Every business-to-business (B2B) sale begins with awareness, so Demand Generation has become integral to any conversion process. However, the strategies for B2B companies slightly differ from those of business-to-consumer (B2C). This article shows B2B businesses how to boost engagement and drive interest with these three simple tips:

• Amplify account-based marketing (ABM).
• Collect and analyze intent data.
• Automate certain demand-generation strategies.

Develop more effective marketing and sales plans with these B2B demand-generation tactics. Read the article to learn how to do them! Let’s go!

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1. Amplify ABM

ABM is a business approach where you prioritize high-value accounts over a broad audience. Doing this helps solve some of the biggest B2B challenges in relation to demand generation. It can:

• Shorten the sales cycle by letting you tailor your messaging, products and services, and Marketing plan to the intended audience, likely decision-makers; 
• Increase the marketing team’s productivity by helping them focus on accounts that can provide high conversion rates and returns;
• Efficiently use resources to reduce marketing costs; and
• Easily align the strategies with sales and marketing goals.

ABM is not the easiest business-growth technique. However, you can increase your chances of succeeding with these steps:

• Identify your business goals. Consider your capacity based on your available resources, from people to technology and money. Follow the S.M.A.R.T. principles. Make your objectives specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
• Build an ideal customer profile (ICP). Who are your actual customers? These decision-makers might differ from the users. Use data analysis to determine patterns and learn more about your target accounts.

• Match the existing accounts. Now that you have the customer profile, identify who among your present clients matches it. Determine whether marketing to these leads will keep you aligned with your objectives. 
• Apply predictive analytics. Know the market’s future decisions, needs, preferences, and pain points. The information is valuable in refining your demand-generation plan to continue pushing prospects for conversion or bringing more into the sales funnel. 

2. Collect and Analyze Intent Data 

Intent data is information that helps businesses gain insights into the online behaviors and activities of their target leads. Specifically, it determines the interest (and its strength) in buying your company’s products and services.  You can collect intent data in many ways. Some great examples are social media engagement, search engine optimization (SEO) metrics, pages checked on your website, and content people have been reading. You can even obtain this type of information about your competitors.  Overall, data usually falls into two broad categories:

• First-party data. This is the information you directly acquire from your customers and prospects. These can come from form submissions, mailing lists, and webinar registrations. This is the better kind of data because of its high accuracy and reliability and fewer issues with consent and privacy.
• Third-party data. This is information from outside sources, such as lead providers. Their primary job is to source and aggregate data all over the web. It is useful when you want more relevant knowledge on intent signals and patterns from a broader audience. 

Either way, you can maximize intent data by doing the following:

• As part of your ABM, prioritize target accounts based on their intent signals.
• Personalize marketing messages and content based on the specific interests and needs indicated by intent data. 
• Create content assets that address the pain points and interests.

• Deliver relevant ads and content to re-engage prospects and move them further along the sales funnel.
• Incorporate intent data into your lead-scoring process. Prioritize follow-up and allocate resources accordingly.
• Provide your sales team with intent-data insights to enhance their conversations and engagements with prospects, such as tailoring sales pitches.
• Utilize the information to gain insights into market trends, the competitive landscape, and emerging customer preferences. 

3. Automate Certain Demand-Generation Strategies

Demand generation is a long-term process, made even longer with B2B marketing. Unlike B2C — which has only one decision maker, who is the buyer — B2B can have two or more.  Suppose a company decides to buy a customer relationship management (CRM) program, The chief technical officer (CTO) might have to refer to the chief financial officer (CFO), who will determine if the business has the budget for it.  The CTO must also collaborate with the sales team, which will be the end user. They may work together to help the CFO understand the importance of the platform so that the business will be more willing to spend on it.  You cannot skip the additional stages in the B2B customer-buying journey. However, you can automate certain aspects to speed up the process, streamline demand generation, and increase your marketing team’s productivity and efficiency.  Here are a few ideas:

• Use content management systems (CMS) and content marketing platforms to schedule and publish blog posts, articles, videos, and other relevant content. WordPress, for example, has released an artificial intelligence (AI) jetpack to shorten the time spent on idea generation and content writing.
• Automate bid management, ad scheduling, and ad copy testing to optimize search engine marketing efforts.
• Manage social media advertising campaigns, especially targeting, budget allocation, and ad delivery, to reach your target audience effectively.
• Scale ABM efforts with personalized messaging, ad targeting, and content delivery to specific accounts or decision-makers within those accounts.
• Integrate lead-capture forms with CRM or similar systems to automatically acquire, segment, and track prospects. You can take this further by searching for a tool that qualifies leads in real time based on predefined criteria.
• Use lead-nurturing workflows and automation sequences to deliver relevant content throughout the buyer’s journey.
• Collect and analyze data at any time. Conveniently compare historical information to identify customer patterns, behavior, and emerging market trends. Generate visual reports tracking the performance of demand-generation campaigns regularly for decision-makers.
• Deliver personalized experiences at scale with dynamic content and segmented email messaging strategies.

Summing Up

From prospects to the sales cycle, B2B differs from B2C. Because of this, its approach to demand generation should vary as well.  These three tips can help you build a more industry- and customer-specific marketing plan to raise brand awareness, interest, and engagement. You can take it further by working with a top-tier team.  Digital Authority Partners (DAP) provides you with the expertise and resources to develop and execute a comprehensive B2B demand-generation strategy. Contact us to learn more.

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