The document provides guidance for B2B demand generation marketers on planning an effective demand generation strategy. It discusses reverse engineering the sales funnel to identify pipeline goals and target metrics at each stage. Marketers are advised to determine revenue goals, calculate the contribution goals for marketing, and work backwards to establish the number of leads, MQLs, and opportunities needed based on average conversion rates. The document stresses the importance of having an ideal customer profile to focus marketing efforts on attracting the right leads that will become good customers.

1. The B2B
Plus
Contentfor
Demand
Generation
IN THE AGE OF
THE CUSTOMER
HOW TO REVERSE-
ENGINEER THE FUNNEL
FOR A MORE ACCURATE
PIPELINE STRATEGY

2. INDEX
THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK X2
Introduction 5
»» Introducing the Modern B2B Demand Gen Marketer.................................5
* Who Is the All-Star Demand Gen Marketer?............................ 6
»» A "Where There's a Will, There's a Way" Attitude........................................8
* In Love with Data................................................................... 9
* A People Expert..................................................................... 9
* Willing to Blow the Whistle..................................................... 9
»» Your B2B Demand Gen Playbook............................................................................10
INDEX
C l i c k o n t i t l e t o j u m p
t o D e s i r e d S e c t i o n

3. INDEX
THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK X3
Plan 11
»» Identify your Pipeline Goals.................................................................................. 11
* Reverse Engineering the Funnel........................................... 12
»» Plan an Agile Demand Gen Strategy...................................................................18
* The Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).......................................... 18
Create 20
»» Awareness/Investigation Stages:
Mapping Top-of-Funnel Content..................................................................................................................................22
»» Comparison Stage:
Mapping Mid-Funnel Content............................................................................................................................................23
* Content and Demand Generation: Chicken or the Egg?......... 24
* Content and Demand Gen Alignment..................................... 25
* Demand Gen and Sales Enablement...................................... 26
»» Consideration/Purchase Stages:
Mapping Bottom-of-Funnel Content...................................................................................................................26

4. INDEX
THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK X4
Distribute 27
»» Marketing Pipeline Support Model- Demand Gen.....................................28
»» Awareness and Investigation Stages.............................................................. 29
* SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and
SEM (Search Engine Marketing)............................................ 29
* Website and Call-to-Action Strategy..................................... 30
* Email................................................................................... 30
»» Comparison Stage...........................................................................................................31
* Account-Based Demand Gen................................................. 31
* Regional and Virtual Events................................................. 31
»» Consideration and Purchase Stages................................................................ 32
Optimize 33
»» Top of Funnel Woes:
When Leads Aren't Converting.......................................................................................................................................34
* Problems and Solutions........................................................ 34
»» Avoid the Mid-funnel stall.....................................................................................36

5. Introduction
5THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Introducing the Modern B2B
Demand Gen Marketer
[D]
emand generation marketing
has gained momentum over the
last decade, quickly becoming
a pivotal role in modern B2B marketing.
Revenue is the primary success metric
for this position, both at the enterprise
and mid-market levels, with demand
generation teams responsible for
tracking and reporting marketing-driven
pipeline within the sales cycle.
Demand gen marketers bridge the
gap between marketing and revenue,
and in many ways, exemplify modern
marketing’s powerful transition from
cost center to revenue-driver.
THE B2B
DEMAND GEN
MARKETING
P L A Y B O O K
The Demand Gen Marketer

6. Introduction
6THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Who Is the All-Star Demand Gen Marketer?
A successful B2B demand gen marketer must be
part-scientist and part-psychologist.
[T]
he scientist side is highly analytical and able
to make sense of trends and patterns from
multiple sources of data. The psychologist
intuitively understands what makes people tick. The
combination is a powerful one. Not only do demand
gen marketers know the subject lines that drive email
opens, the most compelling CTAs, and how well
content converts buyers through the funnel, but they
have the data to back up their strategies and insight
into how B2B buyers make decisions.
#
1

7. Introduction
7THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
If your company experiences any of the following
challenges, you’d likely benefit greatly from the
scientist/psychologist expertise of a demand gen
marketer.
The challenges that demand gen marketers solve are
many, and those listed above are an all-star demand
gen marketer’s bread and butter. As B2B companies
continue to invest in technology to improve their
marketing efforts, the need for talented demand gen
professionals will continue to increase.
However, expert demand gen marketers aren’t easy
to come by, especially since the role is relatively
new. Many transitioned from traditional marketing
communications into demand gen, and the role is
continually refined as technology gets smarter. But
there are some key qualities to be on the lookout
for when adding a demand gen all-star to your B2B
marketing team.
»» Is your CRM database filled with names that don’t
fit your company’s ideal customer profile? Are you
unsure how to attract and convert new leads that DO
fit the profile?
»» Is your team struggling to effectively leverage and
measure digital channels to push leads deeper into
the purchase process?
»» Is your sales team disgruntled that marketing-
generated leads a) aren’t ready for a purchase
conversation, b) don’t fit the ideal customer profile,
or c) aren’t being delivered at the volume needed to
hit their monthly or quarterly pipeline quotas?

8. Introduction
8THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
A “Where There’s a Will,
There’s a Way” Attitude
[D]
emand gen marketers love to problem-solve
and perform under pressure. To thrive, they
can’t be easily rattled by funnel issues and
steep pipeline goals.
Let’s say that your company’s top-of-funnel traffic
has mysteriously dropped steadily every month over
the last quarter, but you’re not sure why. When
negative performance data would frighten many a
modern marketer, this is the fuel that drives the
demand gen marketer to greatness. They will deep-
dive into traffic data, marketing automation, the
CRM, and other tools to look for answers. They will
audit SEO performance to evaluate existing keyword
effectiveness, and define more effective keywords.
They will collaborate with social and content
marketing teams to see how current top-of-funnel
content performs, and make suggestions based on that
data.
Bottom line: the all-star demand gen marketer
eats funnel problems for breakfast, and washes
it down with data-backed, actionable solutions.

9. Introduction
9THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
In Love with Data
The demand gen marketer
likely swoons over the
term “data-driven
marketing.” Gleaning
actionable insights from
scores of data, pulled
from overlapping tools
in your company’s
marketing technology
stack, is the stuff of
their dreams. Highly
analytical, the successful
demand gen marketer
can draw intelligent
recommendations from
often convoluted sources.
A People Expert
A successful demand
gen marketer truly is a
unicorn—equal parts
analytical genius and
creative guru. They must
solve problems using
their data-driven brains,
digging into metrics and
proposing innovative
solutions and strategies.
But they must also be
experts on people. They
don’t just know their
audience’s title, lead
score, and company
size, they understand
the person behind the
persona: who they are,
what motivates them,
where they go for
information and how they
like to consume it, and
more.
Willing to Blow the
Whistle
Obsessed with data-
driven marketing, demand
gen marketers are the
voices of reason. They
make decisions based on
hard numbers, not just
instinct. Occasionally,
this can sometimes feel
like a wet blanket for your
creative team.
For example, let’s say
your team did a major
push for video last year,
but received little to
no engagement from
leads. The answer is not,
“Let’s just make better,
more awesome (*cough*
expensive) videos next
time.”
Good demand gen
marketers will raise
their hands, and remind
their colleagues that
whitepapers perform
better. In this way, the
demand gen marketer
must blow the whistle
on certain ideas,
guiding their teams to
be more strategic and
efficient. This is modern
marketing—lead with
the data, and adjust
your creative strategy
accordingly.
1 2 3

10. Introduction
10THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Your B2B Demand Gen Playbook
We’ve created this playbook to layout the
key steps an all-star marketer must take to
accomplish the following:
»» Plan a demand gen strategy according to
funnel and pipeline status
»» Create an agile strategy that responds to the
changing needs of the funnel
»» Distribute content through digital channels
in a way that is integrated, targeted, and
results-driven
»» Optimize around data-driven insights to
shorten the sales cycle and consistently
meet needs of potential customers
Let’s get this game started!

11. CH 1: Plan
11THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
01
Identify Your Pipeline Goals
[F]
or the demand gen marketer, planning must
start with an audit of the entire funnel: top to
bottom. The goal is to get an accurate picture
of how many leads, MQLs, and opportunities are
needed and the rate of conversion at each stage to hit
quarterly and annual revenue goals. These metrics are
crucial to defining goals, and optimizing your strategy
for success down the line.

12. CH 1: Plan
12THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Reverse Engineering the Funnel
In the world of modern marketing,
revenue is your ultimate success metric.
With that fact in mind, set revenue as
your foundational goal and use average
conversion rates to determine your goals
at every stage of the funnel. Working
bottom-up, you’ll be able to anticipate
the total volume of new leads and
overall traffic necessary to meet your
bottom-of-the-funnel goals.
Here’s an example of how a demand
gen marketer plans quarterly and yearly
goals:
1
Step 1:
Determine total revenue goals for the upcoming
quarters and year. You can also break these goals
down monthly to track progress. Calculate the average
length of the sales cycle to determine how far in
advance marketing needs to deliver opportunities to
sales. For example, if it takes sales an average of 90
days to close a deal, marketing needs to deliver the
right number of opportunities 90 days (one quarter) in
advance, so sales has enough time to close these deals
and meet their quota for the quarter.

13. CH 1: Plan
13THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Step 2:
Calculate the contribution goals, meaning determine what
percent of revenue marketing has agreed with sales to
contribute on an annual and quarterly basis. Then, working
backward, demand gen can define the volume of leads and
opportunities that will ultimately result in X percent of total
revenue.
For most mid-market sized companies, the ownership/
contribution between sales and marketing is close to 50/50.
For more mature organizations with highly established
sales structures, ownership/contribution looks more like
25(marketing)/75(sales). You’ll want to define goals on where
revenue comes from: net new or from existing accounts, and
cross-sell or upsell with an existing customer. Even further,
determine revenue goals based on sales segments like
enterprise, mid-market, SMB, etc.
So to calculate how much revenue needs to be generated
by marketing for the next sales cycle, follow this simple
calculation:
2
Percent Ownership
(eg. 50% would be .50)
Revenue
Contribution
Owned
By Marketing
($ Dollar Amount)
Total Revenue
($ Dollar Amount)
R x O = M

14. CH 1: Plan
14THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Revenue Owned by
Marketing
($ Dollar Amount)
Average Deal Size
($ Dollar Amount)
# of Marketing-
Generated
Closed-win Deals
Step 3:
Next, figure out how many closed-won
deals marketing needs to generate to
meet their contribution number. Here’s
an easy calculation to help you get there:
M
A
= G
This calculation tells you exactly how
many closed deals marketing must
generate in the next sales cycle.
3

15. CH 1: Plan
15THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Step 4:
Using average or target conversion rates, work backwards from
revenue to calculate traffic, net new names, leads, and MQLs
required from stage to stage to meet revenue goals.
To determine how many leads you need at each stage by the end of
the sales cycle, you’ll need to determine what conversion model
you want to use as standard practice. Perhaps your company has
one, but if not, below is an example depicting each stage in the
sales funnel, and the conversion formulas for each taken from
SiriusDecisions Demand Waterfall® stage conversions average
benchmarks. Once you’ve made this calculation for each stage,
you’ll know exactly how many leads you’ll need to convert from
the top of the funnel to MQL (see diagram on p.17), all the way
to opportunity stages. These terms may differ from organization
to organization, so you can use this as your template and fill out
the appropriate terms for your company. These numbers now
represent the baseline metrics for all marketing activity targeted
at revenue generation.
The formula for this stage looks like this:
4
G
C
= S
#leads from
current stage
% Conversion rate
of previous stage
to current stage
# of Leads
needed at
previous stage

16. CH 1: Plan
16THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Lets put it all together
with an example:
[L]
ets say in stage one you
determine that your revenue
goal for the quarter is two
million dollars and marketing’s
percent ownership of that two
million is 50%. With those two
values in place we can determine the
dollar amount of revenue owned by
marketing using the formula:
R x O = M.
Now that we know the amount of
revenue owned by marketing, and
given your average deal generates
$10,000 in revenue, we can
determine the number of closed deals
required as a result of marketing
activity using the formula: M/A = G.
Finally, we can begin reverse
engineering our funnel using the
formula G/C = S to solve for the
stage. For this example we are
using SiriusDecisions Demand
Waterfall Stage Conversions Average
Benchmarks. (Shown to the right)
Then we will repeat the formula to
find the value for SAL by replacing G
with the found value from OPP stage
and C with the SAL to OPP Conversion
rate found in the SiriusDecisions
Demand Waterfall stage conversions
average benchmarks chart.
To find the remaining values we will
repeat this process for each of the
following stages until your funnel is
complete. Your reverse funnel should
look something like the example on
the following page.
1,000,000
10,000
= 100
100
.231
= 433
433
.491
= 882
$ 2,000,000 x .50 = $ 1,000,000
SiriusDecisions Demand Waterfall®
Stage Conversions Average
Benchmarks
OPP » REV 23.1%
SAL » OPP 49.1%
MQL » SAL 58.3%
LEAD » MQL 3.9%Opportunities
Required
SAL
Required

17. CH 1: Plan
17THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Your reverse engineered funnel should look something like this:
CLOSED WON
REVENUE
OPPORTUNITY
SALES ACCEPTED LEADS
MARKETING QUALIFIED LEADS
ALL LEADS FROM FILLED OUT GATED FORMS
REV
OPP
SAL
MQL
LEADS
100
.231
= 433
433
.491
= 882
882
.583
= 1,513
1,513
.039
= 38,795
Your complete Funnel for one sales cycle:
REV
OPP
SAL
MQL
LEADS38,795
1,513
882
433
100
#ofLeadsateachstage

18. CH 1: Plan
18THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Before you can determine what personas to target and how
many leads you need to drive a healthy pipeline for your
company, you must know your ideal customer profile like
the back of your hand.
Dig into the situations/problems your product addresses and
solves, and identify the types of prospects or companies (size,
industry, etc.) that:
»» Experience the pains your product or solution solves
»» Have a plan and buy-in for onboarding or implementing
your solution
»» Have budget and purchase authority
Plan an Agile Demand-Gen Strategy
The Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
[T]
o achieve a healthy pipeline, your database must be
evaluated constantly to ensure that your marketing
efforts attract leads that will become good and
valuable customers for your company. Traffic and form fill-
outs are meaningless for a demand gen team if they don’t
convert into actual revenue.

19. CH 1: Plan
19THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
If you notice unqualified leads in your pipeline, the demand
gen marketer is responsible for stepping up to the plate to
determine why, and consults respective teams on how they
can adjust their marketing efforts to pivot quickly and turn
the trend around. This is challenging, iterative, and highly
collaborative work that needs to be treated like a marathon,
not a sprint.
Executive-level staff or strategy teams typically define ideal
customer profiles (ICPs), but a demand gen marketer must
constantly monitor the leads captured at the top of the funnel
to ensure they align with ICP criteria. If they don’t, then your
database will not accurately reflect projected pipeline, and
sales will struggle to bring in revenue from the leads your
marketing team generates.
Here are some standard elements to consider when mapping
out your ideal customer profile:
Set your spreadsheets on fire. With
Kapost Content Planner, you can
see what content is in production
and monitor campaign progress all
in one place.
SEE it in action
»» What do your most successful customers have in common?
»» What size company is the best fit for your product
(enterprise, mid-market, start-up)?
»» Who must engage in the purchase process (who holds the
checkbook, who is your company’s champion, who is the
end user)?

20. CH 2: create
20THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
02
[A]
winning demand generation strategy is 100%
dictated by the evolving needs and challenges
that arise in your funnel. Other marketing
teams rely on your data and expertise to help them
determine the best content types for attracting or
moving leads quickly through the buyer’s journey.
An all-star demand gen marketer is highly regarded
across other marketing functions, and acts as a
metrics-driven support system for content, product,
customer success, and creative teams. But the success
of a demand gen marketer is directly proportional to
the quality and volume of content they receive from
the very teams they help consult.

21. CH 2: create
21THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
With each channel that demand gen manages, there
must be appropriate content to feed to it. Likewise,
content must be created for each stage of the
funnel—from awareness stage to closed deal to repeat
customer. Demand gen teams must collaborate with
respective content creators—often on totally different
teams—depending on pipeline stage and content type.
The chart below depicts examples of content driving
demand gen at each stage in the marketing pipeline.
Awareness Investigation Comparison Consideration Purchase Post-Sale
Team
Marcom,
digital, social
Demand gen,
marketing ops,
field marketing,
sales
Product
marketing,
sales
consulting,
sales
Sales, product
marketing,
product mgmt,
consulting
Sales,
customer
support,
consulting
Customer
support,
customer
marketing
Content
Types
Press
releases, blog
posts, videos,
infographics,
social posts
eBooks, landing
pages, emails,
webinars, events
Fact sheets,
case studies,
videos,
testimonials,
webinars
FAQ sheets,
brochures, tech
guides
Onboarding
docs, help
articles,
presentations
Product
collateral,
events,
webinars
Content
Goals
Thought
leadership,
engagement
Lead
acquisition, lead
qualification
Lead
qualification,
lead flow
Equip sales
team, build
consensus
Confirm value,
define next
steps
Onboard,
ensure
success
Key
Metrics
Referral
traffic, social
shares,
channel
engagement,
downloads
Registration,
downloads,
new leads, lead
attribution
Opens, click-
throughs,
downloads,
conversion
attribution
Content usage,
downloads,
opens,
conversion
attribution
Content
usage,
downloads,
revenue
attribution
Downloads,
opens,
content
usage, online
engagement

22. CH 2: create
22THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Awareness/Investigation Stages:
Mapping Top-of-Funnel Content
[I]
n the awareness and investigation stages,
potential buyers have their first impression
of your brand. This isn’t the time to inundate
them with product demos and data sheets. This is the
time to engage visitors with easy-to-consume content
that is compelling and positions your company as an
industry thought leader.
At this stage in the buyer’s journey, content creation
generally lives with social and content marketing
teams. Sometimes, demand gen teams will own
top-funnel content creation as well. Top-of-funnel
engagement generally requires content such as brief
30-second videos, thought leadership pieces, blog
posts, eBooks, infographics, interactive media, and
social media. The content goal of this stage is to
engage a visitor enough to make them curious about
your product, and interact with more content until
they become a marketing qualified lead (MQL).
Top-of-Funnel Video
from an All-Star
Kapost customer,
Lenovo, created this
bite-sized video
comparing the
strength of an NFL
player to a fourth
grader, to demonstrate
how their new laptop
can twist 360 degrees.
“This isn’t the time to inundate them with product
demos and data sheets. This is the time to engage
visitors with easy-to-consume content that is
compelling and positions your company as an
industry thought leader.”

23. CH 2: create
23THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Comparison Stage:
Mapping Mid-Funnel Content
[O]
nce a lead has been flagged as marketing
qualified (MQL), content should tie high-
level themes to the value of your product or
solution, preparing prospects for a conversation with
sales. In a standard waterfall model, MQL conversions
to sales accepted leads (SALs) can range anywhere
from 15-40%.
However, don’t confuse this stage as your opportunity
to share long-winded product demos. At this stage,
a lead is still getting to know your brand, but is now
curious as to what value your product brings and how it
alleviates their challenges.
Content at this stage must be guided by messaging
and product positioning. If your content doesn’t
immediately address your ICP’s pain points and offer
them a clear and easy path to solve that, then you’ve
likely lost their attention.
Appropriate content at this stage includes short,
value-focused product videos, event promotions,
customer case studies and videos, webinars, and
product sheets.
15-40%
In a standard waterfall model, MQL
conversions to sales accepted leads
(SALs) can range anywhere from 15-40%

24. CH 2: create
24THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Content and Demand Generation: Chicken or the Egg?
In most companies, content creation lives across many teams
and departments. While demand teams are responsible for
content creation as well, they must leverage the content
created across the company to develop and track demand gen
programs and campaigns for the entire buyer’s journey.
This is, inevitably, where conflict arises.
Shar Berwick, Senior Director of Demand Gen at Kapost, had
this to say about the challenges between content creation and
demand gen.
Content and demand teams should meet regularly, or have
an established system of communication, ideation, and
planning to ensure alignment of these two important teams.
Despite the power struggle, the truth is, both functions are
mutually dependent on the success of the other. However,
there are some ways to align better with your content team in
producing the right content, for the right channels
and programs.
“As a demand gen marketer, I need to understand if
campaigns are effective. I need to know if we are driving
the right engagement with the right content to the right
audience at the top of the funnel, and if that engagement
impacts conversion further down the funnel. Without
these metrics, it makes it tough to make good decisions
on what content to produce, for what audience, and at
what stage. Often times, a lot of gut instinct goes into
decision-making, but that’s where my role comes in.”

25. CH 2: create
25THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Content and Demand Gen Alignment
As a demand gen marketer, you are the data guru and
keeper of quantitative insights for the entire funnel.
While plenty of technology exists to measure specific
functions of content marketing, such as social media
analytics tools, demand gen typically maintains a
holistic view of the funnel and provides insights to the
content team that they may not have considered.
Bring these insights to the table with your content
team, and use that data to discuss what content
resonates with your company’s target audience, drives
ICP leads, and supports a fast-moving sales cycle.
For example, your content team may be spending
the majority of their time developing their blog
strategy. But if video content has a higher lead-to-
MQL conversion rate, your analysis can help steer the
content strategy toward efforts that convert most
successfully.
There’s less need for speculation when data is
involved. Leverage that when discussing upcoming
campaigns and the content fueling them. When
demand gen and content succeeds, your company
ultimately succeeds.
The primary content creators at this stage are product
marketers and field marketers. The primary goal for
mid-funnel content is sales enablement. Once a lead
has been handed off to sales, content must focus
on supporting those responsible for nurturing the
opportunity.
Kapost on Kapost
One Customer Story,
Several Demand Gen
Touchpoints
[D]
atavail
marketers
use Kapost
at both the manager
and CMO-level. In
order to leverage
their story for
multiple inbound
purposes, we created
two case studies,
one from each user
perspective, for
different demand
gen objectives.
Top of Funnel →—
Blog post covering
the summarized
Datavail story from
the implementers’
perspective, with a
call to action (CTA)
to read the formal
case study.
Middle of Funnel —
Case study from the
CMO perspective,
delivered through
marketing
automation channels
with CTA to demo
the Kapost product.

26. CH 2: create
26THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Demand Gen and Sales Enablement
But this hand-off process is far from easy, and it’s
where demand gen plays a large role. Demand gen
marketers must take a hard look at the conversion
criteria to determine if their lead scoring is either too
stringent or too lenient to consider a lead MQL.
This phenomenon is often
called “mid-funnel stall.”
To read more about how
Kapost tackles this,
CLICK HERE!
Consideration/Purchase Stages:
Mapping Bottom-of-Funnel Content
[A]
t the consideration and purchase stages of the
funnel, demand gen marketers play more of a
supporting role to sales.
For demand gen marketers, programs at this stage are
built upon the needs of sales staff and B2B buyers on
their path to purchase.
This could look like setting up a program to target
different job roles within companies being pursued by
sales. Content that might be pushed through demand
generation channels at this stage might include FAQ
sheets, technology guides, and presentations as
needed.
Ditch the company shared drive.
See how Kapost Content Gallery
organizes, shares, and tracks all
of the content you need across
regions, verticals, and personas
in a single place.
SEE IT in Action

27. Ch 3: Distribute
27THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
03
[A]
t the end of the day, a demand gen marketer
is responsible for closed-won revenue for the
company, through programs developed with
content and tailored for various distribution channels.
The distribution strategies of a demand gen team vary
from company to company, but below is an example
of a pipeline support model, mapping out primary
channels leveraged across the funnel.

28. Ch 3: Distribute
28THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Product, Brand, Content/Messaging, Events, Demand Gen.
Brand/Messaging/PR
• PR, AR, Social, Awareness
• Website
SEO
• Keyword optimization
• SEO Audit/Analytics
Strategic Events
• Trade shows
• Webinars
Thought Leadership
• Themes
• Product updates
Demand Gen, Content, Events.
Inbound Campaigns
• Paid digital/search
• Social marketing
• Retargeting
Outbound Campaigns
• Email
• Mobile
Virtual Events
• Webinars
• Sponsored webinars
• Virtual event
Nurture
• Pre-MQL nurture
Demand Gen, Content, Events.
Account Based Marketing
• ABM Advertising/Retargeting
• ABM outbound emails
• ABM nurture emails
Regional/Virtual Events
• Sponsored events
• Channel/Partner events
Nurture
• Sales nurture (dynamic)
• SDR engagement emails
• OPP nurtures
Product, Events, Customer, Demand Gen
“Closer” Events
• Assist with face-to-face intros to other clients (validation), meeting
executives
• Key Account Marketing Program
• Special Events, Ad hoc
Customer, Events, Demand Gen, Content
Customer Enablement/Engagement/Growth
• Key Account Marketing Programs
• Special Events, Ad hoc
Awareness
(TOFU)
Marketing Pipeline Support Model - Demand Gen
Investigation
(TOFU)Comparison
(MOFU)
Consideration/
Purchase
(BOFU)POST-SALE
TOFU - Top-of-Funnel
MOFU - Middle-of-Funnel
BOFU - Bottom-of-Funnel

29. Ch 3: Distribute
29THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Awareness and Investigation Stages
Product, Brand, Content/Messaging, Events, Demand Gen.
Brand/Messaging/PR
• PR, AR, Social, Awareness
• Website
SEO
• Keyword optimization
• SEO Audit/Analytics
Strategic Events
• Trade shows
• Webinars
Thought Leadership
• Themes
• Product updates
Demand Gen, Content, Events.
Inbound Campaigns
• Paid digital/search
• Social marketing
• Retargeting
Outbound Campaigns
• Email
• Mobile
Virtual Events
• Webinars
• Sponsored webinars
• Virtual event
Nurture
• Pre-MQL nurture
At the awareness and investigation stages, leveraging
your inbound and outbound channels is critical to the
health of your pipeline. Here are a few key channels to
focus on in your demand gen role:
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
and SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
Going beyond content, top-of-funnel activity also
needs to include SEO and SEM, whether outsourced
or in-house. SEO is often an afterthought in a
marketing strategy, but it’s critical that you bring in
enough organic so that you can reach the conversion
projections for the following pipeline stages.
Without a high volume of top-funnel traffic coming
from organic and paid traffic, your numbers are sure to
fall short of your revenue goals per sales cycle.
Investigation
(TOFU)
Awareness
(TOFU)

30. Ch 3: Distribute
30THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Website and Call-to-Action Strategy
One of the most important elements of
successful top-of-funnel content is calls
to action (CTAs). A clearly defined and
tested CTA strategy will not only guide
your visitors on an exciting, intuitive
journey through your website, but will
convert more people faster.
Building out a successful CTA strategy
is not for the faint of heart, however. It
takes an iterative testing methodology.
Before you begin testing, start with
designing an engagement path—from
call to action to conversion—that is
quick, consistent, potent, and testable.
Remember that every extra step creates
a higher barrier to conversion, and
you risk losing a percentage of your
audience.
Email
Demand gen marketers are often
email marketing superstars. When a
lead enters your marketing database,
demand gen is responsible for setting
up automated email programs to
nurture that lead and move them
closer to purchase. Using technology
like marketing automation to deliver
targeted, relevant content to the right
people at the right time, and monitoring
their behavior for high-value actions
(for example, visiting pricing pages or
requesting to be contacted by sales),
demand gen marketers move B2B buyers
more quickly toward a conversation
with sales. Also, tracking how and when
buyers engage allows demand gen teams
to optimize their strategies based on
valuable data.

31. Ch 3: Distribute
31THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Account-Based Demand Gen
One strategy many B2B marketing teams
leverage during the consideration stage
is account-based marketing (ABM). In
order to target top accounts and build
out targeted programs, it requires a
collaborative effort across demand gen,
product marketing, and sales teams.
The stakes are much higher when
executing an ABM strategy. To miss
one account is to burn major revenue
opportunities for your company. To be
successful, demand gen marketers will
need to develop an inbound strategy
tightly coordinated with outbound
and nurture campaigns to specific
individuals within a target account.
This approach requires laser-focused
messaging and CTAs, so be sure to
consider pain points and value props
specific to the role that each individual
has within the account company.
Regional and Virtual Events
Another mid-funnel demand gen
strategy revolves around regional and
digital events. Regional events can
be in-person workshops, dinners, or
conferences, and provide an important
opportunity to engage directly with
prospects and your target audience.
Digital events, such as webinars or
online summits, are cost-effective ways
to interact with buyers and move them
toward purchase. For MQLs early in
the sales process, an interactive event
allows them to engage with real people
and other industry peers. This can be the
difference between lukewarm interest
and a valuable champion that will rally
decision-makers around your product as
their ultimate solution.
Demand Gen, Content, Events.
Account Based Marketing
• ABM Advertising/Retargeting
• ABM outbound emails
• ABM nurture emails
Regional/Virtual Events
• Kapost events
• Channel/Partner events
Nurture
• Sales nurture (dynamic)
• SDR engagement emails
• OPP Nurtures
Comparison
(MOFU)
Comparison Stage

32. Ch 3: Distribute
32THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
[A]
s mentioned previously, demand generation’s
role in this stage is largely that of support,
and responding to account-specific needs
and requests from sales. Likewise, demand gen may
need to create campaigns around events aimed to close
target accounts that are close to purchase, but need
that last push. It’s also important to remember that,
at this stage, it’s critical to pull and evaluate the data
around closed-won and closed-lost opportunities. This
helps demand gen marketers gain further insight into
ICP accuracy, and incorporate this information into
ongoing strategy for content and distribution at every
stage of the funnel.
Product, Events, Customer, Demand Gen
“Closer” Events
• Assist with face-to-face intros to other clients (validation), meeting
executives
• Key Account Marketing Program
• Special events, ad hoc
Consideration/
Purchase
(BOFU)Consideration and Purchase Stages

33. Ch 4: Optimize
33THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
04
[O]
ptimizing channels and programs is the sweet
spot in the demand gen game. A primary
responsibility is to monitor pipeline activity
as it pertains to identified goals. These will shift
quarterly or annually as the company’s needs change,
so it’s important to remain agile in your ability to
refocus energy on addressing and optimizing funnel
challenges that occur for different reasons, and
support the respective teams responsible with data-
backed suggestions.
Here are some of the more common challenges that
plague most demand gen marketers at each major
stage in the funnel.
When negative performance data would frighten many
a modern marketer, this is the fuel that drives the
demand gen marketer to greatness.

34. Ch 4: Optimize
34THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Top-of-Funnel Woes:
When Leads Aren’t Converting
[A]
common issue among B2B marketing teams is stalled
conversions from stage to stage, or a lack in traffic to
their website in general.
Problem: Web traffic is low.
Possible Solutions:
»» Invest in SEO/SEM. Either ramp up your in-house team of
experts, or consider hiring a consultant to do an SEO audit
of your site.
»» Do a thorough social media audit. If any of your social
channels are performing particularly poorly, consider
investing more time in the channels that are working
more effectively or testing new ways to engage your target
audience. Social media requires time and bandwidth. If
your team is stretched too thin over too many platforms,
less is often more.
»» Leverage the power of Google Analytics. This tool can
provide powerful insight into your most engaged with
pages, and how customers move through your owned
web properties. You can also see where on your website
visitors decide to leave. With this insight, you can focus on
improving pages and optimizing the user journey.

35. Ch 4: Optimize
35THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Problem: The site gets a lot of activity, but doesn’t
capture enough new leads.
Possible Solutions:
»» Provide more high-value content that can be
gated (ie. requires filling out a form to receive the
content).
»» Take advantage of opportunities and calls to action
across your site to drive more traffic to relevant,
dynamic landing pages.
»» Test your landing pages to find easy-to-implement
changes that can significantly increase conversion.
This can include testing messaging, calls to action,
button color and placement, etc.
»» Decrease the number of form fields visitors need to
fill out on your contact or landing pages. Consider
technology solutions that append data to minimize
the barriers to entry.
»» Evaluate your website UX. It should be intuitive for
visitors to find the content they need, so they convert
quickly based on their interests and needs.
All of these possible solutions can be tested using tools
such as marketing automation and website evaluation
tools. The process of optimizing top-of-funnel
channels is iterative—and you can’t do everything
at once. Prioritize what you test based on the most
important end results, and use an if-then approach.
Otherwise you may be running around the problem,
rather than tackling it head on.

36. Ch 4: Optimize
36THE B2B Demand Gen MARKETING PLAYBOOK
Avoid the Mid-Funnel Stall
[M]
id-funnel stall is a common challenge among product
marketing, sales enablement, and other functions
engaged at the advancement stage of the buyer’s
journey. The database will reflect plenty of leads and MQLs,
but they may be slow to convert to an actual opportunity.
It’s not a problem marketing teams like to have, but luckily,
it’s the kind of challenge demand gen marketers know
how to tackle head on. It takes ongoing communication,
collaboration, and iteration with sales to pivot effectively
according to what the funnel needs at the time.
For example, perhaps those that MQL are primarily admirers
of your thought leadership material, but have no need for
your product. This suggests that your MQL criteria is too weak
and needs to be adjusted to filter leads that better fit your
ideal customer profile (ICP). With a weaker MQL criteria, sales
will find themselves excited by a high volume of leads, but
eventually will get frustrated by their lack of quality. Despite
being pleasantly busy with prospect calls, few of them will
lead to closed revenue.
On the other hand, if MQL criteria is too strict, sales will
start to sweat because their volume of incoming leads is high
quality, but too few in number to meet their own individual
and departmental quotas. Demand gen teams must be
constantly diligent about assessing their criteria alongside an
appropriate volume and quality of MQL hand-offs.
Demand gen must constantly comb through CRM data to
ensure that the balance between volume and quality is
healthy for the organization, and determine actionable steps
when adjustment is necessary. Perhaps content must change,
or a new channel needs to be leveraged, or MQL criteria to be
refined. Demand gen marketers must act as investigators in
this process.
Learn how Kapost
takes marketing/
sales alignment
from a buzzword to
a reality.

37. OFF TO THE RACES!
You have your playbook in hand—you know how to
plan, create, distribute, and optimize for demand gen.
Now get out there and execute a winning demand gen
marketing strategy.
On your mark—get set—go!
LEARN MORE
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