Every B2B SaaS company needs an effective lead generation program in order to maintain consistent growth. In this guide, we’ll begin by explaining the lead generation funnel and how prospective customers move through each stage. We then compare the most popular and useful lead generation channels for B2B SaaS companies, discussing the best use cases for each. Finally, we share several creative lead generation ideas that B2B SaaS companies can implement in their own campaigns.
The B2B SaaS Lead Generation Funnel
The lead generation funnel refers to the journey that potential customers take before converting into leads for your sales team. It begins when a prospect learns of your company or product, and ends when they perform a conversion action such as filling out a contact form, signing up for a free trial, or requesting a demo of your software. The funnel has five stages, as shown below:
- Discovery: The discovery stage stage is where prospects first learn about your software or company. Most B2B SaaS lead generation channels place significant emphasis on this stage, as all else being equal, higher visibility in the discovery stage will increase your overall pool of potential leads.
- Interest: During the interest stage, a prospect will begin to learn about what your software offers and start to get a feel for your company. As long as your lead generation focuses on the right audience, most prospects that reach the discovery stage will also reach the interest stage. Prospects at this stage want to find relevant information as quickly as possible, and aren’t yet ready to be sold to, so skimmability and maintaining an informational tone are key to ensuring interested prospects continue down the funnel.
- Appraisal: Here, prospects will start researching your software in more depth to determine if it’s a good fit for them. This stage is unique in that appraisers of your company will tend to look to outside sources for information, instead looking to external product review sites or industry news sources. The appraisal stage is not entirely out of your control, however, with thought leadership marketing, PR, and reputation management being particularly helpful for keeping prospects in your lead generation funnel.
- Confirmation: Prospects at this stage have formed a favorable opinion of your software and have determined that it can likely address their pain points and provide them with a solution to their problems. They need a final push to reach out, and will search your website for case studies or other examples of how your software has helped other, similar companies.
- Conversion: At the final stage of the funnel, your prospects have decided to commit to a sales call or a free trial, and your job is to ensure there are few barriers to doing so. Your conversion pages (e.g. your contact forms and free trial signup pages) should be easy to navigate to and intuitive to complete.
An effective lead generation program will take the whole lead generation funnel into account, using different channels to target prospects at different stages. Before we discuss the details of creating such a program, we first need to understand the most common B2B SaaS lead generation channels, and the role each is most suited for.
B2B SaaS Lead Generation Channels, Compared
| Channel | Average Commitment | ROI (3-Year Average) | Monthly Cost | Notes |
| Thought Leadership SEO | 2 – 3 years | 748% | $7,500 – $15,000 | Combining thought leadership content with SEO makes for one of the most effective B2B SaaS lead generation channels. It connects with prospects across every funnel stage, and delivers very high ROI. Its main downside is in how long it takes to see results, though this can be mitigated through campaign strategy. |
| SEM / PPC | 3 – 6 months | 46% | $3,000 – $30,000 | PPC advertising is often seen as the default option for B2B SaaS companies, as it provides rapid results with low commitment. Because you pay for each lead, however, PPC results in relatively low ROI and is best for short-term campaigns and testing new markets. |
| LinkedIn Organic | 1.5 – 2 years | 229% | $500 – $1,000 | Organic LinkedIn posting campaigns accomplish many of the same goals as SEO, but on a significantly more limited platform that lends itself to more industry-specific use cases. |
| LinkedIn Ads | 6 – 12 months | 94% | $5,000 – 20,000 | LinkedIn Ads are great for generating leads in the short term, with marginal value for improvement in brand awareness and authority. |
| Webinars | 6 months – 2 years | 364% | $5,000 – $10,000 | Webinars are an excellent way to push lower-funnel prospects closer to a conversion, but publicizing a new webinar comes with its own difficulties. |
| Email Marketing | 6 months – 2 years | 201% | $500 – $2,000 | Email marketing is excellent for nurturing existing leads, but less effective at generating new ones. Email campaigns are very low cost, however, and content can easily be repurposed when using a modular content strategy. |
| Trade Shows | > 8 months | 85% | $10,000 – $20,000 | Trade shows are great for discoverability and in-person connections move more quickly through the lead generation funnel. While other channels tend to offer more overall effectiveness, startups in particular can benefit from using trade shows as an opportunity to find the right target audience. |
| Outdoor Ads | ~1 year | 85% | $10,000 – $40,000 | Outdoor advertising is effective only for the Discovery stage and only when used in cities with many prospects. As a result, it is most used by SaaS companies whose products can be used by most businesses. Most B2B SaaS companies will see better returns from investing on other channels. |
| PR | ~1.5 years | 62% | $10,000 – $50,000 | PR tends to be relatively ineffective for direct lead generation, but it helps companies build and maintain a positive image and build positive perception across their industry. It’s one of the few channels that has a significant impact on the Appraisal stage of the funnel, and can play an important role in overall strategy. |
Creative Lead Generation Ideas for B2B SaaS Companies
Now that you’ve learned about some of the tried and true methods, let’s take a look at some of the newer channels that are on savvy marketers’ radar.
| Channel | Monthly Cost | Execution Difficulty | Time Until Results | ROI | Overall |
| Original Reports | $5,000 | Medium | 9-12 months | 215% | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Podcasts | $7,500 and up (per podcast) | Hard | 12-18 months | 527% | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Text Message Marketing | $500 – $10,000 | Easy | 1-3 months | 122% | ⭐⭐ |
| Industry News Website | $10,000 | Hard | 24-36 months | 370% | ⭐⭐ |
| Book Authoring or Co-authoring | $20,000 – $100,000 (one-time fee for writing, editing, and publishing) | Hard | 15-18 months | 76% | ⭐ |
Creative Lead Generation Ideas for B2B SaaS, Explained
Below, we discuss each of these creative ideas in more detail.
Original Reports
Combine your internal data and expertise to publish original reports and white papers that offer hard to find statistics and benchmarks. You will both further your reputation as an industry leader, and these also serve as additional reasons for visitors to land on your website (and therefore enter your conversion funnel).
You can combine this method with SEO, targeting common customer searches, such as Lead Generation Statistics or Content Marketing Benchmarks. Reports on data that can’t be found anywhere else will attract a higher number of links, increasing your domain authority and raising your rankings across the board.
Podcasts
More people than ever before are getting their news and their business insight from podcasts. Produced professionally and targeted properly, podcasts can be extremely effective for engaging potential customers. You have a captive audience — on the treadmill or on the highways — anxious to be entertained and open to being influenced.
Successfully executing a B2B SaaS podcast requires two things: (1) connections to interesting guests, and (2) high production quality. Without either, your potential customers will have little reason to listen to you. Also important to remember is that podcasts need their own marketing while building their audience.
Text Message Marketing
Everyone has a cell phone and many people are hooked on instant gratification. A texting channel that allows you to send personalized messages to those who sign up — or those who respond to an advertisement — combines the two.
Potential customers who opt in to receive text messages have already shown a commitment, which heightens the quality of the lead. However, allowing for just a few words at a time, you’ll need savvy messaging to move them through the sales funnel. Given the mobile, 24/7 nature of the technology, you’ll also need to consider round-the-clock sales support.
Industry News Website
Starting an industry news website is an uncommon, but high ROI lead generation method — as long as you have time to spare. The first 1-2 years should be spent establishing the website as a trustworthy, editorially independent source of information. Beginning in years 2 and 3, when this site has high name recognition and search rankings, you can begin introducing more advertising for your SaaS company’s products, as well as publishing (clearly marked) sponsored posts. This helps get your brand in front of more visitors than any other method, but takes a long time to pay off.
Author or Co-Author a book
Books impress people and book authors are thought of as automatic experts. So it makes sense that books are growing in popularity as a lead generation method, especially now that publishing has become more democratized. Though not easy to write, edit, design and print, book publishing is more accessible than ever and it’s hard to find a better “leave behind” during a sales call than a book.
This method lives and dies by the quality of the book you write. If no one on your team has the time or experience, you will need to hire an excellent ghostwriter. You may also consider partnering with an established author or expert in the field with a successful track record, but these are both expensive options.
Getting Help with B2B SaaS Lead Generation
A recent survey of B2B SaaS marketers found that only about 1 in 10 described their lead quality as “excellent” and half of them said their lead generation efforts were average or worse. We’ve written the above guide to help change that, but if you’d like more help with your lead generation, schedule a call. We have over a decade of experience working with B2B SaaS companies.
