Friday, August 15, 2025 by Shelley Hirst

You can have a slick campaign, great click-throughs, strong brand visibility, and still fall short.

Because what happens after the click is where most demand generation efforts die.  Sounds obvious, but it’s the place even the best sales campaigns fail.

Leads drop into CRM. Sales doesn’t follow up on marketing leads in time, maybe because they already have enough prospects to call. Or worse, they do, and the lead wasn’t ready.  All ways to achieve a one-way trip to the bottom of a spreadsheet.

We call this the last mile. And no marketing team can afford to ignore it without risking wasted spend.

From interest to intent to action

Capturing attention is just the start. It’s what happens next that matters. Do you have the structure to convert interest into qualified meetings? Or are you simply handing over spreadsheets and hoping sales figures it out?

That’s the critical difference. Most campaigns are good at driving traffic. Fewer are designed to handle what comes after. That’s a sales job.  Yet true lead nurturing, qualification, progression, and conversion take more than a landing page and a lead score.

Our approach turns passive clicks into productive conversations. Every engagement is scored. Every lead is triaged. Every next step is defined, with no ambiguity. Because we know one thing for certain: the moment you leave it to chance, you lose the deal.

No handoffs, just handshakes.

Too many marketing campaigns leave sales only with a vague notion of who to call. They need fully briefed conversations a follow-up engine bridges the gap between campaign activity and sales readiness. That means:

  • Lead behaviour is analysed
  • Engagement context is shared
  • Appointments that can be set based on real signals

So your reps step into calls with clarity, not confusion.

Generating the initial interest is just the start.  Leads must be progressed until they're worth the sales team's time. This doesn’t just increase conversion, it protects your investment.

Fixing the last-mile leak

Without a system for progressing leads beyond the first click, the majority of your marketing spend is avoidably wasted. That’s an observable and reported fact across hundreds of campaigns across the tech industry.

What starts strong often fizzles out because there’s no ownership of the "in-between". That messy middle between MQL and opportunity is where deals are won, or quietly lost.

So built a framework that owns that space. From segmentation to campaigning, sequencing and appointment setting, it can all be managed by us. So when you get the meeting, it means something.

It’s time to stop accepting drop-off as normal. Because with the right structure, the last mile doesn’t have to be where ROI dies.

With packages to suit every pocket, some offering revenue positive opportunities, and guaranteed performance SLAs, we think it's an extremely powerful proposition with many possible use cases.

So whether you’re a vendor driving direct pipeline, channel first vendor looking to your partner channel to do more, a channel partner looking to grow, or any B2B tech business entering the market, this is a sure way to fix it.    Better still, you'll have a ready-made audience in our engaged buyer communities (now in the UK & I, EMEA, US), or global channel community if you're interested in partner recruitment and enablement.

 
>Guide: MQLs To Closed Deals  Get the guide

Guide: MQLs To Closed Deals

Struggling to turn marketing leads into real sales? 

This guide breaks down what’s missing in the processes and what to do about it. Discover the difference between demand and lead generation, avoid common pitfalls, and build trust with buyers from first touch to close.   

Download now and sharpen your go-to-market strategy.

>Market Activation Overview  Get the playbook

Market Activation Overview

Demand-as-a-Service™ gives you instant access to a proven, high-performing go-to-market system.

Reach already engaged IT and Security buyers, generate qualified and intelligence-backed leads, and scale across regions.  It’s fast, flexible, and built to deliver the results your team needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Market Activation differ from Demand Generation?
Demand Gen builds broad awareness and interest over time (e.g., whitepapers, webinars).
Market Activation identifies in-market buyers (via intent data, behavioural signals) and immediately engages them with tailored outreach (nurture tracks, one-to-one advisor sessions, community invites).
Market Activation talks about “Demand-as-a-Service”? What’s included in this?
Engagement Engine: Continuous, multi-channel publishing (articles, webinars, newsletters) to sustain interest
Demand Engine: Targeted outreach (email, ads, sponsorships) that scores clicks → qualified leads → sales-ready appointments.
Performance Dashboard: Real-time visibility into open rates, CTOR, CPL and lead progression via our online sales portal.
What role does The Amigos Network play in Market Activation?
Early Detection: Community discussions surface real-world challenges and project signals before formal RFPs.
Content Amplification: Thought leadership shared in The Amigos Network drives deeper engagement and social proof.
Peer Validation: Prospects get candid feedback from peers on your solutions, shortening the evaluation cycle.
Pipeline Catalysis: Warm introductions and referral paths within the community fuel high- intent conversations.
How do B2B communities like The Amigos Network fit into the sales process?
  • Top-of-Funnel: Build credibility through community content and events.
  • Mid-Funnel: Leverage peer case studies, expert Q&As, and live demos to answer deep technical questions.
  • Bottom-of-Funnel: Invite high-intent members to advisory councils or private 1:1 sessions, often the final nudge before purchase.
How does The Amigos Network create Intent Data?
  1. Interesting content: We originate, curate, and syndicate different types of content we know our audiences want to engage with and tell them it’s there.
  2. Sponsored content: We use sponsored content to drive engagement with individual brands.
  3. Promotion: We promote that content via multiple channels such as email, social media, YouTube, and so on.
  4. Identification: We ingest company-level engagement signals and combine it with known contacts that may be researching key topics.
  5. Segmentation: Members are bucketed by level of intent (high, medium, low) plus ICP fit and company size.
  6. Activation: High-intent members receive prioritised community invitations (events, focus groups, product deep-dives) to accelerate deals.
Is buying intent data worth it when you’re part of The Amigos Network?
Yes, if you blend purchased intent data with community signals and nurture streams, it makes a powerful mix, but it is not necessary for this programme.
  • Purchased data highlights who’s in-market.
  • Community engagement reveals what questions they’re asking, so your nurture can be hyper-relevant.
  • Result: A 2–3× lift in meeting acceptance and pipeline velocity vs. cold outreach alone.
Is buying intent data worth it?
It turns out that intent data is one of the best ways to find and target in-market buyers who match your ideal customer profile (ICP). Intent data shows at a company level who's actively interested in a product or service area. Depending on your investment, it will determine whether you can get named individuals.
Why would I buy intent data?
As a starting point to onward prospect engagement and pipeline building for the future. The best use of it comes from entering it into marketing nurture until such point it becomes a sales-ready opportunity.
Is intent data good for sales teams?
It depends. If it’s seen as a fast-track to dropping it into a sales queue, then ROI will be poor. It is valuable if given to marketing to nurture first and pass it through when it becomes high-intent, rather than “just showing an interest.”
Is it better to buy or create intent data?
Buying it is one approach, but it’s what you do next with it that counts. Dropping it into a sales queue and expecting a potential buyer to be asking “where do I sign” is unlikely to happen, especially for strategic or big-ticket purchases. Buying basic intent information should be the first step in a long-term nurture process designed to build an ongoing pipeline in a joined-up marketing and sales approach.
Is purchased intent data alone enough to fast track to sales?
No.
How should Sales and Marketing collaborate on intent in The Amigos Network?
  • Marketing owns the nurture tracks, community invites, educational content, and event promos.
  • Sales intervenes only at “high-intent + active community engagement” thresholds, with account-specific demos and peer introductions.
  • Outcome: Fewer wasted calls and a higher win rate on truly qualified opportunities.
How do we measure success for Market Activation in The Amigos Network?
  • Engagement Metrics: Community log-ins, event attendance, content downloads.
  • Intent Conversion: % of intent-scored members who join private roundtables or request demos.
  • Pipeline Velocity: Time from first community touch to opportunity creation.
  • Revenue Impact: Contribution of community-sourced deals to overall bookings.
What key metrics and ROI can be expected?
  • Average Weekly Open Rate: 40%
  • Average Weekly Click-to-Open Rate: 70%
  • Average Cost-per-Lead: £45
  • Minimum ROI: 500%
  • Average Dwell Times: 1 minute 45 seconds
These benchmarks illustrate strong engagement and cost efficiency versus standard digital campaigns.

About Market Activation™

There's truth when they say "it's not what you've got, it's how you use it"

You might have great products, strong partners, and a solid plan and team to back it up, but if you’re not turning that into real conversations and real pipeline, what’s the point?  

Whatever your size or ambition, we built Market Activation with you in mind.  It's powerful, flexible, and actually built by people who know the channel, because we’ve lived it. Whether you’re trying to boost direct sales, give your partners a serious edge, or just get to market faster without wasting time or budget, we’ve got the engine.

The only question is, how do you get it to run?