How to Create Successful Demand Generation Strategies for Your Brand

You have recently created a business that offers many products or services. And you are facing one major problem: people are not buying your product or service.

And that's pretty normal because people rarely purchase from an unknown brand they know nothing about. So, as a new brand, your main aim should not be to generate leads or customers. Rather, you should focus on generating demand for your product by creating brand awareness.

If you wonder what that is or how to do it, don't worry, we've got you covered. This guide will tell you exactly what demand generation is and some demand generation strategies you can use for your brand to improve your brand awareness.

• What is demand generation?

• Demand generation vs. lead generation

• Why should you use a demand generation strategy?

• 7 demand generation strategies

• Create your demand generation strategy today

What is demand generation?

Demand generation, also called "demand gen," is the marketing strategy brands use to create a demand for their product or service by creating awareness about their brand through social media, commercials, etc. amongst their target audience.

So the goal of demand generation is to make people aware of your product/service, brand, what problems people face, and how you can solve them. You would create content to talk about your areas of expertise, establish leadership in that industry to make people trust your brand, and get them interested in what you offer.

Here are the different types of content you can create for demand generation:

• Blog posts or articles

• Case studies

• Resource pages

• YouTube videos and live sessions

• Social media posts

• Slideshare

• Podcasts and interviews

• Webinars

• Paid search

• Retargeting

Demand generation is mostly focused on the top of the funnel, so most people get it confused with lead generation. Let's clarify what demand generation is and how it is different from lead generation.

Also read: How Can You Use Email Retargeting to Increase Sales

Demand generation vs. lead generation

First, let's understand what lead generation is. Lead generation is acquiring leads where leads trade their information(name and email id) in exchange for a lead magnet (ebook, white paper, and report). The leads are then nurtured through various channels like email marketing to get them to convert into paying customers.

With demand generation, the aim would be to get people interested in your brand, check out your social media and website, follow your channels, and share your posts. So you can see that it would be a step above lead generation in the marketing funnel. You solely focus on creating awareness and not on generating leads.

Now, you can understand that you are simply creating awareness with demand generation. If the demand turns into leads, that's good, but your main aim is only to create an idea of your brand in people's minds. With lead generation, you will aim to grow the number of leads and ultimately widen the top of your funnel to increase sales.

Related guide: A Beginner's Guide to Lead Generation For Generating High-Quality Leads

Why should you use a demand generation strategy?

The obvious reason is for creating brand awareness. But brand awareness is not to be taken as it influences the customers' decision-making process. For example, if people know what type of products you offer, they are more likely to come to you when they need it rather than buying from a brand they have never heard of before.

And apart from that, brand awareness can also help you reduce money spent trying to get new leads. Most brands waste money trying to generate more leads without creating a demand first. If you are a well-known brand, leads will automatically come because they know you provide what they need.

7 demand generation strategies

Here are strategies you can use to build a strong demand generation for your brand:

1. Blogging

Blogging is one of the most widespread types of marketing collateral that you can create for demand gen to gain visibility online, attract your target audience, and build credibility.

You can write blog posts with valuable information to your target audience and something that addresses their pain points. Educating people and solving their problems can make you appear as a thought leader in the industry.

And they are more inclined to come back to you for more solutions when experiencing any issues. So, blogging helps you with demand gen. It increases brand awareness, and people know what content or solutions you provide.

2. Videos

Videos are a great way to provide information understandably and connect with your audience. You can create educational videos or other videos related to your industry or niche and post them on YouTube, Facebook, or even your website.

Videos can help with brand awareness. People can recall visual content and faces in the video better than text-based content. Through videos, your only intention would be to educate people about your brand and create awareness for demand gen, and not focus particularly on generating leads.

3. Email marketing

Email marketing is a straightforward demand gen tactic. The plan is to keep showing up in people's inboxes and give them relevant content.

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As exhibited in the example above, you can send newsletters to send out such informative content with some slight self-promo inside the emails. They can remember your brand and what you do and refer back to your email when they require your products or services.

4. Influencer marketing

Collaborate with influencers who have an actively engaging audience. And you don't have to go for the big shots as micro-influencers can also produce good campaign results. This is because micro-influencers usually have a closer and more authentic relationship with their audience.

Influencers can help you grow your brand awareness and credibility because people are more likely to trust and try out products recommended by the influencers they follow. This will leverage the power of word-of-mouth marketing while creating awareness and demand.

5. PR campaigns

Public relations campaigns give you more opportunities to connect with your audience. The more you get people talking about your brand, the more you can boost your brand's credibility and authority while generating demand and leads. You can create an in-house PR team or use another company like Promotehour to do it for you.

6. Social media campaigns

Use several different social media platforms like Linked In, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to post interesting, relevant, and engaging content to your audience. Like with blog posts, you can find out what your audience is searching for, their pain point, and provide solutions.

Social media gives you great possibilities for wide reach through organic and paid means. So, you'll be able to increase brand awareness if you can establish a prominent social media presence.

7. Webinars or interviews

Webinars or interviews with industry experts will be like a final step that'll make it apparent to people that you are a thought leader in this niche and know what you are talking about. You can use them to solve some problems your audience face in real-time and give them steps or ways to overcome them.

For example, Etsy India launched a few monthly webinars called "Small talk with the Etsy collective" to help small business owners navigate the e-commerce marketplace and successfully grow their businesses. This helped them create brand awareness and demand for their platform.

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Create your demand generation strategy today

Now that you comprehend all there is to demand generation, you've got to create a demand gen strategy for your brand. And if you want to know more ways to increase your brand awareness, check out our blog on word-of-mouth marketing. It will talk about the power of word-of-mouth marketing to create awareness, and build credibility, and how you can leverage it for your brand.