Demystifying Demand Generation: The Only Strategy You Need in 2023

Start of the year is a time for reflection. Not just on what the past year was like but also on what you want the new year to be.

Since you are here reading this, we can safely assume your business relies on your marketing team to generate business leads. So let’s set the pace for 2023 by breaking down what demand generation really is, and how to approach it. We also touch upon demand generation vs lead generation because that's an oft confused topic. 

Strategy is to Go After the Buying Committee

Everybody is trying shortcuts to get sales but shortcuts don’t work here. Say, you are aiming to directly contact the CEO - the decision maker - to push your product. This could work great for companies like IBM, Google, AWS etc. that have years and years of experience, brand reputation and marketing in place; the CEO knows about their expertise. 

But if you are an upcoming brand, i.e. a unicorn, your best chance is to go after the researchers - the real influencers that help the CEO reach a decision. And there are typically more than one such person influencing the buying decision, with job roles such as managers, team lead or directors, specializing in their own fields of expertise, say IT, HR, marketing, legal, etc.

Thus, you must try and reach out to the buying committee.

Buying committee is a group of people who make the buying decision for a solution. This is especially true of high-ticket sales where the onus of reaching a decision cannot lie with a single person; the stakes are too high and the buying process has its own workflows involving multiple stakeholders and decision making at multiple levels. 

Do not be lured by the fact that if you go to the top of the pyramid you will be automatically successful. Because you will not be. For the reasons just explained.

Which brings us to the question of how to influence the buying committee. But before we come to that, it is important to understand that the purchase process has undergone a massive change in recent times.

Modern Buying is Both Long-drawn and Quick

You must have a solid demand generation strategy in place to come out successful on the other side. 

Why?

Because the whole concept of a very linear buying process is obsolete. Nowadays buying is a more complex process. People keep sitting on the idea that they need a solution, unconsciously absorbing content, where you have the potential to influence them. Sometimes even they themselves are unaware of this.

And then there will be a snappy moment when they realize they need the product or service or technology yesterday, do some quick research and make the purchase decision quickly.

If you have been able to influence them previously with demand gen strategies, this is the time to reap the benefits.

How to Influence Buying Committee 

And the answer is - through demand generation. 

Demand generation is a long term strategy where you employ different tactics to try and influence all the stages this buying committee goes through, such as awareness, research, evaluation, competitive analysis, decision, etc. The ultimate goal is being able to make the shortlist. 

You must put in the hard work and roll out a plethora of branding activities strategically over a long period of time, sometimes running into months, to be able to influence buying decisions. You cannot get impatient and you cannot pull out midway. 

Think ABM vice president of growth and marketing, Christian Iachini says,

Demand gen is like a philosophy. A way of life every marketer must adopt to acquire ideal customers. It involves multiple areas such as branding and content and marketing effort.

Since no discussion on demand generation can be complete without a mention of lead generation, Christian adds,

Lead gen is often confused with demand gen, but it is actually a part of it. And a very essential part of the overall demand gen strategy. Lead gen is the tactic near the end of an orchestrated journey. It is aimed at building upon a potential customer’s awareness and inspiring them to consider your offering, ultimately leading to a purchase.

How The Strategy Works

As part of demand gen you should activate multiple channels listening to the needs, desires, challenges and behavior of potential customers.  B2B Pulse 2022 from McKinsey found that B2B customers now expect an omnichannel experience. Lead gen activities must then drive them into an identification funnel to further refine and determine who your real prospects are. The people or businesses that need your product now or may need it in the future. 

The leads generated by lead generation tactics yield the real potential customers, some of whom would be part of the buying committee. 

Remember, if you straightaway get to influencing who you "think" are your target audience, you might be in for a surprise. It is better to obtain more granularity in your pool of potential prospects first.

If you have done your lead gen properly through branding and awareness campaigns, fully aware of who are the prospects looking for a solution you provide, such hot prospects would be part of your target audience. You would have influenced them previously and now run a chance of being among the shortlist of products to buy.

How Think ABM can Help 

Experts at Think ABM enable you to run campaigns that 

• identify and reach the buying committee of your target accounts
• influence the buying committee
• dramatically improve your chances of getting shortlisted

Reach out to the Think ABM team to explore how we can work together to generate more qualified leads for your pipeline using our first party intent data.