70% of buyers have done their research before they talk to sales, and 60% of buyers prefer not to talk to sales teams at all.
Most buyers aren’t open to outbound selling. So, how do you get their attention?
With demand generation.
In this article, you’ll learn how to use demand to fuel your sales funnel, build relationships, and grow your business.
What is demand generation?
Demand generation is the combination of marketing tactics, strategies, and programs to create awareness and drive interest in your products or services.
It aims to fuel your sales pipeline, shorten the sales cycle, and generate revenue. It doesn’t do so by pressuring or coercing people to buy things they don’t need, but by providing value.
In other words, it boosts revenue by delivering the right information to the right people at the right time so that they can make confident decisions.
In the digital era, where people are more informed than ever about new products and the companies that sell them, demand generation marketing is critical to the sales process and, ultimately, growth.
Forrester research shows that a person has 27 buying interactions when making a purchase decision. This includes self-guided interactions (e.g., online research) and personal interactions with friends, colleagues, and providers.
“[Buyers] looked for one-to-many forums like webinars and online events to learn about the category, what other people are doing in the industry, and who the top contenders are. They talked to peers, industry experts, and various provider representatives to get their specific questions answered. They also did a lot of self-directed research checking all sorts of sources, from social media to syndicated content to category- or industry-specific resources.” – Beth Caplow, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester [via Forrester]
A demand generation program engages buyers at every touchpoint throughout the three major stages of the customer journey, from first knowledge of you until they convert into a qualified lead.
1. Awareness. The buyer is experiencing a problem and is researching to understand it.
2. Consideration. The buyer has defined the problem. Now they’re researching to understand the available solutions.
3. Decision. The buyer has decided on a solution. Now they’re making a list of the best options before making a purchase decision.
It does this in one of three ways (though often they overlap):
1. Educates;
2. Empowers;
3. Entertains.
Ahrefs, for example, provides a free SEO training course for beginners, educating them on the basics to help them rank higher.
Hubspot’s free ideas generator helps people come up with new blog content.
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