay.

What you can do is keep the leads that come through paid marketing. If someone didn’t buy after the first visit to your website, they are more likely to buy the second or the third time. 

So, you add featured blogs or a bar showing upcoming events. The goal is to preview anything that can show the visitor you create content that can make their life easier.

Just keep the paid leads in the loop so that you don’t have to go for paid advertising another time. 

Additional tip: Try backlinking your work from established blogs to increase the number of your visitors. This strategy might cost you a little expenditure, but that’s nothing when your organic traffic begins to flow. 

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Things You Need to Consider While Creating a Lead Generation Strategy

Be it inbound or outbound lead generations; you will need to consider (study) the below points to do it successfully: 

• Study your customers: For instance, you’re selling an email automation tool. Now, a one-month-old business might not prioritize buying your software because they are still working on the website, but a one-year-old business might. 
  
  This is what is called studying the customer’s behavior to understand what processes they go through while deciding to buy, actually buying, shifting from one product to another, etc. 

• Try understanding your buyer’s journey to be able to pitch your product at the right time.
• Prioritize your goals:  Every company has its unique priorities and business goals. Before setting out your campaigns to get inbound leads, decide if you have the time, patience, and necessity to do that right now. 
• Preferred channels: Inbound leads flock towards valuable content but to their preferred channels only. While putting out fashion-related content on Instagram is the right thing to do, it’s not a preferred platform for a B2B audience. 
• Study competitors: It’s highly recommended to study your competitor’s lead generation strategy before planning yours. Try to find out what worked for them, modify similar strategies, and go at it. 

Final Thoughts!

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Besides personalized website & content, interactivity-based newsletters and updates via email keep your inbound leads in the loop. And, if you’re focusing on video content, email can help there too. 

But, no matter how effective email is, it’s definitely not possible to send personalized content to each lead separately. If you are facing such difficulty, try Smartlead to send emails. 

All you have to do is upload the list of leads’ email addresses as a CSV file, write bits of information, and the AI-based tool will do the rest. The best part is that you can have multiple sender addresses to send emails from. This way, your content will safely reach the prospect’s inbox without any risk of landing in the spam folder. 

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FAQs

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How do you get inbound leads?

Inbound campaigns are the marketing strategy to get inbound leads. All you have to do is create problem-solving, informative, customer-centric content. It can be long-form content in blogs, Social media posts, video content on YouTube, events, etc. 

The motto is to attract an audience or potential clients by providing information that will help them run their business.

Why are inbound leads important?

Inbound leads are guaranteed to be individuals who are already interested in the product, which makes them more likely to buy from you. 

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