Glossary
Demand Gen (Demand Generation)
Demand Gen (Demand Generation) is a marketing strategy focused on creating awareness and interest in a product or service before prospects enter an active buying cycle. It spans content marketing, social media, video ads, events, and programmatic display — channels that reach users before they search. In Google Ads, Demand Gen campaigns serve visually rich, AI-optimized ads across YouTube, Gmail, and Discover, using audience signals and first-party data to reach prospective customers. Unlike lead generation, which captures intent that already exists, demand generation creates intent where none existed, filling the top of the funnel so that paid search and retargeting channels have a larger, warmer audience to convert. Effective demand gen strategies combine storytelling, social proof, and audience targeting to build mental availability — making a brand the obvious choice when the prospect eventually enters a buying window and begins actively searching for solutions.