Contrary to what the methodology used by many companies says, in Inbound Marketing potential customers are generated from the marketing team itself, not from sales.
For companies that invest in Inbound, one of the difficulties is precisely this: the generation of demand, which consists in attracting and passing on contacts from the marketing team to the sales team.
And it's not just about attracting: as we've often said here on the blog, it's important to keep track of whether these Leads are generating revenue, going beyond and having a vision of the whole.
That's why we've gathered in this post some tips for you to better understand what is demand generation and how to do it.
What is demand generation
Before we talk about how to do it, let's see a definition of demand generation.
There are several understandings for this subject, but in common, it can be said that demand generation is an area that aims to attract potential customers to the company.
However, demand generation goes beyond this creation of opportunities, as it also generates revenue, allows the entire sales pipeline to be tracked and a long-term relationship to be developed with its potential customer base.
In addition, revenue generation, monitor the entire sales pipeline and thereby also develop long-term relationships with prospects and its basis.
What a demand generation professional does
The demand generation professional needs to master both human and exact characteristics: the first because he needs to tell good stories to be relevant, which requires notions of narratives and storytelling; the second shows what data is needed to help understand who the clients are, what content works best, among other numbers.
These are two very distinct skills, which do not exist in the same undergraduate course, for example. That is why finding them in the same professional is not the easiest task.
For those who wish to learn, it is worth seeking knowledge from different sources. For those who recruit, seeking one of the characteristics and support the employee to develop the other is an alternative.
How to start setting goals from scratch
Before investing in generating demand it is necessary for the company to observe what stage the sales funnel is at. If many people already know your company, you can start from the middle or the bottom of the funnel. If you are structuring the area for the first time, you should start from the top.
Look, then, at the goals of the area. When you know the number of sales to be made, you also know what volume is needed to reach them and how many Leads to generate.
As you set these numbers, you'll see what your funnel will look like. After that, you enter the resource definitions and the structure. As you go along, you can also organize the team by funnel stage.
First steps
Regardless of the size of the company, you need to start with a customer focus. You have to know who the ideal customer is, the challenges he faces and what he likes to consume along the funnel, mapping the journey.
A common mistake in this beginning is to build a strategy focused only on paid media, without thinking about the long term, on organic channels. Also, not following the journey, only thinking about campaigns and not following what happens with the Leads generated is also problematic.
See what to work on each stage of the funnel:
Funnel top
At the top of the funnel, demand generation focuses on organic and paid channels, with a strategy not only of a website, but of a blog, in order to show its authority on a certain subject.
It is necessary to leverage SEO and establish an online presence, publishing content frequently. This more organic part can be combined with paid media, such as sponsored posts on social networks. It is also valid to hire a public relations professional to get insertions in other more traditional vehicles.
In addition, participating in third party events and taking actions both offline and digital are good strategies.
At this stage, we look mainly at the goal of generating Leads.
Funnel medium
Here, the content should start to get into your client's pain, for example with case studies that show how they solved their problems based on their solution.
Using strategies such as paid media and retargeting, you can already offer a test tool, a product demonstration or other offer more targeted to the service/product your company sells.
Here, the metrics are from marketing qualified Leads or sales accepted Leads.
Funnel bottom
The funnel fund takes the narrative to the product or service, comparing it with competitors and disclosing prices. If the possible customer is keeping an eye on other alternatives, it is worth showing the application of your solution.
Here, opportunity generation, pipeline and closed sales are the metrics. This is the direct contribution. But there is also the contribution of influence, Leads that were already with sales but which marketing helped to influence, either by retargeting, social media.
Magnets for demand generation
A great opportunity to generate demand is to use content as a magnet. These contents, which in Digital Marketing we usually call training materials, offers or rich content, are a smart way to generate demand for your business, because all you need to do is create them and make them available in exchange for some information from visitors.
There are a multitude of materials that you can create. And if you're thinking you don't have the time, budget, or staff to do it, know that you can start by even offering content you already have.
Need help generating demand in your company?
If you need help structuring your company's demand generation area, we at New Concepts can help.
Click here and request our contact.
