Demand Generation Strategy – Backed By Industry Experts

Let’s take a look at some of the best demand generation strategies and tips from 12 experts. These experts have a wealth of experience in the field of demand generation, and their insights can help you improve your own efforts.

From content marketing to email marketing to social media marketing, there’s something for everyone. So, be sure to check them out.

1. Ryan Carlin

Demand generation starts and ends with great content.

Creating podcasts, videos, and blog posts will help you acquire new customers across channels and reduce your cost-per-acquisition (CPA).

You should find one lead magnet that serves as:

1. A huge value addition for your cold and warm prospects
2. Clearly positions your product as an industry-leading solution
3. A useful tool for sales enablement and customer success

If your created content (lead magnet) fulfills two of these three criteria, you’ve found a winner.

Once you find it, scale up that lead magnet’s reach as much as you possibly can!

2. Dienye Diri

One of the biggest trends, shaping demand generation in 2023 and beyond is the increasing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in understanding and predicting customer behavior.

This year, AI has gotten smarter, and smart businesses will focus on leveraging AI to create personalized and targeted demand generation campaigns.

Businesses can create more effective demand generation messaging and content by having a better understanding of user preferences. All thanks to using better AI systems to analyze customer data and behavior patterns.

3. Leigh McKenize 

Short-form user-generated content (UGC) has become a powerful demand generation strategy for brands in 2023 due to its authenticity, relatability, and cost-effectiveness.

As UGC comes directly from customers or influencers, it helps build trust and credibility, while showcasing products in real-life situations.

At UnderFit, we’re smartly using short, genuine videos created by real people to showcase our men’s premium slim-fit modal undershirts. These relatable videos help potential customers see our undershirts in everyday situations, sparking interest in a product they may not have considered purchasing before.

4. Jas Banwait Gill 

You can optimize your demand gen efforts by evaluating your email marketing campaign performance based on its open rates, spam complaints, and unsubscribe rates.

A high bounce rate may signify that you’re sending too many emails to people who simply aren’t interested in what you have to say. It could also mean that they have already bought your product or that of your competitors.

But scrubbing your contact list helps ensure that you’re sending emails to customers who want to read them.

Remove unsubscribed addresses and those that haven’t engaged with your emails within the last three months. Prioritizing active subscribers can help improve your email open and click-through rates and provide more valuable data for personalizing your content to each recipient.

5. Paige Arnof-Fenn

For lead generation, content marketing and thought leadership are both great ways. They can help build your brand, increase your visibility, enhance your profile, and attract more clients.

To increase your brand awareness among potential customers and build your credibility with a larger community, you should focus on activities like:

• Hosting podcasts or webinars
• Writing articles
• Building your following on social media
• Contributing regularly to existing well-trafficked blogs in your industry and newsletters of like-minded organizations, reaching the same target audience as you. Include links to your content or profile.
• Sharing your contributed articles with your friends, social media followers, and other contacts
• Speaking at events or podcasts

You can always start small.

For example, I started with speaking at local events and then submitted proposals to speak at industry conferences and trade shows nationwide and, eventually, global events as well.

The same advice goes for contributing to publications. You can start with writing for small publications and then move up the chain to reach wider audiences.

When it comes to social media, you do not need to be on all social media platforms. But make sure you are active on the ones where your customers engage.

For many professional service businesses like mine, LinkedIn matters the most.

To present yourself as an expert in your industry, post interesting and educational content with your audience. You can also share a great article you’ve read recently.

6. Blake Wisz

Demand generation is something that all marketers do in one way or another. Previously, as a former growth marketer, it was all I could think about.

A healthy place to start with demand generation is to work on your brand positioning. This informs everyone (internally and externally) of what your brand is trying to accomplish in its space and offers the ability to build around that.

Next, I would break down the goals that your company believes will drive growth into 30, 60, and 90 days. This will help keep your team informed about what is happening now and what’s going to happen in the coming days.

This can fuel fresh ideas and give you a new perspective on your current hurdles and opportunities.

In 2023 much of the conversation has pivoted to retention—keeping the customers you have. But acquisition and retention matter equally to small to medium-sized businesses.

Lastly, you can not jump into the next year and not explore outbound tools while inbound slows for many.

Check out apps, reviews, and products across G2 and Product Hunt to see if there are new tools that folks in your role rave about. Talk to their teams and see if there are any low-hanging fruits or incentives for trying their product, the way you are looking for people to try your very own.

7. Grace Townsley 

Demand generation is all about creating a buzz for what you offer. But today, a laundry list of features and benefits isn’t enough to create needle-moving interest.

We’re surrounded by thousands of products, services, programs, and offers. We’re drowning in advertisements, pitches, and affiliates. The same-old, same-old just doesn’t cut it.

In 2023, I believe demand generation is driven by three key things: story, community, and sustainability.

1. Story: People deeply resonate with stories that meet them where they are. When you take time to relate to the real problems they’re experiencing, show them how much better life could be with your product or service in it, then give them a simple step forward—that’s how you generate buzz.
   Drop the company-centric sales talk. Invite your customers to an exciting story.
2. Community: We trust what our peers trust. So to generate a buzz that really propels your company forward, get your customers talking.
   I love leveraging video testimonials and real reviews across my clients’ landing pages, email sequences, and social content. It’s a great, tangible way to prove the value of what you offer.
3. Sustainability: Customers, especially younger ones, want to support companies that are after more than profit and IPOs. Take every opportunity you get to show how your brand isn’t just solving your customers’ problems—but is working to make your corner of the world a better place.

Talk about your charity work, your company volunteering day, your commitment to fair labor and ethical manufacturing—and then live the values you preach.

In 2023, watch these three strategies work together at every stage of the lead funnel—and build powerful momentum for the businesses that leverage them.

8. Caleb Rule

Depending on your ideal customer profile, you’ll want to invest more heavily in:

1. Video – Youtube Shorts, TikTok, Facebook/Instagram Reels. Short-form video continues to be the front-and-center for driving far more consumption.
   Start with one channel (Youtube Shorts is quite easy) and work on it for 3-4 months to get a feel of what resonates with your audience. Be sure to use appropriate hashtags and repurpose the video content elsewhere, such as on your website, social media, and even in sales outreach if it makes sense!
2. Podcast appearances – There are some great agencies that specialize in getting guests booked. People listen to and trust podcasts and it’s a fantastic way to get into parts of the market you otherwise can’t access.
3. For B2B, continue investing in LinkedIn Ads. Impactable has a few strong playbooks on its website for different budget ranges, and I recommend checking those out to see if your account structure is inviting waste.

For example: Are you running a cold audience campaign with the sole purpose of building a retargeting audience?

If not, you’re likely missing out on targeting your direct-response ads to warmer prospects who have seen your content before.

9. Anna Stella 

Building brand awareness to generate high-quality leads is essential in today’s highly competitive marketing landscape. However, as one builds brand awareness, it is necessary to note that capturing the buyer’s attention is not enough.

Sustainable brand awareness must create a positive and lasting impression of a company among potential buyers. The impression should inspire trust in the company’s ability to provide solutions addressing customers’ needs.

By cultivating such an identity, a company can establish a strong reputation and attract and retain consumers.

For this, you should:

1. Invest in partnerships. There has been a rapid transformation and transition from in-person to virtual business, demanding increased digital interactions.
2. Account-based marketing is bigger than ever. To get a steady flow of leads from your demand generation efforts, you should implement an account-based marketing strategy (ABM). Meet each account’s unique needs to increase trust and loyalty and build long-lasting relationships.
3. You need a comprehensive strategy that extends your first contact with a potential client to a final purchase. To attain this, your marketing and sales teams must work together throughout the consumer journey and implement strategies that align with your buyers’ needs, concerns, questions, and attitudes.
4. When a brand positions itself as a trusted authority, consumers easily develop trust and confidence. To build industry expertise, you should develop a solid content marketing strategy that contains timely and valuable information at each stage of the consumer purchasing journey.

11. John Cammidge 

We’re significantly invested in interactive content, particularly when it provides substantial upfront value. We usually direct users via pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to a specialized page that encourages active engagement.

This could be through a tool like a calculator or a quiz. The goal here is to offer something that generates distinct value for the user and to further engage, they are prompted to provide their contact details.

We’ve observed that this method delivers impressive conversion rates.

Integrating this with our PPC strategies allows us to see a tangible return on investment from our expenditure, given that the conversion rate on these interactive pages significantly outperforms standard, non-interactive pages.

As a result, we are constantly seeking opportunities to incorporate this interactive element into our demand generation campaigns.

12. Kacper Rafalski 

Given the ever-evolving digital landscape, demand generation strategies must also adapt to the latest trends and technologies. Here are some strategies to consider:

• You know, in my 10+ years in digital marketing, one thing that hasn’t changed is the power of great content. Whether it’s a gripping blog post, an enlightening podcast, or a captivating video, delivering meaningful content that resonates with potential customers is key.
• As a seasoned pro in search engine marketing, I can tell you that making your content easily discoverable is crucial. Think meta descriptions, backlinks, and optimizing for voice search.
• Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube are great places to connect with your audience. Live streams, stories, polls – you name it. And partnering with influencers? That can extend your reach and boost your brand image.
• Now, here’s a trick I’ve learned over the years. Instead of trying to reach everyone, why not focus on a few high-value accounts? With account-based marketing (ABM), you can tailor your marketing to these specific accounts, leading to a more personalized experience and better-quality leads.
• AI and machine learning are game changers. They can help you analyze customer behavior and predict trends, so you can tailor your marketing efforts to perfection.
• Now, who doesn’t love a good quiz or an interactive video? Engage your customers with interactive content, and they’ll spend more time with your brand. Trust me, it works.