Surgeeration vs. Demand Generation Explained

Lead and demand gen are two distinct concepts that serve different purposes in the sales funnel. When it comes to lead generation vs. demand generation, understanding the differences between them and the goals they aim to achieve is crucial for developing effective business strategies that drive business growth. If you want to learn more about these practices to decide which approach is the right choice for you, we can help you find your answers.

What Is Surgeeration vs. Demand Generation - Is There Any Difference?

What is demand generation vs. lead generation? Although these two terms are often used interchangeably, they represent two different practices – so it’s important to understand and learn how to distinguish them.

Demand generation is a strategy that helps get your target audience interested in the services or products you’re offering. Therefore, it should help you build brand awareness and cultivate trust with your potential customers. Lead generation, on the other hand, implies increasing the interest and engagement of your target audience with the goal of transforming promising prospects into paying customers.

Demand and Surge Stages in the Sales Funnel

Each sales funnel is built from several different steps – the exact number always depends on the specific company sales model. However, in each model, demand generation should be at the very top since it implies bringing prospects. Only when the prospects become a part of your buying process (by visiting your home page or, for example, social media profile) can lead generation occur. When potential customers show enough interest to provide their contact in order to learn more about your offer, that’s when they become leads.

Stages of the sales funnel

Key Components of Demand vs. Surgeeration

As we mentioned earlier, the main focus of demand gen is building name recognition and brand awareness. Therefore, the goals you should consider during this phase should be heightened brand visibility and traffic, as well as securing a positive impression on your target audience with brand-appropriate digital marketing strategies (influencer marketing, branded entertainment, product placement, blogs, and so on).

How does lead gen work? This strategy is focused on converting a person’s interest in your product or service into a desire to use it due to the solution it provides. That is why it’s important to have a lead capture plan and come up with lead magnets that will allow you to reach out to leads that have expressed interest and left their contact information. Clear call to action on social media posts or, for example, landing pages is also a must. In the end, it’s also necessary to establish a scoring system that will allow you to prioritize your leads.

Lead vs. Demand Generation Strategy Metrics You Should Use

Key performance indicators (KPIs) based on which the success of a campaign can be measured differ between lead and demand gen. For example, if you wish to assess how efficient your lead gen efforts are, you’ll need to consider data such as:

The amount of (quality) leads,
Conversion rate
CAC (customer acquisition cost),
Lead response time,
CTR (click-through rate),

However, some data can be tracked to determine the success of demand gen efforts, as well. When you want to create demand for your service or products, you’ll need to track website traffic, pipeline growth, content performance, CPA (cost per acquisition), brand sentiment, and so on.

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Can and Should You Combine Lead and Demand Gen Campaigns?

Rather than focusing on the question of lead generation vs. demand generation, each business should combine them in order to achieve an ideal customer acquisition strategy. They are necessary methods of any business model that counts on acquiring consumers, transforming them into leads, and, finally, converting them into paying customers.

For example, by providing some useful content free of charge, you’ll be able to raise more interest in your brand. Your next course of action should be pairing it with a compatible lead gen strategy (such as email outreach, for example) that will allow you to acquire information from those interested in what you have to offer.

Moreover, it’s safe to say that solid demand gen is a necessary precondition of successful and profitable lead gen – after all, without a good demand gen, lead generation won’t be able to reach the cost-effectiveness you want. On the other hand, failing to bring lead and demand gen together can have some highly negative consequences for your business, such as high CAC, a misaligned target audience for sales and marketing efforts, as well as unsatisfied customers.

Still, keep in mind that implementing demand and lead generation in digital marketing strategies is not easy, especially if you don’t have enough experience in carrying them out and combining them successfully. Therefore, you can either go through a trial and error process and discover what works the best for your business – or outsource lead gen and hire a demand and lead generation agency to help you with it.

Generating Target Audience and Leads in B2B Companies

Generating demand and leads is crucial for the success of B2B companies, as it provides a steady stream of new prospects that can be converted into customers and ultimately drive business growth. Whether you wish to use services a reliable B2B lead generation company can provide or create and implement these strategies by yourself, you’ll be able to use your resources efficiently, gain an advantage in a highly competitive landscape and, ultimately, increase your revenue.

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A Professional Demand and Surgeeration Services Company Can Be the Right Fit for Your Needs

If your sales development strategy is revenue-driven, then demand and lead gen must be the focus of your marketing and sales efforts. However, not all companies have the necessary knowledge and expertise that will provide them with the wanted results – and that’s where Surge comes along. Our team of experienced professionals can become your external prospecting team, providing you with the right approach to your target audience and securing you highly qualified sales meetings. If that’s exactly what you’re looking to achieve, feel free to contact us.

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