The Google Ads Demand Gen playbook

Today’s consumers get pulled in a thousand different directions online:

• Scrolling YouTube Shorts.
• Tracking TikTok influencer content.
• Browsing Gmail promotions.
• Deciding whether the latest viral Facebook video is real or AI.

And that’s all before lunch. 

Once, the path between intent and conversion was nearly a straight line. 

Now, in our new attention economy, constant advertising noise makes buying decisions much more complex. 

Most advertisers, however, have not adjusted to this new dynamic. 

They’re only focused on showing up when intent is obvious in search, missing entire audiences who never reach the search bar.

Google’s Demand Gen campaigns help advertisers escape this trap by speeding discovery and shortening the sales funnel. 

Success isn’t complicated, but it requires mastering three elements: sharp creative, sophisticated audience strategies, and rigorous testing.

The Demand Gen opportunity

Demand Gen combines Google’s visual placements, including YouTube, Gmail, and Discover, with advanced audience targeting and creative optimization.

It’s like social advertising built for Google’s network. 

These campaigns reach users who are passively browsing rather than actively searching, making them ideal for driving awareness.

Consumer behavior has fundamentally shifted toward visual discovery while also requiring more touchpoints before making a buying decision. 

YouTube, a predominantly visual platform, is now the second-most-used social media platform, with 2.6 billion monthly users worldwide. 

Across nearly every digital channel, content consumption has become visual first, making the purchase funnel flatter, noisier, and more complicated.

Unfortunately, many advertisers approach Demand Gen campaigns like search, expecting immediate conversions. That approach misses the point. 

Demand Gen isn’t a bottom-of-funnel activity. It’s about interrupting consumption, sparking interest, and building intent over time. 

Marketers who understand the mindset shift can create compounding performance that grows stronger with every impression.  

Here’s the search marketer’s playbook for getting Demand Gen campaigns right the first time.

Element 1: Creative that commands attention

Modern tools have democratized content creation to the point where advertisers no longer need to hire expensive agencies to create high-quality creative assets. 

This new dynamic matters because great visual content drives conversions.

YouTube viewers are twice as likely to buy something they saw in a video and four times as likely to use the platform to find new products.

Advertisers must get comfortable creating high-quality visual storytelling, or they won’t be speaking the language of consumers.

The four-part framework for Demand Gen creative

Developing effective creative assets doesn’t have to be a mystery. The best pieces follow a four-part framework:

• Grab attention immediately: Don’t assume people will pay attention to you. Earn their attention in the first three seconds to stop the scroll. 
• Build brand recognition: Create a consistent visual identity across all placements to reinforce brand recall when consumers search later.
• Create emotional resonance: Help people think or feel something meaningful. 
• Provide clear direction: Give viewers a clear next step. What should they do after watching?

Testing creative approaches

Testing is also an essential part of creative development. 

Try out different content types, like educational, product-focused, and testimonial content. 

Educational content might build awareness at the top of the funnel, while testimonials drive consideration mid-funnel and product-focused creative converts at the bottom. 

Test to find what works for your audience, and optimize the creative for each placement. What works on YouTube may not work on Gmail or Discover. 

Dig deeper: Google’s Demand Gen upgrade: Key changes and success strategies

Element 2: An audience strategy that matches intent

Creating an audience strategy goes hand in hand with creative development. 

Advertisers should not message every audience the same way, and some creative approaches will be more effective at different funnel stages. 

Before spending money, understand who your audience is and what action you want them to take. 

To do this, I always begin with the classic reporter’s questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What are you trying to tell them?
• Where are they getting information?
• Why would they be interested in your message? 

Once you’ve defined your audiences, you can begin aligning your messages to their journey stages. 

Whatever message you send should push them to the next step rather than forcing a conversion.

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Audience targeting recommendations

Now that you’ve defined your audiences and developed the appropriate creative to message them, you can determine the best way to target them in your Demand Gen campaigns. 

The options here are nearly endless. 

Start by creating custom audiences because they offer the most control and specificity. 

Build them using keywords, URLs, or apps, and go after people who are likely to take the action you want. 

Lookalike audiences are back in Demand Gen campaigns, so you can target prospects similar to your current customers.

You can also target affinity and in-market audiences, enabling you to message people with broad interests and those in the active consideration phase.  

Campaign structure best practices

As you begin launching Demand Gen campaigns, here are a few best practices to follow:

• Start with both remarketing and prospecting as separate campaigns. They will need different goals, targeting options, and possibly different placements.
• Let campaigns run for at least 30 days before iterating or expanding.
• Consider running separate campaigns to target specific placements, like Gmail, Discover, or YouTube.
• Test shorts-only campaigns. The mobile-first, vertical format converts differently because users make on-the-spot decisions on mobile.

Customers need to see consistent messaging and brand visuals across all placements. 

This consistency builds brand recall and reduces the touchpoints needed before purchase.

Dig deeper: Google pushes Demand Gen deeper into performance marketing

Element 3: Testing and optimization

Now that your Demand Gen ads are up and running, it’s time to start testing and optimization. 

These campaigns contain numerous variables, making it essential to create a methodical strategy that tests a single variable at a time.

Remember, this process isn’t about finding an answer. It’s about continuous optimization. What works today may need refining in three months.

Establishing testing parameters

Begin your testing by focusing on three different categories.

• Creative: This process tests which creative elements drive better responses. Think: content types (educational vs. testimonial), hooks or vertical vs. horizontal videos.
• Placement: Some creative approaches perform differently depending on where people see them. So try testing the same content on Gmail, Discover, and YouTube and track the results.
• Audience: Compare performance across different audiences, like custom vs. lookalike or remarketing vs. prospecting. 

As you continue testing, use performance trends to inform future creative, messaging, and placement decisions. 

When you see an approach consistently working, you can also begin scaling by increasing budgets in a particular placement or audience.

Set realistic time horizons

Early Demand Gen results won’t reflect long-term impact. Brand awareness needs time to take hold with users.

Give campaigns 60 to 90 days to stabilize and begin compounding.

Why Demand Gen campaigns fail

Most advertisers don’t fail at Demand Gen execution. They fail because they measure it incorrectly and give up too early. 

This is the number one reason why advertisers avoid Demand Gen entirely. Here are three common mistakes marketers make and how to avoid them.

Unrealistic expectations

Too many advertisers enter Demand Gen campaigns expecting similar return on ad spend results to those of bottom-of-the-funnel search campaigns. 

Then, when these Demand Gen campaigns show seemingly disappointing ROI numbers, they abandon them entirely. 

The fix here is setting appropriate expectations from day one. 

Demand Gen is brand-building work that fills your sales funnel and delivers compounding results when it’s allowed to work as designed.  

Measurement myopia

This mistake often accompanies unrealistic performance expectations. Relying only on last-click attribution severely undervalues your Demand Gen investment.

These campaigns are likely contributing to growth in ways you may not be seeing. So instead of last-click-only, consider these alternatives:

• Use platform comparables: This new Google Ads metric uses a view-through methodology, much like social ads, and gives a broader picture of campaign performance.
• Observation mode: Add Demand Gen audiences to search campaigns and track if they drive more branded searches over time.
• Holistic brand metrics: Is the brand growing across all channels? If so, it’s an indication of increasing brand awareness.

If you only look at last-click returns, you’re undervaluing your investment.

Unrealistic timelines

Don’t pause campaigns before 30 days if they’re not performing as expected, and don’t make dramatic changes too quickly. 

Commit to a 60- to 90-day evaluation window and build patience into stakeholder expectations.

Master discovery to win the future

Consumer attention is at its maximum, and the evolution of paid media is visual-first and discovery-driven. 

Brands that rely only on search will struggle to grow. 

Success in this new environment depends on three fundamentals: 

• Compelling creative.
• Strategic audience targeting.
• Disciplined testing. 

Together, these elements create compounding performance that builds lasting brand awareness.

The competitive advantage belongs to advertisers who master discovery now. 

Fortunately, getting started doesn’t require massive budgets. 

All it takes is a commitment to the fundamentals and patience with the results. 

Demand Gen campaigns are the key to becoming part of your target audience’s daily online life.