Top 6 Demand Generation Agencies in Europe
Demand generation, a term we see more and more often in marketing strategies. This strategy is quite self-explanatory: it focuses on generating interest and demand for a product or service through different tactics and channels. Serving your ideal customers content that shows them they have a problem that needs to be solved, and you are the one to solve that problem. All this while keeping the ultimate goal in mind: to create inbound leads.
A long-term strategy
In today's fast-paced world, it's tempting to look for quick fixes and short-term hacks to achieve immediate results. However, when you want to achieve sustainable growth, thinking of a long-term strategy is advisable. Choosing to go for Demand Generation is a great addition to your long-term growth marketing strategy. However, this does not have to mean that you have to completely disregard the fast short-term hacks.
A balanced strategy is the best way to go. To help you maintain this balance, we came up with a formula:
Why would you hire?
Introducing Demand Generation into a long-term strategy can be, or feel, like a big adjustment. For an internal marketing department setting up a demand generation strategy can be a lot of work. Besides, there is a possibility it might not be their field of expertise. Luckily, there are plenty of experts to assist you with this!
Consider this before hiring:
- First of all, you should make sure that the agency’s pricing structure fits within your budget, and you should weigh the potential benefits with the costs of the service that you are interested in.
- Depending on your goal and budget, it could be that a smaller agency fits better for your needs, while other times, a bigger agency can give you further (needed) expertise for a premium price that you have to evaluate in terms of the expected return of investment (ROI).
- You should also make sure to look for an agency that is located in your area and time zone and communicates in your language.
- All these factors will ensure that cooperation between your company and the demand generation agency will go as smoothly as possible, which will save you a lot of effort, time, and money in the long run by avoiding miscommunication and its negative outcomes.
- Make sure that the agency you hire communicates with you on a regular basis and presents its findings in an understandable and effective way.
- This will give you the opportunity to do little adjustments to every part of a plan early on and protect you from unnecessarily spending time and money by having something suboptimal going on for longer than necessary.
In this previous blog we showcased the differences between agencies and consultants. If you are not sure which is best for you, this blog is a great first step in finding the best demand generation approach for you.
In case you’re certain you want to hire an agency, you are in the right place. In Europe there are different agencies that specialise in Demand Generation. An abundance of potential partners who can help you set up, execute or improve a demand generation strategy. To make your life a little bit easier we’ve listed the Top 10 Demand Generation Agencies in Europe.
1. Dapper - the growth agency
- A digital growth agency with the true Rotterdam approach: delivering great work when works needs to be done. Specialises in B2B Demand Generation; however, also offers Demand Generation for SaaS and B2C companies of all sizes.
- Company Size: 22
2. LeadFabric
- One of the first three agencies in Europe that offer B2B marketing solutions. They help speed up the revenue growth of B2B companies through, amongst other, demand generation. Their head office is based in Brussels.
- Company Size: 11-50
- Specialization: LeadFabric specializes in improving marketing and sales processes by leveraging marketing automation tools and technologies, such as sales/customer service chatbots.
3. Merkle
- Originated from Columbia USA, this company now has many locations all over Europe. Merkle combines people-based marketing with their data-driven performance approach, and also offers Demand Generation.
- Company Size: 14.000+
4. BabelQuest
- This agency, from the UK, is a HubSpot elite partner meaning they know the platform inside out. Within the company they offer three expertises: Technical (HubSpot experts), Marketing, and Website. Besides their specialisation in HubSpot, they also offer demand generation approaches.
- Company Size: 33
5. ReallyB2B
- This award winning agency from the London area focuses on B2B only (it’s in the name). Dedicated to delivering results through demand generation with over 15 years of experience.
- Company Size: 18
- Specialisation: ReallyB2B specialises in areas such as account-based marketing (ABM), content marketing, and lead generation. They use a scientific and data-driven approach to inform their marketing strategies.
6. Cognism
- This Demand Generation agency started in 2015 in Macedonia, and has since scattered across 6 countries. Focussing on quality B2B data, for anything else they suggest top performing partners.
- Company Size: 400+
- Specialisation: Cognism specialises in lead generation, sales automation & intelligence, and compliance/security. Cognism is also GDPR-compliant and offers a range of security features for businesses, such as data encryption and two-step authentication.
Conclusion
Do keep in mind the best demand generation agency for your business depends on your specific needs, goals and budget. That is why we recommend to conduct research and plan introduction calls with agencies that appeal to you.
- Objectives: Always make sure to define your demand generation goals as specifically as possible. Once you have the exact goals that you want to achieve, decide which agency fits the most to those particular goals while also taking other important factors into account, such as your budget, expertise, and cultural fit.
- Budget: Do not be ambiguous about your budget for your projects. It is very important for you to precisely define how much you are willing/able to spend and to communicate this number with the demand generation agency in order to establish what can be done. This protects you from over-/underspending and therefore ensures that you get the best possible results on what you planned to achieve for the price you allocated for it.
- Communication: As discussed earlier in this blog post, it is very important to stay in constant contact with the agency you hire. Make sure that the agency is on the same page when it comes to this to avoid any problems regarding miscommunication. You should also establish a timeline for meetings/updates with each other from the beginning on.
- Expertise & Services: Make sure that the agency you hire is an expert in their respective field. As discussed in the objectives section, it is important for you to find an agency that fits your goals. This means that if your goal is, for example, lead generation, then you should look not only for an agency that does this (and 20 other things) but is also an expert at them.
- As a rule of thumb, focus on the relevant traits for your goals that an agency is an expert at and ignore all other services / skills that you are not interested in. - Cultural Fit: Lastly, as previously mentioned, it is quite important to have a good cultural fit between your company and the hired agency. Your goal should be to work closely connected, which involves a lot of interaction. If your company cultures do not harmonise, it could become very tricky to keep communication at the desired level, which ultimately can lead to all kinds of problems down the line. This can be easily avoided when working with an agency whose culture is very similar to your own.
