It's 2024. We made it.
There aren't jet packs or robot butlers (yet), but there is an ever-evolving list of technological advancements like smart sun visors, robotic sous-chefs, and a headless cat pillow that wags its tail?
(I'm not even sure what to do with that one.)
Besides the weird technological advances, there's also been an increase in tools that make our work lives easier. Areas like sales, marketing, and customer service are benefiting from the rise of technological advances like AI, machine learning, and automation.
At Leadfeeder, our goal is to make it easier for B2B companies to find and convert leads. So, let's take a look at some of the top lead generation technology trends you should be paying attention to in 2024.
Note: Want to generate more leads? Sign up for Leadfeeder’s free 14-day free trial and start uncovering anonymous website traffic in an hour or less.
Lead generation trends to keep your eyes on in 2024
1. More personalized outreach with buyer intent data
Buyer intent data is aggregated data that provides insight into where people (and companies) are in their buying cycle.
It's like getting a bird's eye view of where your prospects are going and what they are doing.
Buyer intent data can super-charge the sales process by providing detailed information about what prospects are looking for so you can personalize your outreach efforts.
For example, Leadfeeder gathers data about who visits your website and what actions they take once they get there.
You might see that a company has visited your website five times in the last few weeks and read a blog post about enterprise tips, took a look at your service page, and viewed your pricing page for enterprise companies.
That's a pretty strong indication they are an enterprise company and are interested in your product. Sales can then use that information to create a highly-personalized outreach plan.
(P.S.: There's a lot of buyer intent out there, but the data from your own website tends to be the most powerful.)
2. Better alignment between sales and marketing
Do you know what one of the largest revenue killers is?
It's not meetings that could have been emails, but rather the lack of alignment between sales and marketing.
SuperOffice recently saw a 34% increase in revenue by doing nothing more than better aligning sales and marketing.
Sounds great, but what does that have to do with lead generation? Everything.
According to HubSpot's 2024 State of Sales Report, 43% of sales reps say what they need from marketing is higher quality leads.
Better sales and marketing alignment starts with better communication, ensuring similar metrics are used, and helping each team understand the challenges the other faces.
When sales and marketing are aligned, everyone's happier — including your customers — and revenue goes up.
3. Improved customer retention with customer-centric marketing
Customer-centric marketing sounds like another buzzword, right?
It's not. Companies like Zappos have been using customer-centric marketing for years.
Customer-centric marketing means focusing on the customer's wants and needs over everything else. It's not new, but it is seeing some renewed interest.
Here's why —- competition is getting fierce and the internet is getting louder.
The average online user sees between 4,000 and 10,000 ads per day! They are in our YouTube videos, our email, our social media, even some of our friends have turned into walking, talking ads.
How does customer-centric marketing impact lead generation?
Well, it's given rise to strategies like Account-Based Marketing, which flips the sales funnel on its head — rather than targeting everyone, companies are targeting specific companies they want to convert.
Brands that focus on customer needs will be more dedicated to the right leads than the sheer number of leads. Lead qualification and personalized marketing (and sales) strategies will become more crucial than ever.
4. Video sells
Video killed the radio star, but could it also kill the blog post?
According to the "The State of Video Marketing 2023" study by wyzowl, 51% of people polled that they would prefer sharing video content over other media.
Marketers are already using video marketing to increase engagement, share testimonials, and provide detailed product demonstrations. The consumption of video is only going to increase — and the sales industry is noticing.
In the lead generation world, videos can be used to build a personal brand, send personalized follow-ups, and sales follow-ups.
Combine the growth of video consumption with the lack of in-person meetings, and you have the perfect recipe to see video usage for lead generation explode in 2024. For example, videos could increase the efficacy of landing pages and lead forms.
5. Automation is still winning
Lead generation used to be a pretty formulaic process — offer a white paper or another downloadable resource, create an email funnel, and then pass the best leads off to sales.
In 2023, automation was reported to have a revenue of 5.4 billion dollars with the annual projected value to increase over 108 percent!
In the beginning, automation was a clunky process that felt robotic. However, AI and machine learning are making automation more useful and, in some cases, much more human.
Here are a few ways automation will drive lead generation efforts in the coming year.
Chatbots: AI-powered chatbots can answer questions, share resources, and even qualify leads by asking prospects about the company they work for, their job title, and what pain points they are looking to solve.
Tool integrations: The days of manually entering data into your CRM may soon be gone. Through integrations, tools like Leadfeeder can push leads right into your CRM — and even assign them to a salesperson. That means sales has more time to focus on closing.
Nurturing leads: Automation can make it easier than ever to nurture leads through strategies like retargeting and email drip campaigns.
Automation is growing fast. By 2024, the automation industry is expected to be worth more than $83 billion dollars. If automation isn't already part of your lead gen process, it's time to get on board.
These are the lead generation trends to invest in
If your business relies on tried and true lead generation tactics, 2024 presents a fantastic opportunity to try new tools and leverage new technology.
In addition to being more effective at driving leads, trends like automation, personalization, video, and sales and marketing alignment can improve the quality of leads, too.
And that is a win for sales, marketing, and your customers.
Note: Want to generate more leads? Sign up for Leadfeeder’s free 14-day free trial and start uncovering anonymous website traffic in an hour or less.
Anna works as a SEO Consultant and writer for Search Engine Land. Over the last decade, Anna has successfully developed and implemented online marketing strategies, SEO, and conversion campaigns for 100+ businesses of all sizes; from the Fortune 500, to startups, and nonprofits. She enjoys burritos and puppies (in that order).
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