Demand generation has evolved. Digital marketing isn’t just about the quantity of clicks anymore — it’s about the quality of clicks. Teams are getting smarter about demand generation, working to get qualified leads to engage with B2B brand websites in truly meaningful ways.
Pardot VP of Marketing, Nate Skinner, was recently interviewed for the latest edition of Demand Gen Report, where he shared his thoughts on the evolution of demand generation, the rise of account-based marketing (ABM), and the top channels for B2B marketing success. Here are short versions of some of Nate’s responses:
HOW DEMAND GENERATION HAS EVOLVED
Now more than ever, marketers are being pressured to prove ROI to help justify marketing budget and spend [and] with bigger budgets comes higher expectations for ROI. […] Successful demand generation is now about getting the most qualified leads to your website to engage with the brand in a meaningful way. Savvy marketers will always be able to create favorable numbers, but today’s teams want to know how many leads were converted and how.
HOW ABM IS CHANGING THE DEMAND GENERATION GAME
ABM is one of the hottest growing trends. […] The future of marketing is a more personal approach towards leads to create more genuine and impactful interactions with prospects. […] An account-based strategy helps focus a tailored and high-value approach to demand generation. Coupled with AI, marketers can get automatic insights into more accounts that are also likely to be strategic to focus on. […] Coupling these approaches can help scale and make your team aware of trends you weren’t previously aware of.
THE BEST DEMAND GENERATION CHANNELS
I believe the top five tactics or channels for demand generation right now include SEO, email, direct mail, review sites and content marketing.
A stellar SEO strategy helps drive visibility in search engines when prospective customers are looking to solve specific challenges. […] The right email sent at the right time to the right buyer is a great approach that nurtures leads through the funnel when done thoughtfully and strategically. Direct mail, while a more seasoned demand generation strategy, still works in B2B because it can stand out from the noise and overload of information online. Review sites are a great channel to build credibility and trust in your brand. […] When done effectively, strong content helps educate and inform prospective customers.
KEYS TO DEMAND GENERATION SUCCESS
Integrated team collaboration and transparency are critical factors in demand generation success. Sales and marketing teams need to be aligned to effectively communicate and empower each department to succeed. […] If marketing and sales have different interpretations of what makes a qualified lead, then one of two things will happen: teams may be missing out on qualified leads or creating a bottleneck by capturing too many leads. […] It’s imperative that cross-collaborative teams actually interact, discuss measurement and define success in order to optimize for the organization’s success as a whole.
To read Nate’s full Q&A, download the latest edition of Demand Gen Report.
