Capturing vs Creating Demand

Don't Wait To Jump Into The Conversation

Your ability to capture the attention of buyers is by meeting them exactly where they are. There are two ways of looking at demand generation, capturing versus creating. The difference, how aware your buyers are of the problem you are solving.

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Meet People Where They're At

Just because you eat and breathe your brand and the capabilities you have to offer doesn't mean that everyone understands. Being able to meet people where they are can make the biggest difference between the success and failure of your platform.

So what does it mean to meet people where they're at?

Thinking Backwards

When you decided to purchase something in the past, how did you go about the process? For instance, choosing where to go out to eat? Is the first instance a particular restaurant, or do you ask what type of food you're craving?

When thinking about how to position your brand, taking the dinner example to heart, are you celebrating a special occasion, or are you trying to find something for an everyday Tuesday night? That should be a no-brainer, taco Tuesdays for everyone!

Taking it back a step further, the first step might be asking, how hungry am I?

What I am trying to get at, at the very beginning, it's problem-focused. You have no idea what you want, and you only have a fixated broad problem in your head.

To make things even harder, when you're selling a service to people who don't even know they need it, such as cyber security or other new technology. Until the problem happens to you, you're probably not aware that you even need a solution.

Explain Things In Its Simplest Form

When you first engage with someone, you really need to go back to the days of the 30-second elevator pitch and think of the way you want to share something in its simplest form what you do, who you do it for, and what they'll get if they buy.

When thinking of these different demand situations, it's the same process that should be replicated when thinking through the content marketing you want to create for your website, blog, social media, and advertisements.

In its simplest form, think of it this way.

• Demand Capture: solution oriented content for people who are problem aware
• Demand Generation: problem oriented content for people who are not problem aware

As for a few examples:

• Capture: Best software platforms to stop spam emails
  Generation: How to keep your business safe for cyber attacks
• Capture: Best email marketing platforms to send emails
  Generation: Cheapest ways to communicate with potential buyers
• Capture: Why you should be taking ashwagandha to reduce stress
  Generation: 10 ways to reduce stress in your life

What problems are you really solving for that come to your buyer's mind in the most general to specific as they navigate through your buyer's journey.

Don't Wait For Them To Become Aware

What's most important, is that you may be telling yourself because I have a limited budget, I'm going to focus on only people who are aware of the problem I am solving and have shown the intent to buy to keep my costs low.

What you need to realize, is the first person to show people they have a problem is 9 out of 10 times going to be the person they go with to solve the problem.

The more ways you can share value around why or how they can solve this problem, the more likely you are to be the brand that creates a reputation, authority, and trust necessary for someone to do business with.

Don't wait for your competition to educate your prospects and then hope you can steal them by offering a similar service, just cheaper, that is just a race to the bottom and will end with you eroding your margins until you are no longer able to generate the revenue necessary to stay innovative with your platform.

The natural progression of a lead should be education, consideration, evaluation, and close.

Don't wait until they have been educated to jump into the conversation.

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