Not sure if this picture will resolve well, but a colleague of mine posted a LinkedIn poll on lead generation for B-2-B, and the results were interesting. What do you think?

I posted the pic on my G+ profile, so that’s where the link is going. Would like to see how others in the group feel about how they’ll focus their lead gen priorities this year.

@aprylparcher for B2B I believe content marketing is critical, because it serves as a foundation for much of your other efforts. Not only can it be used to develop and enhance your reputation, but properly designed content should be available for different stages of the buying cycle.

Lots of B2B companies focus on lead generation, but often at the expense of quality. So if the phone is ringing, they are happy–until nothing closes. Lead gen is very important, but the better you can be about weeding out the poor prospects (from your perspective) in advance , the more productive your selling efforts can be.

Buyers today do an astounding amount of decision making BEFORE initiating contact with vendors. If you don’t have enough good content to keep them coming back, it’s likely game over before  you had a chance.

Having a good contnet strategy and a wealthof good content can aid in the prospective buyer’s journey and also make them more comfortable with your business even before personal contact.

If you’re able to have enough good content to get “conversions” (capture some contact info) it’s even more effective. A good strategy will have outlined some parameters of an ideal propect, so knowing who is looking at your content allows you to make an assessment of their potential too.