Proven Strategies to Optimize Demand Gen for Sales Success

Shownotes

This episode features Sylvain Awad discussing strategies to optimize demand generation for sales success. Sylvain emphasizes simplifying messaging, aligning marketing and sales goals, and prioritizing lead quality over quantity. He advises repurposing content across verticals for common pain points, validating leads before passing to sales, and generating quality leads through website optimization. Sylvain also touches on implementing account-based marketing tactics and leveraging storytelling in B2B marketing. Throughout the discussion, he stresses the importance of ongoing communication between marketing and sales teams to refine strategies and messaging, providing actionable insights for B2B marketers to improve their demand generation efforts.

Best Moments

• 01:06
  Sylvain discusses common mistakes in demand gen strategies, emphasizing the importance of simple messaging
• 02:36
  Tips on how marketing and sales can better align goals and metrics
• 05:52
  Strategies for refining go-to-market approaches to move from MQLs to pipeline and revenue
• 07:44
  Advice on ensuring leads are high quality and sales-ready
• 09:00
  Discussion of strategies that work well for generating lower funnel leads at scale
• 11:23
  Sylvain's perspective on handling multiple leads from the same account

About the guest

Sylvain Awad is an accomplished and dynamic B2B/B2C marketer with extensive leadership experience and a proven track record of orchestrating and optimizing high-impact/global marketing strategies to drive organizational success.

Connect with Sylvain Awad

Key takeaways

• Simplify messaging and avoid overcomplicated demand-gen strategies
• Align marketing and sales goals, focusing on lead quality over quantity
• Use similar content across verticals when addressing common pain points
• Validate and qualify leads before passing them to sales
• Generate high-quality leads through organic website optimization and always-on campaigns
• Implement account-based marketing approaches for multiple leads from the same account
• Leverage storytelling in B2B marketing and sales
• Maintain ongoing communication between marketing and sales teams to refine strategies

Quotes

“Validating and making sure and double checking and triple checking that the lead is valid. And that makes the most sense for getting better quality leads to sales.”

-Sylvain Awad

Highlights from this episode

What are some common mistakes organizations make with their demand gen strategies?

According to Sylvain, some common mistakes organizations make with their demand gen strategies include:

• Overcomplicating messaging
• Thinking website leads will immediately turn into revenue
• Doing too much A/B testing and complicated messaging
• Trying to oversimplify a simple problem and making it more complex

Sylvain emphasizes that simple messaging is key to avoiding these mistakes. He recommends focusing on clearly communicating what problem you’re trying to solve and the reason to believe in your product.

How can marketing and sales better align goals and metrics to focus on lead quality over quantity?

According to Sylvain, marketing and sales can better align goals and metrics to focus on lead quality over quantity by:

• Understanding which markets they want to target together
• Aligning on specific verticals to focus on
• Having constant communication between marketing and sales teams
• Ensuring marketing understands how sales wants to sell products
• Fine-tuning messaging based on what resonates with clients (as reported by sales)
• Coordinating on targets to go after
• Creating content collaboratively to ensure relevance and effectiveness

Sylvain emphasizes that constant communication between marketing and sales is crucial for this alignment and for developing effective, targeted strategies.

What tips do you have for refining a go-to-market strategy to move from MQLs to pipeline and revenue?

Sylvain offers the following tips for refining a go-to-market strategy to move from MQLs to pipeline and revenue:

• Focus on quality over quantity – fewer high-quality leads that generate more revenue are better than many low-quality leads
• Develop a funnel with multiple types of leads at different stages (top, middle, and bottom)
• Recognize that lower funnel leads typically yield higher value
• Target corporate organizations for potentially higher value leads, but don’t neglect smaller companies
• Use smaller company successes as case studies to attract larger enterprises
• Validate leads before handing them off to sales
• Ensure leads are genuinely interested in your product, not just researching general information
• Double and triple-check that leads are valid and not bots before passing them to sales

Sylvain emphasizes the importance of lead validation and having a balanced approach to lead generation across different company sizes and funnel stages.

How can marketers ensure the leads are high-quality and sales-ready?

According to Sylvain, marketers can ensure leads are high-quality and sales-ready by:

• Validating leads before handing them off to sales
• Over-qualifying leads to confirm they have a specific project or product interest
• Researching the company behind the lead
• Verifying that leads are not bots
• Double and triple-checking that a lead is valid
• Ensuring the lead is looking for specific product information, not just general company info
• Recognizing that not all form fills indicate high-value leads
• Avoiding the assumption that content downloads always signify sales-readiness

Sylvain emphasizes the importance of thorough lead validation to maintain a good relationship between marketing and sales teams.

What strategies are working well for generating lower funnel leads at scale?

Strategies that are working well for generating lower funnel leads at scale include:

• Optimizing your website with high-quality content to attract organic traffic
• Focusing on SEO to improve search rankings
• Implementing always-on SEM (Search Engine Marketing) campaigns
• Creating content that speaks directly to what potential customers are searching for
• Ensuring your website appears at the top of search results for relevant queries
• Developing a steady flow of organic leads through consistent website optimization
• Balancing different types of leads in your funnel, but recognizing that organic website leads tend to be higher quality
• Maintaining an always-on approach to digital marketing efforts

Sylvain emphasizes that leads coming in organically through a well-optimized website tend to be of higher quality and more likely to convert.

Do you have any guidance on how to approach multiple leads from the same account?

Sylvain offers the following guidance on approaching multiple leads from the same account:

• Don’t be afraid to contact everyone from the organization who has shown interest
• Use multiple touchpoints to speak with different people in the company
• Try to identify the decision-maker and the project champion
• Recognize that more contacts within an organization increase your chances of reaching the right person
• Consider implementing an account-based marketing approach
• Use retargeting strategies across multiple platforms (LinkedIn, Google, etc.) to stay visible to the entire organization
• Understand that multiple touchpoints within an organization can lead to increased brand awareness and eventual website visits

Sylvain emphasizes that engaging with multiple leads from the same account can be beneficial, as it increases your chances of connecting with key decision-makers and raises overall awareness of your brand within the organization.

Resource recommendations

Books

-“The Stories That Stick” by Kendra Hall

Shout-outs

–Colin Mann, Head of Marketing, iplicit

–Frédérick Ranger, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, LANDR

–Ralph Van Coillie, Partner, Active Executive Advisor, Consulting, Exo10