🧐 A masterclass on demand gen

4 articles to bookmark

• 2021 was crazy because growth was crazy: 2024 is tough because growth is tough (Link)

• 60% of companies plan to expand their partner team this year (Link)

• LinkedIn carousel posts and ads: A complete guide (Link)

• How to market features to existing customers (+ mistakes to avoid) (Link)

3 reads on demand gen

B2B SaaS demand generation explained

One of the best visuals I’ve seen on how the demand gen workflow ties with lead gen activities.

At its core, demand gen is an orchestration of marketing and sales tactics to drive awareness.

These cross-functional efforts occur at the top of the funnel to build an audience around your product and problem space.

• Outbound marketing emails

• Inbound marketing efforts (organic, paid, referrals)

• Retargeting ads and email nurtures

• Top-of-funnel programs (webinars and events)

Alex Kracov @ Kracov Co [demand-gen]

Thought leadership for demand generation

Thought leadership and brand awareness go hand in hand when it comes to demand gen.

I often say that building trust is the battle that comes before adoption. And the quickest way to earn trust is to provide value consistently.

Here are three Thought Leadership campaign types to help you build trust.

👉 Newsletter-led / Blog-led (optimizes for a subscriber base, but has a long ramp time to stand out)

👉 Podcast / Interviews-led (optimizes for building intimacy, but difficult to measure attribution)

👉 Events-led (optimizes for building community, but time intensive)

Ayush Poddar @ StartupGTM [demand-gen]

How to run effective campaigns

A masterclass on building, testing, and optimizing campaigns!

Whether you’re building demand gen or lead gen, running campaigns is core to your GTM initiatives. And to run them well, three layers need to work together. Here are a few questions to ask to set yourself up for success.

👉 What funnel stage are you using to define your success criteria – moving MQLs into first calls?

👉 What segments are you targeting – is it a new market or are there specific criteria?

👉 What channels are you using to engage with prospects – how are you reinforcing your messaging across mediums?

Emily Kramer @ MKT1 Newsletter [demand-gen]

2 growth reads

Gong’s LinkedIn takeovers playbook

Follow this playbook to grow your company’s LinkedIn page to 200K followers.

Through a combination of company, employee, and paid social posts, Gong layered different mindshare tactics to drive brand awareness.

Here’s the breakdown.
👉 Encourage employee takeovers – share new hires, personal milestones, and regular updates to drive engagement and visibility

👉 Build a brand voice for your company page – use “edutainment” to personalize your content – your posts should read like a human, not a corporation

👉 Compliment your posts with thought leader ads – use specific persona targeting to boost organic posts through LinkedIn’s Thought Leader Ads

Matteo Tittarelli @ HyperGrowth Partners [growth]

Kong Inc. captures customers with content and community

Community building is an essential accelerator for the demand-gen flywheel.

A great example is Kong Inc., an API management platform. The company used three community tactics to capture the attention and engage with the developer community (not an easy segment to build rapport with).

👉 Highlight top contributors on your community page and through social media shout-outs

👉 Regularly host events such as technical webinars, workshops, local meetups, and hackathons

👉 Gather feedback from your community through forums, surveys, and direct customer calls

Ethan Crump @ Foundation [growth]

Podcasts I'm listening to

• ProductLed | How to Build a Demand Gen Engine for a Product-Led Business: (Link)

• exitfive | Marketing Leadership | Traits of a High Performing CMO: (Link)

SaaS Weekly Resources

1) The SaaS Weekly Database: Search Thousands of the Best SaaS Articles and Resources

2) Generative AI Tracker: B2B SaaS Companies Adding GenAI Capabilities

SaaSy Social Posts

Last issue’s most clicked-on links

• The ultimate guide to B2B cold email copywriting (Link)

• A killer Go-to-Market slide for your company (template inside) (Link)

• Your guide to outbound automation (Link)