Reading this headline, you might be thinking, “What is demand gen, and what does it have to do with what I’ve spent the last few years doing with my marketing strategy?”
Don’t worry. Your instincts are dead-on. The marketing world is jam-packed with jargon, and yes, demand gen is yet another term to know.
But it’s more than a buzzword. The concept is foundational to your marketing, and even though you may not realize it. Here’s how I defined the concept in a previous blog post:
“Demand generation captures the umbrella of marketing programs that get customers excited about your company’s product and services. Demand generation programs can help your organization reach new markets, promote new product features, build consumer buzz, generate PR, and re-engage existing customers. Demand generation, however, is more than just a branding concept or early funnel marketing tactic. Demand generation programs are touch points throughout the conversion optimization and sales cycles.”
The following list can help you explore the idea of demand gen and develop a full-funnel picture for your company’s marketing strategy:
Ebooks, Articles, and Talks: Resources to Guide You
1) What Is Demand Gen? – This blog post will walk you through the basics of what this term means and why it matters to marketers.
2) How to Harness Social Networks to Drive Growth – This video will teach you learn how to harness OPNs (other peoples’ networks) to drive demand and growth for your business.
3) How to Sell $500,000 in Tickets with Zero Reputation – This blog post will show you how one entrepreneur generated demand for his events company.
4) You’re Doing It Wrong: Demand Generation – This article explains why conventional marketing advice may be steering you down the wrong path.
5) Why Your Content Marketing Plan Can’t Focus on Both Lead and Demand Generation – What the difference between these two strategies? According to the SlideShare presentation, “Demand generation is focused on shaping the audience’s perspective, while lead generation is focused on capturing their information.” Read the post to learn how to shape your marketing for both types of strategies.
6) 6 Ways to Supply a Social Boost to Demand Generation – This slide show will teach you how to integrate your social media campaigns with effective demand gen strategies.
7) From Demand Generation to Revenue Generation: How to Become a Revenue Driven Marketer – This article will help you transform marketing activities and efforts into high-impact revenue engines. The focus is on ‘teaching through examples’ with learnings from today’s top marketers.
8) Make Your Demand Generation Strategy More Efficient With These 3 Processes – This blog post will teach you how to develop a buyer persona, define the buying process, and develop a content framework.
9) How to Design a Compelling Demand Gen Strategy for the C Suite – This blog post will teach you what you need to know about reaching a c-suite audience.
10) Demand Generation and Marketing Automation: A #CMWorld Chat with Carlos Hidalgo – This blog post will help you learn about demand gen via tweets.
Demand Gen Stats You Should Know
11) U.S. inbound marketers spending more than $25K per year saved $14 dollars for every new customer acquired vs. those relying on outbound strategies. (Source: HubSpot)
12) Inbound marketing delivers 54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional outbound leads. (Source: HubSpot)
13) Social media produces almost double the marketing leads of trade shows, telemarketing, direct mail, or PPC. (Source: HubSpot)
14) Social media lead conversion rates are 13% higher than the average lead conversion rate. (Source: HubSpot)
15) 43% of all marketers have found a customer via LinkedIn in 2013. (Source: HubSpot)
16) 36% of all marketers have found a customer via Twitter in 2013. (Source: HubSpot)
17) By spending as little as 6 hours per week, over 66% of marketers see lead generation benefits with social media. (Source: Social Media Examiner)
18) 74% of marketers who spend 40+ hours using social media per week earn new business through their efforts. (Source: Social Media Examiner)
19) More than half of marketers who’ve been using social media for at least three years report it has helped them improve sales. (Source: Social Media Examiner)
20) 49.7% of companies using inbound marketing increase sales within 7 months. (Source: HubSpot)
21) B2B companies that blog only 1-2X/month generate 70% more leads than those that don’t blog at all. (Source: HubSpot)
22) Companies that increase blogging from 3-5X/month to 6-8X/month almost double their leads. (Source: HubSpot)
Awesome Infographics for More Inspiration
23) The Blogging Food Groups – This infographic from LinkedIn Marketing Solutions explains the elements of a well balanced blog.
24) Geosocial Universe 3.0 – This infographic illuminates how mobile plays a role in today’s social media trends.
25) Building the Sales and Marketing Machine of the Future – Learn how marketing and sales teams can effectively join forces to fully engage prospect and customer bases.
What is the coolest demand gen resource that you’ve encountered recently? Share what you’ve found with your fellow readers in the comments section below.
