The CMO Network Group USA convened 40+ Chief Marketing Officers including ours, Perri Richman. She participated on panel debating the merits of demand generation versus brand building, serving as the voice of industrial service marketers. We conducted a Q&A session with Perri to understand her POV.
Let’s get the buzz words out of the way. What is demand generation and what is brand building?
Simply stated, demand generation is designed to stimulate demand for a product or service right now. Whereas brand building is designed to help consumers favorable associate a company, product, or service with the brand. Here’s some examples:
Demand generation clearly outlines a need or problem and positions the company’s product or service as the best solution. We have all received emails urging us not to miss out on an opportunity or an advertisement at the top of a Google search urging us to click on a new solution.
Apple is great with brand building. Earlier this week, Tim Cook played an integral role in launching the iPhone 16 at a high profile event called “Glowtime” with video snippets that went viral and were picked up by every major news outlet and amplified across social media channels.
Recently, demand tactics have been criticized for creating urgency around products that consumers don’t need or don’t work. How can demand generation be used for “good” by industrial service marketers?
There are three hard and fast rules for industrial service demand generation:
- Avoid high pressure tactics – failure and doom are not upon us if we don’t act now.
- Don’t oversell – mentioning your product 100 times just annoys the target. The sheer fact that you are executing the campaign positions you as the solution.
- Seek to educate, not scare – rationally outline the need and provide real and actionable guidance on how to take the first steps forward. Discuss the concept of the solution without overselling the actual product.
Because the sales cycle with new industrial service customers can be long, I like brand building approaches as a way to supplement the sales process. Keeping us top of mind with prospects when they go to search for a solution – whether that’s good SEO, excellent content, or traditional speaking or media relations.
Soft demand generation strategies work well for existing customers because we have data about who they are, what they need, why they buy, and their level of satisfaction with us. Targeting strategies can help drive “linkage” between what customers are doing today and how we can add greater value in the future.
Are demand generation and brand building mutually exclusive? What’s are some examples of how they can work together?
No. When marketers plan and execute integrated campaigns, we spark demand and build brand. For a new service launch, we target specific prospects through email, SEO, content, presentations, traditional mailers, and in partnership with sales. When done well, we create demand and build reputation for being innovative problem-solvers.
If we are building our brand at a vertical market trade show stand, our messages are empathetic to attendees, and we capture and qualify leads. When prospects have immediate needs and we connect well, we have successfully used our brand to create demand.
