Why Is Everyone Saying “DemandGen?”
Getting to Know B2B Marketing's Hottest Trend
We have an overwhelming need to be wanted.
We write whole books, movies, and songs about it, about getting it, about not getting it, about having had it, and then losing it but hoping to find it again. Wanting is our lot in life as people.
Brands and marketing teams, and the C-suites that run them, are made up of some of these people. So, it’s no surprise that wanting becomes a big part of every conversation.
But when we arrive at marketing, a lot of brands are caught in a painful tug of war. Most executives and marketers would say they want the trust of the customer. But what we often find is an attempt to gain the customer’s attention – attention being trust’s trashy little cousin.
Hence the tug of war: brands are caught between wanting the customer to feel seen and wanting to be seen by the customer.
This struggle turns everything into a question: “Who Will Get the Attention Here? Brand or customer?
· Every blog post
· Every web page
· Every social media campaign
· Every sales piece
· Every video
· Every event
Now for some honesty: we’re not saying you should cut yourself out of the marketing you produce. What good would that do anyone? After all, you’re a benefit to your customers. Without you, they’d be left to the mercy of one of your lesser-quality competitors.
But there’s no doubt: resolving this want tug of war requires a shift. Like all love affairs, next-level brands eventually realize that there is greater value, meaning, and reward in giving their attention to the object of their affection, rather than trying to get it from them.
Brands have to want more than they want to be wanted.
Out With the Old
To pull this shift off we begin with correcting the bad habit of attention seeking. (This attitude is usually tied to the brand’s revenue strategy.) To fix any habit, we need to understand why it exists and what brought us to rely on it.
For brands doing LeadGen marketing (or what we like to refer to as “Look at Me” marketing), this strategy is maybe the only one they’ve been taught. Or worse, the only one that’s ever worked.
And we understand the hesitation in stopping anything that feels like it’s “working”. But a lot of brands have a low threshold for what “working” means.
If we went out on a bunch of blind dates and kept asking strangers straightaway if they wanted to make out until one finally agreed, we might think that our strategy worked. We might even decide to do it again tomorrow, look at how good the results were!
But what if we were measuring success not by lips locked, but by the amount of people who walked away from us in disgust? We’d have to conclude that out strategy is more a failure than a success.
That’s the lesson LeadGen marketing teaches. For however many calls get booked or products get bought, the cost in reputation and opportunities lost is so high as to constitute abject failure.
Here, again, the numbers don’t waver. When researching the consequences of “Look at Me” LeadGen marketing, the HAVAS Media Group concluded that:
· 36% of consumers believe the brand is committed to make the world a better place.
· 71% expect that brands won’t follow through on their promises.
· 75% of consumers say that if the brand disappeared, they wouldn’t notice it was gone
· 34% of consumers think the brand is being transparent about their products and service
The rise of Web 2.0 made LeadGen an easy and effective strategy for marketers and brands just looking to capture attention and dollars. A nearly endless supply of prospects and equally endless places to sell to them.
But after 15 years of baiting, the majority of customers have learned to ignore anything that looks and acts like a lure. The few still too gullible or exhausted to resist are fiercely fought over.
The rest of the suspicious but searching consumers? They’re seeking to be wanted, and for more than just their wallets. They’re seeking the affection of a brand.
And they go largely un-marketed to.
A few perceptive brands, the ones who will win in the emerging economy, know this. And are doing something about it.
In With the DemandGen
Brands looking to ditch LeadGen for something more affectionate, are looking to DemandGen. To be clear, DemandGen is not an entirely new idea. But the execution is.
So, what is it? Simply put:
· DemandGen is a relationship-forward approach that trades value in return for attention and trust.
· DemandGen is getting to know a customer, giving them something valuable based on that knowledge, and then saying, “If you want more of that, we’ll be here.”
· DemandGen understands that reputation is essential to a brand’s success and a buyer’s desire to stick with the brand for the long-term. It limits engagement to buyers with a high intent to purchase, and puts the control of what’s being sold, when it’s being sold, and when the decision to buy is made back into the hands of the customer.
· DemandGen, per its name, creates demand – for the product, for the brand – by putting the customer first and making it clear that the brand’s attention is on the customer, and doesn’t presume the reverse, but rewards it generously.
· DemandGen allows reputation to be the driver of revenue.
Read that last one again and feel the air catch in your throat for a second…would you place the burden of your brand’s revenue squarely on its reputation right now?
The above criteria are what make DemandGen so special – why you keep hearing about it and why it’s touted as a curative to the masses of over-sold who want someone to want them for once.
But we want to be clear that DemandGen, especially when used in its purest sense, takes time and consistent effort to execute. It’s not a quick fix. It trades short-term wins for long-term Champagne Outcomes. And it’s built to succeed in the emerging economy. But not if it’s half-assed.
To be effective, you have to want it.
It's a DemandGen World
So what’s a CEO or Marketing Manager to do now? You recognize the pitfalls of the LeadGen way, and the promise of the DemandGen strategy. And you’re interested in adopting it.
The next step is to consider the 4 Demand prerequisites before moving forward. Here they are:
1. Invested in Growth: Commit to a marketing budget of at least 15% of your sales revenue.
2. Narrow Target: Define a buyer persona that is specific and repeatable.
3. Clarity of Value: Develop an unwavering value proposition: “We do X for people who need Y.”
4. Proven Outcomes: Determine the outcomes that will prove the results of the above 3.
These 4 prerequisites can be a challenge for any CEO or marketer, but there is no moving forward with a DemandGen strategy without all 4.
Hung up on one or not sure how to get through them all?
At CultureCraft, we understand the challenges of developing the right revenue strategy for a brand.
But we’ve also seen the growth, revenue, and reputation that comes from making the difficult decision to deviate from the past and implement the best strategy that propels a brand into the future.
And we’re committed to helping leaders and marketers continue to do just that.