Demand Generation for B2B: A Practical Framework

Demand generation (DG) is crucial for B2B companies targeting mid-market and enterprise customers. It involves building awareness, capturing leads, and guiding them through the funnel to become loyal customers. A successful DG strategy integrates lead capture, nurturing, and securing face-to-face engagements. Let’s explore this philosophy, practices, and tactics.

Capturing Leads: Outbound vs. Inbound

Lead generation comes from three main sources: outbound, inbound, and partnerships or channel sales (not covered here).

Outbound involves reaching out directly to potential customers. Primary tactics include email outreach, LinkedIn messages, calls, and SMS. Personalized gifts like grilling kits or sports bundles can help break through the noise and secure meetings. Outbound approaches can be categorized as 'good, better, best':

• Good: Basic outreach, where you introduce your company and offering.
• Better: Personalized outreach that draws connections, such as mentioning a shared contact or common experience.
• Best: Insightful engagement, where you provide valuable insights based on research into the prospect’s company, customers, or market. This approach is about adding value before expecting anything in return.

Inbound draws prospects through paid search, organic search and content, social media marketing, content products, and product-led growth (PLG).

One gem of a content piece we discovered at Auth0 was a recorded webinar that demonstrated with some technical detail the three main use cases for the product. It only requires about 50 hours to develop, but pulled in millions in terms of the dowstream pipeline resulting from the leads captured.

An example of a content product was Auth0's 'jwt.io' microsite, which attracted developers, doubling traffic and boosting lead generation. Then having a free trial and free-forever plan really grounded our PLG motion. It is essentially an inbound channel that uses a free product instead of content or ads to drive awareness and engagement through word of mouth from an easy on-ramp to testing the product.

Reusable content that can be tailored for different audiences is highly valuable. At Auth0, the successful 'Build vs Buy' whitepaper was adapted for industries like banking and healthcare, serving as the centerpiece for many campaigns.

Valuable content—from blog posts to webinars—plays a big role here, guiding potential customers from awareness to interest and eventually to action.

Scoring and Nurturing Leads

Once leads are captured, they need to be deduplicated, matched to the appropriate account, enriched with additional data, and then routed appropriately. Afterward, the next step is to score and nurture them. Lead scoring helps prioritize follow-up efforts, and this can be done using rules-based criteria or more sophisticated machine learning models. AI tools have made it easier to conduct personalized outreach at scale, but true insightful analysis and tailored engagements often still require a human touch.

Lead nurturing involves lifecycle marketing, retargeting, and providing relevant content to keep prospects engaged. Our data science at Auth0 build a Fit Score for each prospect when we captured the lead info after the enrichment stage. This was a one-time score and allowed our SDRs to triage follow-up and get them in the right sequence. We also maintained a Behavior Score that updated each day as we learned more from the onsite activity and engagement with our content, outreach and sales team. Depending on a prospect’s activity level, it might be time to escalate engagement efforts—such as inviting them to an in-person event or scheduling a meeting.

Securing Face Time: The Next Level

A key aspect of demand generation is getting meaningful face time with prospects. This can involve field events like dinners, sporting events, or conferences to deepen relationships. Webinars presenting industry insights and product solutions can also effectively generate interest and secure meetings. Once a prospect reaches a certain level of interest, direct efforts—such as pushing for meetings or offering incentives like gifting—can help move them further down the funnel.

Foundational Elements for Effective Demand Generation

For DG to succeed, there are foundational requirements:

• Product-Market Fit: Your product must address real market needs with clear positioning and pricing.
• Defined Target Audience: Know your ideal customer profile (ICP) and buyer personas. Be clear about whom you’re targeting and how best to reach them.
• Valuable Content: Tailor content to different stages of the buyer’s journey—Top of Funnel (TOFU), Middle (MOFU), and Bottom (BOFU). For instance, an educational microsite like Auth0's 'Intro to Identity' can be effective for TOFU by drawing in prospects and building trust.
• Skilled Team: Your sales and marketing teams need to understand the product deeply and be effective at converting demand into opportunities.

Overcoming Challenges in Demand Generation

Demand generation faces several challenges related to data management and execution:

• Tracking Prospects: Tracking anonymous versus known prospects across multiple touchpoints.
• Segmentation and Campaign Management: Segmenting customers based on behavior and adjusting campaigns as leads move through the funnel.
• Engaging Buying Committees: In enterprise sales, there are often multiple stakeholders. Identifying and engaging all stakeholders in the buying decision, with tailored messaging for each role, is crucial.
• Sales Feedback Loop: Continuously gather feedback from sales teams to understand what resonates with prospects and replicate successful strategies.
• Resource Allocation: Determining how to allocate resources effectively across different channels, customer segments, and geographies.
• Attribution and Forecasting: Accurately attributing demand generation efforts to revenue impact—from direct channels like paid search to indirect methods like brand awareness and thought leadership—is key for demonstrating ROI and informing future strategy.

Bringing It All Together

Demand generation is a complex process involving more than just capturing leads—it requires nurturing, thoughtful engagements, and a solid strategy to drive meaningful interactions and close deals. With well-defined practices and tactics, companies can build predictable revenue and scale their impact in the mid-market and enterprise space.