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Is Demand Generation an Option for SMEs?

A modern office buzzes with activity as employees collaborate at tables. Large boards display digital marketing insights and lead generation strategies, accented by charts and graphs. Sunlight streams through tall windows, creating a bright, energized atmosphere.

Demand generation is a term frequently used by marketing, and business development executives. In many ways, it’s heralded as the solution to all marketing woes since the logic is that interest is created in your product or service to such an extent that fresh prospects beat a path to your door.. 

Nice idea! But is it truly the silver bullet it’s made out to be? For many businesses, particularly SMEs, navigating the intricacies, time considerations, and the cost of delivering effective demand generation, it can feel like a bridge too far.

Deciphering Demand Generation

At its core, demand generation deploys an array of marketing strategies aimed at igniting interest and awareness in a company’s offerings. From crafting compelling content and orchestrating email campaigns, to leveraging social media outreach, and fine-tuning SEO efforts, demand generation covers a range of tactics.

At its most basic, a B2B prospect sees a piece of content or information from your business that encourages them to contact you. But, isn’t that just traditional marketing? In some ways, the answer is yes. However, to a large extent, the drivers are knowledge transfer, through content, that prospects see through either organic reach on social media, or receive through direct messaging on email or perhaps LinkedIn, or through sponsored ads or content. 

The Conundrum of Effective Demand Generation

The real challenge, though, lies in executing these strategies with precision and impact, without breaking the bank. It’s not merely about throwing money at advertising; it’s about crafting targeted messages that resonate deeply with your audience and spur them into action.

Without clarity on your audience, personas, sectors, locations, size and so on, how can you possibly (1) craft appropriate messages and communications and (2) reach them cost-effectively? And, since social reach is rarely free these days, there often is an associated cost to reach decision-makers that are in the market at any given time. 

How Long Does Demand Generation Take to Deliver?

Therein lies the problem. It’s often said that only a small proportion of your target market is ‘ready to buy’ at any time. Thus, how much outreach, and at what cost, is required? And, how long do you give it to assess whether it’s working? Finally, how, and when, do you measure success? 

These are inherent challenges. It can also be complicated where your audience is narrow. For some organisations, account-based marketing (ABM) is also a key component of their business development strategy. Yet, whilst focusing on a relatively high-value prospect pool provides clarity, it also could perhaps make demand generation harder, and more expensive. How do those specific prospects get to see what you produce in terms of compelling content, and when will they engage? 

Content Development and Distribution Makes Sense

The above notwithstanding, we’re advocates of producing content and disseminating that to places where your prospects can consume that information. That means on your website, on LinkedIn, on other relevant social platforms, and through direct messaging such as email, and LinkedIn. If you can afford it, and the topic is sufficiently interesting, you can widen the reach through sponsored ads and sponsored content whether that’s for videos, blogs, slide carousels or other knowledge-based content. 

Unfortunately, it rarely comes cheap. Of course, if you have a robust pool of relevant first-level connections on LinkedIn, you can send out your content directly without waiting. The quick way of doing this is using LinkedIn automation tools. 

Telemarketing: A Key Piece of the Puzzle?

We always say that we’d rather make a warm call than a cold one. Inevitably, a timely call to a prospect that completed a web form with a specific enquiry is much more likely to convert than cold outreach. 

Likewise, if you’re running a seminar, webinar or roundtable, which are very much a part of demand generation, on a topic based on interesting research you’ve carried out, a call to invite a prospect to the session should prove worthwhile. 

While digital channels dominate the modern marketing landscape, the human touch provided by telemarketing can set your efforts apart. By integrating calls to relevant prospects with demand generation tactics, companies can more quickly generate, and build on, interest through to conversion.

Some Interesting Statistics

At GSA, we like KPIs. We’re interested in the numbers. So, we thought it might also be useful to provide a few statistics that support some of our comments above. 

Whilst we have to accept that some of this research is parochial, and lacks broader context, in that it comes from sources that want to promote that specific type of marketing, it is still useful background information. It also serves to illustrate that one size most definitely does not fit all, and a blend of inbound and outbound marketing tactics is most probably the answer.  

  • Content Marketing:
    • Content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less. (DemandMetric)
    • 70% of consumers prefer to learn about products through content rather than traditional advertising. (Content Marketing Institute)
  • Email Marketing:
    • Email is the third most influential source of information for B2B audiences, behind only colleague recommendations and industry-specific thought leaders. (WordStream)
    • Segmented email campaigns drive a 760% increase in revenue. (Campaign Monitor)
  • Social Media Marketing:
    • Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing. (HubSpot)
    • 73% of marketers believe their efforts through social media marketing have been somewhat effective or very effective for their business. (Buffer)
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
    • 70-80% of users ignore paid ads and focus on organic search results. (Search Engine Journal)
    • 61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority. (HubSpot)
  • Paid Advertising:
    • Google Ads display campaigns reach 80% of global internet users. (Google)
    • 52% of PPC clicks come from mobile devices. (WordStream)
  • Telemarketing:
    • Telemarketing has a response rate of 5-9%, compared to email marketing’s 1-3%. (DMA)
    • 57% of C-suite executives prefer phone calls as the first outreach from sales reps. (DiscoverOrg)

Conclusion

Demand generation is a multifaceted endeavour, requiring a blend of creativity, data-driven insights, and personalised engagement. While it may pose challenges for smaller businesses, demand generation is within reach – especially if you keep it simple such as using email, LinkedIn, and phone as a means of reaching your audience. 

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