When marketing any product or service, it all comes down to one thing: solving a problem. When your product or service solves this problem, you’re already halfway to a sale. The challenge is that this applies to both you and your competitors. You’re all trying to get your audience’s attention and prove you’re “the one” for them.
That’s where a demand generation strategy can help. It’s a proactive marketing strategy that educates and engages your primary audience at all stages of the buying process. You’ll convince them your solution solves their problems and will help them achieve their business objectives.
Let’s take a closer look at how demand generation can help you engage the right people at the right time and grow your B2B writing business.
What Is Demand Generation?
Demand generation is a marketing strategy that uses educational content and brand storytelling to attract leads and customers. At its core, it discusses a problem your primary audience faces and positions your products and services as the solution.
Marketers use demand generation throughout the buying process because it can be used to build engagement and trust while nurturing long-term relationships with people. It’s a proactive approach that shows potential customers you understand them and their challenges and have the solution they need.
A demand generation strategy builds awareness or need for a product or service through education and content. The strategy aims to identify and attract qualified leads so you can build trust through educational content and then turn them into paying customers.
Note: Demand generation is all about reaching people who don’t yet know about you and the benefits your products or services offer them. Inbound marketing and lead generation are for people and audiences actively seeking solutions to a problem. Demand generation speaks to people who may not realize their challenges and certainly don’t know how to solve them or the benefits you could offer them.
Here are a few creative tactics B2B writers can use as part of a demand generation strategy.
Creative Demand Generation Tactics for B2B Writers
Use these five ideas to create your own demand generation strategy.
- Value-led content: Create content about the outcomes clients can achieve when working with you. For example, publish case studies of how you helped clients and stories that explain your process for working with clients. Use short hits of content like social media messages to point to long-form content that expands on the ideas in the short content.
- Showcase guests: Guests aren’t just for podcasts or posts on your website. Highlight subject matter experts (SMEs) to expose your audience to different perspectives about your industry. Interview other freelancers with different expertise without fear of them stealing your clients. Remember, it’s all about educating your audience with information they find valuable.
- Develop partnerships: Freelancing can be lonely. By partnering with another creative freelancer, you’ll get new content ideas, fresh perspectives on capturing attention, and the joy of collaborating with someone else. For example, partner with a video expert to develop a video series based on a spicy take you have about your industry. This’ll help you create new-to-you content while having a little fun.
- Get personal: Behind-the-scenes looks at how you work are classics for a reason. People often have no idea how creative freelancers do their thing, so developing personal branding content can be the way to go. Use social teasers to get people interested in the series, repurpose the content for all your distribution channels, and use a landing page to capture everyone who wants to consume it.
- Repurpose all your content: A good demand generation strategy relies on a steady stream of content. Repurposing is the way you keep your pipeline full without constantly creating new content. Transform large content pieces like videos or webinars into a blog post series, social media posts, and an infographic. Turn a blog post series into a downloadable PDF, short-bite videos, a resource hub, and social posts.
Use these tactics to create your own demand generation strategy and build your B2B freelance writing business. These tactics work for every part of the buying journey or process, so you can speak to people whether they’re ready to buy or just starting out.
