Maximizing Demand Generation: Key Strategies After Ungating Your Content

In our previous blog, "Unlocking Demand Generation: Why Ungating Your Content is Essential for B2B SaaS", we explored the transformative power of making your valuable content freely accessible. If you haven't read it yet, I encourage you to take a look - it's a game-changer for many B2B marketers.

But here’s the thing: ungating your content is just the first step in a larger journey. It’s not as simple as removing all your forms and hoping for the best. Whether your content is gated or not, the fundamental goal remains the same: bringing qualified leads into your pipeline.

In this follow-up blog, we’re diving deeper into strategies that complement content ungating. We’ll explore innovative ways to capture leads, nurture relationships, score and qualify prospects, and ultimately, drive pipeline growth.

Lead Capture Strategies in an Ungated World

First of all, I hope after reading the previous blog, we can all agree that ungating doesn’t mean giving up on lead capture. On the contrary, it means you must be creative, providing true value at every step to ensure you get qualified leads.

Let’s explore some strategies:

Progressive Profiling and Value-Added Content Upgrades

Remember the last time you bought something online, and the website remembered your details? That’s the power of progressive profiling.

Most marketing automation platforms—whether it’s HubSpot, Marketo, or Pardot—allow us to gather information gradually, making the process less intrusive for prospects. For example, a tech company I worked with implemented progressive profiling and saw their form completion rates jump by 35%. They started by asking for just an email address, then gradually collected more information as users engaged with more content.

Leveraging AI for Content Recommendations

I know, AI is such a buzzword right now that everyone wants to be associated with it. Even though we’ve all complained about social media rabbit holes, AI in B2B content is still an undervalued, low-hanging fruit.

We implemented an AI recommendation plugin on our site and saw a 40% increase in time on page. It’s not rocket science, but it works.

Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and Intent Data

This is where things get really exciting. CDPs act like the central nervous system of your marketing tech stack. They consolidate data from multiple sources, giving you a 360-degree view of your prospects.

Combine this with intent data from providers like Bombora or 6sense, and you’ve got a powerful tool for identifying high-potential accounts. The next step is to offer them something specific. One B2B software company I advised saw a 40% increase in qualified opportunities after implementing this strategy.

Influencer Partnerships

In the B2B world, thought leadership is currency. Partnering with influencers can exponentially expand your reach and credibility. Tools like Traackr or AspireIQ can help identify the right partners for your brand.

Just remember to choose your influencers carefully. Ensure their values align with your brand and that their audience matches your ideal customer profile.

Nurturing Leads Without Traditional Gating

Once you’ve captured a lead’s attention, the real work begins. Nurturing these relationships is crucial, and it requires a delicate balance of persistence and value-adding.

Creating Personalized Content Journeys

Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all email blasts. Today, it’s all about personalization. I worked with a client struggling with low engagement rates. We implemented personalized content journeys using HubSpot, and within three months, their click-through rates increased by 150%.

The key is using the data you’ve collected to tailor content to each prospect’s interests and stage in the buyer’s journey. It’s like being a good host at a party—you want to make each guest feel special and catered to.

Retargeting Campaigns

Have you ever browsed a product online, only to see ads for it everywhere you go afterward? While it can be annoying in B2C, retargeting in B2B, with its long buying journey, works incredibly well.

A colleague in the SaaS industry shared that their retargeting campaigns resulted in a 70% increase in return visitors to their website. With a low budget for paid campaigns, retargeting can help you stay top of mind with prospects who’ve engaged with your content. Your sales team will thank you.

Interactive Content and Behavior-Triggered Campaigns

Interactive content is a game-changer in B2B. I once worked on a campaign where we replaced a static whitepaper with an interactive assessment using Ceros. The same content, same graphic design—just more versatile and effective. Engagement skyrocketed, and we gathered much more valuable data on our prospects' pain points and priorities.

As for behavior-triggered campaigns, think of them as a "choose your own adventure" for marketing. Based on how a prospect interacts with your content, you can automatically send them down different nurture paths. It’s a game-changer for personalization at scale.

Qualifying Leads Without Forms

How do you qualify leads when you’re not gating your content? It’s all about reading digital body language.

Behavioral Scoring

Behavioral scoring is like a point system for your prospects' engagement. Every interaction—whether it’s a page visit, video view, or social media engagement—contributes to their score.

Most marketing automation platforms like Marketo or HubSpot have built-in lead-scoring capabilities. The trick is setting up a scoring model that accurately reflects your ideal customer profile. It takes trial and error, but once you get it right, it’s like having a crystal ball for your sales team.

Cross-Channel Engagement Tracking

In today’s multi-channel world, it’s crucial to have a holistic view of how prospects are engaging with your brand. Platforms like Demandbase or 6Sense can help you track engagement across multiple channels and map the customer journey.

This data is gold for your sales team. It allows them to have more informed, relevant conversations with prospects. I’ve seen sales teams double their conversion rates by leveraging this kind of intelligence.

Website Personalization

Personalization isn’t just for email campaigns. Tools like Optimizely or Dynamic Yield allow you to tailor your website content based on a visitor’s behavior and firmographic data. One company I worked with implemented website personalization and saw on-site conversion rates increase by 25%. The key was showing visitors content relevant to their industry and stage in the buyer’s journey.

Measuring Marketing Success in a Demand Gen Model

For many companies, the transition from lead gen to demand gen brings the challenge of redefining success. It’s not just about the number of leads anymore, so what is it about?

Pipeline Influence Metrics

This is all about understanding how your marketing efforts impact the sales pipeline. Tools like Bizible or Full Circle Insights can help attribute revenue to specific marketing activities. I remember the first time I presented pipeline influence metrics to our executive team. The CFO’s eyes lit up—finally, we could show a clear ROI on our marketing spend. It was a game-changer for securing future campaign budgets.

Analyzing Pipeline Velocity and Conversion Rates

It’s not just about how many leads you’re generating, but how quickly they’re moving through your pipeline and converting. Your CRM (like Salesforce) combined with BI tools (like Tableau) can give you powerful insights.

One company I worked with found that certain types of content were associated with faster pipeline velocity. We doubled down on producing that content and saw our average sales cycle shrink by 20%.

Brand Equity and Market Position

In the world of ungated content, brand awareness and share of voice become more important than ever. Tracking them can be tricky. Tools like Brandwatch or Sprout Social can help track mentions and sentiment. However, I still favor old-fashioned methods: customer conversations, adding self-attributing fields in forms, and regular surveys. These give valuable insights into brand perception.

Orchestrating Marketing and Sales in the New Paradigm

This is perhaps the most crucial point—and often overlooked. The shift to demand gen requires a fundamental change in how marketing and sales work together.

Shared CRM Strategy

Both teams need to work from the same playbook. Whether you’re using Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, or another platform, ensure both marketing and sales have access to and actively use the same data.

Joint ABM Strategies

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is where marketing and sales alignment shines. Platforms like Demandbase or 6Sense help identify and engage high-value accounts as a unified team.

I once worked with a company where marketing and sales co-created account plans for their top 50 target accounts. The result? A 45% increase in engagement from those accounts and a 30% higher close rate.

Regular "Smarketing" Meetings

This might sound simple, but it’s incredibly powerful. Set up weekly or bi-weekly meetings between marketing and sales teams to discuss strategy, share insights, and align priorities. In my experience, these meetings work best when focused and action-oriented. We used to end each meeting by agreeing on three key actions for the coming week. It kept both teams accountable and aligned.

Shared Metrics and Dashboards

Implement dashboards (we used Domo, but Looker works well too) that showcase metrics important to both teams. This creates a shared language and common goals between marketing and sales.

The journey from lead gen to demand gen is not always easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding. By focusing on these strategies—creative lead capture, personalized nurturing, behavior-based qualification, holistic success measurement, and tight marketing-sales alignment—you can build a powerful demand generation engine that drives sustainable growth.

Again, ungating content is just the beginning. What really counts is what you do after that. So, take these strategies, adapt them to your unique situation, and don’t be afraid to experiment.