Most B2B companies have a sales pipeline problem. Not too many leads, but not enough good leads. The leads that do come in are often poor quality, not sales-ready, or misaligned with what the sales team can actually close.
This is because most companies focus on lead generation, not demand generation.
Demand generation is the practice of creating awareness, interest, and buying intent for your solution among your target market. It’s broader than lead generation. It focuses on building demand for your solution among companies that fit your ideal customer profile, and only converting the most relevant prospects into sales-qualified leads.
In this guide, we’ll explore what demand generation is, how it differs from lead generation, and strategies to build an effective demand generation program.
Defining Demand Generation
Demand generation is the combination of marketing and sales activities designed to:
- Create awareness of your solution among target companies
- Build interest and engagement
- Identify companies showing buying intent
- Create conditions where target companies want to engage with your sales team
- Drive high-quality, sales-ready leads
Demand generation is sometimes used interchangeably with “demand gen” or “demand generation marketing.”
The key insight is this: you can’t sell to companies that don’t know about you and don’t want to talk to you. Demand generation creates both awareness and intent.
Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation
The distinction between demand generation and lead generation matters.
Lead Generation
Lead generation focuses on converting interested prospects into leads. It typically involves:
- Running campaigns with a clear call-to-action (download whitepaper, sign up for webinar, request demo)
- Capturing contact information through forms
- Creating a database of names and email addresses
- Handing leads to sales for outreach
Lead generation is transactional. You run a campaign, people fill out a form, you get a list of emails to contact.
Demand Generation
Demand generation is broader and more strategic. It involves:
- Building awareness of your brand and solution among your target market
- Creating content and experiences that educate and engage
- Identifying companies showing buying intent through multiple signals
- Nurturing relationships with interested companies
- Converting the most interested and qualified prospects into sales conversations
Demand generation views the journey as longer. Companies don’t wake up one morning ready to buy. They become aware, they research, they evaluate, and eventually they’re ready to talk to a salesperson.
Effective demand generation supports companies through this entire journey.
The Demand Generation Funnel
Demand generation typically follows a funnel structure.
Awareness
At the top of the funnel, your goal is building awareness among target companies. This involves:
- Content marketing: Blogs, whitepapers, webinars, videos that provide value
- Paid advertising: Display ads, social ads, search ads that reach your target audience
- Public relations and earned media: News and mentions that build visibility
- Industry events and participation: Sponsorships, speaking, and participation that build brand
Awareness activities are broad. You’re trying to reach as many companies in your target market as possible.
Consideration
Companies that become aware of you often want to learn more. In the consideration stage:
- Educational content: Detailed guides, comparisons, case studies, best practice resources
- Product information: How your solution works, what it can do
- Community and social: Discussions, user groups, social channels
- Webinars and demonstrations: Educational sessions and product tours
- Sales conversations: Early exploratory conversations with interested prospects
During consideration, you’re providing information to help companies evaluate their options.
Decision
In the decision stage, companies are evaluating specific solutions. Activities include:
- Detailed product demonstrations: Tailored demos showing how you solve their specific challenges
- Proof of concept: Hands-on evaluation of your solution
- Pricing and terms: Discussing pricing and contract terms
- References and validation: Connecting with other customers
- Procurement and legal: Handling contract review and approval
By the time a company reaches the decision stage, the demand generation work is largely complete. Your job is facilitating an efficient evaluation and closing process.
Key Elements of a Demand Generation Program
A comprehensive demand generation program includes multiple elements working together.
Account Intelligence and Targeting
Demand generation starts with understanding your market:
- Define your ideal customer profile
- Identify target companies within your ICP
- Build or acquire target account lists
- Understand firmographic, technographic, and intent characteristics
This intelligence guides all your targeting and personalization.
Content Strategy
Content is the core of demand generation:
- Educational content: Blogs, guides, videos that provide value without requiring anything
- Top-of-funnel content: Awareness-building content that teaches about your category
- Mid-funnel content: Content that compares solutions and explains buying frameworks
- Bottom-funnel content: Product-specific, comparison, and evaluation content
- Vertical-specific content: Content tailored to specific industries or company types
Great demand generation programs develop content libraries that serve multiple purposes across the funnel.
Paid Advertising
Paid ads accelerate demand generation by:
- Reaching target audiences at scale
- Amplifying your content
- Targeting accounts showing buying intent
- Remarketing to companies that have engaged with your content
- Testing messaging before investing in organic efforts
Most demand generation programs use a mix of:
- LinkedIn advertising: For reaching professionals by title, company, industry
- Google Ads: For capturing search intent
- Display advertising: For building awareness and remarketing
- Account-based advertising: For targeting specific high-value accounts
Email and Marketing Automation
Email remains one of the highest-ROI marketing channels. Effective demand generation uses:
- List segmentation: Different messages for different audience segments
- Nurture campaigns: Long-term sequences that educate and build interest
- Behavioral triggers: Emails triggered by specific actions or engagement
- Account-based email: Email personalized to specific accounts
- Lead scoring: Identifying which leads are ready for sales engagement
Events and Experiences
Live and virtual events create engagement opportunities:
- Webinars and virtual events: Educational sessions that build demand and capture interest
- Industry conferences: Sponsorships and speaking opportunities for visibility
- User conferences and communities: Building loyalty and word-of-mouth among existing customers
- In-person events: Workshops, open houses, or other experiences
Events are expensive but create high-quality engagement opportunities.
Sales Enablement and Alignment
Demand generation only works if sales is aligned:
- Sales playbooks: Clear guidance on how to engage different prospect types
- Competitive battlecards: Messaging for competitive situations
- Product training: Ensuring sales understands your product capabilities
- Leads and account handoff: Clear processes for marketing handing off to sales
- Feedback loops: Sales sharing feedback to improve targeting and messaging
Analytics and Measurement
Understanding what’s working is critical:
- Traffic and engagement metrics: How many people are visiting, engaging with content?
- Lead quality metrics: What’s the quality of leads generated?
- Conversion metrics: What percentage of leads move through the funnel?
- Pipeline attribution: Which activities drive pipeline?
- Revenue attribution: Which campaigns ultimately influence revenue?
Demand Generation Tactics and Channels
Several specific tactics and channels support demand generation.
Content Marketing
Creating valuable content that attracts and educates your target audience. Content might include:
- Blog posts and articles
- Whitepapers and guides
- Webinars and video content
- Case studies and research
- Podcasts and interviews
Effective content marketing provides value without immediately asking for a commitment.
Account-Based Marketing
ABM is demand generation for a focused set of high-value accounts. It involves:
- Identifying target accounts
- Creating account-specific content and messaging
- Coordinating sales and marketing efforts around these accounts
- Personalizing experiences and outreach
- Measuring engagement and pipeline impact for each account
Advertising and Promotion
Paid advertising reaches target audiences at scale:
- Display advertising builds awareness
- Search advertising captures active demand
- Social advertising reaches professionals
- Retargeting engages people who have already shown interest
Partnerships and Integrations
Working with complementary companies can expand your reach:
- Integration partnerships enable cross-promotion
- Referral partnerships create leads from trusted sources
- Co-marketing campaigns reach both audiences
- Channel partnerships expand distribution
Public Relations and Earned Media
Building visibility through PR:
- Press releases and news stories
- Analyst relations (being recognized by industry analysts)
- Speaking opportunities at industry events
- Media coverage and mentions
Community and Engagement
Building communities around your solution:
- User groups and forums
- Social media communities
- Online communities and slack groups
- Customer advisory boards
Communities create engagement and loyalty.
Measurement and Optimization
Demand generation requires continuous measurement and optimization.
Key Metrics
Track:
- Traffic and reach: Website visits, impressions, reach of campaigns
- Engagement: Content downloads, webinar attendance, video views, time on page
- Lead generation: Form fills, demo requests, contact form submissions
- Lead quality: Percentage of leads that meet sales acceptance criteria
- Conversion rates: Percentage converting from lead to opportunity to customer
- Cost per acquisition: Total spend divided by customers acquired
- Pipeline influence: Which campaigns influence deals in your pipeline?
- Revenue influence: Which campaigns influence revenue?
A/B Testing
Continuously test and improve:
- Ad copy and creative: Different messaging and designs
- Landing pages: Different layouts and CTAs
- Email subject lines: Different subject lines and send times
- Audience segmentation: Different targeting approaches
- Timing and frequency: Different campaign schedules
Feedback Loops
Close the loop between marketing and sales:
- Win/loss analysis: Analyze why deals were won or lost
- Sales feedback on lead quality: Regular feedback on lead quality
- Prospect feedback: Feedback from prospects on messaging and approach
- Competitive feedback: Learning what prospects chose competitors for
Common Demand Generation Mistakes
Organizations often make predictable mistakes.
Focusing Only on Leads
The most common mistake is treating demand generation as just lead generation. Pushing for lots of leads without ensuring quality wastes sales time and creates friction between sales and marketing.
Focus on lead quality and sales readiness, not just volume.
Misalignment Between Sales and Marketing
Demand generation fails when sales and marketing aren’t aligned on:
- What constitutes a sales-ready lead
- What accounts and prospect types to target
- What messaging resonates
- What the sales process actually looks like
Regular communication and feedback between teams is critical.
Generic Messaging
Generic messaging that could apply to any prospect doesn’t work. Effective demand generation creates targeted, specific messaging that resonates with different segments.
Inconsistent Execution
Demand generation programs that start strong but fade don’t work. Consistent execution over time is more important than sporadic big campaigns.
Poor Measurement
Without clear measurement and understanding of what’s working, you can’t optimize. You’ll repeat ineffective tactics and abandon effective ones.
Underestimating Time Horizons
Demand generation isn’t fast. Building awareness and interest takes months. Companies that expect demand generation to produce results in weeks are often disappointed.
Building Your Demand Generation Program
Getting started with demand generation typically involves:
Phase 1: Foundation
- Define your ideal customer profile
- Understand your target market
- Develop a clear value proposition
- Build a content marketing strategy
- Choose your primary channels and tactics
Phase 2: Expansion
- Launch content marketing and organic channels
- Implement email marketing and automation
- Start paid advertising campaigns
- Begin account-based marketing efforts
- Build sales and marketing alignment
Phase 3: Optimization
- Analyze what’s working
- Double down on effective channels and tactics
- Improve messaging based on feedback and data
- Expand to new channels and audiences
- Build more sophisticated attribution and measurement
Phase 4: Maturity
- Have multiple channels working together
- Strong sales and marketing alignment
- Clear understanding of what drives pipeline and revenue
- Continuous optimization based on data
- Predictable pipeline generation
Conclusion
Demand generation is fundamentally about creating conditions where target companies want to engage with you. It’s about building awareness and interest, identifying buying intent, and creating relationships that sales can convert into customers.
Effective demand generation requires:
- Clear understanding of your target market
- Compelling content and messaging
- Strategic use of multiple channels
- Strong measurement and analytics
- Alignment between sales and marketing
- Consistent execution over time
Companies that master demand generation tend to have more predictable pipelines, lower customer acquisition costs, and stronger sales and marketing alignment.
Abmatic enables demand generation by providing the account intelligence you need to identify and understand your target market, track buying signals and intent, and measure the impact of your demand generation efforts on pipeline and revenue. Whether you’re starting a demand generation program or optimizing an existing one, comprehensive account intelligence is foundational to effectiveness.
