SaaS Demand Generation vs. SaaS Lead Generation | StartUP MQL
B2B SaaS Demand Generation focuses on elevating the awareness and demand for B2B SaaS products and services to businesses. Demand generation for B2B SaaS companies often involves the use of traditional online advertising methods, such as paid and organic traffic, display ads, retargeting ads, content marketing and syndication.
SaaS Demand Generation often gets confused for lead generation, as there are many parallel and overlapping efforts that produce similar results, however, they are significantly different and sometimes with different outcomes.
The two types of marketing most B2B SaaS companies practice is demand generation and lead generation. Demand generation is about improving visibility and driving users back to your website or specific landing pages through paid channels and managed by a demand generation expert. (SEM, paid placement, social media, content marketing) Lead generation is the process of identifying potential business that would make a great customer fit, reaching out to them through free channels, (cold calls, direct mail, email marketing) capturing their contact information when they show interest.
We’re going to review the importance of SaaS demand generation and lead generation in this article. While the goal is to accelerate targeted conversations for the sales team to have with prospects, the tactics to drive interest and prospects into the sales pipeline differ.
B2B SaaS Demand Generation vs SaaS Lead Generation
The ultimate goal with demand generation and lead generation is to drive prospects into the sales funnel and convert prospects to customers. Demand generation is the process of attracting your target audience, while lead generation enables you to convert qualified leads into paying customers.
A major difference between the two channels is that demand generation serves the top of the funnel activity, while lead generation serves the bottom of the funnel activity.
What is demand generation?
Demand Generation is the process of reaching new audiences and markets by driving awareness of your SaaS products. The goal is to increase brand awareness, educate your target audiences, and generate a layer of trust.
Tactics commonly used by demand generation experts to attract an audience's interest is with content marketing, blogging, video marketing, SEM and even resources for your audience to succeed.
What is lead generation?
Lead generation is the process of engaging your audience and increasing their interest in your SaaS products through nurturing and educating them on how your product and service will meet their needs.
Tactics commonly used for lead generation include strategic call-to-actions (CTAs) on lead forms, which will capture your prospects' contact information. Once you have a prospects contact information you can send marketing emails, nurture emails, and further promote your SaaS products.
Overall, Demand generation is going to directly impact lead generation and boost your efforts for driving prospects into the sales funnel. If your demand generation efforts are successful, then the leads you produce are qualified and have a high level of interest in your SaaS products. We recommend to everyone of your SaaS partners to not purchase leads, as the quality of the leads are mostly poor, have very little interest and hardly convert into a paying customer.
How to successfully merge SaaS demand generation and SaaS lead generation
Let’s run with the example mentioned above, your demand generation efforts are heavily focused around content marketing. Your content will attract new audiences that will convert them to leads, educate them and let them know you are aware they are actively searching for SaaS products like yours.
Next time they search for a SaaS product like yours, hopefully they will discover another helpful article from your SaaS company and come to the conclusion that your product may help them with their needs. This is where you have placed a strategic CTA within your blogs or articles and capture a visitor's contact information, like name, company, and email address.
After you have collected a visitors email address, the lead generation efforts like nurturing will begin, and this is where you will share content that will further educate them on your SaaS product until they convert into a paying customer.
Hopefully this clears the air and any confusion there may be around demand generation vs lead generation.
To Sum Up SaaS Demand Generation vs SaaS Lead Generation
