To grow your business, you need to find new customers. But how do you find those customers? And how can you get them to buy from you? The answer is B2B demand generation.
Demand generation is attracting new prospects who can buy your product or service. It’s also a way of getting your existing customers to buy more of your products or services.
And it’s not just about finding new customers. It’s also about keeping your current ones happy. It means getting them to continue buying from you instead of going elsewhere! How do you do that? With demand for lead generation!
This article will cover B2B demand generation marketing and how it can help your business grow.
What Is Demand Generation?
Demand generation is a strategic marketing tactic to attract new leads and opportunities. The idea is that you will grow your business by understanding your target audience and tailoring your message to them.
There are many types of demand generation tactics, but the most common ones include:
- Retargeting ads. These are ads you see on the side of other websites that follow you around the internet. They’re based on your previous behavior, so they’re very effective at targeting specific people who may be interested in what you have to offer.
- Social media ads. Social media ads can be used in many ways, including boosting posts or running campaigns directly through Facebook or Twitter.
- Email campaigns. Email campaigns are one of the most effective ways to reach customers and potential customers directly through their inboxes. You can send emails frequently depending on what works best for your audience.
The demand generation process consists of five steps:
1. Prospect identification
2. Lead qualification
3. Lead nurturing
4. Lead conversion
5. Customer retention
Why Is Demand Generation Important?
B2B companies are already facing a lot of competition. But it’s not just other businesses they have to worry about; they’re also their customers.
To stay ahead of the curve, B2B marketers must constantly look for new ways to generate leads, contacts, and customers. B2B demand marketing is one such way. But why?
Demand generation is the process of generating demand for your products or services. It’s about getting customers to think about your business and consider buying from you.
Demand generation is integral to most B2B organizations, including small businesses and corporations.
Demand generation helps you:
- Generate leads. People who don’t know you yet are called leads. Demand generation aims to get more people to become leads by raising awareness of your company and its offerings.
- Improve brand awareness. Your brand is what people think about when they hear your company’s name or see your logo. Brand awareness is how many people know what you stand for, what you do, and how you do it.
- Increase website traffic. Traffic refers to all visitors who come to your website, including site visitors and lead submissions. Traffic helps increase conversions so that you can close more sales.
Using B2B Demand Generation for Marketing Growth
B2B demand generation is a specialized field of marketing that uses different tactics than those used in consumer marketing.
B2B demand generation helps companies reach and engage their target audience through the proper channels. There are many ways to use B2B demand generation for marketing growth:
Use Content Marketing to Generate Leads
Content marketing is about creating applicable, valuable content your prospects want to read, share, and engage with online. You can use blog posts, ebooks, videos, infographics, and other types of content as part of your demand generation strategy.
Your goal should be to create an asset that will provide value for your target audience without promoting your product directly.
If people like your content, they will it on social media or email it around their networks. This way, they’re helping you build awareness about your brand without ever knowing it was part of an intentional strategy by you!
Develop an Email Marketing Strategy
Email marketing is a great way to generate leads for your business over time. You can build a list of contacts through content marketing or social media outreach and then send them relevant emails on an ongoing basis.
Besides being a great way to generate new business, email marketing can also help you nurture existing customers. This can boost customer retention and increase overall revenue.
But if you want your email marketing strategy to be successful, then you need to develop a plan that includes the following:
- A clear objective
- A target audience
- A call-to-action
- An offer or incentive
- A series of emails with relevant content
Use Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising is one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience, and it’s also one of the most cost-effective. This is the way to go if you’re looking for quick results and a low cost.
B2B demand generation with social media ads is easy when you use a tool like Facebook Ads Manager or Google AdWords. You can set up a campaign quickly and target your ads at specific audiences based on location, interests, employer, and more.
The best part about using social media advertising is that it doesn’t require extra work from your sales team or marketing department. You only need to create an ad and put it up for sale on these platforms.
Social media platforms are also great places for B2B marketers. They allow you to show off your brand personality in a unique way that’s impossible elsewhere online.
Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategies
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a great way to drive traffic to your website, and it’s one of the most effective ways to generate leads.
The first step in implementing SEO strategies is to conduct keyword research. You then identify relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for.
After that, you use those keywords in your content and optimize them with relevant meta tags so that search engines can easily find them.
One thing to keep in mind when using SEO as part of your B2B demand generation strategy is that search engines change algorithms regularly. Thus, staying up-to-date with these changes is essential so you can adapt accordingly.
Build Links to Your Site From Other Websites
Building links to your website from other sites is one way to generate leads. The more high-quality sites that link back to yours, the higher you appear in search engine rankings.
If you have a blog that gets lots of traffic you should write interesting articles. You can then reach out to other bloggers who would be willing to share them on their sites.
You can also reach out directly to multiple publications in your industry. You never know who might be interested in covering an article about your company or its product or service offerings.
Conduct Webinars or Live events
One of the most effective ways to generate demand is through live events. This could include webinars, conferences, or even town halls with customers.
These events allow you to interact with prospects in real time, which makes it easier for them to connect with you and your company.
You can also use these events as an opportunity for education about your product or service. This way, attendees will be more aware of what exactly you have to offer and whether it meets their needs.
And if they are interested, they’ll have an opportunity to sign up for more information from you via email or another means of communication.
Create an Influencer Program
An influencer program can help you reach new customers by building relationships with people who already influence your target audience. You can identify these individuals and reach out to them via email or social media channels.
Send them free products or experiences in exchange for reviews, photos, or testimonials on their social media channels. This will help you build credibility among potential customers since they’ll be able to see that others enjoy using your product or service.
It’s also a great way to get new leads! This is because people who engage with influencers are more likely than average consumers to buy from brands like yours!
Use Lead Generation Software
Lead generation software helps you easily collect, manage and analyze data to see which tactics work best for your business. You’ll be able to track the following:
- How many leads you’re getting from each source?
- Which ones are converting into customers?
- What tactics are the most cost-effective?
As a result, it will make it easier for you to optimize future campaigns, so they don’t waste money on ineffective strategies.
Use Paid Advertising Campaigns
Paid advertising campaigns are one of the most effective ways to grow your customer base with demand generation.
You can use social media, search engines, or Facebook ads to target potential customers based on their interests and behaviors.
Use these ads to drive traffic to landing pages where visitors can sign up for more information about your business, products, and services.
Then follow up with them through email marketing so they know who you are and what value your company can provide for them.
Conclusion
Marketing today is much more complicated than it was a few decades ago. The B2B marketing field is in a time of growth and innovation. The most prominent B2B technology companies are embracing demand generation strategies.
This results in more revenue for these businesses. Demand generation can boost your business revenues and establish your company as an industry leader. This is why B2B demand generation techniques should be a powerful resource for your marketing team.