What Is B2B Demand Generation? The 2025 Ultimate Guide to Strategies and Benefits

Instead, companies should take a long-term approach and deliver relevant, valuable content to unearth latent needs and buying intent.

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Demand generation isn’t a new concept, yet it’s often overlooked or misunderstood. How does it differ from lead generation? What are the most effective tactics for building genuine interest? And how can you measure the success of your efforts?

Read on to find the answers to these questions and more.

What is B2B demand generation?

B2B demand generation is a strategy to create awareness and spark interest in your brand and its products. Unlike lead generation, which focuses on driving immediate sales, demand generation casts a wider net by nurturing long-term relationships through educational interactions and content.

The 95:5 rule underpins the demand generation approach to B2B marketing. This is the idea that at any given time only 5% of your target customers are actively looking to buy. 

Focussing only on those with an immediate buying intent, therefore, means overlooking a massive proportion of your potential audience and the future growth opportunities therein. 

The B2B demand generation approach addresses pre-existing challenges to mine those new opportunities.

Demand creation

Demand creation is exactly what it sounds like. You take the raw ingredients of your target audience and create interest from scratch. It’s like marketing home cooking. You let potential B2B customers know you’re preparing something they’ll want to consume. 

This stage targets businesses and the individuals who work there. These decision-makers may not yet realize they have a problem that needs solving. White papers, thought leadership articles, and other avenues help you start the early stages of demand.

Successful demand generation depends on knowing your target audience. Marketing teams develop ideal customer profiles (ICPs) and buyer personas. These keep everyone informed and aligned.

As we’ve stated previously, demand generation plays the long game. It may not happen immediately. Given time, your content and messaging build credibility and trust. This ultimately creates new opportunities with buyer intent. 

Demand capture

Demand capture engages with prospects who show active interest and buying signals. It can help to think of “capturing” like hunting. You already know there’s something out there that’s exactly what you want—you just need to be able to find it and add it to your trophy cabinet of wins!

How do you capture this demand? You need to know who they are. Gated content like live demonstrations, free trials, e-books, and ticketed events helps you collect contact information for these customers. Tools like Leadfeeder by Dealfront can also help you identify anonymous website visitors even if they don’t fill out any lead forms. 

Leveraging B2B data, your team can reach out to warm prospects and capture leads.

Demand creation vs demand capture

Demand creation and demand capture are two primary B2B demand generation methods. They’re both critical to the B2B marketing funnel. However, they serve different purposes in a comprehensive demand generation strategy. 

• Demand creation: Builds awareness and education with your target audience, aligning with top-of-funnel (TOFU) activities. It casts a wide net to attract and engage potential customers who may not yet recognize their needs.

• Demand capture: More focused and conversion-driven, corresponding more with middle-of-funnel (MOFU) tactics. It targets prospects who are already exhibiting buying signals. Marketers capture their information and qualify them as leads for sales follow-up.

Think of demand creation as planting seeds. In contrast, demand capture is nurturing the seeds that show signs of life, leading to opportunities for cultivation. Both tactics are crucial to creating better visibility of the customer journey, and they work best together. 

B2B demand generation’s role in customer acquisition

Customer acquisition in B2B is a complex, multi-step journey. It requires multiple buyers at different stages spanning several weeks or months. You can’t leverage emotion and impulsivity like in B2C purchases. 

Your customers are well-researched and want to see real demonstrations of value. In the 2024 B2B Buyer Experience report, 6sense identified that 69% of the B2B purchase process happens before buyers engage with sellers.

What can you do for them, and what pain points will you solve? What’s the ROI for signing up with your product or service?

You generate demand by consistently delivering valuable content that addresses relevant issues. If done effectively, you create a steady stream of informed leads ready for sales outreach and qualification.

Within customer acquisition, demand generation complements lead generation and brand awareness efforts. Think of it like this:

• Demand generation is consistent educational content that makes prospects aware of pain points and solutions. Each interaction builds upon a long journey. Customers visit your blog, download white papers, and sign up for webinars to show interest.

• Brand awareness means establishing authority and credibility, introducing your brand to broad audience segments. You plant the first seeds that ultimately lead to new and hidden opportunities. 

• Lead generation is crucial as the ultimate goal of creating demand is to keep the sales pipeline flowing. Demand capture tactics help you engage interested prospects. They also prioritize leads with buying intent and pass them on for sales follow-up.

How B2B demand generation works

While it would be nice to create one piece of marketing content that captures a lead, this isn’t B2C ecommerce. B2B demand generation isn’t a one-step process. In fact, a Focus Digital report found that the average purchase involves 28.87 touchpoints.

Here are the key steps used in B2B demand generation marketing:

• Target audience identification: Leverage firmographic, market, and intent data to define your ICP and buyer personas for targeted messaging. 

• Awareness creation: Tailor campaigns and interactions, such as social media posts and blog articles, to introduce your brand to ideal prospects. 

• Interest and engagement cultivation: Generate further interest with more in-depth touchpoints. These include case studies, email drip campaigns, and webinar courses. 

• Lead generation and qualification: Convert prospects into marketing qualified leads (MQLs). Use lead form captures and gated content, such as downloadable white papers or freemium versions of products.

• Nurturing and converting: Continue patient, personalized outreach and content delivery. Gradually guide the lead down the sales funnel toward conversion.  

What are the different types of B2B demand generation?

There are two types of B2B demand generation: inbound and outbound. Each requires a different approach since prospective customers are at separate buying stages. Both types offer different strengths and applications as part of your overall marketing strategy. 

Inbound demand generation

Inbound demand generation uses marketing tactics to reel in interested firms with targeted content. Inbound prospects are already looking for a product or service to meet a pain point. Once they’ve found your brand, the hard part’s over, right?

How do you help them find your brand?

You draw in ideal customers with blogs, social media, live events, and other content channels. Use first-party data and B2B data providers, such as Dealfront. They can help you connect the dots and provide personalized customer journeys. 

Outbound demand generation

Outbound demand generation is likely what comes to your mind when you think of creating something from scratch. Outbound demand generation tactics involve searching beyond the horizon for hidden opportunities. 

It’s more invasive or interruptive than inbound demand generation. However, outbound activities make up the core of finding unique opportunities you’d otherwise miss.

Outbound channels include:

• Cold calling

• Mass emailing

• Pay-per-click (PPC) ads

• Paid social media campaigns

• Account-based marketing  (ABM) that proactively targets highly specific firms

Benefits of B2B demand generation

Successful B2B demand generation campaigns provide a path to business growth and competitive advantage. You build awareness and nurture the right prospects before they engage with sales. But what will B2B demand generation mean for your overall process? 

Key benefits of demand generation include:

• Higher-quality leads: Attract and prepare prospects with informative content and buying intent qualifiers. Attain more sales-ready leads ready for conversion.

• Shorter sales cycles: Accelerate the movement of prospects through the buying process by gaining their trust and educating them on your solutions before your sales team engages.

• Reinforced sales pipeline: Discover hidden opportunities and better leads. Fill your sales team itinerary with appointments and outreach touchpoints.

• Higher ROI and better efficiency: Focus marketing resources on prospects with the best fit and readiness to buy. Reduce wasted spending on unqualified leads and increase campaign effectiveness.

• Better customer understanding: Drive better results with firmographic, technographic, and intent data.

• Enhanced brand awareness and credibility: Establish industry authority with consistent educational content and messaging. Position your brand as a preferred and trusted source for your target audience.

• Better sales and marketing alignment: Improve collaboration, lead handoffs, and pipeline visibility with a shared framework and goals. 

• Sustainable growth: Strengthen customer loyalty and lifetime value by nurturing strong relationships over time and supporting long-term growth.

What is the best B2B demand generation strategy?

Generating demand is a relatively straightforward concept. However, that doesn’t mean there’s one ingredient for success. In other words, there isn’t a single “best” approach. B2B demand generation strategies work best when multiple approaches are combined in a cohesive recipe. 

1) Content marketing

Content marketing is one of the best ways to connect with your target audience and fuel demand. Content marketing includes white papers, blogs, video demonstrations, webinars, and case studies. Most of these demand generators are easy to host on your website and social media accounts. 

How do you get the most out of your B2B content marketing strategy? A 2024 survey from the Demand Gen Report identified the top two factors for firms visiting your website:

• 77% of respondents looked for content that spoke directly to their company.

• 75% of respondents prioritized content that demonstrated expertise in the needs of their industry.

2) Account-based marketing (ABM)

Account-based marketing focuses on personalized marketing experiences that target high-value companies. First, you define your ICP and discover companies that fit the mold. Detailed buyer personas help you engage buying groups with targeted messaging. 

Sounds simple enough, right? So, how do you develop a strong ICP and know who to look for? An ABM benchmark survey found that 28% of companies asked the same question, struggling to define their ideal customers. 

In the same survey, 33% of respondents stated they’re using intent data tools to identify new accounts and predict buying readiness. 

Tools like Target by Dealfront guide you to your ideal customers. We do this with 100+ firmographic, behavioral, and other filters. Discover your total addressable market (TAM), enrich CRM data, and fill your pipeline with opportunities.

3) Paid advertising

Paid advertising campaigns are still a staple strategy for creating awareness and demand. In 2024, US companies spent over $39 billion on advertising and marketing. PPC ads are a quick way to broaden your reach. They ignite interest by educating a new audience about a problem they didn’t even know they needed to solve. 

Paid advertising channels include:

• Google: search, display, and YouTube ads

• LinkedIn: sponsored content, InMail, dynamic ads, and lead generation forms

• Meta: sponsored posts and stories, video ads, and lead gen forms on Facebook and Instagram

• Industry-specific: general and niche platforms that enable targeted and broad advertising campaigns

Focus on targeting the right audience segments on the right channels with personalized messaging. Use intent data and analytics to refine campaigns in real time. Align paid efforts with your broader content and ABM strategies for a cohesive approach.

Seven tips for better B2B demand generation campaigns

An effective B2B demand generation strategy requires varied approaches from multiple teams. Consider implementing a range of B2B demand generation ideas to capture attention and nurture leads effectively.

It’s not the most complicated business process in the world, but you’ll get better results by following these best practices:

1) Know your ideal customer profile (ICP)

A well-defined ICP is crucial to any type of B2B marketing strategy. Creating demand sounds good on paper. However, you need to ensure prospects fit your product and are ready to make a purchase. 

Tools like Dealfront can help you build accurate ICPs using rich data and filters. Document your ICPs and let them guide your team when creating messaging and experiences. 

2) Offer value first

Remember, demand generation is about patience and nurture. Don’t make things transactional straight away. Offer something educational and relevant to potential leads. When target customers engage with your website or paid ads, they’ll be looking for clear value. 

Once you’ve stoked the coals of interest, you can fan the flames with gated content, such as event registrations or free trial sign-ups.

3) Use multi-channel campaigns

No successful marketer puts all of their eggs in one basket. A multi-pronged approach ensures you don’t miss out on opportunities. When buyers are in the research phase, they’ll engage with your brand across several channels. Consistent, tailored content strengthens and reinforces your credibility and industry authority.

4) Leverage intent data

No matter how ideal a company might seem, it’s not useful to the sales team without buying intent. Intent data reveals which prospects are actively looking for a solution similar to your offerings. 

Using a platform like Leadfeeder from Dealfront, you can turn anonymous website visitors into qualified prospects by analyzing intent data, buying signals, and more.

5) Align sales and marketing

Demand generation only works when marketing and sales agree on key pillars, such as your ICP. Inter-departmental collaboration ensures smooth lead handoffs, consistent messaging, and fulfilled customer expectations. 

Share insights, lead scoring definitions, and establish feedback loops to refine campaigns continuously. Aligned teams drive higher conversion rates and shorten sales cycles.

6) Optimize and retarget

It’s vital to monitor performance on everything from content marketing to paid ad campaigns. Track metrics like clicks, open rates, and conversions to identify what’s working and what isn’t. 

Experiment with marketing elements through A/B testing to optimize campaign messaging. Use these refined tactics to re-target and nurture interested leads.

7) Measure what matters

It’s easy to get lost in the details with B2B demand gen. Generating leads and demand is great, but if the pipeline isn’t improving in velocity or conversions, then something is amiss. 

Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, which is to increase win rates for the sales team. Track sales and marketing KPIs to compare and contrast performance. Use insights to adjust tactics for a more cohesive and consistent customer journey. 

B2B demand generation metrics

Monitoring and evaluating campaign performance is standard practice. For the best results, you need to track the most relevant demand generation metrics. 

1) Cost per acquisition

Cost per acquisition (CPA) is the amount you spend to acquire a specific prospect, such as gaining a lead. It provides a granular view of your marketing process, evaluating each touchpoint. If certain stages require a greater CPA, it’s worth assessing and optimizing the interaction. 

CPA also adds context to your average customer acquisition cost (CAC). CAC is a critical key performance indicator (KPI) for any B2B company. That’s because the average CAC can be as high as $1,450—that’s a lot of dough, depending on the return! 

Use CPA to evaluate your demand generation efforts and CAC to evaluate your overall sales and marketing strategy. 

2) Customer lifetime value

In B2B, customer lifetime value (CLV) is the total revenue you expect to bring in from a specific customer. The amount takes into account CAC and retention costs, leaving you with a net projected increase.

Demand generation is all about creating long-lasting partnerships by building trust and credibility. How do you know if you’re creating strong customer relationships? By the amount they spend on your products and services. 

CLV clearly indicates if you’re nurturing acquisitions for long partnerships or if your product or customer services are failing to deliver and meet post-sale expectations.

3) Demand generation cycle length

Demand generation cycle length is the average time it takes for a prospect to move from awareness to becoming an MQL. The metric can also be used to measure the time from the first point of contact to becoming a paying customer. 

Cycle length indicates whether your tactics are effective and aligned with your sales processes. Shorter cycle lengths signify alignment and efficiency. Longer cycles may result from inconsistent messaging, gaps in the buyer journey, and other obstacles. 

Who performs B2B demand generation?

Who’s responsible for creating and nurturing demand, marketing, or sales? The answer is that it depends on your overall sales strategy and where each activity resides in your designed process. Regardless, demand generation is a team effort that requires close collaboration.

A demand generation manager guides team members to research the market and create tailored, informative content. They work with several stakeholders across several teams. This includes the marketing, sales, service, success, and IT departments. 

Marketing and/or sales often bear the bulk of the responsibility. However, team members from nearly all business areas contribute to demand generation.

How to structure a B2B demand generation team

An efficient B2B demand generation plan involves clear role definitions, collaboration between sales and marketing, and leveraging of data insights to drive targeted outreach. 

It also requires cross-functional collaboration to maximize results. The ideal structure depends on your company’s size, budget, and sales complexity. 

Here are a few of the key positions typically involved in B2B demand generation:

B2B demand generation leader

The demand generation leader is typically a more senior role than the demand generation manager. They guide the overall demand generation strategy. The leader aligns marketing and sales goals, manages budgets, and measures ROI. They ensure campaigns target the right audience and continuously optimize performance.

B2B demand generation strategist

The demand generation strategist lays the groundwork for your demand creation, capture, and lead conversion. It’s their job to deeply understand who your ideal customers are and what messaging and experiences are most engaging to them. Using their knowledge and insight, they guide marketing and conversion optimization. 

B2B demand generation executive

A demand generation executive focuses on the day-to-day execution of your campaigns. They work closely with your sales and marketing teams to implement tactics and monitor results. 

Content marketing executive

Content marketing execs create content-based touchpoints for your demand generation strategy. They help curate blogs, webinars, social media posts, and other activities to create interest and raise brand authority.

Subject matter expert

Subject matter experts (SMEs) possess a deep knowledge of your product, industry, and customer needs. They help support the creation of personalized, relevant content. They also ensure marketing messages are authentic and accurate. SMES may be brought in for solution proposals, objection handling, and closing deals.

What is the role of sales in B2B demand generation?

With large buying groups, many B2B buyers are adopting self-service digital channels. At the same time, Gartner reports that B2B buyers are 1.8 times more likely to complete a high–quality deal when a sales rep is involved. 

Traditional sales approach

A traditional sales approach is becoming outdated. Modern firms spend a lot of time researching products and making decisions before getting in touch.

Characteristics of a traditional sales approach include:

• Using outbound methods, such as mass emails and sponsored social media ads that target general customers.

• Sending automated email sequences, which have little personalization, to prospects after capturing contact information through gated content.

• Giving marketing brochures with product information and specifications to recipients in person or over email.

• Focusing on short-term revenue and making a sale.

B2B demand generation sales approach

The modern B2B demand generation sales approach adapts to today’s buyer-led journey. It focuses on data-driven, personalized engagement and deeper collaboration with marketing.

Key characteristics include:

• Leveraging intent data and behavioral signals to prioritize high-quality, sales-ready leads.

• Personalizing outreach with tailored content and solutions that address specific prospect pain points.

• Collaborating closely with marketing teams to ensure messaging consistency and seamless lead nurturing.

• Emphasizing long-term relationship building and customer success over quick wins.

• Using consultative selling to guide prospects through complex buying decisions with educational support.

What features should the best B2B demand generation software include?

You and your team don’t have to generate demand all on your own. There are plenty of tools for B2B demand generation to streamline your process. 

Must-have features include:

1. Target account identification: Enable precise targeting by identifying and prioritizing ideal customer profiles. Target account identification matches accounts based on firmographic, behavioral, and intent data.

2. Lead enrichment and scoring: Enrich lead data with detailed firmographics and technographics. This feature scores leads based on engagement and buying signals to focus sales efforts.

3. Omnichannel campaign management: Manage email, social media, paid ads, and other channels from a single platform to support the creation, deployment, and tracking of campaigns. 

4. Marketing automation and nurturing: Automate personalized email drip campaigns and lead-nurturing workflows. This moves prospects through the buyer journey efficiently.

5. Real-time analytics and reporting: Track campaign performance and ROI with dashboards and live reports that provide actionable insights. 

6. CRM integration: Sync data with your customer relationship management systems seamlessly. Maintain consistent, up-to-date lead and customer account records.

7. Compliance and data protection: Ensure adherence to data privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, with robust security protocols to protect sensitive customer information.

B2B demand generation future trends

Everything in marketing adapts over time. B2B demand generation tactics must evolve alongside technology. Advancements include marketing automation and AI for a buyer-led and more efficient process. 

Concurrently, you must also adjust your demand generation tactics to meet the changing expectations and needs of the market. You want to consistently deliver customized, valuable content and experiences. 

What prospects find helpful and relevant today may not be useful tomorrow. Stay on top of your target audience by tracking B2B data and regularly updating your ICP and buyer personas.  

The impact of AI and machine learning

It’s not breaking news that AI and machine learning (ML) are changing the way we work and how businesses operate. With demand generation, new and emerging technologies stand to deliver hyper-personalized marketing campaigns. 

What’s even more disruptive is that AI and ML will become more accessible for smaller B2B firms and even small B2C businesses. 

Customer expectations will continue to gravitate toward personalization and digital self-service interactions. You can leverage AI tools and third-party data providers to automate analysis and customer insights. Your team will spend less time uncovering prospects and more time creating and capturing demand. 

Maximize your growth opportunities with B2B demand generation

There's no better way to source increased and better opportunities than with a B2B demand generation strategy. Use content marketing and ABM to tailor personalized, educational messaging and interactions. After creating awareness and demand, nurture leads with consistent messaging and aligned touchpoints. 

Follow our B2B demand generation best practices and use the right tools. Platforms like Dealfront offer many solutions to help you get the best return on investment from your demand generation efforts. 

Our Leadfeeder solution identifies anonymous firms that visit your website and show buying intent—discover exceptional customers beyond industry norms!

Connect by Dealfront helps drive account-based marketing and demand creation. Trigger events keep you informed on high-value accounts and update and enrich your CRM data. 

Other solutions, like Target and Promote, help you leverage B2B data to tailor your demand generation campaigns to each high-value prospect. 

Not convinced? Request a demo with Dealfront and start generating demand today!