As B2B marketers, we tend to be obsessed with lead generation. After all, it’s what brings in the income that allows the rest of the company to function. But while there are many of us who know first-hand how powerful lead generation can be, there are many others who haven’t quite wrapped their heads around it.

Let’s face it – it can be difficult to convince the C-suite of the value of different marketing approaches, and lead generation is no different. That’s why we’ve scoured the net for the 14 most convincing lead generation statistics to help you – and your bosses – to understand the value of lead generation campaigns.

Let’s go.

The Opportunities:

1. Landing pages are used to collect leads by 68% of B2B businesses. (Marketo)

2. Over 80% of B2B leads that are generated from social media come from LinkedIn. (Oktopost)

3. Per dollar spent, content marketing generates around three times as many leads as traditional marketing. (Demand Metric)

4. Over 80% of B2B marketers are using content marketing strategies as part of their lead generation strategy. (CMI)

5. Lead nurturing emails get as much as ten times the response rate of standalone emails. {Silverpop/DemandGen)

6. 68% of consumers feel more positive about a brand after they consume its content. (iMedia Connection)

7. The three most common (but not necessarily the most successful!) lead generation strategies are email marketing, events and content marketing. (DM News)

8. Outsourcing lead generation is 43% more effective than in-house lead generation because third parties are able to offer up additional expertise. (Fearless Competitor)

The Challenges:

1. B2B marketers say that their biggest challenge is “generating high quality leads” (61%). (B2B Technology Marketing Community)

2. The biggest obstacles for marketers? Lack of resources, such as staff, funding and time, tops the list for 61% of B2B marketers. (BrightTALK)

3. 63% of consumers who ask for information on your company will not make a purchase for at least three months. (Marketing Donut)

4. 73% of all leads aren’t sales ready. (Marketing Sherpa)

5. Around 96% of website visitors aren’t yet ready to make a purchase. (Marketo)

6. Over 79% of marketing leads don’t convert into sales leads. The main reason for that? The lack of lead nurturing. (Marketing Sherpa/HubSpot)

Conclusion

Lead generation offers huge opportunities for modern marketers, but it doesn’t come without its challenges. That’s why the best marketers use lead generation as part of a wider strategy.

If you need a little help with lead generation then get in touch – we’ll be more than happy to help. In the meantime, we’ll leave you with a fact instead of a statistic:

Madison Logic and Marketing Insider were able to prove what we all knew already: the average cost of a B2B sales lead varies massively by industry. Healthcare leads are the most expensive ($60), followed by business and finance leads at $43. Marketing products and services came in at $32, followed by technology at $31.

Despite that, lead generation works well whatever your industry – just keep an eye on costs and conversion rates and make sure that you’re generating an ROI. You’ll be raking in the dough in no time.