A B2B company rarely has one channel that „does” all the selling. Usually several work together, and the question is which of them fit your offer, budget and sales cycle. Below we sort out the most common ways of getting B2B clients, point out when each makes sense and suggest how to choose the first channel to launch, instead of spreading yourself across all of them at once.
Start with questions, not channels
Before you choose a channel, answer a few questions. They decide what will work:
- Who exactly buys? Which companies (industry, size, region) and which person in the company makes the decision or helps to make it.
- How long does the decision take? For high-value services, a purchase is usually preceded by a conversation, sometimes several. For simple, cheap products the decision can be quick.
- How much time and money do you have? Some channels give the first conversations after weeks, others only after months of work on content and visibility.
- What already works? If clients come from referrals, that is a good starting point for understanding who they are and where to look for them.
Referrals and your network
Referrals are often the cheapest and most credible source of clients. They are not easy to steer, though: their number depends on the number of satisfied clients and on whether anyone asks them for a referral at all. It is a good foundation, but it rarely suffices if you want to grow at a predictable pace.
B2B cold email
Cold email means sending personalised messages to companies that may need your offer but do not know about you yet. It gives you control over whom you write to and when, and lets you start conversations without waiting for someone to find you.
- When it makes sense: when you know which companies are your clients, and your offer can be described in a few sentences and followed by a proposal for a conversation.
- What to watch out for: the quality of the company list, the deliverability of messages (see our article on SPF, DKIM and DMARC for cold email) and reminders after the first message. We have a separate article on how to write them: follow-ups in B2B cold email.
- What it does not promise: no channel guarantees a reply or a sale. Results depend on the offer, the company list and the content of the messages.
LinkedIn and other social channels
LinkedIn lets you reach specific people in specific roles and build visibility through regular posts. It is work spread over time: contacts, conversations and content. It works when decision makers are easy to find by job title and when you have time for a regular presence. It can complement cold email, but it does not replace it: they are two different ways of reaching the same companies.
Paid advertising
Ads (for example in search or on social media) let you quickly appear in front of people who are looking for a solution or fit the target group. They require an ad budget, a well-made landing page and tracking of results. They work where people actively search for a service, and less so where the need first has to be created.
SEO and content on your website
SEO and content (articles, service pages, answers to clients’ questions) have a cumulative effect: first results usually come after months, but the traffic does not disappear when you stop paying for ads. It is a channel for companies that can wait and that have something to write about. It is worth running it alongside another, faster channel that gives the first conversations before the content starts to work.
Events, trade fairs and partnerships
Trade fairs and conferences give direct contact with decision makers, but they cost time and money, and their effect is harder to measure. Partnerships with companies that serve the same clients but do not compete are a good source of referrals, as long as both sides really have something to offer each other.
How to choose the first channel
- Describe the ideal client: industry, company size, job title of the decision maker.
- Check where this person can be reached: an inbox, LinkedIn, a search engine, events.
- Choose one channel that you can run regularly with the time and budget you have.
- Decide what you will count as success at an early stage, for example the number of conversations held, rather than the mere number of messages sent or impressions.
- After a few weeks, assess the results, improve the message and only then add a second channel.
How to measure results without guessing
Choose a few simple indicators that you can record every week and stick to them for several weeks. For direct-contact channels (cold email, LinkedIn) a sensible set is: the number of companies contacted, the number of replies, the number of conversations held and the number of conversations that moved on to a specific offer. For SEO and ads, add visits to the service page and enquiries from the form, phone or email. It matters to record where each enquiry came from, because without it, after a few months you do not know which channel earned the sale.
Also remember the small sample. With a few dozen messages or a few clicks, differences between weeks can be accidental. Change one thing at a time (the company list, the subject line or the offer) so that you know what affected the result.
How to combine channels once the first one works
When one channel gives repeatable conversations, add a second one that complements the first rather than duplicating it. Cold email combines well with content on your website: a person who received a message from you often checks the company’s website, so the service page and specific articles should answer their questions. The same goes for LinkedIn: a contact started by email can be kept up with an invitation or a comment, as long as it does not turn pushy. The rule is simple: every new channel should have its own goal and its own indicator, otherwise costs grow faster than knowledge of what works.
The most common mistakes
- Launching all channels at once and having no time to refine any of them.
- No clear description of the ideal client, so the message is generic and stops nobody.
- Judging a channel after a few days. With a small sample, conclusions are accidental.
- Measuring only activity (emails sent, likes) instead of conversations with companies that may buy.
- No process after the first reply: who answers, how fast and where contacts are recorded.
How it works with us
We handle one of these channels: B2B lead generation through cold email. We look for matching companies, write personalised messages to them, keep in touch with follow-up reminders, and replies go to your own CRM. We do not promise a specific number of replies or clients, because it depends on your offer and market. If you want to check whether this channel suits your company, get in touch.