The Role of Marketing Automation in Demand Generation: Streamlining Processes

Don’t be scared off by the marketing buzzwords in this title! We’re here to tackle these topics and break them down for you.

We’ll explain what is meant by demand marketing, why marketing automation is important and how it can be used to streamline the process of demand generation, saving you time, money and making your marketing more effective. Let’s start with…

What is Demand Generation Marketing?

Demand generation marketing focuses on creating and nurturing interest and awareness from your target audience. It aims to generate interest, curiosity, and hopefully even some excitement around your services. Not to be confused with lead generation, the ultimate goal is to create demand and generate leads that can be nurtured further down the sales funnel and for the service to remain top of mind when the buying decisions are being made. 

Marketing assets that we categorise as demand generation include, blogs, videos, eBooks and how-to guides, podcasts/webinars and PR. 

Why is it important to Streamline the Demand Generation Process? 

For the same reason you streamline any activity in business: to make it more effective, less time consuming and to save money. 

The requirements for a comprehensive demand generation strategy are vast, but to start with you should consider things like: lead scoring, lead nurturing, email marketing, data segmentation, and campaign planning. Automating demand generation involves using technology to simplify and automate these aspects of the process. 

Why use Marketing Automation?

Like with any tech that removes some of the human element, the benefits are worth the investment.

Automation enables marketers to manage complex tasks and multiple channels easily. By automating routine tasks and steps within the demand generation process, teams can focus on strategic initiatives, performance analysis, content creation, and other higher-value activities than the actual technical implementation of demand generation. 

It also provides a central place for sales and marketing to view demand gen activity and track performance - bringing harmony to the different departments and encouraging them to work together to accomplish their shared goal. 

The Connection between Marketing Automation and Demand Generation

Let’s breakdown the tasks and look at the part automation can play in streamlining the process: 

Targeted Campaigns

Marketing automation enables companies to create highly targeted campaigns by using customer data to segment their audience. This segmentation can be based on various criteria such as sector, location, demographics and more.

Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is a crucial component of the demand generation process. Marketing Automation plays a pivotal role in nurturing leads through various stages of the sales funnel.

Let’s take email as an example. By using an automation platform you can send personalised emails to a specific segmentation and then set up a sequence triggered by the recipient actions i.e. if they download a guide - they receive the guide, a thank email and then a follow up email. 

Lead Scoring 

Lead scoring can also be automated. You can assign scores to prospects based on levels of engagement and when a prospect has reached a certain threshold they can be highlighted and sent to the sales team. 

Personalisation

Personalisation is a key element in marketing automation, this includes dynamic content so that different users see different information according to their preferences. Recommendations can also be made based on previous behaviours and actions. 

Data Analytics

Data analytics are essential for measuring the effectiveness of demand generation efforts and refining marketing strategies. 

Tracking and reporting is made easy with analytics available on key metrics such as email opens, click-through rates, conversion rates such as CV uploads or job applications.  

Lead insights can be gained by monitoring how the audience engages with the content is so valuable and allows for improvements to be made. 

ROI measurement is the key metric for most businesses is return on investment and being able to automate it is something most marketers dream of. For more information on measuring the money marketing makes download our eBook on MROI. 

Challenges and Considerations

Integration with Existing Systems

Let’s talk about your tech stack! When it comes to choosing a marketing automation platform the same rules apply to any new piece of tech, think about where it fits with what you already have or it is going to make something you already used redundant. If in doubt, map out your tech or consider asking a marketing tech expert for help.    

Data Quality and Management

Look, we're going to be frank here - if you put rubbish in you will get rubbish out. The quality of your data is EVERYTHING! There are tools available such as KickBox that can cleanse your data before you send an email. 

Staff Training and Skill Development

It goes without saying that if you implement a new platform you will need some training in order to use it and get the most out of it. It normally helps to make a member of staff a super user who other team members can go to for technical and practical help. 

Selecting the Right Automation Tools

There are many different types of channels and tools available for demand generation, such as email, social media, content, webinars, SEO, PPC, CRM, automation, analytics, and more. Each one has its own advantages, disadvantages, costs, and requirements. You need to research and compare your options based on your goal, metrics, audience, and buyer journey. You also need to test and experiment with different combinations of channels and tools to see what works best for your demand generation campaigns.

Creating Quality Content

Quality content is integral to the success of your demand generation campaign. You have to produce content that your audience wants to read - sounds simple right?

It’s not! Yes, you can use AI to create your content but in our experience you will still need an element of human skill in order to produce quality content that is appropriate and captivating  for your audience. 

It goes back to your ICPs - always create content with your audience in mind. You need to identify their pain points and offer solutions, or write about a subject that you know they will be interested in - maybe it’s something new that is happening in their market that may affect their business. 

It's clear that marketing automation isn't just a tool; it's a transformative platform that optimises processes, enhances engagement, and drives growth. It empowers marketers to do what they do best: build meaningful connections with their audience and generate demand for their products or services. 

To find out more about Lead Generation Marketing and how you can grow your business through marketing, download our latest eBook: "Think Marketing Is Colouring In? Think Again! The Art of Growing Your Business Through Marketing." It further explores demand generation, lead generation, and account-based marketing, whilst showing you how to implement these strategies concurrently, and much more.