Demand Gen, for when search has hit its ceiling
Only so many people in Brisbane type your category into Google each month. Once you own that, more budget just buys the same clicks at a worse price. Demand Gen is what you do next, and it is not what most people expect.
What it is, in plain terms
Google's campaign type for YouTube, Discover and Gmail. It targets people who are not searching yet but look like the people who eventually do. It replaced Discovery campaigns, and it behaves far more like paid social than like search.
So judge it like paid social. Creative carries it, the feedback loop is slower, and expecting search-style return in week one is the fastest way to switch it off before it has told you anything.
When it works, and when I will push back
- It works when a search campaign is already running well and has hit its limit. That is the normal starting point.
- It works when what you sell needs explaining before anyone thinks to look for it.
- It works badly as a first channel, because you are paying to create demand you have not yet proven you can convert. If it is the first thing you ask for, expect me to argue.
Measuring it without lying to yourself
Upper-funnel work does not attribute cleanly, and anyone who tells you it does is selling a dashboard. What you can do is real: watch branded search volume, direct traffic and total lead flow move together while it runs, and where the business is big enough, hold back a region as a control.
Then read the whole picture rather than one row in a report. That is slower and more honest than a last-click number, and it is the only way to know whether the channel earned its keep.
Demand Gen, straight answers
How is Demand Gen different from Performance Max?
Performance Max chases people close to buying and takes over your whole account's inventory to find them. Demand Gen deliberately reaches people earlier, on YouTube, Discover and Gmail, and gives you real control over creative and audience. They are complementary, not alternatives.
What creative do I need?
Video helps a great deal and does not need to be expensive. Vertical phone footage that shows the real thing works. Static images alone will run, but on YouTube you are competing for attention with one hand tied.
How long before it works?
Longer than search. Plan on six to eight weeks before the numbers mean anything, and budget so it gets a fair run. A four-week trial on a small budget tells you nothing and costs you the money anyway.
Can it be measured properly?
Partly. It will never attribute as cleanly as search. A holdout region, branded search volume and total lead flow together get you close enough to make a real decision.
Usually done alongside
Want a read on your demand gen?
Send access or a screenshot of the last ninety days. You get an honest assessment of what is working and what is quietly wasting money, whether or not it turns into work.
8am to 5pm AEST, Monday to Friday. I answer the phone myself, and if I am in the middle of something I ring back the same day.
- 01Send
Read access to the account, or screenshots of the last ninety days.
- 02I read it
And write back in plain language: what is working, what is wasting money, what I would do first.
- 03You decide
No pitch deck, no follow-up sequence. If the account is fine, I tell you that and we are done.