Betting On Demand Generation: How To Be Ready For Current And Future Buyers

 

Many business-to-business (B2B) marketers are heading into 2023 with a bit of uncertainty. Leading global economists predict that much of the world will officially head into a recession. That means many companies are being cautious with their budgets, expecting that their customer pipeline could be affected by a downturn. At the same time, teams are under pressure to get new prospects in the door and help close them—fast. The name of the game in today’s tight market is “prove it, or lose it.” Marketers need to show results, or lose budget.

Many experts have argued over the years, including during the last major downturn in 2008, that a down economy is when marketers should actually spend more on brand building in order to take a competitive lead. While that is a compelling approach, marketers who need to focus on immediate revenue and create more efficiencies should also focus on improving their approach to demand generation.

Aligning Around Demand Gen

In a tight market, a certain percentage of prospects could decide to hold off on buying until the market improves. Research shows that sales cycles are slowing—right as marketers and sellers have added pressure to hit their goals. During this time, smart marketers will focus on tactics that can identify the leads that are ready to buy now while also keeping other leads warm, so that when the time is right, they are best positioned to get the sale. It’s important to be on the short list that marketers will turn to when they are ready to move forward, known as the “day one list.” Demand gen can provide a good foundation to identify, nurture and close leads with targeted timing and messaging.

The first step to implementing better demand gen is internal alignment. To do this, every element should be in lock-step, starting with technology. If it isn’t already integrated, now is the right time to connect customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation so that there is a single, fluid system to collect prospect information and drive outreach.

Sales and marketing alignment should also include more rigorous processes, including lead scoring and data-driven prioritization, which can help create efficiencies as people will be focused on leads that are most likely to bring in sales. Some companies throw all marketing leads over the fence to their sales team. Others have both marketing-qualified leads and sales-qualified leads, while other companies have blended the two into a single pipeline. The best approach continuously qualifies and refines leads, and includes lead scoring to make sure that every touch is accounted for and the proper outreach is used to nurture leads—regardless of if it is sales or marketing. What’s more, leads need to be aggregated into buying groups so that outreach for specific accounts can be orchestrated effectively.

Creating The Right Pipeline

A great demand gen strategy includes a rich variety of content across channels, from e-books and research to events and articles. However, what works in good times might not be the right content for tougher times. For leads that can be convinced to buy now, making the case for a sale during tough times might require proof points to show that a product is a “need to have” versus a “nice to have” or to prove the near-term benefits and savings that come along with the purchase in order to justify the spend. Marketers need to prove that they are essential to driving revenue and help internal champions show that marketing can drive speed to value when there’s extra scrutiny.

Marketers should also test content that sets the stage for a potentially longer nurturing cycle for some leads. Perhaps prospects have had to pivot to survive in a tough market and could use a guide for how to be efficient in the process. Having content that speaks to their current needs will drive engagement now. Intent data is another key input to this data-driven approach, to make sure efforts are well timed.

For those leads that aren’t going to buy just yet, sales and marketing can focus a bit more on education and combine brand building with content and nurturing efforts. This approach can build trust over the long term and help force strong bonds that will make all the difference when it is time for “day one.”

Staying Out Ahead

As part of a good demand gen approach, marketers should stay nimble. As the market changes, they should be the first ones to reach out to prospects with helpful information, guidance or suggestions for how to take advantage. Not only does timely content help, social media can be a valuable channel for driving engagement that is agile and relevant. While many B2B marketers got comfortable with digital marketing, email and even social media when the pandemic halted in-person meetings and events, these channels continue to evolve, and it’s critical to keep up with how different generations use different social platforms. B2B marketers can use data to orchestrate personalized email journeys or buy programmatic ad campaigns across channels. It’s possible that some B2B marketers could get value from TikTok or similar platforms! And of course, events and in-person meetings are again great ways to stay top of mind for that moment when the tide turns and companies are ready to engage in the sales process again.

Like all good marketing, the best demand gen strategy is founded on data and insights so that each interaction offers that personal touch. When marketing and sales use the same insight and a shared strategy, the entire team can move quickly and be ready. With the added pressure of a tight economy to account for, sales and marketing teams are wise to use demand gen to effectively identify and close the leads that are ready to buy now and in the future.

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This article is written by Forbes and originally published here.

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