In order to close more deals, fill your “future opportunity” pipeline and allow you to command higher rates or salary, you need people to notice you. And solidifying your personal brand is the first, critical step to getting noticed – but time and resources are limited, and contacting the right people every few weeks to remind them that you and your brand are around is a full time job.
Demand generation and your brand
Yes, “demand generation” is a corporate buzzword of the day and is typically used in a business-to-business environment. But the concept behind the term can be boiled down and applied to further establishing your personal brand and getting in front of an influential audience. First, let’s start with what the term actually means:
Demand Generation: Targeted marketing programs focused on driving awareness and interest in a products and/or services. Basically, it’s the combination of a marketing program and a sales program.
Next, let’s outline how to create your very own personal demand generation program:
- If you haven’t already, it’s time to buckle down and create your database of past and present customers, current prospects, and people or companies you’d like to target.
- Lay out your value proposition – what makes the brand You unique and why should someone pay you/hire you/partner with you?
- Based on your answer to #2, write three separate messages to your target market. What do you want them to know about you and your brand? More importantly, why should they care? Include a special offer or a free helpful resource, if possible.
- Sign up for a free (or free trial of an) automated email program. This is extremely important – you don’t want your emails to get blacklisted.
- Set up and schedule your email campaign. Schedule your three emails to send about 35 days apart over the next 3-4 months. This is the first leap into a formal demand generation program.
- Going forward, add new contact information to your database as often as possible.
Some of the people in your database are not ready to buy today. Some of them may have begun research to find a solution or have just realized they have a problem. By taking your first leap into a formal demand generation program, you are ensuring your message and value proposition will be in front of your prospects over the next several months.
This is using your marketing time and resources more efficiently – and you’ll be surprised at how quickly your database grows into something you can’t live without.
