Tips to help B2B marketers bring value to the sales team

We recently helped a company develop a marketing ROI dashboard that will be used as a template for tracking marketing expenses and allocating them appropriately to their respective program, category, campaign and persona classification. During the discussion the question came up, and it's one that comes up often with B2B companies,

"What's the difference between lead generation and demand generation?"

These are two distinctly different marketing programs that are often utilized together during the first two phases of a product's lifecycle; 1) Introduction and 2) Growth.

Below is a list of the top 5 things that will help you better understand the nuances.

1 - Audience

Lead Generation

An audience or a group of contacts that have not yet been qualified as Leads based on predetermined criteria established with the Sales and Product Management teams

Demand Generation

The audience is known (already a Lead) or when their profile matches a specific buying persona or behavior and they've taken an appropriate action that demonstrates a buying signal.

2 - Message

Lead Generation

Higher-level, more general messaging that is focused on the customer pain point and hints at solutions related to your product/service

Demand Generation

Targeted and focused messaging related to the product or the organization and how they are uniquely capable of addressing the pain point

3 - Desired action/outcome

Lead Generation

The contact expresses interest by providing information about them self and their potential problem by filling out a form, engaging in a discussion during and event, responding to a direct mail/email piece, etc.  They have provided or confirmed their contact details and they are one of the targeted persona types for the product/service

Demand Generation

They positively responded to a message or series of messages that required more commitment and interaction from them than  merely filling out a form. For example, they are actively seeking (or participating in) an engagement with a company representative with the intent to learn about the product for future purchase

4 - Tactics

Lead Generation

Content about a specific area of interest to the target audience that they deem valuable (hence willing to provide some information). E.g. eBook; blog posts, articles, white papers, how-to guides/videos, social media posts, interviews with domain gurus, surveys/market insights, thought-leader webinars, etc.

Demand Generation

Content that is more product-related or buying-cycle specific that will help them build a business case for the purchase. E.g. case studies, demo offers, discounts, free trials, meeting requests, purchasing guides, differentiation matrices, product-related webinars, support documentation, value calculators, etc.

5 - Metrics

Lead Generation

Conversion statistics that capture the effectiveness of a series of actions that move the target from an anonymous person to a Contact to a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) in the marketing pipeline. Absolute numbers such as number of new contacts, number of new leads, number of qualified leads, etc. or rates such as conversion from Lead to MQL, percent engaged, percent conversion from Contact to Lead, etc.

Demand Generation

Conversion statistics that capture the effectiveness of a series of actions that collectively demonstrate buying signals and move the MQL to a transaction in the sales pipeline. These might include measurements of time, conversion rates of the various stages, absolute numbers such as # of trials and # of presentations, etc.