Demand Gen Campaigns

Demand Gen Campaigns in Cincinnati

Most advertising on Google captures demand that already exists. Someone searches, you show an ad. Demand Gen campaigns work differently. They place visual ads in YouTube feeds, Gmail, and Google Discover to reach people before they search, based on their interests, browsing behavior, and similarity to your existing customers, building interest and consideration that drives conversions later. For businesses that rely entirely on Search campaigns, Demand Gen opens a channel to reach potential customers who have not started looking yet but match the profile of people who buy from you.

Good Pup Digital manages Demand Gen campaigns for Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky businesses as part of a full-funnel strategy, not as a standalone experiment. You work with the owner, you own the ad account, and there is no long-term contract. Demand Gen works best when it feeds into Search and Performance Max campaigns that capture the demand it creates. A prospect sees your Demand Gen ad in their YouTube feed on Tuesday, then searches your service category on Thursday, and your Search campaign captures that click. Without Demand Gen, that person may never have searched at all. That also means the KPIs are different, and we measure success through view-through conversions and assisted conversions rather than direct clicks.

Where Demand Gen Ads Appear

Demand Gen campaigns run across three Google properties, each with different user behavior and ad formats:

• YouTube. In-feed video ads and Shorts ads appear alongside organic content, where users are in a browsing and discovery mindset, not actively searching. This is where visual storytelling and product demonstrations work well. Unlike dedicated YouTube campaigns, which offer full targeting and format control, Demand Gen’s YouTube placements focus on conversion-optimized delivery within feed environments.
• Gmail. Ads appear in the Promotions and Social tabs. They look like collapsed emails and expand when clicked, showing your images, headlines, and call to action, and they reach people in a personal, attention-focused environment where they are already reading and processing information.
• Google Discover. This is Demand Gen’s most unique placement. Discover is the personalized content feed on the Google app and mobile Chrome homepage, and hundreds of millions of people scroll it daily, seeing articles, videos, and products tailored to their interests. Demand Gen is one of the only ways to place ads natively in this feed, between news articles and content recommendations.

Demand Gen vs Discovery Campaigns

Demand Gen replaced Discovery campaigns in late 2023. It runs on the same placements (YouTube, Gmail, and Discover) but adds video ad support, Shorts placements, lookalike audience segments, A/B experiments at the campaign level, and more bidding strategy options. If you were running Discovery campaigns before, Demand Gen is the upgraded version with more creative formats and targeting capabilities.

How We Manage Demand Gen Campaigns

• Creative strategy and asset development. Demand Gen is a visual-first campaign type, so the quality of your images and video directly determines performance. At minimum you need landscape images (1200×628), square images (1200×1200), and compelling headlines and descriptions, and video in horizontal, vertical, and square formats significantly improves performance because it unlocks YouTube feed and Shorts placements. We size assets for each placement, and each asset group targets a distinct audience segment or stage of the buying journey. A home services business might run one asset group with project inspiration imagery for homeowners in consideration mode and another with offer-driven creative for people closer to hiring. Stock photos with text overlays typically underperform compared to authentic brand imagery, product photography, or video that feels native to the feed.
• Audience targeting and lookalike segments. Demand Gen offers targeting options that Search does not have. Lookalike segments let you reach new users who share characteristics with your existing customers, which we build from your customer email lists, website converters, and CRM data. In-market audiences target people actively researching your category, and custom segments target based on search behavior, app usage, and website visits. We start narrow with high-intent signals and expand as the algorithm learns which audience combinations convert.
• Bidding strategy and funnel alignment. Demand Gen supports both conversion-based and engagement-based bidding. For businesses with strong conversion tracking, we use maximize conversions or target CPA to find the users most likely to convert, and for awareness and consideration campaigns, click-based bidding means you pay for engagement rather than impressions. Demand Gen can drive direct conversions when targeting warm audiences like website visitors, past customers, or lookalike segments built from converter data. Its primary strength is the consideration phase, so we run both: conversion campaigns for warm audiences and awareness campaigns for new audiences that feed your Search and PMax conversion campaigns.
• Conversion path tracking. The biggest challenge with Demand Gen is attribution. Someone sees your ad in Discover, does not click, but searches your business name two days later and converts through a Search ad, so the Search campaign gets the credit even though Demand Gen created the awareness. We set up view-through conversion tracking and cross-campaign attribution analysis, monitor branded search volume before and after launch, track assisted conversions in Google Analytics, and compare total account conversions before and after launch to measure the incremental lift.
• A/B testing and creative optimization. Demand Gen runs A/B experiments at the campaign level, so we use them to find which image styles drive clicks in Discover, which video lengths perform best on YouTube Shorts, and which audience segments convert at the lowest cost. Creative fatigue happens faster in feed environments because users see the same ads repeatedly, so we rotate creative regularly and monitor engagement to catch performance decline before it affects results.

Demand Gen vs Your Other Campaigns

Understanding where Demand Gen fits relative to your other channels prevents overlap and wasted budget:

• Demand Gen vs Search. Search captures existing demand from people actively looking, and Demand Gen creates new demand by reaching people before they search. Running both means you are generating demand and harvesting it.
• Demand Gen vs Performance Max. PMax also runs in YouTube, Gmail, and Discover, but with less control over creative and audience targeting. Demand Gen gives you more granular targeting, lookalike audiences, and A/B testing, so we typically use it for upper-funnel consideration and PMax for conversion optimization across all channels.
• Demand Gen vs YouTube Ads. Dedicated YouTube campaigns offer full control, including skippable in-stream, bumper ads, masthead placements, and detailed audience targeting, while Demand Gen’s YouTube component is limited to feed and Shorts placements. If YouTube is a major channel for you, run both: YouTube campaigns for brand building and Demand Gen for conversion-focused feed placements.
• Demand Gen vs Display. Display shows banner ads across the Google Display Network, while Demand Gen is native feed advertising in Google’s own properties. Display retargeting is better for recapturing website visitors, and Demand Gen is better for reaching new audiences in high-attention environments.
• Demand Gen vs Meta. Meta’s feed-based ad experience is the closest comparison, since both reach users in browsing mode with visual creative. The difference is inventory: Meta reaches people on Facebook and Instagram, and Demand Gen reaches them on YouTube, Gmail, and Discover. Running both expands your upper-funnel reach across platforms.

Common Demand Gen Mistakes

• Using Search creative for a feed environment. Text-heavy ads with generic stock photos fail in Demand Gen because they compete with organic content in YouTube feeds and Discover. Your ad needs to look like it belongs there, not like a banner ad pasted into a content feed, so we create native-feeling visual assets that match the browsing context of each placement.
• Expecting direct-response metrics from an awareness channel. Demand Gen sits higher in the funnel than Search, so judging it purely on cost per conversion misses its value. The right metrics are assisted conversions, view-through conversions, and branded search lift. If your branded search volume increases after launch, the campaign is creating demand even when the direct conversion numbers are small.
• Running Demand Gen without Search to capture the demand it creates. If you do not have Search campaigns running to capture the resulting searches, your competitors will. Demand Gen without Search is like running TV ads without being listed in the phone book, because you are paying to create interest that someone else converts.
• Targeting too broadly. Starting with wide-open targeting burns budget while the algorithm learns. We start with tight audience signals (customer lists and high-intent in-market segments) and expand gradually as conversion data accumulates.
• Ignoring creative fatigue. Feed environments show your ads to the same audiences repeatedly, and performance degrades as users see the same images and videos. A Demand Gen campaign that looked great in month one can underperform by month three if the creative has not been refreshed, so we monitor click-through rates and engagement weekly.
• Not connecting to your CRM. Like all Google campaign types, Demand Gen performs better when it knows which leads became customers. Feeding offline conversion data back into the campaign lets the algorithm optimize for qualified leads rather than just form fills or clicks.

For businesses also running Shopping campaigns, Demand Gen can showcase your product imagery in Discover and YouTube feeds, driving product awareness to audiences who match your customer profile but have not searched yet. If you have invested in Google Business Profile optimization, the brand awareness Demand Gen creates often translates to increased direct searches and profile views as users who saw your ad later look you up by name.

Businesses using Local Services Ads for immediate lead capture can layer Demand Gen on top to build the brand recognition that makes their LSA listing stand out when a potential customer is comparing options. The familiarity from seeing your business in a Demand Gen ad days earlier can be the difference between someone choosing your listing over a competitor’s.

How Much Does Demand Gen Cost?

Budget depends on your goals and market. As a higher-funnel campaign, Demand Gen needs enough budget to reach meaningful audience sizes and generate sufficient data for the algorithm to optimize. We typically recommend starting with a daily budget that can generate at least 50 to 100 clicks per day, then adjusting based on conversion path data. Businesses spending less than $1,500 per month on Search and Performance Max should focus on those channels first before adding Demand Gen.