Tips for Maximizing Demand Generation Results

"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.

Many demand generation teams are missing out on owning a critical program: the website. Demand gen teams already own key channels like paid media, events, and email. But the website? That often gets overlooked, despite being one of the most powerful tools for driving performance. Your website is your top salesperson and your storefront. We all know this. Yet ownership often gets fuzzy. Too many restrictions and processes stall action, and key pages sit untouched for months (or longer). Think about it: (Using simple math for explanation) • 10,000 visitors/month • 0.5% visitor → demo conversion rate • 30% demo → qualified pipeline • $20k ACV That’s $300k in pipeline generated/month. Now, imagine small improvements to the site bump the visitor → demo conversion rate to 1%. Suddenly, you’re generating $600k in pipeline/month. So, how do demand gen teams unlock this potential? Here are a few ideas: 1. Start with Small, Actionable Changes: • Test the homepage hero section to be more clear • Identify site navigation patterns. • Improve product visibility and clear messaging that’s ICP-focused and calls out the big problem you’re solving across the homepage, product/solution pages, and other key high-intrnt pages. 2. Benchmark Your Performance: • What’s your current visitor → demo conversion rate? (or other key metrics • How does it compare to industry averages? Even a fractional improvement can compound into significant pipeline growth. 3. Form a Website Stakeholder Team: Demand gen teams don’t need to own the website overnight — or in isolation. Instead, they should lead a cross-functional stakeholder team to: • Brief others, set guardrails, and influence decisions. • Clarify ownership: Who owns what? What’s non-negotiable? What’s flexible? • Continuously test and iterate on site performance. • Align website performance goals with broader company objectives, like ARR growth or customer acquisition. When collaboration happens, movement happens. The bottom line: Your website is one of the most cost-effective ways to boost pipeline performance. Don’t let it sit idle. How does your organization handle website ownership? What’s worked well, or not, for your team? Who should own the website?

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.

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.

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

7 takeaways from my convo with Kyle Coleman on his content strategy at Copy.ai that has turned $12K into $12M in pipeline:   𝟭) 𝗞𝘆𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝟮𝘅𝟮 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘅 Use this matrix to guide what content you create, for who, and when: • In-Market vs. Out-of-Market • Decision Maker vs. Power User 𝟮) 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗷𝘂𝗺𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 Put your homepage next to your 3 closest competitor homepages, and take the logos off. If you can not tell a difference then you need to NAIL these things first: • Your strategic narrative  • Your positioning • Your POV’s • Your messaging Everything else with a content strategy waterfalls from there. Most marketing teams skip this, and instead end up needing to spend $5k to get one sales meeting. 𝟯) 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗢𝗩’𝘀 If you can't answer what big problem you solve, then why would anybody ever buy your solution? Go on a listening tour and talk to people inside your company, and also prospects and customers outside your company. Ask them each two questions: • What is the problem that we solve? • What is the impact of solving that problem? These answers will give you everything you need. 𝟰) 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝘆 Some people will say creating a new category is not smart. Kyle disagrees. You know category creation is working when your language / narrative / phrases are being used in sales meetings by prospects (without your prompting). This will allow you to create a much different conversation and be perceived differently than 99% of your competitors. 𝟱) 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 > 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 If you have a real narrative and a real POV about the future that you're architecting for people, you're not going to attract 1 million people who will consume your content. But that is not the goal. The goal is to get the 1 thousand people that are actually going to buy your product. 𝟲) 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲….𝗴𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗠𝗘’𝘀 Kyle has spent $12k on demand gen, and they’ve created $12 million in pipeline. And it's all from organic content / social. Your job is to create a content strategy that's comprehensive of all of the subject matter experts across your company, and get something out of their brains and onto paper, in podcast recordings, on video, and everywhere else your buyers consume content. 𝟳) 𝗢𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Attribution is way more trouble than it's worth for organic content. You need to have patience and long-term thinking on your content strategy, and you need to have performance / measurement on your demand gen strategy. If you can combine those two things successfully, then that's a pretty winning combination. —- PS - I’ve linked the full episode in the comments if you want to hear the entire convo.

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?

ABM? Demand Gen? Call it whatever you want. I don’t care what you name it. What I do care about: ✅ Deeply understanding who your ideal customers are (and aren't) This means going beyond basic firmographic data. It means understanding the complex web of decision-makers, influencers, and gatekeepers within your target accounts. It means knowing their industry challenges, their personal career motivations, and the internal barriers they face when trying to drive change. Without this foundation, even the most sophisticated marketing strategy will fail. ✅ Meeting them where they already spend time and attention Your perfect message is worthless if it never reaches your target audience. This requires genuine insight into your prospects' information-seeking behaviors. Which communities do they trust? Which publications do they read? Which events do they attend? Which social channels do they actually engage with (not just scroll past)? Success comes from becoming a valuable presence in these existing spaces, not trying to force your audience into your preferred channels. ✅ Creating valuable touchpoints that build genuine trust Every interaction with your brand should deliver real value. This means moving beyond the surface-level "thought leadership" that floods LinkedIn feeds. Instead, focus on creating content and experiences that help your prospects succeed in their roles, whether or not they ever buy from you. Trust is earned through consistent demonstration of expertise and genuine commitment to your audience's success. ✅ Equipping your sales team with context for meaningful first conversations. Marketing's job isn't done when we generate a lead or book a meeting. We need to ensure our sales colleagues are equipped with the context and insights they need to continue the value-driven conversation we've started. This means sharing not just basic contact information, but deep insights about the prospect's engagement journey, the specific challenges they've shown interest in, and the contextual factors affecting their buying decision. Whether you call it ABM, demand gen, or just good marketing, the goal is the same: 📈 Get in front of the right buyers, 🤝 Earn their trust, 💰 Drive revenue. Too many teams waste time debating terminology when they should be focused on execution. The best marketing leaders don’t get caught up in labels—they build systems that generate demand and convert it into pipeline. I've been using Clay recently to understand deeper information about prospects who come into our database, and automate: 📰 Pulling news about the companies they work 📧 Building a waterfall to translate personal emails into business emails 🔎 Leveraging Capterra to get their pricing and competitor information ✍ Write a draft of an outreach email to them

“What is most efficient is often not the most effective.” This was counter-intuitive to me the first time I heard it. I love efficiency. Shouldn’t we all strive for efficiency? To have our marketing produce the most efficient results? Not always. The challenge is that efficiency is often measured in the short term per unit of investment, while effectiveness can take years to play out fully. So while something may look efficient now, it may actually yield less effective results in the future—and vice versa. One of the landmark marketing studies on this is The Long and the Short of It: Balancing Short and Long-Term Marketing Strategies (TLATSOI) by marketing effectiveness legends Les Binet and Peter Field. Originally published in 2013, TLATSOI reveals insights from more than 30 years of campaign submissions to the IPA Effectiveness Awards, one of the largest and most complete datasets covering both short- and long-term marketing results. Here are 7 recommendations based on their conclusions: 1. Don’t rely ONLY on short-term campaigns and measurement. “Although long-term effects always produce some short-term effects, the reverse is not true and long-term effects are not simply an accumulation of short-term effects. [...] Brand campaigns (i.e. enhancing brand preference) achieve smaller short-term effects but the strongest long-term profit growth.” 2. Balance your brand/demand creation and activation/demand capture budget allocations. “The optimum balance of brand and activation expenditure is on average around 60:40, though this may vary by category.” 3. Have integrated campaigns each with different goals. “The most successful rounded approach is to develop highly creative fame campaigns supported by powerful activation campaigns to drive short-term sales while the brand effect gains momentum.” 4. Use price promotions sparingly. “Reducing price sensitivity is more profitable than increasing volume. The most profitable campaigns support volume and price. Price-related promotions only generate short-term volume and increase price sensitivity.” 5. Try to reach all of your TAM. “The most effective and efficient campaigns talk to the whole category (existing and potential customers).” 6. Proportional to market share, outspend (or be more viral) than your competitors. “Market share growth per annum is strongly related to Extra Share of Voice (ESOV) i.e. share of voice minus share of market.” 7. Judge with appropriate time horizons. “Rational and/or activation campaign business effects should be judged over the short term: if they are not immediately effective they will probably never be effective. [...] Emotional brand-building business effects should not be evaluated over a period of less than 6 months and ideally over at least 1 year.” Applying insights from evidence-based resources like TLATSOI can help us drive profitable growth—and avoid mistakes. You can read it in less than 3 hours! #yourweeklymap #marketing #TLATSOI