{"id":16133,"date":"2020-09-23T09:51:29","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T14:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.c12marketing.wpengine.com\/?p=16133"},"modified":"2024-05-15T17:09:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T17:09:51","slug":"contentisking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/leadership\/contentisking\/","title":{"rendered":"Fundamentals of a Demand Generation Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"wysiwyg-content-wrap \">\n  <div class=\"outer-container\">\n    <div class=\"wysiwyg-content-area\">\n              <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think of the last time you watched a YouTube video or read an online article providing a solution to a problem or a step-by-step process to help you master a skill. Did the helpful information compel you to explore what else this company could offer? Did you click on other videos or articles they produced? Did you visit their website to learn more about their products or services? If so, you may have participated in a multichannel <\/span><b>demand generation<\/b> <b>strategy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a deliberate approach to create value and generate sales opportunities<\/span><b>.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Demand generation is different from traditional marketing and PR in that it leverages <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">attraction <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rather than <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">promotion<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Customers hunger to know more when they search for and engage with content that helps them understand how a company might solve their problem. Many times they will covertly explore a company\u2019s products or services via multiple sources, weighing their perception of our expertise and quality before we ever have the opportunity to directly engage with them in person or over the phone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The BaaM (Business as a Ministry) operating philosophy compels us to run profitable, expanding companies. Likewise, responding to our customers\u2019 needs compels us to be mindful of \u201cno problem, no sale.\u201d <\/span><b>How we demonstrate our ability to solve our customers\u2019 problems is what secures an ongoing relationship. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This begins with identifying the challenges facing our current customers and providing satisfying solutions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n\u201cWhy do customers end up choosing you instead of a competitor? We like to tell ourselves it\u2019s because our product or service is simply the best out there and everyone can see what a special little snowflake it is. But that\u2019s not how it works. It\u2019s because your customer had a problem, and they believed your product or service would solve it.\u201d<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014 Donald Miller,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201c7 Reasons Your Website Isn\u2019t Working\u201d<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><strong><br \/>\nContent Marketing is Not Just for Lead Generation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s easy to dismiss a demand generation strategy if the majority of a company\u2019s leads are not generated via digital channels. However, demand generation strategies streamline current sales processes by introducing sequenced content that educates and nurtures customers through stages of the buyer journey (lead nurturing). This approach shortens the sales cycle by cultivating an informed, confident buyer, ready for a sales team to close the sale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2019, a Demand Gen survey revealed the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">66% of respondents saw a measurable difference in the results of their nurtured leads versus non-nurtured leads<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">42% experienced nurtured leads moving faster through the sales pipeline\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marketo, a leading CRM and marketing automation platform provider, suggests <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> However, even when a sale is closed, content marketing continues to perform. Demand generation equips our current customers to advocate for our brand, continuing the two-way street of value creation. Additionally, our marketing team can work closely with sales and account managers to define buyer journey stages and discover opportunities to deliver valuable content to satisfied customers. This will improve retention and increase account-based sales revenue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><br \/>\nCreating a Demand Generation Cycle\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Demand generation reaches far beyond the first stage in a buyer\u2019s journey. When implemented across marketing, sales, customer service, and account management, it becomes a self-sufficient engine to generate revenue from both current and potential customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><br \/>\nThree Demand Generation Fundamentals\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">C12 Member Tim Kachuriak is the Chief Innovation Officer for NextAfter. The firm helps large non-profit organizations leverage content they are already producing to acquire new donors, deepen relationships with existing donors, and maximize donor lifetime value. He shares three prerequisites for a successful demand generation strategy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>1. Discover Focus<\/b><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We must have absolute clarity about who our Ideal Customer is and what makes them a good fit for our products or services. Make a list of your top 5 to 10 customers and ask, \u201cWhat is their profile?,\u201d \u201cWhy did they buy from us in the first place?,\u201d and \u201cWhy do they continue to buy from us?\u201d The goal is to get a better understanding of the attributes and similarities of our best customers so that we can focus our demand generation program to attract more prospects who buy like them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>2. Get Specific<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With an ideal customer profile, we can retrace the acquisition stages from initial lead capture through closed sale. Ask your team, \u201cWhat are the questions we had to answer at each stage of the customer journey?\u201d \u201cWhere did the leads come from?\u201d \u201cWhat questions did we have to answer during the initial conversation?\u201d \u201cWhat are the typical objections that we must overcome?\u201d We can identify the <\/span><b>specific<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> questions we must answer for ideal prospects and then create content that helps shape the correct conclusions at each stage in the buying or decision-making journey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>3. Be Willing to Exchange <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Content that attracts our ideal prospects may not attract another group of people. It might even repel them\u2014and that\u2019s okay! Ultimately, acceptance of these trade-offs will ensure the sales team does not waste energy trying to force a prospect to conform to our ideal profile\u2014or worse, generate a potentially problematic or disengaged customer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><br \/>\nProducing Compelling Content\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An effective demand generation content strategy does not require a full-time copywriter, graphic designer, or a video production team to produce compelling content. We can start by demonstrating our expertise to potential customers who want to learn more about the subjects in which we are experts. This does require an open hand to sharing some of the \u201csecret sauce\u201d that makes us competitive. But providing supreme upfront value establishes our brand as trustworthy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Modern consumers are increasingly educated, more skeptical of brands\u2019 marketing claims, and perceptive to bait-and-switch offers. As integrous God-honoring businesses, we can stand out by reducing uncertainty and providing helpful information during the early stages of the buyer journey. As a customer acquisition strategy, demand generation aims at the same goal as traditional lead generation: to convert sales. But in demand generation, the top of the funnel may be wider and less visible, but no less effective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FYI: Google\u2019s latest search algorithms are designed to transcend text and give higher priority to images, podcasts, and videos. And video content has increased sales for 80% of marketers across multiple industries.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><b><br \/>\nExamples of Modern Content<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blogs<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-books<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whitepapers<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Assessments<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surveys<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Research Reports<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Infographics<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Podcasts<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interviews<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Flipbooks<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gifs and Memes<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Slide Presentations\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Testimonial Videos<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DIY Videos<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instructional Videos<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pinterest Pages<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Photo Galleries<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Screenshots<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><b>Content That Matters \u2013 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Matt Harrison, CEO of WellAware and C12 Member, was confident in his product but frustrated by moderate sales. Watch the video below to see how they transitioned from a dated sales approach to a content marketing strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Clickbait Catches the Wrong Fish<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Christians, everything we do in business should be honest. Our content offers or product deliveries should reflect our brand promises. Slick verbiage can generate clicks and downloads, but we shouldn\u2019t utilize empty promises or content teasers to trick visitors into divulging their contact information. A few planks of helpful information scaffolded by an overbearing sales pitch will sour our brand image. If we promise value but deliver content with little to no application, we burn the bridge of trust we\u2019re trying to build. A charred bridge can rarely be rebuilt, especially in the absence of an already established customer relationship. When it comes to demand generation, the old sales adage of \u201cunderpromise and overdeliver\u201d applies. <\/span><b>When our brand surprises and delights prospects by delivering unexpected value through a piece of content, it emboldens prospects to continue the conversation.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><br \/>\nA Demand Generation Strategy Is Not Wired to a Switch<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The value of a demand generation strategy involves building long-term prospect and customer relationships. Implementation does not always produce immediate, measurable results any more than building a solid bridge will be completed in a day. It takes time to design a strategy and content plan, produce content, measure KPIs, and make tweaks. But providing valuable content that positions our brand as a trusted resource makes the buying process easier for both buyers and sellers. As Allan Dib states in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1-Page Marketing Plan<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, this play shows we are willing to give long before we take, which breaks down sales resistance. Dib believes delivering valuable content throughout all stages of the marketing and sales funnel can transition our brand perception from a pest to a welcome guest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>To learn more about how to elevate your company&#8217;s brand position in your industry, download\u00a0our e-book.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"\/resources\/establishing-market-position\/\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-16773 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ebook-ipad.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"454\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ebook-ipad.png 1667w, https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ebook-ipad-289x300.png 289w, https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ebook-ipad-985x1024.png 985w, https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ebook-ipad-768x798.png 768w, https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ebook-ipad-1478x1536.png 1478w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 454px) 100vw, 454px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Reflection &amp; Application:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What expertise could your company share with potential customers that is low-cost and easy-to-produce?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Determine the least effective stages in your marketing and sales process, and discuss how developing informative or value-driven content might perform some of the \u201cheavy lifting\u201d of customer conversion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n          <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,27,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership","category-management","category-spiritual-growth"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Christian Business Tips for a Demand Generation Strategy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn the fundamentals of demand generation and how to serve your customers with compelling content. 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Greater Purpose.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/#organization","name":"C12 Forums","url":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/C12-forums-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/C12-forums-logo.svg","width":500,"height":225,"caption":"C12 Forums"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1d050043d1eb655a1511daa944ae5cf3","name":"C12 Editorial Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo.png","url":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo.png","caption":"C12 Editorial Team"},"description":"C12 is the largest peer-learning organization for Christian CEOs, business owners, and executives and a leader in the marketplace ministry movement. Located in over 160 major metro areas across the United States, Brazil, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Africa, Ukraine, and Kenya, C12 serves businesses with 10 to 10,000+ employees and annual revenues ranging from $2 million to $5 billion. C12 Business Forums provides an architected environment for Christian business leaders that integrates work, life, and leadership transformation. Led by full-time C12 Chairs\u2014veterans of business with ownership or C-Suite experience\u2014our CEO and Key Player Forums equip members with resources and tools to steward a BaaM (Business as a Ministry) vision to build great businesses for a greater purpose. For more information, please visit C12 Business Forums.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.joinc12.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/author\/marketing\/"}]}},"fig_blocks":[{"blockName":"acf\/wysiwyg","attrs":{"id":"block_60f869210e292","name":"acf\/wysiwyg","data":{"content_area":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think of the last time you watched a YouTube video or read an online article providing a solution to a problem or a step-by-step process to help you master a skill. Did the helpful information compel you to explore what else this company could offer? Did you click on other videos or articles they produced? Did you visit their website to learn more about their products or services? If so, you may have participated in a multichannel <\/span><b>demand generation<\/b> <b>strategy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a deliberate approach to create value and generate sales opportunities<\/span><b>.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Demand generation is different from traditional marketing and PR in that it leverages <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">attraction <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rather than <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">promotion<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Customers hunger to know more when they search for and engage with content that helps them understand how a company might solve their problem. Many times they will covertly explore a company\u2019s products or services via multiple sources, weighing their perception of our expertise and quality before we ever have the opportunity to directly engage with them in person or over the phone.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The BaaM (Business as a Ministry) operating philosophy compels us to run profitable, expanding companies. Likewise, responding to our customers\u2019 needs compels us to be mindful of \u201cno problem, no sale.\u201d <\/span><b>How we demonstrate our ability to solve our customers\u2019 problems is what secures an ongoing relationship. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This begins with identifying the challenges facing our current customers and providing satisfying solutions.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<h4><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n\u201cWhy do customers end up choosing you instead of a competitor? We like to tell ourselves it\u2019s because our product or service is simply the best out there and everyone can see what a special little snowflake it is. But that\u2019s not how it works. It\u2019s because your customer had a problem, and they believed your product or service would solve it.\u201d<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014 Donald Miller,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201c7 Reasons Your Website Isn\u2019t Working\u201d<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<strong>\r\nContent Marketing is Not Just for Lead Generation<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s easy to dismiss a demand generation strategy if the majority of a company\u2019s leads are not generated via digital channels. However, demand generation strategies streamline current sales processes by introducing sequenced content that educates and nurtures customers through stages of the buyer journey (lead nurturing). This approach shortens the sales cycle by cultivating an informed, confident buyer, ready for a sales team to close the sale.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2019, a Demand Gen survey revealed the following:<\/span>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">66% of respondents saw a measurable difference in the results of their nurtured leads versus non-nurtured leads<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">42% experienced nurtured leads moving faster through the sales pipeline\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marketo, a leading CRM and marketing automation platform provider, suggests <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> However, even when a sale is closed, content marketing continues to perform. Demand generation equips our current customers to advocate for our brand, continuing the two-way street of value creation. Additionally, our marketing team can work closely with sales and account managers to define buyer journey stages and discover opportunities to deliver valuable content to satisfied customers. This will improve retention and increase account-based sales revenue.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>\r\nCreating a Demand Generation Cycle\u00a0<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Demand generation reaches far beyond the first stage in a buyer\u2019s journey. When implemented across marketing, sales, customer service, and account management, it becomes a self-sufficient engine to generate revenue from both current and potential customers.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>\r\nThree Demand Generation Fundamentals\u00a0<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">C12 Member Tim Kachuriak is the Chief Innovation Officer for NextAfter. The firm helps large non-profit organizations leverage content they are already producing to acquire new donors, deepen relationships with existing donors, and maximize donor lifetime value. He shares three prerequisites for a successful demand generation strategy.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<h5><b>1. Discover Focus<\/b><\/h5>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We must have absolute clarity about who our Ideal Customer is and what makes them a good fit for our products or services. Make a list of your top 5 to 10 customers and ask, \u201cWhat is their profile?,\u201d \u201cWhy did they buy from us in the first place?,\u201d and \u201cWhy do they continue to buy from us?\u201d The goal is to get a better understanding of the attributes and similarities of our best customers so that we can focus our demand generation program to attract more prospects who buy like them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<h5><b>2. Get Specific<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With an ideal customer profile, we can retrace the acquisition stages from initial lead capture through closed sale. Ask your team, \u201cWhat are the questions we had to answer at each stage of the customer journey?\u201d \u201cWhere did the leads come from?\u201d \u201cWhat questions did we have to answer during the initial conversation?\u201d \u201cWhat are the typical objections that we must overcome?\u201d We can identify the <\/span><b>specific<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> questions we must answer for ideal prospects and then create content that helps shape the correct conclusions at each stage in the buying or decision-making journey.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<h5><b>3. Be Willing to Exchange <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Content that attracts our ideal prospects may not attract another group of people. It might even repel them\u2014and that\u2019s okay! Ultimately, acceptance of these trade-offs will ensure the sales team does not waste energy trying to force a prospect to conform to our ideal profile\u2014or worse, generate a potentially problematic or disengaged customer.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>\r\nProducing Compelling Content\u00a0<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An effective demand generation content strategy does not require a full-time copywriter, graphic designer, or a video production team to produce compelling content. We can start by demonstrating our expertise to potential customers who want to learn more about the subjects in which we are experts. This does require an open hand to sharing some of the \u201csecret sauce\u201d that makes us competitive. But providing supreme upfront value establishes our brand as trustworthy.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Modern consumers are increasingly educated, more skeptical of brands\u2019 marketing claims, and perceptive to bait-and-switch offers. As integrous God-honoring businesses, we can stand out by reducing uncertainty and providing helpful information during the early stages of the buyer journey. As a customer acquisition strategy, demand generation aims at the same goal as traditional lead generation: to convert sales. But in demand generation, the top of the funnel may be wider and less visible, but no less effective.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FYI: Google\u2019s latest search algorithms are designed to transcend text and give higher priority to images, podcasts, and videos. And video content has increased sales for 80% of marketers across multiple industries.<\/span>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>\r\nExamples of Modern Content<\/b><b>\r\n<\/b><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blogs<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-books<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whitepapers<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Assessments<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surveys<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Research Reports<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Infographics<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Podcasts<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interviews<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Flipbooks<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gifs and Memes<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Slide Presentations\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Testimonial Videos<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DIY Videos<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instructional Videos<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pinterest Pages<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Photo Galleries<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Screenshots\r\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<b>Content That Matters \u2013 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Matt Harrison, CEO of WellAware and C12 Member, was confident in his product but frustrated by moderate sales. Watch the video below to see how they transitioned from a dated sales approach to a content marketing strategy.<\/span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<b>Clickbait Catches the Wrong Fish<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Christians, everything we do in business should be honest. Our content offers or product deliveries should reflect our brand promises. Slick verbiage can generate clicks and downloads, but we shouldn\u2019t utilize empty promises or content teasers to trick visitors into divulging their contact information. A few planks of helpful information scaffolded by an overbearing sales pitch will sour our brand image. If we promise value but deliver content with little to no application, we burn the bridge of trust we\u2019re trying to build. A charred bridge can rarely be rebuilt, especially in the absence of an already established customer relationship. When it comes to demand generation, the old sales adage of \u201cunderpromise and overdeliver\u201d applies. <\/span><b>When our brand surprises and delights prospects by delivering unexpected value through a piece of content, it emboldens prospects to continue the conversation.\u00a0<\/b>\r\n\r\n<b>\r\nA Demand Generation Strategy Is Not Wired to a Switch<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The value of a demand generation strategy involves building long-term prospect and customer relationships. Implementation does not always produce immediate, measurable results any more than building a solid bridge will be completed in a day. It takes time to design a strategy and content plan, produce content, measure KPIs, and make tweaks. But providing valuable content that positions our brand as a trusted resource makes the buying process easier for both buyers and sellers. As Allan Dib states in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1-Page Marketing Plan<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, this play shows we are willing to give long before we take, which breaks down sales resistance. Dib believes delivering valuable content throughout all stages of the marketing and sales funnel can transition our brand perception from a pest to a welcome guest.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<strong>To learn more about how to elevate your company's brand position in your industry, download\u00a0our e-book.<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"\/resources\/establishing-market-position\/\"><img class=\"alignnone  wp-image-16773 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ebook-ipad.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"454\" height=\"472\" \/><\/a><\/strong>\r\n\r\n<b>Reflection &amp; Application:<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What expertise could your company share with potential customers that is low-cost and easy-to-produce?<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Determine the least effective stages in your marketing and sales process, and discuss how developing informative or value-driven content might perform some of the \u201cheavy lifting\u201d of customer conversion.<\/span>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/p>","_content_area":"field_5c1bedcaef2fa","remove_margin":"0","_remove_margin":"field_619401edba742","custom_css_class":"","_custom_css_class":"field_619401edba743"},"align":"","mode":"edit"},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"","innerContent":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joinc12.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}