Learn top demand generation strategies to attract qualified leads, build pipelines and accelerate business growth.
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Effective Demand Generation Strategies to Drive Growth
Drive conversion throughout the entire buying journey
A successful demand generation (demand gen) program requires robust content that aligns with buyer profiles. Yet technology marketers often have an unbalanced content strategy with far too much emphasis on early-buying activity and a shortage of content for later-stage needs. Download our latest research to learn:
The three main steps in an effective demand gen content marketing strategy
How to align content and messaging with buying activity streams
- Key tips to building content to support demand gen
How to action your demand generation plans
The need to prove marketing’s value to the C-suite keeps the focus on lead quantity instead of quality. But quality is where the real value lies. Here’s how to refocus.
Demand Gen Strategy
Demand Gen Innovation
Demand Gen Execution
Demand Gen Trends
Trade short-term focus for long-term vision.
Demand generation is stuck in a self-defeating cycle: Plans are developed without a clear picture of the business objectives and planned revenue sources, which leads to marketing funnels disconnected from sales forecasts. This misalignment between sales and marketing inevitably leads to missed expectations. The crux of the problem is that demand-generation-level metrics tend to fixate on volume and activity instead of quality, conversion and revenue creation. This reinforces misalignment, outreach gaps, subpar buying experiences and a higher cost of sales. So why do organizations continue to operate this way?
Sales and marketing planning cycles usually occur in tandem, so demand generation plans are made without insight into the latest sales targets and business objectives.
Marketing is under constant pressure to prove its worth in terms of ROI. The metrics that are the simplest to quantify are not the best evidence of marketing’s impact, but they’re the ones that are easiest to spell out to the C-suite.
Leadership perpetuates this push for volume at the expense of lead quality or revenue sources, due to needing more education about marketing impact tactics.
Logically, highly targeted leads from well-aligned programs are easier to close and more likely to be prioritized and pursued by sales. To create higher quality leads, marketing and sales need to put aside their history of mutual mistrust. Collaborative planning allows sales and marketing leaders to set cross-functional goals in a logical order:
Understand business objectives, including sales targets.
Define the opportunity pipeline value required to meet these goals.
Use historical performance data to set realistic demand generation goals to reach that value by product, region, sales source and solution.
Define metrics that will be leading indicators of success.
As markets and circumstances change, business objectives may also change, so be prepared to adjust program goals. In some cases, revenue targets will decrease; in others, sales targets will be adjusted to capitalize on unanticipated opportunities.
Lose the language of MQLs.
Even marketers who are more than ready to ditch the old ways (volume metrics) for the new (outcomes) are weighed down by the ubiquitous marketing qualified lead (MQL), which has persisted as a marketing measuring stick. Replacing the familiar with something new and untested is bound to involve some degree of risk and face resistance. In the case of MQLs, it would mean reconfiguring tools whose mission is to track MQLs.
However, avoiding change won’t delay the inevitable. Marketing technology, data processes and reporting must be adjusted to accommodate more useful metrics.
If counting MQLs is no longer the answer, what will take its place? What is the next step?
Evaluate the marketing plan. Does it support business objectives shared by other functions like sales or customer success?
Propose new metrics, starting with business outcomes and cascading to strategic, operational and tactical. Volume-based metrics like MQLs, MQL to SAL conversion or marketing-influenced pipeline still have their place — as tactical metrics that are leading indicators for strategic and outcome-based metrics.
Establish an organizationwide definition for each metric. This will be straightforward for metrics like revenue, but some metrics are less clear cut. For example, pipeline value depends on which point in the buying process an opportunity was created. The clearer the definitions are, the less room there is for confusion and disagreement. This smooths the way for collaboration.
Move away from “marketing-sourced” metrics, which encourage an “us or them” competition for credit between sales and marketing. These metrics also lead to a focus on metrics that involve counting (volume) numbers of net new leads or contacts instead of the less quantifiable activities marketing can use to help sales cross the finish line. These “marketing-influenced” metrics must have a standard definition to ensure harmony between sales and marketing.
Create content, choose channels and initiate ABM.
Economic pressure to operate programs as efficiently as possible has prompted marketing organizations to reexamine every aspect of demand generation, including channel mix, content strategy and audience targeting. Getting this right means understanding program objectives, the ideal customer profile, personas and solution differentiators, as well as defined performance metrics. Also key is knowledge of typical buying behaviors and the buying journey.
A few key elements of the demand generation execution strategy include:
- Define content marketing and strategy. Refine content and calls to action by more precisely tailoring messaging to target buyers with the help of intent data. Find ways to scale each element without sacrificing quality or adding resources. New tools, including those made possible by GenAI, can help balance program effectiveness and scaling goals.
Review account-based marketing (ABM) approaches. ABM is a go-to-market strategy that uses a targeted, personalized approach for engaging identified target accounts. Use first-party and third-party data — firmographics, psychographics, technographics, intent and sales insights — to inform account selection. For the best results, marketing and sales teams should orchestrate interactions across channels based on account engagement levels and buyer journey stages.
Evaluate marketing channels strategy. A multichannel approach is key to capturing audiences. But as the range of marketing channels has widened, generating more noise and competition, technology has come under more pressure to serve up results. Marketers need to scrutinize their mix to identify where they can gain as much “share of voice” as possible versus competitors. Equally important is knowing which channels not to pursue. As the channel landscape is continually evolving, marketers must keep tabs on their target personas’ changing preferences for trusted sources of information.
Ride the demand generation trends.
Demand generation is one of those art-and-science juggling acts. Without the science, you can’t find a direction; without the art, you have nothing to deliver. To stay sharp, keep an eye on these trends:
Breaking through the digital clutter: As always, marketing is a battle to be noticed in a noisy marketplace. To set your message apart, consider using nondigital channels that host less traffic (in-person roadshows, direct mail, VIP gifting programs). Another option is to make sure your messaging is highly differentiated by measuring it against the MUD test: Meaningful to prospects; makes Unique claims; and is Defensible (claims are backed up by evidence ─ reference stories, peer ratings, industry awards).
Highlighting flexibility in the face of uncertainty: Situational awareness is a critical competency for managing the constant pressure of market ambiguities ─ recession, inflation, supply chains deglobalizing and fluctuating labor markets. Adopt agile marketing practices to respond to changing forces and continue to drive business outcomes.
Focusing on results: The C-suite will scrutinize marketing budgets and results as markets dictate a tighter rein on the enterprise’s financial outlook. Track program metrics to ensure investments can be tied to hard results like pipeline and revenue; soft results ─ leading indicators of marketing’s impact ─ like web traffic or social engagement lift; and efficiency results like cost-per-lead rate improvement.
Investing efficiently in the marketing mix: Frequently monitor tactical channel metrics to determine if marketing channel investments are remaining effective.
Keeping an eye on AI: Marketing is already using AI for content generation, and productivity and creativity gains have been experienced. Start to formulate use cases that are feasible now via point solutions or that are infused in the martech stack. As these tools improve, look for opportunities to gain productivity and creativity benefits such as content creation and translations. Also monitor how AI transforms search engines, as organic and paid search are key marketing channels.
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FAQ on demand generation
What is demand generation in tech marketing?
Demand generation in tech marketing is a strategic approach that focuses on creating awareness and interest in a company's technology products or services. The goal is to drive demand and ultimately lead potential customers through the buying journey, from initial awareness to conversion.
How do you measure the success of a demand generation campaign?
Measuring the success of a demand generation campaign involves tracking both quantitative and qualitative metrics that reflect how well the campaign is driving awareness, engagement and conversions. Here are some examples:
Lead volume
Conversion rates
Website traffic
Pipeline velocity
ROI
Sales cycle length
How does demand generation contribute to revenue growth?
Demand generation contributes to revenue growth by creating a steady pipeline of qualified leads that are more likely to convert into paying customers.
Drive stronger performance on your mission-critical priorities.