Digital-First Demand Generation: How to Knock it Out of the Park

It would be naive to think that the world of marketing hasn’t been changed by COVID-19. With the pandemic shaking things up, it makes sense that the way brands reach out to customers has shifted to reflect that. With so many people working from home, many physical spaces being out of bounds and in-person events cancelled, marketing efforts have been forced to pivot to digital-first in order to allow brands to survive.

Making the shift from a physical focus to digital-first means developing a strategy that brings in leads. This requires the marketing and sales departments to work together in new ways in order to flourish in this evolving climate.

Improve your website

Your website has never been more important and it’s vital that any necessary changes to ensure it lives up to its full potential are carried out now. Marketers would be advised to seek insight from the sales team about key messaging to ensure it’s clearly conveyed on the homepage and across all of the site’s landing pages.

Areas to focus on include:

• Clear navigation so potential customers can find what they need easily
• Comprehensive contact information, including an email address and social media profiles
• Consider including a live chat function to answer questions quickly
• CTAs on each page to guide customers through the buying funnel
• Forms on high-performing pages to capture data

Entice prospects with premium content

Premium content or a lead magnet is an effective way to give value to potential customers and get something back in return. Offering training videos, ebooks and whitepapers in exchange for contact details is a successful strategy to become known as an authoritative voice in your industry and generate quality leads.

The idea of an ebook can seem daunting, but the chances are you’ve already got the beginnings of one in the content shared on your company’s blog. Take a look at the analytics and see which topics perform well, then select one that would benefit from more detail and elaborate on the themes for a deep dive into the subject.

Be an active participant in virtual events

Just because physical events are on hold doesn’t mean virtual ones aren’t an important part of the marketing mix. Attending conferences, webinars and roundtable discussions via video link gives you the opportunity to be visible within your industry and network with key figures in your sector.

Take advantage of these events to see how other brands are adapting to a digital-first approach and consider where you can make improvements. Be sure to have relevant questions prepared for instances when the floor is opened up and look out for network rooms, chat areas or virtual booths where you can mingle online. Don’t forget to follow up with guests speakers on LinkedIn after the event to establish contacts that could be of use later down the line.

Host your own online events

Online events are a useful way to find out information about the needs, expectations and purchase intent of potential customers. This data will give you a head start over the competition when it comes to converting these leads into sales. Virtual webinars and conferences have the added benefit of having the ability to reach a global audience when physical events would be more limited.

To get the most out of digital events, develop clear goals about what you want to achieve and who you’re looking to attract. This will help you to design the right content and promote your event in the most relevant places. You can then judge the success of your webinar against these goals and tweak your approach to future events so you can obtain more high-quality leads.