Buy Leads The Smart Way: 11 Tips To Maximize ROI

What Does It Mean To Buy Leads?

Generating targeted leads with high intent and high value isn’t an easy feat. It takes coordinated effort from marketing and sales teams. That’s why many marketers and business owners choose to purchase lead lists from websites like Cognism and Kaspr. These platforms spare you the trouble of enforcing lead generation techniques and instead give you the contact details of people and accounts that have shown interest in your products or services. You usually receive an email, mailing address, phone number, and possible social media profiles of prospects who have probably interacted with one of your ads or have shown interest in buying from your competitors. So, when you buy leads, you get both people’s contact details and the reassurance they are fascinated by your product.

However, is a bought business lead going to convert easily? Maybe yes, maybe not. Just because you have a verified phone number and email, it doesn’t mean that someone will be happy to receive your unsolicited messages and phone calls. The best demand generation practices include gated assets, lead magnets, and signup forms. This way, you can be certain that someone is receiving your news because they asked for it.

Why Buying Leads Is Often Risky

Low Quality

No matter how trustworthy a company that sells leads is, you can’t be sure of the quality of leads you’re receiving. For example, their lists may not be updated, so you may receive emails that are not active anymore or that belong to people who are not in your industry. Just because someone browsed through your services and pressed on your ad by accident, it doesn’t mean that they have high purchasing intent.

No Personalization

When you generate new leads the traditional and hard way, you know that people know your brand and have an issue your product can solve. This way, you can personalize your messages and ads to align with their needs. With purchased leads, people may be completely unaware of you and not have any relevant issues. Therefore, you are trying to build a relationship from the bottom without even knowing if there’s a future.

Legal And Ethical Issues

When you buy leads, the people you contact never opt in to receive your emails. For starters, they may mark your emails as spam and harm your email reputation severely. But that’s not the worst-case scenario. If you’ve heard of GDPR or the CAN-SPAM Act, you know that sending unsolicited emails can have legal repercussions. This is because you need people’s consent to start sending them emails and calling them on their personal numbers.

Reputation Damage

Imagine someone is doing a work task and suddenly their phone rings. It’s you trying to sell or promote your products to them. They’ve never heard of your brand before. How do you think this is going to end? They’ll hang up, mark your number as spam, and remember your company name as spammy and annoying. This is now how you start your SaaS lead generation journey.

Deliverability Issues

To avoid getting into the spam folder, you must have the senders’ consent. When you are flagged as spam, Internet Service Providers grade you negatively and may start sending your emails straight to junk. So, when you buy leads, you risk your entire email reputation. Even if someone is actually interested in your service, they won’t be welcoming of your message when they have never asked for it.

11 Legal And Ethical Ways To Generate Leads

1. Newsletter Subscriptions

The most basic yet effective and popular way to get leads for your business is to intrigue people so they join your newsletter. No gimmicks and lies—you simply tell them what you have to offer and why they need your regular updates. This way, you don’t only get people’s contact details but also their industry, company name, job role, and any other information you want. It’s the information purchased lead lists can’t offer you. Once you add them to your list, segment them and personalize your emails according to their preferences. For example, payroll leads may be interested in payroll software that helps them perform their daily duties efficiently. At eLearning Industry, we offer marketing insights and tips to professionals in the eLearning and HR fields. Joining our newsletter means you receive valuable updates that help you understand your market better.

2. Gated Assets

If you’re looking for lead magnet ideas, gated assets should be first on your list. Gated content refers to any offer that requires a subscription to access. Let’s say you have created an eBook. You can give it away for free whenever someone gives you their contact details and subscribes to your newsletter. This way, you both get something you want. However, don’t treat this as a lead generation “trick.” Your gated assets should be truly valuable. If your B2B leads are disappointed by your content, they might unsubscribe as quickly as they subscribed and form a negative impression of your brand. There are various gated assets you can leverage, including marketing plan templates, guides, demos, and even courses.

To make people intrigued about your eBook or guide, you can share an excerpt on your landing page. Some clients are discouraged when they see a signup page without having read any of your content.

3. Social Media Marketing

If you decide not to buy leads, you can start working on your social media strategy. Whether you are starting out or already have a steady following, you can try engaging more with your audience. Business sales leads require extra convincing and communication, which is why you should answer people’s personal messages and comments. Not everyone sends emails when they have a query. A simple comment may actually lead to a sale.

However, choose your platforms wisely. B2C customers are usually more active on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. On the other hand, B2B and SaaS audiences are present on LinkedIn. So, concentrate your efforts there by posting interesting and insightful posts and engaging with prospects in the comments section. Don’t be strictly business, though. Dial up the entertainment bar every once in a while, as people respond with increased engagement.

4. SEO-Optimized Content Marketing

If you decide not to buy leads, content marketing for B2B is a long and interesting journey. Start by identifying the common pain points and interests of your audience. Create evergreen articles that answer their questions and offer solutions to their challenges. You don’t have to promote your brand in every single paragraph, but your thought leadership should stand out. Also, your goal must be to actually help people overcome their hurdles. This way, clients will search for your services without you even mentioning them. If they feel like you only want to push your products to them, they will exit your domain.

Writing the content is half the work. You need a Search Engine Optimization specialist to perform keyword research. Therefore, quality leads will locate your posts and click on them. Sure, you can invest in product listing ad monitoring, but if your budget is limited, you have to try the organic pathway. Once your articles start ranking highly, you will notice a massive increase in website visits.

5. Webinars And Podcasts

Another way you can enrich your business leads list is to organize webinars. If you are new to an industry, you can arrange joint webinars with businesses that are not in direct competition but share the same audience. Through their larger platform, you are introduced to larger audiences and generate qualified leads. If you are looking for a platform to host your pre-recorded webinars or to create a co-branded event, eLearning Industry is ideal for your eLearning and HR business. But why webinars in the first place? They offer you the opportunity to talk about your brand and gain people’s trust. Additionally, you can answer questions and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.

Similarly to webinars, you can leverage the power of podcasts to get leads for your business. You can either record your own podcast series and invite different industry figures for every episode or attend popular podcasts as a thought leader. We can help you create your own podcast episode by interviewing your company expert and letting you showcase your industry knowledge.

6. Referrals

Among the top growth strategies for SaaS is creating a referral program for your existing clients. When you have created a happy and satisfied customer base, it is very easy to turn them into brand advocates who help you get leads. To buy leads and convert them, you must spend weeks and months convincing them that you are the ideal solution. On the other hand, referred customers already have a positive view of your brand because someone they trust spoke nicely about you. Additionally, referred business-to-business sales leads already know that you have the solution to their problem. Such an approach is a win-win situation, as existing clients get their incentive while you accelerate business growth. As an incentive, you can offer a special discount, a free trial, or swag gifts.

7. Quizzes And Contests

We have already talked about social media marketing and engaging with customers. How about running contests, giveaways, and quizzes to generate small business leads? There are techniques most growth hacking strategies implement to grow their audience and gain new clients. Let’s start with quizzes. Your goal is to gain as much information about your leads as possible. This way, you can categorize them into buyer personas and promote relevant content and resources. Not only that, but your audience also receives an assessment based on their answers. For example, if you are doing payroll marketing, you can create a quiz that helps people identify the best tool for their needs.

Contests and giveaways focus on offering something your audience wants. Unless it’s truly valuable, no one will participate or tag their friends. This is because you don’t just want extra followers but prospects who are genuinely interested in your services or products. You may now convert all your new followers instantly, but you will boost brand awareness and expand your lead nurturing strategy.

8. Attend Events

You don’t have to limit your B2B lead generation strategies to the digital world. Conferences and industry events, including award shows, put your brand in front of thousands of people either in attendance or watching through live streaming. You get the opportunity to engage with like-minded people and showcase thought leadership to potential clients and media outlets. You will notice that after every event, you get a spike in subscribers, trials, and demos. While you won’t convert all these interested prospects, you will get your brand in people’s minds. To make your appearance in events known to your audience, you may create press releases through trustworthy publications.

One negative aspect of an event marketing strategy is that it is costly. Even if your main thought leader hosts these events themself, your company has to pay for all their expenses. If these conferences take place in other countries, the cost increases dramatically.

9. Free Demos

If you’ve decided that you will not buy SaaS leads, you should know that potential clients usually request demos during the consideration stage. However, when you want to utilize demos to create B2B lead lists, your demo videos should be easily accessible without prospects having to contact you. Instead of uploading them on YouTube, you may use them as gated assets and require people’s contact details to download them. Alternatively, you can create a demonar, which is a demo webinar. You basically record a demo of your product or service with your explanations and additional tips. So, customers get to know both your solution and you as a thought leader. You may create a landing page dedicated to your on-demand demo with a clear CTA.

10. Online Communities

Building a lead generation website is one of the main goals of any company trying to generate business leads. What if you could leverage other lead generation websites that give you a large platform to appeal to your audience? We’re talking about popular online communities like Quora and Reddit. Quora, specifically, is the ideal place to share your knowledge while promoting your business. Your target should be to answer popular questions that have already received a lot of searches. Sure, the competition is also high, but you still have a chance of getting noticed. That’s why you should make your answer educational.

Reddit, on the other hand, isn’t ideal for promotion. In fact, it is quite easy to get banned if you promote your business. That’s why many marketers use it to offer insights and genuine advice to people. Maybe someone you helped with a simple comment will visit your profile, see what you do, and contact you for additional info.

11. Paid Ads

If you still want to buy email leads, you can spend your money a bit differently. Instead of working with lead-gen sites, you can create online ads. Facebook, LinkedIn, and PPC ads are all great options for your software sales marketing plan. Let’s start with LinkedIn. You can easily go on your profile to create a campaign and set “collect leads” as your objective. Along with a powerful CTA button and demographic filters, you can appear in front of targeted leads who are searching for your product. Facebook ads work very similarly. Once again, you set your parameters and filters, set your budget, and create a CTA. Whenever someone clicks on your ad, they are presented with a form where they have to add certain details.

PPC ads are different. They require search engine marketing intelligence, so you target the right keywords and are placed in the respective ad group. If you want to increase signups, you can include your form in the ad. Otherwise, you can redirect clicks to your website. You can try PPC directory listing ads, too, so your brand is visible to prospects who are actively looking for a solution similar to yours.

Key Takeaway

Buying lead lists is an option many marketers toy with in an effort to bring more traffic and increase conversions. However, like buying backlinks, it is risky and could create more problems than solutions. That’s why genuine lead generation techniques have more potential to generate targeted and high-intent customers. Newsletter subscriptions and gated assets should be at the top of your priority list. eBooks, webinars, podcasts, and templates grab B2B audiences’ attention easily. Social media contests, quizzes, and all sorts of posts can create a positive brand image and engage prospects. Online communities are more targeted, as you can appeal to people who are already searching for your solution.

Additionally, promotional campaigns on social media and Google can generate serious interest. The same applies to referrals, as you leverage happy clients to bring in more customers quickly and without too much hesitation. However, don’t forget about content marketing ideas. Evergreen, educational articles and blog posts offer your audience information and actionable tips. When they know you are a credible source, they become paying customers more easily.

If you want a trustworthy source to receive daily marketing updates, join our newsletter and browse our pool of endless growth opportunities.