Despite common misconceptions, a good demand generation strategy does much more than simply generate leads. It builds meaningful relationships by engaging audiences, nurturing them through the buying journey and converting them into happy customers.
For “The ON24 Experience 2023” Demand Generation breakout track, we welcomed three amazing brands – Microsoft, Danfoss and S&P Global – who shared how they scale their demand generation programs to continuously drive sales pipeline through engaging digital experiences.
Read on for their tips, tricks and best practices.
Use engagement data to qualify leads
Most marketers will agree that the success of their programs is measured by the number of leads generated. But not all leads are created equal. That’s why the team at Danfoss works diligently to actively engage their webinar audiences, generating valuable first-party data and insights that help them better map prospects to stages in the buying journey.
In their breakout session at ON24X, Orysya Birkkjaer, Training Manager at Danfoss and Kristina Kokholm, Digital Project Manager at Danfoss, shared how their team differentiates between warm and cold leads by deferring to a predetermined set of criteria. These criteria are based on the engagement data the team can capture through their webinar channel. Engagement tools included in each webinar include links to relevant resources, interactive 3D product models, links to related on-demand experiences and accreditation tests.
Attendees who select key conversion tools like “request a meeting,” “book a free trial,” or “schedule a product demo” are considered warm leads and assigned to an appropriate sales rep for follow-up. By strategically integrating these digital engagement and conversion tools into their webinars, they can better understand their prospects’ unique pain points, buying intent and how best to start a conversation.
“It’s up to us to contact these people as soon as possible using the engagement insights we’ve captured to turn cold calls into warm introductions,” said Kokholm.
Create a process for repeatable results
The team at S&P Global also uses webinar engagement to generate and qualify leads. However, as the company grew, it needed to generate a repeatable, predictable pipeline – at scale.
“We wanted to be able to streamline our webinar process as much as possible,” said Roger Castilho, Senior Operations Supervisor at S&P Global. “From creating and promoting the webinar, to follow up and beyond.”
During their ON24X breakout session, they gave us a glimpse into their process-driven approach to webinar execution, beginning with the templatization of webinar consoles, creative promotional assets, registration pages and post-event surveys to help internal users across multiple business units deliver consistent experiences without having to start from scratch every single time.
“We developed a process that involves a step-by-step procedure for creating, customizing, promoting and executing a webinar,” said Castilho.
This process begins with defining the program’s objectives overall and then strategizing how to build an experience meeting those goals. Templates are then customized according to topic and audience segment before being submitted for approval and launched. The team also has a process to measure and act on their results.
Accelerating the execution process frees up time for the team to experiment with different webinar formats and promotional strategies. “By continuing to test and analyze outcomes, we were able to redefine our webinar program, identify best practices and drive better audience engagement.”
Execute at a global scale
During their session at ON24X, the team at Microsoft also emphasized the importance of implementing processes to streamline webinar execution. With 3,000 events delivered across 190 countries in 37 languages, they pretty much have to.
Like S&P Global, the team at Microsoft utilizes pre-designed templates for rapid event setup and a uniform experience across their event portfolio. This process frees up time for the team to mix, match and test various webinar and virtual event elements – consoles, engagement tools, CTAs and topics – to increase attendee engagement and lead conversion.
To accommodate audiences in various time zones worldwide, Microsoft leverages the ON24 Simulive functionality, enabling the team to deliver a pre-recorded webinar as a live event. “This means that we don’t have to spend time delivering the same content over and over for different audiences,” said Robert Garbareno, Sr. Capability Lead, Digital Event Experiences at Microsoft. “We can spend that time engaging with our audiences through live chat and Q&A, and fine-tuning our overall strategy to drive better results.”
Auto-translation and closed captioning make the experience accessible to every audience and on-demand viewing options extend the life of their events to drive year-round, global engagement. And all of this engagement generates the first-party data that Microsoft needs to more effectively qualify leads and drive pipeline.
“ON24 aggregates all of the audience engagement data for us so we can get a better understanding of what’s working and what isn’t as we continue to evolve and improve our programs to more effectively convert our audiences.”
To watch these sessions on demand, visit the ON24X 2023 on-demand hub.