Defining demand gen
Ah, demand generation. That age-old marketing term which can quite often mean completely different things to different people. According to Drift, demand generation is…
“… a marketing strategy that includes any activity that drives awareness and interest in your product or service.”
At Modern, we define demand generation as an early to mid funnel strategy designed to show potential customers that you understand their challenges – and you have the product or solution to fix them.
Demand strategy can come in all shapes and sizes, and what is best for your business all comes down to who you want to target and what lifetime revenue they could bring you. Put simply, you don’t want to spend hundreds of thousands in media spend when your potential deal size is £20k. It’s basic math.
When it comes to really big deal sizes, an ABM (account based marketing) strategy is probably what you need. It concentrates resources on a set of target accounts within a market and uses personalised campaigns designed to engage each account. ABM is a big investment, and critically requires full buy-in from both your sales and marketing teams to make it work. But with big investment comes big returns.
Using the Modern curve of return
Modern’s curve of return model shows the recommended approach when weighting your target audience (or target accounts) vs the likely deal value.
The further down the curve you go, the more tailored and personalised your marketing efforts should become. Nailing a 1-2-1 ABM programme is worlds away from a broad 1-2-many campaign.
Here are a few tools to help you figure out which strategy is right for you;
- Calculate your total addressable market. Once you know if you want to target vertically or horizontally, you need to dig deeper to understand how many of those potential customers are within your ICP (ideal customer profile), are potentially ready to buy (there are lots of intent tools you can use here) and quite simply, can afford your solution (company size/revenue)
- Calculate your average deal size. This is where CRM data comes in handy. Look back at previous deals within that vertical (or similar markets if it is brand new to you) and understand the usual deal size your sales team brings in. An average deal size across all markets might not provide the accuracy you need
- Look at your deal closure rate. This will help you establish how long your campaign needs to run for to see results. Selling your strategy into the sales team is critical to get their buy-in, and promising closed sales 6 weeks after launch for a 1-2-few campaign just isn’t realistic.
Building the right campaign, with the right personalisation
Once you’ve done the work in establishing the right campaign for your objectives, it’s time to plan the campaign. Here’s a few pointers for each approach;
- 1-2-many. While it is always critical that you fully understand your customer’s challenges and you provide a solution which is relevant and timely, a 1-2-many campaign allows you to cast your net wider so no personalisation is required. Instead of spending money on personalisation, invest in more creatives & copy to A/B test and trial new media channels where you know your prospects will be lurking
- 1-2-few. At this level, personalisation is key. Utilising tools such as Demandbase’s personalisation tool gives prospects the illusion of personalised ads, but without the heavy lift. Using dynamic creatives you can add company names or pointy stats which you know will turn your prospects’ heads
- 1-2-1. These are big potential deal sizes, so investment in hyper-personalisation is critical. Tactics like personalised landing pages with bespoke assets and individual sales intro videos are perfect here, and with tools like Folloze, it can be pretty pain free. Bring the sales team on board – ask them for account based insights and task them with desk research to make them feel valued in the campaign build. Ask them: How can we ensure each individual target account receives thought-provoking, relevant and timely content which makes them feel like you’ve really understood their needs?
By using the Modern curve of return as a starting point, your demand campaign will ensure that you channel your efforts into the right approach. And by taking on board some of the tips on how to personalise your campaign, you can ensure you’re going to be on the right track to creating a head-turning campaign.
