How to do B2B prospecting in practice? See methods and tools
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 4:34 am
B2B prospecting is a very complex job, closely related to active prospecting, and a series of traditional and non-traditional methods for finding leads.
Today, in this text, I would like to show you some of these non-traditional techniques.
In fact, this article will cover both, since when it comes to B2B prospecting, there is no one-size-fits-all way to find leads. That’s why it’s a great idea to apply several strategies at the same time and then reevaluate what’s working.
Sometimes, active B2B prospecting reaches limits online russian phone number that digital marketing alone cannot reach. It is important to have automation and lead generation via Inbound, but Outbound allows you to pursue these leads in a much more direct way.
Today we’re going to talk in more detail about the tactics for doing B2B prospecting in practice. This text is more advanced and requires prior knowledge of Inbound and Outbound approaches.
But don't worry, we've also linked to some more basic texts throughout the article to make it easier to understand.
Digital B2B prospecting techniques
How to do active B2B prospecting with digital tools
Before we get into the more advanced and holistic techniques, we need to talk about the most popular ways to do B2B prospecting.
Here, we will talk about Inbound and Outbound actions that almost all companies that apply digital marketing today are doing.
These prospecting techniques, by the way, are very effective.
On the Inbound side, the investment translates into lead generation in an almost automatic way when the results of content marketing start to arrive.
And with their marketing automation methods, qualifying and nurturing these leads is also quite hands off.
However, Inbound brings long-term results, making it very necessary to monitor a series of points that generate a lot of work.
This is precisely where Outbound stands out. Its results come in the short term and are usually much more expressive than Inbound, at the cost of greater investments.
Let's talk more about these two methodologies now, and how they translate to the B2B reality. Let's go:
B2B Inbound Prospecting
In Inbound prospecting, the focus is on attracting leads through strategies that involve the creation and distribution of relevant content for the target audience.
The basis of this methodology is content marketing, in which the company develops materials such as blogs, e-books, webinars and infographics that answer questions and solve problems for potential customers.
Lead qualification is done automatically, through tools that nurture these contacts with emails and additional content throughout the purchasing journey, monitoring their behavior on the website and interactions with the materials.
This strategy requires medium and long-term planning, but offers more qualified and engaged leads.
Main Actions:
Creation of relevant content to attract visitors;
SEO optimization to increase organic traffic;
Lead capture through forms and landing pages;
Automatic lead nurturing with segmented emails;
Analysis of user behavior on the website for qualification.
B2B Outbound Prospecting
Outbound prospecting involves a more direct approach, in which the sales team contacts potential customers before they show interest.
This includes sending cold emails, making phone calls, and using social media to find and connect with the right decision makers within companies.
Main Actions:
Identification and segmentation of leads into personalized lists;
Sending cold emails and direct calls for prospecting;
Search for qualified contacts on professional social networks;
Personalized and segmented approaches for different customer profiles;
Follow-up and relationship management with leads.
We will discuss these points in more detail in the next topic, but it is also possible to use Paid Media, such as Google Ads and Meta Ads, to generate Outbound leads.
More about this in the subitem below:
By using paid advertising on platforms such as Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Meta Ads, companies target campaigns specifically to decision-makers and professionals of interest, based on criteria such as job title, industry and geographic location.
These ads can lead to landing pages optimized for lead capture , offering relevant content or invitations to product demos.
Paid media allows for highly refined targeting, making it easy to reach qualified leads quickly.
With them, you can also work on retargeting, which is the monitoring of users who have already interacted with the company's website or content , keeping the brand present in their purchasing considerations.
Main actions:
Creation of paid campaigns targeted at specific audiences;
Using retargeting to impact leads who have already visited the website;
Development of advertisements on social networks and search platforms;
Directing leads to landing pages with value offers;
Measurement and optimization of campaigns to maximize lead conversion.
B2B prospecting techniques beyond digital
There are several very advanced techniques for doing good B2B prospecting.
It is important to see B2B the way it needs to be seen: as a highly competitive market segment, in which a single contract can transform a company's entire semester, in some cases.
And also in which the loss of contracts can have very big impacts both on the revenue of the company selling and on your own organization.
Because of this, dealing only with passive lead generation, in the Inbound model, is not the best alternative.
What many companies end up doing is applying the basics of Outbound through ads on Google Ads and Social Ads.
But it is possible to go beyond that and apply truly active prospecting — the kind in which you go after the lead to build your list little by little.
We will discuss these techniques in more detail below. Here, we will discuss techniques that go beyond digital or that, in some cases, have digital as a detail, as a framework.
And then, we will use one of them as an example to understand how to build a list of leads through B2B prospecting.
Today, in this text, I would like to show you some of these non-traditional techniques.
In fact, this article will cover both, since when it comes to B2B prospecting, there is no one-size-fits-all way to find leads. That’s why it’s a great idea to apply several strategies at the same time and then reevaluate what’s working.
Sometimes, active B2B prospecting reaches limits online russian phone number that digital marketing alone cannot reach. It is important to have automation and lead generation via Inbound, but Outbound allows you to pursue these leads in a much more direct way.
Today we’re going to talk in more detail about the tactics for doing B2B prospecting in practice. This text is more advanced and requires prior knowledge of Inbound and Outbound approaches.
But don't worry, we've also linked to some more basic texts throughout the article to make it easier to understand.
Digital B2B prospecting techniques
How to do active B2B prospecting with digital tools
Before we get into the more advanced and holistic techniques, we need to talk about the most popular ways to do B2B prospecting.
Here, we will talk about Inbound and Outbound actions that almost all companies that apply digital marketing today are doing.
These prospecting techniques, by the way, are very effective.
On the Inbound side, the investment translates into lead generation in an almost automatic way when the results of content marketing start to arrive.
And with their marketing automation methods, qualifying and nurturing these leads is also quite hands off.
However, Inbound brings long-term results, making it very necessary to monitor a series of points that generate a lot of work.
This is precisely where Outbound stands out. Its results come in the short term and are usually much more expressive than Inbound, at the cost of greater investments.
Let's talk more about these two methodologies now, and how they translate to the B2B reality. Let's go:
B2B Inbound Prospecting
In Inbound prospecting, the focus is on attracting leads through strategies that involve the creation and distribution of relevant content for the target audience.
The basis of this methodology is content marketing, in which the company develops materials such as blogs, e-books, webinars and infographics that answer questions and solve problems for potential customers.
Lead qualification is done automatically, through tools that nurture these contacts with emails and additional content throughout the purchasing journey, monitoring their behavior on the website and interactions with the materials.
This strategy requires medium and long-term planning, but offers more qualified and engaged leads.
Main Actions:
Creation of relevant content to attract visitors;
SEO optimization to increase organic traffic;
Lead capture through forms and landing pages;
Automatic lead nurturing with segmented emails;
Analysis of user behavior on the website for qualification.
B2B Outbound Prospecting
Outbound prospecting involves a more direct approach, in which the sales team contacts potential customers before they show interest.
This includes sending cold emails, making phone calls, and using social media to find and connect with the right decision makers within companies.
Main Actions:
Identification and segmentation of leads into personalized lists;
Sending cold emails and direct calls for prospecting;
Search for qualified contacts on professional social networks;
Personalized and segmented approaches for different customer profiles;
Follow-up and relationship management with leads.
We will discuss these points in more detail in the next topic, but it is also possible to use Paid Media, such as Google Ads and Meta Ads, to generate Outbound leads.
More about this in the subitem below:
By using paid advertising on platforms such as Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Meta Ads, companies target campaigns specifically to decision-makers and professionals of interest, based on criteria such as job title, industry and geographic location.
These ads can lead to landing pages optimized for lead capture , offering relevant content or invitations to product demos.
Paid media allows for highly refined targeting, making it easy to reach qualified leads quickly.
With them, you can also work on retargeting, which is the monitoring of users who have already interacted with the company's website or content , keeping the brand present in their purchasing considerations.
Main actions:
Creation of paid campaigns targeted at specific audiences;
Using retargeting to impact leads who have already visited the website;
Development of advertisements on social networks and search platforms;
Directing leads to landing pages with value offers;
Measurement and optimization of campaigns to maximize lead conversion.
B2B prospecting techniques beyond digital
There are several very advanced techniques for doing good B2B prospecting.
It is important to see B2B the way it needs to be seen: as a highly competitive market segment, in which a single contract can transform a company's entire semester, in some cases.
And also in which the loss of contracts can have very big impacts both on the revenue of the company selling and on your own organization.
Because of this, dealing only with passive lead generation, in the Inbound model, is not the best alternative.
What many companies end up doing is applying the basics of Outbound through ads on Google Ads and Social Ads.
But it is possible to go beyond that and apply truly active prospecting — the kind in which you go after the lead to build your list little by little.
We will discuss these techniques in more detail below. Here, we will discuss techniques that go beyond digital or that, in some cases, have digital as a detail, as a framework.
And then, we will use one of them as an example to understand how to build a list of leads through B2B prospecting.