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The most successful businesses understand the importance of demand generation for growth, and they are constantly seeking opportunities to generate leads that will turn into sales. While this strategy has proven to be highly effective, the execution can still feel overwhelming given how competitive the landscape is.
Before diving into the necessary steps for building a demand generation strategy that boosts sales growth, let’s look at what exactly demand generation is and why it is important.
What is demand generation?
Demand generation is the process of generating new business opportunities, leads, and sales by creating demand for your products, services, and/or expertise. It requires businesses and marketers alike to understand which markets are most likely to convert into profitable customers, which campaigns will be most effective, and which customers will most likely buy your products or services.
Why is demand generation essential for business growth?
In order for sales growth to occur, you need to create an environment in which you can attract and generate interest from your target market. That is where demand generation comes in.
This form of marketing differs from other approaches in that it requires your sales and marketing teams to work together to achieve maximum results. The basic premise of demand generation is that the more leads your salespeople target, the more likely they are to close a sale.
When this strategy is implemented effectively, your targeted market should reach out to you because they're looking for what you have to offer. If you're able to capture and convert that desire, you're going to see a significant increase in your sales.
7 steps for building a successful demand generation strategy
A successful demand generation strategy can be a very powerful tool for your business, allowing you to capture higher-quality leads and amplify your marketing efforts. Here are seven steps to help you create an effective demand generation strategy for your brand:
1. Set realistic goals
Before starting any marketing effort, you need to sit down with your sales and marketing team to set goals for your demand generation campaigns.
It’s important to only set specific, measurable, and actionable goals that address your overall sales objectives and how the strategy will contribute to them. This will help your sales team focus on the most critical elements of your campaigns.
2. Define your customer base
While you should have already defined your customer base as part of your overall business strategy, it’s a good idea to revisit this topic to ensure your marketing and sales team agree on what your ideal market is.
This will help you establish the right criteria for leads to target, and create targeted campaigns that reach the right people. Depending on the type of campaign you want to run, your target audience may only be a small segment of your overall customer base. Because you will likely be targeting different customers at different times and through different campaigns, it’s important to define these criteria before moving on to the next steps.
3. Develop a strong content strategy
Demand generating content is a bit different than standard website content. While it still needs to be informative and valuable, it must also pique the interest of potential customers who aren't quite sure what they are looking for. This is because in order to create demand, you need to guide your audience in a certain direction to get them interested in what you have to offer.
4. Nurture the right leads
As you begin drawing in new leads, it's important to nurture the right ones for your campaign before trying to sell to them. Remember, demand generation strategies focus on very specific subsets of your customer base.
If you don't nurture your leads, you may find that they lose interest in what you have to offer or feel that you are being too pushy in your approach. This can be a waste of time, money, and other resources.
5. Consider using account-based marketing tactics
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a great way to ensure that you are targeting the right people. With ABM, you can tailor campaigns to specific accounts, and you can even segment these accounts by industry, size, and other criteria to reach the prospects who truly want what you have to offer.
To be more specific, companies with mature ABM strategies credit 79% of opportunities and 73% of total revenue to ABM efforts. More importantly, the more mature your ABM strategies become, the more synchronization you’ll have with your demand generation efforts as well. This is a win-win for your business.
6. Plan your content distribution for maximum reach
To reach as many people as possible with your leads, you need to make sure your campaign is distributed effectively and that you are spending time on the platforms where your customers are most active.
For instance, if you're a B2B brand, your target customer may be spending much of their time checking emails and browsing LinkedIn, so you should prioritize content distribution on these channels.
However, if you’re a B2C brand, you may want to consider distributing your content on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
7. Monitor, measure, and tweak for best results
Finally, once you have implemented your demand generation strategy, you will need to keep a close eye on its performance and make changes as needed.
Remember, this is a long-term strategy, but the results can be very powerful. So, if you don’t see the results you want, check your KPIs and see where you can make changes until you are successful.
Boost your sales strategy with more tips from the BBB
By implementing an effective demand generation strategy, you should see a steady flow of customers who are ready to buy from you. However, it's not the only tactic that can help boost your sales!
Need more help with building a strong sales strategy for your business? Check out the BBB® news feed for more great tips and resources!
BBB of Southern Piedmont and Western N.C. contributed this article.