2018 – I have crafted an awesome demand generation strategy for this year 2019 – I don’t know why the demand generation strategy did not give me desired results. How do I justify marketing budget to the C-suite? We have come across a lot of these! No, seriously! Sometimes the demand generation strategy and tactics were beautiful but due to lack of repeated procedures required they
FAILED (rather miserably!)!
Yikes.
I cannot imagine myself being there. If you are a B2B marketer, you will know the magnitude of revising strategy each year. It is not an end-moment-game, it is something which goes along from the time you implemented your previous strategy. One of the secret ingredients to A-W-E-S-O-M-E B2B demand generation strategy is to constantly evaluate the programs and weighting it against investments (in terms of time and of course, money). But, what do we constantly perform or evaluate? Let us divulge the secret today! In this post we will discuss 6 demand generation activities / efforts which need to be constantly implemented if you want bangs for your buck.
Must Read: Demand Generation and Inbound marketing: The new couple in town!
1. Evaluate goals (and revise them if need be)
Table of Contents
This is a no brainer. You need to evaluate goals against the performance quarterly (or bi-annually) and set new goals (or revise them) depending upon what you have achieved (or haven’t achieved)
Demand generation activities / goals can be defined in terms of MQLs, SQLs, %age of revenue, driving awareness, using new demand generation tactics that haven’t been used before. Include target outcomes (short term as well as long term) for each goal set. You will never get anywhere if you don’t know where you are going. Lets take an example. If you created an ebook with a target of at least 10,000 downloads in 3 months, you need to see whether you achieved it. If not, what can be changed or if you already achieve it within 3 months, what can you do to achieve your next target sooner.
You get my point? This was a simplified example!
2. Produce content or repurpose existing content
Quality content is the foundation of demand generation. Why do I say that? Because content includes a range of activities like blog posts, contributed articles, infographics, whitepapers, eBooks, research reports, guides, webinars, videos, case studies, nurture emails, landing pages and more. We understand that producing content often is NOT easy. But, for demand generation activities / efforts, always look for content which is doing well in terms of driving traffic, shares, comments etc or have gone viral. You can take such content and repurpose it to make more content (and for different platform). For example, if you were writing a blog post on hosting services which is driving huge amounts of traffic, you can repurpose it to make an ebook, worksheet, tutorial, checklist or an infographic. You cannot wait for the year to end to utilize content which has gone viral today! Also, keep making an effort to understand your buyer persona better and develop content that resonates with your audience. Again, you will never get anywhere if you don’t know who you are targeting! Always keep a lookout for information on your audience and add it to your data.
Must Read: Demand Generation Etiquette
3. Spread content
Your content needs to travel in any and every way possible. Don’t expect your audience to land on your blog post just because you have published valuable content. It WILL get lost in the 3 million other post which are written every day. Review content promotion tactics on a regular basis. Include promotional strategy which ALWAYS work, for example, building a list and using email marketing, sharing on social media regularly, and our favorite – content syndication. Don’t overlook or ignore any method of spreading content.
4. Keep testing
Its important to always test demand generation activities, tactics, strategies, content, creative, channel, sources and more. Something we always test for our clients on a regular basis are lead nurturing efforts, CTAs, landing page designs, headlines, email marketing subject lines and designs, social media tactics and SEO tactics.
5. Analyse data
You need to be guided by the RIGHT data. So, keep an eye on all the relevant metrics. Remember, vanity metrics can be misleading. Are you wondering – what is the right metrics then? Well, guess what – Just ask yourself if the metrics can help you make better decisions? Most often it will include lead sources (where do most of your leads come from?), volume of MQLs, SQLs and SALs, clicks and conversion rates (how many of the qualify lead convert into customers?) etc Its imperative that you take action on the key insights once you discover them. Don’t just sit on the data!
6. Follow best practices for demand generation activities
Last but not the least, always follow demand generation best practices. For starters,
- Create a detailed strategy around a demand generation tactic. For example, you cannot stop at lets promote on twitter. You need to know how will you use it, will you use sponsored tweets, what time will you post, etc.
- Always map your lead generation strategy with buyers journey. If you miss it, your tactics will not give you the desired results.
That’s our secret in the open!
If you implement these procedures on your strategy, you are bound to see improvements. So, what has been your best demand generation technique? Lets talk about it in the comments section.
Must Read: Ultimate Guide to Demand Generation Strategy
Vikas Bhatt is the Co-Founder of ONLY B2B, a premium B2B lead generation company that specializes in helping businesses achieve their growth objectives through targeted marketing & sales campaigns. With 10+ years of experience in the industry, Vikas has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by businesses today and has developed a unique approach to lead generation that has helped clients across a range of industries around the globe. As a thought leader in the B2B marketing community, ONLY B2B specializes in demand generation, content syndication, database services and more.
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