
Lead Gen vs. Demand Gen: The mindset shift in B2B Marketing
The customer buying journey has changed dramatically. Where B2B marketing traditionally revolved around lead generation - a focus on quantity and gathering contact information - the focus is now shifting to demand generation, where quality and value are key.
Where today potential customers do their own research and no longer want to be led through linear funnels, it is crucial to be visible where the demand arises. This approach, also known as buyer enablement, enables companies to stay relevant by raising awareness for their solutions through high-quality, accessible content.
Lead generation focuses on immediate lead yield, often through gated content such as white papers and e-books, and is relatively easy to measure. But this short-term strategy does not always yield high-quality leads or build long-term relationships. In contrast is demand generation, which uses ungated content such as blogs, videos and social posts to create sustained demand for your products or services. Although more difficult to measure, it lays a foundation for long-term success and brand trust.
The key question is: Do you want to collect as many leads as possible, or do you want to build lasting relationships by providing value in the moments that really matter?
What is Gated Content?
Gated content requires visitors to leave their data to gain access. Think white papers, e-books or exclusive webinars. This offers some benefits:
- Lead generation: You collect data from potential customers.
- Segmentation: You can categorize contacts based on interest.
- Results measurement: The success of your content is easy to track.
But there are drawbacks, too:
- It poses a barrier; not everyone wants to share personal information.
- You can miss out on valuable prospects.
- AI tools make some gated content obsolete.
The power of Ungated Content
Ungated content, on the other hand, is freely accessible. This includes blogs, videos, customer stories, podcasts and more. The benefits are significant:
- Greater reach and better SEO.
- Thought leadership: Position yourself as an expert.
- Positive brand experience without barriers.
- Behavioral insights without forms.
Of course, this requires a different mindset. You have less control over who consumes your content - including competitors. Yet ungated content proves to be an essential part of a demand generation strategy.
Lead Generation vs. Demand Generation
Companies are often reluctant to give away content freely. But why really? Traditionally, lead generation is all about quantity: gathering as many leads as possible through gated content. Demand generation, on the other hand, focuses on quality and awareness:
- Gated content fits a lead gen strategy.
- Ungated content fits better with demandgen, focusing on education and long-term relationships.
Lead nurturing: Build trust, not just leads
Lead nurturing is about building relationships, not just collecting data. Once a contact is in your flow, why keep using forms? Offering valuable content such as case studies, e-books, and webinars ungated shows that you trust the power of your offering. With a simple handraiser form - think demo or quote request - you keep the barrier low for customers who are ready for the next step. This makes lead nurturing more efficient AND more customer-friendly: no barriers, but engagement.
How do you make ungated content measurable?
Ungated content offers huge benefits, but how do you make sure you make these efforts measurable? With smart tools and methods in the HubSpot Marketing Hub such as CTAs, UTM links and analytics, you can gather valuable insights without the barriers of forms. That's how to get the most out of your ungated content.
1. Measure with CTAs.
Call-to-Actions (CTAs) are powerful for data collection, personalization and segmentation:
- In marketing emails and website pages: Add CTAs to your content and track visitor behavior.
- Personalization and segmentation: Use CTA clicks to capture interests and behavior. Write CTA clicks away on properties to use later in reports and further marketing segmentation: Consider properties such as industry, challenges or specific content preferences.

- Practical applications:
- Send personalized newsletters.
- Offer customized blog recommendations.
- Set up remarketing campaigns for targeted follow-up.
HubSpot makes it easy to write this data away to properties so you can use it in reporting and further segmentation.
2. Analyze with UTM links.
UTM links give you deep insight into how and where your content is being consumed:
- What are they measuring?
- Where traffic is coming from
- Who is consuming your content
- How they found your content
- Which channel is most effective in attracting traffic to your content
- Which campaigns are the most successful.
This helps you understand where your efforts are paying off the most.
- Ideal applications:
- Links and buttons in Word and PDF files.
- Links from external websites (Partnerships, sponsored content)
- Deeper insight into where visitors are coming from
- HubSpot Original Source > Social media
- With UTM link > Facebook/ Twitter / Instagram / LinkedIn
- Or even more specifically > LinkedIn post X
- Where in your blog posts the first clicks are generated (top/middle/bottom)
With tools like HubSpot, you can easily create and analyze tracking URLs so you know exactly where your efforts are paying off.
3. Use Analytics and Reports
HubSpot offers several ways to measure the success of your ungated content:
- Website traffic analytics: View website traffic, page views, clicks, impressions and average read time.
- Retargeting lists: Build lists for targeted ads based on viewed content.
- Attribution reports: Measure which content is contributing to your goals.
- CTA performance:
- Write CTA clicks away on properties.
- Use date stamp properties to make the impact of specific CTAs visible in reports


Let data do the talking
By using CTAs, UTM links and analytics smartly, you can track exactly how your ungated content is performing. It's not only a way to refine your strategy, but also to better understand and serve your customers. Ungated content provides freedom for your audience and valuable insights for you - a win-win.
Conclusion: Which fits your business?
Choosing between gated and ungated content depends on your goals:
- Do you want to collect leads? Gated content is appropriate.
- Do you want to build brand awareness and long-term trust? Ungated content is the way forward.
By cleverly combining both strategies, you can get the most out of your marketing efforts. Consider ungated content to create awareness and gated content to further qualify interested parties.
Want to know how to optimize your content strategy? Let's get into a conversation!
