Alchemy Hill Advisory

Comparisons

Demand creation or demand capture: where should the budget go?

Most go-to-market plans fight over people already shopping. That is the crowded, expensive part. Here is how to tell which half of the problem you actually have.

The distinction

Capture competes for buyers already in-market. Creation makes someone realise they have a problem. Capture spikes and stops; creation compounds.

Lean into capture

There is existing in-market demand you are not collecting.

  • Search volume for your category is real and you rank nowhere
  • You win deals when you are in the consideration set, but you often are not
  • Sales cycles are short and the buyer arrives already educated
  • Your competitors are visible everywhere you are not

Lean into creation

The people who need you do not yet know the problem has a name.

  • Spend is rising and return is falling on the same channels
  • Prospects say “we did not know this was a thing we could fix”
  • You are educating on every sales call before you can sell
  • The category is new, or your version of it is genuinely different

Steal this

The Capture Ceiling test

Estimate honestly, then compare the two numbers.

  1. How many businesses in your market are actively shopping for this right now?
  2. What share of them could you realistically win at your current price?
  3. What is that worth in revenue, annually?
  4. Is that number bigger or smaller than your growth target?

Reading it: If the capture ceiling is below your growth target, no amount of capture spend gets you there. The gap has to be created, and creation takes a year of lead time, which is the argument for starting now rather than next budget cycle.

Do both, but know which one your growth target actually depends on. Most plans over-fund capture because it is measurable, and then wonder why growth flattens at the ceiling.

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