With the change in the technicalities and behavioral modification of both sellers and buyers, there has been a change in the customer acquisition strategy also.
In the modern business scenario, inbound sale is a new methodology. It is based on the fact that customers today have better control over their journey as a buyer.
It is due to the easy access to the required information to decide on making the sale. Now, a buyer is not required to be dependent on the information received from a sales representative ONLY.
What is the result of this? It is the emergence of two strategies-Demand generation and Lead generation. Though they are different, sometimes they are mentioned interchangeably.
Here, we would be throwing light on their fundamental difference and how they combinedly work to take your business to new heights.
Demand Generation-The Definition
Demand generation is the process of reaching new markets and knowing the audience that is excited about the business. The process increases brand awareness, educates potential buyers, and builds trust among them.
There could be several ways of generating demand. Nowadays, several channels are available with the emergence of various online platforms.
Social media is one of the strongest platforms where multiple channels can be used for demand generation. These channels attract audience interest and impact their thought process positively towards the business.
Demand generation activities spread across multiple channels. They can be videos, blogs, infographics, social media posts, discussion forums, and other social media activities. All this information is freely available. The focus is on highlighting the pain point of the customer and the business as a solution provider.
Lead Generation-The Definition
Lead generation is the process of increasing the interest of the audience in the business. Its end goal is to convert interested people into customers. It happens when they get convinced about the business meeting their requirements and expectations.
Once the customer is aware and shows interest, the next stage is to move the prospective customer into a consideration stage first and then decision-making stage.
As far as lead generation tactics are concerned, they are CTA (Call To Action) with lead generation form, getting contact information, and sending product details and promotional offers. In modern times, businesses are using software to obtain the contact information of people that searched for the business, to send the information.
What Are The Key Differences Between Demand Generation and Lead Generation?
- Demand Generation helps a business to attract the target audience. It helps to grow. Lead generation makes it possible to convert a qualified customer into an actual customer. It helps to convert.
- Demand generation is at the top of the conversion funnel. Lead generation is at the bottom of the conversion funnel.
- Demand generation is a methodical process that turns strangers into prospects. Lead generation is a strategic process that nurtures brand-aware prospects through the purchasing experience.
- Demand generation increases the awareness of your audience and builds their interest in your offerings. Lead generation nurtures the audience and converts them into actual customers.
- Demand generation attracts new customers to the business. Lead generation qualifies them into “leads” and gets them ready for the next step of the sales or marketing process.
- Demand generation uses free content such as articles, blog posts, videos, and so on. Lead generation typically uses “gated” content, which means the person has to provide his contact details to receive the content. This content could be a whitepaper, checklist, pdf, and so on.
So far, we have understood that Demand Generation and Lead Generation are two effective tools that can build a strong customer base. They are part of the same business development strategy and work at the two ends of the funnel.
If used wisely, they can contribute to the business very well. That is the reason, modern businesses use both Demand Generation and Lead Generation and achieve good success.
Once their role is clear, it becomes easy to craft programs that support and complement the end business goal. You drive more attention to the business, website, product, service, and brand.
You convert the attention to good-quality leads and customers, who will spur growth and stabilize the revenue.
Strategies like direct mail marketing into the lead generation mix will make the approach more effective. Thus, you can yield the desired customers quickly, and establish a long-lasting relationship with them.
You get business benefits like better ROI and an increase in the lifetime value of customers.
Conclusion
Lead Generation turns suspects or prospects, who show interest in your business into bonafide customers. It is the fruit of the demand generation process. It means, once you are able to drag the attention through demand generation, you will get the customer on board using lead generation. Both are equally important and vital for the success of the business.
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