A demand generation strategy requires lots of careful planning, but the payoff can be significant for your company. To get the most out of your efforts, use a four-pronged approach to planning and implementing your next demand generation campaign. This four-pronged process is among the top demand generation best practices.

Start With Setting Goals

What do you hope to get out of your demand generation campaign? One obvious goal is sales, but you’ll need to go beyond vague objectives and really define what you want from your demand generation efforts. Your goals will help you determine how much money you’ll need to spend on marketing and the tools you’ll need to help you reach your goals.

It’s helpful to use the SMART technique when setting goals. SMART refers to specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Every objective you set should fit into the SMART rubric.

For instance, assume you want to attract 100 new email signups from your demand generation efforts. That’s a specific number, achievable if you use the right tactics. It’s also easy to measure; you’ll simply analyze the size difference between your current mailing list and your future one. You can set a time constraint of one month, giving you adequate time to fulfill your objectives.

You can start with a singular goal and work up to multiple goals as you enrich your demand generation tactics. That way, you have time to learn more about your customers and how they react to your content and advertisements before jumping in with both feet.

Design Your Content Strategy

A significant part of any demand generation strategy is content. There’s no way around it — you will need to develop content to generate interest in your brand.

The type of content you create will depend on several factors, including your objectives, buyer personas, and budget. You defined your goals in the initial stage of the demand generation campaign. Your next step is understanding who your customers are and what will entice them to act with your brand.

For instance, suppose that you’re aiming for email sign-ups, as discussed in the goal-setting stage. You’ll want to define what your audience wants from your emails and why they would sign up for them. If you offer exclusive content through email that they can’t find anywhere else, that’s a clear reason why they should sign up.

Similarly, offering occasional discounts unavailable through your website or other channels would be an excellent way to attract subscribers.

Your related content will describe the value customers will obtain from your email. You might share posts on social media discussing the benefits of your promotional lists. Including a simple link will provide viewers with an easy way to sign up if they choose to do so.

Implement Your Strategy

The third stage of the demand generation process is implementation. You’ve outlined your goals and content; now it’s time to make it visible.

You’ll want to carefully consider the platforms you choose for sharing your content. Social media, email, your website, SMS texts, paid ads, and direct mail are all options. Essentially, you want to choose the platform most likely to yield the results you’re looking for.

In some cases, you may want to use multiple platforms. An approach that involves different platforms can help you reach people where they are. You won’t be relying on a single option to meet your goals. However, increasing the number of channels you use may increase your costs and stretch your team’s resources.

It’s critical to monitor the analytics from your strategies after implementation. Determine which metrics are most valuable to your campaign, and ensure you have the tools to evaluate them.

You can use the analytics available through social media or website platforms. Some companies prefer to purchase comprehensive software that integrates all their data from third-party platforms into one place.

Optimize Your Demand Generation Campaigns

Demand generation strategies require continuous refinement. It’s best to adjust your tactics to see if rewording content, using different videos, or changing up your CTAs will provide additional benefits to your campaign.

If you’re impressed with your results so far, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, try slight tweaks. For instance, you might make changes to the audience that sees your paid ads or create a new landing page for a specific customer segment.

The Impact of Your Demand Generation Strategy Depends on Adequate Planning

While demand generation can yield impressive results, you won’t reap the benefits unless you follow a plan. Start by determining your SMART objectives, then work on your content strategy. Next, set up metrics that can help you evaluate the outcome. Remember that you can always make adjustments if there is room for improvement.