Products are found plenty in the market. There is a surplus of solutions in the market, and rightfully so. Each product has its unique sell. But how does the product/business find its user base?
It finds the user base by creating awareness in the market and reaching out to the relevant audience through creating and generating demand. Finding leads is paramount for success. Yet, the product must reach the right audience, then a viable flow of leads will start.
We can build trust, educate the audience, and convert them into qualified leads. How?
Through demand generation.
Demand Generation is the art of marketing. It creates awareness and trust and builds the brand voice. B2B business needs to generate demand to increase the number of warm leads.
What is Demand Generation?
Demand generation is a long-term marketing strategy that creates awareness of a product in the market.
Simple.
But let us look at the definition with a more granular approach. Demand Generation creates awareness. But what is this awareness exactly? It is how a brand is perceived. Demand generation is a tool to pre-nurture leads. When a B2B brand engages in demand generation, they have the opportunity to create trust and build a solid social foundation within its intended community audience. Demand generation builds interest where it does not exist.
Demand Generation has become extremely important in this competitive market of products.
Importance of Demand Gen for B2B Brands
B2B buyers are of the sophisticated type. They do their homework well and thoroughly research before buying.
Yet, in-depth research offers its downside, that is, analysis paralysis. In our market, where solutions are abundant, it is easy for the buyer to be overwhelmed by choice. B2B buyers are aware of it and seek businesses directly aligned with their needs.
Demand Generation creates this need if/when it does not exist and provides the buyer with a clear choice. A brand built on trust will be the preferred choice to turn to. Demand Generation is not about the product; it is about user problems and providing solutions for it.
Demand Generation identifies the shift in marketing trends and addresses the issues.
Example: Think of SEMrush and Ahrefs. The two tools perform similarly. Yet, how many SEO analysts prefer one over the other? That’s because either SEMrush or Ahrefs understood their users’ needs. Each company has a fantastic marketing campaign and probably competes to see who can outperform.
Demand Generation is not only about brand awareness. It makes buyers aware of a problem that they did not know existed. And bring a solution to it.
Steve Jobs is one of the pioneering marketers of the 21st century. Even though smartphones existed before, with the unveiling of the iPhone, he transformed the market and defined what a smartphone should be.
He did it through storytelling and promising an unmatched user experience. With the iPhone, users had the world in their palms. Apple has been an innovator for many years. Their designs sell. And Jobs leveraged this trust to create a market for the iPhone. He transformed the space of mobile devices with the help of demand generation.
He created a market that showed the limitless potential of the mobile phone; no one knew that mobile phones could be transcended. By generating demand, he showed the world what they were missing.
Demand Generation is not a tool used to sell. It is a long-term strategy that explores a hidden problem and brings a solid solution to light. Demand Generation is the innovator’s playground to showcase what the world is missing out on!
B2B Demand Generation requires us to understand that it means more than reaching out. It is how you reach out to the intended audience that matters. After all, a robust demand strategy yields and nurtures high-quality leads.
The market is rife with what demand generation is. It is often compared with lead generation and asked whether the two are interchangeable.
That is not the case. Demand gen and lead gen are different. Their goals are similar: to create sales and awareness.
Demand Gen V.S. Lead Generation
Every sales and marketing head has a unique understanding of what these two terms mean. And they reach out to potential buyers differently based on their perceptions.
How do we capture terms that are defined by human processes? Let us start by understanding where they are similar.
Similarities
- Demand generation and lead generation strategies create awareness, inform their audience of a problem, and offer a solution.
- Lead Gen and Demand Gen are part of an organization’s inbound marketing strategy.
- They aim to understand the needs and desires of their audience.
- The strategies focus on creating brand awareness through content and other efforts.
There is more to discuss, but let us focus on where they are not similar.
Differentiators.
- Demand Generation is an ongoing process that creates awareness for lead generation.
- Lead generation sees sales and marketing nurture the incoming leads and prep them for conversion,
- Demand generation plays a more active role in finding out or creating the market required to sell the product.
- Lead generation has stages in the funnel and focuses on nurturing
- Demand gen is a full-funnel journey that requires care and attention, and it focuses on creation (brand image, market need, desire) not nurturing.
Demand Generation is creation.
In almost every definition of demand gen, there is a common universal factor: demand gen creates.
It creates: –
- A market
- Awareness
- Leads
To name a few.
It helps potential customers understand what is missing from their arsenal and educates them on why the given solution is the best!
Demand gen requires marketers to understand the ever-changing B2B landscape.
During the pandemic, Zoom emerged as a value player in the video-conferencing scene.
They quickly understood the human need for connection across teams and people and jumped at the opportunity. But the market for video conferencing existed long before this! Software like Skype existed. Then why did Zoom win?
Because they created a demand for that human touch. Zoom made sharing conference rooms easier and focused its efforts on connecting individuals and teams across the globe. They navigated generating demand with perfection in the pandemic’s treacherous waters.
And made it clear that it is not reaching out to an audience that matters it is how you reach out to them that yields high-quality leads and starts lead nurturing efforts even before the audience becomes a lead.
Demand Gen needs a lot more than content marketing. It requires all teams to work together to create a compelling user experience.
Sales and Marketing alignment has become crucial in the dynamic land of B2B marketing. Content Marketing is supposed to be a vital cog in the machine known as demand gen.
A lot of marketers believe it is the only game changer. While content marketing is the foundation of today’s marketing efforts, the message we send out must be made in collaboration. A robust strategy requires more than content. It requires a human touch and understanding of the audience.
If marketers are to create a market and educate, they must understand the product/service.
Every team must collaborate to create a seamless user experience. That is demand generation.
