B2B Lead Generation Strategies to Add to Your Toolbox in 2024

Marketing and sales leaders know when it’s time to switch things up. And when your standard methods for driving leads aren’t working the way they used to, there are always new B2B lead generation strategies out there to try. 

Last time, we talked about the future of lead generation for B2B and 2024 trends in this space. Today, we’re highlighting four strategies to help your company stay on the cutting edge of sales and marketing in 2024 and beyond.

Creating B2B Content That Feels B2C

As companies work to engage more deeply with business clients, they’re increasingly adopting a B2C-like approach in their B2B content. This shift recognizes that behind every B2B decision-maker is a consumer who responds positively to engaging, visually appealing, and relatable content. By incorporating elements typically reserved for consumer advertising into B2B content, companies can create more memorable and effective campaigns.

At the end of the day, B2B buyers are looking for the same emotional connection and ease of understanding that they experience as consumers. What does this look like in practice? Moving away from overly technical language and instead using storytelling, vibrant visuals, and a more approachable tone to connect with audiences on a human level.

Try this to add more B2C flair to your content:

• Storytelling to Build Connections: Just like with B2C marketing, storytelling can be a powerful tool in B2B. Sharing customer success stories or the history of a product’s development makes content more engaging and relatable. For example, a software company could share a case study that narrates a client’s journey from initial struggles to successful outcomes, emphasizing the ROI of the successful implementation.
• Enhancing Visual Appeal: B2B content often leans heavily on text, but incorporating high-quality images, infographics, and videos can make your content more compelling and effective. A logistics company might use interactive maps and infographic timelines to visually represent how their solutions improve supply chain efficiency, for example.
• Using Relatable Language: Instead of jargon-filled text, B2B communications written in clear, conversational language are more likely to resonate with audiences. This approach makes the content more accessible, especially when explaining complex products or services.

Examples of B2B Brands Successfully Adopting B2C Tactics

• HubSpot: Known for its inbound marketing software, HubSpot excels at creating accessible, user-friendly content that educates its audience through blogs, videos, and free courses. Their content is engaging and easy to digest while informing visitors, mimicking a B2C approach to customer education.
• Adobe: Adobe’s marketing often features visually rich content and storytelling that highlights creative professionals using their software. By focusing on the stories of individual designers, photographers, and marketers, Adobe connects emotionally with B2B clients who identify with these individuals as peers.
• Slack: Slack’s marketing goes beyond typical B2B communication by emphasizing how it enhances workplace communication with easy-to-understand visuals and language that simplifies its technology, making the benefits clear and relatable for any user.

This trend towards a more consumer-like approach in B2B content not only makes the information more enjoyable and engaging but also helps to humanize brands and build stronger emotional connections with business customers.

Navigating New Google Policies

Google’s algorithm updates continue to reshape the digital landscape, and are especially influencing how businesses manage their content, emails, and reviews. Understanding and adapting to these changes is crucial for B2B companies aiming to maintain visibility and engagement online.

Google’s recent updates have emphasized the: 

• Quality and relevance of content
• Authenticity of email engagement
• Legitimacy of reviews 

For example, updates to Google’s search algorithm prioritize original, well-researched content over generic information. Similarly, its email filtering algorithms are getting better at distinguishing between genuine engagement and spam, impacting how your marketing emails are received by potential clients.

Adapting Your Strategy to Align with Google’s Policies

While no website is immune from the impacts of Google’s updates, there are steps you can take to protect your digital presence:

1. Focus on Quality Content: The push towards quality content means businesses need to invest more in comprehensive research, original insights, and expert opinions to boost their SEO rankings. For example, creating in-depth guides that address specific industry challenges or innovations can attract more organic traffic and establish your brand’s authority.
2. Optimize Email Marketing Practices: To adapt to Google’s sophisticated email algorithms, ensure your email marketing is personalized and provides value beyond mere promotions. Segment your email list to tailor messages more effectively and use engagement metrics to refine your approach continuously.
3. Enhance Review Management: Encourage your customers to leave detailed, honest reviews of your products or services. Respond to reviews to show engagement, address concerns, and improve your visibility and credibility. Implementing a process for regular review requests and follow-ups can help maintain a steady flow of current, high-quality reviews.
4. Regularly Update Your Content: With the importance of fresh content, regularly updating your existing content can keep it relevant and improve search rankings. This includes revising articles with new data, insights, and developments in your industry.
5. Leverage Google My Business: For local SEO, keeping your Google My Business profile updated and rich with current information and customer reviews can significantly enhance visibility and help you attract more B2B customers.

Say you’re a tech company that specializes in cybersecurity solutions. By regularly publishing articles on the latest data protection laws, cybersecurity threats, and prevention techniques, and ensuring that all content is original and well-supported by data, the company can boost its search engine rankings and enhance its reputation as an industry leader.

Navigating Google’s evolving algorithms requires a proactive and informed approach to digital marketing. Stay in the know and be ready to quickly adjust strategy as new updates are rolled out.

Using Generative AI in B2B Marketing

Generative AI is revolutionizing the B2B marketing landscape with a range of AI tools that help do things like automating complex tasks, personalizing customer interactions, and enhancing strategic decision-making. Adopting AI technologies in marketing strategies is no longer optional—it’s becoming a necessity for staying competitive and relevant.

Generative AI is specifically being leveraged to: 

• Create and optimize content
• Generate actionable data analyses
• Automate customer communication processes

This technology helps marketers target the right prospects with precision, tailor messages that resonate personally, and make smarter, data-driven decisions.

Put generative AI to work for you by:

• Automating Routine Tasks: AI can automate repetitive marketing tasks like data entry, customer segmentation, and even initial lead qualification. This frees up marketing teams to focus on more strategic activities that require human insight.
• Personalizing Content at Scale: AI tools can analyze vast amounts of data to identify trends and preferences within your target audience, enabling you to create highly personalized content. For example, AI-driven platforms like Persado use natural language processing to craft messages that are optimized for engagement based on the audience’s emotional triggers and past interactions. Many sales tools have generative AI components built into them, like LeadLander’s AI message generator.
• Enhancing Decision-Making: AI can process and analyze data far more quickly and accurately than humans, providing real-time insights that help marketers make informed decisions. Tools like Crayon monitor market movements, competitor actions, and customer feedback to provide actionable intelligence.

Leveraging AI Tools Effectively

To make the most of generative AI in your B2B marketing efforts, consider the following strategies:

1. Start with Specific Goals: Pinpoint areas within your marketing strategy that can benefit the most from automation and personalization, like: improving email campaign response rates, increasing engagement on social media, or generating more qualified leads from your content marketing efforts.
2. Choose the Right Tools: Select AI tools that align with your marketing needs and integrate with your existing systems. For example, if content creation is a bottleneck, an AI tool like Jasper can help draft content that your team can refine and optimize.
3. Monitor and Refine: AI tools learn and improve over time, so it’s important to monitor their performance and continuously refine your strategies based on the insights gathered. Regular audits and adjustments will help ensure that your AI implementations deliver optimal results.
4. Ensure Ethical Usage: As with any technology that handles data, it’s crucial to use AI ethically, ensuring privacy and compliance with regulations like GDPR. Transparently communicating how you use AI in your processes can also help maintain trust with your customers.

A SaaS company could use AI to analyze user behavior on their platform, identifying features that are most engaging and areas where users face issues. By automating this analysis, the company can quickly adapt their product and marketing strategies to enhance user satisfaction and retention. Then they can use personalized AI-driven onboarding emails to ensure customers make the most of their subscription from day one.

Invest in Social Selling

Social selling has become an effective strategy in the B2B sector, leveraging the power of social media not just to connect, but to engage meaningfully with prospects and drive sales. This trend continues to evolve, enabling sales teams to establish trust, demonstrate expertise, and directly interact with potential customers in real time. 

But what exactly is social selling? It involves using social media platforms to listen to, connect with, and engage potential customers. This strategy focuses on building relationships and directly interacting with prospects by providing value, like: 

• Sharing insightful content
• Answering questions
• Participating in discussions relevant to your industry

7 Steps to Implement Social Selling

Here’s how you can effectively implement social selling to enhance your lead generation efforts:

1. Choose the Right Platforms: Start by identifying where your prospects are most active. LinkedIn is a powerhouse for B2B interactions, but platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and even Instagram can be just as impactful depending on your industry and target audience.
2. Optimize Social Media Profiles: Ensure that all social media profiles are professional, up-to-date, and align with your brand message. Your profile should make it clear who you are, what you offer, and how you can help potential clients.
3. Train Your Team: Provide training for your sales team on the ins and outs of social selling, including best practices for engaging with prospects, the type of content to share, and how to personalize outreach without being intrusive.
4. Develop a Content Strategy: Create and share content that adds value to your prospects’ lives. This could be blog posts, industry reports, infographics, or videos that address common pain points or latest trends within the industry. The goal is to establish your company as a thought leader.
5. Engage Actively: Don’t just post content; engage with others by commenting on posts, answering questions, and participating in discussions. Your engagement should be helpful, professional, and authentically interested in building a connection.
6. Monitor Mentions and Conversations: Use social listening tools like BuzzSumo or Mention to monitor mentions of your brand, competitors, and relevant industry terms. This can help you understand market needs, identify potential leads, and engage in conversations at the right moment.
7. Leverage Advanced Tools: Use tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, which offers advanced search capabilities, personalized algorithms to recommend leads, and insights into existing accounts and contacts.

Embrace the Future of B2B Lead Generation

The ways marketers and sales leaders are generating leads in 2024 is diverging from times past. The advancements and B2B lead generation strategies we’ve covered today offer you the tools to not only streamline operations but also connect with audiences in more meaningful and impactful ways.

Happy selling!