One of the challenges for businesses, particularly the new companies and other organizations operating in crowded markets, is demand generation. In this blog, we’ll be covering what is demand generation all about, how it is different from “traditional” lead generation, and going over basic four demand generation strategies to improve your business.
By the end of this post, you will have a distinct idea about what is required to get people curious about your products and keep those qualified leads rolling in, so let’s get started.
Firstly, you should know what Demand Generation is, it is the process of generating demand for business products or services practiced through a gradual and holistic process that usually spans entire marketing departments.
Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation
Although demand generation and traditional lead generation might seem very similar, there’s a vital difference between the two.
Mostly, the most significant difference between demand generation and lead generation is that demand generation is a significantly more comprehensive process that takes place over a much higher period than lead generation including close collaboration between sales and marketing departments.
So, now we are clear on what demand generation is, how can you, as a new or smaller brand, go about implementing it? Here are the basic four demand generation strategies you can achieve right away.
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Demand Generation – Chase Strategy
The Chase Strategy centers on recognizing the target market and creating a list. Especially of the type of companies and individuals with a high inclination to purchase. Moreover, the organization’s solution is building a database of potential contacts. Therefore, to stimulate qualified individuals for marketing and sales to follow up.
Pros - If an organization understands the target market, target buyer, and successfully builds a database of companies and contacts, then it is similar to fishing in a barrel.
Cons- If an organization fails to create a Target Account database, this approach will be very similar to looking for a white cat in a snowstorm ultimately leading to time and resource loss. -
Demand Generation — Co-Create Strategy
The second demand generation strategy is the Co-Create Strategy. Co-Create Strategy is when organizations leverage other people’s brand recognition or relationships to create innovative solutions. The thought behind Co-Create Strategy sharing experiences. Hence, all the parties involved will have a better understanding of what is happening. Therefore, enabling them to devise a new, evolved strategy through a collective design process.
Pros- An organization can tap into pre-existing and positive relationships with its target audiences which would otherwise take considerable investments in both dollars and time to establish.
Cons- The connection may not be exclusive which will dilute the value of the relationship as prospects may be confused. Or, this may discount the relationship or cause prospects to consider the other organizations when considering yours. -
Demand Generation – Drawn Strategy
The third strategy is the Dome Strategy. The basic idea is that the knowledge and content that the organization provides is so efficient that it attracts companies. In short, the focus is to create a relationship among individuals. It is based on the market, industry, and competitive knowledge of a company’s specific business problems.
Pros- If done correctly, the business will have such a command of the market, industry, and competitive forces that it becomes a trusted advisor, in the eyes of prospects.
Cons - an organization that embraces a drawn strategy, has to be much disciplined. If the organization introduces technology too quickly, a lot of time and effort will go in vain. -
Demand Generation – Community Strategy
The Community Strategy is likely the same as the Drawn Strategy. Hence, the prime focus is to build a relationship based on knowledge of markets, industries, business problems, and competitors. The primary goal is to educate the marketplace with stimulating content.
Pros - the creation of content is not all on the organization's back as the amount, variety, and currency of the material will be immense. The followers of the community contributors may follow, and the brand value from those contributors may transfer to your organization.
Cons- Because the community is contributing, it may become a challenge to manage and monitor all of the contributors. This community reflects on the organization’s brand.
In the Present competitive global marketplace where prospects are seeking out vendors before vendors are even aware of it. Organizations must be smart and embrace intelligent demand generation strategies.
Those that do not adopt these necessary strategies mentality can suffer through poor ROI, a weak pipeline, sales and marketing conflict, and ultimately the replacement of the head of Marketing. Let’s quickly add a habit to practice these strategies to get ourselves ahead in the business curve.
