B2B marketers: don't just generate leads in 2015, produce convertible ones

Marketers are always under pressure to generate leads, however, the important and hard question to always ask, which in most cases is not done, is: "do these leads have a potential to be converted?". Remember, lead generation is directly linked to the database at hand and external marketing activities hence ensure that the segmentation is precise.

Historically, marketers feel content whenever there is an enquiry and never pay attention to detail, for an example, the relevancy and worthiness of an inbound as per the target market - company type, seniority of the enquirer, location etc. This is usually left to the sales team to "sort out", which should not be the case, as this is directly linked to the marketing plan.

Always aim for quality not quantity

Ensure that your lead generation strategy is solid and able to generate quality leads (not necessarily quantity) you require to assist sales efforts, and always try new methods and interrogate your strategy - test it, if it doesn't work, change it immediately! Besides, you want to form a solid relationship with your sales team through worthy leads.

Something important to attempt this year around your lead generation strategy:

• Go beyond LinkedIn and Google advertising: Try other lead generation channels that you have not used before

• Set up meetings with external lead generation companies and find out how their tools can help you enhance your campaigns
• Network with your peers: Exchange ideas with other B2B marketers and find out what works for their campaigns
• Interrogate your strategy on a weekly basis, if it is not producing results immediately, it'll most probably never work, hence change it right away!
• Question the type of leads you are getting from your campaigns i.e. company type, location, job titles, etc., if you are attracting an "inappropriate" audience, revisit your lead generation tools
• Always empathise with the enquirer and ask yourself "WHY" they responded

• Always aim for unique inbounds

What is currently working for you? Perhaps you want to share your ground-breaking ways in the comment box.