Just because demand generation and lead generation share many of the same end results and objectives, doesn’t mean that they are one and the same. Some B2B marketing consultants have a bad habit of using both the terms interchangeably and they really shouldn’t. Lead generation may fall under the general demand generation hierarchy but it is a specific part of the process that involves its own special skills and strategies. This is why mixing up demand generation and lead generation can eventually mean that you are missing out on leads and also paying far more for leads than you need to. Thus, making a clear difference between the two in your USA B2B marketing strategy will help you to drive more leads that are likely to be accepted by sales and convert to revenues.
Demand Generation Vs Lead Generation
Demand generation is the process of getting individuals interested in what you have to sell and lead generation is the task of turning that interest into names and contact details, called as leads, that you or your sales teams can follow up with. Demand generation takes prospects all the way from establishing their awareness, such as having problems that you can solve with the help of increasing trust and confidence in your brand and to definite interest in what your solutions can do for them.
This might also include raising awareness of your product features and why they would matter, sharing thought leadership content that demonstrates your industry's expertise, distributing free resources and tools that visualize how useful you and your services can be and sharing influencer posts from your leadership that showcase your brand values.
Lead generation translates this rate of interest into something tangible and actionable. The most obvious difference between a demand generation campaign and a lead generation campaign is whether the campaign asks for contact information or not. For example, if you gate your content behind a form asking for contact information and then pay to distribute it to a target audience, then you are actually running a USA lead generation campaign. Your main goal for that piece of activity is not to get as many individuals as possible to engage with your content but it is to capture as many relevant leads as possible by giving users a reason to share their contact details and making it easy for them to do so.
On the other hand, if you make content free to access and then pay to distribute it to as many relevant individuals as you can, then you are in the business of demand generation. In this, you will pay to have as many people as possible engage with what you have to say, learn more about your business and your point of view, appreciate your expertise and start to think about why individuals might want to buy from you.
The Obvious Difference
Demand generation and lead generation tend to get confused as a part of the reason and it is that they use many of the same tools and strategies. Both of them benefit from compelling, relevant content and they depend on smart and precise targeting to be effective. However, demand generation and lead generation make use of targeting and content for different purposes.
Conclusion:
It is now simple to understand that demand generation doesn’t prioritize capturing individuals' contact details whereas lead generation does. Is that the most obvious difference between both of them? Well, it certainly is and we, Binary Clues would like to summarize it with whatever you choice may be, hence will be dependent upon your goals.