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Keep reading, because in this article we will tell you what this discipline is about, how you can generate greater demand for your products and how Marketing teams should work to achieve better results in 7 steps.
Let's get started!
Demand generation encompasses all Marketing actions whose purpose is to identify potential audiences and increase their interest in your products and services.
Think of Uber's efforts to position itself in a world still accustomed to taxis. Or what Apple did when it released the first iPhone.
As you can see, demand generation is perfectly applicable to companies that want to market a new product or service. But it is not exclusive to these, as consolidated companies can also generate more demand for their existing products.
Thus, in practice, any B2B or B2C Marketing strategy of any company can benefit from demand generation to position itself and improve its reputation in the market.
Well, in the end, this seeks to keep your company in the minds of your prospects to encourage conversation and make your way through the long and complex purchase process.
It is a widely used marketing technique that needs to improve the positioning of the brand in the market.
The idea of generating demand arises so that, from the marketing department, companies can impact with their strategies and actions at an online or offline level and, in this way, generate more sales.
In the inbound methodology, demand generation is one of the key processes to accompany the prospect on his customer journey. In inbound, knowing the path that a customer follows from the first contact with a brand to becoming a loyal customer is essential. to achieve success, learn how to achieve it this other article: Mapping the customer experience: how to get a complete view of your journey.
With all of the above, it seems that demand generation is another term to refer to lead generation, right? Actually, while these strategies are deeply related, they differ on some points.
First, the goal of demand generation is to increase awareness and visibility about your brand or a product, while lead generation promotes a specific action to obtain information about users, such as filling out a form, registering on a landing page, etc.
Second, demand generation is a more emotional strategy, since it appeals to show the values and attributes of a company. For its part, the generation of leads is more logical and focused, since it consists of qualifying and retaining the prospects most likely to buy your products or services.
Thus, demand generation is a first step in generating qualified leads, as it opens the way for strangers to travel through the sales funnel to become customers.
Ultimately, these two strategies are complementary. And it is that you cannot generate leads without positioning your brand, but the name of your company would have no value without prospects or valuable customers.
Whether you are planning a new launch, publicizing your business or growing with your flagship product, focusing on defining a demand generation strategy is necessary to find potential customers.
The question is: how to do it?
To begin, you must be clear that demand generation is not a discipline of immediate effects, so you must focus on the long term. In addition, it is a cyclical process, since it starts, ends and repeats at any stage of the Customer Journey.
Take note of the following guidelines to carry out your demand generation strategy:
1. Define your goals
Any Marketing strategy begins with the definition of objectives. For demand generation, you need to focus on the business goals of the company.
For example, if the Sales team needs to sell X amount of software licenses by the end of the quarter, you need to identify how many leads the Marketing team needs to generate to fill the sales funnel.
The idea is to determine the approximate number of people that you must impact with the demand generation strategy.
2. Build your brand identity
Now, with marketing campaigns focused on branding being 4 times more likely to increase revenue and profits, you should work to improve awareness of your products and position yourself as an authority in your industry.
For this, Branding actions are crucial to define the identity of your brand. Think about the following:
These questions, while simple, are powerful in creating a consistent brand and delivering a message that resonates with your audience.
3. Do a thorough investigation of who your audience is
What follows is understanding who your ideal audience is. A widely used figure in Marketing is the Buyer Persona. This is defined as a data-driven representation of your ideal customer.
There are many ways to build this profile. Keep in mind that the correct segmentation in this step is crucial to shoot a valuable message to the correct audience.
You don't want to waste your resources trying to reach an audience that doesn't care about what you're selling or, worse yet, doesn't have the problem you want to solve with your product!
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4. Map the Customer Journey of your potential customers
Now that you are clear about who your ideal client is, now you must define the stages of the Customer Journey, because once we manage to attract the interest of a person, we want them to continue advancing in their journey until they become a client, right?
Well, in the Customer Journey we have 5 stages:
Normally, demand generation is usually focused on the first stage. However, you must generate demand at all stages! The most effective Marketing teams focus on the entire process.
And it is that, even though the ideal would be to attract potential customers from the first stage, in practice they can arrive at any time during their shopping journey. So you must prepare yourself to take care of the relationship with your clients, know their pain and attend to their needs.
5. Plan a Content Marketing strategy
One of the most effective ways to generate demand is Content Marketing. Because? Customers often buy their products from brands they know and trust.
Therefore, it is necessary to earn their trust through valuable content such as videos, blog posts, Ebooks and newsletters. With these you can position your company as an authority in your industry.
What should you keep in mind about Content Marketing oriented to demand generation? Mainly, two things: SEO and the creation of truly valuable content.
Regarding the former, since demand generation seeks to increase visibility, the content should link to the more general queries about your industry. Keyword research is the key that will connect you with your potential customers.
Once you identify the words and topics relevant to your business and your audience, you need to ensure that you deliver an unforgettable content experience. Strive to offer a differential factor like the one offered by interactive content.
The advantage of interactive content is that:
Some examples of powerful interactive content today are:
Also, don't forget to create content for the top, middle and bottom of the funnel, which facilitates a transition between stages, maintains interest and improves the shopping experience.
6. Select your channels
In addition to producing valuable content, you must determine which channels you will use to distribute it. To do this, you must take into account the channels that your Buyer Persona uses, your objectives and your budget.
In summary, in the digital environment there are 3 types of channels:
What you should aim for is to build an integration of the channels that your Buyer Persona is in to interact with them more frequently and stay in their Top of Mind.
You don't need to invest in paid advertising from the start. You can create content on topics that interest your audience to feed your blog and distribute on social networks. In this way you can begin to strengthen your digital presence organically.
7. Automate your strategy
Once you've identified what you need to drive demand at each stage of the Customer Journey, you can start automating parts of the process to optimize your available resources. Automation is key to improving productivity and reducing manual tasks in business processes, but how to transform efficiency with process automation? We invite you to discover how to achieve in this other article about how to transform business efficiency with process automation.
For example:
There are numerous tools to automate these actions. Just keep in mind that you must closely monitor its performance so as not to lose focus on the strategy, which is to generate demand.
Demand generation encompasses the entire process of a customer's buying cycle.
Traditionally, in marketing we tend to place demand generation in the awareness, lead nurturing and sales phases.
However, this process tends to take longer and longer, comprising stages in which it is also a matter of keeping existing customers, reactivating active contacts or those already lost.
In summary, we indicate the main reasons why it is interesting to invest in a demand generation methodology:
As we say, it's not just about getting the right content to the right people at the right time or raising awareness of the benefits of our products or services.
To generate demand effectively, you have to follow a marketing plan and do it from the inbound philosophy, with the automation tools that suit you best.
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Going through a brand awareness and positioning process is a complex and long job. However, customers buy the products and services they know from the brands they trust.
So going through all this is more than necessary, because, in this way, the purchases will not be arbitrary and residual, but we build lasting relationships with the clients that interest us.
The demand generation scenario is complex: excess information, increasing competition, great pressure to meet short-term objectives, increasingly demanding customers and difficulty in engaging in valuable conversations are some of the challenges that marketers face.
And although, according to @HubSpot, the main priority for marketers is lead generation, many teams make the mistake of focusing their actions on a single stage of the Customer Journey and not paying attention to the importance of the brand.
According to this LinkedIn post, Marketing teams need to take an entirely different approach. In fact, the future of demand generation is understood from the following perspectives:
In summary, demand generation is a process by which a company or brand seeks to attract the attention of its target audience and motivate them to buy its products or services. The primary goal of demand generation is to create interest in a company's products or services, which can help increase sales and improve profitability.
To generate demand, companies can use a variety of marketing strategies including advertising, public relations, digital marketing, and events. They may also offer special offers, discounts, and promotions to entice consumers to try their products or services.
It is important to note that demand generation is not just about attracting new customers, but also keeping existing customers. Businesses need to ensure that they offer excellent customer service and build customer loyalty to build a loyal and satisfied customer base.
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