Monthly Archives: January 2022

Demand generation is an important aspect of b2b sales and marketing. It sure requires marketers to consider various aspects of the buyer’s journey, gain valuable insights about the prospect’s buying motive and other variables that contribute to make this strategic activity work. It also requires a combination of strategies to be deployed at different stages of the marketing funnel.  2022 can be another year for marketers to create a more comprehensive demand gen strategy and align it with the new demands of the customer.

Here are some things to consider while creating your next demand gen plan!

Work hard on the strategy

The top of the funnel engagement is an important part of b2b sales. Demand generation is all about addressing the pain-points and challenges of the customer so that he knows that you understand the specific problems that need to be solved. This can develop trust amid the target audience and you can get a better response.  

Use intent data

Getting to know the customer’s challenges and pain points allows b2b marketers to customize the solution. Intent data can help marketers give a birds-eye view of the various aspects of the prospect and his needs.

Intent data can guide marketers about where and how your customers are engaging with content assets. It also provides a proper understanding of the various dynamics that can encourage a buyer to make his buying decision quickly. Intent data can provide authentic and incredible insights about the buyer at various different buying stages to help create an opportunity to generate demand at the right time and at the right juncture.

As such with so many insights, you can be armed with a customized offer or a valuable content asset through email marketing for better response. Intent data thus helps you to create a solid plan for demand gen based on the insights and business intelligence.

Consider ABM

The various different segments of lead generation may lack focus for high target accounts. This void can be filled with a more focused and narrowed down approach that is ABM! Account-based marketing is the need of the time. Leads can convert with more focused approach and with dedicated resources working to create ROI. ABM campaigns can be created to directly address the needs and challenges of the customers and get better conversions and results.

Conclusion

2022 may see a lot of new trends or a continuation of trends from 2021, but demand generation is definitely going to continue with its rising popularity. Marketers, therefore, need to optimize their strategies in order to attract and engage leads. Creating outstanding content assets can also help in building a successful demand generation strategy in 2022.

Demand generation is becoming one of the favorite marketing activities amid b2b marketers. Today, marketers are focusing more and more on new-age lead generation practices and less on the traditional sales and marketing practices. Demand generation is one of the highly popular techniques that can draw potential leads for higher sales and ROI.

Demand generation is defined by Gartner as “a data-driven marketing strategy focused on driving awareness and interest in an organization’s products and services, with the ultimate goal of developing long-term customer engagement. Demand generation includes, lead capturing, lead nurturing and sales pipeline acceleration.”

Demand generation is essentially designed to make customers aware and excited about your products and services. Demand generation programs should be able to help your organization reach new markets engage more customers and re-engage existing customers.

Here are some top demand generation techniques you must adopt for b2b success!

Focus on Personas

Make personas an important part of your sales and marketing strategy. This is an important step if you want to make demand gen result-oriented. In fact, creating the right personas should be an integral part of your demand gen strategy. Creating buyer personas is very crucial for b2b demand gen funnel. In fact, categorizing demand gen initiatives as per personas can lead to better results.

One of the best ways to handle your organization’s content assets is to categorize them as per your personas. You should combine content and demand gen for best results. B2B industry involves several decision makers at different levels, which is why buyer personas are so important. So if you want big results, you must drive demand gen as per your buyer personas.

Make it ROI oriented

While you get busy creating strategies that will bring more sales, don’t forget the all-time favorite and but obvious strategy of focusing on return on investment. Understanding the results or making the results of demand gen measurable is probably more challenging than any other lead gen technique. It’s really difficult to quantify demand gen results the way you can quantify lead gen results.

In order to simplify this, make sure you have verified data, have realistic personas and great content assets that can bring you as close as possible to the desired results. This is the only way to make sure you enhance ROI through demand generation.

Invest in Content assets

The various elements involved in creating a solid demand gen strategy are all interlinked. Content assets are an important part of any demand generation strategy. Content assets that are created keeping in mind the buyer personas can be a great magnet for potential leads. These can be used to generate demand and then pull in the good leads that can convert easily.

Create content assets that are in-line with the challenges of the prospects. It should be able to give them the right insights, guidelines and information that can help them in certain ways. Content assets should be able to position you as the problem solver and a solution provider.

Conclusion-

Demand generation is a great way to simplify the lead generation and it can often make lead gen look less sale-sy. It can create more credibility, brand awareness and trust amid the target audience and give you the best returns in terms of sales and ROI.

Generating more b2b leads is only having half the battle won. What b2b marketers need today is to generate good leads that convert easily. Most lead generation experts will agree that having the right data can help them create lead gen more effectively.

Data-driven marketing and sales can help marketers predict the needs of their customers more effectively. It can help bridge the gap between the need and the solution and allow b2b marketers to understand the real challenges of the customers. It can also help b2b vendors to nurture leads for better business prospects.  

Let us discover the important aspects of data and how it can help b2b marketers in creating a more effective lead generation experience.

Data helps you understand your customer

Today, it’s all about the customer! Modern-day marketing is customer-centric. In order to know what the customer needs, b2b marketers must invest in studying and understanding the customer.

This is not the time to create random marketing strategies that are not in-line with the exact customer requirements. A solid data-backed strategy is the need of the time. Without data, none of the lead generation strategies can yield guaranteed results.

Potential clients appreciate customized pitches, offers or even content assets. They want to work with lead gen experts who know their challenges and interests well. Data helps establish trust and credibility to further engage with the b2b vendors.

Data facilitates a more personalized outreach

Data is most useful in creating personalized communication, messaging, and overall outreach. Data integrity will make sure you reach out to the right customers at the right time. This will impact lead capturing and lead nurturing in a positive way.

The average decision-maker receives tons of emails every day in his inbox. For the customer to be able to differentiate your pitch and communication, you need to customize it and make it unique.

B2B marketers need to set themselves apart and this is possible only if you know the customer. Quality data allows marketers to create personalized communication. You can enhance your outreach with rich content assets that resonate with the needs of the customer. Personalized outreach increases your chances of nurturing the right t leads and converting them into business. Evaluated data means higher chances of converting leads into business.

Data helps in Omni-channel b2b journey

According to McKinsey, an average B2B customer uses six different channels before they arrive at a buyer decision. Data can help b2b marketers analyse customer experience and how to enhance it. It even helps them build communication strategies at every stage of the sales funnel.

Omni-channel approach helps b2b sales. Data is very valuable in creating customer experiences that the customers will be delighted with. Data can help b2b marketers create unified and not disjointed customer experience across multiple channels. This leads to better engagement and customer loyalty in the longer run.

Conclusion-

Data is perfectly positioned to drive b2b sales and marketing in the right direction. It can also help marketers to invest in the right strategies and the right channels of communication without having to waste time, efforts or money over the wrong channels and leads.

A fully integrated lead generation strategy can get you good leads. B2B marketers need to have a comprehensive plan for lead generation. They can use and leverage the techniques that worked best for them in 2021 and also focus and invest in new lead gen methods strategically to help convert leads into customers.

A lead doesn’t always equal a sale. A lead may not convert into business even after going through the initial stages of the sales cycle. Therefore it’s important to think of lead generation as a strategic activity! It’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of an activity as every business is unique.

Let us see top 5 techniques to accelerate lead generation in 2022

Prioritize quality over quantity

Lead generation is not about volume alone, as number of leads won’t get you or sales but quality of leads will certainly enhance your sales and ROI. To increase the conversions, analysing leads and categorizing them into good leads and bad leads is important.

You can use BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing) to qualify a lead and convert it into business

Budget: Evaluate if your lead has the budget for your services. This will actually decide whether they would be converted into customers.

Authority: Is the lead you are communicating with the actual decision maker? This is important to know because it will decide the amount of time the conversion might take to happen.

Need: One of the most critical aspects of lead generation is to identify if the service or product is actually going to meet the needs of the lead.

Timing: Timing is everything! When or how soon does the lead need your service or product? Also think of how to capture the timing of their budget availability for faster conversions.

If you want to build a healthy and consistent sales pipeline, you need to focus on qualifying good leads so that they convert quickly into business.

Nurture leads

Lead generation is not a quick-fix solution for by b2b organization. It’s a process that involves various techniques at various different stages. Leads can quickly convert into customers if you nurture them well.

Lead nurturing is a crucial stage in lead generation. Nurturing can be done through email marketing for instance. Create content assets that are aligned with the customers’ needs and create some innovative email campaigns to help build a rapport with the customers, offer customized solutions and to keep nurturing the leads.          

Make social media your lead magnet

Social media platforms such as LinkedIn are great for b2b for many reasons. You will find plenty of b2b customers looking for solutions on LinkedIn. Social media can act as your lead magnet if you use it strategically. Staying in the eye-line of the customers is one of the best ways to capture leads.

Staying active on social media through meaningful content insights can attract leads that already know you or have known your brand on social media. This helps in reducing the sales cycle, as the leads approaching you may have already made up their minds to do business with you or it’s easier to convince them as they are familiar with your brand.

Optimize your website

Website is another lead magnet for b2b organizations to speed up their lead generation process. Focus on call-to-actions, speed and accuracy when it comes to your website. Your website visitors could be your potential customers and hence having a simple and content rich website is a must if you want to attract good leads. Have smart call to action to be able to engage the website visitors further. Hence optimizing your website is a smart technique to attract and convert good leads.

Create relevant content insights

Content is the fuel you need to accelerate lead generation. Content is the brand voice and the best means to reach out to your target audience and nurture leads. Offer great content assets to attract engage and convert leads. Leads that have downloaded your content assets can be good leads who would probably take lesser time to convert.

Conclusion:

Establishing human connection with the audience is one of the most critical aspects of successful lead generation. B2B marketers cannot afford to forget that their leads are human beings. Building buyer personas, staying in the eye-line of the customers and building brand familiarity through email marketing are some more techniques to adopt, while you must also focus on creating great content assets for each stage of the sales cycle.