A combo of demand generation & lead generation to go

ExploringTopics share that 50% of marketers consider lead generation a top priority, but what about demand generation? To win sales, should you embrace demand generation, lead generation or both? In this article, we will look at what these methods are, and which one is the best approach for you.

Demand generation

Demand generation is when awareness is created for a business’s product or service. This takes place at the very beginning of the sales funnel, as it focuses on bringing in new customers to your business and has the ability to reach new audiences. This is done through marketing campaigns that are structured to generate excitement and awareness about your product or service.

Lead generation

Lead generation is focused on capturing information about your potential buyers. This takes place after demand generation in the sales funnel, as your prospects would have already shown interest in your product or service. Lead generation campaigns commonly use:

• Webinars
• Ebooks
• Survey reports  
• Networking
• Personalised emails

These methods help businesses target their prospects, learn more about them and convert them into leads.

The key differences

Here are the key differences between lead generation and demand generation:

The pros and cons of each method

Here are the pros and cons you must know about when deciding what method to implement.

Demand generation pros

The main benefits of a demand generation approach are:

• Increased awareness – Using videos, social media and blogs will help increase awareness for your product or service, generating more traffic into your business to make sales.
• Enhance your brand – Demand generation is a great way to enhance the awareness and image of your brand through effective campaigns. This will help you stand out in your market from competitors.

Demand generation cons

Common challenges that present themselves with demand generation are:

Managing all of your demand channels – Social media, blogs, videos, infographics and more can all be used during a demand generation campaign. This makes it challenging to keep track of each channel and identify which ones are performing better than others.

Managing lead/prospect data – Demand generation campaigns reach a wide audience, meaning it is likely that some of the prospects it reaches are not a good fit for your business. Low-quality leads and duplicated leads can be common, making it difficult to manage your customer data.  

Lead generation pros 

Lead generation has unique benefits it will bring you, such as:

• Long-term customer relationships – Lead generation requires a more personal approach as you find out more about your customers. This will help you create long-term customer relationships, resulting in loyal customers that will make repeat purchases.
• Improve your lead quality – You will learn more about your prospects and if they are a good fit for your product or service, helping you generate more high-quality leads that are likely to make purchases.

Lead generation cons

There are two main drawbacks to taking a solely focused lead generation approach:

• Reliant on demand generation – For lead generation to work, you need to have prospects already aware of your business. This means the lead generation approach relies on demand generation bringing in interest and awareness for your product or service. Without this, you will not have enough prospects to try and convert.
• Time and resource-consuming – Lead generation requires research, personalised interactions, and patient nurturing techniques to be effective, using a substantial amount of time and resources.

Should you combine both approaches?

You should always try to combine these approaches. Demand generation and lead generation take place at different parts of the sales funnel and are both crucial for you to win a sale. You should have a demand generation campaign in place to gain interest from prospects and new audiences, and after using lead generation methods to nurture their interest and convert them into a lead.

Combined approach example

Step 1 - During your demand generation campaign, you use a video that will demonstrate your product or service’s features and the benefits it will bring customers. This video’s goal is to generate awareness for your offering, attracting new audiences to increase traffic to your business.

Step 2 - With this increased traffic, a prospect visits your website and registers interest with their email about your product or service. After, you can now begin your lead generation campaign, by nurturing the prospect through personalised emails as you attempt to convert them into a lead.

Transform your sales performance with TEB

Whether it is demand or lead generation, TEB will transform your campaigns with game-changing data visibility and improved collaboration. Invaluable benefits TEB will bring you:

Drill down on your data – Get essential insights into your business by generating custom reports on what you need, such as your sales campaign performance.

Focus on your valuable lead sources – View what your most valuable lead source is with TEBs lead funnels and filters to focus on the channels that will win you deals.

Streamlined marketing and sales collaboration – Share valuable customer data and insights between your sales and marketing departments to increase collaboration, and align your approach to clients.

Understand your customer’s buyer journey – TEB will give you access to customer storyboards that shows the entire buyer journey of your clients. Here you can get useful insights into your customer’s needs and where deals are lost.

Cost-effective – With TEB, you can choose the package that best suits your needs. For example, if you only want a lead management package to view and track your lead sources, you can purchase this package.

Do not just take our word for it, quickly book a demo and with just 30 minutes you can see exactly how TEB bring you game-changing sales results.