What term describes activities that create awareness and interest in a product?

Demand generation is the term that specifically encompasses activities aimed at creating awareness and interest in a product. This involves a strategic marketing approach designed to stimulate awareness and interest among potential customers, ultimately leading them toward considering a purchase. Demand generation encompasses various tactics such as content marketing, social media initiatives, webinars, and targeted advertising campaigns that engage potential customers and encourage them to learn more about a product or service.

Recognizing this, demand generation focuses on the entire process of generating interest, contrasting with concepts like lead qualification, which deals with assessing and prioritizing leads that have already expressed some level of interest. A sales funnel outlines the entire customer journey from awareness to purchase but does not directly refer to the activities that initiate awareness. A referral program incentivizes existing customers to recommend a product to others, which is more about leveraging existing relationships than creating initial awareness. Thus, demand generation is the most appropriate term for activities aimed at fostering interest and awareness for a product in the marketplace.