Why B2B Demand Generation Strategies Work
By Bill Viau
B2B demand generation marketing is the art of creating buzz around your company’s products or services.
The sparkly, PR rep cousin of lead generation, this approach is all about growing your audience by increasing awareness of your company’s unique solutions.
Join us as we break down demand generation, how it works, and why it can prove such a valuable addition to your overall strategy. We’ll also introduce you to several tried and true demand generation strategies B2B marketers can rely on.
What Is B2B Demand Generation?
Rather than pushing sales, B2B demand generation focuses on demonstrating how a company’s offerings can help make life easier. When properly executed, this powerful strategy can keep your sales funnel flush with high-quality prospects.
B2B demand generation campaigns often use an educational approach that highlights solutions to problems an audience may not have even realized they had. This can be impressively effective – after all, who better to solve a problem than the company that brought it to light in the first place?
The Difference Between Demand Generation and Lead Generation
As its name implies, B2B lead generation is largely about assembling a collection of leads - the more high-quality, the better. B2B demand generation is more concerned with positioning a company as the industry-leading solution to a specific set of problems.
While the two tactics can certainly work together, demand generation solves one of lead generation’s most glaring drawbacks. As a recent study by Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute pointed out, at any given time, only 5% of business clients are in the market for new products or services.
The beauty of the B2B demand generation is that it isn’t particularly concerned with whether a prospect is currently a great lead or not. By casting a wider net among your target audience, demand generation can help ensure that when a prospect does decide to buy, your company will be top of mind.
Increased brand awareness and authority
More high-quality leads
A shorter sales cycle
What Are the Different Types of Demand Generation?
While B2B demand generation doesn’t discriminate between in-market and out-market audiences, it does approach each differently. These two approaches are commonly broken down into two subcategories: demand creation and demand capture.
Demand Creation
B2B demand creation is largely about generating awareness of your company and the problems it’s in a unique position to solve. The realm of demand creation is blissfully free of gated content, contact forms, or hidden agendas. Its message is along the lines of, “We’ve got you covered in case you’re ever interested in [insert life-changing solution].”
Demand Capture
While 95% of your audience may not be ready to buy, 5% are primed and ready to pull the sales trigger. Demand capture involves identifying the channels your in-market audience usually turns to and meeting them at the metaphorical front gates. Intent-driven tactics like SEO, PPC ads, email automation, and listings on high-traffic review sites can help you make the path to conversion as easy as possible for high-quality leads.
How Does B2B Demand Generation Work?
To build the foundations of a stellar B2B demand generation strategy, you’ll need two key ingredients. The first is a keen grasp of your unique value proposition (UVP). What is your company in a position to offer in a way nobody else can?
The second is an understanding of your ideal client profile that goes far beyond a rough target persona. Often, the key to a high-performing B2B demand generation campaign is understanding your audience’s pain points better than they do themselves.
This will put you in a unique position to bring those pain points to light, right before revealing your ability to do away with them once and for all. Once you’ve identified your UVP and the prospects mostly likely to benefit from it, you’re ready to start mapping out your demand generation strategy.
Benefits of Demand Generation for B2Bs
While the results may not always be immediate, demand generation can have powerful long-term benefits. Think of it as planting seeds and nurturing them into blossoming future conversions.
Increased brand awareness and authority
Converting B2B leads often requires earning a whole new level of trust. Demand generation offers the opportunity to hand out helpful solutions while growing your company's reputation as a trusted industry authority.
More high-quality leads
Demand generation campaigns are a chance to offer prospects plenty of value before they’re even in the market. This can create a strong sense of trust and familiarity that will carry over when they’re ready to make the jump to leads.
A shorter sales cycle
The better you can address your audience's pain points, the more likely they'll be to investigate your solutions. Supplying them with all the right information upfront can help move them through the sales funnel more quickly.
How Do You Measure Demand Generation?
Tracking KPIs that measure short-term sales boosts is among the quickest ways to dishearten a demand generation team. Instead, keep your eye on the long-term prize by focusing on metrics like:
- Increased brand search volume
- Boosted direct and organic traffic
- Social media likes and engagement
- Video watch-through rates
- Average time on page
- Upticks in referral traffic
These are all indicators that your strategy is helping get the word out about your brand and its game-changing solutions.
Effective B2B Demand Generation Strategies and Tactics
As you delve deeper into the world of B2B demand generation, you'll quickly discover that there are plenty of different tactics worth exploring. But we'll help you get started with an introduction to several tried and true strategies for success.
Design your own B2B demand generation funnel
While there’s no universal funnel for a B2B demand generation campaign, arranging your goals into a funnel of your own can be very helpful. Your funnel might include stages like problem awareness, demand generation, solution education, or demand capture. Remember, there are no wrong answers - your funnel is more of a helpful content mapping guide.
Build your online presence
B2B business deals tend to be much higher risk than the type of sales targeted in the average B2C campaign. You won’t just need to sway a single customer - you'll need to earn the trust of an entire team of stakeholders.
When it comes to a first impression, simply having a basic online presence is rarely going to cut it. In a perfect world, internet search results for your company would sing the praises of your industry-leading prowess and expertise. It's vital to invest in a polished, professional website and establish a solid presence on relevant social media platforms and industry sites.
Develop a content marketing strategy
Helpful, informative content is a powerful weapon in the B2B demand generation arsenal. This is where you’ll really have the chance to show off your expertise by unearthing pain points, answering questions, and positioning your company as the path to solution-based enlightenment.
But in your excitement to present the facts, resist the urge to toss out the human element altogether. Remember, you’re not just out to impress, but to initiate a long-term relationship based on trust.
Invest in a sales and marketing CRM
B2B demand generation often proves to be the key to uniting the great divide between a company’s sales and marketing departments. If properly executed, it doesn’t just bring in leads, but much higher-quality leads for the sales team to nurture.
CRMs like HubSpot are packed with tools that can help create marketing-sales synergy. From predictive lead scoring tools to Account-Based Marketing (ABM) software, HubSpot offers solutions for making the most of every campaign.
Attend live events
Never underestimate the power of trade shows or other in-person events. Such events offer valuable opportunities to boost awareness among an industry-specific crowd, all while collecting powerful feedback and creating connections. Partnering with a trade show marketing agency can help you leverage these opportunities effectively and maximize your event's impact.
Common Demand Generations Mistakes for B2Bs to Avoid
Sometimes, knowing what pitfalls to avoid is the only thing as important as understanding best practices. Here are several common B2B demand generation fails to look out for:
Ignoring buyer personas. Mounting a lead gen campaign without a clear understanding of your target audience is like fishing without a pole. Don’t let it happen to you.
Failing to utilize multiple channels. It’s one thing to understand the preferred channels of your target audience. But resist the urge to put all your lead-gen eggs in the same metaphorical basket.
Prioritizing quantity over quality. In the land of B2B sales, it’s often better to be invisible than to make a bad impression. Make each interaction count by taking the time to produce high-quality content.
Being stingy with content. There’s a time and a place for gated content, but it’s often a little further down the sales funnel. Reserve such tactics for content like full courses, free templates, or white papers.
Final Thoughts
In summary, sometimes the best way to enjoy increased market demand is to create it yourself. While B2B demand generation marketing is a long-term game, it can also offer impressive results. Don’t be afraid to really dig into your target audience and discover what your company can do to make their lives easier. Then get out there and start planting the seeds of your success.
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