Inbound Lead Generation: How to Find Inbound Leads

These days, there's a lot more to lead generation than simply cold calling and emailing as many people as possible. The art of the lead generation strategy is becoming more refined every year, and a modern sales team - as well as professional lead generation agencies - employs a variety of clever tools and techniques to make their lead generation campaigns more effective.

Of course, cutting-edge sales and automation tools are one thing (and we'll get into that later), but when it comes to broad lead generation strategies, there's really one big question: outbound lead generation or inbound lead generation?

And it's no secret that inbound lead generation is slowly taking over. A huge 59% of salespeople prefer inbound lead generation, whereas a mere 16% stand by outbound.

So whether or not you're already sold on the benefits of inbound lead generation, or whether or not you even know what it is, the question remains: how can you enhance your inbound lead generation process to find more qualified leads and fill your sales funnel?

Today, we're going to answer that question. Drawing on our decade of experience crafting unique and successful lead gen campaigns for businesses both large and small, we're going to delve into everything you need to know about finding inbound leads for your company.

Let's get started.

Understanding the inbound lead generation process

In order to start making lucrative inroads into the inbound lead generation scene, you need to first get to grips with what inbound lead generation is all about.

In essence, inbound lead generation is the process of drawing potential customers in toward your business through content and search engine optimization. In this way, businesses can engage prospects by demonstrating thought leadership and industry authority.

In contrast, outbound leads are gathered by reaching out to prospects who've not previously engaged with or shown any interest in your solutions - in other words: cold leads. Think: cold calls and direct mail.

What are the benefits of inbound lead generation?

As we mentioned earlier, inbound is fast becoming many companies' favored lead generation method. But why?

Well, much of inbound's success can be boiled down to broad shifts in consumer behavior. People are more wary than ever of cold outreach and are super clued-in when it comes to cynical sales tactics. Over 87% of consumers now begin their buying journey with an an online search, showing that buyer intent is now a key player.

By optimizing your online presence to rank highly, therefore, you're setting yourself up to catch those leads.

Inbound lead generation is also ten times more effective at converting leads, up to 61% cheaper, and is capable of driving three times as many leads. So the number-crunchers out there shouldn't have a hard time seeing why inbound lead generation is so popular!

Proven inbound lead generation strategies

So what are the most effective ways to generate leads using inbound methods?

Of course, there's no single inbound marketing method guaranteed to attract thousands of high quality leads by itself. But by a careful application of a combination of the following inbound lead generation techniques, you'll dramatically increase your chances of success.

Let's get stuck in:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is perhaps the most important skill to master if you want to elevate your inbound marketing as it essentially forms the backbone of all inbound lead generation strategies. In other words: search engine optimization should be a factored in when producing everything from blog posts to podcasts.

For those who don't know, SEO involves using the correct volume and combination of keywords and phrases to make your content rank more highly on Google search engine results pages (SERPs).

In a day and age when organic searches account for almost half of all search engine clicks (i.e., people are navigating search engines with an intent to buy), it's crucial to get on top of SEO. Optimizing your content marketing to match the search queries of your target audience is a one-way ticket to lead generation success.

Content marketing

These days, brand is everything. There's too much competition to rely on your product or service alone; qualified leads have to recognize your brand as a leader in the space and to have access to proof of this.

So how can you 'prove' your thought leadership? Answer: by making content marketing a fundamental part of your lead generation strategy.

Put yourself in the customer's position: imagine you're looking to buy a product or service. There are two competitors; one, a socially active giant with a website full of useful resources and interesting blog posts, the other with a website which states only what the product does and how much it costs. Even if the products are equally good, you'd definitely choose the former, right?

That's exactly how it works: 74% of companies agree that content marketing boosts their inbound lead generation strategy and more than half are currently increasing their content marketing budgets this year.

By consistently producing and distributing high-quality, valuable content across multiple channels, you're sure to give your inbound lead generation a leg up.

Social media marketing

You don't need us to tell you that social media marketing is a crucial aspect of any modern inbound lead generation strategy. What you might need with, however, is choosing exactly which platforms to use and how best to leverage them.

It comes down to your target audience: different social media platforms have different demographics, so how much time and money you allocate to each should reflect the potential ROI. For example, there's little point promoting a B2B CRM software on Instagram (which is a more 'personal' kind of platform), but LinkedIn would be ideal. There are 8.2 million C-level executives on LinkedIn - the perfect place to find B2B leads.

Whichever platform you opt for, make sure you're using it to the max:

• Join groups
• Engage with posts (by liking, commenting, and sharing)
• Interact with your existing customers
• Post content (blog posts, videos, tutorials etc)
• Optimize your profile(s)

Converting inbound leads

It's great to get a handle on the fundamental inbound lead generation strategies. But the truth is: attracting qualified leads through search engines, social media, valuable content, landing pages etc is only half the battle. The really difficult part is converting them.

The average B2B conversion rate is only around 2.2% - not very high, by any stretch. So how can you turn qualified leads into paying customers?

Lead nurturing

The process of converting a lead can take months, even years. In order to successfully usher them through the sales pipeline, you need to fully grasp lead nurturing - which essentially means 'helping them along'.

In order to do this, you should:

• Personalize all communications
• Follow up quickly
• Answer prospects' questions
• Invite them to partake in trials etc

Use automation tools

Some research suggests that as much as 80% of marketers see improved lead generation when they use automation tools. But why is it so successful?

Well, marketing automation tools not only streamline your day-to-day, removing repetitive tasks and collating everything in one place, but they're also great at compiling useful data, analyzing it, and throwing out incredibly handy insights you can use to improve your inbound lead generation process.

Don't miss the wave; jump on board and research the best automation tools for your company right now.

Analyze and improve

No inbound lead generation strategy is perfect. Every business, even the behemoths, are constantly analyzing their performance to identify pitfalls and bottlenecks.

Your key to continuous improvement is data. Keep an eye on these KPI metrics and see what they reveal:

• Web traffic
• Content engagement
• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate
• Lead response time
• Keyword rankings

Data will reveal the gaps in your inbound lead generation efforts and help you see exactly where and how to find more inbound leads in the future.

Give your inbound lead generation strategy a boost

No one can afford to neglect inbound lead generation in 2024. While you need both inbound and outbound leads, inbound is the best way to exploit current consumer trends (that are likely to stick around).

But optimizing your SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing strategies will only take you so far. Your sales team also needs to become adept at guiding those new leads through the sales funnel and turning them into customers.

Many B2B businesses look into outsourcing lead generation as a reliable and affordable alternative to building an in-house team. Companies like Leadium have the experience and know-how to create killer lead generation strategies tailored perfectly to your needs. What's more, by partnering with Leadium, you gain access to dedicated research teams and the latest lead gen tech without having to train anyone. Less time, less money, more leads. Check out our pricing plans today!