2025 promises to be a year of marketing transformation. As such, staying one step ahead means adopting smarter, more proactive approaches. 

Keeping up with the latest Google campaign updates has become critical, and with Google investing heavily into Demand Gen campaigns, performance marketers need to know how to create an optimal Demand Gen strategy in order to drive sustained growth as we delve deeper into 2025. 

Creating a successful Demand Gen strategy requires expert knowledge, experience with multiple high-performing campaigns, and a finger on the pulse when it comes to Google’s relentless campaign updates. 

Nobody checks those boxes as well as Thomas Eccel, who we spoke to on the Paid Media Lab podcast.

Dubbed the “Demand Gen Whisperer” by other PPC experts and performance marketers alike, very few people have as deep of an understanding of the campaign type than Thomas. Over 20,000 performance marketers rely on his PPC newsletter to stay fully up-to-date with all things PPC, which includes the very latest news about Demand Gen strategy and optimization. 

We spoke to Thomas about his best performing Demand Gen strategy, the importance of lookalike audiences, a rundown of audience targeting options (including which ones you should be using), and a whole lot more. 

Watch the full podcast below, or read on to learn more about key Demand Gen strategy considerations you’ll need to think about, and get the key insights from our chat with Thomas.

Timestamps: 

00:00 - Intro 

03:10 - How Thomas became the ‘Demand Gen whisperer’

05:39 - What DemandGen campaigns are, and what goals they achieve

08:38 - Lookalike audiences and their significance for Demand Gen

11:50 - Rundown of all audience targeting options for Demand Gen

13:25 - Thomas’ step-by-step strategy for seeding a Demand Gen lookalike audience via a Meta lead gen list

16:55 - The difference between narrow, balanced, and broad audience options

17:49 - The feedback received from people who have tried Thomas’ lookalike audience strategy

19:04 - Specific instances where Thomas would recommend a lookalike-only approach

20:55 - Potential downsides of a lookalike audience strategy

22:40 - Additional resources Thomas recommends for those interested in learning more about Demand Gen campaigns

For all of Thomas’ Demand Gen tips, tricks, and insights, watch the full episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast above – and make sure to subscribe to the Lunio YouTube channel to watch full episodes of the Paid Media Lab podcast, featuring insights from top PPC professionals.

Alternatively, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Amazon Music to get new episodes delivered straight to your feed. 

What are Demand Gen campaigns?

In short, Demand Gen campaigns are Google's answer to paid social campaigns, much like those found on platforms like Meta. They’re designed to engage users with visually compelling creatives, and built to help marketers reach potential customers early in their buying journey– creating demand for products or services.

Unlike traditional campaigns, Demand Gen focuses on capturing attention and driving awareness, engagement, and conversions using compelling visuals. The platform leverages Google's vast network – including Gmail, Discover, YouTube Shorts, and various YouTube placements, which in total boasts over three billion active users.

In essence, Demand Gen campaigns aim to capture attention at the top and middle of the funnel, helping brands nurture interest and drive intent among the right audiences.

Key features of Demand Gen campaigns include:

• AI-powered audience targeting: Demand Gen uses Google's machine learning capabilities to target high-intent audiences based on user behaviors, interests, and search history.
• Cross-platform reach: Ads appear across key Google properties like YouTube, Discover, and Gmail, providing multichannel campaign visibility.
• Creative formats: Demand Gen supports engaging ad formats (such as carousels and videos) optimized for visually appealing storytelling.
• Lookalike Audiences: Marketers can scale their reach by finding users similar to their best-performing audiences (more on this in the next section)
• Conversion tracking: Demand Gen features some built-in tools that aim to make it easy for marketers to measure impact, from site visits to lead submissions.

The Power of Lookalike Audiences

Now, let's talk about Demand Gen’s real party piece: lookalike audiences. According to Thomas Eccel, they are "one of the biggest key performance boosters of demand gen campaigns". 

Lookalike audiences are groups of people who share characteristics with your existing customer base. By identifying these similarities, you can reach potential customers who are more likely to be interested in your products or services.

You use existing first party data as the ‘seed list’ for Google to find similar users. The quality of your first-party data is key; the more comprehensive and relevant your data, the better Google's algorithm can identify similar users.

Note: Quality first party data includes customer match lists, previous purchaser or previous converters, etc.

It's important to note that lookalike audiences are exclusively available within Demand Gen campaigns – at least for now. This exclusivity makes mastering them an important part of mastering Demand Gen. 

Fortunately, Thomas ran us through his step-by-step guide to seeding high-performing Lookalike Audiences via Meta lead gen campaigns. (Skip to 13:25 in the video above for Thomas’ full in-depth rundown)

Thomas Eccel's step-by-step strategy for seeding Lookalike Audiences via Meta

Thomas's innovative strategy involves leveraging Meta lead gen campaigns to create the highest quality lookalike audiences for Google Demand Gen, which he calls the "purest lookalike audiences ever". Here's a step-by-step breakdown:

1. Run a Meta lead gen campaign: Start by running a lead generation campaign on Meta. Make sure that the leads you are collecting are high quality by using qualifying questions and other tactics.

2. Download your Meta lead data: Once your campaign is complete, download the lead data in a CSV format or connect it to your CRM.

3. Prepare your customer match template: Use the lead data to populate a customer match template for Google Ads.

4. Upload your data to Google Ads: Upload your prepared customer match list to Google Ads. This will serve as the foundation for your lookalike audience.

5. Create your lookalike audience: Use the first-party data you just uploaded as the seed list for your new Google Demand Gen lookalike audience. Here, you have three options for the audience targeting - narrow, balanced, or broad.

○ Narrow: This will focus on finding people very similar to your seed list.

○ Balanced: This will find people who are somewhat similar to your seed list.

○ Broad: This option will generate the largest audience by finding people who are potentially similar to your seed list.

6. Set up your Demand Gen campaign: Using the newly created lookalike audience, set up your Demand Gen campaign.

7. Plan ahead: Allow a minimum of 48 hours for your lookalike audience to become active before launching your campaign. This is a critical step, as without this waiting period, your campaign may not target the intended audience.

Refining Demand Gen strategy

Thomas emphasizes that performance is not immediate. He mentions that he usually sees results after 15-20 days. Yet, once that initial grace period is over and you start getting some real results, Thomas recommended a few refinements you can use to ensure you’re getting the most out of your Demand Gen efforts:

● Test with combinations: Start by using a combination of first-party data, lookalike audiences, and custom segments, in line with Google's best practices.

● Analyze performance: Monitor which audience segments perform best. This allows you to optimize the campaign and remove poorly performing segments.

● Consider Lookalike-only campaigns: If the lookalike audience performs well and is large enough to support your budget, you can create a lookalike-only campaign.

Important considerations

While Thomas’ lookalike audience strategy is powerful, there are a few potential pitfalls to keep in mind when it comes to Demand Gen: 

● Audience size: Ensure your lookalike audience can handle your daily budget. A smaller audience may lead to a drop in impressions and clicks.

● Data freshness: Regularly update your first-party data. This can be done by automating your CRM list or running a new Meta lead campaign.

● Privacy: Be responsible when uploading customer data. If you're working with an agency, you will need to be involved in the data uploading process.

Final thoughts & additional resources

Demand Gen campaigns are poised to be a significant force in the future of Google advertising. As Thomas says, "Demand Gen will be a very relevant campaign type together with PMax that will shape the future of PPC". By implementing Thomas's step-by-step strategy and continuously refining your approach, you can harness the full potential of Demand Gen and drive impressive results.

This strategy is "not just theory, but it works in practice," according to Thomas, with this approach yielding positive results for him and many others. Thomas believes that if you have high-quality, visually appealing creatives, you should see some impressive results using this strategy. 

If you haven’t already, we highly recommend you follow Thomas on LinkedIn. Thomas is usually the first to break the news about the very latest PPC updates and developments, and regularly posts free resources to help marketing professionals with their Demand Gen strategy, amongst other things. 

Watch the podcast above for the full context on everything we’ve discussed here, and for additional tips & tricks from the Demand Gen whisperer. 

Subscribe to the Paid Media Lab podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever else you get your podcasts for more impactful discussions on all things paid media–featuring leading voices from the PPC industry.  

Additional Resources:

● Demand Gen Webinar: Watch our webinar on ‘How to Supercharge Demand Gen campaign performance’ for more tips & tricks from Thomas Eccel 

● Google Skillshop: Explore the official Google Skillshop for in-depth official knowledge.

● Demand Gen Playbook: Thomas's complete Demand Gen playbook, available on his website, provides detailed optimization strategies.