It’s easy to claim a certain lead generation technique is dying or dead. However, it’s better to use a more proactive word like evolving. As a mindset lead generation shouldn’t be thought of as a means to just rake in people potentially interested. It’s much broader than that. 

If you prefer a TLDR you can always listen to the narration below: 

Initially, go-to-market professionals need to understand a few parts of the components, namely, channel(s), timing, and message. If you’re investing in a lead generation technique then you need to make sure you understand all three points of the process to be successful. 

Before we dive into the actual techniques let’s quickly go through the three main components of lead generation.  

Lead generation components:

1. Channel: The right sales or marketing channel like using Ads, cold calling, cold emailing,  blogging, planning events, email marketing, social media marketing, and more!
   
   
2. Messaging: Utilize a messaging strategy that deals with your client's pain points and aligns with your marketing or sales objectives. Unlike how you find super jargon-focused messages from enterprises, it’s often better to sound simple, yet focused on a particular pain point.
   
   
3. Timing: Knowing when to execute your lead generation technique and if you’ve ticked the boxes on what’s needed to fully use that technique and how long you need to run a campaign for it to be effective. Time ties everything together.

Before deciding your next successful lead generation technique make sure you have an analysis or at least a strong idea of the above three components. 

11 B2B Lead generation techniques to try in 2025

1. B2B Influencer Marketing

   
   We hear about influencer marketing in a B2C context quite a bit but the B2B world is still catching up(big time!). We are still light years behind in formalizing and utilizing this channel properly. B2B influencer marketing should be a must-try strategy with the number of creators going up day by day and SEO getting harder. Marketers must be quick on their feet to think of different strategies, not just for short-term but long-term changes in the digital marketing landscape.
   
   The best marketing teams are already using this strategy and reaping its benefits. It’s not an old concept but influencer marketing is certainly not as much a common topic when considering your next best lead generation technique.
   
   The market is also responding to a greater demand with companies like Flooencer making a mark and building out highly successful campaigns for their clients. Follow Hector Forwood and check out Flooencer for more details on this space. Here's a really cool post by Hector himself, give him a follow for more advice: 
   
   
   
   
   

2. Executive Roundtables

   
   It’s a highly personalized and intimate experience you build for your audience of choice. Executive roundtables is about creating a topic of relevance with fellow thought leaders, in a setting that leaves a lasting mark. Executive roundtables can be hosted over breakfast, brunch, and dinners. These events do an exceptionally good job of helping you penetrate high-value priority accounts and develop a connection with the top leadership. Of course, you can close big deals on Zoom or Google Meet but in-person meetings always hit different.
   
   Here’s an example of an in-person executive dinner hosted by Convergex Connections just recently:  
   
   
   
   
   Hosting in-person events is a high-yield / high-effort marketing activity. There are various parts to ensure success, however, there is no doubt that if you want to penetrate high ACV accounts, mark this as a go-to strategy this year.
   
   Here’s what one of our customers said for an event we co-hosted:
   
   “This is the gold standard for organizations to create and nurture relationships with prospects and customers. Great attention to detail and support all the way through."
   
   2025 could be the year you host your ultimate event and make a big impact on your sales pipeline.
   
   

3. Go-to-network Outreach

   Go-to-market is a phrase that’s often thrown around but what if you make use of your network? Go-to-network is the answer. It might be a newer phrase being thrown around on LinkedIn recently. However, it is an age-old tactic people have used for the longest time. The real question is why decide to leverage this even more now? The answer is simple our traditional lead generation techniques need pivoting and improvisation. Secondly, most companies use this strategy in an informal capacity. You might just randomly ask your manager or CEO who’s well connected with someone at an important account of yours.
   
   Is that something you should do? Certainly. However, it’s not a strategy if it's done randomly. It would be worth following Eric Ianello and Commsor a check to see how your network could be the scalable lead generation technique your company needs next year.
   
   There's one part of lead generation that focuses on building a network, and another that allows you to truly utilize it properly, in the right way. Commsor can help you do that, check out their guide on Go-to-network: What it is and Why It's the Future of Growth. Give it a read and you might just find your next best lead generation strategy. 
   
   

4. Virtual workshops

   
   Virtual workshops are specially tailored interactive online sessions discussing a key topic of relevance to the invited audience. These are definitely making noise and a great source of inviting your prospects for an exclusive discussion with other thought leaders. These sessions are not often shared in public like webinars which can be great for inviting the masses but not as targeted as virtual workshops.
   
   Virtual workshops often have a moderator who asks questions and engages the audience to share their thoughts on a certain matter. The main points to understand are that virtual workshops are logistically easier, cost-effective, and a great channel to connect with prospective buyers. Moderating and helping people initiate conversation matters significantly. A workshop may sound like a boring presentation being displayed, but on the contrary, it’s more conversationally driven.
   
   It’s more than often easier to invite your prospects to a virtual workshop of their interest than trying to get them to book a meeting directly with your sales team. Visit our virtual events page to see an example of what they could look like.
   
   Make sure to make the topic highly relevant to them and you, list down a series of questions you’d ask and encourage people to ask questions or share their thoughts.
   
   Once you build that interest, and connection, the natural next step is people will be intrigued about your offering and how it connects. 
   
   

5. Podcasting

   
   It’s a great way to build a network, generate high-quality engaging content and of course generate revenue as well. Podcasting is not for everyone, it does require a certain skill set and time investment to ensure success. The biggest issue is thinking of podcasting as a random side project, especially if you want to use it as a lead generation source. It depends on your objective.
   
   Podcasting is also useful as it’s multi-channel and multi-mode. You can re-use videos, distribute them on social media, and convert your transcript into an article. A great way to hit multiple touchpoints with a singular piece of content. 
   
   

6. Cold calling

   
   Certainly not one of the more unique lead generation techniques but still an effective one. A good way to see a successful cold call is more like an ad unit, if they receive a mention or you’ve had a positive conversation. Meetings follow after a ton of grit and resilience but regardless, this is not a channel you want to miss out on. It’s essential to use the right data and infrastructure when making cold calls though.
   
   There’s already a lot of talk about cold calling and frankly too much fluff too. It would be best to always hear advice from the best and the best are those that have their skin in the game. For example, I’d advise following Abdulahi Mohamed from Salesfinity. A Senior SDR who shares what it's like to do cold calling, and embrace it as it is. It's not a glamour sport but a game of numbers, and finding the eventual win!
   
   Here's an example below as a teaser: 
   
   

7. Handwritten notes

   
   It seems as we get more digital, the market gets more responsive to more traditional lead generation techniques. Hand written notes is a creative, meaningful, and fruitful way to share a message. Your message is important but equally so is the medium. Written notes can be an out of the box message amongst all the same clutter we see on email and social media.
   
   A very popular person in this space who can certainly guide you well is Oliver Knowles who works with Scribeless. Scribeless is the go-to platform for automating the process of handwritten letter outreach. On the surface, it sounds tedious to mail all these letters out but using a solution like Scribeless will allow you to track, and monitor the results as well. See this beautiful example below:
   
   
   Source: Scribeless.co
   
   Read The B2B & SaaS section for Scribeless on how they can specifically help you if you decide to test out this strategy. 

8. Organic LinkedIn marketing

   
   LinkedIn cannot be quite omitted and it is an obvious lead generation technique from our list. Everyone has their version of success on LinkedIn but it's a good practice to grow your network and add your audience. In parallel, think about posting content that resonates with that audience. That way you’ve got a push and a pull strategy. Interact with your audience too.
   
   To many this is common knowledge, however, practical implementation is another story. Follow people who practice what they preach like Ethan Golding from The Blueprint who often shares his winning formula for winning clients on Linkedin. 
   
   As the trend with other lead generation techniques here's an example 6-step process Ethan shared recently to get leads on LinkedIn: 
   
   
   
   Of course, there are a lot of nuances that go into getting to this point. He does a great job at building interest, however, what's better is you scout through his content and winning formula. It's not a walk in the park and takes dedication. Take lead generation strategies and techniques with a grain of salt.

9. Community-based marketing

   
   Communities can be a great way to get eyes in front of a highly specific and engaged audience. That community already has a brand image so it only makes sense to run a co-sponsored activity. Just make sure of two things when deciding to sponsor a community:
   
   a) Your product/offer truly resonates with that audience
   b) Offer a co-sponsored piece if the budget allows (otherwise a plain sponsor is not as powerful)
   c) People in your organization are active in that community as well (this is crucial)
   
   Also, a very popular person you can follow making noise in this space is is Seha Okudan, founder of Community Beam. He talks a lot about sales strategies, lead generation techniques but he's a standout when it comes to community based marketing. Give CommunityBeam a follow here

10. Building your own community

    
    Owning an engaged community is a true digital asset and an amazing marketing achievement. Saying it's hard is an understatement, this is another dedicated project within marketing. Lead generation is an eventual outcome like many strategies. Companies that really benefit from this kind of marketing can be those that can promote co-learning for their product, have multiple users, or a topic that reaches the masses.
    
    Bonus tip: In a community numbers don’t necessarily mean it’s good, a better metric is engagement. Follow ExitFive in this space as they built an exclusive community led by Dave Gerhardt. 

11. Pay-per-click (but with a twist)

    
    Pay-per-click or PPC is an expensive but excellent way to get leads for your business. The trick is to know which keywords your ideal customer profile searches for. Everything always goes back to foundational knowledge about your persona. Do your keyword research and understand the keywords you need to target accordingly. Categorize keywords and see which stage they cater to, awareness, interest, decision, action (or transactional keywords). Action keywords are usually the most expensive as they imply the person searching such a keyword is “buyer-ready”. This is why the right PPC strategy could be an excellent way to pull high-value leads in a predictable way.
    
    The twist in this strategy is to also think about ad-spend waste (fraud clicks, bots, etc.). Consider using a tool like Lunio that helps eliminate such wastages. A lead generation technique is better if it can be justified. 
    

    Conclusion

    Always note,  with any lead generation technique or strategy there’s no silver bullet. It’s important to get your basics right by understanding your audience. Seek alignment between the three main components then kick off your strategy.
    
    When deciding your lead generation plans for 2025 also consider mixing and matching tactics. For example, organic LinkedIn marketing can go well with LinkedIn Ads if budget allows, also in-person events require a strong follow-up from your sales team to process them into opportunities. 
    
    Regardless, as marketing evolves, 2025 might be the year you try unique strategies you never thought of before.