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What is future demand and how can it help grow my business?

Learn why investing in future demand helps your brand grow sustainably.

Updated over a month ago

🧢 Coach T’s Recap

Future demand is the long game. Most of your future customers aren’t shopping right now but when they are, you want your brand to be top of mind. Build memory. Build meaning. Stay visible. That’s how you stay in the game and grow over time.

Future demand is all about planting the seeds today for tomorrow’s growth. It means building awareness, curiosity, and mental availability with people who aren’t ready to buy just yet so your brand is the first one they think of when they are.

This kind of brand-building doesn’t always lead to immediate conversions but it lays the foundation for sustainable, long-term growth.


Why future demand matters

One of the key ideas behind future demand is the 95:5 rule. This idea comes from B2B marketing, where research suggests only about 5% of your potential audience is actively in-market at any given time.

The exact split won’t always look like 95:5, especially in consumer categories where purchase cycles can be shorter and more frequent. The important point isn’t the numbers themselves, but the principle: most people aren’t ready to buy right now, but they will be someday.

By building future demand, you’re creating memory structures and brand associations that pay off over the long term.

Ignoring future demand means you’re only speaking to the small, short-term pool of current buyers. Over time this can mean:

  • Your pool of active buyers starts to dry up

  • You stop generating new interest at the top of the funnel

  • Growth stalls, and performance starts to plateau

Brands that balance short-term capture with long-term cultivation tend to outperform those who focus purely on immediate returns. It’s not either-or. It’s both.

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