According to research conducted by the CEB Marketing Leadership Council partnered with Google, consumers do not engage with any sales representative until more than 55% of the purchasing decisions are made.
Nowadays, most buyers are aware of precisely what they want and expect an uncomplicated and straightforward purchase process. This has led to the increasing importance and value of Demand Generation.
What is Demand Generation?
Demand Generation refers to a marketing strategy which involves a course of activities or actions that aim to increase brand awareness of the target audience and guide them to the sales pipeline.
In order to interact with consumers, marketers try to reach out to them by identifying their purchasing behavior and patterns and nurturing them, providing the sales representatives with High-Quality Leads (HQLs)
It involves all marketing and sales activities which include every pit stop from start to finish of the customer’s purchasing journey.
Demand Generation Marketing involves creating campaigns, content, advertisements, etc., so as to engage your target audience and accelerate your sales pipeline.
The Demand Generation funnel involves various phases prospects go through in order to convert them into buyers.
This funnel encompasses various processes starting from spreading awareness about the brand or company to converting leads.
The funnel can be categorized into 3 major sections:-
Top of the funnel:– This phase focuses on promoting brand awareness.
Middle of the funnel:- In this phase, companies focus on researching their client base and engaging with them effectively.
Bottom of the funnel:- This phase focuses on converting prospects into high-quality leads, and stimulating their intent to purchase the product or service.
Demand Generation VS. Lead Generation
When distinguishing between Demand Generation and Lead Generation, keep in mind that Demand Generation helps to grow your target audience, whereas Lead Generation helps to convert your target audience into leads (potential buyers).
| Demand Generation | Lead Generation |
| Demand Generation is a significant part of Lead Generation. You need to generate traffic and create brand awareness in order to convert them into leads. | A buyer may wait to step into your sales funnel. As a result, you need to nurture them via campaigns and customized strategies and solutions, which leads to a much higher conversion rate. |
| During the process of Demand Generation, you might generate a lot of traffic. But only a handful of them might step into the sales pipeline. | Only a few of these convert into ‘qualified’ leads. Thus begins the process of Lead Generation, where you focus on converting these handful of prospects into buyers. |
Source:- clearbit
The 3 Pillars of Demand Generation
Companies usually rely on Content Syndication and Demand Generation to foster an enduring relationship with their clients.
Companies use Content Syndication in an attempt to expand their reach by updating and modifying content and publishing it on multiple channels. Through Demand Generation, companies assure that leads that are most likely to convert to customers reach the sales funnel.
An effective B2B demand Generation process runs on 3 pillars. They are as follows:
1. Content
Content is one of the most crucial components of any marketing strategy. Producing high-quality content that effectively promotes your brand can be quite challenging.
One must keep in mind that the content created should be unique for every segment of the target audience. Content also varies depending on where the prospect is in the sales funnel.
Publishing content just marks the start of your marketing journey. The goal is to use the content as a medium to create demand for your product or service and generate high-quality leads.
2. Demand Capture
This refers to the process of targeting individuals or prospects that are currently seeking a product or service similar to yours. For instance, if you provide Digital Marketing services, you need to target people who are already looking for Digital Marketing services for their projects. Aiming for anyone else would be unnecessary.
3. Pipeline Acceleration
This refers to the process of exacerbating and streamlining the purchasing decision. It aims to effectively accelerate the sales funnel.
Once demand has been created and captured, you could hasten the sales conversion process by engaging in specific sales acceleration activities such as conducting telephone conversations with prospects, and producing highly focused content that addresses their pain points of niches.
The Stages of Demand Generation
A solid and successful Demand Generation campaign promotes brand recognition and credibility while creating smart and compelling content that generates leads.
It helps to bolster the authority and eloquence of a company’s marketing and communication in the eyes of potential buyers, which will ultimately help the company generate more capital by cultivating and nurturing qualified leads.
Here are 3 major stages of Demand Generation:
1. Building Awareness
In the present aggressive and cut-throat marketing environment, brand awareness and recognition is fundamental for consistent high-quality leads.
An authentic and enduring brand awareness campaign presents prospective consumers with a favorable perspective about the business, leading to an increase in trustful relationships with clients.
2. Generating Interest and Decision Making
This stage is all about converting your prospects into Marketing- Qualified Leads (MQLs).
You need to keep the audience engaged by holding their interest towards your brand. For this, you need to present content that is informative to the readers and matches your company’s niche through effective SEO strategies, social media and email marketing campaigns, etc.
Once your prospect is interested in your product or service, he/she will step into the sales funnel (SQLs).
In this scenario, your sales representatives much contact them with customized content that accentuates the advantage of becoming a customer, guiding them to make the right decision.
3. Nurturing Leads
A comprehensive lead nurturing approach from the initial stages till the end is essential for a healthy and sustainable Demand Generation process.
According to the strength of their assets and resources, marketers should maintain a connection with these high-qualified leads and answer their pain points.
Targeting clients and nurturing them with the right content at the precise time should be the aim of your Demand Generation process.
How to effectively build a Demand Generation funnel?
When it comes to marketing, there is no such thing as – One size fits all. To establish a Demand Generation campaign that suits your sales process, you must analyze and determine what makes your brand unique.
As a result, you can provide your prospects with the right information with a well-planned Demand Generation funnel, which may help you shorten your sales cycle and facilitate quicker decision-making.
Here is how you can effectively build a Demand Generation funnel:
1. Know your goals
Every marketing program begins with the determination of your company’s goals and objectives. You won’t be able to achieve your goals if your marketing plan is not set.
Once you have your goals determined, you can start aligning the marketing tactics that would help you achieve your objectives.
2. Identify and build buyer persona
Before you establish a product or service, you must first identify the target audience (the people for whom the product or service is for) in order to promote it.
For this, you need to specify the traits and concerns of your consumer, and the ideal way to do this is to build buyer personas. In order to establish buyer personas, brands usually emphasize on factors such as the buyer’s interest, budget, and inclinations. This helps you in discovering your actual customers and approach them with solutions effectively.
3. Create and utilize content to figure out buyer personas
Time and again, content has proven to be an ideal approach in identifying buyer persona. For businesses that are want to fully understand buyer personas, intent data can prove to be an excellent resource.
In this particular method, you need to focus and analyze how your prospect behaves and engages with online content presented through social media posts, campaigns, online advertisements, etc.
This will give you a better grasp of your prospect’s intentions of purchasing a
product or service. According to Gartner, buyers spend 27% of their time in researching about products online independently.
This helps to stimulate your Demand Generation Strategies.
4. Produce high-quality content and focus on Content Marketing
The cornerstone of an effective marketing strategy is Content. Be it social media advertisements, email marketing, or posts, all of your adjacent marketing initiatives depend upon content.
As a result, one should undoubtedly take efforts in creating and presenting high-quality content in order to generate demand for your product or service.
5. Align your marketing and sales funnel
Once you have presented content and information regarding your product or service, let the prospect read up on it and make a decision independently rather than constantly contacting them.
Thus, there should be a 50-50 balance between your marketing and sales funnel.
As a result, this will enable you to target leads through effective marketing strategies.
Summing It Up
Demand Generation is a fundamental yet complex process. You cannot establish an ideal Demand Generation pipeline without understanding your target market.
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As a leading B2B Marketing solutions provider, we believe our greatest strength lies in our ability to provide a seamless Demand Generation experience, serving clients from various sectors including Real Estate, Financial, and Educational institutions.
