The Complete B2B Demand Generation Guide
Build a demand gen engine that drives predictable pipeline
Demand generation is more than just lead gen—it's about creating awareness, educating your market, and building a sustainable pipeline. This guide covers the strategies, channels, and metrics that drive successful B2B demand gen programs.
In This Guide
Demand Generation vs Lead Generation
While often used interchangeably, demand gen and lead gen serve different purposes in your marketing strategy.
- Demand gen: Create awareness and interest in your category/solution
- Lead gen: Capture contact information from interested prospects
- Demand gen feeds lead gen—you need both
- Think of demand gen as long-term, lead gen as short-term capture
The Modern Demand Gen Stack
Today's demand gen programs combine multiple channels and technologies to reach and engage buyers.
- Content marketing - Blog, guides, webinars, podcasts
- Paid advertising - LinkedIn, Google, programmatic ABM
- Social media - Organic presence and thought leadership
- Email nurturing - Ongoing engagement with known contacts
- Visitor identification - Capture demand you're creating
Measuring Demand Gen Effectiveness
Demand gen metrics go beyond MQLs to measure true business impact.
- Pipeline sourced - Opportunities created from demand gen efforts
- Pipeline influenced - Opps where demand gen played a role
- Velocity - How fast leads move through the funnel
- CAC - Cost to acquire customers via demand gen
- ROI - Revenue generated vs demand gen investment
Capturing the Demand You Create
The biggest leak in demand gen is anonymous website traffic. You create demand through content and ads, drive visitors to your site, and 97% leave without converting. Visitor identification plugs this leak.
- Content drives traffic but most visitors don't convert
- Form conversion rates are typically 2-5%
- Visitor identification captures 20-40% of traffic
- Connect your demand gen investment to actual leads
Building Your Demand Gen Program
Start with these fundamentals before scaling up.
- Define your ICP and buyer personas clearly
- Create valuable content that addresses real pain points
- Build distribution across owned, earned, and paid channels
- Implement tracking and attribution from day one
- Layer in visitor identification to maximize capture rate
Key Takeaways
- 1Demand gen creates interest; lead gen captures it—you need both
- 2Measure pipeline sourced/influenced, not just MQLs
- 3Most demand gen ROI is lost to anonymous traffic
- 4Visitor identification dramatically improves demand gen ROI
- 5Start with clear ICP definition before scaling spend
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Related Resources
Related Use Cases
Lead Generation
Generate leads from your website without forms by identifying anonymous visitors.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Identify individuals from target accounts visiting your site for ABM programs.
Marketing Attribution
Connect anonymous website traffic to real pipeline and revenue attribution.