Monthly Archives: November 2020

The powerful combination of demand generation and lead generation can create incredible results for b2b sales. Complementing each other; these two provide the right fuel for creating a strong brand image and eventually augment sales and drive revenue growth. So how does one differentiate between these two complementary activities?

This blog helps you see the subtle yet significant differences between these two powerful elements of b2b.

Primary difference:

If you think of demand gen as a way to get your brand out there through brand awareness and brand knowledge transfer, then you would be right. Demand gen is all about generating demand! It’s more about creating brand awareness and then wanting people to come to you to take up your solution. Demand generation is more about creating relationships more than closing sales. It’s more about nurturing and establishing a human connection more than offering automated solutions. It all about introducing your company and its services/ products to the end customers, understanding the need of the customers, feeling the pulse of the customers and then going back and customizing those solutions for specific needs.

Lead generation on the other hand is a crucial part of demand generation and its main objective is to convert potential customers into buyers. Gated content works well to gather incredible data of good leads and it helps convert those leads into customers too. The main strategy is to get people interested in your services and then convert them into buyers.

So what are the major differentiating factors of both demand generation and lead generation?

Two important Influencing factors and enablers of B2B Demand Generation:

Amid other influencing aspects, here are two most important demand gen factors that impact business-

• Content syndication
• Email marketing

Content Syndication:

One of the best ways to increase brand awareness content syndication is a technique that can help optimize your content through various different channels and third party publishing. This can help generate demand by providing crucial information through valuable content assets so that they decide to come to you looking for solutions to their business challenges.

Email Marketing:

Email marketing is one of the best ways to get in touch with your prospects either to offer them with that which they are looking for or to get to know them well. Even social media is a great way to know the taste of your audience and to get to know their business challenges. Valuable emails with a perfect timing for the right audience can generate incredible results when it comes to demand generation campaigns.

Both content syndication and email marketing are great and effective ways to nurture and warm up to your leads.

Two important Influencing factors and enablers of B2B Lead Generation:

Amid others here are two most important lead gen factors that impact business-

Webinars:

One of the reasons why webinars garner more warm leads is because it attracts that crowd which is closer to making a buying decision. In simpler words it helps attract those customers who want to buy very soon and registering for your webinar could mean they are interested in further engaging with you. This is a potential opportunity for converting the good leads who are a part of the webinar into long term customers.

ABM (Account Based Marketing):

Getting acutely specific target through ABM enables better lead conversion. This is one of the most important channels for lead generation as it is targeted for specific accounts. ABM when based on intent data is the closest you can get to convert your leads successfully!

Examples of Demand gen and lead gen are as following-

Conclusion:

There are some subtle differences between demand gen and lead gen yet they operate differently but with the same objective. Lead generation is an important part of the demand generation process and demand generation in turn helps generate more leads for conversion. Complimentary to each other; they are both essential parts of sales and marketing functions and if done well can lead to spectacular results with great ROI.

Most lead generation techniques are direct and involve or suggest critical changes in terms of strategy to get the desired results. However; there are also other techniques or things to watch out for if you want to make lead generation work for you. This blog discusses some such aspects of the lead generation techniques.

Make your strategy buyer-centric:

No matter which technique you use; it’s the buyer who’s the decision maker when it comes to adopting your services, therefore one cannot forget the basic fact that the whole strategy needs to be buyer centric.

It’s best to start with recognizing the buyer stages. The discovery stage is equally critical as the actual buying stage. And the intermediary consideration stage can also help them take a faster decision. All in all, if your overall strategy is customer centric then it is bound to attract, delight and engage the customer regardless of the stage of their journey. For any customer to choose your service or brand, a comprehensive plan that can help them notice you and the nurturing process to keep them engaged and ultimately convert them should be planned out well.

Spend time building the landing page:

The importance of landing page has already been established time and again and the benefits are huge. It is one of the deciding factors whether your prospect will further engage with you or will the lead convert into business and so on. So spending enough time and efforts building your landing page is not just a part of your lead generation camping it’s like taking the prospect further ahead in the buying journey. It’s a bridge between your prospect and the bridge better be strong.

Call to action is a part of the landing page hence it makes it even more crucial. Though various versions of call-to- action exist, you can create your own, but most importantly they should make the prospect take action. You cannot afford to lose this opportunity of the prospect landing on your page and then letting him go off the track. It is the call-to-action button that directs him for a quick buying decision.

Apart from the above two crucial factors that can hugely impact your lead generation results, don’t forget the importance of nurturing. It is one of the most important aspects of lead gen process. Nurturing is about building relationships, and after the lead enters the sales funnel, nurturing is the thing that can provide neccessary ambience for the lead to eventually convert.

Conclusion:

Tactics or techniques; lead generation practices that involve a more buyer-centric approach and includes lead nurturing practices do well. It is also important to measure your lead gen campaign results or analyze them to know whether your strategy is working or whether you need to reconfigure it to align with changing goals of the market and the customer.

Content syndication can be one of the most successful lead generation methodologies for B2B companies. Yes, you heard that right. A strategic solution in lead generation; companies should tap the huge potential of content syndication to generate demand that can create interesting results!

Content syndication is yet to be explored to its optimal level. It is becoming more and more popular with B2B folks and why not; after all it’s showing spectacular results in terms of good leads and ROI. So how does content syndication make a difference for lead gen targets or goals?

Here are some aspects of content syndication that you can use to create more leads for your business growth.

So what exactly does Content syndication do?

• Help generate more demand for your services
• Create new opportunities with more visibility
• Help find good leads who are interested in buying
• Enhance sales and increase revenue

If these points aren’t good enough then what is? Aren’t these some of the major goals for lead gen companies? In fact these are some of the most sought after goals for many B2B companies and content syndication can help them achieve it!

Your content deserves an audience:

Content Syndication is an opportunity to expose your content to new audiences by publishing and distributing your content through various different channels via third-party platform. Through content syndication you have an opportunity to educate, delight, engage your audiences and make them come to you.
If your existing content is performing well, this is taking it a step ahead. In fact, good performing content deserves bigger and more audiences. It is time that your incredible content that has a lot of value deserves many more target audiences out there who are looking for some good content assets. Content syndication is the bridge between you and your leads and it can be a beginning of a long term relationship that can help you convert leads into customers.

Data that proves the growing importance of content syndication:

65% use content syndication as a core lead generation tactic

71% see interactive content delivery as an influential tactic

47% plan to increase the scope for content syndication

This data reveals that content syndication is definitely on a rise and companies should now see the direct benefits of this activity.

Here is how content syndication can help grow your business:

Lead generation machine:

With content syndication, you tap into third party platforms to directly expose your content, and increase your visibility for new audiences to notice you. Many of these users could be a target audience for you and this could be one of the best tactics for you to attract them to your services. With this you can directly connect with your audiences and get them to know who you are and give them an opportunity to discover you.

Brand awareness heightened:

More leads will come with greater brand awareness. Establishing brand awareness through content syndication has huge returns. Once more and more people start seeing your presence online through your content assets and your marketing efforts resonate with their needs; leads will start increasing and some very good leads might come your way.

Syndicating content lets people know you very well and also make you stand out amid this crowded competitive market. An established brand identity can surely pull your prospects towards you. This can also create an opportunity for you to understand who is interested in you and who your target audience is.

Here are some more benefits of content syndication:

• Increase in lead volume
• High return on investment
• Enhanced lead quality
• Expanded reach of target audience
• Increased lead nurturing

Conclusion:

Now that the role of content syndication is clear; its best you team up with a content syndication partner who is experienced in it or even better; a service provider in lead gen and content syndication; would be best to help you drive value out of content assets and thus increase sales. So the next time you think of content distribution think content syndication instead and contact the experts.

How to convert leads into customers, how to attract customers through different channels, how to most aptly communicate with your potential customers and how can this increase the ROI – these are some of the most common challenges being tackled by every B2B marketer. However; the answers can be simplified through smart and strategic approach with the help of data and the realization that instead of simply running behind the leads; the need to generate demand is essential to making successful conversions. This is where demand generation comes into the picture.

Here is a blog that discusses how demand generation can be a more sustainable solution for generating leads.

Create Awareness:

If lead generation is the destination; demand generation is the journey. Being aware of the problem is the first step towards creating and offering a solution. Going with the same logic; marketers are now mapping the digital footprints of the customers and their buying journeys to determine the need. Once the demand has been generated it is easy to target specific audience to attract leads that can convert. 

Design a sustainable solution:

If lead gen is about closing a deal; demand gen is about starting and nurturing a long term relationship. For a demand gen marketer; establishing long term relationship with customers is priority and it can be well done with a better reach. This reach should be strategic in a way that it is designed and based on enough data. The customers for any demand gen campaign can be very well reached through email marketing, social media, offering great content that helps them and much more. But the aim of demand gen is not a quick-fix solution, but to create a more sustainable model for lead generation and lead conversions.

Offer incredible content:

Content that adds value goes a long way in building powerful and sustainable customer relationships. The power of content cannot be ignored and the importance of content is paramount in any demand gen campaign. It serves to bridge the gaps between the problem and the solution by enhancing communication by building a strong relationship dynamic. This nurturing can encourage a prospect to reach out to you. Content also serves the customer with potential inputs, data, insights that he would have had to otherwise spend a lot of time and effort for getting it.

Conclusion:

Demand Generation has huge potential and it can be a great journey if you have a lot to offer. It is a good practice to get the prospect into the loop, nurture and then convert the lead with a more sustainable relationship as an end product.