Today’s rapidly moving business landscape means it’s more difficult than ever to keep up with the latest trends and techniques. Even just a month off work can leave you so far behind that it feels almost impossible to catch up.

That’s why we’ve done the hard work for you. We make it our business to stay on top of the latest B2B trends so that you don’t have to – although we’d definitely recommend it! Here’s a little insight into the state of lead generation in 2017.

More Refinement, Less Brute Force

Digital marketers and lead generation specialists have always been obsessed with data and optimisation, but 2017 has witnessed a marked increase in the number of people taking this obsession to the next level – and with great results, too.

For example, many lead gen marketers have realised that endlessly creating new campaigns is potentially counterproductive, a bit like trying to scoop up water using a sieve and then switching to a different sieve when you realise it isn’t working.

The truth is that the best way to generate more leads isn’t necessarily to launch new campaigns or to drive more traffic. Instead, many people are turning to extensive testing campaigns to improve conversion rates on landing pages and forms because it tends to cost less per lead and will continue to deliver results over time.

More Strategic Channel Choices

When you look at the traffic sources that most frequently drive results for lead generation campaigns, email marketing consistently comes out on top – although search, social and content marketing also have their merits.

But the interesting thing about lead generation is that just because something works for the industry as a whole, it doesn’t mean it’ll work well for you. The way that you use a channel is more likely to affect your results than the channel itself, which is why lead gen pros are increasingly developing targeted campaigns that feel and act native on different platforms.

But email marketing is likely to continue to come out on top, mainly because of the potential for automation. With more and more people looking to scale their marketing campaigns, email marketing is an attractive option because it can be personalised whilst simultaneously operating on mass.

Call in the pros

Ultimately, one of the biggest factors that can influence your success is how tightly integrated your systems and processes are. If your data is stored in siloes or if your sales and marketing teams aren’t talking to each other then you’re going to struggle to make the most of your lead generation strategies.

That’s why there’s a growing trend in the industry to outsource lead generation to third-parties. There’s no way that one single employee can know everything anymore, and so it’s usually a choice between developing your own internal team or outsourcing lead generation completely to a provider that has the infrastructure to do it properly. Many companies don’t have the budget to build their own team, which is exactly why third-party providers are growing in popularity.

Need more help with lead generation? Sign up today for a demo of Bant.io to find out more about how we can help you.