Demand Generation & Paid Media

Lead generation captures people who are already looking. Demand generation creates the interest in the first place, among buyers who do not yet know they have the problem. Most B2B programmes need both, and the common failure is running only capture and concluding the market is small.

Enough to learn something. A budget spread across four channels usually produces four inconclusive tests, where the same money on one channel produces an answer. Start where your buyers already are, spend enough to reach statistical significance, and expand once something works.

LinkedIn for targeting a specific job title or account list, search for capturing people already researching a solution, and YouTube for explaining something a text ad cannot. The right answer depends on whether your buyers know the category exists, which is a question worth settling before the budget is allocated.

Leading indicators, and be explicit that they are proxies. Reach into target accounts, engaged sessions from the right companies, and pipeline created rather than leads captured. Cost per lead optimises for the cheapest form fill, which on a long cycle is usually the least qualified one.