Date
20th February 2024
Lead Generation for Technology Companies - What Do You Need to Know?
Technology lead generation is an exciting growth area in 2025.
It's the art of being able to attract new, relevant tech decision-makers to your brand, and it's changing all the time.
From the echoing effects of the global pandemic, to changing technology buying habits and the widespread adoption of AI, technology lead generation has been greatly impacted over the last few years.
And if you're a B2B marketer running technology lead generation campaigns, finding the right audiences is a considerable challenge.
You're competing with hundreds of other businesses in the same sector, and targeting tech-savvy professionals who can tell when they're being 'sold to.'
But, armed with the twin weapons of innovation and data -- as well as some specialist B2B technology lead generation knowledge -- you can cut through the noise, stand out, and engage new audiences for your products.
What Is Technology Lead Generation?
B2B technology lead generation is an essential marketing tactic designed to help technology companies reach the right buyers for their products and solutions.
Ultimately as a tech marketer, you want your marketing campaigns to reach and resonate with the right technology decision-makers. You want to fill your CRM or marketing funnel with marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) ready for further nurturing.
It may sound simple, but reaching the right technology decision-makers through lead generation is one of the biggest challenges for marketers.
In this complete guide to technology lead generation, we’ll help you answer the following questions:
- Why is lead generation for technology companies important?
- How can you target the right technology decision-makers for your products and solutions?
- What technology lead generation strategies are the most effective?
- How can you choose the right technology lead generation supplier to work with?
Headley Media's Technology Lead Generation Services
If you already know you're looking for technology lead generation services to support your B2B marketing strategy, please feel free to get in touch with the Headley Media team to find out more. Alternatively, you can visit our technology lead generation services page to explore the ways we can help you.
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Technology Lead Generation – Market Growth
Lead generation and digital advertising spending grew to $3.24bn in the United States alone by 2023 (Statista).
Meanwhile, according to the annual Demand Generation Benchmark Survey from Demand Gen Report, 2024 was a year of renewed focus on lead generation, with marketing budget spend up again on the previous year: around 55% of marketers saw budget increases.
As we’d expect, top priorities for the budget were intent data investment and management, content marketing and account-based marketing (ABM), and event marketing, among other clever lead generation tactics.
It’s interesting to note that, according to this survey, 48% of marketers planned on using MQLs and SALs as their top measurement metric, compared to 37% the previous year.
5 Top Priorities for Marketers:
Demand Gen Report said marketers’ top priorities in measuring their campaigns were:
- Improving conversion rates and campaign results.
- Focusing on lead quality over quantity.
- Improving their ability to measure and analyze marketing impact.
- Generating the right contacts/stakeholders within target accounts.
- Generating increased lead volume.
There are several reasons for the growth. Not least because many industries in the technology sector are growing, and the need to find fresh audiences is growing with them.
But it's also partly because B2B customers are now prioritizing 'self-service' product research, meaning they want to research everything about your products and solutions before they contact you.
Therefore, targeted lead generation techniques, such as content syndication lead generation and ABM help you reach your technology buyers at the right time in their buying cycle, taking advantage of this trend.
Why Is Technology Lead Generation Important?
The technology sector is vast and overlaps with every other industry.
There is endless potential for suppliers of technology products and services to find new audiences to sell to and grow their business.
Whether you're looking for specialist information technology lead generation, B2B lead generation for fintech companies, lead generation for martech businesses or automotive lead generation (the list goes on), you'll be able to find external lead generation specialists to support your goals.
Technology Lead Generation In The Age Of The Self-Service Buyer
Finding your audience amongst potentially millions of businesses is crucial to your success. You need to target niche industries and specific job titles.
Most importantly, you must tailor your approach to your customers' needs.
We’re in the age of the self-service buyer: customers want to be in control of their own research and decision-making, with little input from sales people. In addition, the buying committee is big – typically more than five people, according to Gartner – and these people are usually involved from an early stage of the purchase process, which can last for over a year.
In this landscape, quality content marketing, and matching the buyer’s journey, are crucial to successful technology lead generation and lead nurturing.
But, says Gartner, there’s more to it: 43% of buyers who made a rep-free, digital self-service purchase have high buyer regret, compared to 26% of traditional sales-led purchasers. The best method is rep-assisted digital purchases, at 21%.
For this reason, it’s important to ensure your digital content marketing gives buyers control, provides all the information they need, and offers data-driven guidance – while ensuring your sales team are on hand to fill in any gaps, offer real-time assistance and provide human empathy.
As always, solid brand building is the key to ensuring your leads can trust you to provide what they need – whether that’s topical industry information at the top of the funnel, useful tools and calculators in the middle or rep-assisted demos at the bottom.
Holding the attention of your prospects, once they've become MQLs, is as important as generating new leads in the first place. We see this as combining your demand and lead generation campaigns into one clear strategy.
Modern B2B lead generation for technology companies is designed to help you reach the technology buyers you need, at exactly the right time for them.
The best lead generation suppliers are fully up-to-date with B2B buying trends, and can help you with services and enhancements that have the current buyer's journey built in.
Crucially, you should spend time finding the right lead generation supplier.
With a good understanding of your industry, and the ability to help you pinpoint precisely which businesses to target, a high-quality and trustworthy technology lead gen company can engage the right people with your brand.
Ask them to talk you through their complete lead generation process. You should not be left questioning how your leads have been generated and whether they are relevant to your products and services.
Effective Lead Generation Strategies for Technology Companies
So, how do tech companies successfully generate leads?
Technology professionals use the internet to find the answers to their problems, and we find the key to effective B2B lead generation lies in providing those answers to their questions, through innovative marketing and content marketing.
The resources most popular with buyers are those that allow them to get hands-on experience with a product, says TrustRadius’s 2024 B2B Buying Disconnect report – such as demos, prior experience, and free trials – or can answer specific questions, such as user reviews.
It’s a continuation of the self-service mindset that’s been prevalent in the last few years: buyers expect to do almost all of their research online.
This is great for the technology sector, which naturally lends itself to some really innovative B2B lead generation services, which we'll now take a closer look at.
How Can You Reach the Right Technology Decision-Makers?
You need to dangle a carrot for your potential leads: a juicy, educational carrot. If that carrot takes the form of valuable content that gives them the answers they need – such as an eBook, research report, case study, or recorded webinar – it will be grabbed by your target audience, and they'll give you their business card details in return.
Plus, educational and helpful content provides an awesome brand-building opportunity, helping you remain at the forefront of your prospects' minds throughout their buyer's journey.
LinkedIn’s latest B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey highlights the need for marketers to be creative and innovative with their content: 70% of respondents said they have developed creative that stood out as bold or innovative, directly impacting the company’s brand.
36% of respondents cited social media as the channel that is most effective for meeting their marketing needs, followed by trade shows (18%) and email (12%). (Note email is below in-person events!)
The report cites blog posts, videos and high-quality infographics as excellent tools to engage your target audience, establish expertise and increase organic traffic to your website.
So the question is, where can you place your content so that leads will see it? Where should you dangle that metaphorical carrot?
Let's explore the most effective lead generation strategies for technology companies, and find out.
Content Syndication Lead Generation
First up, let's talk about syndicating your content across industry-specific research libraries. If you're a tech marketer and you're not already using content syndication for lead generation, this section is for you!
B2B content syndication is when a 3rd party lead generation specialist publishes your content – such as an eBook, whitepaper, case study or research report – for professionals to download in exchange for their business contact details.
Good lead generation companies for technology that are both trustworthy and transparent will have content syndication platforms specifically geared to the sector you are targeting.
For example, at Headley Media, we have content syndication platforms in 60 countries across six technology publications.
Our portfolio of publications connect our clients with technology decision-makers globally across IT, AI, Cybersecurity, HR, Marketing, Finances, and Electronics Engineering. Each brand allows our technology marketing clients to attract B2B leads from the right markets and departments.
The more valuable and relevant your content is, the more likely it will generate strong leads that will convert. If you work with a good supplier, they should be able to give you guidance on what content to use.
A good B2B lead gen company can also warm your content syndication leads up for you before they go to your Sales team, by exposing them to more of your content, or by adding intent data targeting to analyze how far along their buyer's journey are and how 'ready' they are to talk to Sales.
An Example of Content Syndication for Technology Lead Generation
Robert is the Sales Director and second-in-command at Bus-Coach, a small B2B start-up that aims to provide driver coaching products to mass transit companies.
He’s in charge of procuring sales database software for the growing business, and has started to research options on the internet.
From initial searches on Google, he has explored webpages for pricing options and whittled the potentials down to four SaaS businesses. His main criteria for the winner are:
- Reasonable price.
- Knowledge of B2B selling.
- At least some knowledge of transit systems.
Robert is an occasional user of Headley Media’s content library MarTech Corporate. He finds a case study on there from SellCel, one of his four favored businesses, describing how they went the whole nine yards to meet a small client’s niche B2B needs.
The case study is gated and he gives his contact details to read it. So at the same time as Robert’s feelings are warming towards SellCel, his contact details are passed on to the business and he becomes their lead.
They are able to send him emails with more relevant content, gently pulling him through the marketing funnel.
When Robert takes his final two options to his partner a couple of months later, they both agree that SellCel is the technology company for them.
Local Language Lead Generation
Next up is local language lead generation, which helps you reach audiences more authentically in multiple countries or regions.
Localized lead generation involves running your campaigns:
- In your target audience's local language - spanning further than just translating your campaigns, but considering cultural differences, too.
- On country-specific lead generation websites for a more authentic and personalized experience for each of your target audiences.
Taking marketing and lead generation localization seriously will help you resonate better with each of your target audiences.
A local language lead gen specialist, like Headley Media, can help you translate your lead generation campaigns. That can include everything from creating or translating your landing pages and emails, to advising you on the best types of content to use, depending on the kind of lead generation campaign you're running.
ABM Lead Generation
Account-based marketing lead generation is another great B2B lead generation strategy that helps technology companies create more focused campaigns.
To run a successful ABM lead generation campaign, you'll need to create a target account list (TAL). Your TAL identifies the most lucrative companies for your business and the target accounts you want your marketing campaigns to reach.
To run an ABM lead generation campaign, you'll most likely work with a lead gen specialist cane to help you create or expand your TAL if required.
ABM lead generation works best when your Sales and Marketing teams are aligned. Excellent communications with your Sales team will help you identify the target accounts to include in your TAL, ensuring your ABM lead gen campaigns are focused on the right people.
Audience Intelligence Strategies
Audience intelligence strategies are another great way to enhance your technology lead generation campaigns, as they provide you with more information on each lead.
Here are some examples of how you can enhance your lead gen with audience intelligence:
- Profiling questions are designed to help you get to know your audience better by including additional questions on your campaign's gated form, such as "What is your biggest challenge with [insert topic/technology]?" or "What is your focus for [insert time period]?"
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Qualifying questions help you determine if a potential lead is the right person, for example, by including questions on your gated form such as "Are you looking to implement a [insert technology solution] in the next [insert timeframe]?" or "Are you the decision-maker?" The difference with qualifying questions is that there is a 'right' or 'wrong' answer, and only people who give the 'right' answer will qualify as a lead.
- Intent data, which provides you with in-depth insights into how likely your new prospects are to buy your technology solutions. Intent targeting enhances your lead generation by helping you to identify when your prospects are more likely to be in an active buying cycle.
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BANT questions are designed to help you understand more about your prospects' current buying position. 'BANT' stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeframe. To learn more about BANT lead generation, explore our Soft-BANT lead gen campaigns.
The keys to successful technology lead generation are, naturally, innovation and data. Use every tool available, and every crumb of data you can get, to find your leads and then find out everything you can about them. Freya Ward Global Sales Director @ Headley Media
Lead Generation & Display Ads
B2B display advertising is an effective way to keep your brand front of mind with your target audience. By combining your B2B lead generation campaigns with display advertising, you'll be able to capture the attention of your target audience across multiple channels.
Displays ads combined with lead generation are a great way to create surround-sound messaging that helps you stand out against your competitors.
For example, Headley Display campaigns work alongside any of our lead generation services to deliver a 360-approach to our clients' lead generation campaigns.
Chatbots
Using chatbots or live chat on your website is an easy customer service win and can drive up conversions. You can use them to capture leads at the most effective moment by placing them in strategic spots on your site, such as halfway down your homepage or on a certain landing page.
Offering a Free Tool
The technology industry lends itself very well to this effective lead gen strategy. A free tool available on your website could be as simple as part of your existing software package, with a call to action to get a live demo of the full suite.
Live & On-Demand Demos
Offering to show potential customers your product in action is a great way to capture their interest and their business details. Even better if your product has a unique selling point that will wow them when they see it.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Social media and search engine advertising allows you to be very precise in who you're targeting. And as it's usually based on the cost-per-click model, it's very easy to budget for. It's not always perfect for B2B targeting, but it can allow you to do some clever B2C demographic targeting that generally converts well.
However, when considering technology lead generation strategies, finding solutions that offer more than a pay-per-click model will help you create campaigns with a guaranteed ROI.
For example, content syndication lead generation typically works on a pre-agreed and fixed cost-per-lead (CPL) basis.
The benefit of running your technology lead gen campaigns with a fixed CPL is knowing exactly how many leads your campaign will generate before it begins, helping you to better manage your budget.
Video Marketing
Short-form videos– think TikTok and Instagram Reels – are an exciting way for brands to be creative and show a playful side, attracting a bigger social media following and brand loyalty, which can be leveraged for lead generation over time.
However, long-form video, particularly if it's instructional or educational, is a great tool for technology marketers. Video marketing can form an important part of your demand generation strategy.
Plus, the more valuable a video is, the more it's worth gating it for lead generation. At Headley Media, a lot of our clients use video content within their lead generation campaigns.
Choosing a Trustworthy Technology Lead Generation Supplier
Your B2B lead gen supplier should thoroughly understand the unique challenges faced by companies and readers in your target audience. After all, business needs vary significantly in different technology sectors.
Below are some of the biggest sectors in the technology industry. Does your business fit into one of these categories? If you're thinking about lead generation for fintech, for example, you should check that your supplier can offer you a content library specifically to generate leads for fintech businesses.
IT Lead Generation
Lead generation for IT companies is a growing sector: more challenges arise in IT all the time, solutions rise up to meet them, and IT professionals like to keep up with the latest industry whitepapers and technology information.
Cloud computing, IT security, SaaS, big data, data warehousing, storage, hardware, email management, network services, mobile computing, and telecommunications are all vital parts of the sector that your lead generation for IT services could be focused on.
Cybersecurity Lead Generation
Cybersecurity is now a non-negotiable investment for businesses across the globe, and cybersecurity decision-makers are not limited to the IT department: it's important at all levels of business.
However, reaching the right influencers involved in cybersecurity is a challenge. Cybersecurity lead generation techniques include content syndication lead generation, email marketing, and social media marketing. It's important to choose a cybersecurity lead generation agency that is reputable and transparent.
MarTech Lead Generation
If you're reading this, you're probably already very aware of the challenges tech marketers face, because you are one!
So you already know that marketing technology lead generation focuses on email marketing, market research, analytics, automation, SEO, strategy, video marketing, and many other products and services that need to reach marketing and technology decision-makers.
FinTech Lead Generation
Finance professionals are not only becoming more involved in technology purchasing decisions, they are asking more questions and becoming part of the early-stage research phase. Therefore, FinTech lead generation is a very important part of the technology lead generation puzzle.
The finance sector is highly professional, and decisions are often made using data. Fintech lead generation services should offer high-quality content for decision-makers in cloud computing, financial security, banking and lending, insurance and pensions, accounting software, management accounting and reporting, payroll, and tax software.
HR Lead Generation
How do you generate HR leads? By offering up-to-date information on HR's biggest topics: HR and people management, employee benefits and rewards, bonus structures, health insurance, leadership, HR strategy, payroll management, employee training, recruitment, and workforce management.
For example, Headley Media's HR lead generation brand, HRTech Corporate, connects you with the right decision-makers involved in HR technology purchasing.
Electronics Lead Generation
Electronic lead generation is aimed at electronics engineers, design engineers, R&D professionals, and technical management.
Look for aerospace lead generation and automotive lead generation companies, as well as specialists in the military, analog, communication, components, electromechanical, power, test & measurement, and optoelectronics industries.
AI Lead Generation
It's the great trend of 2025: so many decision-makers are now using AI in some capacity. As this young sector evolves, technology professionals are tasked with understanding how to create efficiencies using AI, and which AI businesses they can trust.
Headley Media's newest brand, AI Corporate, will provide a trusted platform for AI decision-makers to find information about new developments in this exciting sector, and allow brands to find relevant AI leads.
Can You Trust Your Technology Lead Generation Company?
When running your technology lead gen campaigns, you need to be sure you've chosen a trustworthy lead generation agency.
The key is transparency: the best B2B content syndication vendors own their content syndication platforms and can show you exactly where your leads come from.
By choosing a trustworthy lead generation company, you can be sure each lead has willingly signed up to hear from you, and the supplier has authenticated the details of each one.
A low B2B cost-per-lead (CPL) is always tempting, but a list of cold leads who have never heard of your business and have no interest in hearing from your business is entirely worthless.
Look out for the supplier's Reader Journey. Shadier players in the industry might be buying leads from unknown 3rd parties, and not authenticating their leads, so won't be able to show you this.
A reputable technology lead gen agency will be able to show you exactly what the lead generation process looks like from the leads' perspective. For example, at Headley Media, we run our campaigns 100% digitally so we can show you every stage of our readers' journey.
To choose a lead generation company you can trust, use our ungated, Quality Lead Generation Checklist when doing your research.
Want to Know More About Technology Lead Generation?
For more on the topic of technology lead generation, download our ungated eBook, The Complete Guide to B2B Technology Lead Generation.
