It’s a term that I hear bandied around by clients all the time. Strategists casually drop it into conversation and Sales are more likely to refer to it as Lead Generation.
But what exactly is Demand Generation? And more importantly, why should you care?
A simple definition of Demand Generation
Demand Generation is a long(er) term strategy to drive interest around a particular product or solution. It usually involves a number of different tactics and more often than not, includes both inbound and outbound marketing.
When is Demand Generation actually not Demand Generation?
In short, when it’s just outbound. Or even worse, an outbound drip campaign. That is the stuff of Marketing Strategist’s nightmares! Demand Generation by its very nature involves a number of different channels catering to different stages of the funnel.
Can we switch Demand Generation on for a few months and see what happens?
Being really honest, I wouldn’t recommend it. If your typical buying cycle takes 9 months to complete and you ‘trial’ Demand Generation for 3 months then it’s unlikely that you are going to see BANT qualified leads within 12 weeks. The numbers just don’t stack up.
Plus, you need to think about your time investment. If you are launching a campaign across multiple inbound channels, creating bespoke content and consider developing an outbound email nurture, then it stands to reason that it’s going to take you almost as long to create all of that as it does to actually run it.
If time is of the essence, then I’d think seriously about where you’re focusing your efforts and perhaps using the time to learn something new about your audience that will help in the development of a Demand Generation campaign.
So Demand Generation is more about long term nurture?
Absolutely. The whole concept of Demand Generation is meant to nurture prospects from the moment that they are beginning to recognize that they have a problem (that you and your product can potentially solve), to reviewing possible options, to ultimately directing them towards the relevant product and passing them over to Sales. This journey will carry multiple touch points, across multiple channels and through multiple funnel stages. Essentially it’s the right message to the right person in the right place at the right time. When you say it like that, it doesn’t sound simple, does it?
If you’d like to talk to us about Demand Generation, our thoughts around Modern Marketing or even our favorite film from this year (I had such high hopes for Wonder Woman!) then get in touch. We love to talk. We love challenges even more!