“Demand generation” can be a confusing term in the business world. Sometimes it’s mistakenly used interchangeably with the term “lead generation”, sometimes its meaning is accidentally misconstrued, and so on. While demand generation is certainly about creating demand for products or services, there is much more to it than that.
A great definition of “demand generation” from Adobe
Let’s look at this great definition of demand generation from someone very credible in the marketing and business world…Adobe!
According to Adobe, demand generation is “an umbrella term for a range of marketing activities that drive long-term engagement, including lead generation, demand capture, and pipeline acceleration.”
Adobe goes on to say that the “long-term” aspect of demand generation is key in understanding it, as it is a “gradual, comprehensive, holistic approach to engagement that comprises dedicated inbound marketing tactics, social interactions, ebook campaigns, weekly newsletters, pop-up events, webinars, and more.”
Thus, following Adobe’s definition, there are three main components of demand generation: lead generation, demand capture, and pipeline acceleration.
Lead Generation
Note that “lead generation” is included in demand generation. What is lead generation? Lead generation is about collecting the contact information of people interested in your products or services through marketing initiatives. Examples are web content (like this blog post!), in-person events, email marketing, social media campaigns, and more. Lead generation is just one aspect of demand generation.
Capturing Existing Demand
Another component of demand generation is demand capture, which is about…well…capturing demand. This is when you take existing demand (if it exists) and help guide that demand towards your product or service. Digital marketing tactics that are examples of this are SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing).
Accelerating Sales Pipelines
The final component of demand generation per Adobe’s definition is “pipeline acceleration”, which entails talking with potential customers, interacting with them at live events, and sending them specialized and targeted content to help them move down your sales funnel.
To help boost demand generation, many organizations are taking advantage of marketing automation platforms like Adobe Marketo Engage and Hubspot. To learn more about Marketo, please visit our recent blog post, What is Marketo Engage?.
Click here to learn about our company’s Marketo consulting services and how we may be able to help you maximize the platform!
Conclusion
In summary, demand generation is the process of generating new leads, growing brand reach and awareness, converting existing demand, and optimizing conversions to grow revenue. Lead generation is a piece of demand generation – they are not one and the same.
If your organization is looking for help in boosting demand generation, contact us today!
