• Sep 01, 20
• Shawn Cole
• Marketing Leadership
• 0 comment

Demand Generation: Why it Matters & How to Make it Work for You

Organizations around the world are increasingly taking a more strategic approach to their marketing and sales efforts. Considering the highly customer-centric environment companies are now required to do business in, it is crucial to continually find ways to optimize the customer experience at every relevant touchpoint. And demand generation plays a critical role in achieving this. 

The results of a 2018 Demand Generation Benchmark Survey indicated that 70% of B2B marketers planned to invest in demand generation over the next two years. With the lessons of 2020 still fresh in the minds of future-focused organizations, it is expected that this imperative will continue to drive sales and marketing efforts in the next few years.

What should your organization be doing to take better advantage of demand generation, and what strategies should this involve? In this article, we’ll dig into the specifics of where demand generation fits (or should fit) into organizations, the strategies that can deliver success, and the role of good recruitment within this framework. 

Where Does Demand Generation Fit into Your Marketing Strategy?

Demand generation is a broad-based approach that covers initiatives aimed at generating awareness and interest in an organization’s products, to attract and retain high-fit customers. The core purpose of demand generation is to provide high-level strategies that improve how new customers find a business, and how long they remain with the business. 

One of the fundamental roles of demand generation is to create alignment between sales and marketing teams. Silos can form very easily in organizations, leading to a misalignment in the goals, strategies, and metrics by which sales, marketing, and customer fulfillment achieve and measure success. 

This leads to a situation where marketing collects hundreds of leads that sales cannot convert, customer fulfillment has to deal with constant complaints from customers over expectations that don’t fit your business, and every department thinks it’s the other’s fault. 

As explained by the team at Drift, “a dedicated demand generation department can focus on connecting marketing and sales activities to increase revenue and retention, serving as a bridge between the two teams and ensuring all strategies focus on exceeding customer expectations.”

Demand Gen vs Lead Gen: Are They the Same Thing?

No. Lead generation is a subset of demand generation, the use of marketing to attract more leads. Like lead gen, inbound marketing is also a subset of demand gen; however, inbound marketing focuses on strategies that help drive visitors and prospects to your platforms and into your sales funnel. 

Demand generation harmonizes lead gen and inbound marketing while also extending to every other aspect of the customer lifecycle in your business – from first contact to repeat sales. As a result, while lead gen and inbound marketing are assessed in terms of physical metrics, such as number of qualified leads, bounce rate, cost per conversion etc., demand gen is assessed in terms of financial metrics, including revenue and lifetime value per customer. 

When to Consider Demand Generation Strategies 

Although demand generation should be a mainstay of every organization’s marketing and sales strategy, there are critical points where it is imperative to immediately start looking to implement the strategy. 

• Too many unqualified leads: Your marketing and sales strategy should fit your organization like a glove. Marketing should drive leads that fit your product perfectly, essentially giving sales a home run. If you are not converting a sufficient number of qualified leads, then there may be a disconnect that needs realigning. 
• Flagging or static growth in leads: The role of demand generation is not just to ensure you are attracting the right leads, but also to “generate demand”. If you’re seeing a steady decline in conversions, leads, or other sales or marketing metrics, demand generation can help. 
• Disconnect between marketing and sales experience: It would be suicidal to have marketing promising one thing and sales delivering another. Demand generation provides high-level oversight into the entire process, ensuring a seamless flow of leads and customers between these departments and higher revenue overall. 
• High customer churn: Finally, if your customers are rushing out of your business as fast (or even faster) than they come in, you may require a strategy that helps improve customer experience from start to finish. 

While these situations are not exhaustive, they provide a picture of what organizations considering demand generation can reflect on as indications that something new is required. Next, we’ll explain strategies that you can adapt to set the foundations for and begin unlocking the benefits of demand generation. 

5 Best Demand Generation Strategies

The key to getting the most out of demand generation is maintaining laser-focus on the role this initiative should play in your overall marketing and sales strategies. Demand generation is there, not to reproduce your marketing or sales tactics, but to improve upon them by enriching and seamlessly connecting the sales process. The five best demand generation marketing strategies are:

1. Buyer Research
2. Smart Planning
3. SEO, SEM & ABM
4. Resal-World Marketing
5. Firm Collaboration with Marketing, Sales & Customer Fulfillment

The following takes a closer look at each of these demand generation marketing strategies, explaining their unique role in driving and growing sales.

1. Buyer Research

Your entire demand generation initiative should flow from an accurate understanding of what your buyer base is like, and how they currently experience your sales pipeline. Developing consistent buyer personas and aligning them with your (current and ideal) buyer journey will help here. Leverage on information available from your sales and marketing teams, as well as outside research to understand who your buyers are, how they buy from you, and what cues or strategies they are most likely to respond to. 

2. Smart Planning

When you know the end target, you can begin planning actionable goals that get you there. Set sales and marketing goals that align with the research you have conducted and are focused on thoroughly fulfilling your buyers’ needs.

3. SEO, SEM & ABM

SEO and SEM are already critical parts of most lead generation and inbound marketing strategies. Enrich these tactics with data you have gleaned about your customer, with a firm focus on the buyer experience you want to create for them. Account-based marketing (ABM) will also be vital to help you go after your highest-value buyer personas through its potential for ultra-personalized, highly-targeted content. 

4. Real-World Marketing

Due to its “whole of firm” approach, demand generation does not stop at online marketing strategies. You should also actively consider and take advantage of real-world marketing opportunities such as attendance at conferences, business fairs, summits, etc. 

5. Firm Collaboration with Marketing, Sales & Customer Fulfillment

Finally, while the traditional marketer ends their job once a lead passes on to sales, demand generation should go further. Work closely with sales and customer fulfillment to align lifecycle stages and work to develop the ideal strategy that helps close more deals and increase customer retention. 

The Role of Good Recruitment for Marketing Executives 

Understanding the value of demand generation and knowing the best strategies to implement it is only half the fight. You should also work to hire and retain skilled and experienced talent that can help guide, improve, and enrich your demand generation initiatives. That talent can include a chief marketing officer, a chief sales officer, a demand generation director, and/or others. A team of superstars helps connect your marketing and sales efforts, then supports both departments to create happy, engaged, and loyal customers. 

At Cowen Partners, we are happy to assist in your demand generation talent search, whether that involves prospecting for C-suite positions such as VP of Demand Generation, or lower-level engagements like Demand Generation Specialist. 

Demand Generation Executive Salaries

The table below highlights the average annual salary for demand generation managers and executives.

Leading Sales, Marketing & Demand Generation Recruiters

Check out our industry-leading resources, created by 5-star demand generation recruiters and executive search consultants, to see why Cowen Partners is a nationally ranked sales and marketing executive search firm in New York City, Chicago, Anchorage, Portland, Seattle, Dallas, Las Vegas, Denver, Nashville, Boston, Los Angeles, and beyond:

• Demand Generation Executive Interview Questions
• Chief Revenue Officer | The Ultimate Hiring Guide
• Sales Executive Recruitment | Building A Winning Sales Team
• The 3 Best Sales Recruiters & Marketing Recruitment Agencies in the U.S.
• Recruiting and Hiring in the Age of Covid-19
• Moving From Theory to Practice When Recruiting for Executive Diversity

The demand generation recruiters at Cowen Partners Executive Search partner with companies across all major and minor industries including:

Accounting, Advertising, Aerospace & Defense, Biotechnology, Banking, Board and CEO Services, Computer Hardware, Construction, Consulting, Consumer Products, Computer Software and Hardware, Education, Energy & Utilities, Entertainment & Sports, Finance, Financial Services, Food Products, Government, Human Resources, Health Care, Hospitality & Tourism, Insurance, Industrial, Internet & New Media, Legal, Journalism & Publishing, Marketing, Manufacturing, Medical Device, Non-Profit, Pharmaceutical, Real Estate, Retail & Apparel, Sales, Technology, Telecommunications and Transportation.