Best Tools for B2B Lead Generation in 2024

B2B lead generation strategies are increasingly complex but remain essential for solving business challenges, especially with a robust product or service. By securing more sales-qualified leads and maintaining a filled sales funnel, businesses can better manage market dynamics and competition. Here's the current landscape for B2B lead generation:

1. The cost of marketing qualified leads (MQLs) is rising.


2. Sales team conversion rates are dropping.


3. Advertising campaigns are getting more expensive.


4. SEO is evolving with AI-generated content.


5. Content marketing faces increased competition.

Despite these hurdles, many effective B2B lead generation tools are available to help marketing and sales teams generate leads efficiently and systematically. Utilizing landing pages, B2B lead tools, and complimentary resources can enhance your lead generation strategy and improve search engine visibility.

10 Types of Tools to Generate B2B Leads

The variety of B2B lead generation tools for sales and marketing teams is vast:

1. Website visitor intelligence


2. Sales engagement platforms


3. Marketing automation software


4. Social listening tools


5. Content marketing AI


6. Paid advertising channels


7. Marketing funnel builders


8. A/B testing tools


9. Account-based marketing software


10. Email marketing platforms

However, an extensive list of strategies is not helpful unless there is a clearly defined lead generation process that your team can consistently follow. Therefore, we will focus on the first three: website visitor intelligence, sales engagement, and marketing automation. Mastering these channels will help you excel in acquiring new qualified leads and customers.

Website Visitor Intelligence: Transform Visitors into Sales Qualified Leads

Consider visitor intelligence as the starting point for your B2B lead generation. Qualified leads visit your website daily, yet many leave without leaving a trace. While lead magnets can attract some prospects, even the best landing pages fail to convert 95% of visitors.

It's advantageous to identify who is visiting your site.

Account-Based Marketing

In B2B lead generation, the aim is to engage everyone within a company who could be a potential customer. Knowing that a company like the Revenue Institute visited your site is beneficial because you can identify whom to contact. However, for companies with over 50 employees, this model is less effective, which is a limitation of many lead capture tools and website visitor intelligence platforms.

Sorting through 100,000 leads, such as if Microsoft visited your site, is impractical.

B2B Lead Generation on Steroids

Imagine your B2B lead generation powered by knowing who is on your site, not just the company. You could target qualified leads from specific audiences within any organization. This is where a tool like Identity Matrix becomes invaluable.

While there are other B2B lead generation tools, Identity Matrix uniquely provides verified contact info for individuals on your website, simplifying your lead generation strategy.

What to Do with These Sales Leads?

With automated lead generation, your digital advertising, content marketing, and inbound strategies bring visitors to your site. Identity Matrix captures more leads than ever.

But what's next?

Integrate these leads into your sales process for your marketing and sales teams.

Marketing Qualified Leads

With the influx of new leads, it's crucial to begin with lead scoring. Tools like Identity Matrix, ZoomInfo, or Clearbit can help you differentiate high-quality leads. B2B lead generation is key to generating sales leads, but not all are equal. It's up to the marketing team to disqualify certain leads while nurturing each qualified lead through marketing automation.

Lead generation, especially in B2B contexts, requires marketing strategies that focus on value-driven nurturing. Demand generation aims to convert new leads into sales-qualified leads gradually.

Marketing teams should implement the following methods to nurture B2B leads and convert MQLs into sales leads:

1. Engage in targeted email marketing campaigns


2. Utilize social media retargeting techniques


3. Develop compelling content to share with the audience

Once sales leads are qualified, B2B lead generation becomes a streamlined process aimed at optimizing the sales funnel for better efficiency and conversion rates.

The Sales Team Takes Over Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)

B2B lead generation campaigns require turning every lead capture into a potential paying customer. This requires collaboration between sales and marketing teams, with the ultimate goal of converting "more leads" into "more customers." This is where the sales pipeline plays a critical role.

Sales should focus on high-touch engagement with qualified leads, using calls, emails, and social media to connect with the target audience.

While traditional methods work, B2B lead generation is all about relationships and networking. Sales teams should nurture engaged prospects to secure significant deals.

Cool... More Leads. Now What?

Once your B2B lead generation strategies are in place, starting with site visitor identification, both marketing and sales teams can focus on the next funnel layer: Sales engagement platforms that drive sales-qualified leads.

Sales Engagement Platforms

The sales team's role in B2B lead generation is critical, emphasizing the need to engage with high-scored, qualified prospects. While both teams collaborate to generate leads, the sales team ultimately drives revenue. Therefore, implementing a dedicated sales engagement platform is essential to streamline and optimize the sales process for better results.

What is Sales Engagement?

High-quality leads often require high-touch engagement strategies. But what does this involve?

A sales engagement tool combines various marketing lead generation tactics into a unified software solution for B2B lead generation. It allows for:

1. Direct outreach to target prospects through calls


2. Personalized email communication with qualified leads


3. Management of LinkedIn and social media tasks for enhanced visibility

This tool acts as a catalyst for driving business growth. In B2B lead generation, Salesforce studies show it takes 5-12 touchpoints to secure a single meeting, highlighting the importance of diligent follow-up with high-scoring prospects.

Top Sales Engagement Tools

Industry leaders in sales engagement include:

1. SalesOS by ZoomInfo


2. Sales Loft


3. Outreach.io

These tools are costly for small businesses but excel in integrating sales channels for seamless event sequencing throughout the sales process.

More affordable tools include:

1. Apollo.io


2. Lemlist


3. HubSpot sequences

These tools automate tasks like emails and set up call and social media tasks for easy execution by sales reps. They also support outbound B2B lead generation, enhancing the efforts of your marketing team.

Marketing Automation Software

With your B2B lead generation strategy encompassing inbound marketing, outbound outreach, and diverse marketing channels, what's next?

Lead Scoring

Lead scoring involves enriching new leads with details such as:

1. Job title


2. Company size


3. Industry


4. Location


5. Contact info

In B2B lead generation, you score leads based on their likelihood of becoming paying customers. For instance, if you focus on cybersecurity, you'd prioritize those leads over ones from hospitality.

From here, incorporate these leads into marketing campaigns that further fuel lead generation.

What Does This Software Do?

Marketing automation software can:

1. Create landing pages


2. Capture leads


3. Store a lead database


4. Manage social media marketing


5. Email and SMS prospects

This software is crucial in B2B lead generation, allowing you to deliver valuable content to potential leads for sales team engagement.

Industry-Leading Platforms

While many platforms exist for marketing campaigns, demand generation teams primarily use a few proven options. Top software for B2B lead generation includes:

1. Marketo


2. Salesforce Pardot


3. ActiveCampaign

The first two are costly, typically used by enterprises, but ActiveCampaign is powerful for small and medium businesses. Any of these platforms can scale your B2B lead generation efforts and bring new customers if used correctly.

Fuel Your B2B Lead Generation

B2B lead generation doesn't have to be expensive or impossible. Using the right marketing channels and nurturing each lead appropriately, your process can be cost-effective and value-driven.

Focus on the low-hanging fruit already visiting your site. The more niche your website, the higher the intent your traffic shows. At Identity Matrix, we know our prospects are looking for exactly what we offer.

No one searches for visitor de-anonymization software without intent, simplifying our B2B lead generation process. We utilize:

1. Website visitor tracking


2. Sales engagement


3. Marketing automation

These strategies create cost-effective B2B lead generation for us, allowing us to prioritize customer success and overall sales strategy over expensive advertising and extensive SEO competition.

The best approach to B2B lead generation is filling the sales pipeline with potential leads via valuable content, building relationships through nurturing rather than exhausting your sales team with relentless outreach.