There is often confusion about the differences between lead generation and demand generation, particularly in B2B and industrial fields.

Due to long and sometimes non-linear sales cycles, even marketers sometimes struggle to identify the exact stage of the buying journey their prospects are in.

But one thing is certain: if you better understand the difference between lead generation and demand generation, and master strategies within both disciplines, you will instantly notice a boost in business results.

So let’s learn more about each and how to make them work in B2B industrial markets. 

Let’s start with the simplest definitions. 

Lead generation is the process of identifying and engaging customers who already show some interest in your product or offerings or similar products and offering. 

Demand generation is a set of marketing strategies aimed at creating awareness about your products, services, and brand.

As you see, the main difference comes from their role in the customer journey. Lead generation is more focused on converting visitors into customers, while demand generation is all about creating said visitors.

You might notice there’s an overlap between the two disciplines: people who become aware of your services can very quickly become your leads.

That is why it’s so crucial to develop both disciplines with your marketing and sales teams.

Here are some more differences between lead generation and demand generation for B2B companies:

One of the most crucial tasks in marketing is measuring the success of what you do.

Fortunately, when it comes down to measuring success, differences between lead generation and demand generation become very clear.

In lead generation, we focus on the number of leads and auxiliary metrics:

• Number of leads (total number of leads generated this week/month/year)
• Conversion rate (how many visitors were converted into leads, in %)
• Cost per lead (CPL)  (the average cost to acquire a single lead)
• Lead quality (how likely a lead is to become a customer, typically scale 0 -10 or a grade)
• Time to conversion  (the average time it takes for a lead to convert into a customer, in B2B industrial usually months)
• Number of referrals

In demand generation, we focus on metrics that shows the growth of our general audience, engagement, and the power of your brand in digital space:

• Organic traffic (website traffic from Google and other searches)
• Website engagement (number of comments, time on page, bounce rate – the last two can be tracked in GA4)
• Social media engagement (depends on the platform)
• Youtube: views, likes and comments
• LinkedIn: connections and post impressions, engagement rate
• Facebook: page likes, post reach, engagement
• Organic brand mentions (how often people are mentioning your brand in search and social media – can be tracked using social media listening tools)
• Email marketing metrics (open rates, forwarding rates)
• Media mentions, press coverage

As you see, focusing on different metrics helps both lead generation and demand generation teams not to compete, but to amplify each other's results.

For example, by improving buyer experiences, sales teams can boost referrals, which, in turn, can positively affect social media brand mentions.

Another key difference between a proper lead generation process vs demand generation efforts lies in how your marketing teams communicate with their audience.

In lead generation, the more tailored and custom your approach to every lead, the better your sales are.

For industrial and B2B, focus on custom offers, account based management, faster response time, marketing automation, timely one-on-one communication and so on.

By improving every aspect of sales communication for every customer, you can positively affect the entire B2B sales chain.

In demand generation, professionals need to know how to talk to a wider audience.

This includes, but not limited to: spotting industry trends and how they affect your target audience, online reputation management (e.g. how well you respond to public criticism and praise), strategic partnerships with other brands and influencers in your field (strategic partnerships are crucial for B2B and industrial niches), storytelling (how to tell a good story about your products), and community management.

Analyze how well you perform in every aspect mentioned and you will instantly see opportunities for improving results in both disciplines.

Each discipline, be it in lead generation or demand generation, employs a wide range of tactics to drive results.

Listing all strategies in this article would take up a lot of space, so we recommend these pages for learning and applying effective lead and demand generation strategies.

For B2B industrial lead generation:

Lead Generation for Manufacturers: 23 Best Ways To Attract Industrial Leads  (extensive guide with practical advice)

The Biggest Missing Piece in B2B Sales Training: Thoughts From Beth and Zach (podcast episode featuring our founder and CEO)

SEO For Manufacturers: 8 Tactics That Drive Results (detailed actionable guide on SEO for industrial companies)

For B2B demand generation:

Branding for Manufacturers: The Essential Guide for Maximizing Impact (blog post)

A Complete Guide to Social Media for Manufacturing Companies (blog post)

Effective Scale and Growth Tactics in Uncertain Economic Conditions (podcast episode)

Venveo company is your trusted partner in navigating the complex world of lead and demand generation. We worked with numerous renowned global and US-based industrial brands, applying state-of-the-art marketing strategies that consistently drive growth in leads, conversions, and sales across various industries.

Our expert team crafts tailored marketing strategies that combine cutting-edge digital marketing with time-tested B2B sales techniques.

Ready to supercharge your growth? Let's talk!