The Complete Guide to Demand Generation for 2020

What is demand generation?

The simplest definition of demand generation is that it is a process that helps in generating demand for the products and services offered by a business enterprise. This can be achieved through a holistic and gradual process which covers whole marketing departments. The process of demand generation starts by clearly identifying the audiences that might be receptive to marketing efforts and messages sent by a brand prior to carefully managing the prospects so that they pass through all the stages of conversion process. Compared to the traditional conversion paths or inbound marketing efforts, demand generation involves a combination of marketing and sales for achieving these goals.

In essence demand generation works like a strong and intimate relationship between the marketing and sales departments of a brand as well as the prospective customers. The prospective customers are identified and qualified through inbound marketing and content promotion, email campaigns, events and direct response before such leads are transferred to the next team. This new team evaluates the prospects by using scoring systems and finally passes them to the sales team. Demand generation services are nowadays considered to be vital for the success of any kind of business firm.

What are demand generation programs?

Demand generation programs are comprehensive plans that focus on leveraging different working methods that can be used for the purpose of generating demand for the products and services offered by a specific brand. The goal of any powerful demand generation program is to create awareness among target customers about the brand and what it has to offer. The program also encourages the target customers to buy such products and services. Additionally, effective implementation of the demand generation program can also involve carrying out up sells. There are primarily four components of demand generation programs, namely brand awareness, sales enablement, inbound marketing and client retention.

How to do demand generation?

When you are looking to carry out demand generation for a business firm, you need to come up with a comprehensive and well-rounded demand generation program that includes brand awareness, sales enablement, inbound marketing and client retention procedures. Let’s have a closer look at these various components one by one.

Brand awareness

Demand generation programs not only focus on increasing the demand for the present moment but also for the future. The program can generate sufficient demand for a particular product and service and make it possible for the business owners to come up with their very own long term production strategy and ensure enhanced longevity of the business model. Some of the effective methods to generate brand awareness include improving the brand identity and the brand image; coming up with comprehensive methods for product development; carving out properly identified and well defined buyer personas; a strongly established thought leadership; smart public relations management and powerful social media presence.

Inbound marketing

Inbound marketing functions as a crucial component of a demand generation program which can be used for acquiring large volumes of top quality leads. The inbound marketing methods are not only vital for nurturing and converting the visitors into customers; they also help in generating optimum demand for the services and products. The whole point of inbound marketing is to establish communication with the consumers and then resolve any kind of issues that they might be experiencing. There are a number of effective inbound marketing methods that you can try out, namely lead generation, blog content marketing, lead nurturing, email marketing, targeted advertising, website promotion and SEO and content marketing in the forms of e-books, white papers, guides, etc.

Sales enablement

The success and growth of your revenue team depends in a major way on the alignment of the sales and marketing department. Your business firm can carry out sales enablement initiatives that are backed by a powerful demand generation strategy and program can help in unifying the marketing and sales departments and seal more deals easily. Among the various types of sales enablement methods which you can use for bridging the gap between sales and marketing are case studies, testimonials, fact sheets/FAQs as well as estimates and discount calculators.

Client retention

Client marketing tactics provide with a lot of scope for promoting up-sells as well as reducing churns. Your customers already have a trusting bond with your company and so they are definitely some of the best people to whom you can sell new products. Just like getting new business is vital for your company, it is also important that you take special steps in retaining your existing customers and treating them well. Delighting your existing customers can not only be good for your business but it can also ensure sustained growth at the end of the day. The best client retention strategies that you can use for your firm include excellent customer service, in-person events, client marketing initiatives, exclusive services and offers as well as renewals and up-sells.

How to increase demand generation?

Demand generation can be increased by formulating effective strategies for marketing and sales. These strategies involve working methods which help to augment the interest of the target audience so that they are encouraged to buy the products and services it has to offer. Business firms may also use automated demand generation techniques to improve its ROI and also have an edge over its competitors.

What is a demand generation strategy?

A demand generation strategy is basically a method or a range of methods that can help the company to achieve its demand generation goals. While it is true that the goals of every business organization are somewhat different, it is now a well-known fact that there are certain methods of demand generation that can work perfectly for most types of business organizations.

How do you create a demand generation?

Professional demand generation experts can make use of a number of different techniques to increase the demand for the services and products offered by its customers. For instance, they can use the different kinds of social media platforms to communicate with the target customers and trigger a strong interest among them regarding the products and services they want to promote. They can also make use of make use of webinars, video marketing strategies, email marketing and better content creation to produce the desired results.

What are demand generation activities?

Demand generation activities are used by a professional demand generation firm to increase the demand of different kinds of products and services so that they are purchased by the end users or customers. There are numerous types of demand generation activities that companies can use. Some of them are discussed below in brief.

Offer the best quality free stuff to your target audience

One of the best ways to trigger interest about the products and services you have to offer is to offer free stuff to your target customers so that they help in creating a strong demand for such products. You can use different kinds of promotional campaigns, offer interesting content for free downloads or present your customers with free offers as this can benefit you in the long run. This method of demand generation can generate a strong sense of trust among the customers for your brand. You can also generate the best leads in the process. The value you create in this process can also lead your customers to work as brand ambassadors and promote your business through word of mouth.

Work with Facebook lookalike audiences  

Every business enterprise uses Facebook these days to promote their brand. One of the ways in which you can generate greater interest about your products and services is by uploading lookalike audiences. The lookalike audiences are basically custom audiences that are created with the help of the data collected from the actual Facebook users. These lookalike audiences encourage the real users to really take an interest in what you have to offer so that it leads to greater leads and sales conversions for you.

Make use of webinars

The webinars have now become really important platforms for companies looking to promote their brands quickly and efficiently. By partnering up with the best webinars in your niche industry, you can actually increase the reliability of your brand in the eyes of your customers. You can also develop better connections for your brand that is going to help you in the long run. Nevertheless, it is important to note that this strategy takes time and you need to develop a reputation in your market so that this helps to enhance your brand solution.

Demand generation in marketing

You can leverage different kinds of marketing methods to generate a strong demand for the products and services that your company has to offer. For instance, you can make use of video marketing methods, content marketing, blog and content marketing to enhance the value and efficiency of you demand generation campaign. Additionally, partner marketing has been proven to be a very powerful method of leveraging the benefits of demand generation. Finally, make sure that you make use of social media marketing strategies to promote your company in the most effective manner so that it helps in smart promotion and demand generation for the products and services that you have to offer.

Demand generation for B2B

Demand generation is not something that is only used by the B2C companies but also by the B2B companies. When data driven demand generation methods are used, they can negate any need for guesswork and help the business enterprise to come up with effective ways to drive optimum revenue. B2B businesses always focus on consistent optimization that is powered by smart cross-channel analysis. The professional demand generation marketers constantly experiment, test and optimize working methods so that they can drive revenue and efficiency simultaneously. This can make it possible for them to use marketing efforts for generating revenue and have greater visibility that stretches beyond entire sales and marketing department. Therefore it is advisable for every B2B company to make use of B2B demand generation services.

Demand generation in sales

To make sure that your demand generation strategy always produces the best results, it is important that you work with your sales team so that they can help you in achieving your goals. Your sales team knows how to secure greater number of sales for your company and so they can capitalize on the potential leads that are produced from your demand generation efforts. Sales demand generation can not only help you to secure sells for new customers but also manage up-sells for old and existing customers.

Demand generation should be an essential strategy and technique for any company looking to augment their business goals. Following the efficient methods of demand generation discussed above can not only help in boosting sales but also make it possible to improve the market impression of the brand.

General FAQ