Demand Generation Insights

I honestly can’t believe he shared this. But Tyler Calder (PartnerStack CMO) shared their whole GTM strategy with me. And it’s not influencer fluff, it works. Over the last year+ they’ve been able to: -- Increase pipeline value by 58%+ -- While DECREASING cost per dollar of pipe by 35%. -- And improving NRR, & ACV So… getting MORE efficient as they scaled, not less. As a marketer I’m always looking for real playbooks that I can actually use, because they come from another practitioner. Proven. No incentives. This is one. His playbook is simple but beautiful: (full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/e6qJcsx7) 1️⃣ 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗨𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 & 𝗜𝗖𝗣 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀 (& 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗜𝗖𝗣 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱) -- They built an AI-powered ICP Model (with Keyplay) that lets them hyper-focus on accounts that are showing fit signals. Built on real modern fit signals like: 1. Are they using a PartnerStack competitor? 2. Are they actively hiring for partnerships? 3. Do they have multiple partner motions live (affiliate, referral, agency)? 4. Are they growing? Recently funded? Product-led? Employee count? 5. Are they investing into areas that partnerships could either compliment or displace because it’s more efficient? etc. 2️⃣ 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄. 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 -- Prioritize accounts by fit (Tier A, B, C, D) -- Tailor plays to accounts by segment & tier -- Use AI signals to segment deeper and hyper-personalize 3️⃣ 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴'𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯. Imagine what you could do if you knew every account in your market… You’d build a report that shows every account and their engagement. Then you’d report on how that changes weekly, monthly, quarterly… They do exactly that. This isn't a shiny tactic. But I guarantee if take this seriously you’ll get something out of it that will work. It's fundamentals done right. And a perfect reminder for any marketing leader. Read the in-depth breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/e6qJcsx7

Every team talks about intent, triggers & signals Very few know how to act on it.   The truth? 👉 Most "intent signals" are just passive data exhaust. 👉 And most GTM teams aren't wired to act on them fast enough to matter.   Intent without infrastructure = no replies. Cold Email without the right timing = ignored. LinkedIn engagement that no one follows up on = wasted.   So here’s what we do instead 👇   We treat intent like infrastructure ☑ If someone hits a pricing page → RB2B flags it → Clay auto-enrichs → lemlist sends an email ☑ If someone engages with a competitor → Apify triggers an “alt vendor” play ☑ If a company raises $10M → Clay surfaces the jobs they're hiring for → If they hire for GTM roles, then lemlist sends an email   Intent is only useful when your system knows: 1. What happened 2. Who to send it to 3. What to say 4. When to say it 5. And how to follow up   Most teams never get past #1. Intent isn’t insight. Intent is activation.   If your GTM isn’t built to react in <24 hours, you don’t need more signals. You need better wiring.   Want to build the system? Let’s talk.   #coldemail #gtm #intentdata #salescaptain #clay #signals

Demand gen is utterly broken. It's overly complicated & lacks the soul and creativity that consumers deserve. I promise there's a better way. Here's the 3-pronged content engine we're building for companies at storyarb: Principles: - Treat your content as the product, not as marketing for another product - Unique insights + Unique voice + Unique packaging = Unique content - Pick topics that make your Market of 1 better at their job Channels: 1) Deeply researched long-form content Purpose: create data-driven OR interview-based website content that is deep enough & insightful enough such that a reader feels the need to bookmark & reference later. Good examples: Lenny Rachitsky: "How the biggest consumer apps got first 1,000 users" - Lenny interviewed hundreds of founders, identified patterns, and broke down the seven strategies consumer apps used to grow. Carta: "State of Private Markets: Q3 2024" Report - Using tons of internal funding data by Carta customers to pull together trends in startup funding for the quarter. HubSpot: "My First Million's Business Idea Database" - Aggregating & organizing 57 startup ideas shared by past MFM podcast guests into an e-mail gated database 2) Editorial email newsletter Purpose: create the best industry read for your market of 1 that allows you to build an owned audience of current/future customers. Good examples: - Content Examined by Alex Garcia: the best read for consumer content marketers, which acts as a perfect nurturing tool for his community, course, and agency - Big Desk Energy by Tyler Denk 🐝: a window into building a high-growth startup as it's happening by the founder of beehiiv - Exploding Topics: a snapshot of 4 emerging trends (based on google search data) that founders & investors should be aware of. 3) Personal brand social content Purpose: allow your market of 1 to build a parasocial relationship with your company through 1-4 personalities (execs, founders, etc) who enable connection with your faceless brand. Good examples: - Adam Robinson: fully transparent monthly breakdowns of his companies' (Retention.com & RB2B) performance with lessons learned & plans to fix key issues - Peter Walker: Head of Insights at Carta uses first party data from the company to share unique startup ecosystem trends + his own POV - Kieran Flanagan: AI & GTM expert who shares deep marketing insights, playbooks, and predictions that help build his & HubSpot's brand If you want help building this 3-pronged engine at your company, shoot me a DM or email at alex@storyarb[.]com.

"Our funnel is completely clogged, and our CEO and investors are starting to panic," shared a CMO from a $375MM SaaS firm. The other Huddlers sympathized, noting they were facing similar challenges. Sound familiar? The old playbook of flooding the funnel, scoring MQLs, and handing off to sales isn't just broken; it's toxic. Here's why your funnel is clogged and what actually works now: 1. Your data is a disaster. The average customer contact database health score? A pathetic 47%, according to research from BoomerangAI. More than half of B2B companies haven't updated their database in six months—or ever. Bad data isn't just an operational issue. It erodes every layer of your funnel. Fix this first. Assign database ownership cross-functionally. Tie enrichment to your GTM motions. And please activate alumni contact programs. Only 12% of companies have formal programs for contacts who left employers, yet they're gold mines. 2. You're still pitching tours when buyers want tools. Recent TrustRadius research shows that 52% of buyers say prior experience is their #1 decision input. Only 13% say a demo "blew them away." 3. Stop the demo obsession. Launch website-based product exploration tools. Add pricing guidance. Create modular content for AI summarization since 90% of buyers who see AI-generated summaries click through to cited sources. 4. The MQL addiction is killing you. As one CMO put it: "MQLs are problematic... we’re trying to figure out how to get fewer, better leads." Track conversion quality at each funnel stage. Hold weekly demand gen and sales alignment meetings. Ditch vanity metrics for outcome-based KPIs. 5. You're pitching spend instead of displacement. Few CFOs are greenlighting net-new spending, but they will approve reallocation when the ROI is crystal clear. Reframe your pitch: "Invest in this → reduce spend on that." Connect to CFO logic, not just user pain. 6. You're making promises instead of proving value. Buyers want proof in 120 days or less. The "trust us, it'll pay off eventually" era is dead. If you have the data, create 120-day value realization case studies. Use prospect data to build "speed-to-value" narratives. Lead with time-to-value, not feature lists. The companies unclogging their funnels aren't working harder—they're working smarter. They've ditched the old playbook for data-driven precision. Your move. PS - For a longer look at this issue, please check out my May 2025 #HuddleUp newsletter.

It's wild to see the the role "GTM Engineering" is starting to blow up via companies such as Clay, Apollo, etc.. Something I see missing from the discussion though is how "engineering" is involved with the role. I've seen multiple job description, blogs, and LI posts who essentially equate the "engineering" in the role to Zapier integrations and being "data driven." I think this is a huge mistake and misrepresents what a GTM Engineer can actually do. Yes, knowing how to integrate various GTM tools together via integrations and Zapier is important. My first year at Gable was focused heavily on this job component... but this doesn't set GTM Engineering up for success. Specifically, the power in GTM Engineering is the ability to ingest GTM signals specific to your business and then use these signals to optimize your GTM funnel. The key phrase here is "specific to your business." THIS IS 100% A DATA ENGINEERING AND DATA SCIENCE PROBLEM. Anyone can quickly setup a CRM and start integrating tools and throwing Zapier on top. But this is what an engineer focuses on: 1. What are the unique signals that are specific to the business? 2. Given these unique signals, what does the underlying data model need to be. 3. For this data model, what is the architecture diagram across databases (hint: your CRM is database managed by a 3rd party tool) 4. For key signals not associated with a native integration, what data pipelines do you need to build? 5. How do we maintain this architecture, version control code associated with it, and keep the cost of running these pipelines low? For context, say I want to add the signal of "email opens" to a tool. Many companies will push you to use Zapier and thus push the cost to run the pipeline on you. One zap workflow costs around $0.06, but you send 10k email a week with a 10% open rate-- in other words, one zap workflow will cost you ~$3k/year minimum (not accounting for growth). Multiply that by multiple workflows and it gets expensive FAST. In comparison, a AWS lambda call (cloud compute) is $0.20 per 1 MILLION requests. Zapier and vibes will get you by until you actually need engineering. Hopefully you hired engineers in practice and not engineers in title alone. #gtm #GTMengineering #data #ai

Ever chosen something for one reason, only to find there’s more to it? Buying decisions are emotional and layered - whether it's a beverage, an app, or B2B software. We all seek gratifying experiences. We all know the phrase "You don't get fired for buying IBM." Positioning yourself in the customer's mind requires understanding how they think - this can be complex and varies by category, company, and product. Business choices are complex. Market research and advanced analytics can reveal a more holistic picture helping us avoid subjective decisions. 🔍 Identifying the Ideal Customer Profile isn’t just Marketing's task; it’s a team effort. But it’s Marketing’s job to lead the charge. Without solid data, sales teams might miss key insights. With comprehensive research, they gain a full understanding, making their efforts both efficient and effective. Here’s how we’ve succeeded: 👉 Combining CRM Data, Design Thinking, and Customer Feedback boosted sales velocity by 50%. 👉 Win/Loss Analysis, Interviews, and Surveys fueled a year-long Demand Gen campaign and created sales assets. Choose the #marketresearch techniques that fit your business needs. Use them to build detailed #personas for your #buyingcommittee. This helps align go-to-market teams on #data and #trends across target accounts and your ICP, saving sales time and making efforts more targeted. 🔧 Market Research Toolbox 🔧 ✅ Competitive Analysis ✅ SEO/Keyword Analysis ✅ CRM Data Analysis ✅ Segmentation Analysis ✅ Qualitative Interviews / Design Thinking ✅ Messaging Testing ✅ Qualitative and Quantitative Surveys ✅ Sentiment Analysis / Social Media Listening ✅ Win/Loss Analysis ✅ Customer Journey Mapping ✅ Product and UI/UX Testing ✅ A/B Testing ✅ Business Panels ✅ Ethnographic Research ✅ Customer Feedback Loop ✅ NPS These tools aren’t just nice to have; they’re essential - speeding up sales cycles, increasing revenue, and leading to satisfied customers. What’s your #gotomarket research methodology to truly understand and connect with your customers? Let’s share and learn from each other in the comments below! 👇 Entry Point 1 #gtm #marketing #marketresearch #voiceofthecustomer #voc

Controversial take - I believe Signal-based prospecting should sit with your marketing/growth team. The reality is prospecting currently sits with your sales team who is adopting a 1960s style of static prospecting. What is Static OR Dynamic Prospecting? Static → They build a static list of 1,000 leads, blast them with messages, and hope for the best. ⚠️ That’s the old way. Here’s what smart marketing & growth teams are doing instead → Dynamic prospecting. What’s the difference? ❌ Static prospecting: You create a one-time list based on generic criteria (job title, company size, industry) and send mass outreach messages. ✅ Dynamic prospecting: You reach out when something happens— silent signals like engaging with content X number of times, engaging with a competitor, posting in a WhatsApp group etc. It’s based on real-time triggers, not stale data. Why does this work better? - Relevant outreach - Higher response rates - No list decay So how do you get started with Dynamic Prospecting? 1. Identify what triggers indicate buying intent in your industry 2. Use tools like Trigify.io, Vector 👻, Keyplay, Clay to monitor these signals and automatically surface leads. 3. Instead of generic outreach, tie your message to the pain created by the trigger 4. Keep iterating (Change your signals) If you’re still relying on static lists, you’re leaving a ton of deals on the table.

Most founders don’t have a content problem. They have a messaging gap that no carousel or cold email can fix. Because when your hook doesn’t trigger emotion, your dream clients keep scrolling. When your content isn’t tied to a buyer insight, that webinar never fills. That demo link? Gets ignored. But when we align your message with how your buyers actually think? That’s when everything changes. Here’s how we turn content into conversion fuel: 𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗼𝗸 Using behavioral science principles like loss aversion and information gap theory, we write what your buyers can’t ignore so they lean in instantly. 𝟮. 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 We mirror your audience’s frustrations and name the thing they couldn’t articulate. This builds belief before the CTA. 𝟯. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲-𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 We analyze buying triggers and emotional objections, then build posts that pull people forward. Repost, repost, repost. 𝟰. 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Every line is built to drive action, whether that’s a demo, a webinar signup, or a DM. One short-form video = 7 high-converting assets. 𝟱. 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 Not all posts go viral. But the right ones? They quietly convert. We double down on what works. If your content isn’t turning into signups or sales... It’s not a volume issue. It’s a strategy issue. 🔍 Your audience is already looking for a solution. The question is, are they seeing yours as the obvious choice? 👇 Which do you need more of right now: leads, clarity, or belief? PS: Most content gives value. Ours gives buyers a reason to say yes. 💡 There’s a difference—and it’s costing you leads. This is how we could drive 52 webinar registrations within the first few hours of the email send just last week. #demandgeneration #B2Bmessaging

I’ve been leading demand generation strategy for events at Microsoft and these are the top 3 key audience marketing strategies: First step when assigned to an event 🔍Segmentation and Targeting: It’s super important to understand the audience by breaking them down into specific segments based on their unique needs and behaviors. This enables us to deliver tailored messaging and campaigns. For example, we might segment our audience into "enterprise customers," "small businesses," and "individual users." By customizing our approach for each group, we ensure our marketing campaigns resonate and address their distinct challenges thus drawing them in as registered attendees. Secondly, a focus on ✍🏿Personalization and Engagement: As a demand gen lead, I want to make our interactions feel personalized to ensure our target audience engages with any content we put out so we can foster deeper connections. This includes personalized email campaigns, product and event recommendations, and targeted ads. In our touch points we also showcase various other pull-through methods such as interactive content such as webinars, surveys, and live events to keep our audience engaged. By understanding and addressing individual needs, we create a more meaningful and impactful relationship with our customers and partners. Last but not least 📝Storytelling and Content Marketing: As a storyteller myself, it’s important to me that we craft compelling narratives that showcase the benefits of our products and services through our events. Through a mix of content formats like blog posts, whitepapers, case studies, and social media updates, we tell stories that highlight how our solutions solve real-world problems. For example, we might share stories about how our cloud services have transformed businesses, or how our AI technologies are driving innovation, or how AI-skilling is making an impa on real people. This approach helps build an emotional connection with our audience, making Microsoft a trusted and relatable brand. These are only a few key strategies, but, by implementing these strategies, we drive demand generation and build lasting relationships with our customers and partners through our event experiences. As a demand gen lead, my workstream is the first touchpoint to the potential attendee — and I love to make it a magical one. Are you an event marketer? What are your marketing tactics? Share below. Here's to successful marketing! 📈🚀 #theBOLDjourney #audiencemarketing #eventmarketing

What if you salespeople had 3 to 5 conversations a day with people who could buy? But they don’t. What are they doing instead? The goal is to get them more conversations with buyers. It's getting tougher and doing what you’ve always done most likely isn’t working. Most companies with a complex sale rely on a combination of outbound tactics along with trade shows but those aren’t producing conversations like they used to. If you had enough inbound to keep the funnel full it would be amazing. But most of you don’t. Cold outreach is not the only answer. There is a combination of lead gen methods you can use that will work and if your marketing team is doing demand gen at the same time, even better. ✔️ Host or show up at the right events. Besides the trade shows, think targeted roundtables, dinners, or LinkedIn Lives. These will generate leads you can follow up with. What you do at these events determines whether prospects will continue the conversation, which is crucial for finding out if there is an opportunity. ✔️ Make referral selling a priority because intros close more deals than any cold DM ever will. Build and nurture your network in a way that people see you as a giver, willing to help. Make introductions for your network, they are sure to reciprocate. ✔️ Build content that attracts your ideal persona and then engage in a conversion with them. When they comment on your content and you comment back you are starting a conversation. ✔️ Partnerships work great for many. These can be a formal channel or informal arrangements. Find others who sell to the same target audience but don’t compete. Start the conversation about how you can help each other. ✔️ Account-based outreach for sales. Instead of a one to many approach that marketing uses, sales should use a one to one approach with each persona in each company using industry insights and information from research. Highly custom, well written messages can get a higher response rate and when coupled with person level intent data, LinkedIn comments, calls and voicemail they can get an even higher response rate. It’s not a volume activity, it is done on a highly targeted list and only about 5 to 10 companies at a time. ✔️Use Contact Marketing when the stakes are high and the deal size warrants it. For more on that follow Stu Heinecke and read his book, How to Get a Meeting with Anyone. On October 2, I’ll walk through these high-impact, real-world strategies you can use right now. Jennifer Pinter✨ is our host and this Pavilion event is sponsored by Rhombus. —  👩💼 Who Should Attend: CEOs, Sales & Marketing Leaders, Account Executives 📅 Date: Thursday, October 2 ⏰ Time: Arrive at 4:30 p.m. we start with networking 🍸 Venue/Sponsor: Rhombus, 1610 R St #350, Sacramento, CA 95811 Let's support salespeople in having more conversations with those who can buy. Can’t make it or aren’t in the area, try one of the above and let me know how it goes!