Like many marketing buzzwords, demand generation gets tossed around without much context. Demand generation marketing often gets confused with lead generation, growth generation, or inbound marketing. For this reason, the effectiveness of some demand generation strategies is lost through the incorrect use of demand generation tools. But once you understand how to use demand generation marketing at every stage of the funnel, it will become easier to differentiate demand generation from lead nurturing and growth generation tactics.
What Type of Marketing is Demand Generation?
In demand generation marketing, the goal is to get the customer excited about your company’s offerings. Demand generation campaigns promote new products, and features build consumer buzz, public relations, customer loyalty, and re-engagement. However, you should note that demand generation is not just for top-funnel tactics. Its goal is to build long-term consumer demand, so building loyalty is a must through inbound tactics.
And this is where the confusion comes from, as inbound marketing is a demand generation strategy. As specific demand generation marketing tactics build leads, lead generation or lead nurturing also gets confused. The same thing occurs with growth marketing. To simplify things, let’s quickly compare demand generation vs. growth marketing and lead generation.
Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation
Since demand generation tactics can be used to build your email list, naturally, it gets confused with lead generation. But in a lead generation strategy, your target audience is already aware of you and their problem. Whereas in demand generation, they are still seeking information or aren’t even aware that there is a problem to solve.
Demand Generation vs. Growth Marketing
Whereas demand generation can cover lead and growth marketing tactics, growth marketing mainly focuses on customer engagement tactics that keep the customer moving seamlessly through their journey map. Growth and demand generation marketing cannot be mutually exclusive despite the marketing debate. Growth marketing and demand generation share many similarities in data usage, targeting, and content. However, growth delves into referrals and retention while demand generation is focused on remarketing, retargeting, and new customer outreach.
Generating awareness and interest in your company is the foundation of your future marketing activities, and demand generation marketing helps build that foundation. Though demand generation is focused on getting attention, it can also educate, inform, promote and build organic leads. This is why most demand generation tools are used in lead nurturing and organic list building.
Demand Generation Tools
One thing that leads to confusion about demand generation is that many of the tools used in demand generation are used in lead and growth marketing. Aside from marketing automation, platforms, and Content Management Systems (CMS), other tools, when used in conjunction, can help build awareness and interest in your company.
- Blogs
- Social Media
- Podcasts / Videos
- E-Books
- Webinars
- Interactive Content
- In-Person Events
- Case studies/ whitepaper
This is not an exhaustive list. Anything that establishes your company’s thought leadership or expertise in your chosen industry can be used in demand generation marketing. Since demand generation tools are content-heavy, content marketing is another demand generation strategy. This means keyword research and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be added. And this explains why the term demand generation is thrown around a lot when it comes to digital marketing.
5 Popular Demand Generation Strategies You May Already Be Using
At this point, it seems like everything uses demand generation strategies. So, you’re probably wondering what a demand generation strategy is? Maybe a few demand generation marketing examples can clear the air on using demand generation tools, and
how it works in other marketing strategies.
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Inbound Marketing
As demand gen builds interest, it drives traffic back to your website. And to create that interest, inbound marketing uses a lot of top-of-the-funnel content, marketing automation and lead generation tactics. However, demand generation also means focusing on growth, which can be made easier with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. According to 82% of marketers, using a CRM helps with customer onboarding and retention.
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Content Marketing
Creating all those free e-books, podcasts, and other gated content needs to be SEO optimized for search-demand generation and social media engagement. Content marketing is one of the most common demand generation strategies; however, its impact is anything but. For B2B demand generation, thought leadership content inspires 58% of leading decision-makers, and video content has increased website visits for 87% of marketers.
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Outbound Marketing
Since outbound marketing uses social media and traditional marketing means, it is a great strategy to build awareness and establish your market dominance. Include programmatic marketing with Search Engine Marketing (SEM) using creative paid ads with eye-catching design to stand out. Though outbound marketing’s traditional methods are huge attention grabbers, they can also be costly for demand generation without targeting.
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Social Media Marketing
Social media is all about getting people’s attention, and no one knows how to do that better than an Influencer. Though influencers are great for Business to Consumer (B2C) operations, they don’t have much success with Business to Business (B2B). Therefore for B2B demand generation success on social media, you will have to lean heavily on quality sharable content, testimonials and product reviews.
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Data-Driven Marketing
As always, up-to-date consumer data is always needed for all marketing strategies. Using data validation techniques such as data enhancement ensures your data is accurate and clean. Data verification and validation on incoming consumer data makes segmentation, targeting, and personalization easier and more effective.
10 Ways to Increase Demand Generation Success
You’ve noticed that demand generation strategies can be any popular marketing strategies you are already accustomed to. You have to keep in mind that customers are seeking you out once the demand generation strategy can build interest, awareness, and growth. It can be used for demand generation success, which gives you a lot of ways to increase demand generation success.
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Data Validation Techniques to Find the Ideal Buyer
Of course, data validation has to be number one. No matter what type of strategy you use from here on out, data verification and validation need to come first. Data is critical when developing your buyer persona and using buyer intent data for personalization and targeting. For B2B demand generation, business data needs to contain information of key decision-makers and not just generalized company data. Also, to find the ideal buyer, your consumer data should include buyer intent data such as social media behavior or footfall in a targeted area.
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Keyword Research to Address Customers’ Pain Points
Did you know that poor data validation techniques can affect keyword research? Those keywords target your buyer’s pain points in keyword research: incorrect buyer data and wrong keywords. Focusing on just branded keywords is great for awareness, but if you want the customers’ interest, you need long-tail keywords that they will search for. Use keywords that provide answers to their questions and avoid generalized keywords that don’t specifically speak to your buyer.
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Search Demand Generation with SEO Optimized Content
Now that you have the correct data and keywords, search demand generation is easy with quality SEO-optimized content. Using your chosen keywords throughout blogs, case studies, videos, and even on image captions across the web helps build awareness and interest in your company. Of course, you can’t just load up on keywords and forget content quality and purpose. Again, we go back to your target audience’s needs and why they need you.
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Marketing Automation for Smoother Customer Journey
It’s great that you’ve created demand. But what happens after they seek you out is what will be responsible for your continued growth and demand generation success. And customer onboarding is where many demand generation strategies lose their drive. Many forget they need the same personalization that attracts the customer to be present throughout the customer journey. And in using marketing automation, that personalization doesn’t have to be lost. Though marketing automation may appear impersonal, it can be more personalized and user-friendly with the proper interface and strategic customer journey mapping.
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Build a Community to Boost Social Media Engagement
Nothing says expert like having a loyal community following willing to promote your brand for free across the web. For long-term demand generation success, you should focus on building a community around your brand. This can be done through social media engagement, branded community hashtags, and social listening. Getting key industry gurus and influencers interested on sites like LinkedIn through tags and references should only be done with relevance and professionalism.
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Analytics: Measure, Optimize, Repeat
Analytics plays a significant role in continued demand generation success, and 44% of marketers have taken notice. It is not just clicks and subs. It’s about cross-channel analytics, A/B testing, lead scoring and customer insights. Every change and step needs to be measured, optimized then done all again in the next demand generation campaign.
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Pinpoint Targeting with Programmatic Marketing
Due to high costs and low ROI, advertising is usually not a highly recommended demand generation strategy. And of course, that would be true if you used mass media tactics instead of programmatic marketing. Though programmatic display ads are fabulous for pinpoint targeting, personalization and creativity, they need accurate data, content and a strategic demand generation strategy to be effective. Programmatic display ads can be used with mobile-first campaigns for events and retargeting campaigns on search engines.
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Outbound Tactics for Event Marketing with Geofencing Mobile Marketing
Everyone remembers billboards, TV ads and radio jingles once you hear or see them. Outbound marketing tactics are great for marketing events but costly. To get outbound benefits without the extravagant bill that comes with it, geofencing mobile marketing keeps your targeting within a limited geographic area. Coupled with the micro-proximity feature of geofencing mobile marketing, you can increase message open rates past the standard 62%. Geofencing mobile marketing can also be utilized for SMS demand generation campaigns and mobile-optimized email marketing campaigns.
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Lead Nurturing Tactics to Boost B2B Demand Generation Success
B2B demand generation needs lead nurturing strategies to build loyal customer relationships. Giving away quality samples for product demos, even to those who may not buy, can become brand evangelists once the quality and service are high. The focus on quality should continue consistently with an educational campaign using videos to establish brand authority, as 84% of videos lead to sales. Use lead targeting through drip campaigns for retargeting and one-on-one interactions for an added personal touch.
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Retention and Growth Marketing During Customer Onboarding
Though demand generation is designed to get your target audience interested in becoming leads, that doesn’t mean your demand generation strategy should stop once they are at the top of the funnel. Retention and growth strategies should come into play to retain their interest and push them along the customer onboarding process faster. In B2B demand generation, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) can help give that one-on-one interaction that B2B clients prefer.
One thing that is not on this list is quality content. Next to data and analytics, high-quality creative content is crucial for all demand generation marketing strategies. And in creating this content, you need to pay attention to customer acquisition channels and data to ensure the demand generation tools you use match buyer intent.
Introducing FrescoData’s New Demand Generation Marketing Service
The service may be new, but FrescoData is not unique to demand generation marketing. As a data-driven marketing agency, we have always been at the center of demand generation strategies by providing data validation services and business data to Fortune 500 companies. Our demand generation service works with both inbound and outbound marketing strategies providing more than ten ways to promote your business and increase demand generation success.
Partnering with our data-driven marketing agency gives you access to our unique geofencing mobile marketing API and programmatic marketing services to provide you with highly targeted mobile-first campaigns. Our services offer demand generation marketing tools and means to measure and optimize social media engagement through our analytics service. Then using creative programmatic display ads, we can help build search-demand generation across the web and on connected devices.
We are a data-driven marketing agency and can help you with consumer and business data to help you strategize and create funnel-specific content and behavioral data to develop your buyer persona. Our data strategy provides data enhancement and data validation services to ensure you can choose the proper channels and tools to reach your target audience. We are also the best choice for B2B demand generation success as we have the most comprehensive source of business data.
Go from demand generation right into lead nurturing and with FrescoData. Let’s Strategize today!
