7 Overlooked Pipeline Generation Tactics for 2025

Major Takeaways: Pipeline Generation

Use Buyer Intent to Focus Your Outreach

• Only 30% of B2B marketers use a measurable intent data strategy. Targeting “in-market” prospects increases conversion rates and speeds up deal velocity.

Multichannel Outreach Boosts Response Rates

• B2B teams using omnichannel outreach see a 287% higher engagement rate than single-channel efforts—reach buyers where they prefer to engage.

AI Personalization Drives 80% Higher Conversions

• Personalized experiences increase purchase likelihood by 80%. AI tools now allow small teams to personalize outreach at scale with minimal manual effort.

Thought Leadership Influences Buying Decisions

• 75% of B2B buyers are more likely to buy from a company that educates them throughout the journey—valuable content builds pipeline and trust.

Referrals and Partnerships Close Faster

• 86% of B2B buyers trust peer recommendations. Referred leads often close more quickly and convert at higher rates than cold outreach.

Engage in Niche Communities to Spark Conversations

• 75% of B2B buyers use social media to inform decisions. Active participation in industry groups and forums creates a warm, inbound pipeline.

Alignment Between Sales and Marketing Accelerates Growth

• Highly aligned teams generate 19% faster revenue growth and 15% higher profitability. Tight coordination ensures leads are worked, not wasted.

Introduction

In today’s B2B landscape, building a robust sales pipeline is more challenging – and critical – than ever. Economic uncertainty, shrinking budgets, and fatigued prospects are making it harder for marketing and sales teams to hit their targets (1). In fact, 33% of B2B marketers report declining buyer engagement (lower email open rate, fewer form fills) as a key pain point, and 63% face stagnant or shrinking budgets that constrain growth efforts (1). This means you can’t simply rely on the same old tricks for pipeline generation. To meet 2025’s targets, you need to get creative and strategic.

B2B sales and marketing leaders across SaaS, telecom, managed services, IT, cybersecurity, logistics and beyond are seeking actionable ways to drive pipeline without just buying more tools. Nearly 70% of marketers now favor actionable support and insights over adding new tech (1) – signaling a demand for smarter tactics that deliver outcomes. The good news? High-performing teams are already pulling ahead by innovating their pipeline strategies and outsourcing lead generation. They excel in areas like data utilization, buyer engagement, content quality, and sales-marketing alignment (1).

If your pipeline generation playbook still revolves around mass emailing a generic pitch or making cold calls without a plan, it’s time to upgrade. Below, we break down seven overlooked pipeline generation tactics for 2025 that can give you an early-mover advantage. These approaches go beyond the basics – helping you create a resilient, pipeline generation strategy that consistently fills your funnel with qualified opportunities. Let’s dive in.

1. Harness Intent Signals in Your Pipeline Generation Strategy

One of the most underutilized resources for modern B2B teams is buyer intent data – signals that indicate when a target account is actively researching or showing interest in solutions like yours. Tapping into these intent signals can transform your pipeline generation strategy from a blind hunt into a smart, laser-guided approach. Rather than chasing every prospect, you focus on those “in-market” buyers who are warming up, resulting in higher hit rates and faster conversions.

Only 30% of B2B marketers have a measurable intent data strategy in place (2). In other words, the majority are not systematically leveraging intent signals – an opportunity for you to leap ahead.

Why is intent data so powerful? Imagine a cybersecurity SaaS provider that sells cloud firewall solutions. Through an intent-data platform  (e.g. Bombora or ZoomInfo Intent), they discover that several mid-size healthcare companies in their CRM have been reading multiple articles about “cloud security for hospitals” and searching related keywords. These accounts haven’t contacted sales yet, but the digital footprints suggest they have a real pain point. Armed with this insight, the provider can proactively reach out with a tailored message: perhaps an email sharing a healthcare security case study, followed by a call to discuss best practices in protecting patient data. By engaging these accounts before they raise their hand, the sales team has a much higher chance of being the first vendor in the door.

This intent-driven approach is an overlooked pipeline generation tactic because many organizations still operate on stale lead lists or basic firmographic targeting. High-intent prospects often fly under the radar of traditional lead gen methods. By incorporating intent data into your outreach prioritization, you ensure your team spends time on prospects who are more likely to convert. One strategy is to create an “intent score” for target accounts. For instance, if a prospect visits your pricing page, downloads an industry whitepaper, and engages with your LinkedIn posts – all in a week – their intent score shoots up. Your BDRs can get an alert to immediately follow up with that prospect while the interest is hot.

Example scenario: Your managed IT services firm uses a buyer-intent tool that flags Company X (a regional bank) for surging interest in “cloud migration”. You verify that multiple employees from Company X have been reading cloud migration guides (perhaps via a content syndication partner). Sensing an opportunity, your team quickly packages a Cloud Migration Best Practices PDF and sends it along with a friendly note offering a free assessment. Within days, you receive a reply from a VP at Company X who appreciated the timely resources – and wants to talk. By acting on intent signals, you generated a warm pipeline opportunity that competitors unaware of these signals would have missed.

To make the most of this tactic, integrate intent data into your lead scoring model and sales playbooks. Train your sales development representatives (SDRs) to recognize and respond to intent cues – whether it’s a spike in website activity or an uptick in engagement from a particular account. Also, align marketing content with predicted buyer interests (for example, have relevant case studies or webinars ready to send when certain intent topics trend). Keep in mind that intent data isn’t foolproof – it’s about probabilities, not certainties. But even as an early-warning system, it can dramatically increase your efficiency. You’ll be knocking on the doors of prospects who want to hear from you, rather than those who show only vague demographic fit.

Lastly, don’t be intimidated by the tools – yes, intent data often comes from third-party providers, but you can start small. Use your own website analytics as a form of intent signal (e.g., alert sales when an existing lead revisits the site three times in a week). Over time, consider combining multiple sources (content engagement, ad clicks, external intent feeds) to triangulate real purchase intent. The key is to start listening to what prospects are telling you through their digital behavior. It’s a pipeline generation strategy grounded in being responsive to buyer needs, which is exactly where modern B2B sales is headed.

2. Embrace Omnichannel Sequences to Strengthen Your Lead Generation Pipeline

If your outreach strategy is heavily skewed to one channel – for example, relying on just cold emails or only LinkedIn messages – you’re leaving a lot of pipeline on the table. In 2025, winning B2B teams are embracing omnichannel sequences: coordinated touchpoints across email, phone calls, LinkedIn, and even newer channels like SMS or WhatsApp (where appropriate). An omnichannel approach ensures you meet prospects where they prefer to communicate, boosting your chances of a response and nurturing them through your lead generation pipeline more effectively.

Companies using a multichannel outreach strategies see a 287% higher engagement rate compared to those sticking to a single channel (3). In other words, mixing up your touchpoints can nearly quadruple prospect engagement – a massive lift for pipeline generation.

Why does this matter? B2B buyers are inundated with messages, and each buyer has unique preferences. Some executives are quick to respond on LinkedIn but ignore unsolicited emails. Others diligently check email but never pick up unknown phone calls. A multichannel sequence increases the likelihood that your message actually gets through and resonates. It’s about casting a wide but coordinated net – without being spammy – to ensure your outreach isn’t lost in a one-channel black hole.

Consider a practical example: You’re a SaaS sales leader trying to reach a busy CTO at a telecom company. Day 1, you send a brief, personalized email introducing how your solution helped a similar telecom reduce costs. No reply. Day 3, you follow up on LinkedIn with a connection request and a short note referencing that email. The CTO sees your LinkedIn message while browsing in the evening and mentions it to a colleague. Day 5, you place a call – they don’t answer, but you leave a voicemail referencing the email and LinkedIn note (“I sent you some insights on cost reduction – hope it’s useful”). Day 7, you send a second email with a compelling industry stat or a case study. This time, the prospect, who now recognizes your name from LinkedIn and the voicemail, opens the email and clicks through. By the following week, you get a response and an initial meeting scheduled. This orchestrated dance of touchpoints is far more effective than a single email that would likely be ignored. In fact, Martal Group’s own experience running omnichannel campaigns for B2B clients shows that prospects often engage on the second or third channel touched – for instance, a contact might ignore two emails but respond once they see a LinkedIn message that feels more personal.

To implement omnichannel outreach without overwhelming your team or the prospect, use a structured cadence. For example, a 2-week sequence might include: Email > LinkedIn touch > Phone call > Email > LinkedIn follow-up > Phone call or SMS > Final email. Each touch should provide some new value or context (don’t just copy-paste the same message everywhere). Perhaps the first email shares a statistic or asks a question; the LinkedIn note references a recent post of the prospect or a common connection; the voicemail conveys urgency or a friendly voice; the second email delivers a case study or testimonial relevant to their industry. Vary the times of day as well – a morning email, an afternoon call, an evening LinkedIn note – to maximize chances of connecting.

Crucially, maintain consistency in your core message while adapting it to each channel’s style. Your value proposition should remain front-and-center, but the tone can shift: more formal in email, conversational on a call, consultative on LinkedIn. Keep records of all touches in your CRM so you know what the prospect has already seen. This helps avoid the mistake of repeating yourself or, worse, forgetting a touch and reaching out in a disjointed way.

An often overlooked aspect of multichannel pipeline generation is integrating old-school methods with modern digital channels. For example, cold calling may seem out of vogue to some, yet it can be incredibly powerful when timed right. A quick call after a prospect downloads a whitepaper can be the difference between a lukewarm lead and a booked demo. Similarly, direct mail or gifts – such as sending a brief personalized note or a small branded item – can differentiate your approach in an era where physical mail is rare. We’ve seen companies (especially in enterprise B2B sales) surprise prospects with creative mailers as part of an Account-Based Marketing campaign: the mailer warms them up, and a follow-up call or email then gets a much friendlier reception. While you don’t want to break the bank on every lead, for high-value targets a well-timed non-digital touch can be memorable.

The bottom line: an omnichannel strategy fortifies your lead generation pipeline by ensuring prospects don’t slip through the cracks of any one channel. It’s about being persistent but polite, varied but coordinated. As one Forbes article noted, multichannel outreach isn’t just the next phase of outbound sales and marketing – it’s the new normal for those who want to consistently fill their pipeline in a hyper-competitive environment (7). If you’re still defaulting to a single channel, 2025 is the year to broaden your approach and reap the engagement rewards.

3. Use AI and Automation to Personalize Outreach at Scale

Personalization has long been touted as a key to engagement – but doing it manually for every prospect can be prohibitively time-consuming. That’s where the new wave of AI and automation tools comes in, allowing you to customize messages at scale and automate repetitive tasks, all while maintaining a human touch. Embracing AI-driven personalization is an overlooked tactic in pipeline generation because many teams either don’t fully trust the technology yet or haven’t figured out how to integrate it effectively. But those who do are seeing significant payoffs in efficiency and conversion rates.

Personalized experiences can increase purchase likelihood by 80% (4). That’s a huge boost – and AI now enables even small teams to deliver personalization on a mass scale that was previously only possible for companies with big marketing staffs.

How can AI help? Let’s start with content creation. Generative AI tools (like GPT-based writing assistants) can draft first versions of outreach emails tailored to different industries or roles. For example, you can input a prompt: “Write a cold email to a CFO in the logistics sector highlighting how our solution improves supply chain efficiency, and include a relevant statistic.” The AI will produce a custom message which you then refine to add any personal touches. This saves time crafting a fresh email from scratch for each prospect. Similarly, AI tools can personalize email subject lines or suggest optimal send times based on past engagement patterns. Some advanced sales engagement platforms even use AI to analyze which types of messages a specific prospect engages with (short text vs. long-form, technical detail vs. high-level value) and adjust the email cadence accordingly.

Beyond content, AI can assist in lead research and data enrichment – tasks that often eat up hours of an SDR’s day. Instead of manually scouring LinkedIn, an AI-enabled lead generation tool can pull together a prospect’s bio, recent LinkedIn posts, company news, and even buying signals, delivering a quick dossier before you reach out. When Martal Group trains outsourced SDRs, we emphasize leveraging such tools to gather insight before the first touch. For instance, an AI sales agent might alert you that your target contact just posted about a pain point that your product addresses – golden information to personalize your message.

Automation further ensures no lead falls through the cracks. Think of automated drip campaigns that nurture leads over time. Say a prospect downloads an eBook from your website (an inbound lead). You can have automated cold email sequences send a thank-you email immediately, a follow-up with a related blog post two days later, and a prompt for a call the next week – all without a human pressing send. Meanwhile, your sales reps can focus on calling the hottest leads while the warm leads are being warmed up by automation in the background.

Example scenario: A B2B managed services provider uses an AI-based personalization tool for cold outreach. The tool automatically grabs each prospect’s key details – their industry, one of their competitors that is a client of yours, and a recent quote from them in the news. It then generates an email template like: “Hi Jane, I noticed you’re leading IT at [Prospect Company]. In the logistics space, companies like [Client Name] have cut delivery delays by 20% using our platform. Saw your quote about ‘streamlining operations’ in Supply Chain Weekly – that’s exactly what we focus on. Would love to share some insights…” The SDR just reviews this AI-crafted email for accuracy and tone, personalizes a tad more if needed, and hits send. With minimal manual work, Jane receives an email that feels like it was written just for her, referencing her industry and something she said – dramatically increasing the odds of a reply.

Of course, a note of caution: automation is not a substitute for genuine human connection. It’s there to enhance your ability to connect, not to spam a thousand people with one-click. Always review AI-generated content for relevance and correctness – you don’t want awkward phrasing or inaccuracies that reveal a robot wrote it. The best results come when you combine AI efficiency with human judgment. For example, you might use AI to generate a rough cold call script, but your sales reps should practice and adapt that script to sound natural. Automation can remind a rep to follow up, but the rep should add context from their last conversation in the follow-up message.

In 2025, practically every high-growth sales team is incorporating some form of AI or automation in their pipeline generation toolkit. Even if you’re a bit behind the curve, it’s not too late to start. Begin with something simple: use your CRM’s workflow tool to automate a “first touch” email when a new lead comes in, or try an AI tool to draft one of your weekly outreach emails and see how it compares to your own version. You’ll likely find that AI can handle the heavy lifting of personalization and research, allowing your team to focus more on strategy and relationship-building. The result? More touches, better timing, richer personalization – and ultimately, a fuller pipeline with less grunt work.

4. Establish Thought Leadership with Educational Content

When we talk pipeline generation, usually direct outreach tactics get all the attention. But there’s an often overlooked strategy that operates more indirectly yet effectively: building your pipeline by establishing yourself (and your company) as a thought leader in your industry. By consistently producing educational, value-rich content – blogs, whitepapers, webinars, research reports, how-to guides – you attract and nurture sales leads who trust your expertise, making them far more receptive when your sales team eventually engages. In essence, great content warms up the soil so your pipeline seeds can take root.

Infographic idea: 75% of B2B buyers say they are more likely to purchase from a company that provides educational content throughout the buyer journey (5). This shows that thought leadership content isn’t just a branding exercise – it directly influences buying decisions and pipeline outcomes.

How does this work in practice? Put yourself in your buyer’s shoes. Let’s say you’re a Director of IT searching for ways to improve your company’s cybersecurity. You’re not ready to talk to vendors yet; you first want to educate yourself on the latest best practices. You stumble upon a 2025 Cybersecurity Trends report on LinkedIn, published by a B2B security firm. It’s packed with useful insights (not a sales pitch) about emerging threats and solutions. You download it in exchange for your email. A week later, you see the firm’s CTO hosting a webinar on “Zero Trust Security for Enterprises” – you attend and find it genuinely informative. Over the next month, you read a couple of their blog posts answering common security questions. By the time a sales rep from that firm reaches out to you (seeing that you downloaded content and attended a webinar), you already recognize their brand and respect their expertise. You’re far more willing to have a sales conversation because they’ve earned credibility by educating you.

That journey might span weeks or months, but it creates a self-selecting pipeline of sales ready leads who are both knowledgeable and somewhat pre-sold on your approach. Martal Group has observed this with clients who invest in content: their inbound lead quality improves (people who reach out after consuming content are often senior B2B decision-makers), and even outbound efforts get easier because prospects have “seen your name around” in a positive light. Essentially, your thought leadership content works as a constant, low-touch salesperson that builds rapport and trust at scale.

To leverage this tactic, align your content strategy tightly with your pipeline goals. Identify the pain points and questions your target buyers have at each stage of their journey. Create content that addresses those, without being overly promotional. Early in the journey, broad educational pieces work best (e.g., “Ultimate Guide to Reducing Warehouse Costs” for a logistics audience). Mid-funnel, you can get more specific (e.g., “Case Study: How Client X Saved $1M with IoT in Warehousing”). Late-funnel content might gently introduce why your approach is uniquely suited to solving their problem (e.g., a webinar featuring your customer talking about ROI). Always provide real, actionable insight – the goal is to be helpful, demonstrating that you understand the industry challenges deeply.

Example: A telecom services company aiming to generate pipeline with healthcare organizations could produce a research report on “Telecom Solutions in Healthcare 2025: Trends & Benchmarks.” Filled with data (perhaps gathered from a survey of healthcare IT professionals) and best practices, this report positions the company as a knowledgeable partner. They gate the report behind a contact form, generating leads. They promote key findings on social media and through industry publications, building awareness. Their sales reps now have a great opener: “Hi, I’m following up from TelecomCo – we recently published a healthcare telecom trends report. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how these trends match what you’re experiencing.” Notice how that call is framed: it’s not a hard sell, it’s adding value from the first interaction. This approach often leads to more productive conversations and eventually pipeline, because the prospect doesn’t feel ambushed – they feel informed.

One critical point: consistency is key. A one-off whitepaper or an occasional blog post won’t move the needle much. To truly become a thought leader, you need to show up regularly with fresh insights. This could mean a content cadence like one blog per week, one webinar or eBook per quarter, and active participation on LinkedIn by your company’s leaders (sharing commentary on industry news, for example). Yes, this is a long-term play compared to, say, cold calling 100 contacts today. But the compounding effect is powerful. Six months into a solid thought leadership program, you might find that prospects start mentioning your content in sales calls (“I really liked that guide you wrote about X – it’s partly why I wanted to chat”). That is gold for pipeline generation – your content softened the door, sometimes even opening it, for your sales team.

Finally, while you shouldn’t overly promote in your thought leadership pieces, do include subtle calls-to-action for those who are ready. For instance, at the end of a whitepaper, you might invite readers to a complementary consultation or to check out a relevant case study. Make it easy for interested readers to raise their hand. And ensure your sales team quickly follows up with any leads who engage deeply with content (these are warm opportunities!). Marketing and sales need to work together here: marketing produces the content and flags engaged leads; sales treats those leads with context (“I see you downloaded our report on X…what caught your attention?”) instead of a generic pitch.

Thought leadership-driven pipeline generation blurs the line between inbound and outbound. It creates a scenario where leads come to you because of the value you offer upfront. In 2025’s trust-based buying environment, this is a tactic you can’t afford to overlook. Educational content builds credibility, and credibility builds pipeline.

5. Unlock Referrals and Partnerships for Pipeline Growth

Sometimes the best source of new leads is right under your nose: your existing network of customers and partners. Referral marketing and strategic partnerships are classic growth drivers that many modern teams underutilize in favor of flashy new techniques. However, a happy customer recommending you to a peer, or an allied company introducing you to a qualified prospect, can fast-track your pipeline like nothing else. These referred or partner-sourced leads often close faster and at a higher rate – yet many firms don’t have a formal strategy to generate them.

86% of B2B buyers cite word-of-mouth recommendations as the most influential factor in their purchasing decisions (4). That’s a huge testament to the power of referrals – peer trust holds more sway than even your best marketing efforts. If you’re not systematically encouraging and leveraging referrals, you’re missing out on what could be the highest-converting leads in your pipeline.

First, let’s tackle customer referrals. It’s not enough to assume that satisfied clients will automatically sing your praises – they might, but often they need a nudge or an incentive. Building an active referral program can be a game-changer. This might involve simply asking for referrals at key moments (for example, after a successful project implementation or a glowing quarterly review). Or it could be more structured, like offering a reward: e.g., “For every referred meeting we book that leads to an opportunity, we’ll donate $100 to a charity of your choice” or “we’ll give your company a 5% service discount.” Find a referral incentive that fits your business model and client base – sometimes just recognition or a small gift is enough to motivate the behavior.

The key is to make referring easy. Provide clients with shareable materials or a one-page overview of your services they can pass along. Even better, identify specific people in your client’s network you’d love an intro to (LinkedIn is invaluable for this – see who they’re connected to) and ask if they’d mind facilitating a virtual introduction. Many clients are willing to refer but are busy; by doing a little legwork (drafting a friendly intro message they can use, for instance), you improve your chances. And of course, always thank those who refer you – a personal thank-you note or a small gift goes a long way in reinforcing that behavior.

Now, strategic partnerships: these are alliances with other companies where you can mutually benefit by sharing leads or co-selling. Ideal partners are those who serve the same audience as you but with complementary products or services (and not direct competitors). For example, if you provide B2B software development services, an IT staffing firm or a cloud infrastructure provider might be good partners – your offerings differ but you both talk to CIOs and tech managers regularly. By partnering, you might agree to refer leads to each other when you spot a need. Some partnerships go further, doing co-marketing outbound campaigns or bundling services, but you can start simple.

Example: Martal Group has frequently acted as an “extension” of tech companies’ sales teams (through our outsourcing inside sales services), and we often observe our clients forming valuable partnerships. One cybersecurity client partnered with a compliance consulting firm – whenever the consultant discovered a client needed better security software, they’d recommend our client’s product. In return, our client’s sales team passed leads to the consulting firm when prospects needed help with regulatory compliance that the product didn’t cover. Both parties benefited with minimal marketing spend. In another case, a SaaS company in the logistics space teamed up with a supply chain analytics firm to host a webinar series. They each invited their prospects, effectively swapping audiences. Each company got high-quality pipeline from the other’s invite list because the attendees had a strong interest in the broader topic. These kinds of collaborations can dramatically expand your reach without the cost of cold-starting every relationship.

To formalize partnerships, you might sign a referral agreement or just keep it informal but clearly understood. Ensure you track partner-sourced leads in your CRM, so you can attribute revenue and possibly reciprocate (nothing sours a partnership faster than one side sending all the leads and not getting love back). Schedule periodic check-ins with key partners to share pipeline updates and keep the relationship warm.

One more under-leveraged avenue: industry associations or networks. Joining industry groups (e.g., a SaaS CEO forum, a regional manufacturing association, etc.) often gives you networking access that can spawn referrals. These aren’t “partners” in the contractual sense, but being an active member can lead to peer referrals. If someone in a forum voices a problem your company solves, other members might tag you as the expert. The trust of the community vouches for you. Consider also customer advisory boards or user groups – your own customers gathering can refer each other or collectively advocate for your solution elsewhere.

There’s a reason referrals and partnerships are considered low-hanging fruit: when executed well, they bring in leads that are pre-qualified and pre-sold on your credibility. A referral comes with built-in trust (“If my colleague vouches for this, it must be good”). Similarly, a lead from a partner arrives with an implied endorsement. Sales cycles tend to be shorter as a result. A study by Exploding Topics found that 71% of businesses with formal referral programs reported higher conversion rates and faster deal closures (4). That aligns with what we see – referral leads often close in a fraction of the time of a cold-sourced lead.

To start leveraging this tactic, identify your happiest customers and 2-3 potential partner organizations. Reach out with a simple message: for customers, something like “We’re looking to grow with clients just like you – if you know anyone in your network who might benefit from our services, we’d greatly appreciate an introduction.” For partners, propose a call to discuss how you might work together (“I’ve noticed we serve similar clients in finance. Perhaps we can find ways to refer business – let’s chat.”). It never hurts to ask; the worst outcome is status quo, and the best could be a new steady stream of pipeline. In 2025, when every lead is precious, overlooking referrals and partnerships is a mistake you can easily correct – and the payoff can be substantial.

6. Engage Buyers on Social Media and Niche Communities

B2B selling isn’t confined to boardrooms and email threads. Today’s buyers are increasingly turning to social media and online communities to educate themselves, seek recommendations, and even connect with vendors. Yet, a surprising number of B2B sales teams still hesitate to fully embrace social selling or to venture beyond LinkedIn into the niche corners of the internet where their prospects hang out. Engaging buyers on these platforms is an overlooked pipeline generation tactic that can humanize your approach and create opportunities where formal channels might be ignored.

75% of B2B buyers use social media to inform their purchasing decisions (5). That means if your team isn’t active where these conversations occur, you risk being invisible during large parts of the buyer’s journey.

LinkedIn is the flagship platform for B2B social selling – and if your team is merely using it as a glorified resume holder, it’s time to ramp up. Social selling on LinkedIn involves a few key activities: sharing insightful content, engaging with others’ posts, and directly networking with potential prospects (via connection requests, comments, and direct messages). The goal is not to cold-pitch your product in a comment thread – it’s to build rapport and visibility. For example, say you sell HR software and you see a VP of HR (a prospect) post about challenges with remote onboarding. You might comment with a thoughtful observation or a tip (not a sales pitch, something genuinely helpful). Over time, as you consistently show up in their feed with valuable input, they start recognizing you as a knowledgeable voice. The next step could be sending a connection request with a note: “Enjoyed your recent post on onboarding challenges. I’ve seen a lot of our clients face similar issues – happy to connect and keep in touch.” Once connected, they’ll now see your posts (where you occasionally talk about solutions to HR pain points, including ones your software solves). When that VP eventually considers new HR tools, guess who’s top of mind? Your socially present team.

Aside from LinkedIn, look at Twitter (X) if your industry has an active community there (many tech sectors do, with hashtags for conferences or trends). Engage in discussions or share quick insights. Twitter can be great for real-time engagement around events (“Following #CyberSecConf2025 – lots of talk about AI in security, we’re seeing the same with our clients…”). Keep it conversational and avoid coming off like a bot auto-sharing press releases.

Now, niche communities: these could be forums, Q&A sites, Slack groups, subreddit communities, or industry-specific networks. For instance, there are niche Slack or Discord communities for almost every profession and industry (product managers, CFOs, DevOps engineers, you name it). Gaining access to these often requires an invite or a membership, but once in, don’t sell. Become a member of the community – answer questions, share knowledge, be a resource. Suppose you’re a consultant in cybersecurity and you join a cybersecurity professionals forum. Someone asks, “Has anyone implemented Zero Trust on a tight budget? Any tips?” If you jump in with a detailed, useful answer, you’ve just put yourself on the radar of dozens of potential buyers reading that thread. Your forum profile likely links to your company or LinkedIn, and people may reach out seeing you know your stuff. Many leads can originate from such interactions without a single “cold” outreach – they see you as part of their trusted circle.

Example: A mid-market MSP (managed services provider) wanted to reach more tech startups. They discovered many tech founders in their city were part of a private Slack group for startup CEOs. One of the MSP’s executives got involved (through an existing client’s invite). He didn’t join and say “Hey, need IT services?” – instead, he contributed to conversations about IT budgeting, shared a simple checklist for securing a small company’s network, etc. Over a few months, he organically picked up a couple of inbound inquiries from fellow members who realized they might need help and thought of him first. Meanwhile, another sales rep at the MSP started regularly answering questions on an MSP subreddit about common IT problems, subtly demonstrating their expertise. This rep got a direct message from a Reddit user who was a COO needing IT support – a lead that turned into a customer. The common thread: being genuinely helpful in communities builds goodwill and brand recognition.

Social proof is another aspect of community engagement. When prospects see your content liked or commented on by people they respect, it increases your credibility. Encourage your team (and company leadership) to be active and to support each other’s content. A CEO sharing a sales rep’s insightful post can amplify its reach dramatically, for example.

Additionally, consider employee advocacy programs – training and encouraging your employees to share their own perspectives on social media can widen your company’s reach. Buyers often resonate more with authentic voices of practitioners than polished corporate accounts. Just ensure everyone understands social media guidelines and the line between advocating and spamming.

One thing to avoid: treating social or community engagement as one-way advertising. It’s about dialogues, not monologues. If someone comments on your post, respond and converse. If you’re in a forum, don’t drop a link to your whitepaper without context – moderators might even ban overt marketing. Always adhere to each community’s norms; some prohibit promotion entirely, so focus on thought leadership and let any sales happen via direct messages or offline.

The ROI of social selling and community engagement might feel fuzzy at first because it’s not a straight line from a LinkedIn comment to a signed contract. But you can measure indicators like connection acceptance rates, engagement on posts, and eventually track leads who mention “I saw your post on X” or “Found you in Y community.” The qualitative feedback often speaks volumes. In the digital age, trust is built in conversations and content, not just formal meetings. By being present and adding value in the online spaces your buyers frequent, you’ll generate pipeline in ways your competitors who rely solely on cold outreach simply can’t match.

7. Align Sales and Marketing Teams for Maximum Pipeline Impact

The final “tactic” might not sound like a tactic at all – it’s more of an operational shift, but it’s one that many companies overlook to their detriment: tight sales and marketing alignment. You might wonder, how is alignment a pipeline generation strategy? Consider this: even if you execute all the fancy tactics (intent data, content, social selling, etc.), a disconnect between marketing and sales can cause leads to leak out of your pipeline or never fully materialize. When these teams work in unison, however, every stage from initial lead to closed deal is smoother, faster, and more effective. Aligned teams create an environment where pipeline flourishes.

Companies with highly aligned sales and marketing teams achieve 19% faster revenue growth and 15% higher profitability on average (6). Faster growth is a direct outcome of a healthier pipeline – one where marketing and sales are rowing in the same direction.

What does alignment really mean here? It’s ensuring that marketing is generating leads and nurturing them in a way that sets sales up for success, and conversely, that sales provides feedback and collaboration so marketing can target the right prospects with the right messages. In practical terms, it’s a few things:

• Shared Pipeline Goals & Definitions: Both teams agree on what a qualified lead (MQL/SQL) looks like, how leads are scored, and what the target pipeline numbers are. Marketing shouldn’t be just tossing a volume of “leads” over the fence without quality control, and sales shouldn’t be cherry-picking without follow-up on marketing’s hard-won leads. Define stages of the funnel together – for example, marketing might own early pipeline (inquiries, MQLs) and sales owns later stages (SQLs, opportunities), but the criteria for moving a lead forward is mutual. Regularly calibrate on lead quality. If sales says, “these webinar leads are junk,” dig in together to refine targeting rather than just let frustration fester.
• Collaborative Campaign Planning: When marketing plans a campaign (say, a content series or an event), involve sales from the get-go. Sales can provide insight into what messages resonate or which pain points they hear most – this can shape campaign messaging. In turn, when the campaign generates interest, sales is already aware of the context and can tailor their outreach. For instance, if marketing runs an eBook download campaign about “AI in Retail,” the sales team should know it’s happening and perhaps send personal follow-ups to downloaders, referencing the eBook content. We’ve seen Martal Group clients have enormous success when sales reps send quick personal emails to event attendees right after a webinar – it only happens smoothly if they coordinated beforehand with marketing to get the attendee list and have templates ready.
• Unified Messaging: Prospects experience your company as one entity, so it’s crucial that the story marketing tells in ads or content is consistent with what sales says on calls. If marketing touts a product as “easy and self-service” but the sales demo dives straight into technical complexity, that’s a mismatch that can confuse or deter a lead. Regular inter-team training or workshops help; for example, marketing can brief sales on upcoming content themes and how to leverage them in conversations, while sales can educate marketing on real-world customer pain points and objections they encounter. Some companies literally swap team members periodically or have them shadow each other – a marketer sitting in on sales calls can learn a ton about what leads really care about.
• Fast Lead Response and Nurturing: Alignment also means orchestrating how leads are handled. A common pipeline killer is slow email follow-up – if a lead downloads a whitepaper and doesn’t hear back for a week, they may have moved on. Decide on an SLA (service-level agreement): e.g., all “hot” leads (demo requests, contact forms) get a response within X hours (often 1 hour is best practice), and all MQLs from content are followed up within X days by either a nurture email or a call. Marketing automation and CRM integration play a role here – ensure that the moment a lead engages, sales is notified or the lead is put into an appropriate nurture workflow. Conversely, when sales discovers a prospect isn’t ready to buy now but is a good fit, they should feed that info back to marketing for longer-term nurturing (instead of just discarding it). It’s a continuous cycle, not a one-way conveyor belt.

Example: A SaaS company struggled because marketing was optimizing for lead volume – thousands of webinar sign-ups – but sales found many were students or unqualified. By aligning, they redefined the target: marketing shifted to quality (fewer, better leads) by adding an extra field in forms to gauge buying intent, and sales agreed to diligently follow up every marketing-qualified lead within 24 hours. They also set up a weekly huddle: marketers and SDRs reviewed the week’s leads together, discussing which looked promising and which campaigns they came from. Marketing learned which channels brought the high-converters (not just high volume), and sales started seeing the context behind each lead (e.g., this lead attended webinar X which talked about Y topic, so lead with that). The result was a leaner but much more productive pipeline – and no more finger-pointing.

Another often overlooked facet of alignment is joint accountability and credit. If marketing is solely measured on MQLs and sales only on closed deals, there’s a gap in the middle where pipeline lives. Increasingly, progressive companies create a shared pipeline or revenue metric – for instance, both sales and marketing leadership get measured (and even bonused) on pipeline generation or conversion rates. This fosters a mindset of “we win together.” Some companies even create a “SMarketing” team or put a single exec over both functions to enforce unity. While structural changes might be too heavy-handed for some, the cultural change is what matters: get everyone thinking in terms of the overall buyer journey, not their silo.

Martal Group’s philosophy when partnering with B2B clients is inherently about alignment – we integrate with our client’s marketing messages and sales processes rather than operating in a vacuum. In our experience, the clients who see explosive pipeline growth are the ones who have their marketing and sales marching in lockstep. For example, when launching an omnichannel campaign (Tactic 2 above), if marketing provides a brilliant piece of content, the SDR uses it in outreach the same week, reinforcing the message. If sales learns new information about a market segment (“hey, healthcare prospects keep asking about integration features”), marketing can swiftly create a blog or brochure addressing that, which then arms the sales team with better answers. It’s a virtuous cycle.

In summary, aligning sales and marketing isn’t a “nice to have” – it’s a must-have underpinning for all other pipeline generation tactics. It ensures that the precious leads you work so hard to generate are efficiently worked, properly nurtured, and ultimately converted to revenue. No more competing agendas or dropped balls – an aligned team creates a seamless experience for the buyer, which translates to more pipeline and more wins.

Conclusion: Accelerating Pipeline Generation with a Modern Omnichannel Approach

These seven tactics – from intent data and AI-driven outreach to thought leadership content and tight team alignment – are proven approaches that many of your competitors may still be overlooking. In 2025’s fast-evolving B2B environment, success in pipeline generation comes from being both innovative and holistic. It’s not about doing one thing perfectly; it’s about orchestrating multiple tactics in a cohesive strategy that consistently turns prospects into pipeline.

Notice how many of these tactics reinforce each other. For example, engaging on social media (Tactic 6) amplifies your thought leadership content (Tactic 4). Using intent signals (Tactic 1) can inform where to focus your multichannel outreach (Tactic 2) and how to personalize it (Tactic 3). Referrals and partnerships (Tactic 5) will convert better if your sales team is equipped with great content to share and aligned messaging (Tactic 7). This interwoven, omnichannel approach ensures you cover all bases – email, calls, LinkedIn, content marketing, referrals, data insights – all working in concert.

At Martal Group, we’ve built our pipeline generation services around this very principle of omnichannel synergy. Over the past decade, we’ve helped companies accelerate their pipeline growth by combining B2B cold email, cold calling, LinkedIn outreach, appointment setting, B2B sales outsourcing, and training into one comprehensive program. It’s not about spamming every channel; it’s about using each channel for its strengths with a consistent message. Our experienced sales professionals act as an extension of your team, ensuring that no lead is left untouched and every conversation adds value. Whether it’s leveraging AI to improve email performance or coaching your reps on the latest social selling techniques, we bring a modern playbook to the table.

The result? Our clients see pipelines that aren’t just filled — they’re filled with qualified, engaged prospects who are far more likely to convert into customers. By deploying a modern omnichannel marketing strategy, supported by Martal’s expertise across outreach and sales development, companies can significantly compress their sales cycles and boost conversion rates. The key is that all these services and tactics are coordinated together. For instance, when Martal runs a campaign, the cold emails, LinkedIn messages, and calls are all aligned around the same value proposition and informed by the same data insights. And if your internal team needs upskilling, we offer training to ensure your reps can carry the momentum forward using best practices in outreach and pipeline management.

In closing, pipeline generation in 2025 requires a blend of old-school relationship building and new-school technology and data savvy. Don’t be afraid to experiment with these tactics and think outside the conventional sales box. The early movers who adopt these overlooked lead generation strategies will find themselves with more opportunities to work than their teams can handle – a good problem to have! By focusing on delivering value at every touch, engaging buyers on their terms, and continually fine-tuning your approach through alignment and learning, you’ll build a pipeline engine that powers sustainable B2B growth.

Remember, the ultimate goal isn’t just to fill the pipeline; it’s to fill it with deals that close. Quality pipeline generation is the precursor to revenue. So take these tactics, make them your own, and get ahead of the pack. And if you ever need a seasoned partner to accelerate the process through a modern omnichannel approach, Martal Group is here to help you turn these strategies into tangible results. Here’s to a 2025 filled with abundant, high-quality pipeline and record-breaking sales.

References

1. Pipeline 360
2. Mixology Digital
3. Outplay
4. Boostup
5. Spotio
6. Salesgenie
7. Forbes