So you need more leads. And someone told you “just implement a demand generation strategy!” While that might sound intimidating as a startup founder, the good news is anyone can implement a demand gen strategy that drives results no matter what stage your business is in.
Knowing you are busy running your business, we’ve put together 7 simplified steps for launching a successful demand gen strategy. Whether you are doing this yourself, or working with one of the few members on your team, you should be able to get up and running in no time.
Before we really dive in, let’s dispel a few myths around demand generation.
MYTH 1: I need a large budget to be successful
FALSE. Having a lot of money does not guarantee success. Having a well planned approach does. Budget should not be holding you back from getting started today.
MYTH 2: I need to be marketing in every channel for performance
FALSE. In fact, this statement is quite the opposite of true. You don’t have to spend time and money on every channel because most likely your target audience isn’t on every channel. You need to determine which channels resonate with the people you want to reach (more on this later).
MYTH 3: I need to have complex and expensive tools in place in order to track effectiveness.
FALSE. There are several simple (and free) ways to track demand generation performance. It’s important not to over complicate your process. Here are a few of my favorite tools to help you get started.
HubSpot (marketing automation and crm) - HubSpot is super user friendly and built to grow with your business. They have free options and deep discounts for qualified startups.
Mailchimp (email marketing) - Mailchimp is great option if you’re just getting started and not sure what you’ll need. It’s easy to use and guides you through the necessary steps to get started. A word of caution, it can get expensive based on the number of contacts in your database so make sure you understand the pricing per contact band.
Buffer (social media management) - If you’re not managing your social media through a social media management system, Buffer is a great way to get started. Cost for the pro plan are $15 a month for up to 8 channels and 100 scheduled posts.
Google analytics and Google data studio (metrics and visualization) - Both are free and very powerful. If you haven’t used Google data studio, you’re missing out. Check out a sample Google data studio dashboard below.
Google data studio example dashboard
Now that demand generation misconceptions are no longer standing in your way, let’s dive into the 7 steps so you can get started.
Step 1: Set Your Goals
You’ve probably heard of the concept of SMART Goals and if you haven’t, you can read more here. This concept applies to the goals you set for your demand generation campaigns. Let’s talk about what each of these steps means in the context of your campaigns.
Specific. Goals that are too vague leave too much room for interpretation and will be hard to work towards as a team. Hone in on exactly what you want to accomplish and what it will take to get there.
Measurable. Goals need a method of measurement. Measurable goals will answer one of the following questions:
How much?
How many?
How will I know it’s accomplished?
Achievable. Are you setting realistic expectations around achieving your goal? We recommend setting two goals: A realistic goal and a stretch goal. Doing this will help you understand how to push yourself.
Relevant. Aligning your demand generation goals with your larger marketing goals (and company goals for that matter) is critical to success. If you’re setting goals that lie outside of your bigger objectives, it won’t have a greater impact.
Time-based. Probably my most favorite criteria for setting goals because it really drives action. If you don’t make your goals time bound, you will have no motivation to achieve them.
Here’s a great example of what your goals should look like:
Goal example
Step 2: Define your Audience
Defining your target audience(s) is the most critical part of successful demand generation planning. Doing a deep dive into your audience will give you the opportunity to speak directly to their needs and how you can help them solve their biggest challenges. For more details on how to define your target audience, check out this article from Neil Patel.
Once you’ve identified your target audience, group them into decision makers and influencers. The idea is that you can go after both groups and they will, at some point, meet in the middle.
What’s critical to this part of the exercise is really understanding what will engage your audience and where they spend most of their time. This will enable you to shape your campaign tactics and messaging.
Step 3: Develop Key Messages and CTAs
Having a clear, concise and cohesive message across all channels is the backbone of your efforts. The right message to the right people will drive action. Consider the below when defining your key messages:
Addresses pain - What is your audience struggling with that impacts success in their day-to-day and how can your product or service solve it? For example, maybe your audience is struggling to collaborate across the organization. How does your product help increase collaboration and overall business efficiency?
Solves a problem - Sometimes your target audience doesn’t even know they have a problem until you show them they could be more efficient. Can you save them time? Can you save them money? Can you help keep their employees happier?
Creates a sense of urgency - Can your product address something in the short term that would have a long term impact. The quicker your customer does “X” the faster they can see results.
And don’t forget, you need strong calls to action to push your target audience to take the next steps. For example using the words “download now” as opposed to “submit”.
Step 4: Determine Tactics and Channels
If you follow steps 2 and 3, you’ll be set up to tackle these steps no head-on. First, there are a few key questions here you’ll need to answer:
What types of content will my audience interact with?
Where will they be most likely to see my message?
Let’s take a look at two different target audience segments as examples.
Audience 1: Director of Digital Marketing
What do we know about the Director of Digital Marketing?
We know: they are progressive, they need to keep up with the latest trends; they are connected, they like to see what their peers are doing; they love data, it is what drives them to be successful. All of this considered, we could find them on LinkedIn (where they go to stay connected) and offer them a data driven report that will help them be one step ahead (data!). So a viable approach could be targeting them on LinkedIn with a data driven report.
Audience 2: Chief Financial Officer
What do we know about the Chief Financial Officer?
We know: they run a tight ship, it’s their job to make sure the company is spending fiscally; they are thought leaders in their space, they are leading the way for companies to scale their businesses. All of this considered, we could find them reading industry publications (to stay ahead) and offer them resources to help their organizations have transparency in spending and budgeting (leading the pack). So a viable approach could be offering a budgeting template via an industry public like CFO Daily.
Step 5: Build Your Funnel and Funnel Stages
Once you’ve mapped out your channel and tactics, you can slot them into specific places in your marketing funnel. The marketing funnel is made up of three stages:
Top of the Funnel (TOFU) - This is the awareness phase where you want to hook your audience with compelling and relevant content to get them to take action.
Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) - This is the consideration phase where your audience is engaging with your brand and considering a purchase.
Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) - This is the purchase phase where you need to communicate with your audience about the value your product provides and give them case studies as well as proof points to push them to buy.
Funnel
The best way to map this out is to create a visual funnel and drop it in. I’ve created a template that you can access here. You can read more about how to map your content to your funnel stages here.
Step 6: Measure
Measuring the outcome of your demand generation campaigns is a no brainer but what to measure can get tricky. Every channel has different key performance indicators (KPIs) that need to be considered to effectively analyze and make changes. For the purposes of this blog post, there are a few metrics that are key across the entire demand generation funnel.
Number of Leads by Stage - Having clear definitions and guidelines for lead qualification across your marketing and sales funnels are a great way to quickly assess how well marketing programs are working. Below are the three most critical stages in the lead lifecycle from a marketing perspective.
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) - Leads that marketing has qualified and deemed “sales ready”
Sales Accepted Leads (SAL) - Leads sales have accepted from marketing and are reaching out to for further qualification
Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) - Leads that sales feels have a probability of becoming a deal. Most of the time, an opportunity is opened at this stage.
Conversion Rate - Conversion rate is the percentage of users who have completed a desired action. Conversion rate is an important metric because it gives you a clear picture of where people are getting “stuck” in your process. If you can identify stages with low conversion rates, you can implement new strategies to increase their movement down the funnel.
Example: You have 500 leads in the stage MQL and 50 in the stage SAL.
Leads in stage SAL/Leads in stage MQL = Conversion rate
50/500=.10*100=10% conversion rate
Cost per Lead (CPL) - Cost per lead measures how cost-effective your marketing campaigns are when it comes to generating new leads. Cost per lead also helps to establish the return on your investment for marketing campaigns.
Example: You spent $1,000 on paid media and generation 10 leads
Spend/number of leads generated = cost per lead
$1,000/10 = $100 cost per lead
A quick note about industry benchmarks: they are a great way to get you started but benchmarks unique to your business should always be established.
Step 7: Make Changes and Repeat
Marketing campaigns should never be static! Be sure to monitor your marketing efforts weekly and make optimizations based on the results you see on a monthly basis. Each time you need to make adjustments, run yourself through these 7 steps again.
Follow these steps and you’re guaranteed to see repeatable success across your marketing campaigns. We get that it seems easy in a blog post, but still feels overwhelming. But if you can start implementing each step, you will be on your way to getting there. One of the worst things you can do is not get started (remember when we mentioned those benchmarks?) And if you’re still feeling a bit overwhelmed, we can help. Contact us for an initial 30 minute consultation.