When it comes to demand gen marketing, defining the “Who” is arguably the most important question before launching any demand gen campaign. The Who – your audience – will help you to define everything from the tone of the messaging to the content that gets delivered.

You wouldn’t speak to a CEO in the same way you would speak to a Marketing Manager. Likewise, you wouldn’t provide c-suite the same level of detail that you would provide to those who work in the day-to-day that require that level of detail.

When you’ve defined who you’re speaking to, you’re better equipped with providing exactly what you want them to know through your content. For a top-of-funnel demand generation campaign, this can be as simple as providing high-level information about their challenges and struggles and providing solutions. For deeper funnel campaigns, it’s taking a look at all the steps in your buyer’s journey and mapping content to each one of those stages ensuring that you’re answering the most common questions that creates a demand for your products and services.

Even a B2B’s target audience is rational and self-interested, just like everyone else. And, just like everyone else, they need to be given a compelling reason why they should do what you say. Your job as a marketer is to consider the value that your campaign provides – the more substantial the desired commitment, the more perceived value the campaign must offer.

Depending on the need, marketers can take steps to increase the perceived value of their offering. For example, the promise of what an ebook will offer will some value on its own; however, highlighting the key points of the ebook you’re promoting (notable contributors, actionable takeaways, timeliness, etc.), you increase the perceived value for your readers.

Almost all demand generation campaigns define the “When” as “at their earliest convenience”. Campaigns that promote static content, like ebooks & whitepapers can be consumed immediately and should be promoted as such. Live content, however, like webinars or virtual events, require more time for promotion. Attending events at a given place and time is a greater commitment than browsing content when you have a spare moment.

It’s important to be mindful of this because it will impact the scheduling of the promotion, both on its own and in relation to others.