Creating awareness and generating substantial interest in your B2B product or service can appear to be an uphill battle. Nevertheless, a game-changing strategy exists that can invigorate your efforts, shifting your attention from basic lead generation to the sophisticated art of demand generation. So, what precisely is B2B demand generation?

B2B demand generation is a marketing approach with the goal of boosting interest and awareness in your offering. Supplementing long-standing sales techniques with this commercial strategy educates customers on how your firm can benefit them, helping you stand out from the crowd and enchant a larger audience. 

B2B demand generation is not just a marketing tactic; it’s a strategic shift in perspective. Its overarching goal? To kindle interest and amplify awareness around what your business has to offer. By infusing your long-standing sales techniques with this dynamic commercial strategy, you embark on a journey to educate potential customers about the unique benefits your firm can provide.

It’s the secret sauce that sets you apart from the crowded marketplace, enchanting a larger audience and propelling your brand into the spotlight.

But how does one master the craft of B2B demand generation? Fear not, for we’ve got you covered. In the pages that follow, we’ll delve deep into the intricate world of business-to-business demand generation.

From unraveling the two distinct types to crafting a winning strategy and measuring the tangible results, consider this your comprehensive guide to navigating the ever-evolving landscape of demand generation.

The Demand Generation Split: Creation and Capture

The technique covers every interaction your soon-to-be-customers have with your business. Whether it’s discovering your company, gaining trust with your brain, or learning about what you have to offer, demand generation is rooted in the knowledge that the majority of your market isn’t ready to hit the “Checkout” button just yet — and some aren’t even aware they have a problem. Thus, it’s split into two main categories:

Demand Creation

Here, you’re highlighting a problem and solution for your audience, educating people who aren’t actively seeking a solution (a.k.a., the majority of your audience). To do this, you must create and send content to a wider target pool on various channels (e.g., social media, community boards, podcasts, etc.).

Demand Capture

This part of demand generation focuses on attracting and converting the percentage of your audiences who are already looking for a solution. You should focus on capturing their attention via channels they use, such as Google search, and trusted business portals.

Types of B2B Demand Generation

You can generate demand in many ways, but they typically split into two types:

Inbound Demand Generation

Inbound demand generation takes all the great bits of inbound marketing and merges them with a seamless buying experience to craft a pipeline. The methodology aligns with buyer behavior, focusing on acquiring high-intent leads and revenue by ensuring buyer preferences are always at the forefront.

In short, it lets people learn about your offerings anonymously using content like:

• podcast
• blogs
• social media content, and
• live events

to aid independent research.

Basically, it does away with traditional selling tactics, enabling businesspeople to use peer reviews and online resources to make an informed decision. Considering only 17% of buyers’ time is spent talking to potential suppliers, inbound demand generation is more important than ever.

Outbound Demand Generation

While outbound demand generation also aligns with the pipeline creation, it uses interruption-based approaches instead to disrupt the buyer. In other words, it pushes your message on to them without explicit consent.

A few such tactics are:

• cold calls
• cold emails
• direct mail
• intent data, and
• purchasing data.

How to Create a Demand Generation Strategy

Like most marketing strategies, demand generation is a multi-step process involving understanding your audience, deciding the content type to distribute, and optimizing conversions. The pointers below guide you through it.

#1 Understand Your Audience

Knowing your ideal customer is crucial as it allows you to create personas that you need to communicate with. These will form the foundation of your entire demand generation strategy, helping you tailor content to meet specific people’s needs.

Since you’re marketing to other businesses, acquire firmographic information before looking at demographics. While you’re targeting content to the people who work at the organization, it’s important to know the type of company they run or purchase for.

#2 Define Your Content and Channel Strategies

You can’t generate demand without content, so pick the methods from the above-mentioned inbound/outbound sections based on the market you want to attract.

Your channel strategy outlines where you’ll distribute the content. Again, it needs to be via channels that will actually reach your target audience. Write it out in a clear format to ensure your team is always on the same page.

#3 Optimize Conversions

Finally, you ensure buyers can effortlessly evaluate your offering, answer purchase questions, compare it against others, and hit “Request a Quote.” In B2B cases, this begins with your website. So, ensure it’s discoverable, your contact information is appropriately displayed, and your sales process is fast, reflecting your customers’ needs.

How to Measure Demand Generation

Once implemented, you can measure whether it’s successful by looking at a few KPIs. The most common are:

• Closed sales percentages
• Conversion rates
• Cost Per Lead
• Volume of qualified leads
• Customer Lifetime Value

The Bottom Line

In the highly competitive universe of B2B marketing, where differentiation is the holy grail, the notion of demand generation emerges as a transformative force. B2B demand generation possesses the ability to captivate a broader audience and set your brand in a league of its own. It’s the secret elixir that can thrust your business into the limelight.

By using this B2B demand generation guide you can head your business into a revenue-filled future