This webinar “DEMAND GENERATION in 2024” emerges from a pivotal question: Are you ready to not just survive but thrive amidst the shifting contours of B2B marketing?
The landscape of demand generation is in flux. Competition is fiercer, buyers are savvier, and traditional tactics are yielding diminishing returns. This webinar was crafted for those grappling with pipeline saturation, lead conversion challenges, or uncertainties about the trajectory of demand generation.
In the webinar, we looked deep into the 6 trends shaping B2B marketing in 2024 & how to equip ourselves with the insights, tools and strategies for getting success in 2024’s demand generation landscape.
Choosing your market wisely: facts to consider:
#1 A familiar smaller market or a challenging larger one: The North American IT market is more than 10 times the Indian IT market. India’s IT market growth rate is the highest.
#2 AI is skyrocketing: IT services dominated 20 years ago, SAAS 5 years ago. The SAAS market growth rate is trending downward. Now it’s AI. AI spending is growing at 18%, attracting significant Wall Street interest.
#3 GTM cannot go wrong: Check if your GTM is obsolete. Not understanding customer needs and pain points, market dynamics, competition & poor differentiation are common GTM mistakes.
#4 Keeping GTM simple: The market can always be classified, segmented & handled as per the stage it is in. Geoffery Moore’s technology adoption life cycle can help understand the different sales and marketing approaches needed at varying stages. Prioritize unified tactics over multiple, fragmented campaigns.
💡A question that we keep getting as a SMarketing consulting firm:
Should we target the North America market or the India market?
LeadStrategus:
Let’s get deep into what both the markets offer.
India: The Comfort Zone
Familiarity breeds ease: You know the landscape, the regulations, the consumer psyche. Marketing, distribution, and support become second nature.
Lower entry barriers: Less stringent regulations, a cost-competitive environment, and potentially existing networks can ease your entry.
Potential first-mover advantage: With rapid digitization and a burgeoning middle class, India offers fertile ground for innovative solutions.
North America: The Global Arena
Market behemoth: 12 times the size of India, the US market promises exponential reach and revenue potential.
Melting pot of innovation: Global competition breeds cutting-edge solutions, forcing you to up your game and refine your offerings.
Brand validation: Cracking the North American market earns you global recognition and a stamp of excellence, opening doors elsewhere.
Six trends that are changing how demand generation is to be done in 2024:
Trend #1: In a buyer-first world, the only way to sell is to be a trusted advisor
- Production costs for information products have plummeted, leading to increased competition.
- Companies have increased visibility on the web, increasing the risk of spamming and misdirecting marketing efforts.
- Buyers seek to shield themselves from aggressive sales tactics.
What to do?
- Positive online ratings and testimonials become critical trust signals in the absence of personal interactions.
- Sales reps need to provide easily accessible information.
- Make interactions with buyers count by offering genuine value and keeping in mind their time constraints.
- Respect buyer privacy
💡Pause & Reflect:
A quick checklist to ensure if you are doing enough to be a trusted advisor:
Trend #2: Customers want self-service
- Different demographics prefer different levels of self-service during the customer journey.
- The top of the funnel demands more engagement & nurturing.
What to do?
- Offer tiered service levels and features to cater to diverse preferences.
- Facilitate trial & exploration through multiple channels and whenever it is convenient.
- Clearly communicate pricing information.
- Highlight positive customer testimonials, user reviews, and third-party endorsements.
💡Slack ditching salespersons:
Slack, valued at $4 billion, was against the idea of a sales team. Instead, the company rode the wave of happy customers spreading the word. Slack CEO, Stewart Butterfield bet big on people loving their product so much that they’d tell everyone they knew. And it worked! In just two years, Slack hit 2.3 million users and projected $64 million in yearly revenue, all without a single salesperson. – Business Insider
Trend #3: Buying intent is becoming increasingly important
- Buying intent hints at potential purchase needs.
- Intent signals is spread across social media posts, product hunts, premium databases, open-source intelligence tools, etc.
- Buying intent is crucial for tailoring pitches and engagements effectively.
What to do?
- Use tools for purpose like market analysis, contact identification, & research for personalization.
- Creating models based on specific criteria like company size, technology usage, hiring patterns, and existing infrastructure aids to narrow down potential prospects.
- Develop your own Intent Scoring System to categorize companies as high, medium, or low for targeted outreach.
- Validate the sources of information and consider the frequency of updates within tools to determine the accuracy and relevance of the data.
💡An example of building database of top 100 companies to target for a cybersecurity company:
Tools used to collect different information:
Criteria to evaluate target companies:
Cybersecurity score:
Target companies being evaluated & identified:
Trend #4: Messaging is becoming persona-based & even more contextual
- Different geographies & personalities have different receptions for the same kind of messaging.
- Most of the CXOs demand straightforward & clear communication.
- Emails & phones are moving towards asynchronous texting as the primary media.
What to do?
- Implement a structured approach to messaging, progressing from personalized introductions to showcasing thought leadership.
- In the Indian market, use the five-tiered messaging sequence, from personalized introductions to problem acknowledgment, showcasing value, and eventually asking for an appointment.
- Top 5 baits for engaging conversation for Indian prospects are common interests, personal drives, unique roles in companies, the companies themselves, and industries.
💡Message matrix to build a genuine relationship with anyone:
Trend #5: Dark funnel/social is getting powerful
- Emerging “dark” sources like Clutch, WhatsApp, etc pose challenges for conventional marketing attribution tools.
- Peer-to-peer communities wield significant influence in decision-making.
What to do?
- Manually follow-up leads to know how they found you.
- Publish content on third-party websites to build backlinks and increase visibility.
- Participate in different communities to network with peers and gain referrals.
💡Refine Labs CEO, Chris Walker on his hands-on experience with Dark Social on LinkedIn:
Trend #6: The role of customer success is changing
- Some aspects of customer success is being absorbed by sales teams.
- Account owners face conflicting priorities between customer happiness and sales targets.
- CS face diverse demands, getting pulled in various directions, impacting their focus.
What to do?
- Marketers need to step in to cover gaps left by CS professionals.
- Salespersons need to adjust their approaches due to the changing landscape of CS roles.
💡Gainsight bringing together sales & customer success:
Gainsight successfully merged its sales and customer success teams. The new structure aligns with three key customer needs: Outcomes Management, Fast Time-to-Value, and Solutions On-Demand, each supported by specialized functional areas.
How to nail Account Based Marketing?
#1 ABM is highly beneficial for selling to large or mid-sized customers with diverse requirements.
#2 Don’t solely rely on generic outreach; identify high-value accounts through intent data and personalize messaging.
#3 Leverage LinkedIn for personalized outreach and target relevant events to connect with key decision-makers.
- Event-Based ABM: How to do it?
- Utilize industry events as a prime opportunity to connect with target accounts.
- Identify relevant events based on attendees, speakers, and past participants.
- Refine targeting through secondary intent data like outsourcing trends, hiring signals, technology stack compatibility, and company initiatives.
- Score and prioritize accounts based on intent signals & fFocus outreach on companies exhibiting high purchase potential.
- Engage with potential attendees before the event through tailored messages.
💡Step by step process of LeadStrategus-led event-based ABM for a contract manufacturing SaaS company in Belgium:
Event and Prioritization:
- Identified top 50 Europe pharma companies and relevant events they participated in.
- Prioritized events based on attendees, past attendees, and speakers.
- Recommended attending a specific event as a sponsor and secured a panelist slot.
Pre-Event Preparation:
- Researched target audience attending the Belgium event: speakers, past attendees (3-4 years), Belgium-based companies, top 50 pharma companies, and Europe-based companies (55,000 total).
- Filtered companies by revenue (>$100 million), resulting in 450-500 companies.
Targeting 500 Companies:
- Developed secondary criteria: outsourcing manufacturing operations, hiring trends, and technology stack compatibility.
- Conducted research on outsourcing trends, subscribed to relevant newsletters, tracked hiring trends and new senior management roles.
Scoring and Prioritization:
- Evaluated companies based on outsourcing manufacturing, licensing models, tech stacks, upcoming initiatives, hiring trends, and senior management changes.
- Scored and categorized companies as high, medium, or low intent, resulting in around 65 high-intent companies.
Database Building:
- Established accounts for high-intent companies.
- Identified decision-makers attending the event using hashtags, past attendee lists, and combinations.
- Compiled information on attendees and initiated outreach three weeks pre-event, nurturing connections and providing value.
Meeting Preparation:
- Leveraged client feedback and research to create speaking points highlighting new initiatives and the company’s relevance.
Outcome:
- Secured 11-13 meetings with significant pharma companies
2024’s demand generation demands agility. By embracing buyer-centricity, utilizing intent data, and personalizing messaging, you can navigate the shifting landscape and build lasting trust with your target audience.