Demand Generation: A Complete Guide for 2025 

What is demand generation? 

Demand generation is the strategic, integrated approach to creating awareness, interest, and engagement around your products or services with the ultimate goal of driving revenue.  

While often mistakenly reduced to simply “lead generation,” true demand generation encompasses the entire revenue journey — from initial awareness to closed deals and beyond. 

For B2B organizations, particularly those with complex sales cycles, demand generation serves as the engine that powers sustainable growth. It’s not just about filling the top of the funnel with prospects; it’s about cultivating genuine interest that converts to pipeline opportunities and, ultimately, revenue. 

Modern B2B demand generation is about identifying and engaging buying groups — not just individual leads — at the right moment in their journey with messaging that resonates with their specific needs. This approach recognizes that:  

• B2B purchase decisions are made collectively by teams, not individuals. 
• Most buying activity happens anonymously before any form is filled out. 

What is B2B demand generation? 

B2B demand generation focuses specifically on creating awareness and interest among potential business buyers. Unlike B2C marketing, which targets individual consumers, B2B demand generation must account for: 

• Multiple stakeholders involved in purchase decisions (typically 10-11 individuals) 
• Longer sales cycles (typically 11.5 months) 
• Higher-value transactions with greater scrutiny 
• Complex solutions that solve sophisticated business challenges 

Example: A cybersecurity software company implements a B2B demand generation strategy that includes:  

• Thought leadership content about emerging threats 
• Educational webinars featuring industry experts 
• Targeted account advertising to companies in high-risk industries 
• Personalized outreach to security decision-makers within those organizations 

Rather than simply collecting contact information, they focus on identifying accounts showing active research on security solutions and engaging entire buying committees with relevant messaging. 

What is demand generation marketing? 

Demand generation marketing refers to the collective marketing activities designed to create awareness and interest among potential buyers. It blends art and science — combining compelling messaging and creative with data-driven targeting and measurement. 

Effective B2B demand generation marketing recognizes that prospects don’t move linearly through a funnel but rather engage in various touchpoints across channels before making a purchase decision. It requires both strategic planning and tactical execution across multiple channels, including: 

• Content marketing (blogs, whitepapers, case studies) 
• Digital advertising and retargeting 
• Email and marketing automation 
• Events and webinars 
• Social media engagement 
• Public relations and thought leadership 
• Partner marketing and co-selling initiatives 

The goal is not just to generate leads but to create genuine interest and demand for your solutions among the accounts most likely to purchase. 

The evolution of demand generation 

From outbound to inbound: The historical perspective 

Originally, B2B demand generation relied heavily on outbound tactics like cold calling, mass mailing, and trade shows. Success was often measured by the volume of leads passed to sales, regardless of quality or buyer-readiness.  

In the 2000s, as digital channels emerged, inbound marketing gained prominence. Organizations began focusing on pulling prospects through content marketing rather than pushing messages outward. Lead scoring systems were developed to gauge interest levels based on demographic data and engagement metrics. 

However, both approaches were centered on the individual lead, which created fundamental disconnects with how B2B purchasing actually happens.  

Research from Forrester has documented for over a decade that B2B buying has always been a team sport. Former Forester analyst and 6sense Head of Thought Leadership Kerry Cunningham took a fresh look at the evolution of B2B buying behavior by interviewing over 2,500 recent buyers. One insight from his B2B Buyer Experience Report: Purchase decisions are now made by committees averaging 10-11 stakeholders across multiple departments. 

The current state of B2B demand generation 

Today’s most advanced B2B demand generation programs have evolved in several critical ways: 

From lead-centric to account-based: Only about 3% of web visitors convert to form-fills, with up to 90% of identifiable account visitors remaining anonymous throughout their buying journeys. This data has driven a shift toward account-based strategies that use intent data and other buying signals to identify and engage entire buying groups, not just individuals who complete forms. 

From volume-focused to intent-driven: Rather than generating as many leads as possible, modern demand generation prioritizes identifying accounts showing genuine buying signals. According to the Buyer Experience Report, on average only about 5-7% of a company’s target accounts are actively in-market for solutions during any given quarter. Focusing on these high-intent accounts dramatically improves conversion rates and sales efficiency. 

From siloed departments to aligned revenue teams: Best-in-class organizations have broken down the traditional barriers between marketing, sales, and customer success to create unified revenue teams working toward shared goals. 

From MQLs to MQAs: Instead of Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), leading companies focus on Marketing Qualified Accounts (MQAs) that demonstrate collective buying intent across multiple stakeholders. Companies that have implemented account-based programs report significant increases in average deal size. 

Demand gen success story: 6sense and Morningstar

Uran Kabashi, Director of Demand Gen & ABM at Morningstar, says the financial services industry leader achieved their pipeline and revenue goals by implementing 6sense.

Morningstar was able to leverage AI and predictive models to better understand their customers and target them more effectively.

Here are three tips to see the same success:

1. Shifting From brand-focused to customer-focused marketing

When a brand starts, it makes sense to do some work with brand- and feature-focused marketing. That’s foundational awareness work a company can build on.

But to reach beyond those fundamentals, companies need to also reach prospects with information that directly connects value to need. You need to understand pain points and address them.

“The more targeted you are, the more relevant you are to your customer, the more you’re customer-centric, it allows you to have better engagement overall. You’re not spraying and praying with digital ads, people who don’t even care to see your message,” Kabashi explained.

2. Align sales and marketing motions to scale

Audience segmentation sharpens campaign focus for marketers, and alerts help sales reps understand who to call and when.

These techniques pay off in increased purchase opportunities and improved engagement with your target audience.

As soon as they saw the results, Morningstar’s sales team wanted more, Kabashi said. “They wanted to know, ‘How do we get access to this data more frequently? How do we get a sales intelligence widget?’’ ‘How do we get alerts?’”

Giving sales access to a demand gen dashboard to help them drive even more outcomes was a win across the revenue team.

3. Pilot and expand strategically

If you have multiple audience segments and/or multiple products, you don’t have to deploy your demand generation strategy across all of them at one time.

Morningstar, for instance, started with one value proposition on their flagship product to use as a test attractor, and as that campaign saw success, expanded — and continues to expand — with messaging, products, targets, and lines of business.

But the buy-in yielded from the success of those first efforts means the entire revenue team is on board for these future efforts.

You can hear the full story of Morningstar’s successful demand gen process here.

Demand generation players and platforms 

The demand generation technology landscape has evolved to support more sophisticated, account-based approaches. Key players include: 

CRMs 

• Salesforce: The dominant CRM system that serves as the foundation for many demand generation programs, storing customer and prospect information. 
• Microsoft Dynamics: Enterprise CRM solution that integrates with Microsoft’s broader business application ecosystem. 
• HubSpot: Popular platform that combines marketing, sales, and service tools. 

MAPs 

• Marketo: Enterprise-grade marketing automation platform (now part of Adobe Experience Cloud). 
• Pardot: B2B marketing automation by Salesforce that integrates deeply with their CRM. 

ABM platforms 

• 6sense: A comprehensive Revenue Intelligence platform that uses AI to analyze more than a trillion pieces of B2B buyer data per day, predict which accounts are in-market, and orchestrate multi-channel campaigns to engage buying groups. 6sense’s unique differentiators include: 
  • The ability to de-anonymize web traffic and connect it to known accounts 
  • AI-powered buying stage prediction that identifies accounts in active buying cycles 
  • Account-based orchestration that coordinates campaigns across channels 
  • Full customer journey analytics from anonymous research to closed revenue 
• Demandbase: ABM platform focusing on account identification, intent data, and targeted advertising. 
• Terminus: ABM platform with strengths in digital advertising and email signature marketing. 

Data and Intent Providers 

• 6sense: The Sales Intelligence platform highlights the accounts most likely to buy, reveals key decision-makers to connect with, makes contact acquisition and outreach activation, and provides recommended actions to help sellers drive deals forward. It works seamlessly with 6sense’s Revenue Marketing platform, which detects intent data and other buying signals, alerts marketing and sales to in-market accounts, and enables teams to easily launch omnichannel campaigns to influence buyers. 
• ZoomInfo: Comprehensive B2B database provider with contact and company information. 
• Bombora: Third-party intent data provider tracking research activity across B2B publication networks. 
• G2: Review platform that offers buyer intent data based on product research activity. 

Content engagement platforms 

• PathFactory: Content engagement platform that personalizes the content experience. 
• Drift: Conversational marketing platform for real-time website engagement. 

While many platforms deliver value in specific areas, 6sense’s approach is unique in providing full-journey intelligence and orchestration capabilities that unite marketing and sales around in-market accounts and buying groups — addressing the fundamental challenge of connecting anonymous buying activity to revenue opportunities. 

How to build a demand generation strategy 

Creating an effective B2B demand generation strategy requires a systematic approach. Here’s a framework based on 6sense’s methodology: 

1. Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) 

Start by clearly defining the characteristics of organizations that represent your best-fit customers: 

• Company size (revenue, employees) 
• Industry or vertical 
• Geographic location 
• Technology stack 
• Business model 
• Growth stage 
• Key challenges and pain points 

Beyond defining your ICP, 6sense recommends creating a Dynamic Target Account List that uses AI to identify which accounts within your ICP are currently showing buying signals—what they term the “in-market ICP.” This focused approach ensures resources are concentrated on accounts with the highest likelihood of purchase. 

2. Map buying committee roles 

B2B purchases involve multiple stakeholders with different priorities and concerns. According to the 2024 Buyer Experience Report, the typical B2B buying group consists of 10-11 decision makers, with complex B2B purchases involving significantly more stakeholders. Identify the key roles typically involved in purchasing your solution: 

• Economic buyer (approves budget) 
• Technical buyer (evaluates solution fit) 
• User buyer (day-to-day implementation) 
• Champions and influencers 

Understanding the composition of typical buying groups allows you to create content and engagement strategies that address the specific concerns of each stakeholder. 

3. Analyze the buyer’s journey 

Document how buying committees move from problem awareness to purchase decision: 

• Common triggers that initiate the buying process 
• Research channels and information sources they consult 
• Evaluation criteria and decision-making process 
• Typical objections and concerns at each stage 
• Average timeframe from awareness to decision 

The 2024 Buyer Experience Report shows companies must engage prospects much earlier than traditionally thought. Their data indicates buyers are typically 69% through their journey before engaging with sales, making early, anonymous-stage engagement critical. 

4. Develop a multi-channel engagement plan 

Create coordinated touchpoints across channels to engage target accounts at each stage of their journey: 

• Thought leadership content (blogs, research reports) 
• Educational content (webinars, whitepapers) 
• Paid media (display advertising, paid search) 
• Email nurture sequences 
• Social media engagement 
• Events (virtual and in-person) 
• Direct sales outreach 

The key is orchestrating these touchpoints to create a cohesive experience for buying committee members as they move through their journey. 6sense’s platform enables this orchestration by triggering appropriate actions based on account buying stages and engagement signals. 

5. Implement account scoring and routing processes 

Establish processes to evaluate account engagement and readiness for sales conversations: 

• Account-level scoring based on fit, intent, and engagement 
• Buying stage identification criteria 
• Handoff protocols between marketing and sales 
• Account routing rules 

6sense recommends moving beyond traditional lead scoring to AI-driven predictions that consider buying group engagement patterns, intent signals, and historical conversion data to identify which accounts are truly in-market. 

6. Align sales and marketing teams 

Create shared understanding and processes between sales and marketing: 

• Common definitions and terminology 
• Shared goals and metrics 
• Joint account planning sessions 
• Feedback loops for continuous improvement 
• Clear roles and responsibilities at each buying stage 

7. Establish measurement and optimization framework 

Define how you’ll measure the impact of demand generation efforts: 

• Leading indicators (account engagement, buying intent) 
• Pipeline metrics (opportunities created, pipeline velocity) 
• Revenue outcomes (closed deals, customer lifetime value) 

The focus should be on measuring impact throughout the revenue funnel, not just at the top — tracking how demand generation activities influence pipeline creation, acceleration, and closed revenue. 

Demand generation best practices 

To maximize the effectiveness of your B2B demand generation efforts, follow these best practices informed by 6sense’s research and customer success stories: 

1. Focus on in-market accounts 

Not all companies in your target market are actively looking to buy. Only 5-7% of accounts in your total addressable market are in-market at any given time. By identifying and prioritizing these in-market accounts, you can: 

• Concentrate resources where they’ll have the greatest impact 
• Engage prospects when they’re most receptive 
• Increase conversion rates and sales efficiency 
• Reduce wasted efforts on accounts not ready to buy 

Use intent data and predictive analytics to identify which accounts are showing active buying signals rather than spreading resources thinly across your entire database. 

2. Engage anonymous buyers early 

The vast majority of B2B research happens anonymously. According to the Buyer Experience Report, B2B buyers consume an average of 17 content pieces per vendor before deciding, with most of this research happening anonymously.  

Buyers resist filling out forms, so the common tactic of hiding valuable content behind a contact form is self-defeating. You want buyers to read your content so they can build affinity and earn consideration. 

Buyers spend only 30% of their purchase journey meeting with potential suppliers, and 81% of buyers have picked a winner before they even speak with a sales rep.  

To succeed: 

• Implement technologies that de-anonymize web traffic 
• Create ungated content that’s easily accessible 
• Use account-based advertising to reach buying groups 
• Develop nurture strategies that don’t rely on form submissions 

Early engagement gives you the opportunity to shape buying criteria before competitors have a chance to establish themselves as the preferred choice. 

3. Personalize at the account and persona level 

Generic messaging no longer resonates with sophisticated B2B buyers. Effective personalization includes: 

• Industry-specific messaging and case studies 
• Role-based content addressing specific stakeholder concerns 
• Account-level customization reflecting known challenges 
• Buying stage-appropriate calls to action 

6sense’s orchestration capabilities can help deliver the right message to the right person at the right time, based on their role in the buying process and their account’s buying stage. 

4. Coordinate multi-channel outreach 

B2B buying groups consume information across multiple channels. Coordinated multi-channel campaigns create reinforcing touchpoints: 

• Display advertising to build awareness 
• Email nurtures to deliver relevant content 
• SDR outreach to high-value accounts 
• Social engagement to amplify thought leadership 
• Event invitations for face-to-face interactions 

The key is ensuring consistency across channels while tailoring the approach to each channel’s strengths. 

5. Align content to buying stages 

Different content formats and topics resonate at different stages of the buying process: 

• Awareness: Thought leadership addressing industry challenges 
• Consideration: Solution-focused content describing approaches 
• Decision: Validation content like case studies and ROI calculators 

6sense recommends mapping content to buying stages and then using AI-driven predictive analytics to deliver the right content based on an account’s current stage. 

6. Break down sales and marketing silos 

Effective demand generation requires tight coordination between sales and marketing: 

• Establish common definitions and terminology 
• Create shared goals and success metrics 
• Implement joint account planning processes 
• Develop feedback loops for continuous improvement 
• Build technology integrations that provide a single view of account activity 

7. Measure what matters 

Focus on metrics that connect to revenue outcomes rather than activity metrics: 

• Account engagement over lead volume 
• Pipeline generation over form fills 
• Revenue impact over campaign response rates 
• Customer lifetime value over short-term conversions 

6sense’s analytics capabilities help organizations track and attribute revenue impact across the entire customer journey, from anonymous research to closed deals. 

Demand generation vs. lead generation 

One of the most common misconceptions in B2B marketing is equating demand generation with lead generation. While related, they serve fundamentally different purposes in the revenue ecosystem. 

Lead generation 

The process of collecting contact information from potential customers, typically through form submissions, event registrations, or direct outreach. 

• Primary goal: Create a database of prospects that sales can contact. 
• Key metrics: Number of leads, cost per lead, form completion rates. 
• Typical tactics: Gated content, webinar registrations, contact forms, list purchases. 
• Limitations: Focuses on individuals rather than buying groups; often disconnected from the actual buying process. 

Demand generation 

The holistic approach to creating awareness, interest, and engagement around your solutions to drive pipeline and revenue. 

• Primary goal: Create genuine demand that results in pipeline opportunities and closed revenue. 
• Key metrics: Pipeline generated, opportunity creation rate, revenue influenced, account engagement. 
• Typical tactics: Thought leadership, ungated content, account-based advertising, buying group engagement. 
• Advantages: Aligns with how B2B buying actually happens; connects marketing activities to revenue outcomes. 

Lead generation alone is fundamentally misaligned with B2B buying behavior for several reasons: 

1. The anonymity gap: B2B buying groups conduct the first 70% of their research journey anonymously and make key decisions about which vendors they’ll consider during this selection phase. And only a tiny fraction of people who visit your website will even fill out a form. If you wait for people to fill out forms, you will miss many potential customers and will also forfeit most of your opportunity to influence buying decisions. 
2. The buying group reality: The average B2B purchase involves 10-11 decision makers. Lead generation focuses on capturing individual contacts, providing an incomplete picture of account engagement.  
3. The bad timing/bad lead paradox: The B2B Buyer Experience Report shows that buyers don’t want to talk to sales until they’re ready. If you rely on contact forms and gated content, some motivated prospects will fill out the form just to get the information they need to continue their independent research. What happens next? A seller calls and emails and texts the “lead,” and gets no response. The lead is written off as “bad.” But that’s not always the right assessment. Often, sellers are simply reaching out to future buyers before they’re ready to buy. Good leads get abandoned. 
4. The quality issue: The average conversion rate from marketing-qualified lead (MQL) to closed deal is remarkably inefficient, creating a lot of thankless work for sales teams who spend inordinate amounts of time filtering out low quality leads. 

While lead generation still has a place in the marketing toolkit, organizations must evolve toward a more comprehensive demand generation approach that recognizes the collective nature of B2B buying. 

Rather than focusing on an individual lead, teams should look at the total activity within a target account — including forms fills and anonymous research activity for both known contacts and unknown individuals associated with an account.