Demand Generation Marketing
- Jessica Yeh
- Mar 27, 2018
- 4 min read
Demand generation marketing is the practice of implementing targeted marketing with personalized messages and programs based upon customer needs to drive awareness and interest in a company’s products and services. It is less about campaigns with short-term time lines and more based on the sales funnel and long-term interactions throughout the customer journey. Simply put - nurturing and guiding the customer to your product/service in stages. Be consultative, human, and approachable with your messaging. Make it easy to obtain while leading them to believe that they are making the most educated decision.
Who Should You Market To?
First, you need to know who you’re talking to. Not talking at. Talking to. Personify the customer and learn everything you can about their concerns so you gain an educated understanding of their needs.
One of the best tools to aid in doing this is to use a customer relationship management system (CRM.) This gives you the ability to individually identify leads on levels deeper than the simple age, location, and gender demographics. CRM allows you to create customer profiles and get a firmer grasp of which stage in the sales cycle he or she is currently in. Once that has been established, you can then aid them in the process of making an educated purchase decision. Don’t think about it as a marketer or “what can I do for you” but work in tandem with the customer to fulfill their needs “How can I do for you?” (Grammatically incorrect, yes. But you get the picture.)
Rank the customer. Not everyone will be in the same stage of making a purchase. John may have been researching your product and debating between three other competitors, while Mary may have just walked into your store out of sheer curiosity. The messaging you use to communicate with each of them should be different and catered towards their needs. You need to show John why you stand out from the others and where your strengths beat out competition in the same area. Use specs, percentages, and show proof in numbers and statistics. With Mary, the approach is more high level. You should introduce your brand or product, highlighting the most interesting or practical elements that you offer. When tracking them in CRM, you will need to create unique profiles for each of their journeys. Guide them through the sales funnel and add value. Remember - the quality of a lead is better than the quantity of leads.
Opportunity At Every Corner
Not only should you target new customers through organic lead generation, but you should also practice retarget and remarket to existing customers. Whether it’s on social media, third party networks, or other platforms, being able to reopen or revisit old opportunities can greatly increase conversion. Those leads could now be in a different stage of the sales cycle, opening new doors that may have been closed previously. Make these people feel valued and that their concerns are important, heard, and will be addressed. Just like you would build a relationship with a real person - make your brand feel like person-to-person direct interaction.
What Strategy Should You Use?
There is no exact formula to marketing, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a right or wrong way to approach marketing. Trust me, there is definitely a wrong way to do it. But every business is different. Here are a few of the core pillars of marketing foundation you can utilize for your business.
PPC - inorganic search rankings and ad display (Google Adwords, Sponsored Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Inmails, Instagram and Twitter Sponsored Posts)
SEO - organic search rankings based on website content
Incentive Programs - don’t ask “what’s in it for me” but rather, think about “what’s in it for them?”
Remarketing - hit them on multiple platforms with the same message
Retargeting - following the sales journey and cater your message to the different steps in the journey to help aid decision making
When Should You Address Them?
It’s important to follow the timeline of demand generation marketing. All customers will follow this general journey, starting with brand awareness. This is where your reach should be broad, to capture as many impressions as possible.
Next, potential leads will need to be offered something of “quality value” to drive interest to your brand. Keep it enticing and engage them through points of interest, not price points. Awareness and recognition play a big part of this. When someone wants to buy a quality phone, they will go to a quality company like Apple or Samsung. They probably won’t go to one they’ve never heard of like Bobo’s Phone-o’s, even if the price is more affordable than the latest iPhone. This is because of Apple and Samsung’s established reputation.
Highlight features and benefits that will matter specifically to a potential customer’s needs. Once the customer has converted their interested by taking your brand into consideration, follow the trends and behaviors to help aid them into making their final purchase decision, then close the deal.
But you’re not done! Following up and asking for feedback and any other future concerns/things to take into consideration are what differentiate a supplier vs. a partner. You always want to be the latter.
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