Demand generation

Build your channel strategy and optimise each channel, so you grow traffic strategically without burning budget.

Demand generation

Introduction

Demand generation drives the top of your funnel. It's about getting the right people to notice you, click through, and engage. Three metrics tell you if it's working: impressions (reach), click-through rate (relevance), and engagement rate (interest).

Most companies throw money at channels without structure. They target demographics instead of intent. They test creative randomly. They send traffic to generic pages.

We use a who/where/what/conversion framework:

  1. Who – Segment audiences by awareness stage and job-to-be-done, not demographics
  2. Where – Allocate budget to channels that reach those segments efficiently
  3. What – Test ad creative that speaks to each segment's specific context
  4. Conversion – Send traffic to landing pages designed for that audience and offer

These four playbooks work together to systematically improve all three metrics by 10% each.

Foundation

Strategy and systems before execution. Framework and infrastructure that everything else depends on.

Stages of awareness

Stages of awareness

Stop guessing what messages will resonate. Map the beliefs people need to hold at each stage of their journey from unaware to ready-to-buy.

Build

Core deliverables targeting specific metrics. Each playbook improves one performance indicator systematically.

Channel selection

Channel selection

Calculate volume needed, map campaigns to belief stages across channels, then test and scale winners using more/better/new whilst killing underperformers.

Ad creative testing

Ad creative testing

Structure creative testing within campaigns using message angles, formats, and hooks. Document what works per segment to compound learning over time.

Landing pages

Landing pages

Determine which segment and campaign combinations justify dedicated pages, optimise core elements, then A/B test systematically starting with highest-traffic pages.

Optimise

Ongoing improvement systems. Experimentation and automation that compound results over time.

Experimentation

Experimentation

Run tests across all growth engines using proper hypothesis formation, test design, and statistical significance. Build learning loops that compound improvements over time.

Automation

Automation

Identify repetitive tasks draining time and build workflows that run without you. Use HubSpot and Zapier to automate lead routing, follow-ups, notifications, and data entry.

Demand generation

resources

Tactical examples

Live documentation of running these frameworks for Solid Growth. What works, what doesn't, what I'm learning.

Outreach automation

Outreach automation

Build an outreach strategy that defines who to target and why. Configure infrastructure properly, build targeted lists, write emails that sound human, and design sequences that convert.

LinkedIn thought leadership

LinkedIn thought leadership

Optimise your profile to convert visitors into leads. Build a content calendar, write posts that drive action, and time publishing to maximise reach and engagement.

Organic search

Organic search

Define your organic strategy with clear traffic goals. Build a content workflow, create content that educates and converts, and optimise for both search engines and AI tools.

Paid advertising

Paid advertising

Develop ad strategy that targets decision-makers on LinkedIn and captures high-intent searches on Google. Set up tracking properly and master creative principles that drive conversions.

LinkedIn advertising

LinkedIn advertising

Recommended tools

Mailshake

Mailshake

Mailshake automates cold email and social outreach with simple sequencing, deliverability monitoring, and team collaboration for B2B sales.

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29

per month

Reply.io

Reply.io

Reply.io combines email, LinkedIn, calls, and WhatsApp into multichannel outreach sequences with AI-powered assistance and team analytics.

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59

per month

Lemlist

Lemlist

Lemlist is a cold email platform with advanced personalisation, warm-up features, and deliverability tools for B2B outbound campaigns.

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39

per month

Lusha

Lusha

Lusha provides instant B2B contact enrichment with email and mobile numbers via browser extension and bulk lookup for sales prospecting.

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29.9

per month

Apollo

Apollo

Apollo combines a B2B contact database with email sequencing and tracking in one platform for outbound sales teams.

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59

per month

Kanbox

Kanbox

Kanbox automates contract and document signature workflows with routing, approvals, and integrations built for European B2B companies.

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25

per month

Taplio

Taplio

Taplio provides LinkedIn content scheduling, analytics, and engagement features with AI-powered post ideas for building personal brands.

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39

per month

SurferSEO

SurferSEO

SurferSEO analyses top-ranking content to provide data-driven recommendations for on-page optimisation and content structure for target keywords.

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99

per month

SEMrush

SEMrush

SEMrush is an all-in-one SEO platform covering keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink tracking, and content optimisation for organic growth.

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140

per month

Instapage

Instapage

Instapage builds post-click landing pages with A/B testing, personalisation, and collaboration features for paid advertising campaigns.

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99

per month

Leadpages

Leadpages

Leadpages builds landing pages, pop-ups, and alert bars quickly with templates and basic A/B testing for lead generation campaigns.

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49

per month

Unbounce

Unbounce

Unbounce creates landing pages with drag-and-drop building, A/B testing, and dynamic text replacement optimised for paid advertising conversion.

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79

per month

Demand generation

metrics

Impressions

The total number of times your brand appears in front of potential customers across all channels.

Click-through-rate

The percentage of impressions that result in a click to your website or landing page.

Engagement rate

The percentage of visitors who meaningfully engage with your landing page instead of bouncing.

Demand generation

books

Founder brand

Founder brand

Dave Gerhardt

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A guide to purposeful visibility. Choose topics, set a cadence and turn posts, talks and interviews into warm conversations.

Traction (channels)

Traction (channels)

Gabriel Weinberg

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A method to discover your best channel. Prioritise, test and focus resources where traction is most likely.

Traffic secrets

Traffic secrets

Russel Brunson

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A broad look at audience building. Useful ideas for content, partnerships and email that compound over time.

$100M Leads

$100M Leads

Alex Hormozi

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Clear take on list building, offers and outreach. See how to adapt the playbook for B2B, protect your domain, and turn attention into qualified pipeline.

Expert secrets

Expert secrets

Russel Brunson

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Position your expertise, tell stories that teach, and build simple offers that move buyers from interest to action.

Breakthrough Advertising

Breakthrough Advertising

Eugene M. Schwartz

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A field guide to message market fit. Use stages of awareness to pick angles, craft offers and brief ads that speak to real pains and jobs.

Demand generation

wiki

Engagement rate

The percentage of visitors who meaningfully engage with your landing page instead of bouncing.

SEO

Optimise your website and content to rank prominently in organic search results, capturing traffic without ongoing advertising spend.

On-page SEO

Optimise individual pages for target keywords by improving titles, headings, content, and internal links to help search engines understand topic relevance.

Cost per click (CPC)

Calculate what you pay each time someone clicks your ad to evaluate channel efficiency and determine if paid traffic costs justify the leads generated.

Social selling

Build relationships and demonstrate expertise on social platforms to generate inbound interest rather than interrupting buyers with cold outreach.

Paid search

Capture high-intent prospects actively searching for solutions by bidding on relevant keywords and appearing in search engine results.

Domain authority

Build cumulative site-wide ranking power through quality backlinks and strong content so new pages rank faster than competitors starting from scratch.

Content pillar

Create comprehensive hub pages on core topics that link to related subtopic content to establish topical authority and improve rankings across topic clusters.

Keyword research

Identify search terms your customers use to create content that ranks organically and bid on paid terms that drive qualified traffic at profitable costs.

Backlinks

Earn links from other websites to your content to signal authority to search engines and improve rankings for target keywords over time.

Impressions

The total number of times your brand appears in front of potential customers across all channels.

Cold email

Reach prospects who don't know you by sending personalised outreach that offers value and starts conversations rather than pitching products immediately.

Domain reputation

Maintain a positive sending history to ensure emails reach inboxes rather than spam folders by following best practices and monitoring feedback signals.

Internal linking

Connect related pages through contextual links to help search engines understand site structure and spread authority whilst improving user navigation.

Paid social advertising

Target prospects based on demographic, firmographic, and behavioural data, interrupting their social feeds with relevant offers and content.

Cost-per-X

Master the economics of customer acquisition by tracking what you pay for each meaningful action across channels.

Reply rate

Measure what percentage of cold emails get responses to evaluate message quality and list targeting rather than sending more emails to poor prospects.

Warm-up

Gradually increase sending volume from new domains to build reputation with inbox providers and avoid being marked as spam when scaling outreach quickly.

Spam score

Evaluate email content and sending practices to identify elements that trigger spam filters before sending campaigns that might damage deliverability.

Engagement

Measure likes, comments, and shares to evaluate content resonance and algorithmic distribution on social platforms that reward interactions with reach.

Landing page

Create focused standalone pages for paid campaigns that remove distractions and guide visitors toward one specific action to improve conversion rates.

Bounce rate

Track emails that fail delivery to maintain sender reputation and avoid being marked as spam by continuing to email invalid addresses that hurt deliverability.

Email deliverability

Ensure emails reach inboxes rather than spam folders by maintaining sender reputation, authenticating properly, and following anti-spam best practices consistently.

Click-through-rate

The percentage of impressions that result in a click to your website or landing page.

Technical SEO

Fix site infrastructure issues that prevent search engines from crawling and indexing pages properly to ensure content can rank regardless of quality.

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