🕵🏻♂️ Demand gen for B2B tech companies
Apr 20, 2022 12:01 pm
Hey ,
Demand generation is arguably one of the biggest challenges for B2B companies, whether they operate in crowded markets or not.
Distinctly different from lead generation, demand gen is a much more complex process, which makes it all the more tricky and difficult for B2B tech companies.
In this newsletter, we'll show you exactly how to run a successful demand gen program and get your prospects excited about your products and keep those (qualified) leads rolling in.
We're covering:
1. Lead generation vs. demand generation
2. The prerequisites of a successful demand generation program
3. The key strategy for creating a successful demand gen program
Before we dive into it, here are some listings from our job board that might interest you or someone around you.
TRENCHES JOB BOARD
COMPLIANCE POINT IS HIRING A CONTENT MARKETING MANAGER
Job responsibilities:
- Facilitate ongoing content planning and manage day-to-day content creation;
- Coordinate with subject matter experts, freelance writers, graphic designers, and internal team members to create, edit, and review all content to ensure consistent messaging and branding;
- Build and execute an effective editorial calendar by staying up to date with customer challenges and the latest industry news and trends
Learn more about this offer and apply here.
TYK IS HIRING A HEAD OF BRAND EXPERIENCE
This role should make Tyk famous. How?
- By creating creative and compelling brand messaging, campaigns, events, and activities all year round;
- By ensuring Tyk is seen as a thought leader in core spaces
- Develop supportive and strategic relationships with tech influencers, national/international broadsheet media titles, relevant industry bodies (CNCF, OAS, GraphQL Foundation, etc), analysts (Gartner, Forrester, etc)
Learn more about this role and apply here.
Now, let's get to the meat of the matter.
Lead generation vs. demand generation
Demand gen is an essential part of any company's marketing strategy. It is different from lead generation in the sense that its main aim is not only to get leads but also to identify opportunities for the company outside of leads.
While lead generation only focuses on creating awareness and collecting information, demand generation tends to focus more on generating qualified prospects. This can be done by providing valuable content via blog posts, social media posts, emails, newsletters, or podcasts.
On the other hand, lead gen focuses on capturing information from the company’s potential customers. This includes mainly names and email addresses. But demand gen focuses on driving prospects to take action with the goal of getting them interested and educated so that when they are ready, they’ll come and buy from you.
What are the requisites of a successful demand generation program?
Step 1: Figure out who you are and what your unique selling proposition is.
Mind you, having lower prices as a unique selling proposition is not really an advantage. Why? Because anyone can come in at any time with much lower prices, and that will take down your business.
So, your UVP needs to be much more rooted inside your target audience and inside the problem that you're solving.
Step 2: Do a thorough competitive analysis.
The first step in a competitive analysis is to identify your competitors, which can be grouped into two categories: direct competitors and indirect competitors.
On the one hand, a direct competitor is one that offers the same product or service and targets the same clientele as your company. And on the other hand, an indirect competitor is a company that sells similar products but targets a different customer sector, or that sells different products and services but targets your customer base.
To find these companies, simply search the web or use websites such as Product Hunt and Crunchbase. Find as many direct and indirect competitors as you can to get a better understanding of who you are dealing with.
You can read online reviews, and talk to some of your competitors’ customers. This will help you size up your competition by identifying their strengths and weaknesses.
Step 3: Define clearly your target audience
Here are some questions you should ask yourself:
- What is my ideal customer profile?
- What verticals do I want to target?
- What is the buying committee of my target accounts?
Step 4: Create a clear customer journey map
This is a visual representation of your customer’s experience. By understanding this, you can structure your touchpoints to create the most effective and efficient process for your customers.
While customers’ journeys are not linear, here is a guide to creating one that is closer to perfection.
- Set clear objectives for the map.
- Profile your personas and define their goals.
- Highlight your target customer personas.
- List out all the touchpoints.
- Identify the elements you want your map to show.
- Determine the resources you have and the ones you'll need.
- Take the customer journey yourself.
- Make necessary changes.
How to create a demand gen strategy?
1. Define the target verticals, ICP, and buying committee members you want to engage with
No, we don’t think you’re stupid.
But, like food makers labeling packets of nuts with "may contain nuts", we’re obliged to spell it out.
2. Interview people in similar roles at top client companies in your selected verticals
Here are some of the key questions you'd ask:
- How and where do you typically search for products like ours? What questions do you have? What information are you looking for?
- Who do you consult for recommendations and advice?
- Where do you look for industry information related to your field? What resources do you read regularly? Who are the people you follow?
- What questions are discussed internally when reviewing different vendors or solutions? What influences your decision?
After this interview, you will have a better picture of :
- the channels you would focus on to create demand
- the content you would create to generate demand, nurture accounts, and influence the decision-making process
- the people and resources you will be engaging with and seeking opportunities to collaborate with, as they pertain to your target audience.
3. Define a warm-up and activation playbook
This includes:
- The assets you need to create in order to engage the target audience
- A detailed plan of how you will convert the captured demand into sales opportunities
- Building a demand gen team; decide who will be responsible for warm-up and activation.
NOTE: This podcast has been condensed and edited for clarity. You can watch the full interview here with Nemanja Zivkovic.
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Content Editor @Trenches