6 of the Best Demand Generation Tools for B2B Marketers

In order to build a quality pipeline, the right demand gen tools must be selected. These will allow you to create, measure, and capture buying intent signals. The most effective demand gen tools provide a foundation for creating revenue by connecting marketing automation, lead scoring, intent data, and analytics into a single system. 

This guide details 6 tools proven to help teams identify, attract, and convert buyers. In doing so, handoffs among teams will be streamlined, and marketing and sales teams will be in alignment about how to identify and measure growth. Whether you’re working on aspects of CRM integration or attribution, these tools highlight the true drivers of revenue and growth. 

Pick Demand Gen Tools for Automation that Ops Won’t Outgrow

The right automation platform should unify campaign management, scoring, and handoffs. It should also integrate seamlessly with your CRM and attribution models. Choose demand gen tools that are flexible enough to adapt to your circumstances. Do not try to create workarounds or implement manual fixes. 

HubSpot Marketing Hub and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) are 2 outstanding tools thanks to their usability and depth of features and functionality. In selecting the one best suited for your needs, consider your team’s size and the complexity of its sales processes. Highlight required fields, SLAs, and dashboards as early in the process as possible. Doing so helps ensure workflows produce metrics that can be reliable for board members. 

HubSpot Marketing Hub (Automation + AI Lead Scoring)

For mid-market teams, HubSpot Marketing Hub provides teams with a unified MAP + CRM environment that is easy to grow with. Its predictive functionality such as “likelihood to close” is AI-powered and designed to indicate how likely a lead will convert within 90 days. This helps teams determine which contacts to prioritize and identify the most efficient use of time and resources. Other core features include workflow automation, email, form tracking, and ad sync. 

Measure performance with metrics such as lead-to-SQO rate and time-to-first-touch. Ideally, these should be 25-35% and under 10 minutes. Assistance with implementing something like this is available from our B2B marketing automation agency. Useful tools to ensure consistency can include templates for lead scoring and nurture workflows. Make sure to avoid placing too much weight on clicks alone, and separate data on new business from renewals. 

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot)

Formerly known as Pardot, Salesforce-oriented organizations can consider Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement. This platform offers the ability to provide alignment across sales, service, and marketing. Key features include the use of scoring and grading to qualify leads, Engagement Studio for nurture, sales alerts, and campaign influence model reporting to ensure that Sales and Marketing work off the same set of data. 

As an example of how this platform may function, leads with a grade of B or higher and a score of 100+ may automatically trigger an AE task, whereas leads meeting other criteria may be routed into other custom nurture tracks. In using this platform, efficiency can be evaluated by calculating the MQL acceptance rate (SALs divided by MQLs), as well as the nurture lift (SQL rate from nurtured minus non-nurtured, then dividing the resulting figure by non-nurtured). Document and share definitions of MQL, SAL, and SQO to ensure consistency. 

Capture In‑market Demand with Intent Data you can Activate

Intent data identifies those with actionable buying signals. By discovering who is actively searching for your topics, you can tailor an outreach strategy to include custom messaging, like providing ads at the moment interest spikes. By feeding intent data into your CRM, marketing automation, and ABM platforms, your teams will know where to focus efforts. Done correctly, intent signals are a key driver of your pipeline. 

Popular uses include account prioritization for SDRs, personalized email messaging, and audience building for paid channels. Here, platforms like 6sense and Bombora can help teams distinguish how intent can be converted into pipeline and opportunity creation. 

6sense Revenue AI (ABM + Predictive)

With 6sense Revenue AI, teams can identify accounts that are most likely to become opportunities. It utilizes AI to analyze intent signals, predict buying stages and behaviors, and help automate engagement. This platform effectively combines account identification, buying-stage prediction, and campaign management. 6sense also allows teams to segment audiences by topic surges, persona, and funnel stage. They can then follow up by integrating them into ads, email, and sales sequences. 

A practical example of how this might play out is to have a team build segments based on the buying stage and ICP fit. Run ads based on trending topics, then measure account-to-opportunity conversion, which can be calculated by taking the number of opportunities and dividing it by the number of targeted accounts. High-performing campaigns generally see a bump of 20% to 40%. 

For responsibility and ownership of tasks, ABM should manage segmentation and strategy, SDR managers oversee outreach, and Marketing Ops connect 6sense to CRM or MAP. 

Bombora Company Surge (3rd‑party Intent Data)

Bombora monitors a database of more than 5,000 sites to determine who is actively researching your products or topics. It’s powered by utilizing consent-based data that tracks billions of interactions per month, making this a goldmine of information. The information is then used to score accounts, showing how much their activity has increased relative to their normal levels. 

As an example of how it may be used, a team can select 20 priority topics that are related to its firm’s products. Once a surge threshold has been set and exceeded, the relevant accounts are then pushed to the CRM platform so that Sales and Marketing can reach out for follow-up. Performance can then be tracked with Sourced Pipeline Share and win rate. 

Marketing Ops should manage feeds, ABM should oversee and align creatives, while SDRs conduct calls and emails. Avoid topic lists that are too generalized as well as those that do not take into account regional differences. 

Measure What Matters with B2B Analytics and Attribution

In addition to the reporting insights you’ll gain from analytics, consider it a tool that needs to be used to determine where marketing spending should be done. High-performing teams focus on sourced pipeline, win rate, CAC, and payback by channel or segment. Every touchpoint of the customer journey should be connected, and should include things like ads, web sessions, and CRM data. 

With multi-touch attribution and journey stitching models, teams can see where opportunities actually come from. Confidently prove marketing’s impact on the bottom line, and forecast revenue and profits with a greater degree of confidence. Tools like Dreamdata and HockeyStack have a proven history of delivering on B2B attribution, providing teams with the insights necessary to guide strategic decisions. 

Dreamdata (Revenue Attribution & Journey Mapping)

Dreamdata shows teams how revenue is impacted through various marketing campaigns. It analyzes data from multiple sources, such as ads, web sessions, and your CRM, to identify how buyers move through the funnel. This allows you to see how every piece of marketing material contributes to cash flow. 

For example, you could compare how paid social performs in a first-touch versus a data-driven attribution model. Based on the results, you can then shift your budget to the one that yields a greater sourced pipeline. Utilize metrics such as CAC, which can be calculated as total marketing expenses divided by new customers. CAC payback should also be analyzed, and can be calculated by taking the CAC, and then dividing it by the product of ARPA and gross margin. 

HockeyStack (Cookieless B2B Analytics & Attribution)

HockeyStack provides a full view of the buyer journey. Teams utilizing this platform can see buyer behavior before and after interacting with your brand. HockeyStack makes this possible by integrating data from your website, CRM, and ads into a single dashboard. Additionally, it relies on cookieless tracking, making it suitable for those dealing with privacy issues or insufficient analytics. 

To see how HockeyStack can help, consider an example where a company is trying to see how a piece of content helps close deals. HockeyStack can surface the interactions that will happen before opportunities take shape, and determine which will drive greater win rates. From there, teams can evaluate pipeline velocity and allocate spending on more efficient channels. 

Framework/Decision Model — Build Your 6‑tool Stack with the ANCM Model

A demand gen stack that drives revenue consistently should use the ANCM model: attract, nurture, convert, and measure. This model identifies where tools should fit within your go-to-market system. Attract encompasses channels designed to test reach. Nurture covers automation tools like HubSpot or Salesforce. Convert includes ABM and intent tools, like 6sense and Bombora. Finally, Measure depends on analytics and attribution from Dreamdata and HockeyStack to identify what is and is not working. 

In reviewing tools, consider the availability of data, CRM/MAP integration depth, activation speed, and the presence of measurable results. Have a 14-day trial run on each tool, and use that time to track SQO rates, CAC payback, and pipeline creation to determine whether to move forward or pivot elsewhere. 

Common Pitfalls & QA Checks

Without clean data and continual testing, even the best tools can fail. To minimize the likelihood of this happening, make sure your baseline cohorts are locked by creation date. This helps ensure results stay comparable. Verify that funnel definitions have been reviewed and approved by Marketing and Sales: MQL, SAL, and SQO. Validate that UTMs follow a standard naming convention, and eliminate outdated intent topics. 

Additional QA checks that should be done include making sure that attribution models are not switched mid-pilot. Check for adequate SDR bandwidth before deciding to expand intent plays. Finally, avoid overlapping tools and counting influenced pipeline as sourced pipeline, something that can inflate numbers and mask progress.  

Integrate your Demand Gen Tools for Clean Data and ROI

Consistently clean data is a prerequisite for an effective demand gen system. Every platform must use the same structure for scoring, lead routing, and ROI measurement. This includes your CRM, marketing automations, and analytics. Define standard fields, utilize timestamps for every stage, and ensure progress is tracked from MQL to closed-won deals. 

Start with a minimum viable set of dashboards: pipeline by source, lead-to-SQO conversion, and CAC payback by channel. RevOps should oversee the integrity of the data, Marketing Ops owns validation rules, and Sales supervises SLA adherence. A weekly cadence ensures errors and oversights are caught early. These actions all ultimately lead to a strong data model that makes attribution and forecasting simple.  

CRM/MAP Integration and Data Model

Quality data must have structure. Stage timestamps, lead sources, and ownership fields should all be consistent. Otherwise, every subsequent report will have discrepancies. Create hard stops by requiring fields like “Date Entered Stage” and “Next Step Date” to be filled in. Mandatory fields should be added at the lead creation stage, automation validated through test records, and weekly exception reports scheduled in order to identify issues faster. 

As a quick benchmark, you should target at least 95% for data completeness, calculated by taking the number of records with all required fields, divided by the total number of records. Have Sales take ownership of enforcing SLAs and Marketing Ops build validation models. Our guide on what is demand generation discusses how alignment can be attained between funnel reporting and metrics. Be sure to avoid common mistakes like overwriting data or not documenting changes whenever updates are made. 

Attribution Setup that Survives Cookies

Attribution is effective only if it is built to last. To this end, focus on using a system that tracks cookieless identifiers and server-side events, using a single model to integrate ad, CRM, and web data. Take a look at first-touch and data-driven attribution on sourced pipeline to test reliability. For instance, you can run a paid social campaign using server-side tracking, then compare it between SMB and enterprise segments. Variance levels of less than 15% are typically a sign of a stable model. 

Model templates and QA steps are included in our complete guide to B2B demand generation strategy. Be mindful to avoid common mistakes such as counting influenced pipeline as opposed to sourced pipeline, not considering offline events, and overlooking holdout testing. 

Consent and Privacy When Using Intent Data

Compliance cannot be overlooked. It’s still considered a part of a high-performing demand gen system. Always verify that intent data from third parties is consent-based and have a system in place to document your legal basis for moving forward. You can use fields that allow leads to indicate how they heard about you to not only cross-check self-reported channels with intent signals, but also to validate accuracy and maintain transparency. 

In practice, this could take the form of updating your privacy policy and fine print footer language to highlight how data will be collected, retained, or used. SDRs can then be trained to talk about intent topics without any personally identifiable markers. Track unsubscribe rates by segment, aiming for a healthy rate of under 0.5% for nurture programs. Our demand generation strategy guide covers more on compliance demand data strategies that can be implemented. Ultimately, respect for privacy can be seen as an additional strategy to build trust that can lead to more conversions. 

If you’re ready to benchmark your current processes and find out where you can begin optimizing, request a Demand Gen Stack Audit with our team.