The Ultimate Demand Generation Guide

Supply and demand are cornerstones of economics and it's easy to understand: as demand increases, your supply must match it. If you think that demand is out of your hands and determined by external factors, you're missing out.

Enter demand generation, pursued by increased sales. Demand generation is a host of techniques that you can use to create more interest in your products and services. This is an essential part of B2B marketing and can help you create more leads and have better sales meetings.

When you've learned these techniques, you'll no longer be a hostage to market forces. This knowledge lets you create demand for your business and have businesses longing to be your customers.

Ready to learn the tenets of demand generation and make your business even better? Then read on!

Make Your Audience Brand Aware

Brand awareness is a keystone of demand generation. If your prospective customers don't know much (or anything) about your business, you can't expect them to buy from you. Make them aware of you and what you have to offer with the following B2B marketing strategies.

Target Your Branding

Who are you marketing to and what does your brand identity do to help demand generation? 

If you're marketing to more senior figures in business and your branding is aimed at millennials, you aren't going to have much success. Your brand's values and image should be based around the people you're marketing to and for this, you need to make sales personas.

Create an aggregated average of your current and desired customers: how old are they, what do they do, what attitude do they have towards their life? Make your branding appeal to those customers.

Make Yourself An Authority In Your Field

If prospective customers see you as an authority, they'll be more likely to come to you when they need products or services. One of the best ways to do this is with content marketing.

Does your site feature blog content that is shareable and informative? If it doesn't, you need to add a blog to your website and optimize your posts for SEO. The more eyes you can get on your informative articles, the better image you'll have.

Another important facet of building an authoritative image is having strong social media profiles. Twitter, Facebook, and, especially for B2B marketing, LinkedIn, can all do wonders for your image. Not only will these get more eyes on your company, but they'll also provide free backlinks, which can help your SEO a great deal. If someone shares your content, even better: it's free advertising!

Improve Your Website

Having a great website is crucial for demand generation. According to recent statistics, a third of American small businesses don't have websites. Let's look at how your website can help improve demand.

Optimize Your Website's SEO

We've talked about how blog posts can improve your SEO, but there's a lot more to this field than blogging. Having the correct meta tags on your website, optimizing for the best keywords, and having a fast and responsive site can make you appear higher in search rankings. Demand generation via SEO is easy to grasp: when someone searches for a product you offer, you need it to be your website that appears, not a competitor's.

Use PPC Advertising

Pay-per-click advertising can leapfrog you to the top of the search listings when someone searches for certain keywords. This is a fast and easy approach to demand generation that your business should take advantage of.

Offer E-Books and Other Gated Content

Offering an e-book or helpful videos in exchange for an email address is a great way to boost demand: when someone takes you up on your offer, you get their email address. This makes them a free lead that you can then use your email marketing strategies on. 

Make the Most of Satisfied Customers

When you've got satisfied customers, make the most of them! Ask for testimonials and reviews that you can run on your site to entice other customers into your sales funnel. 

Sales and Marketing Must Work Together

When you've generated some demand and leads, sales and marketing need to work as one cohesive unit to make the sales process as easy as possible. It's easy for demand to drop a lot if prospective customers aren't treated well. Sales enablement needs to be a big part of your strategy.

Come to the Sale From the Buyer's Perspective

Your marketing team has the sale lined up. Sales team needs to see the sale as the buyer sees it. This means not trying to upsell them on things that they don't need and not trying to pressure them. Treat them well and make the sale as smooth as it can be.

Give the Sales Team the Information They Need

When your marketing team creates leads, you should collect the lead's information into a central form. This includes their contact information, what they're looking for (if applicable), and any previous sales you've had with them. This saves time and makes the team's job a lot easier. 

Foster communication between your marketing and sales teams.

Make Sure Your Content Supports Your Sales Team

Audit the content you put up regularly and make sure that it's current. Outdated information and data don't help your sales team succeed. When you update the data, ensure your sales teams have access to it and know about the change.

Test, Test, Test

Demand generation requires constant testing. Look at your approaches with a critical eye: if something isn't working, you'll need to change it. Look at what is working and see it as a style guide for the rest of your content. 

Keep testing and auditing your approaches to ensure that it's working at full efficacy.

Demand Generation 101

Demand generation may seem difficult or even fickle, but it doesn't have to be. Using these strategies can make your business a more efficient and more successful unit, and this will pay dividends down the road. 

If you'd like some help with your B2B marketing, our inside sales teams can work with your marketing and sales teams to make your business even better!