Demand generation has long been one of the go-to B2B marketing strategies used to increase interest and excitement in a product or service. When executed successfully, a demand generation strategy either creates a market where one doesn’t exist, builds market share, or amplifies brand awareness. It’s so effective that in 2019, approximately 71% of marketers reported their demand generation budgets would increase the following year—with 46% reporting their budgets would increase by over 20% (Demand Gen).
What is Demand Generation?
At its core, demand generation is a true omnichannel marketing approach for B2B companies. Demand generation isn’t just one specific tactic; it encompasses various programs designed to create interest in your service or product. This can include informative blog posts, free trial offers, industry webinars, etc. As long as the strategies focus on building demand by engaging with new markets, promoting your latest products, and re-engaging existing customers, it’s demand generation.
Is demand generation the same as lead generation?
Nope—and here’s the difference. Demand generation for B2B marketing is a more holistic approach that, similar to account-based marketing, requires your sales and marketing teams to continuously collaborate and communicate. Additionally, demand generation is used for longer sales cycles, working to nurture prospective in-market accounts through the sales funnel.
How to Use Digital Marketing Channels for Demand Generation
We cannot stress this enough: Demand generation should work across many, if not most, digital channels. B2B accounts, on average, use six different channels throughout a buying journey—so you must meet them at each touchpoint with consistent, cohesive messaging.
Content Marketing: Demand generation can only be accomplished if informative, engaging content is delivered to target audiences at every stage of the sales funnel. Blog posts, webinars, and white papers help to establish your company as a reliable industry resource.
SEO: An impactful SEO strategy increases awareness with your target audience at the beginning of the buyer’s journey. If they can’t find you on Google or Bing, you’ll have to work ten times harder to reach and engage the buying committee (spending more money in the meantime). Keywords, on-site optimization, and backlinking are all strategies to maintain an impressive search engine ranking.
Paid Search/PPC: Paid search complements an SEO strategy, targeting those leads who are genuinely interested in what you offer. In doing so, PPC serves as a cost-effective way to generate direct engagement with highly-refined audience segments. If you know what your target account list is searching for, PPC allows you to meet them when and where they need answers.
Programmatic: Programmatic advertising is all about delivering highly specific, curated content directly to relevant audiences at the right time—which is of the utmost importance for demand generation. Programmatic’s in-depth audience data also provides an understanding of your target account’s journey. If you know their exact position within the sales funnel, you can determine what they need to be served next.
PR: A successful demand generation campaign leverages nuanced PR strategies to generate excitement, build trust, and increase awareness. Press releases, newsletters, and email blasts are examples of tactics that can be used to drive marketing efforts.
Marketing Automation: Quality, consistent outreach and lead nurturing are key—and significantly supported by marketing automation tools on multiple digital channels (email, social, website). In order to engage new audiences and strengthen the relationship with existing customers, you’ll need assistance with content distribution and monitoring campaigns.
What are the Benefits of Demand Generation?
A fully integrated strategy that drives results, demand generation brings value across the board—from generating product buzz to increasing your ROI. Here’s how your B2B company will benefit from demand generation tactics.
Reach New Markets and Build Market Share
The type of content and assets created in a demand generation campaign build trust and establish your company as an industry authority. Again, the importance of content marketing cannot be overlooked. At this stage, it’s not about who your company is. It’s about what your company can do and provide—and making sure that message gets to the buying committee.
A well-designed demand generation strategy introduces new prospective customers to pain points they were previously unaware of. Addressing these pain points by demonstrating your solution’s value builds trust in your company within new markets. As trust grows, so too does your market share.
Re-engage Customers and Nurture Relationships
It’s more cost-effective to re-engage and sell to a current customer than it is to convert a new lead; it’s as simple as that. But what if your customer, or potential client, is no longer interested? Your answer could lie in demand generation. Through efforts like product updates, improvement surveys, and unparalleled customer service and onboarding, you’ll avoid losing accounts that have fallen dormant in the sales funnel—and having to start from scratch.
Remember, a prospective customer may not be in-market today, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be tomorrow. Nurture existing accounts in your pipeline by delivering relevant, informative content addressing their needs and pain points. Frequently engaging with these accounts builds a relationship and ensuing rapport, ensuring your brand is at the forefront of their mind when they do begin to search for a solution.
Increased Deal Size and Greater ROI
As a successful demand generation strategy accelerates interest in what you offer, you’ll inherently come across more chances of conversions. More eyes, more purchases, more revenue. At the same time, demand generation strategies help to drive down the cost of customer acquisition—thanks to the more accurate targeting, reporting, and focus on qualified accounts.
Interested in learning more about demand generation? Schedule a demo with our team.
