Lay the Foundation for Q1 Success: A Q4 Lead Generation Guide

As we head into Q4, now is the time to start laying the groundwork for a prosperous 2025. While planning for the upcoming year, don’t overlook the impact running a robust lead generation program in Q4 can have on your Q1. By focusing on generating leads now, you can hit the ground running in the new year with a solid pipeline of potential sales.  

In this blog, we'll outline the essential elements of a successful lead generation program, including an effective follow-up strategy. With the right plan in place, teams can make the most of the last three months of the year to fuel business growth in 2025.

✅ Goal(s)

Knowing your 2025 targets can help you determine the appropriate budget allocation and desired outcomes for your Q4 lead generation efforts. To further refine your Q1 estimates, you can leverage conversion data from past campaigns. Doing so provides you with a conversion rate to benchmark against, one that you’ll aim to exceed with the lead generation strategy you put in place. 

If you don’t yet have Q1 goals on hand, use the conversion data from past campaigns as well as budget and targets from the first quarter of 2024 to forecast results. This gives you a starting point as you map out your initiatives for the remainder of the year and beyond. Once you get concrete targets, you can adjust accordingly, but at least you’ve already gotten the ball rolling.

✅ Lead Source(s)

Lead generation can be done through various channels, such as email campaigns, events, partnerships, and media buying. However, with the busy nature of Q4, managing an in-house lead generation program might stretch your resources thin. Consider collaborating with a demand generation partner who can manage the execution, allowing your team to focus on other year-end initiatives. 

What are some benefits of partnering with a third-party vendor? 

• Cost-per-lead (CPL) pricing means you will know how many leads you can generate with your allocated budget. 

• Outsourced program management frees up your team to focus on other in-house priorities. 

• Access to the vendor’s database and their tools, tactics, and expertise.

✅ Q4 Execution

How you set up your Q4 lead generation program requires you to consider a multitude of factors. For example, the level of detail and robustness of your program will largely depend on the resources you have available and the time you've set aside for preparation. With ample content on hand, you can often build a cohesive campaign more efficiently. 

Additionally, it's essential to keep your 2025 objectives in focus. If your focus is on generating a high volume of MQLs (marketing qualified leads), you'll likely target a broader audience with diverse content and messaging, with more emphasis on marketing-driven follow-up to nurture these leads. Conversely, if your focus is on generating sales-ready leads — SALs (sales accepted leads) and SQLs (sales qualified leads) — your strategy will require more nuance, with a narrower, more targeted audience and carefully curated content. Your follow-up process here will need to be more sales-driven, with a well-aligned hand-off process. 

Regardless of your objectives, defining key elements like the ones outlined below will lay the foundation for a successful Q4 lead generation strategy. 

• Audience Targeting: Clearly define your audience by setting demographic, firmographic, and technographic parameters. Further refine your targeting with intent data and, if applicable, a target account list (TAL). 

• • If your focus is on generating later-stage leads, be sure your parameters align with what your sales team is prioritizing come Q1 2025. For example, what intent signals signify the most potential and which accounts make your reps’ individual account lists. 

• • Don’t forget to regularly check the quality of leads that come in through your program to ensure they meet your criteria, and request replacements if necessary. 

• Vendor Selection: Prioritize existing vendors based on past performance. Consider quantitative data such as conversion rates as well as qualitative ones, like anecdotes from the sales team. When evaluating new lead generation partners, inquire about: data hygiene and accuracy, tools and technologies, audience and program customizations, and performance optimization capabilities. 

• • If you have budget limitations, don’t be afraid to ask about discounts or special offers. Also, come with receipts! If you have historical data at your disposal, of their past programs or those of their competitors, share it with them. Vendors who want your business will often try their best to make accommodations. 

• Content Strategy: Take stock of your existing content and see if there are any gaps you need to fill prior to launching your lead generation program. Use your own content analysis to prioritize which assets to leverage for the audience you’re planning to target. Alternatively, provide your vendor with a variety of content topics and types (whitepapers, videos, reports, blogs, etc.) and have them optimize your program based on engagement. 

• • Don’t forget to reserve a few relevant assets for your Q1 follow-up efforts to avoid repetition! 

• • If you have more than enough content, ask for updates from your vendor throughout the campaign. If content isn’t performing, swap it with something else in your repository. 

• Lead Scoring: Ensure your lead scoring criteria are up to date before the leads start flowing in. Run tests prior to uploading your leads. Depending on the robustness of your lead generation program, you may need to work with your operations team to implement a custom scoring system. 

• • For example, leads generated from a two-touch content syndication program who also answered a custom question and received a two-email nurture may need to be scored higher than a lead that completed a one-touch syndication program. 

• Nurture Campaigns: Anticipate where your leads will go once they’ve been uploaded to your database. If you already have automated nurture campaigns in place, do a quick check to see if the messaging aligns. If content is repeated, consider working with the operations team to develop a trigger-based workflow that allows the lead to skip a particular email. Alternatively, if you feel your nurture campaigns don’t flow with the messaging of your lead generation program, consider developing one or two emails to run them through first to ease their transition into your database. 

• • Depending on when you receive the leads in Q4, you may choose to hold them until the new year. If this is the case, be sure they are still being touched via an automated marketing email nurture campaign or retargeting ads. You want to ensure they are still warm when you do pass them to sales!

✅ Q1 Follow-Up 

A lead generation program is only as effective as its follow-up, making it crucial to have a solid strategy in place. Once you've launched your Q4 campaign, it's time to focus on your Q1 follow-up messaging if you haven't already. Standard cadences won't cut it if you're aiming to maximize your lead generation efforts. Effective follow-up requires seamless collaboration between sales and marketing teams, ensuring that efforts are coordinated without redundancy or competition.  

To maximize your success, ensure your follow-up strategy incorporates the following to ensure a smooth transition from leads to customers: 

• Program Visibility: Clearly communicate the program's objectives, benefits, and expected outcomes to sales reps, ensuring they understand the value and potential impact. Set realistic expectations and address questions and concerns to foster buy-in. 

• • Consider offering incentives to motivate sales reps to actively follow up and provide feedback. 

• Optimize Lead Handoff: Ensure a seamless, automated transition of leads from marketing to sales, considering factors like lead scoring, routing, program notes, and recommended follow-up processes. 

• Holiday Hold: If Q4 is approaching the holidays, consider holding leads until the new year and implementing automated nurture campaigns and programmatic advertising to maintain lead engagement. 

• Lead Handoff: Collaborate with operations to ensure a seamless, automated handoff of leads from marketing to sales. This includes testing the process and flagging important notes for sales reps, along with clear follow-up recommendations. 

• Content Strategy: Tailor your follow-up content to what the leads engaged with during the Q4 program. Offer relevant ungated assets like blogs, short videos, or infographics to build trust and familiarity with your brand. Also, promote any relevant Q1 events. 

• • If your content archive is limited, consider repurposing Q4 assets for ongoing engagement. Transform in-depth assets like whitepapers, ebooks, and reports to blogs, infographics, or videos. If the original asset is older, add fresh insights. Alternatively, collaborate with partners or third-party publications to create or co-sponsor new pieces. 

• Sales Enablement: Build a playbook or curated collection of assets for sales reps to leverage in their follow-ups. This can include email cadences or snippets, talk scripts, special offerings, relevant content, and upcoming events to promote. These should be ready to use before the leads are handed off. 

• • If you don’t meet regularly with your sales team, consider setting up check-in meetings to provide updates on the program, answer questions, and listen to feedback. 

• Surrounding Nurture: Have marketing efforts ready to nurture leads that don’t convert. Use trigger-based email campaigns and retargeting lists to create personalized experiences and guide leads towards self-service options or further engagement. Be cognizant not to inundate them with too many touches over a short period of time. If a lead doesn’t convert after engaging with sales, consider giving them a break before re-engaging them again. 

➕ Moving Forward

Prioritizing collaboration and analysis in your lead generation and follow-up efforts is essential not just for the success of your Q4 and Q1 initiatives but also for future ones. By encouraging alignment across teams and gathering key insights, you’ll set the stage for ongoing improvement and long-term success. 

• Cross-functional Collaboration: From beginning to end, foster collaboration and communication between marketing, sales, and operations teams. Teamwork makes the dream work, but it doesn't happen overnight!

• Program Analysis: Set up performance reports to monitor the success of your lead generation program throughout Q4, Q1, and beyond. Understand that results may take time, especially if your sales cycle is long. 

• Post-Mortem: After the program concludes, gather stakeholders for a review session to discuss what worked, what didn’t, and how to improve future initiatives. 

By taking a strategic approach to lead generation in Q4, you can ensure a smooth and successful start to Q1 2025. Focus on clear goals, efficient execution, and effective follow-up to establish a robust pipeline of qualified leads and drive your business forward in the new year.

...


DemandSkill helps B2B organizations achieve their lead and demand generation goals by running campaigns tailored to your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and needs. Our custom-built campaigns benefit from the perfect blend of AI innovation and human expertise. Whether you need targeted lead acquisition, full-funnel demand, or ABM, we're here to help! Explore our AI-powered, intent-driven offerings here.