Lead Generation vs Demand Generation

People these days are loaded with so much vocabulary that they often seemed confused. Simple marketing tools sound like big financial agreements. One of the doubts we found is the difference between Lead generation vs Demand generation. Both are part of the most common lingo used offline as well as in digital marketing. We are here to show you some basic and technical differences between the two of them.

Lead generation tactics

Lead generation tactics are a part of every business where you directly encounter a client and put them through your sales tunnel or pipeline with a couple of steps. Here we identify and cultivate our potential customers. We bring them as close to our product or service as we can. In the back of our mind, there is always a point that demand is already there and we just need to push it through the customer psyche in the best way we can.

Demand generation

demand generation is other half of the same marketing tactic but obviously, it qualifies as a step prior to lead generation. Here we are in the stage of brand awareness. When we launch a new product into the market, we want as much as brand awareness as possible. We create campaigns, advertisements, influencer marketing, and every tool at our disposal. We generate a genuine demand and with that, a cult that follows it. We develop and create a buzz for the potential public that we are here to cater to your specific needs.

There are some specific characteristics and strategies of lead generation tools:

  • Email marketing
  • Website and landing pages
  • Content Marketing
  • Search engine optimization
  • Social Media marketing
  • Webinars or Virtual events
  • Paid Search and Online advertising
  • Testing and Optimization

All these strategies come into play on digital as well as offline platforms in different manners. One thing is for sure in the above work is that people don’t feel like they are being spammed. Why? Because we have already created a buzz around our product line.

People know us as a brand and they are well or at least half-aware of our existence. But for a business, the question is, How to generate leads? So, they read our emails. They are not afraid to click on our links. They read our content and our blogs. They know us if we appear on the top of the search result. They see our advertisement on social media, and they may like to attend if we organize any event in their benefit. 

Thus, in lead generation, you are already halfway through to your closure. You are just guiding them through your sales tunnel in the most trusted way possible. 

Now let us look on another side of the coin, demand generation. In layman’s term, you are letting people know you and know your product. At this stage, people are not quite sure if they really need you in their lives or not. For example, there is a newly launched cab-hailing app. You are not attracted easily as marketing competition is on its peak and your current apps work just fine. Now if they offer you: good fares, free rides and you see their branding on the spots you love like a sponsored cricket match, you might consider trying it.

Some of the best demand generation tools are:

  • Ad Campaigns
  • Influencer marketing
  • Event Sponsorships
  • Social media campaigns
  • Content Blog marketing
  • CRM for the existing audience
  • Lead scoring and management
  • Web Insights, measuring, and optimization.

These tools play deciding factors on how you are organically building your brand awareness. It takes high effort and expense on this stage. The wise use and configuration of these tactics build a perception on behalf of the end consumer. 

When you launch a product the customer is generally not aware of the products you are launching. These days’ mobile phone brands are the best examples of demand generation. Have you ever wondered how these flash sales work? Let me guide you:

In the first stage, they hire influencers and influential ads that showcase all their new features and the unique selling propositions. Then equally they create a buzz that we are on a sale. We have limited pieces and you need to reach us. This message reaches and creates brand awareness amongst all buyers. This whole agenda of action in the sales funnel is called demand generation.

Lead generation happens on the day of the sale. They pop-up their landing page links at your best places like the You-tube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. The landing page is well set to address your order but at a particular time that the sale starts. Till that time they engage you in either registering or displaying their other products. The word ‘sale’ itself makes people so paranoid that they are toggling windows and refreshing window till the work starts.

Companies are quite clever at registering your credentials as they need more people in their directory to reach out to. Then they use CRM tools for lead generation tactics to be applied on these people for their all next products so that you can be constantly influencing their needs. So, when we say Lead generation vs Demand Generation making a sale defines the first one and creating awareness of the latter.

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