4 Fresh Approaches to Demand Generation for SMBs in 2021

Many businesses focus on lead generation as they believe it is the most important part of the marketing funnel.

It makes sense since customers at this phase of the funnel are already interested in the product or service you provide. They’re more likely to invest in your company.

However, you wouldn’t have leads in the first place if you didn’t focus on the other end of your marketing funnel.

Demand generation for SMBs brings new visitors to your business/website. During this phase, you build your target audience, provide content for them that establishes trust and keeps them thinking about you.

Today, we’ll look at four steps you can take to improve your company’s demand generation.

Demand Generation for SMBs: 4 Steps to Take in 2021

It’s a new year – time to take a fresh approach to your demand generation projects. Here are four approaches that are ideal for SMB demand generation in 2021.

1. Focus on the Top of Your Funnel

You’ve figured out who your target audience is and have mapped out the customer journey. The next step is to create content that fits the top of the marketing funnel – the demand generation for SMBs part of the funnel.

At this stage, you want to attract your ideal customer. You want to pique their interest so they want to learn more about you and what you offer. The more engaging, the better!

Some options include:

• Paid ads: If you want exposure, paid Facebook ads or Google AdWords campaigns can put your brand in front of a lot of people. This route doesn’t work for everyone, especially if they don’t have a good strategy. They can end up spending more money than they earn, making this a poor investment. Check your ROI regularly to make sure this is a viable option for your company.
• Blogs: Blogs help with building relationships with potential customers and educating them on who you are, what you do, and what’s new with your company. Blogging also improves SEO so people can find you in the first place.
• Videos: Video is everywhere. People love streaming services, watching videos on YouTube, and sometimes even prefer video content to written content. You can capitalize on this by creating video content for your website and social media content. You can even embed videos into your blog posts. It’s a great source of content. Remember to keep your videos personal, authentic, and catered to your target audience’s needs and wants.
• Social media: Go where your target audience is. For most people, that’s going to be on one or more social media sites. Find out where your target audience likes to hang out: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube. Create content that sparks conversation and you’re sure to draw some attention.

2. Genuine, People-Focused Marketing Campaigns

In past decades, people responded to glossy magazines and professionally produced ads. Now, though, you have multiple generations to cater to, including millennials and Gen Z. The younger generations aren’t as impressed with glitz and glam – they want authenticity and genuineness. They want to know that a company cares about them, their needs, and their wants.

We can see this in the recent Presidential election. The Biden campaign tested video ads – those that came off as professional ads and those that came off as impromptu, genuine, behind-the-scenes footage. The latter was more effective among their audience.

Think about who you’re catering to – human beings who long for connection. When customers get to know your story and your team more intimately, they form stronger connections. The result: People who are not only willing to invest in your product/service, but loyal, repeat customers who tell others about your company.

3. Create a Free Tool for Your Audience

You may have a great product but someone who is just getting to know your brand isn’t going to hand over their payment details right away. You need to prove yourself first. The best way to do that is to create free content and tools.

We’ve talked about social media, videos, and blog posts already – all free, helpful ways for you to spark interest. To take it a step further, you can provide them with a free tool that will benefit them in some way.

A free tool solves one of the problems/pain points of your audience. Some companies that are known for their free tools include:

• CoSchedule (Headline Analyzer)
• Sprout Social (image resizing tool for social media posts)
• WordStream (Google Ad Performance Grader)

Think about your ideal customer avatar. What are their pain points? What is one problem you can solve that will foster trust?

Remember: If you create a high-quality, free tool for them, your audience will believe your paid products/services are high-quality, too. Therefore, worth the investment.

4. Expand a Blog Post and Turn It into a Guide or eBook

In addition to creating a free tool, you can repurpose some of your old content. Look at your analytics (data-based decision making). Find which blog posts have performed the best, which get the most engagement. Then, expand on the information. Update statistics. Add more relevant content.

You can use your new guide or eBook to get people at the demand generation-stage of your funnel to the middle-stage. For example, to receive the guide/eBook, they can sign up for your email list, getting them one step closer to becoming a paying customer.

Accelerate the Success of Your Demand Generation Campaigns

Marketing your company is the best way to bring in new customers and help your business to grow.

Unfortunately, marketing takes a lot of time – time your team might not have at this point in your company’s development. Some small-to-medium businesses don’t even have the means to have a full-time marketing team. In those situations, marketing ends up:

• Not getting done
• Getting done sporadically
• Falling to a very overworked, stressed out employee
• Falling to the owner of the company, who not only doesn’t have the time to do this, but would also prefer to spend their time developing the product or service they provide

Thankfully, you have options. A company like Televerde offers global sales and marketing service to help create leads.