The inherent value of investing in different forms of demand generation is determined by 2 major factors: the recurring value + the shareability of the asset.

In order, here are the biggest avenues available and why:

1. Product, by default, is the highest / most valuable form of demand gen. This can be in the form of free trials, sandboxes or even free tools that bring back prospects and customers over and over because they need to use the tool to get the value they need.
2. Thought leadership is content that actually distinguishes you in the marketplace. Books, podcasts, video content especially. There is a recurring / residual value to this work because it pays dividends like an annuity long after the asset has been created.
3. Events, even though they get a bad rap, can be powerful ways to generate demand, especially in enterprise markets. The only challenge with events is the amount of ongoing coordination and investment required to generate value.
4. Paid media, despite receiving the...

When you analyze the GTM spend of most companies, you find that they are over-leveraged in the channels that everyone knows about / can easily access. Things like SEO, Paid Search, Organic Social are complete red oceans with insane amounts of competition for attention.

On the flip side, those same companies have ignored some of the most profitable channels because they're less cool and less talked about. This is especially true for companies with larger deal sizes and smaller TAMs.

Some examples:

1) Relationship-Building: Trying to build deep relationships with your market off-line. This can be through small get togethers, dinners, in-person events and also casual activities that build connection.

2) Gifting: Sending close customers, prospects and partners gifts for big holidays (e.g. Christmas) or notable life events (wedding, birth of a child, promotion) etc.

3) Direct-Mail: Leveraging direct-mail as a very core part of your GTM motion and overall marketing spend. This channel...

In a Traffic First world, all that matters is ranking for certain keywords and hoping that Google serves up that content when someone with intent searches for the term.

The problem with this approach in the new world is that there is little affinity with your brand or product and there is no real relationship with the people that encounter your brand. For example, how many times have you searched for something on Google, found the answer on a website, only to never go back to that website ever again?

In an Audience First world, the opposite is true. We focus on delivering as much value to the market as possible. Over time, this builds affinity and loyalty with followers and fans who are far more likely to be retained over time.

In the former, you are constantly on the hamster wheel of chasing more traffic in a red ocean, competing with others for position to try and land traffic that doesn't care that much about you anyways.

In the latter, you are building enterprise value in the...

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen companies with 90%+ Gross Margins but 3 year CAC Payback Periods that destroy those margins. Gross Margins are one of the most misrepresented metrics inside B2B companies.

Gross Margin is viewed as Revenue less Cost of Goods Sold. In software, the cost of goods sold are marginal (discounts, affiliate fees etc.) that are directly connected to the sale of a product.

With this kind of a calculation, Gross Margins looks to be 80-90%+ in most cases. 

While this is “financially” accurate, it completely misses the mark on the actual cost of that revenue. It specifically misses variable costs like paid media spend or even sales spend that are essential to acquiring the revenue.

This is why seemingly great companies with great gross margins on paper keep needing to raise capital / go out of business.

The way to fix this: constantly look at Gross Margins with CAC factored in as an additional lens to understand the...

Every so often, I find myself advising a company that is committed to making a specific tactic work (events, ABM, SEO etc.).

They’re so committed to the tactic, that they’ve made it the focus of their limited resources: time, money, people, technology. 

However, in a lot of these cases, the company has not done the earlier (and critical) step of looking at all the possible ways to allocate their limited resources and prioritizing the right area to channel those resources.

Yes, SEO works. Yes, ABM works. Yes, Partner Networks work. In fact, all of it works.

In a lot of these companies, the problem statement is defined as: “How to make X work?” 

The right problem statement is: “What is the best way to allocate our resources to drive the most amount of growth, pipeline and revenue?”

This is how you shift away from being married to the solution, and instead, being married to solving the problem.

The better you do this, the more likely you...

Building a following on social networks is the play every company seems to be running right now. In general, trying to win markets in red oceans is infinitely more difficult. Everyone wants to grow their LinkedIn followers or YouTube subscribers.

While this strategy is fine, it’s important to remember that the best “social networks” are those that you have a unique edge / reach / influence over. The greater the influence, the bigger your moat.

Here’s a true list of “networks” you want to invest into from least to most important:

1. Viewers — people who see and consume your content

2. Subscribers — people who actually subscribe / follow you and want see more of you

3. Fans — the most engaged subscribers, often first to watch and listen to anything you put out there

4. Partners — people who help promote / connect / evangelize you with more fans and customers

5. Customers — people who actually buy and the best type of...

The problem with most nurture sequences is that they are linear.

A customer fills out a form for an educational asset and enters an indefinite nurture across email, social and paid channels.

• Does a whitepaper download really warrant a 10-email sequence on all your features and benefits? 
• Should a sales rep really follow up with anyone who attends a webinar?

This is where segmentation and context is critical. You need to meet customers where they are not where you want them to be. Nothing is more annoying than receiving sales emails when all you did was read an educational piece of content.

If someone only engaged with you at an educational level, keep your nurture educational. If someone engages with you at a sales level, only then should your cadences be sales-oriented.

This form of respect for the customer’s needs often breeds far more trust in a brand and product than non-contextual messaging. With this approach, customers are also far more likely to self-select into...

Analyzing Single Customer Cash Flow is more important than your CAC Payback Period.

While CAC Payback Period is a critical metric for companies to evaluate their marketing performance, it misses how cash actually flows in and out of the business.

For example, if a lot of your customers pre-pay for annual plans, you can receive cash for two years by month 13. This cash can help you break even on your CAC much earlier.

While it is true that pre-payments for annual plans are to be recognized across all 12 months of the year, from a cash flow standpoint you break even on CAC much earlier.

The better you understand the cash flow break-even point, the more aggressive you can be with your marketing efforts.

Focusing on demand gen is a mistake when other fundamental pieces of your growth engine are broken.

The 4 essential areas to focus on:

1. Fix Churn: Improve metrics like 90-day retention, LTV and net retention.
2. Drive Expansion: Scale revenue from your existing customer base with cross-sell and upsells.
3. Improve Adoption: Increase usage from customers with better onboarding as they try or buy your product.
4. Increase Close Rates: Ensure your SQL to Close Rates are above 30%, ideally above 40%.

Once the above 4 are handled, focusing on improving demand gen becomes a lot easier.

You can spend a lot more money to acquire customers because your ACV/LTV is higher and you need fewer leads to reach CAC Payback Period.

Better marketing leads to higher pricing and improved margins.

The more you invest into your messaging, positioning, content, education and thought leadership, the more your perceived value in the marketplace increases.

If your business is built to consistently deliver on this increased perceived value, it translates to increased actual value experienced by customers. This can come in the form of specific solutions, verticalized offerings, purpose-built products and much more.

The combination of the two creates a unique and differentiated position in the marketplace, where customers are willing to pay a premium because they expect a higher value to be delivered by your offerings.