- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Eastern Eye Staff
Demand generation is critical to startups and established businesses that seek to improve brand awareness and attract new customers. Unlike other marketing strategies, demand generation isn’t focused on making a sale. Instead, typical demand generation tactics aim to increase interest in a company’s products among a target audience base.
Effective demand generation techniques result in greater client interaction with the company, such as an increased number of visits to its website and social media accounts. As consumers learn more about the organization’s products and services, they may be convinced to make a purchase or move on to other things that attract their interest.
Understanding how demand generation works requires knowing your audience. A healthy demand generation strategy follows a strict process for attracting clients: instead of seeking to build interest from consumers from all walks of life, marketers create an ideal customer profile, then create content and marketing materials that will gain the attention of consumers that fit that profile.
Creating that profile isn’t always straightforward. In a startup company’s early days, its members won’t have an extensive set of client data they can use to determine the common characteristics that their customers share. They’ll need to make some educated guesses or look at their competitor’s marketing strategies for help.
In contrast, established organizations generally have lots of customer data they can rely on to create an ideal client profile. Information from prior client website visits, purchases, and other interactions helps them better understand their audience.
Once you understand your target audience, you can create content that will draw their attention and turn them into prospective leads. The specific content you develop will depend on the products or services you offer and whether your customers are other businesses or everyday consumers.
B2B and B2C companies require distinct demand generation strategies because their decision-making processes when purchasing differ. A B2C company only needs to convince one person that their products fit their needs, while a B2B organization may require approval from several decision-makers.
A few content strategies known for effective demand generation include the following:
Customers love free items, especially when they’re unfamiliar with a product or brand and want to try it out before they pull out their wallets. When you offer a free trial or sample of your products or services, consumers can determine whether they like them without needing to commit to anything. It also helps drive demand generation, as more people will learn about what you offer and share their experiences with friends and colleagues.
If you have a model customer profile, you can use it to reach consumers who exhibit similar behaviors and fall into the same demographics via performance marketing, which involves placing ads that are targeted toward a specific audience and only paying for them if the audience members take a particular action, such as visiting your website.
The most common performance marketing technique is the use of pay-per-click (PPC) ads, but other alternatives are also available, like over-the-top (OTT) ads, which air on streaming services, like Netflix and Hulu, on connected TVs, which include smart TVs and devices like the Amazon Fire Stick.
You can target your OTT ads to reach your ideal customer audience, thereby increasing awareness of your brand through videos and commercials. According to connected TV statistics, nearly 50% of consumers using connected TVs watch ad-supported content.
Companies in the B2B or services sector can benefit from content that improves their credibility as a knowledgeable resource in their industry. Such content can include blogs, white papers, videos, or webinars that provide information to answer clients’ questions about relevant topics.
For example, a personal injury lawyer could benefit from blog posts that address questions concerning car accidents, slips and falls, or workplace injuries. They could tailor their blogs for their local audience, helping them appear higher in the search engine results for people looking for a personal injury attorney in their area.
An influencer relationship is a great way to build awareness of your company and can lead to increased sales and traffic to your website. Influencers charge a fee for a brand partnership that includes promoting products or services.
B2C organizations can consider joining trade industry events and conferences where their customers are likely to appear. Usually, these conferences have a showroom floor where participants can showcase their products and services to interested business buyers.
With the right combination of demand generation strategies, you’ll see more consumer interest in your products and services. Start by identifying your ideal customer, and create content to pique their interest. As your demand generation techniques gain traction, you’ll see a return for your efforts through higher revenue.
