An effective B2B demand generation program kick-starts the overall success of an end-to-end channel marketing campaign. In fact, by building a sustainable demand gen program that produces concrete business results, you will answer the demand for the most elusive of all B2B marcom creatures – measurable ROI.

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A profitable demand gen campaign today involves far more than compiling the number of captured email addresses, clicks on a dedicated web page or downloaded white papers. Leveraging results-driven measurement at each stage of the sales cycle can help you design a strong demand gen program that’s targeted, flexible and generates real business results.

Demand Generation

Here are four things that no demand gen program in tech channel marketing should be without today:

• A thorough understanding of your audience – Creating a generic marketing campaign with generic messages pushed out to untargeted lists will lead to generic results. Researching your target audience, understanding their needs and designing your content to answer their needs (and nor necessarily your own) will facilitate their movement through the sales cycle and increase the success of your demand gen efforts.
• Researched and tested your campaign messages – Developing campaign messages without having some knowledge of customer sentiment and need will likely lead to less-than-expected results. A quick survey, customer interviews, feedback from sales staff and data mining can help lead message development. Some companies are also floating messages in social media channels to see if they resonate with target audiences before launching a full campaign. Remember – research makes perfect.
• Integration with your sales team – Leads from a demand gen program likely won’t be converted to sales without collaboration between marketing and sales teams throughout the length of the sales cycle. Sales can help set the course for the demand gen program’s messaging, while information gathered by the marketing outreach can help sales speak intelligently to prospects and close sales.
• Measurable results, optimized programs – Monitoring and analyzing data from a demand gen program can’t wait until the end of the campaign. Ongoing evaluation during the campaign can help you refine tactics if necessary and delivers value for both the current campaign and future programs. It also helps you see if benchmarks are being met at each stage of the campaign. Real time analysis also allows you to proactively shift resources to the highest-performing tactics – in real time.

Using these tips as a foundation for your next demand gen program will set your organization on the right track for delivering business results and keeping the c-suite and your channel partners happy and enthusiastic about your marketing strategies.

Want to learn more about how Canyon Communications can help you fill your sales funnel, deliver ROI and impress the C-suite? Check out what Avnet Technology Solutions Sr. Product Manager Wendy Ganza has to say about building a competitive edge with the Canyon team, or visit us at www.canyoncomm.com.

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As law enforcement authorities closed in on Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev last week, the race to break information about the situation ensued at dizzying speed.

I watched online feeds from network TV news while also monitoring Twitter during the manhunt’s final stage in Watertown, Mass., late Friday afternoon (Pacific time). The unfiltered flow of information on social media – from armchair detectives, news reporters, Watertown residents, public officials, and even law enforcement involved in the manhunt – proved more compelling than the seemingly deliberate pace of reporting from the TV networks.

This convergence of a major news event and social media confirmed once again that people are no longer content to wait for reporting from mainstream media to tell the story. Users were collecting their own information from a variety of sources and distributing it via Twitter, Reddit, Storify and other social media, while national and Boston-area media outlets were trying to break news and keep up by tweeting information from their own reporters before it was used on “traditional” media in some cases.

One primary information source for users was Boston police radio traffic – reportedly more than 260,000 listeners were monitoring an online police scanner feed on Broadcastify and up to 2 million listened on UStream later in the day, according to published reports. People were sharing so much information from scanner traffic that the Boston Police Department issued this statement Friday morning:

While most clients won’t experience a major news or crisis management event like this, there are some valuable lessons to be learned:

• Transparency is vital: While potentially sensitive information shared via social media from scanners and eyewitness reporters caused headaches for Boston police (and could potentially for other agencies), the communications channels remained accessible to the public throughout the manhunt. Maintaining transparency enabled law enforcement to maintain a high level of trust and goodwill with the public, just as it will for organizations that wish to have open communication with their audiences.

• Provide timely information: Keeping your audiences appropriately informed fulfills their desire for news and gives them credible information to share via social media. If consumers don’t have access to information, they often will create their own and leave an organization playing catch-up, putting out fires that might have been prevented in the first place with timely, accurate information.

• Embrace social media: The impact of social media on this event – for better and for worse – is undeniable. While ratings for CNN, Fox News and MSNBC tripled last week, people were also engaged online, talking about what they were seeing on TV. An organization that doesn’t include social media as part of its communications plan misses a huge opportunity to engage consumers and leaves the door open for others to completely shape its reputation.

Social media is becoming entrenched as a way of life for B2B marketing and PR activities at Canyon Communications. Engage your audiences and build mutually beneficial relationships!

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