4 key steps you need in your demand generation approach
Today’s B2B buyers want to consume high-quality content, gather insights, and solicit advice from their peers - before ever talking to sales.
In fact, according to Gartner, 43% of customers prefer a sales rep-free experience.
All this makes friction in the buying experience much more noticeable when it does occur.
But that’s not all.
Competition is increasing too.
So how can B2B brands meet changing buyer needs and rise above the growing competition?
Enter demand generation (demand gen).
A demand gen strategy is built for the way customers buy today. The goal is to expand your audience, build trust and authority, and generate interest in your business, which results in high-quality inbound leads.
Given the way B2B’s buy has changed dramatically, it’s no wonder that demand gen has climbed the agenda for most B2B marketers with 70% of marketers saying their demand gen budgets will increase. (Demand Gen Report).
Why content and demand gen go hand-in-hand
We believe that content is critical to all aspects of demand generation. In fact, one of the first steps to increase demand generation is to start with a strong content strategy.
Why?
Because research shows that if your business is better at building brand-relevant memories, your brand becomes more competitive. Putting yourself in the mind of your customer isn’t easy, but it’s essential to success.
With this in mind, businesses must ensure their content is aligned with buyer pain points, high quality, valuable, and optimised.
This means marketers must be more intentional about how they create content and create pieces that buyers feel inspired to share with each other. If you can identify those category pain points - then you can use them to build mental availability.
When creating demand generation content, consider the following questions:
What challenge or pain point is my customer experiencing that my solution can solve?
What valuable information can I share that will help my ICP become more successful?
What data points can I find to back this up?
Who’s expert opinion can I add to increase the value 10-fold?
💡Pro tip: To maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of a demand gen strategy, it’s essential to use the right content. And the best way to approach demand gen content is to put yourself in your buyer's shoes. You can’t create good content without truly understanding your ICP and addressing their pain points.
We’ve got tonnes of additional blogs on content creation:
Your demand generation approach: 4 must-have steps
Let’s jump straight into this 4-point checklist 👇
1.) Are you prepared to make the switch from lead gen to demand gen?
Switching from lead gen to demand gen requires a shift in mindset. You need to change your objective from collecting contact information to telling stories that move your buyers forward in a buying cycle.
2.) Is your content created specifically for demand generation?
A solid demand generation strategy requires the best content. The kind of content that helps build client trust, and lays the groundwork for important conversations about customer pain points and the solutions your business can offer. Customers will remember your brand as a guide within the marketplace and look to your business as a subject matter expert for future needs.
3.) Are you willing to give it enough time to work?
Effective demand gen takes time. You will not see results in days, weeks, or yes, even months. Marketing leads will drop (this is to be expected). When moving from sending sales whitepaper downloads to leads with buyer intent, you can expect the volume to dip a lot. Yet the quality should be strong. And conversion rates better still.
4.) Do you have leadership buy-in?
You really want to switch to a demand generation strategy, but your board needs to see results soon. The pressure to do more with less and at a faster rate is pressing. So how do you convince senior leaders to make the pivot? Start by knowing your historical performance, then show leadership what happens if you continue on the current path. Finally, educate stakeholders on what the new strategy and results will be.
📕 Like what you see? Read the full guide here for more guidance and top tips.
6 additional demand gen best practices
If you’re looking to accelerate your demand generation content marketing approach, check out these ideas 👇
Get the buyer persona right (more on this here) - Being specific about who you want to target, their pain points, channels they engage with and more helps hone in your messaging and where you distribute it. This is a crucial first step.
Regularly share just your best content - The aim of content is to build trust by representing you as an authoritative, knowledgeable voice. Regularly promote valuable and helpful content that solves your target audience’s biggest problems. This builds trust and they’ll remember you when they are ready to buy.
Ungate your content - By ungating content, you take the friction out of the customer journey and make it more accessible and therefore more likely to get read. If your content is good enough, they’ll get in touch… When they are ready.
Repurpose and share content in multiple places - To maximise the number of people it reaches, and to improve ROI, you want to share content across multiple channels. We find that tailored approaches like email lead nurturing and ABM work best here.
Build in automation - If you can automate anything such as email lead nurturing series that are triggered by post-demo requests or content engagement, utilise them. Apparently, automation leads to a 451% increase In qualified leads (The Annuitas Group).
Set up KPIs - With any marketing, monitoring KPIs is essential to improve campaigns and refocus time and budget. As demand generation content marketing is a long-term strategy, you’ll want to consider short and long-term strategies to generate brand awareness, measure lead quality, and the influence on revenue.
Wrap up
For B2B businesses, the increase in popularity of demand generation is largely driven due to the strategy’s unique ability to deliver a stronger, more sustainable sales pipeline.
Investing in demand generation strategies is crucial to making the right impression with today’s considered buyers.
The aim is to be consistent and always front-of-mind when a contact is ready to buy. We never know when that may be, which is why consistency is key.
If you need support with demand gen and content marketing, please just drop us an email (becca@rooandeve.com). We can start by providing you with free recommendations and an action plan.