Demand Generation
Quick definition
Demand generation is the set of marketing activities that build awareness of, and interest in, a company's products across a target market, with the aim of creating future customers rather than only capturing people who are already ready to buy.
Demand generation and lead generation
The two terms overlap and companies define them differently. A common distinction is that demand generation builds awareness and interest across a market, often with educational content, events and communities, while lead generation captures contact details from the people who respond so they can be followed up. Many teams treat lead generation as one part of demand generation.
Typical activities
- Educational content and thought leadership.
- Webinars and events.
- Search visibility and content.
- Paid and social campaigns for awareness.
- Communities, podcasts and partnerships.
- Sales enablement material.
Measuring it
Because the effect builds over time and often does not produce a click, demand generation is hard to measure with last-click attribution. Teams look at signals such as branded search, direct visits, engagement and the pipeline that was sourced or influenced.
Example
A payroll-software firm sponsors a podcast for small-business owners and publishes a yearly salary-benchmark report. Few listeners click through immediately, but over the following months more prospects get in touch and mention the podcast when they enquire.