A B2B demand generation strategy is a marketing approach aimed at building brand awareness and nurturing relationships with prospects throughout the buyer's journey. It involves creating personalized and relevant content to engage potential customers and guide them toward making informed purchasing decisions.
Effective demand generation encompasses a variety of tactics:
To develop a successful demand generation plan:
Demand generation and lead generation are two distinct marketing approaches, each with its own set of goals and strategies. Demand generation focuses on building brand awareness and nurturing relationships with prospects throughout the buyer's journey, targeting a broader audience, including those not actively seeking a solution.
On the other hand, lead generation aims to convert interested prospects into tangible leads by collecting contact information and engaging potential customers through targeted follow-up campaigns.
To evaluate the success of your demand generation campaigns, focus on metrics that translate to commercial success, such as:
Site retargeting is a marketing strategy that shows ads to people who have previously visited your website but left without converting.
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Unit economics are the direct revenues and costs of a business calculated on a per-unit basis, revealing its fundamental profitability.
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Sales prospecting software automates the process of finding, contacting, and tracking potential customers to help sales teams build their pipeline.
Lead routing is the automated process of distributing incoming leads to the right sales reps based on predefined criteria.
Rollback procedures are a set of steps to restore a system to a previous, stable version after a failed update, ensuring minimal disruption.
A sales plan template is a reusable document that outlines your sales strategy, goals, and tactics, providing a clear roadmap for your team.
GDPR compliance means following the EU's strict data protection laws to ensure the secure and lawful handling of personal data.
Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.
A persona is a semi-fictional profile of your ideal customer, based on market research and real data about your existing customers.
Return on Investment (ROI) is a key performance metric that measures the profitability of an investment relative to its initial cost.
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a system of distributed servers that deliver web content to users based on their geographic location.
A Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a secure, isolated section of a public cloud. It lets you provision your own logically isolated resources.
The Challenger Sales Model is a sales approach where reps challenge a customer's thinking by teaching, tailoring, and taking control of the sale.
Targeted marketing focuses on specific consumer groups whose needs align with your product, allowing for more personalized and effective messaging.
Warm outreach is contacting prospects with whom you have a pre-existing connection, like a mutual contact, making your message more personal and effective.
Lead generation is the process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business's products or services.
GPCTBA/C&I is a sales qualification framework for understanding a prospect's goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, and authority.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.
LinkedIn InMail messages are a premium feature that lets you directly message any LinkedIn member, even if you're not connected to them.
Product-market fit is when a product meets the needs of a strong market, leading to high demand, customer satisfaction, and organic growth.
A persona map visually outlines a target customer, detailing their goals, behaviors, and pain points to help your team build genuine empathy.
Expansion revenue is the extra money a business makes from its current customers via upgrades, new products, or additional services.
“Always Be Closing” (ABC) is a sales mantra meaning every action a salesperson takes should be with the ultimate goal of closing the sale.
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Contact data is the set of details, like names, emails, and phone numbers, used to get in touch with a person or business for outreach.
Process automation uses technology to execute recurring tasks or processes, replacing manual effort to cut costs and boost efficiency.
A Quarterly Business Review (QBR) is a recurring meeting to assess performance against goals and align on strategy for the next quarter.
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Virtual selling is the process of selling to customers remotely using technology like video calls, rather than meeting them in person.
A Value-Added Reseller (VAR) is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it as an integrated solution.
Drupal is a free, open-source content management system (CMS) for building websites and applications. It's known for its robust flexibility.
Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting computer systems, networks, and data from digital attacks, theft, and unauthorized access.
Fulfillment logistics is the entire process of getting an order to a customer, from storing inventory to picking, packing, and final shipment.
Lead conversion is the process of turning a prospect into a customer by getting them to complete a desired action, such as making a purchase.
Sales intelligence is technology that gathers and analyzes data to help salespeople find and understand prospects and existing clients.
The sales pipeline velocity formula is a key metric that measures how quickly deals move through your pipeline and turn into revenue.
Cold calling is a sales technique where reps contact potential customers who have had no prior interaction with their company or product.
Warm calling is contacting prospects with a prior connection, like a referral or social media interaction, to make your outreach more relevant.
Account-Based Analytics measures engagement and impact across target accounts, not just individual leads, to guide B2B sales and marketing efforts.
Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others reflect correct behavior for a given situation.
Average Selling Price (ASP) is the average price at which a particular product or service is sold across different markets and channels.
Data warehousing is the process of storing and managing large sets of data from various sources for business intelligence and reporting purposes.
Time on site, or session duration, is a key web metric that tracks the total time a visitor spends on your website during a single visit.
NoSQL ("Not only SQL") databases offer a flexible alternative to relational models, excelling at managing large and unstructured data sets.
Outside sales reps sell products/services in person, traveling to meet clients and close deals face-to-face, outside of a traditional office.
Sales Engineers blend deep technical knowledge with sales acumen, demonstrating a product's value and solving customer problems to drive revenue.
Customer churn rate is the percentage of subscribers or customers who cancel their service with a company during a given time frame.
Digital analytics is the analysis of data from digital channels to understand user behavior and optimize online experiences for business goals.
A custom API integration is a bespoke connection between software, enabling them to communicate and share data to meet unique business requirements.
Discount strategies are pricing tactics used to attract customers and boost sales by temporarily reducing the price of products or services.
Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.
Lightning Components is a UI framework for building dynamic web apps for mobile and desktop devices on the Salesforce Lightning Platform.
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Closed Won is a CRM status for a sales deal that has been successfully concluded, resulting in a signed contract and a new customer.
A sandbox is an isolated testing environment where new or untrusted code can be run safely without affecting the host device or network.
White labeling is when a company puts its own branding on a product or service that was actually produced by a different company.
Mobile optimization adapts your website to ensure visitors on smartphones and tablets have a seamless, user-friendly experience.
Sales Operations KPIs are measurable metrics that track the efficiency and effectiveness of a sales team's operational processes.
A Call for Proposal (CFP) is a document that solicits proposals, often through a bidding process, for a specific project or service.
An enterprise is a large-scale organization, often a corporation, defined by its complex structure and substantial number of employees.
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A sales pitch is a persuasive presentation of a product or service, aimed at convincing a potential customer to make a purchase.
The purchase stage is when a buyer has decided on a solution and is ready to buy. They're comparing vendors to make a final choice.
Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.
Data appending is the process of adding new data fields to your existing database records to enrich and complete your information.
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Event tracking is the method of collecting data on specific user actions, or 'events,' on a website or app, such as clicks or downloads.
AI marketing uses artificial intelligence to analyze data, automate decisions, and deliver personalized customer experiences at scale.
Pay-per-click (PPC) is an ad model where you pay a fee each time your ad is clicked. It's a method of buying targeted visits to your website.
Sales velocity is a key metric measuring the speed at which your company makes money. It shows how fast deals move through your sales pipeline.
Sales pipeline reporting is the process of analyzing sales data to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and forecast future revenue.
Click-through rate (CTR) is a metric that measures the percentage of people who click on a specific link, ad, or call-to-action.
Digital contracts are legally binding agreements created, signed, and stored electronically, offering a faster, more secure alternative to paper.
Account mapping is comparing your customer list with a partner's to find common prospects and unlock new sales opportunities.
Voice broadcasting is an automated system that delivers a pre-recorded voice message to a large list of phone numbers simultaneously.
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Closing ratio is a key sales metric that shows the percentage of leads or proposals that result in a successful sale.
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Sales coaching is a process where managers help reps improve their skills and performance through personalized feedback, training, and guidance.
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Programmatic display campaigns use automation to buy and sell digital ad space in real-time, targeting specific audiences across the web.
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An HTTP request is a message sent by a client, like a web browser, to a server to ask for a resource, such as a web page or an image.
Sales automation uses software to streamline and automate repetitive, manual sales tasks, freeing up reps to focus on selling.
Customer Success is a business strategy focused on proactively helping customers achieve their goals with your product or service.
A weighted pipeline forecasts sales revenue by assigning a closing probability to each deal based on its stage in the sales funnel.
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Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric measuring customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your company or product to others.
ClickFunnels is a popular online tool that lets entrepreneurs easily build sales funnels to guide potential customers through the buying process.
Integration testing is a software testing phase where individual modules are combined and tested together to verify their interaction.
Serverless computing is a cloud model where the provider manages servers, so developers can focus on code without worrying about infrastructure.
Email verification is the process of confirming that an email address is valid and deliverable, which helps improve campaign performance.
Channel marketing is a strategy where a company sells its products or services through third-party partners, like resellers or affiliates.
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