Best Practices for Demand Generation

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.

“Your content isn’t a differentiator—it’s a commodity.” a $19M CMO asked me: “how do we stand out in a market that’s flooded with content?” my response? “stop producing content. start producing original research.” most companies treat thought leadership like a volume game— 📌 repost industry benchmarks 📌 repackage someone else’s blog 📌 react to trending news or LinkedIn takes but the best GTM teams don’t just publish. they run GTM like a research lab. they investigate. original research isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s your content moat. if your brand isn’t backed by insight, you don’t have a POV—you have opinions. if your sales deck relies on only internal stats, you don’t have authority—you have dependency. if your marketing playbook hasn’t been updated with real customer data, you don’t have strategy—you have guesswork. when GTM is fueled by research, it becomes a competitive engine. so what does a research-driven GTM system look like? 1️⃣ predictable demand generation → how do we earn attention with insight? ✅ create data your buyers can’t find anywhere else ✅ partner with analysts, customers, or communities to co-produce insight ✅ promote research findings across product marketing, brand, sales, and PR 🚀 example: Gong → turned sales call data into viral content + trust-building insights OpenView → SaaS benchmarks that power the GTM of hundreds of startups 2️⃣ seamless pipeline conversion → how do we enable buyers with clarity? ✅ use research to frame the problem and build urgency ✅ arm AEs with industry-specific insights that shift conversations ✅ ground messaging in data, not just value props 🚀 example: Figma → published research on collaboration gaps to drive adoption G2 → used category data to educate buyers and accelerate decisions 3️⃣ revenue retention & expansion → how do we keep leading with insight post-sale? ✅ host insight-driven QBRs that prove value ✅ share ongoing trend reports with current customers ✅ co-create case studies and benchmarks based on actual usage 🚀 example: HubSpot → publishes “State of Marketing” to upserve and re-engage Amplitude → shares product analytics benchmarks to deepen use cases final thoughts 📌 if your content doesn’t lead with insight, it won’t land 📌 if your GTM isn’t learning—you’re falling behind 📌 if your sales team can’t teach, they can’t sell GTM isn’t about chasing trends. it’s about building trust. so i’ll ask you: 👉 is your GTM guessing—or is it grounded in original research? let’s discuss 👇 — love, sangram p.s. we have written over 30 original research notes and actively working with leaders like Gainsight ZoomInfo Demandbase PathFactory PartnerStack Qualified. DM Sangram Vajre to learn how to power your GTM with research and insights. #gotomarket #gtm #originalresearch #b2b #marketing

"Marketing's dirty secret is that what we call demand gen is really putting together offers and content that we put out on the internet like landmines. When someone trips over them, we bring them in and call them a lead. The conversion rates are terrible, the funnel is broken, and the customer experience is poor." Overheard yesterday from a CMO. And she's right. We've built a demand gen system that is destroying the customer experience: ☑️ Every whitepaper download triggers an SDR barrage ☑️ Basic pricing info sits behind aggressive forms ☑️ Email sequences that won't take no for an answer Yet data shows 69% of B2B buying happens anonymously, before any form fill. By the time buyers reach out, 80% already have their preferred vendor — and that vendor wins 80% of the time. The real opportunity? Building preference before buyers know they're in-market. This means: ☑️ Marketing that educates, entertains, and elevates — engagement, not leads ☑️ Content valuable enough that people would pay for it — then giving it away free ☑️ Communities that connect peers and foster genuine relationships The companies winning today aren't optimizing for form fills. They're investing in brand, thought leadership, and customer experience. They're playing the long game while others chase quick wins. The future of B2B marketing isn't about trapping buyers — it's about earning their trust before they even start shopping. #B2Bmarketing #demandgen #marketingstrategy #customerexperience #leadership

I thought this demand gen leader was going to ask for more leads. Here's what he asked me for instead: FEWER leads. Most demand gen strategies are built on volume. More MQLs.  More form fills.  More sales handoffs. The flawed assumption that if we just generate enough leads, pipeline will take care of itself. But this Head of Demand Generation sees things differently. His company was spending $1.6M on paid search - most of it on bottom-of-funnel, ready-to-talk leads. Sounds great in theory. But in reality: - The cost per lead was too high. - Too many leads weren’t a fit. - Sales was wasting time on bad conversations Instead of chasing more, he wants to optimize for better - even if it means seeing fewer MQLs on a dashboard. And here’s the kicker: He wasn’t just okay with lead volume going down. He was okay knowing pipeline going up might TAKE TIME. I might have scared him because this was me: "This is music to my ears 😍"  "Where have you been all my life? 😍" "Are you hiring? 😍" This is the opposite of how most of my calls go. On almost every sales call, the ask is the same: "Can you help us increase our conversion rate?" But the real questions should be: "Are we getting the right people to convert?" "Are we giving buyers the right information?" Bad news: a higher conversion rate ≠ better pipeline. If unqualified leads convert more easily, sales just ends up with more bad conversations, and you end up "nurturing" a CRM full of people who were never going to buy anyway. The best marketing leaders understand that: - Pipeline isn’t an overnight game in B2B  - Conversions aren't a good measure of success. It’s about setting up the right buyers with the right information to convert when they're ready. Anyway, back to my guy. Instead of focusing on lead volume, he’s prioritizing pipeline quality: - Cutting spend on low-intent search  - Optimizing for research, not just conversion - Treating marketing as a filter, not a funnel - Helping buyers self-qualify before hitting sales  - Playing the long game His words, not mine. But dang 😍 I can't blame us for thinking the other way, though. Most demand gen teams stay stuck in the lead-chasing cycle because that’s how they’re measured. Heck, that's how I was measured my entire career. The change has to start at the top. The smartest leaders don't care about conversion rates. They care about better pipeline AND most importantly, they’re willing to be patient enough to see it happen.

The catalyst for growth isn't the new tech stack (2024 more than ever), a shiny media buy, or even keyword expansion. Growth is catalyzed by a laser-focused ICP, a seamless user journey, refined messaging, and consistent engagement with an audience in an organic manner. When marketers force growth, it's often because: →We execute poor marketing strategies →We overcomplicate brand messaging →We stifle feature development and releases →We create copy for the board instead of the prospect →We measure success in volume rather than quality →We analyze TOFU versus pipeline sources For each client, I focus on 3 analysis pillars: 𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝘖𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦: 𝘛𝘰 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨: → What are the baseline business details: ACV, ARR, and the sales cycle? → Which sources drive pipeline and revenue? → Which industries contribute to pipeline and revenue? → What industries are consistently lost, and why? 𝟮. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲/𝗖𝗥𝗢 (𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻) 𝘖𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦: 𝘛𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘱𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨: → Map the current user journey on the website → Evaluate speed from lead to demo and first activity from SDR/BDR → Analyze the value brought by the Thank You page. → Measure the value yielded by follow-up emails. 𝟯. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘖𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦: 𝘛𝘰 𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨: → Listen to 3-5 sales calls with lost and won opps (by priority industries) → Group sentiments and questions into themes →Identify if issues are related to pricing, features, or poor selling → Map themes to existing content: What's lacking? What's strong? Understanding these pillars sets you up for future success and the right data to influence change. I've personally executed this framework with 15 SaaS clients and consulted 35 to date setting the stage for comprehensive optimizations from the ground up. It's a long marathon, but when fueled correctly, it feels less painful. #demandgen #growthmarketing #b2b #saas

Here’s where most companies fail—they tweak targeting or messaging but leave everything else untouched. ICP research is not an exercise to get voice of the customer data for copywriting. A winning GTM requires a full recalibration. Tweaking your messaging or targeting is a start, but if the rest of your go-to-market strategy isn’t aligned with your ICP, you’re leaving massive growth potential untapped. Here’s all that ICP research need to influence: 1. Messaging & positioning: Address your ICP pain points and goals directly, in a way that highlights your onlyness (where you win). 2. Demand gen targeting: Focus your spend where your ICP actually spends time. Know the communities they belong to, newsletter they read, etc. 3. Product roadmap: Build what your ICP needs—not just what sounds exciting. Their priorities are your priorities. 4. Sales enablement: Equip your team with playbooks and objection-handling scripts tailored to your ICP’s specific concerns. 5. Sales process: Simplify the buying experience to match how your ICP likes to purchase. Align timelines, remove friction. 6. Content creation: Create resources that speak directly to their challenges and goals. 7. Customer marketing: Turn ICPs into advocates. Build strategies for retention, advocacy, and expansion that deepen relationships. ICP alignment is a transformation that touches every part of your strategy.

Revamping Your Demand Gen Strategy? I've sat with countless B2B leaders, each recounting the trenches they've dug in their demand gen wars, only to uncover unforeseen mines. Let's unmask the real-life challenges: ✅ Data Disconnects One leader spoke of investing thousands into premium data sources, only to discover their CRM wasn't ingesting 40% of it. The lesson? Before chasing advanced data, ensure your foundational tech can absorb, process, and actualize it. ✅ Silent Budget Bleeds Another recounted a PPC campaign promising high-intent leads. Months in, the budget was bleeding with little to show. A closer look revealed competitors artificially driving up bid prices. We switched gears, focusing on organic growth and more reliable paid channels. ✅ Engagement Illusion Webinars with hundreds registered, but mere tens attending. The challenge isn’t just catching eyes; it's ensuring you hold their attention. Crafting follow-ups that reignite the initial spark is a strategy too few capitalize on. ✅ Pivot Paralysis A firm I collaborated with clung to a once-successful email strategy. Open rates plummeted, but change was feared. Together, we embraced A/B testing, allowing data, not nostalgia, to guide the next step. ✅ Misunderstood Value Proposition: You might understand your product's value inside out, but is that mirrored in your prospect's understanding? Dive into sales call recordings, identify communication gaps, and bridge them in your messaging. The real task? Distilling our value proposition into concise, compelling narratives that resonate. Revamping isn’t mere tweaking; it’s introspection. It's understanding that demand gen isn't just about the 'how,' but the 'why' behind every strategy. It's this depth that separates leaders from the crowd.  Dive deep, challenge norms, and sculpt gold from grit.  #demandgeneration #demandgen #demandgenstrategy #b2bmarketing

Our best performing clients are perfecting their nurture strategy by studying competitor playbooks… but not the way you think. We recently analyzed thousands of B2B nurture sequences, and what we discovered is fascinating: there is almost zero use of competitive intelligence in lead follow up nurtures. This fascinates me because it seems like demand gen teams could better leverage intent about what content their competitors are promoting and writing about. Instead of guessing what content will resonate or when to send follow-ups, they could use real market data to drive their strategy. As someone who's spent years working with mid-market and enterprise demand gen teams, I think competitive intelligence is a new frontier to improve pipeline generation. There is a heavy reliance on generic intent data right now. But those are overused by brands and their competitors. Using competitive content marketing patterns I think is far more valuable. The clients that are using our unique competitive intelligence data are getting real results: - They map their competitor content strategies - They design lead follow up nurtures to speak to what (and maybe more importantly, how) everyone else is NOT saying things - They time their outreach based on best practices - They build sequences that are thoughtful, not batch and blast I think the future of intent data isn't about looking for the silver bullet. It’s about understanding the complete competitive landscape, knowing what signals REALLY matter for your product/GTM approach, and designing for what your customer wants.

One of the key pillars of a successful demand generation strategy is a diversified marketing mix. Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a client who initially relied heavily on just two channels—SEO and Paid Ads. Within 6 months, we transformed their approach from a two-legged strategy into a well-rounded marketing mix that now drives revenues from multiple sources. And we’re just getting started! How did we achieve this? ➡ Holistic Data-Driven Analysis: We began with a comprehensive audit of their current marketing efforts, identifying gaps and opportunities across various channels. A significant part of this was convincing the C-suite why relying on just two channels is a dangerous strategy. ➡ Targeted Channel Expansion: Instead of relying solely on SEO and Paid Ads, we expanded into Email Marketing, Social Media, and Referral Programs. Each channel was carefully selected based on the client’s audience and business goals. For email marketing, we created custom flows for both current customers and prospects, building an engaged audience through just-in-time, educational, and transactional emails. ➡ Consistent Messaging & Cross-Channel Synergies: I'm a firm believer in Ogilvy's "The medium is the message," so we ensured the brand message remained consistent across all channels. This created a seamless experience for the audience and strengthened the brand’s presence. We also ensured that channels like email and social media reinforced one another, driving stronger brand presence and conversions. ➡ Data-Driven Adjustments: Linear attribution by channel is outdated, so we had to first "sell" the idea of assisted attribution to the client. In our omni-channel world, it was crucial to analyze data and make campaign adjustments based on those insights. By closely monitoring performance metrics, we quickly optimized our strategies for the best ROI across all channels. ➡ Collaboration and Buy-In: As marketers, our real "selling" begins after onboarding a client, as we're constantly pitching new ways to drive demand. Achieving this transformation required strong collaboration with the client’s internal team and stakeholders. Together, we aligned on goals, brand positioning, and data insights to drive initiatives forward. Looking back, we could’ve taken the safer route of only managing the client’s paid media and organic search efforts, but that would’ve been short-sighted. Instead, we took a slightly riskier approach by launching new demand generation initiatives that might have got us fired, but it was in the best interest of the business. This strategy not only diversified their revenue streams but also made their marketing efforts more resilient and adaptable to changing market conditions. Would love to hear your thoughts....what are your greatest challenges with demand generation marketing?

Forget chasing vanity metrics and pouring money into fancy ad campaigns. True demand generation for startups isn't about blindly casting a wide net, it's about nurturing relationships with your audience and delivering real value. Let's cut through the noise and dive into the fundamentals that actually move the needle."" --- ↳ **Step 1: Define Your Target Audience** - Understand the demographics, behaviors, pain points, and aspirations of your ideal customers. - Create detailed buyer personas to align your messaging and tactics with their needs. - Gather insights through surveys, interviews, and data analysis to refine your targeting strategy. --- ↳ **Step 2: Craft Compelling Content** - Develop a content strategy that resonates with your target audience and addresses their challenges. - Create a mix of educational, entertaining, and engaging content across different channels. - Emphasize quality over quantity to build trust and credibility with your audience. --- ↳ **Step 3: Implement Multi-channel Campaigns** - Utilize a mix of channels such as social media, email marketing, SEO, and partnerships to reach your audience. - Ensure consistency in messaging and branding across all touchpoints to maintain brand visibility. - Track and analyze the performance of each channel to optimize your campaign efforts. --- ↳ **Step 4: Nurture Leads and Drive Conversions** - Implement lead nurturing campaigns that guide prospects through the buyer's journey. - Personalize interactions based on user behavior and preferences to build stronger relationships. - Test different conversion tactics and continuously optimize your funnel for better results. --- 🔍 Learn more about mastering Demand Generation for startups: [The Startup Marketer's Resources](https://lnkd.in/diqtzpBW) --- Don't miss out on valuable insights! Subscribe to [The Startup Marketer](https://lnkd.in/dwMpcTSP) for regular updates and exclusive content. --- This playbook format provides a structured approach to understanding the fundamentals of Demand Generation for startup marketing, guiding readers through actionable steps to drive meaningful results. By combining expert advice with practical tips, startup marketers can elevate their strategies and achieve sustainable growth. https://lnkd.in/dzy_V_hk"