On the surface, the steps to increase inbound leads seem pretty simple, don’t they? Create content, speak on podcasts, do webinars, eventually rank on SERPS and finally, generate leads. Chaaching!
But, inbound lead generation strategies that work for others might not work for you.
Even worse, you can spend countless hours and thousands of dollars on strategies and tactics that fail to attract your buyers.
This was the case for PPC agency owner Zach Balby, who—despite ramping up content marketing—was struggling to increase inbound leads. From afar, his inbound metrics looked healthy.
Traffic, clicks, and page views were rising. However, Zach had a big problem looming further along the funnel:
People visiting his site failed to leave any contact information.
To investigate the issue, he combined Leadfeeder, Zapier, and SharpSpring to list the page history a company visited before opting into his email list.
Zach discovered that his deep, long-form content attracted other marketers instead of potential clients wanting to hire an agency.
Switching up his content strategy, he published top-level content aimed at agencies looking for help with marketing.
This shift increased inbound leads for Zach’s agency immediately. After writing just one post about hiring an ad agency, for example, several high-quality leads reached out to him.
In today’s post, I’ll help you hit the ground running with inbound lead generation.
You’ll learn the difference between inbound and outbound lead generation, and how to increase inbound leads with time-tested strategies that work today.
Note: Want to get a head start on targeting the right audience? You can try Leadfeeder free for 14 days here to see what company visit your site—and target others just like them.
Outbound vs Inbound lead generation: What’s the difference?
Inbound lead generation is when you attract leads to your sales funnel with strategies like content marketing, SEO, and social media.
Outbound lead generation, on the other hand, is inherently more interruptive than inbound lead generation as it aims to place sales/marketing messages in front of prospects.
Channels for outbound sales and lead generation include:
Trade shows and industry events
B2B cold emails/calls
Here at Leadfeeder, both outbound and inbound lead generation fill the sales funnel with leads.
Our cracking outbound sales team finds and reaches out to leads who are yet to enter our sales funnel.
At the same time, our marketing team publishes webinars, articles, and guest posts that continue to increase inbound leads long after the content is created.
The best B2B inbound lead generation strategies in 2021
Sparkling content, polished videos, and fine-tuned search engine optimization are labor-intensive.
This means if your efforts to increase inbound leads rely on an in house team, creating content and reaping the results from it will take time.
Can’t you just hire outside help to accelerate the process?
You can.
But, if that extra support is invested in the wrong inbound lead generation strategy, it snowballs into a budget-swallowing expense that yields impotent returns.
With such a heavy upfront investment, picking the right strategies and tactics from the getgo is critical.
Below, you’ll find the proven strategies to increase inbound leads and consistently fill your sales pipeline.
1. Attract a new generation of loyal leads with podcasts
Whether we’re knocking out household chores, driving to work, or enjoying a leisurely stroll, podcasts have a permanent presence in our daily lives.
And with almost a third of podcast listeners aged between 25-34, they’re an effective way to connect with a younger generation of buyers.
When Micahel Sacca wanted to interview high-performing business people, he launched Rocketship.fm.
Busy with his marketing day job, he planned to record just 3 months of episodes and compile them into a book. But the podcast struck a chord with listeners, and Rocketship.fm “took off”.
Today, it’s a thriving podcast for product managers and tech entrepreneurs that makes over $10k/month — not too shabby for something that started out as a side project.
If you’re strapped for resources. launching a podcast isn’t even necessary to increase inbound leads.
Featuring your brand on other podcasts—through sponsorships or interviews —is just as effective, because:
1. Podcasts are rising in popularity. From 2013-2019, the percentage of the population listening to podcasts has seen YOY growth.
2. Podcasts introduce you to a wide audience. From the rich history of gnomes to true crime case reports, there’s a podcast for every niche imaginable. This means you have access to an array of buyers in multiple niches.
3. Podcast listeners are high-quality leads. 80 percent of listeners listen to all or most of each podcast episode. In other words, buyers are serious about their subject matter and have a high purchase intent.
2. Expand your inbound reach with Youtube
YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world.
And yes, you can use it to increase inbound leads without being in an exciting unicorn industry with a rainbow palette of topics to pluck.
Keyword research tool Ahrefs, for instance, ranks for extremely competitive search terms like “SEO tips” and “Local SEO” on YouTube.
As with all inbound lead generation channels, content is king. This doesn’t demand Hollywood level production how-tos on each and every video, though.
Aside from instructional videos, you can also publish
Interviews with experts in your industry
Group panel discussions
Customer case studies
Light explainer videos
Product demos and reviews
The great thing is, with a little bit of YouTube SEO you can repurpose existing blog posts, checklists, and Q&As into magnetic content that attracts inbound leads.
3. Bolster B2B blog traffic with laser-focused content
After a two-year content production sprint, ClearVoice’s traffic and inbound lead generation hit a painful six-month plateau.
Any attempts to revive dying traffic yielded little to no results.
Despite a repertoire of successful whitepapers, ebooks, and resources to increase inbound leads, organic traffic wasn’t moving past the 3k/month mark.
After creating unique B2B blog posts, however, organic traffic jumped from 2,900 to 51,500 sustainable monthly pageviews.
In a more dramatic example, B2B blogging rescued Groove from impending startup death.
(Grooves fluff-filled content that failed)
With no other options left to save his sinking startup, Founder Alex Turnball went all-in on transparent content marketing. And it had an immediate impact:
1,000 people subscribed to their email list in 24 hours.
Eventually, this small turnaround triggered a chain of events that turned Groove into the $5 million dollar SaaS company it is today.
90 percent of published blog posts fail to generate a single backlink or even a trickle of traffic.
Content marketing is competitive, and there are more losers than winners.
The companies who win? They have something in common:
Their content shines with value because it leads with the needs of the customer.
Look around, the B2B companies who are killing it with content right now all have a unique angle that’s valuable to their buyers.
DataBox shines at interviewing experts for long-form heavy-hitting posts
ClearVoice uses surveys and data to publish original research for its freelancers
G2 specializes in extensive expert rounds ups for companies who use SaaS products
If you’re serious about increasing inbound leads, stick a fork in the idea of generic listicles and how-tos. They’re already smothering the internet and they repel leads.
Instead, carve out a content strategy that revolves around unique content your buyers will love.
4. Fortify Off-page SEO with guest posting
Guest blogging is the secret behind how Leo Widrich, co-founder of the Buffer app, propelled the SaaS company from an obscure startup to a $5 million dollar business.
For 9 months straight, Leo became a one-man guest posting machine and published 150 posts. Hard work? Yes.
Was it worth it?
Definitely.
This intensive period of writing for other sites catapulted Buffer from an unknown app to its first 100,000 users.
But, isn’t guest blogging to increase inbound traffic and leads a dead practice nowadays?
Yes and no.
If you’re using it with the intention of driving thousands of visitors to your site…fuhgeddaboudit.
Those guest posting days are gone.
If you’re using it to generate backlinks that improve SEO, however, it’s still a useful way to increase inbound leads.
A survey by SEMrush reveals that despite its turbulent past, guest posting still reigns as the number 1 link building strategy that SEOs recommend.
While it’s no longer a strong source of referral traffic, guest posting is a great strategy for building backlinks and bolstering your SEO.
Inbound marketing pros like Hubspot, Ahrefs and Neil Patel still use guest posting to increase inbound leads to this day.
“I’ve tried many different inbound marketing strategies, but guest blogging has remained my most treasured tool. QuickSprout wouldn’t have been as successful as it’s become if I’d neglected guest blogging.” — Neil Patel, QuickSprout Founder
Aside from earning high-quality backlinks, guest posting also unlocks doors for profitable content partnerships and introduces you to new customers.
5. Use the ultimate tool for increasing inbound leads
Every $1 spent on email marketing nets an average return of $42.
Just like being told to “eat your greens” for the umpteenth time, “the money is in the list” is a vital marketing truism that’s often overlooked.
Tying all your efforts to the growth of your email list is the ultimate way to attract, retain, and increase inbound leads. To accelerate the growth of your email list:
Add CTAs to all your content
Split test different opt-in forms across your website
Use gated content like whitepapers, reports, and case studies for technical hot topics
Once you’ve grown that list, you open the doors to responsive inbound leads that fill your sales funnel with high-quality prospects.
And not only that, a sizable list synergizes your overall inbound lead generation strategy.
Because within a few clicks, you instantly have thousands of eyeballs on a new piece of content, savvy buyers to survey, and sales-ready leads.
Increase inbound leads without burning your budget
Inbound lead generation demands unique content that cuts through the noise, fine-tuned SEO, and a multichannel approach to lead generation.
You pay upfront to play because worthy results take time.
And the last thing you want is to burn thousands of dollars trialing strategies and tactics that don’t work.
With the proven inbound lead generation strategies above, you don’t have to worry about following redundant practices that burn budgets and fail to bear fruit.
You know what works to increase inbound leads.
Now, it’s time to execute!
Note: Want to get a head start on targeting the right audience? You can try Leadfeeder free for 14 days here to see what company visit your site—and target others just like them.
Hassan Ud-deen is a content marketer who is on a mission to help B2B/SaaS founders, executives, and teams develop powerful brand personalities through captivating content.
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