How to Measure the Results of Your Demand Generation Strategy

Of all the marketing strategies, demand generation is one of the hardest to measure, next to branding. Its elusive nature certainly poses a unique challenge.

However, demand gen is also one of the most important strategies to track. Measuring demand gen reveals your most (and least) profitable channels. Your demand metrics give you an idea of where to devote more resources and which need less attention.

Below you’ll find a few metrics and tactics to measure demand generation along with some underutilized tips for a boost.

Metrics and Tips to Measure Your Demand Generation Strategy

Measuring demand generation involves tracking a few key factors: resources and money spent, revenue coming in, and engagement/channels.

Determine Your Marketing Funnel Length

Every business is unique so try to avoid comparing your funnel to competitors. Instead, compare your own funnel length over time.

The outliers matter here. When a lead converts quickly, what did you do differently? When a lead goes cold, what path did they take? Look for similarities in leads who share similar funnel lengths to measure your demand generation.

Calculate Cost-Per-Acquisition

Take your total amount spent on demand gen over a certain period and divide it by the number of acquisitions. That’s your cost-per-acquisition.

Repeat the process for money (and time) spent on specific demand generation channels and acquisitions attributed to each channel.

Figure Out Where Leads are Coming From

To measure demand generation on a more granular and effective level, you’ll have to figure out which channels are producing the most leads.

Take a deep dive into your website analytics to uncover traffic you might otherwise ignore. Are there any social platforms you don’t typically focus on? What about referral backlinks?

Look for visitors from unrecognized sources who appear to spend a lot of time on your site, downloaded something, or browsed several pages.

Identify Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

It often gets ignored in the demand gen conversation but CLV is a surprisingly smart metric for tracking demand gen. A high CLV shows that you’re successfully increasing demand even after a lead converts into a customer.

Who are your most profitable customers? Where did you first connect with them? How many pieces of content did they consume before converting? Looking for similarities among your most profitable customers can help you measure demand generation and invest in your most profitable channels.

Consider Other Engagement Metrics

Dozens of future customers are probably reading/viewing your content right now because someone shared it with them. Certain engagement metrics can tell you plenty about your demand gen success.

Skip vanity metrics like followers and likes. Instead, look at KPIs like shares-per-reach, clicks-per-share, and the life of your social content (how long people continue to share after you first publish).

5 Creative Ideas for Boosting Demand Generation

The best way to increase demand gen is by giving things away for free.

Of course, freemium versions of your product are smart. However, you can also find creative ways to give away your knowledge and expertise.

The ideas below are all perfect for demand gen because, when done right, they’re extremely shareable – helping you reach new audiences organically.

1. Offer Free Tools

A free tool increases overall website traffic and helps legitimate leads understand how your product works. People will often return to your website just to use the tool and share the link with their friends.

Pingdom, for example, has become synonymous with website speed optimization thanks to their thorough free speed analysis.

2. Look for New Publishing Channels

Spend time analyzing where your best customers spend time online. Which links do they share on social media? Run an Alexa search on these links to see what websites people visit before/afterward as well.

Look at your customers’ relevant subreddits and forums. Do they share different links here when they’re anonymous?

Consider these sources for guest posting or media partnerships.

3. Sponsor Your Own Research

Lots of marketing agencies publish annual research reports because they have access to data and they understand the value of quality backlinks.

What kind of data does your organization collect? How can you visualize it through charts/graphs and put it into a useful topical report to share (anonymized of course)?

4. Create Infographics

We all learn differently. Some prefer visualizing data in an infographic. Infographics are incredibly shareable and perfect for impressing new audiences.

Make sure to include a link and watermark in an area where people cannot crop it out.

5. Expand Your YouTube Channel

YouTube is the second-most-popular search engine. People in all industries use YouTube every day to explore topics and answer their questions.

Create a consistent YouTube schedule for topics in your industry. Optimize each post for keywords and develop strategic CTAs.

Take It One Channel at a Time

You can’t be everywhere at once. Don’t spread yourself too thin trying to optimize demand gen across every channel. Instead, consider which channels are the most valuable for connecting with your audience and focus there first. Once you’ve mastered consistency on two or three channels, expand your efforts to new areas.

Looking for more interesting tips for increasing demand generation? Check out the Televerde Resource Library.