How to Understand Demand Generation Strategies

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

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

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

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"

Old Way = Look at the Sales funnel by department New Way = Look at the Sales funnel by buyer intent (how the buyer entered the sales funnel) Historically, each department is measured by the blended performance of the “leads” they source with direct software-attribution. This model incentives getting the most “leads” and the lowest cost, not to drive *revenue & and sales productivity. Marketing runs lead gen to first-touch attribution on as many contacts as possible to game attribution. It doesn’t actually drive customers to want to buy but appeases their outdated attribution models circa 2012. Planning and forecasting breaks down because they blend content syndication leads that close at 0.1% with declared intent demo requests that win at 8%. Their old school “demand waterfall” model breaks like cheap glass. Departments (Sales, Marketing, SDRs) fight over credit instead of working together because that’s how teams are measured and budgets are set. It’s such an outdated model and a core driver of sales/marketing misalignment and other overall GTM problems. Smart companies want to adopt an “All-Bound” model because they see this clear problem in their business, but need a new framework to measure success & make strategy adjustments. Here’s how to make it happen: 1. Look at what GTM motion CAPTURED the demand (what was the trigger for how the buyer entered the pipeline). These are called “pipeline sources”. 2. These pipeline sources are a surrogate for **buyer intent** and will much better predict sales efficiency metrics like win rate, sales cycle length, and pipeline velocity. 3. Build a separate attribution model (e.g. self-reported attribution) to characterize what programs are CREATING the demand. 4. Use this data to OPTIMIZE your entire revenue strategy, not determine binary credit to teams, departments, and budgets. Implementing this framework will: 1. Drive significantly better alignment between all GTM teams 2. Have all teams WORKING TOGETHER, not fighting each other for “credit” 3. Create an entirely new view for Revenue leaders and strategists to make far better decisions & strategy improvements 4. Dramatically improve your revenue planning and forecasting accuracy. 5. Clearly show you where to FOCUS and clearly show you what to STOP doing. It’s 2023. Every department (Sales, Marketing, SDRs, Customer Success, etc.) contributes to every closed won customer. Because of this, B2B companies need to establish a holistic, objective, comprehensive view of their entire GTM performance. #b2b #revenue #sales #marketing #gtm

Last week Retention.com booked 50+ demos for our new beta in a single day. We didn't use tools like ZoomInfo, Hubspot or Salesloft to generate these leads. Here's the new playbook for B2B Demand Gen: BACKSTORY: On Saturday our CEO Adam Robinson published a LinkedIn post announcing our new  “person-level identity” product for B2B SaaS companies. It drove over 50 booked demos & 200 inquiries (and counting). If we had followed the conventional B2B Demand Gen wisdom, it would have taken a team of 3-4 SDRs, buying lists, sending 4,000 personalized emails, 200 phone calls & months in opportunity cost to generate the same volume of interest & demos that we intentionally generated with a single LinkedIn post. And this wasn't a one-off or an accident... We have run this play multiple times. I do not like the term social selling. We are creating relationships and identifying a fit, not selling... But I think this playbook may be the future of B2B Demand Gen. Here are 5 keys to replicating this success: 1. Creating demand is the job of C-Level folks not SDRs: We have been asking inexperienced SDRs to create demand with experienced decision makers. How does this make sense? Decision makers love talking to other Decision makers not to SDRs (no offense SDRs!). C-Level execs need to stop being lazy and start engaging with prospects directly to generate demand. 2. Build An Engaged Audience: Have you ever wondered why DTC companies don’t run into issues like spam rates as much as B2B companies do, despite sending a lot more emails?? That’s because DTC marketers always work with an engaged audience - something B2B marketers and execs skip. Without an engaged audience, Demand Gen becomes tactical and not helpful in creating a lasting business.  3. Run out of leads? Use your Megaphone: The new way of generating leads very quickly is to leverage one's community. Execs need to personally lead this initiative with content creation and audience building. 4. Qualify and Follow Up: Qualify engagements within your ICP and Follow up on email or Linkedin with absurdly high response rates. 5. Realize Not only Execs have the Megaphone: Social media enables any Sales Rep, SDRs, Demand Gen or Sales Leaders to create an engaged audience in their domain. Focus on providing upfront value with no expectations. Don’t just provide "thought leadership" - offer free consulting and genuine assistance. Future AEs will be influencers in their own regards. They will be the trusted advisor to thousands of potential buyers and will take their entire community to their new job. TAKEAWAY: Sales and marketing is at an inflection point. You can ride this wave and benefit from the change or get left behind. I've never been interested in maintaining the status quo. I wish the same for you. P.S. Want to read the Linkedin post that led to 50+ demos? Link in the comments.

#LinkedInAds can be challenging when trying to get high-quality marketing leads from the US. Here's how we tackle it for our B2B clients. Two Campaign Groups: 1. Cold Prospecting or Demand Gen - 60% of total budget 2. Retargeting - 40% of total budget These Campaign Groups consist of three funnels: Funnel 1 - Awareness & Brand Recall Audience: Target Account list or ICP-based native targeting Goals: Reach 80-90% of the audience with a frequency of 5+ across different campaigns. Introduce our company, services, and value proposition. Assets: Funding News, Company Videos, Founder's 1-Minute Loom, Thought Leadership Blogs KPIs: Website Visits, CTRs, Accounts Engaged, Video Watch Rate Path: Homepage and Blogs Budget: 10% -------------------------------- Funnel 2 - Content-based MoFu Before starting Funnel 2, refresh Funnel 1 audience or acquire a new list/audience. Audience: Engaged users from Funnel 1 Goal: Engage the vetted audience with our content Assets: Playbooks, Ungated Reports, Gated Reports, Webinars KPIs: Valid Gated Content Submissions, Leads from Targeted Lists Path: Lead Generation Forms only Budget: 25% ------------------------- Funnel 3 - Direct Acquisition Audience: Engaged users from Funnels 1 & 2, Ad engagers, form opens, downloaded gated forms, Frequency 5+ or Days 30+ eligibility Assets: Job-to-be-Done (JBTD) based ads, Conversational ads, Integrated product-based ads KPIs: Meeting bookings, Signups, Get Quote, High-intent form fills Path: 50% Lead Generation Forms, 50% Direct LP Testing Budget: 25% ---------------------------------------- The remaining 40% is allocated to Retargeting, which consists of two buckets: First-party website data and CRM data. Retargeting Audience: 1) Non-converters from Funnels 1-3 2) High-intent page visitors from other sources (organic, paid search competitor traffic, core terms, referral traffic) 3) Low-intent but high-value users (e.g., blog scroll depth 70%, 2 pages visited, session duration > 2 minutes) Assets: Case Studies, Testimonial Floaters, G2, Gartner, Forrester badges & Awards, Integration News, Efficiency/Cost savings messaging Path: Create new landing page for returning users and add a microsite link to case studies, customer testimonial videos, etc. Budget: 20% -------------------------------- Lastly, Pipeline Marketing focuses on helping our SDRs move users' lifecycle stages from lead to MQl, MQL to OPP, or Closed Lost to MQL. Assets: Company News, Product Launch Updates, Integration Updates, Upcoming Events, FOMO ads, Funding News KPIs: Sales Replies, Lifecycle Stage Movements, Webinar and Event Registrations This structure will works for most of the B2B brands. Pls share your thoughts on comments. Ideal budget to execute this structure is $10k - $15k monthly budget for linkedin. #ppc #linkedinads