The secrets of demand generation: how to transform your top-of-funnel success

You might feel you’re starting to get the hang of lead generation. But how’s your demand generation game?

Demand generation involves creating awareness and interest in your products or services to drive qualified leads to your sales team.

Not sure where to start? Let’s explore the idea demand generation in more detail and take a look at some strategies you can put into action.

What is demand generation?

Demand generation describes marketing activities that create awareness and interest in your brand’s solution and the pains you target.

It’s about building long-term relationships with your audience and nurturing their problem- and solution awareness until they’re ready to start their buying journey. 

Demand generation isn’t so much about converting potential customers. It’s more about engaging and educating prospects to position your brand as a trusted authority in your industry.

The result is that the leads you end up generating (e.g. people who sign up for a demo after engaging with your content) tend to be better qualified than those who approach your brand from cold, because they understand your positioning, the problems you solve, and already have some sense of affinity for your brand.

The difference between demand generation and lead generation

Demand generation and lead generation might sound similar, but they serve very different purposes in the marketing funnel. 

Demand generation focuses on creating interest and awareness at the top of the funnel. It’s about educating your audience and building brand recognition. 

Lead generation, on the other hand, aims to capture contact information from potential customers who have shown interest, moving them further down the funnel.

They’re both integral parts of your top-of-funnel, introducing new prospects to your solution and enticing them to start engaging with you.

Building effective demand generation campaigns

Chances are, your marketing team is already creating some kind of demand generation content for your target audience.

Nevertheless, it helps to sit down and plan how you want to structure your demand generation efforts as a whole to make sure you keep your messaging consistent, you’re addressing each of your target buying personas, and you’re able to measure your results.

Here are some key elements to consider as you start formulating your demand generation campaigns:

1. Identify your target audience and specific buying personas. Think about all the different personas you sell your solution to and list the pains you’re solving for each.

2. Build out your value-driven content pillars. Use the pain points for each persona to come up with interesting content topics and talking points they’ll find informative and helpful. This will help keep your messaging specific and relevant to each persona so they all find something to resonate with in your brand.

3. Think about multichannel distribution. Once you have your content topics planned, start thinking about how you’ll deliver your messaging to each persona across different channels - including social media, email marketing, webinars, blogs, and other resources.

4. Define how you’ll track your demand generation results. Whether it’s website analytics, social media or email metrics, webinar attendance or content downloads, decide how you’ll measure the reach of your content so you’ll be able to double-down on top-performing channels.

10 proven strategies to generate demand

1. Value-led organic social media

Share informative and engaging content on platforms like LinkedIn. Focus on providing value rather than just promoting your products to add credibility to your brand.

2. Targeted paid content distribution

Use paid ads to distribute your valuable content to a highly targeted audience. Ensure your messaging resonates with specific audience segments and think clearly about how you adapt your messaging to your objective (e.g. web traffic or brand awareness rather than conversion) for your demand generation ads. 

3. Collaborate with subject matter experts

Be proactive in partnering with industry influencers and experts to enhance the credibility and reach of your content.

4. Develop B2B partnerships

Collaborate with other companies to co-create content and run joint campaigns that can expand your reach.

5. Build personal brands

Encourage your team members to build their personal brands on platforms like LinkedIn. Personal branding can enhance your company’s visibility and credibility whilst positioning your team as individual thought leaders.

6. Repurpose content

Maximize the impact of your content by repurposing it across different formats and channels, such as turning webinars into blog posts or social media snippets.

7. Community marketing

Create a community around your brand where your audience can engage, share experiences, and access valuable resources. This could start as a Slack channel, newsletter, or informal drop-in session online.

8. Strong brand narrative

Develop a compelling brand narrative that resonates with your audience. Use storytelling to connect with all of your audience personas on an emotional level and make your mission memorable so you’ll be top-of-mind when they need your solution!

9. Webinars and live events

Host webinars and live events to engage your audience in real-time and provide them with valuable insights and interactive experiences.

10. Optimize for SEO

Ensure your content is optimized for search engines to increase its visibility and drive organic traffic to your website.

Implementing your demand generation activities

Once you’ve hashed out your demand generation campaigns, you’re ready to start distributing them! 

Here are some tips to keep your demand generation marketing on track:

• Keep coming back to your narrative: Even as you tailor your messaging across different channels to different audiences, try to make sure all your content ties back to your brand’s core mission and the biggest pain-points you’re tackling. Consistency is key in solidifying brand awareness with your prospects.
• Leverage marketing automation tools: Email and content scheduling tools will allow you to plan your content distribution in advance so aspect of your marketing campaigns gets forgotten.
• Keep monitoring your performance: It’s important to track the reach and engagement of each of your demand generation efforts so you can find out which messaging and which channels are most impactful for your Ideal Customer Profile.
• Start turning demand into leads: Make sure you’re ready and able to convert the deman you’ve generated into actual leads! Think about how you’ll bring prospects into the next stage of the funnel, and how you can keep nurturing them until they’re ready to convert.

Know your audience, know their demands

Effective demand generation is like planting the seeds of ideas in your prospect’s mind and nurturing them to grow toward your solution. 

It requires more long-term strategic planning than lead generation, but this quickly pays off when the leads you do generate end up better qualified and more informed about your solution!

As soon as you’re ready to start converting your leads, Amplemarket’s B2B database will have your back! Unlock all the contact details - including email addresses and phone numbers - to take your personalized outbound messaging into the next stage of your funnel. Sign up for a demo to see how it works today!

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FAQs

What is demand generation?

Demand generation is about building awareness in your audience for your brand and solution. It involves engaging potential customers, educating them, and nurturing them until they’re ready to start considering a purchase.

How does demand generation differ from lead generation?

Demand generation focuses on building awareness and interest at the top of the funnel, while lead generation aims to capture contact information from interested prospects to move them further down the sales funnel.

Why is demand generation important for companies?

Demand generation is crucial because it helps companies build brand awareness, engage with potential customers, and create a steady stream of qualified leads. It’s more efficient and effective in the long term than relying solely on “spray and pray” outreach to generate pipeline.

What are some examples of successful demand generation campaigns?

Successful demand generation campaigns include value-led organic social strategies, targeted paid content distribution, and collaboration with influencers or B2B partners to create engaging and educational content.