Blog: Top 10 Low-Hanging Fruit Demand Generation Tactics for Growing Businesses

Growing a business is not easy, particularly if you’re cash-strapped and budgets are low, or if you don’t have the specific demand generation expertise readily available. But often, a few quick wins can deliver results without massive effort or budget. Small, simple tactics are often overlooked that can improve your marketing results almost immediately. Think of these as the “low-hanging fruit” of demand generation – practical steps you can take today to start building awareness and growing your pipeline. Below, we’ll walk through ten simple demand gen tactics that are high-impact, low-complexity. Each one is general enough for any industry, and together they can give your efforts an immediate boost, even as you plan for bigger strategies down the road.

1. Use Social Media in the right way

Many small businesses regularly post on social media, yet I’ve seen a lot of personal and business accounts post for posting’s sake. You’ll always hear that you need to post more often, and to that I can probably agree, but you can make this easier for yourself and see better results if you understand how the platforms prefer to promote your content.

The easiest way to start is by repurposing your existing content (more below). Have you got a longer form blog post or in-depth case study published on your website? Great - you’ve got a foundation to publish a number of posts by pulling out the key pieces of information and creating a post about it. Take Linkedin, for example, where your business-based content can get some great reach. Create a post that supports the key takeaways in your base article, and give your network something of immediate value from it. Also remember that the algorithm always changes, and at the time of writing, you should know hashtags and external links from the content can actually harm your chances of further reach, so try experimenting posts that are just purely content. Try and also use the carousel, document and video formats for your posts - it’s been found that Linkedin prefers to promote these in your feed than the bog-standard text or image posts. If you do this enough they’re more likely to visit your site via search, navigating directly to your site or via your company page, as they’ll have greater recall of your brand if you give them something valuable.

2. Make Your Emails More Human

Here’s one of the easiest demand gen wins: send your marketing emails from a real person’s name instead of a generic company email. People are more likely to open and click emails that feel like they’re from an actual human. This tweak costs nothing and can increase engagement noticeably. For example, in one A/B test, HubSpot found that emails sent from a staff member’s name (e.g. Jane from MyBusiness) had a higher click-through rate (0.96% vs 0.73%) and generated 131 more leads than the same emails sent from the company name. That’s a significant lift for such a simple change.

We all prefer talking to actual people, not faceless brands. So adjust your “From” field and tone of the email to be more personal and conversational. Write as if you’re one knowledgeable friend sharing tips with another. This approachable touch builds trust and often encourages more prospects to engage with your content.

3. Place Calls-to-Action (CTAs) Where It Makes Sense

Don’t be shy about placing calls-to-action on your content – and not just on your homepage. Your blog posts, newsletters (and even email signatures) can quietly invite readers to take the next step, whether that’s subscribing, downloading a guide, or requesting a demo. Many businesses only add CTAs on a couple of obvious pages, but you can amplify results by adding them more widely (be careful not to be too spammy though). The idea is to make it easy for an interested person to do something about that interest wherever they find you.

As one guide puts it bluntly, CTAs “on every blog post you publish, on every web page you create... on your social media pages” – get the most bang for your buck from those buttons. And don’t be afraid to experiment with the wording and design of your calls-to-action for clarity and appeal. Even small tweaks can have outsized effects. In one case, simply changing a few words on a CTA button led to a 52% higher click-through rate compared to the original text. Use CTAs liberally and craft them thoughtfully, and you’ll capture more demand from the audience you already have.

4. Simplify Your Lead Forms

When a potential customer reaches your landing page or signup form, are you stopping them from converting? An overly long or complicated form is often a conversion-rate-killer. One opportunity is to streamline your lead capture forms. Ask for less upfront. Do you really need those five or six fields of information, or will just name and email suffice to start the conversation? Studies show that reducing form fields can dramatically boost conversion rates. In fact, one report noted that cutting a form down from 4 fields to 3 increased conversions by about 50%.

Fewer fields means less effort for the visitor, which means they’re more likely to complete the form instead of abandoning it. So take a hard look at every form on your site – contact forms, newsletter signups, quote requests – and remove any fields that aren’t absolutely necessary. Keep it short and simple. You don’t need to ask how they found you, for example. You can ask that in your first conversation (and you’ll likely get a more honest answer than your tracking will tell you). You can always gather more details later as you nurture the lead. The easier you make that first step, the more new leads you’ll collect.

5. Leverage Testimonials and Social Proof

Sometimes the quickest way to generate demand is to let your happy customers do the talking. You’ll already know that case studies, testimonials and reviews are a great way of showing that you’re providing value in the real world, but how well are you using them?

Make sure you’re featuring these prominently on your website and marketing materials. For example, you can embed recent positive tweets or social media comments from customers directly on your site’s testimonials or reviews page. They can even be a better way of showing social proof than adding your customers’ logos on your homepage. Seeing a real person’s name, photo, and words lends credibility that polished marketing copy can’t match.

As HubSpot have noted, reviews have more impact “when it’s obvious that they’re real,” so consider lifting-and-dropping reviews and positive comments directly into your site. This kind of social proof acts as low-hanging fruit by turning your existing customer love into marketing assets. It costs little to implement, yet it can significantly increase a prospect’s confidence in your business – nudging them closer to becoming a customer themselves. Just remember to make an effort to capture these good reviews!

6. Encourage Customer Referrals

Your current customers might be the strongest demand generation engine you’re not fully tapping. Referrals are one of the top ways your businesses get new clients – precisely because it’s low-cost and high-trust. A recommendation from a happy customer to a friend or peer is pure gold. In fact, over half (around 52%) of U.S. small businesses say that referrals are their top source of new customers, and roughly 82% rely on referrals as a primary growth method. Your sales team will also thank you, with over 60% of reps stating that they’re their favourite source of leads.

Make it easier for customers to refer their friends and peers over your way. This could be as simple as asking for referrals in your email newsletter or as structured as a formal referral incentive program (e.g. “Get a £50 credit for each friend you refer”). Even just reaching out to your best clients and letting them know you’d appreciate any introductions can plant seeds. Don’t assume referrals will happen on their own - give your advocates a nudge and a “thank you”, and you might be surprised how quickly new business starts coming in through word-of-mouth.

7. Refresh and Repurpose Your Content

Chances are you already have some great content – blog posts, videos, guides, etc. A smart quick-win tactic is to refresh your old content and repurpose it in new formats. Content that’s outdated or underperforming can often be revamped with minimal effort. For example, update an old blog post with current info and trends, then re-publish it as “new.” This lets you capitalize on work you’ve already done, and it can attract a whole new audience without creating content from scratch.

Similarly, repurpose your older content across channels. Turn a series of blog posts into a downloadable ebook, or take a whitepaper and break it into a few insightful blog articles. As one marketing blog suggests, you don’t have to write everything new – you can use excerpts from an ebook as blog posts, or compile several posts into a larger guide. By recycling and repackaging content, you squeeze more value out of what you already have. It’s a great growth tactic for a small team because it saves time while expanding your reach (different people prefer to consume content in different formats). The result: more demand gen fuel with relatively little new effort.

8. Try a Small Paid Campaign (Quick and Targeted)

While inbound tactics are great, sometimes you want an immediate boost. A modest paid advertising test can be a low-hanging win. If you have even a small budget, consider running a focused pay-per-click (PPC) campaign on a platform that fits your audience (Google Search, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.).

Try targeting a few high-intent keywords on Google Ads or retarget recent website visitors on Facebook with a special offer. The beauty is that digital ads can start driving traffic and leads almost instantly once they’re live. As one agency put it, the need for quick impact can justify spending a bit on PPC ads in Google or social channels because you’ll see results faster.

You don’t have to spend a fortune or commit to a long campaign, even a couple of hundred quid as a test can tell you a lot. Watch the response, see if you get some conversions, and you’ve generated some demand that might otherwise have been missed this quarter.

For a small business, these “burst” campaigns can complement your organic efforts and grab low-hanging opportunities (like bidding on your own brand name, or targeting a competitor’s audience) while you continue to build long-term demand gen assets.

9. Partner Up for Co-Marketing

Partnering up with a complementary business or influencer can extend your reach to an audience you might not otherwise access – a classic win-win and a true low-hanging opportunity. Think about businesses that offer services or products related to yours (but aren’t direct competitors) or industry experts who target the same audience. A simple partnership could mean that you can co-create a piece of content, shout each other out on social media, or even host a joint small event or webinar together. This kind of strategic partnership lets both parties tap into each other’s network and build each-other’s credibility.

As one demand generation expert noted, collaborating with complementary brands allows you to “leverage each other’s networks” and have a greater impact than marketing on your own. For example, a local bakery might partner with a coffee roaster for a co-promoted “morning starter kit” deal; or a B2B software startup might guest-post on a larger company’s blog in exchange for them coming on your podcast. These aren’t heavy lifts, but they can introduce your business to lots of new potential customers. Plus, the implied endorsement from a partner adds trust. Start by reaching out to a few friendly businesses or contacts with a simple idea for working together – you might be surprised how quickly a small collab can generate new leads for both of you.

10. Host a Small Event or Webinar

In-person and virtual events might sound like a lot of work, but you can start small and still see big benefits. Hosting a simple webinar, live Q&A, workshop, or networking event (even a casual one) can create real-time engagement with prospective customers. If you position an event around solving a common pain point or sharing tips and best practices, you can attract interested attendees without a huge spend. And those attendees often turn into some of your warmest leads because they’ve spent time with you.

Events also help you establish authority and generate word-of-mouth buzz. In fact, 70% of marketers think live events are an important lever to their marketing success. Consider hosting a 30-minute webinar on a popular issue in your industry, or a local event for clients and their friends. Promote it via your email list and social media outlets. Even if you only get a few people to attend, that's a few more engaged prospects than you had previously. You can increase the size of these events as you gain experience. But, to begin, keep it simple and focused. Building relationships and trust in a small group can lead to new business opportunities.

None of these approaches demand large resources, expensive tools, or months of planning. They are real, actionable methods that can build demand while you work to build your overall marketing strategy. For a growing organisation, quick wins like this help you and your team to build momentum (and confidence). They demonstrate that demand generation is not an all-or-nothing approach; you can find ways to attract and engage potential clients today. Remember, the goal is to efficiently generate interest in your brand. You'll develop a long-term growth engine by adding a human touch to your outreach, making the most of existing content, and leveraging referrals and partnerships. 

If you need help building a demand generation strategy that can create sustainable pipeline growth, need support for specific digital marketing projects, or want to tell us if any of the above tactics have helped, then get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

Image credit: Photo by Nathan Staz on Unsplash