Are You Doing Demand Generation Right?

Are You Doing Demand Generation Right?

demand generationmarketing automationresellermarketing strategies
Demand Generation

You've heard of lead generation, but what about demand generation?

At its core, demand generation is the act of generating demand for the products or services of a business. Instead of just generating leads to sell to, demand generation is a more intensive process that aims to spread marketing messages to audiences that would be receptive to that form of message.

Demand generation and lead generation may seem very similar, but there is a big difference in how they identify leads. With lead generation, what is identified as a lead and prospect may be one and the same. Demand generation takes special care to qualify prospects through a more intensive process that focuses on their individual actions.

Instead of your typical lead generation funnel (all contacts, qualified leads, prospects, opportunities), demand generation is more advanced and has three stages with multiple actions to complete each stage.

Demand Generation is a long-term marketing strategy to help build brand awareness. In this first stage you can use events, content, interactive communication, and direct responses to move contacts along to the second stage, Lead Nurturing, and become leads. During the Demand Generation stage, you can use strategies similar to lead generation to communicate with leads such as scoring, reporting, and measuring results. Of the unqualified leads in this stage that progress, they will be moved along to the Sales stage of the funnel. Here, you qualify and engage leads while proposing solutions and negotiating a deal. There are three results that can come from here: win the client, lose the client, or they become delayed.

In typical lead generation strategies, lost or delayed clients are stalled. With demand generation, they simply move backward through the funnel. So, a client that is delayed or lost in Sales goes back to Lead Nurturing as a delayed opportunity. And, if they are uninterested in the Lead Nurturing stage, their opinions move back to Demand Generation as marketing feedback. This way, even if a client ends up not purchasing, they are still useful to helping form the demand generation process.

If we look back at stage one, Demand Generation, we could think of the contacts here as "suspects." They may have clicked a link on your web page or interacted with you via email. Activities in stage one are initial communications or interactions of some sort and, on your side, can often be automated and tracked through a marketing automation platform. For example, you could use web tracking software to monitor who clicks links on your website and add them to the growing list of suspects.

Once suspects have shown interest and are moved to stage two, Lead Nurturing, you can continue to automate their communications by utilizing marketing automation to offer them personalized information automatically and score them based on how they interact with that content.

Finally, qualified opportunities move from Lead Nurturing to Sales. Here is where you can spend more one-on-one time with contacts as they have proven that they are engaged with your brand by interacting with your automated and static communications. Once they're here, it is more likely that they will purchase so it is worth spending time with them.

Once a qualified lead is a client, continue to stay in touch with them by offering monthly update communications that can easily be automated. These messages can be used to upsell or just to check in – whatever suits your business's needs.

If you want to see how marketing automation can complement a demand generation campaign, and offer the same platform to your clients, you may be interested in the SimplyCast White Label Reseller program. This program allows you to take SimplyCast's flagship marketing automation platform, SimplyCast 360, and rebrand it to match your company. You can then use the technology and its 16 communication and marketing tools to offer clients personalized communication. Keeping the platform branded in your company's colors builds even more loyalty and trust while providing you with a revenue stream should you choose to offer the technology to your clients.

Learn more about SimplyCast's White Label Reseller Program by contacting us at reseller@simplycast.com.

Blog Share Section

Previous and Next Blogs

Related Blogs

Questions?

Let us answer them!
CTA Image for Questions