Prospects, pipelines, and demand funnels, oh my! Marketing lingo continues to evolve, often causing confusion among marketers — even within the same company! Alignment around terminology is essential for getting everyone rowing their boats in the same direction, and clarification is sometimes necessary.
For example, what’s the difference between Lead Generation and Demand Generation? Don’t they both strive to accomplish the same thing: acquiring customers? How are they similar, and how are they different — and why does it matter?
What is Lead Generation?
The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines Lead Generation as the action or process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business’s products or services. Essentially, Lead Generation involves any activity that is successful at gaining someone’s interest in your product or service. Once a lead has expressed interest — either by calling your sales team, responding to an email, attending an event, or filling out an online form — that lead enters the demand funnel, which initiates a series of lead nurturing activities intended to convert the lead to a customer.
Lead Generation is typically a linear process — but it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes, leads enter the funnel at a later stage, then lose interest and go into your bucket for remarketing. Other times, they progress neatly from one funnel stage to the next, as you send them on a well-planned journey of engaging content and product details until they become Sales Qualified Leads — fuel for the sales pipeline.
Content Marketing Institute reports that 85% of marketers believe their #1 priority is lead generation. Should it be yours? Or is Demand Generation equally important?
What is Demand Generation?
Demand Generation is an umbrella term that alludes to a range of marketing activities for driving awareness and providing product education.
Unlike Lead Generation, Demand Generation involves sending free content to prospects — no forms required. Companies may launch a free podcast or contribute thought leadership articles to an industry publication, for example. Think free YouTube videos that introduce potential prospects to that elusive solution they’ve been searching for, or billboards that raise brand awareness and pique the interest of potential buyers. Demand Generation encompasses a range of activities — from blogging and SEO to influencer marketing and PR campaigns — all designed to get your prospects’ attention, without an obligation to give anything in return.
So, what’s the difference?
Differentiating between Lead Generation and Demand Generation can sometimes be a bit tricky, since the two practices share many of the same objectives. That’s why many marketers use the terms interchangeably. To provide some clarification, we’ve outlined the main differences in the table below:
Does Demand Generation generate leads? You betcha! Activities in the Demand Generation arsenal — such as infographics, eBooks, and blog posts — are extremely effective at driving traffic to your website and making your sales hotline light up, so that Lead Generation can then take place.
The D3 Methodology: A marriage made in heaven
The year 2020 will be remembered for several things, but in the marketing world it will be remembered as the year that the D3 MethodologyTM became an essential component of a winning marketing strategy.
What is the D3 Methodology? Demand Creation. Demand Management. Demand Expansion. More specifically, it’s a holistic methodology that combines people, technology, analytics, and data to aid marketing leaders in identifying and prioritizing key initiatives necessary for maximum revenue generation.
The D3 Methodology marries the principles of Lead Generation and Demand Generation, then ensures long-term success by providing strategies and tactics for managing and expanding on the opportunities you create. It works synergistically to bring together sales, marketing, and customer service in a shared and easily communicated vision and plan. By bringing together these activities and teams, the D3 Methodology provides a model for an always-on demand generation engine, while positioning marketing as a critical revenue-driving function.
Get ready to generate demand
While traditional Lead Generation is a valuable jumping off point, it’s just one element of a robust marketing strategy. BDO Digital’s Demand Generation Group takes a holistic approach, empowering you at every step along your digital marketing journey with a broad set of technologies and services as well as the knowledge and expertise to help you successfully execute your marketing initiatives and drive demand.
Download our eBook to learn more about BDO Digital’s D3 Methodology and how you can start using it today to attract and convert new business, in addition to elevating marketing’s impact in your organization.
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