5 Steps to Mastering Google Ads’ Demand Gen Campaigns

by | Oct 7, 2024 | PPC

Google ads has evolved ‘Discovery’ campaigns into its ‘Demand Gen’ campaign type. If you’re interested in generating leads for your business, Demand Gen could be a productive asset in your arsenal. While this campaign type is relatively new, and untested, we want to share a few keys to managing your own Demand Gen campaigns that we’ve learned since their release.

The Basics

According to Google themselves, “Demand Gen campaigns are ideal for social advertisers who want to serve visually-appealing, multi-format ads on Google’s most impactful surfaces available to any advertiser.” You’ll be able to promote your company on YouTube, Gmail, and Discover (recommendations within the Google app). Essentially, they are a better form of Google Display advertising.

It’s our opinion that this is the simplest campaign type to build, and it currently has very low CPC’s, making it a candidate for service providers to generate new business. Since this campaign type was officially released in October 2023 we’ve been able to use it as a digital marketing tool that even outperforms Search campaigns in some instances.

You can use video or image assets alongside traditional headlines & descriptions to reach users in a controlled environment. One unique aspect of Demand Gen campaigns is that they can reach YouTube Shorts which is a continuously growing channel for entertainment in younger demographics especially.

Unlike Performance Max campaigns where you need to diligently manage your placements to avoid junk site traffic, Demand Gen campaigns are mostly reaching users who signed into their google account exclusively on Google platforms. On top of that YouTube and Discover are considered highly visual platforms, giving you the best chance to stand out with high quality imagery.

Getting the Most Out of Google Demand Gen Campaigns

A major plus for using Demand Gen ads for YouTube is that you can go beyond the limitations of a video campaign. Using a video with an effective CTA and consistent branding throughout is a lot more effective than a static image alone. If you put effort into a winning creative, it deserves to live on more than one platform. The Demand Gen placements programmatically distribute your content to audiences that are considered highly relevant to your product/services.

Another win for Demand Gen is that you can use several audience signals to target the segments of your demographics who fit your business best. You can build this audience during the campaign creation process, or use one that you know has worked well from the past. 

Additionally, you can use custom audience segments to hone in on frequently used keywords and visited sites for your ideal customers. In tandem with interests & detailed demographic targeting for in-market prospects; effectively using this campaign type provides you access to as many of the right people as you can afford to reach at the most ideal time.

The biggest advantages of using Demand Gen campaigns for PPC advertising on google are that competition is still relatively low and retargeting an audience has been simplified. If you’re wise about using these factors to your advantage, you’ll excel compared to other businesses in your industry. Here are our 5 keys to mastering Demand Gen Campaigns:

    1. Use your own data to create an audience segment of previous site visitors or even previous customers. Alternatively, you can also create a lookalike segment to reach new users with similar characteristics to your existing customers. 
    2. Use moderately broad interests & detailed demographic targeting to focus on customers who have affinity for your industry or are actively seeking services from your industry.
    3. Upload high quality, original images/videos that will stand out among stock content and can make your brand more memorable. Do your best to achieve “Excellent” ad strength by providing all available content types and a variety of text options. 
    4. We’ve seen success with campaigns that start at ~$50 a day and run consistently through the learning phase before ramping up the budget, and in turn results. 
    5. Ensure that you are tracking conversions and monitor your spend in conjunction with your expected ROI. If you’re not seeing the impact you want, try new creatives or adjusting your audience.

With these tips in mind, you should be able to design an advertising campaign on Google that outperforms your traditional models with a lower cost. As Google continues to update its platforms, CPCs and cost per conversion may fluctuate. For now Demand Gen is a channel with an exceeding level of potential.

If you’re interested in having Gold Level manage your Demand Gen campaign contact our team here!

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