Which tactic do you find most efficient in B2B lead gen and why?

The most efficient tactic is not the one you should be looking for. The most effective tactics take time and effort, but will yield the highest results. Evaluate your current client base and understand who your true target audience is, then do the legwork of researching those industries. Your lead generation should be based on quality over quantity.

It can't be one single tactic across industries and verticals for lead generation. Your tactic will entirely depend on your target customer and the industry that you are targeting. Lead generation through social media is on the rise and a lot of companies are doing business worth millions from this platform.

The B2B world is fundamentally different than B2C. In B2B the buyers are actively SEEKING information to help them do their jobs. So that means you need to give them useful, relevant information. More than that, you need to tell him what makes your product or service DIFFERENT than the other guys, what makes you special or one of a kind.

But you can't just tell them once. You need to repeat that consistent, differentiating message again and again, as often as you can, by as many means as you can. That can include e-mail, online and print advertising, as available, and even printed direct mail, depending on your specific audience and market.

The key factors are differentiation and repetition. They will determine your B2B marketing success or failure.

Al Shultz
http://www.alshultz.com

The most "efficient tactic" would probably be Social Media just because the quality of data is going to be better than anything else. The best tactic would be integrating social media with targeted email and cold calling campaigns for a profitable B2B lead generation strategy.

I run two B2B companies and can definitely say that nothing has been more effective than partnering with others in my industry. The why is two fold. Not only do we get leads that essentially cost us little or nothing, we have the huge benefit of 3rd party validation. Nothing is more compelling than having your product, service or expertise validated by outside parties. I recommend establishing strong relationships and networking with the manufacturers and complementary businesses in your industry. While I also think social media and a range of online marketing / traditional marketing have their benefits, 3rd party referrals have a higher close rate for my business. Having referrals from customers and word of mouth, etc can be even better. I also recommend leveraging LinkedIn and making sure staff have professional and compelling profiles that leverage the recommendation feature as well, which is helpful when someone is vetting a company. But again, I believe the most effective (cost, quality) comes from referrals. Best of luck in your endeavors!

2 Tactics that work together:

1) Create relative content to drive prospects to your digital properties and then 2) use a strong call-to-action to capture their interest and start a conversation.

I find Email Marketing the most successful form of B2B Lead Generation by Digital Advertising.

I find it best because:

1. The volume of data available on the market is huge
2. Email Marketing provides very quick ROI
3. You always get what you pay for with Email Marketing
4. Market rates are very cost effective
5. Once a clients creative strategy is working, scalability potential is huge
6. As clients usually set the performance based commercial terms, client renewal rates are always close to 100%

I do though make this somewhat bias opinion as I run a Digital Advertising Agency DigVertising www.digvertising.com

Writing expert-like content in their particular industry for content is king.

In a nutshell, the tactic used by www.galaxc.com. Their portal which is to be launched soon, makes it possible for the best outcomes to be achieved in terms of quality, price and delivery times for the sourcing business and at the same time provides qualified hot leads to vendors at a very low cost to their business. The inbuilt logic and proprietary algorithms used make the whole sourcing process a breeze, while maintaining confidentially, providing transparency and slashing advertising and marketing costs as it provides unlimited free targeted leads for a very low membership fee and equally low success fee. Check out their video on www.galaxc.com.

This would all depend on what industry you are in and who are your target market. There are lead generation tactics that will work for certain market. If you are targeting Gen C, then you should opt for online lead generation campaigns.

It all boils down to one things. Understanding your target market.

Have a clear Commercial and End-customer value story. Make it easier for B2B Partnerto grasp the value in your proposition. Understand the milestones of necessary to onboard B2B partner i.e.
- What do they need to understand and grasp the Commercial justification?
- What skilling up and training investment would be required and how can you contribute?
- What pre and post sales resources and support can you offer to help them win their first deal?
- How can you help them maximise their first win and help them go to market? i.e ready made demand generation
- How can you keep them up to date ?
- How can you help them maintain successful growth in the future ?