Lead generation is one thing. Demand generation is quite another. And a successful business needs both.
Lead generation focuses on capturing a customer’s information. Demand generation (often shortened to “demand gen”) is all about sparking interest, nurturing the leads you’ve already generated, and building strong customer relationships that actually convert.
If you’re ready to create a solid demand gen strategy, here’s what you need to know.
Lead Gen vs. Demand Gen: What’s the Difference?
Lead generation focuses on “capturing” potential customers (aka leads). It’s a more focused approach — one where the goal is to get people to give you their contact information, often in exchange for a lead magnet. Once you have their email address, you can nudge them toward a sale.
Demand generation, however, is a bigger-picture strategy. It helps create awareness and interest around your products and services before you even think about collecting. It also helps educate, engage and build trust with your target audience.
Demand gen focuses on nurturing prospects throughout the entire buyer’s journey, from awareness to consideration to decision-making. The ultimate goal: turning interest into loyal customers.
Building Your Demand Generation Strategy
Ready to build a demand gen strategy that keeps your funnel full of engaged, qualified prospects? Here’s the game plan.
1. Understand Your Target Audience
Before you can generate demand, you need to understand who you’re talking to. Start by creating ideal customer profiles (ICPs). These profiles outline demographics, pain points, goals, behaviors, and challenges your customers face. The more you know about your audience, the easier it is to craft content and campaigns that really resonate with them.
2. Create Valuable Content Across the Funnel
Content is the heart and soul of demand gen. You need to provide value at every stage of the buyer’s journey:
- Top of Funnel: Create educational content that brings awareness to your brand, such as blog posts, infographics, videos, social media posts or podcasts.
- Middle of Funnel: As prospects begin considering solutions, offer more detailed resources like case studies, webinars, comparison guides and white papers.
- Bottom of Funnel: When people get close to making a decision, hit them with product demos, customer testimonials and free trials to show why your product is the best fit for their needs.
3. Use Multi-Channel Campaigns
Today’s consumers will come to your brand through multiple channels. Whether it’s social media, email, search engines or podcasts, your demand gen efforts need to meet prospects where they are. Multichannel marketing is an absolute must.
Consider running paid ads, social media campaigns, and email drip sequences that encourage deeper engagement with your brand. Consistency across the board helps build brand awareness and positions you as an expert in your industry.
4. Focus on Engagement, Not Just Leads
While lead generation aims to collect contact info, demand generation is about engagement. You want to get your audience to interact with and share your content as much as possible. This means measuring engagement metrics like time on page, social shares, comments, and repeat visits — not just the number of form submissions.
5. Nurture Leads Through Email Marketing and Retargeting
Demand generation doesn’t stop after someone downloads your eBook or attends a webinar. You need to stay present, build trust, and guide your leads toward a purchase decision.
Email marketing is a great tool for building relationships and delivering personalized content based on where leads are in their journey. Remarketing ads can also keep your brand top-of-mind as prospects continue to explore their options.
6. Measure and Optimize
Like any marketing strategy, demand generation needs constant evaluation. Key point indicators (KPIs) such as traffic growth, engagement rates, content downloads and conversion rates help you see what’s working and what’s not. If something is generating a lot of interest, double down on it. If something isn’t resonating with your audience, ditch it and try something new.
Is Demand Gen Worth the Wait?
It’s no secret that demand generation requires you to be in it for the long haul. It’s not just about getting people to fill out a form — it’s about building awareness, trust, and connection. But if you can stick with the strategy, you’ll have a loyal customer base that keeps coming back time after time.
Whether you’re trying to generate leads or demand, Mischa Communications has a strategy for success. Find out what we can do for you!