The myth of "Creating Demand"

There’s a common misconception in B2B marketing that we can "create" demand out of thin air through our marketing campaigns and content. But in reality, demand already exists in the marketplace - it lives in the unresolved pains, unmet needs, and unfulfilled desires of our potential customers.

As marketers, we don’t create demand. Rather, we reveal and amplify the demand that is already there by:

• Identifying specific pain points our product or service can alleviate
• Communicating how we uniquely solve our customers’ problems
• Aggregating and formalizing the demand across multiple audiences
• Articulating the gap between existing solutions and customer expectations

So instead of claiming we "create" demand, it’s more accurate to say we "harvest" or "harness" demand. We tap into the demand that exists and channel it into interest and consideration for our products.

What to do instead

The next time you develop a campaign or piece of content, don’t ask "how can I create demand?" Instead ask "what demand already exists that my company can fulfill?" You’ll be surprised at the untapped demand that is out there waiting to be revealed and directed towards your solutions. With a "demand harvesting" mindset, we stop trying to manufacture interest out of nothing. Instead we uncover and give voice to our customers' unresolved pains and unmet needs. We validate demand rather than aim to fabricate it.

A Healthy Mindset Shift

This shift in mindset opens up new possibilities. We move from interrupting audiences to actually helping them. We stop speaking AT them and start speaking FOR them. We become customer advocates rather than salespeople in disguise. ?

In the end, demand is not created or destroyed - it exists in a constant state waiting to be uncovered and articulated. Our job is simply to reveal it, amplify it, and direct it.

Faster horse's just means your asking the wrong questions

However, this is not to say we should always just ask customers directly what they want. As Henry Ford famously said, if he had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.

The key is to deeply understand customer pains and desires, and then fashion innovative solutions that truly address those needs in transformative ways. We must blend customer insights with visionary thinking to uncover demand for solutions people didn't even know were possible.

In summary, demand is not created – it exists in the total lack of satisfaction with current solutions and/or in the gap between current solutions and new expectations as customers’ unmet needs.

How we understand our role/job/ state the problem determines the field of solutions we'll consider in attempting to make progress towards success.

Our role is to aggregate those needs, understand them deeply, and then reveal demand by devising solutions that address them in imaginative new ways. With this demand harvesting approach, we move from interrupting audiences to actually helping them progress.