COVID19 shook the worldwide economy. Even though there are talks of an impending economic downturn, businesses still need to continue to generate leads. In this article, you’ll discover 10 practical demand generation tactics you can use in your business.

Demand Generation Tactics for Your Business

1. Obtain Warm Leads By Asking For Referrals

Asking for referrals doesn’t cost you anything. If you have provided an excellent product or service, clients are happy to refer you.

Referrals are great because they are warmer leads. It’s easier for you to convert into a customer.

Because most businesses have a tighter budget, you want to make use of all the leads you can get. It’s best to be more proactive in asking for referrals.

Ask your existing customers and partners to see if they can give you an introduction to someone who would need your product or service.

2. Revisit Your “Cold” Sales Leads

Too many companies simply ignore their “cold leads”. They think it’s not worth pursuing it.

But that’s not the case, especially during tough economic times. You must make every lead count if you want to grow your business.

Gather your sales team and look at “cold” leads that have not been followed up yet. It’s a good time to check in with them. Their priorities may have changed. Even if they were struggling and have cut down spending a couple of months ago, now things may be different.

It’s possible they are now ready to make a purchase. The only way to know is to reach out and have a conversation with them.

3. Create Engaging Digital Content That Grabs Attention

With many people working from home, they spend the majority of their time on their screens. Over the past few months, many businesses have transitioned to online marketing. As you expect, social platforms are noisy, with countless brands fighting for the user’s attention.

You can stand out by using rich digital content like audio, video and other interactive features. These help you to get more attention compared to the usual text-only posts.

4. Host Virtual Events & Webinars

COVID19 forced many live events to be canceled. And more events are likely to be canceled for the remainder of 2020.

Regardless of the industry, many companies are turning to online events and webinars. They’re not a new concept. But they became more popular since it’s the next best thing to live conferences.

You can network and meet people virtually from the comfort of your own home. It’s an excellent way to establish trust and position your brand as the authority. And you can address a large group of people at the same time.

When inviting people to your event, use a lead capture form to collect information like name, email address and phone number. The more questions you ask, the higher the quality of leads. But the trade-off is the percentage of people registering will decrease.

It’s also essential to test different elements of the lead capture form to increase your conversion rates. You can split-test headlines, bullets, CTA buttons and many more.

Don’t forget to record your webinars. You can repurpose the content in the future. For example, you can post short clips on your social media profile. Or you can use the replay as a lead magnet.

5. Use Video Calls To Increase Sales Conversions

Many companies have transitioned to a remote sales team. Video calls are a good way to equip your sales team to communicate with prospects. It’s the closest alternative to a face-to-face meeting.

You can see each other, make a human connection and build trust. It’s much better than doing a voice-only phone call.

Video calls can be done from anywhere in the world. You have the option to explore other geographical areas you wouldn’t consider previously.

There are many tools available like Zoom, Skype and Google Meet. They allow you to:

• Host a video conference so you can meet with several decision-makers at the same time
• Share screens to show your slide deck
• Do a live demo of your product in real-time to show the functionalities

6. Set Up An Online Marketplace

One of the biggest changes because of COVID19 is the volume of online purchases. People are forced to buy things online, ranging from groceries to food delivery to other non-essential items. This trend also carries over to B2B businesses.

People find it convenient to browse and research products and services online. Having an online marketplace will help to accelerate their purchasing decision. And increase your conversion rates.

Another advantage is you can track which pages your prospects looked at. Then you can follow up with them using retargeting ads. You can provide more details about your product or to simply remind them of your offer to close the sale.

Here are some things to include in your online marketplace for an excellent buying experience:

• Detailed product details
• Order history so customers can easily make repeat purchases
• Accurate inventory information to avoid unnecessary back and forth emails
• Expected delivery time
• Reviews, testimonials and case studies for social proof

7. Adapting Your Demand Generation Tactics to Dynamic Environment

The market condition post-COVID19 is dynamic. Some industries are struggling while others are booming. The needs of the buyers also change. Something that was a ‘nice to have’ a few months ago can become a necessity now.

The only constant is change. So, it’s vital to be quick and adapt your demand generation tactics to the dynamic environment.

This includes refreshing your buyer persona. The type of buyers you serve may be the same. But the behaviors and decision-making process may have changed drastically. You’ll need to be on top of it.

8. Rethink Your Paid Advertising Strategy

In an environment where many organizations had to pivot to a digital-first approach to their marketing spend simply because there was no other choice, you need to rethink your paid campaign strategy.

While budgets have been cut, but not as much on digital channels which means that competition has only increased when it comes to paid advertising!

Review the channels which are consuming the most of your ad spend. If the ROI is not that great you might want to pivot from an impressions-based program to a cost-per-lead program.

These programs guarantee a certain number of leads depending upon your budget, making them more efficient from an ROI perspective.

Cost per lead programs are usually offered by digital syndication platforms that can display your ad on their own network of branded publications or use email databases to reach out to prospects.

9. Use Your Emails Wisely

Email has been one of the most if not the most popular digital marketing tactic in the wake of Covid-19.

We’ve all been flooded by emails during the pandemic, sometimes to the point of annoyance as well. Surely, you don’t want your prospects and customers to feel the same about your brand’s emails.

A lot of these emails have been about how organizations are adapting to the pandemic and the path ahead. Communicating to your customers that their investment is safe is important.

However, here are a few things to keep in mind when you think of sending out your next email blast:

Everybody is inundated with emails and receivers are getting ‘fatigued’ with the volume of emails coming in. Be mindful that your message is competing for limited space in the recipient’s mind.

Avoid oversaturating your customers with your brand messages. Hold off on sending an email until it’s important. Your customers will appreciate you for it.

Each person is different and probably fits into a unique psychographic and demographic criterion. One message does not fit all when it comes to email.

Try personalizing your emails as much as you can. Everybody is experiencing this pandemic differently and it will work your way if you respect that.

10. Your Sales Team Needs You!

In a world where trade shows are a thing of the past and work from home is the new normal, sales teams are facing the brunt of COVID-19.

For a business function that depends upon networking and meetings, sales teams are now spending more time to achieve the same level of impact. Communication is a two-way street and it has never been more important with Sales than today.

Have regular cadence with your sales teams to understand the challenges they’re facing and how they can receive more support from marketing.

This support can be in the form of new content, a social selling program, or something even as simple as sprucing up your sales team’s LinkedIn profile. Marketing and sales need to be in perfect sync in today’s times.

Invest in upskilling your Sales team as well. May it be training around how to pitch and close deals over Zoom calls, or how to connect with your prospect while they sit behind a computer.

The new business paradigm presents a lot of challenges as well as opportunities for lead generation strategies. The winners will be those that have a long-term view and are obsessive about their customer journey in this new normal.

If you need further assistance in growing your business, we are here to help. Book a call and explore the available options.