Essential lead Funnel Increase generation can be split into two types: inbound leads and outbound leads. While both methods have their place in marketing strategy, the last thing you ever want to do is spend countless hours and thousands of dollars on lead-generation strategies that don’t result in loyal customers.
On the surface, the steps to achieve inbound lead success are simple. Create content, speak on podcasts, do webinars, eventually rank on SERPS, and, finally, generate leads. However, there’s a lot more to understanding how to generate inbound leads.
Don’t worry—we’ll guide you through it. From the meaning of inbound leads and the Germany Email Data differences between inbound and outbound leads to proven strategies for scoring high-quality leads, we can help you master B2B inbound lead generation.
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Top strategies Funnel Increase for B2B inbound lead generation
What is an inbound leinbound lead is a prospect who initiates contact with your business.
Various inbound marketing channels make potential customers aware of your products, and once these customers show interest, they become an inbound lead. Inbound leads are high-value as they are ready to enter the sales funnel as soon as you have a way to contact them.
There are three main types of inbound leads:
Marketing qualified leads (MQLs): These customers have visited your website or social media profile to sign up for a guide, promotion, or other resource.
Product qualified leads (PQLs): These customers have tried your product or services with a free trial or freemium version.
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Sales qualified leads (SQLs): These customers have reached out to your sales team about pricing or product information.
Inbound prospects are particularly useful in B2B lead generation, where sales cycles are often longer. Leads that show interest in your product or service are much closer to buying than cold prospects and therefore can be converted in a shorter time.
The process of generating inbound leads
Now that we have an inbound leads definition, leads explore the process of generating inbound leads. How do you turn interested customers into sales revenue?
Attract
First, you need to use inbound marketing channels to make potential customers aware of your brand. This means making use of content marketing strategies we explore later.
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Useful content, like how-to guides, YouTube videos, and other materials, can help put you on the radar at the start of a buyer’s journey. Prospects can find your helpful resources organically through search engines, social media, and other means.
Engage
Now that you have the attention of your prospects, it’s time to deepen the relationship. Gain contact details with sign-up forms and website visitor tracking software. Next, engage them with personalized email marketing and tailored sales consultations. At this stage, it’s all about showing how your product solves the customer’s pain points.
Close
During engagement, your team will have further qualified your leads. They’ll have matched them with an ideal customer profile (ICP) and assessed how likely they are to buy through lead scoring. This information will help your product experts and closers to convert your leads into loyal customers.
Delight
Don’t rest on your laurels once the deal is closed. You still need to delight your customers by going above and beyond with follow-ups, check-ins, and comprehensive product support. Service channels, such as 24/7 live support and video tutorials, all help ensure customer satisfaction.
Gain customer feedback through surveys about your products and stay in touch to create a strong customer relationship. Satisfied customers will also become passionate advocates of your brand, generating more inbound leads.
Inbound vs outbound leads: Understanding the differences
Let’s take a brief pause to make sure we understand the differences between inbound and outbound lead generation.
Inbound lead generation is when you attract leads to your sales funnel with strategies like content marketing, SEO, and social media.
Leads initiate contact with your business through these channels and enter your sales funnel naturally.
Methods of generating inbound leads include:
Signing up for a newsletter
Downloading a whitepaper
Filling out a questionnaire
Contacting a sales team for a product demo
Some of the benefits of inbound lead generation are:
Organic growth: Leads reach out to your company with existing, genuine interest.
Sustainable marketing: Channels are set up for repeatable use. For example, evergreen SEO content will continue to attract leads for years to come.
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Builds trust: Inbound marketing avoids gimmicky, pushy tactics and promotes credibility.
Better ROI: Organic marketing channels cost much less than aggressive outbound channels.
Outbound lead generation, on the other hand, is inherently more disruptive than inbound lead generation as it aims to place sales/marketing messages in front of prospects.
Outbound leads are also known as “cold leads.” Unlike warm inbound leads, you are initiating interactions in hopes of turning a cold prospect into an interested one.
Channels for outbound sales and lead generation include:
B2B cold emails/calls
Trade shows and industry events
Social selling
TV and radio ads
Direct mail
Print Ads
The benefits of outbound lead generation include:
Controlled messaging: Outbound marketing provides greater control over who you target and how you reach them.
Quicker results: Targeted outbound marketing can generate short-terms quickly.
Test new markets: Campaigns built around new markets can reveal what works well before you invest more resources.