TL;DR: Demand Gen in Google Ads is your secret weapon for proactive brand-building
Demand Generation (Demand Gen) campaigns in Google Ads redefine audience engagement by leveraging YouTube, Gmail, and Discover for creative, audience-first advertising. Unlike traditional search ads, they use behavioral data and immersive visual formats to reach potential customers who don’t yet realize they need your product.
• Ideal for top-of-funnel awareness through storytelling and visual content.
• Overlooked due to unfamiliarity, but highly effective with clicks costing $0.50, $2.
• Key to success: engaging assets, strategic bidding, and iterative testing.
CTA: Start a Demand Gen campaign now and transform your brand strategy with Google Ads!
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Why Demand Gen is the Most Underrated Campaign Type in Google Ads
Google Ads has always been a cornerstone for digital marketers, but a quiet revolution in campaign types is happening. For many entrepreneurs, discovering the power behind Demand Generation (Demand Gen) campaigns can be a game-changer. As a serial entrepreneur myself, I’ve tested the waters with nearly every type of campaign, but Demand Gen has become my secret weapon, and I believe it’s massively underrated. Let’s explore why this hidden gem deserves your attention, how to unlock its potential, and what strategies can make the most of it.
What Makes Demand Gen Stand Out in 2026?
Demand Gen campaigns utilize Google’s premier audience-driven platforms like YouTube, Gmail, and Discover. Rather than focusing on search intent like conventional search ads, Demand Gen shifts gears entirely. It pushes creative advertisements based on audience signals, who they are, what interests them, and how they behave online. This is a dramatic departure from keyword-based targeting and opens new opportunities for engaging customers who don’t yet know they need your product or service.
- High-quality ad placements across YouTube, Gmail, and Google Discover.
- Audience-centric targeting using rich behavioral data.
- Supports immersive ad formats like video, carousel, and product feeds.
- Allows deeper audience engagement compared to traditional Display Ads.
To put it simply, Demand Gen is perfect for capturing attention at the top of the funnel, where brand awareness begins. It’s the campaign type for visual storytelling, deeply aligned with how consumers scroll, stream, and shop in 2026.
Why is Demand Gen Often Overlooked?
Let’s address the elephant in the room. If Demand Gen is so impactful, why aren’t more businesses leveraging it? It boils down to unfamiliarity and misconceptions. Traditional Google Ads pros stick to search and Performance Max campaigns simply because Demand Gen feels closer to social media advertising, a realm many marketers shy away from.
- Lack of education: Unlike Search, Demand Gen isn’t rooted in basic keyword intent, requiring marketers to adapt.
- Fear of wasted budget: Some dismiss the format as only suitable for branding and ignore its conversion power.
- Misjudged CPCs: Entrepreneurs may mistakenly perceive it as costlier when, in reality, clicks average $0.50, $2 compared to Search Ads.
- Underestimating creative: Many advertisers lack strong visuals and video assets, making Demand Gen feel unattainable.
I’ve encountered these misconceptions firsthand when transitioning campaigns for my own businesses. If nurtured properly with audience-first strategies, Demand Gen is transformative, not a mysterious beast that drains your ad budget.
How to Plan and Launch a Successful Demand Gen Campaign
Ready to embrace Demand Gen but don’t know where to start? Let’s break it down into simple, actionable steps. This campaign type has untapped potential, but strategy is everything.
- Define Your Goal: Are you building brand awareness or driving conversions? Clear goals will guide your targeting and creative choices.
- Create Engaging Assets: Use visually appealing videos, carousels, or lifestyle imagery. If you’re an ecommerce business, leverage product feeds to make ads shoppable.
- Select Your Audience: Target in-market segments, custom affinity audiences, or use remarketing to reach known visitors.
- Use Strategic Bidding: Focus on options like Target CPA for conversions or Manual CPC for budget control.
- Analyze Placements: Monitor audience reports to assess performance across YouTube, Gmail, and Discover, adjusting based on your strongest channels.
Looking for inspiration? See Google Ads’ official Demand Gen feature guide for case studies and benchmarks.
Common Mistakes to Avoid With Demand Gen
Even the best campaign type can fall flat without proper execution. Entrepreneurs often make avoidable errors in planning or spend allocation. Here’s what you need to steer clear of:
- Ignoring feedback loops: Demand Gen shines with iterative testing; don’t skip analyzing audience metrics.
- Overspending upfront: Start small, test your placements, creative, and audience targeting in increments.
- Underutilizing formats: Don’t limit your campaigns to one medium type; experiment with carousels, video ads, and static visuals.
- Failing to align objectives: Whether it’s awareness or conversions, ensure the chosen bidding strategy matches your goals.
- Skipping remarketing: Maximize click-through rates by re-engaging audiences who already interacted with your brand.
Take these lessons to heart, and don’t let rookie mistakes derail a campaign with such strong potential.
Expert Insights on Maximizing Demand Gen Success
Industry professionals consistently emphasize Demand Gen as an ideal mid-funnel tool. According to Violetta Bonenkamp, serial entrepreneur and founder of Fe/male Switch, “Demand Gen campaigns are the new frontier for entrepreneurs looking to scale efficiently. The ability to target audiences based on behavior rather than query presents profound opportunities for storytelling and engagement, particularly when paired with video assets.”
Search Engine Land further reinforces this view, stating that for larger businesses, Demand Gen is no longer optional, it’s a staple for audience nurture and brand awareness. Faber Cre8tive highlights how brands leveraging YouTube ads with Demand Gen saw up to a 40% increase in engagement compared to standard display formats.
The Impact on Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs should embrace Demand Gen as a creative tool that bridges the gap between intent-driven search campaigns and immersive social formats. It enables proactive brand-building and nurtures audiences with every scroll, stream, or tap. By prioritizing audience signals, high-quality visuals, and conversion-focused optimizations, you unlock a low-cost, high-impact advertising strategy.
2026 is the year of Demand Gen, don’t let your business miss the momentum.
Take Action Now
Start exploring Demand Gen today and leverage its power. Dive into Google Ads’ benchmarks to see why audience-based campaigns are pivotal for businesses of all sizes.
Master the art of audience engagement and visual storytelling, and transform your Google Ads strategy for 2026’s marketplace.
FAQ on Why Demand Gen is the Most Underrated Campaign Type in Google Ads
1. What is a Demand Gen campaign in Google Ads?
Demand Gen campaigns are designed to target audiences across platforms like YouTube, Gmail, and Discover using creative assets such as videos, images, and carousels. Instead of relying on keyword intent, they focus on audience behavior and interests to create demand. Learn about Demand Gen campaigns from Search Engine Land
2. How does Demand Gen differ from traditional Google Ads campaigns?
Unlike search-based campaigns that rely on keyword intent, Demand Gen emphasizes audience signals and behavior. This makes it more suitable for brand awareness and mid-funnel advertising compared to search or standard display ads. Explore differences on LFG Media Group
3. What types of creative assets are supported in Demand Gen campaigns?
Demand Gen campaigns support single image, carousel image, and video ads. Ecommerce advertisers can also utilize product feeds from Google Merchant Center to create shoppable ads. Find out more about creative assets on Faber Cre8tive
4. Why is Demand Gen considered underrated?
It is often overlooked due to misconceptions that it is only effective for brand awareness, the fear of wasted budgets, or the perception that it is costlier than other formats. However, with CPCs averaging $0.50, $2.00, it is an affordable way to achieve high-quality engagement. Discover insights from Sharp Innovations
5. What targeting options are available for Demand Gen campaigns?
Targeting options include in-market segments, life events, affinity audiences, detailed demographics, and custom segments based on users’ previous search terms or site visits. Learn about targeting options on Spider AF
6. What are the unique bidding strategies available for Demand Gen campaigns?
Demand Gen offers bidding strategies such as Target CPA, Maximize Conversions, and Target CPC, which allows manual cost-per-click control, unique among Google’s campaign types. Check out bidding insights on Search Engine Land
7. What makes Demand Gen an alternative to display campaigns?
Demand Gen primarily runs on high-quality Google properties, reducing the risks of poor placements or accidental clicks, which are common with standard Display campaigns. This ensures better audience targeting and ad performance. Read about benefits on Usermaven
8. How does Demand Gen impact ecommerce businesses?
For ecommerce, Demand Gen allows ads to become shoppable using product feeds and helps businesses drive both brand awareness and direct conversions. Learn how to use Demand Gen for ecommerce on Search Engine Land
9. What common mistakes should advertisers avoid in Demand Gen campaigns?
Common pitfalls include ignoring feedback loops, underutilizing ad formats like video or carousel, and failing to align campaign objectives with the appropriate bidding strategy. Avoid campaign pitfalls on Spider AF
10. Is Demand Gen suitable for larger businesses?
Yes, larger businesses can use Demand Gen as an always-on layer for audience targeting, driving mid-funnel awareness and nurturing goals. It is increasingly essential for larger brands seeking scalable audience reach. Explore the application for large businesses at Faber Cre8tive
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the “gamepreneurship” methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the point of view of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.