Here is my general description of some common lead types:
Raw Leads : These are people who may have expressed some interest in your product or service, but are not yet qualified. This can include those who have visited your website, filled out a form or followed you on social media. It can also be leads that you have extracted from B2B company lists from tools such as Vainu , Ocean or Cognism , and entered into your CRM as prospects. Please note that in these cases, according to the Danish italy email list Marketing Act, you may not actually send them an email. But you are generally welcome to call them.
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs): MQLs are leads that have demonstrated a higher level of engagement and interest in your product or service through their interactions with your marketing efforts. This may include downloading content, participating in webinars or opening emails. A marketing qualified lead is usually ready to receive more information and is typically those who have signed up for your newsletter. Through email marketing, you increase their interest and warm them up. And thus they move on to the next stages.
Sales Ready Leads (SRLs): SRL's are leads who are sales ready, but who have not themselves taken the initiative to enter into a sales dialogue. They are typically in the step after MQLs, but have achieved a suitably high lead score through high interest in your content, events and your email marketing. SRL's are the leads to whom you should give a call or send a personalized email.
Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs): SQLs are leads that have passed certain criteria to be considered sales ready and have expressed a clear interest in buying. This may include requesting a product demonstration, asking for a quote or filling out a contact form. SQLs are ready to be contacted directly by the sales team and converted into customers.
Sales Qualified Opportunities: These are leads that have been qualified by the sales team and identified as a real opportunity to close a sale. These leads have typically undergone a sales assessment and fit the company's ideal customer profile – some might call them brand warm leads.
Customers (closed sales): These are leads that have been converted into paying customers after going through the entire sales process. Closing sales is the ultimate goal for any marketing and sales team.
The above is my general description of the various stages and I fully recognize that this is not universal and may vary from company to company. You can also look at it as raw leads and MQLs are those who sign up for your newsletter, while SQLs are to a greater extent those who fill out your contact form on your website.
No matter how you divide it, it is important that you decide on it in your marketing and sales teams, so that you can collaborate effectively and prioritize your efforts and close more sales.
Method 1: Gated whitepapers and e-books
Whitepapers and eBooks are popular in B2B marketing and can be used effectively for lead generation. The formats may look similar, and there will probably be different interpretations depending on who you ask.
Let me offer my interpretations:
A whitepaper is an in-depth report or guide on a specific topic that, for example, presents your customer's problems and your solutions. It can also include technical details, industry insights, case studies and best practices in your market. Whitepapers aim to educate the reader, demonstrate expertise and build trust.
An e-book is longer than a whitepaper and typically contains more easily understood and entertaining content. The purpose of an e-book is also to educate and engage the reader, while at the same time presenting your knowledge and insight in an interesting way.
For both formats, it requires that the content is valuable and relevant content for your target audience.
When using these for lead generation, create a dedicated landing page that includes a brief description of the content, benefits of reading it, and a form to collect contact information from your visitors.
It is also obvious to create a pop up or slide in on your website that advertises your whitepaper or ebook. Here you can e.g. use a tool like Sleeknote . It makes it easy to design and set up popups, as well as integrate them into your email marketing, without you having to program anything.
Method 2: Free demo or trial
Offering free demos or trials is a highly effective method of B2B lead generation as it allows potential customers to experience your product or service first hand. This approach is particularly useful in contexts where the product's value can best be demonstrated through direct experience.
A free demo is typically a short, guided presentation of your product or service, often conducted via an online meeting or video. This allows you to showcase the key features and benefits of your offering while addressing any specific questions or concerns the prospect may have. By adapting the demo to each prospect's needs, you can effectively demonstrate how your product solves specific problems or improves processes.
The trial period offers a more in-depth experience where customers can independently test your product or service over a set period of time. This can vary from a few days to several weeks and gives customers an opportunity to integrate your offer into their day-to-day operations. Trials are particularly effective in software and subscription services where users get a hands-on understanding of how the tool can fit into their workflow.
Another variation is the freemium model , where a basic version of your product is offered for free, while more advanced features or capabilities are unlocked behind a paywall. This attracts users with the product's basic functionalities and creates interest in upgrading to a more comprehensive version.
Whichever approach you choose, it's important to ensure that the customer experience is seamless and representative of the full value of your offering. This can include user-friendly onboarding, accessible customer support and clear instructions. The aim is to provide as positive and convincing an experience as possible, which motivates leads to become paying customers.
Finally, it is crucial to collect feedback during and after the trial period. This provides an opportunity to renegotiate and adapt the offer based on the customer's specific needs and feedback. And in addition, it gives you insight into how your product is perceived and which aspects may need to be improved.
Method 3: Free consultation, advice or sparring
A free consultation, advice or sparring is a (non-binding) conversation between your potential customer and an expert from your company.
It can be a phone call, video conference or personal meeting where the potential customer can ask questions, present their needs and get advice on how your product or service can help.
Consultations are common in e.g. legal advice, marketing and IT support as well as management and employee development.
I wrote before that it is non-binding. It is not quite, because you commit yourself with your time and with your contact information.
Method 4: Free report or analysis
Offering a free report or analysis is an effective approach to B2B lead generation. This method can be designed in two different ways, depending on your audience's needs and your company's resources.
The generic report is typically a comprehensive collection of research, statistics, case studies and expert opinions that your company has collected. This type of report is designed to broadly inform and educate the reader about a specific topic or industry. It can, for example, be an in-depth analysis of market developments, consumer behavior or technological advances in your field. By providing this kind of valuable content, you position your business as an authority within the industry and build trust with your potential customers.
A class example of such a report is the Email Marketing report from Mette Will .
The customized report , on the other hand, is more targeted and personal. This type of analysis focuses on the condition and needs of a specific business in the area you offer. Such reports are often prepared after an initial consultation, where you gain insight into the company's challenges, goals and market situation. A customized report can include a SWOT analysis, competitor analysis, a potential analysis or an industry-specific risk assessment.
Not only is this tailored content highly relevant to the recipient, but it also demonstrates your company's ability to deliver customized solutions and demonstrate high expertise and experience.
Regardless of whether the report is generic or customised, it is essential that it delivers real value to the recipient. The report should not only focus on presenting data, but also offer insights and action recommendations that can help the reader make informed decisions. To further increase engagement, you can include interactive elements such as graphs and charts that make the data more accessible and understandable.
Effective use of free reports and analytics in your lead generation strategy can therefore not only increase the number of leads, but also the quality of the leads you generate.
Method 5: Webinars and virtual events
Host webinars and virtual events that showcase your company's expertise and solutions.
A webinar is typically just a single virtual presentation, and you can hold webinars in a few different ways:
First of all, the webinar itself must be held, and this is where the strength lies in holding it live, so that you can have an interaction with your target group. They can ask you in-depth questions and you can answer.
It is different how this is done optimally. There are some who do it via a chat, and then there are others who drag the questioner onto the virtual stage so that you can ask the question via webcam. This gives a completely different dimension and quality to the questions than when it takes place via chat.
When the webinar is recorded, you can save the recording and offer the webinar "on demand". This means that the user can register afterwards and see it when there is time.
You should also forward the recording to those who have registered. That way, those who for one reason or another were prevented from watching live can see it afterwards. This significantly increases the number of registrations and leads.
Finally, there is also software that can create on demand webinars that feel like live webinars.
Virtual events can be both online conferences, i.e. several presentations on the same day, as well as live events held on channels such as LinkedIn.
Here, LinkedIn also gives you insight into the participants, who you can connect with afterwards. Facebook and TikTok can in principle also be used for live events, but do not give you the same contact and company insights as you get on LinkedIn.
Method 6: Lead ads
Lead ads from social media like Facebook and LinkedIn are ads designed specifically to generate leads by collecting contact information directly through the ad platform.
You can use these to obtain MQLs in combination with your gated content , e.g. eBooks, whitepapers, reports or other valuable resources. You can also use it to advertise your next webinar or virtual events.
Lead ads can be used to promote your gated content by encouraging users to fill out a form with their contact information directly in the ad to access the content. That way, you can generate MQLs – potential customers who have shown interest in your content and are more likely to engage with your brand.
Lead ads can also be used in a retargeting context by targeting people who have already shown interest in your brand or product but have not yet made a purchase or converted to an SQL.
For example, you can advertise to people who have previously interacted with your company's SoMe page, your website or other types of customer lists, and show these relevant messages such as cases and solutions to their pains, and then embed a lead ad contact form directly in the ad.
Method 7: Search traffic from SEO and PPC
The previously mentioned methods for B2B lead generation have primarily dealt with the early stages of the customer's purchase journey – what I initially called Raw Leads and Marketing Qualified Leads. With search traffic, we potentially have the opportunity to go one step further.
When the user sits in front of the search engine, she has a recognized need or problem for which she wants a solution. As a result, she is often further along in her purchase decision.
Typically, the traffic you generate via SEO will fit into most of the customer journey.
You can therefore both try to create MQLs through guides and articles, and then use some of the aforementioned methods such as whitepapers, e-books or content upgrades to get the user to fill in their contact information.
With SEO, you can also try to create SQLs via traffic to your more sales-oriented product pages. This of course requires that the user's search intent is more sales-oriented. If the user is looking for a guide, it is not certain that it is your product pages that you want the user to access.
When advertising with PPC and Google Ads , it should be more targeted to create SQLs. Otherwise, your advertising will probably be too costly.