If I had been to ask 10 totally different B2B entrepreneurs what “demand technology” means, I’d get 10 totally different solutions.
Sadly, there are a variety of misconceptions about demand technology in B2B advertising, however most would agree that it’s a vital a part of your advertising technique.
On this information, I’ll clear up the confusion. I’ll provide you with an up to date definition of demand technology, together with the parts of a profitable demand technology technique. And eventually, you’ll study why demand technology will not be the identical as lead technology.
Desk of Contents
What’s demand technology?
Demand technology captures the umbrella of selling applications that get clients enthusiastic about your organization’s services and products with out attempting to explicitly promote to them.
Demand technology applications will help your group attain new markets, promote new product options, construct client buzz, generate PR, and re-engage current clients. This contains issues like ambassador applications, influencer partnerships, instructional content material campaigns, interactive webinars, and extra.
Basically, demand technology is a long-term, education-focused advertising technique that prioritizes reaching and fascinating “out of market” consumers.
The final word objective of B2B demand technology is remaining high of thoughts whereas your potential clients will not be in a shopping for cycle — in order that each time the necessity arises, your services or products is straight away thought of for buy.
I’ve discovered what makes demand technology a definite idea from different buyer acquisition ways is a dedication to long-term buyer relationships and a strategic mindset.
Demand Era Examples
1. HubSpot’s Inbound Advertising Technique
HubSpot pioneered inbound advertising as a requirement technology technique by creating high-value instructional content material (weblog posts, guides, webinars, and free instruments) that nurtures potential clients lengthy earlier than they’re prepared to purchase. I’m biased, after all, as a author for HubSpot, however I do imagine there’s a lot that we will study from this technique.
HubSpot presents free instruments like a CRM and Web site Grader, which introduce customers to our ecosystem. These of us can then preserve HubSpot top-of-mind once they want a paid answer. My favourite software just lately has been the AI Search Grader.
This technique builds belief and authority over time reasonably than pushing for fast conversions, making it a textbook instance of long-term demand creation.
I additionally love when a product presents me real worth upfront with out pushing a product or sale instantly in my face.
2. Drift’s Conversational Advertising Strategy
Drift disrupted conventional B2B advertising by shifting the main target from lead seize kinds to real-time conversations through AI-powered chatbots and messaging.
As an alternative of gating content material, Drift prioritized making it simpler for potential clients to get solutions rapidly, lowering friction within the purchaser journey.
I actually respect their method to thought management content material, together with books like Conversational Advertising, which positioned them because the go-to model for real-time B2B buyer engagement.
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Drift’s method aligns with trendy consumers preferring on-demand, interactive experiences reasonably than filling out kinds and ready for follow-ups.
3. Gong’s Information-Pushed Demand Era
Gong, a income intelligence platform, has constructed its demand technology technique round authentic analysis and knowledge insights, typically utilizing proprietary gross sales analytics to create compelling, shareable content material.
They publish data-backed insights on LinkedIn, in newsletters, and on their weblog, offering priceless data that naturally attracts their target market.
I’m a sucker for brand new knowledge or industry-insider data, so I believe their State of Income Development is the right instance of how you need to use proprietary analysis to function demand gen in your product.
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I believe Gong’s demand technology success lies in leveraging knowledge to coach and create authority — a profitable system for credibility and engagement.
4. Notion’s Neighborhood-Led Development
Notion, a productiveness and workspace software, focuses on community-driven demand technology by fostering an engaged consumer base that creates and shares templates, tutorials, and finest practices.
They encourage user-generated content material via Notion Ambassadors and Licensed Consultants, who promote the software organically.
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Their freemium mannequin permits people to get hooked on Notion earlier than upgrading to a paid plan, creating pure demand amongst groups and companies. I can see firsthand how efficient this mannequin may be. Most the whole lot I find out about Notion is thru friends who use it religiously and seek advice from it to me. Such an natural suggestions engine actually can’t be beat.
By prioritizing word-of-mouth and community-driven progress, Notion fuels bottom-up adoption — the place people introduce the software to their workplaces.
Why is demand technology totally different from lead technology?
Demand technology advertising is about educating your viewers with no expectation in return. In the meantime, lead technology is optimized for capturing contact data — however prematurely pushes non-solution in search of individuals to gross sales automation workflows, which is very ineffective.
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Why are most lead technology methods unsuccessful?
The fact is that conventional lead technology is riddled with inefficiencies, outdated ways, and a basic misunderstanding of in the present day’s B2B consumers.
Let’s discover six causes most lead technology methods may be unsuccessful.
Misaligned to the modern-day purchaser’s journey. Gartner analysis reveals that B2B consumers solely spend 17% of their time speaking to gross sales — but most lead technology efforts are geared towards ushering prospects right into a gross sales dialog. In keeping with Digital Zone, a multi-channel method is extra important, given that the majority B2B consumers require not less than 3-10 interactions earlier than critically contemplating a model.
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Too many uninterested leads can overwhelm gross sales groups. Many advertising groups are so centered on driving excessive lead volumes that they find yourself handing off unqualified prospects to gross sales. Because of this, gross sales groups are overwhelmed with leads that aren’t prepared to purchase, which not solely hurts morale but in addition results in burnout. The repetitive cycle of chasing low-intent leads causes frustration and inefficiency, finally harming the corporate’s potential to shut significant offers.
Creates a hostile surroundings between gross sales & advertising. The place the basic battle of “advertising is sending us rubbish leads” and “gross sales can’t shut offers” ends in super inefficiency.
Damages model notion amongst research-stage consumers. These consumers might finally request a demo when they’re motivated and able to communicate to gross sales. B2B consumers within the analysis stage don’t wish to be rushed into a call. In the event that they obtain a whitepaper and are instantly bombarded with gross sales calls, it creates a unfavourable model expertise.
Gating content material generates top-of-the-funnel leads. Gating content material — like whitepapers, webinars, and case research — is a typical lead technology tactic. However simply because somebody downloads a report doesn’t imply they’re prepared to purchase. As an alternative of gating the whole lot, I like to recommend utilizing a strategic mixture of free and gated content material, guaranteeing they supply worth earlier than asking for an electronic mail handle.
Over-reliance on lead scoring and lead nurturing. With this technique, advertising groups are putting a guess on their potential to make use of behavioral knowledge and intent alerts to foretell the precise gross sales triggers. With out deeper engagement alerts — resembling a number of high-intent actions (e.g., visiting pricing pages, evaluating opponents, or requesting demos) — lead scoring may be deceptive, leading to wasted efforts on leads that can by no means convert.
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Should you’ve been combating lead technology, strive HubSpot’s lead technology software. Constructed-in analytics and reporting then make it straightforward to study which pages, presents, advertisements, and site visitors sources are driving probably the most conversions.
Gated Content material: Dangerous Practices vs. Good Practices
Is gated content material an appropriate lead technology software for demand technology?
Let’s begin by wanting on the greatest drawbacks of gated content material:
Lack of web page views and site visitors.
No search engine optimization profit or increase.
The shape deters individuals from downloading content material.
No model visibility.
However in case you’re going to march on with gated content material, it must be executed for ABM warm-up and never direct response gross sales follow-up.
Gated content material — used appropriately — can provide the next advantages:
Capturing lead contact data and rising your electronic mail listing.
Customized lead nurturing based mostly on the content material every lead downloaded.
Electronic mail listing segmentation.
Gives analytics and insights into clients.
You possibly can provide additional free content material, invites to webinars, and entry to your gross sales crew when the leads are prepared.
The Position of Inbound Advertising in B2B Demand Era
Inbound advertising is a key part of any high-performing demand technology marketing campaign. Nevertheless, that is now not about content material calendars or the AIDA framework.
As an alternative, it’s about alignment with gross sales to correctly reply to a purchaser’s intent to buy (declared intent), whereas orchestrating and facilitating the specified buying expertise.
Right now, with inbound advertising, you’re both capturing demand or creating demand.
Let’s discover what which means.
Demand Capturing: Intent Channels and Content material Examples
Capturing demand means responding to and fulfilling current buyer wants or needs. I discover it finest to point out up the place your target market is already wanting. Listed here are some assets you’ll be able to leverage to make your providing simpler to search out:
Demand Seize. Prime Electronic mail Advertising Companies, Finest ETL Instruments, Identification Safety Firms, ERP Integration Instruments.
Verticalized Demand Seize. CRM for Actual Property, search engine optimization for Startups, QA Metrics for Software program Testing, VoIP for Enterprise.
search engine optimization. Backside-of-funnel demand technology technique — this may be summarized as content material advertising that creates blogs and touchdown pages for purchase-intent key phrases.
PPC. Bidding on business intent key phrases to draw your target market whereas they’re solution-narrowing.
Conversion price optimization (CRO). A follow by which entrepreneurs run testing applications to extend conversion charges in opposition to high-intent web site site visitors.
Overview Web sites. G2, TrustRadius, and Gartner. Wherever your purchaser personas go to learn in-depth peer evaluations and rankings of your model, merchandise, and companies.
Associates & Aggregators. PCMag, US Information, Enterprise.com, TechRadar, and so on.
Intent Information Suppliers. Bombora, 6Sense, DemandBase, and so on.
Demand Creation: Training Channels and Content material Varieties
Creating demand means producing curiosity and need in your providing earlier than clients are actively looking. I like to think about this as “gentle” advertising — displaying up in your viewers’s area to introduce them to your model and merchandise. Listed here are some methods you are able to do that:
Social Media Platforms. LinkedIn, X, TikTok.
Influencer Advertising. Model consciousness or product launch campaigns with related influencers in your area of interest.
Electronic mail Advertising. Newsletters, content material promo, nurture sequences, and occasion invitations.
On-line Communities. The Hustle, Gross sales Hacker, Demand Curve.
Offline Media. Unsolicited mail, NYC subway advertisements.
Offsite Channels. Visitor posts, press, and thought management.
Audio Channels. Podcasts, interviews, radio promoting.
Video. YouTube, LinkedIn, Vimeo, Wistia, Loom.
Occasions. Webinars, stay hangouts, digital conferences.
Conferences. INBOUND, SaaStr, Dreamforce, amongst others.
Boards. Reddit, Quora, Slack, Discord.
The Position of Gross sales in B2B Demand Era
Rewind to 5 years in the past and ask anybody about demand technology — they’d let you know it was entrepreneurs disguised as salespeople operating lead technology ways through advertising automation.
And that’s as a result of advertising was once a service group to gross sales, till B2B executives realized that advertising must be a strategic associate — not an order-taker.
Right now, outbound-focused demand technology will not be about high-volume chilly outreach with automated follow-up sequences. As an alternative, it’s about ABM (account-based advertising), the inverted advertising funnel.
I discover probably the most profitable corporations acknowledge that gross sales and advertising should work collectively to coach, have interaction, and construct relationships with potential consumers lengthy earlier than a purchase order choice is made.
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As an alternative of a top-down inbound advertising method, ABM is a bottom-up advertising technique that collaborates with gross sales to have interaction with high-quality leads and goal accounts throughout advanced B2B gross sales cycles.
Income groups have discovered that full-funnel advertising with a hybrid mixture of inbound, outbound, and lifecycle advertising is the precise steadiness for a high-performing demand technology program.
Metrics and KPIs for Measuring Success
Your demand technology advertising efforts must be guided by a north star: lead high quality.
Along with understanding key SaaS metrics, I’ve gathered some necessary inquiries to ask:
Which channels are driving extremely certified leads?
Which lead varieties most frequently convert into a professional gross sales pipeline?
What share of our alternatives convert into paying clients?
What share of our paying clients stick round lengthy sufficient to develop into worthwhile?
Which advertising channels are driving alternatives with the most effective LTV?
How will we generate extra certified alternatives from the most effective channels?
How will we champion full-funnel pipeline visibility?
How will we maintain gross sales accountable for working the leads correctly?
How can we develop an efficient suggestions loop between advertising & gross sales?
Main Indicators: Instance Metrics
Model search quantity.
Your model vs. competitor model search quantity.
Natural site visitors to high-intent web site pages.
Direct site visitors (individuals kind your web site URL into the browser).
Entrances and engagement in your function/options pages.
Referral site visitors from different related web sites and social platforms.
Lagging Indicators: Instance Metrics
Assisted conversions: pages consumed “on the trail” to turning into a conversion.
Web site site visitors to conversion price (declared intent).
Certified demo to gross sales alternative price.
Proposal despatched to closed/received price.
Common deal dimension.
Gross sales pipeline velocity.
Value per acquisition (CPA).
Buyer lifetime worth (CLV).
Declared Intent vs. Assumed Intent
Digital advertising has developed away from direct response, lead technology centered advertising campaigns to a extra holistic method that covers model consciousness, demand nurturing, and demand capturing throughout your complete gross sales funnel.
With this in thoughts, I believe it’s worthwhile to consider the CTA buttons in your web site — and what constitutes declared intent versus assumed intent.
Run a “declared intent audit” to test if assumed intent leads are being handled as declared intent. If sure, that’s a transparent misalignment of gross sales expertise and purchaser expectations.
I believe that is the decisive take a look at which confirms in case your advertising crew actually understands the shopper journey — a crucial part of any demand technology program.
The place to Begin With Your Demand Era Technique
When you’re acquainted along with your consumers’ wants and may anticipate advertising developments, you’ll be able to gasoline your advertising applications with enhanced ranges of personalization.
To start along with your demand gen technique, get to know your clients and conduct qualitative analysis via consumer suggestions and conversations. Should you’re struggling to grasp your prospects’ wants, choose up the telephone and ask.
Our free book beneath, “An Introduction to Lead Nurturing,” is a good starter information to changing web site guests into leads for your small business. I prefer it as a result of it presents sensible recommendation and clear steerage on lead technology necessities, together with constructing an search engine optimization technique to draw leads, lead scoring, and nurturing strategies.
Then, from there, in case you’re in search of a spot to start out, I’d suggest advertising automation software program. It could actually enable you run A/B checks, select the precise content material, and customise timing for every of your advertising campaigns and buyer segments.
Editor’s word: This put up was initially printed in January 2014 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.