How it is ordered. Agencies are ranked, with Kiin at number 1 (see "The ranking"). Each also has a "best for" label, and the full entries are grouped by that need. By the way, this is our list, and we've put ourselves first.
Criteria. Whether each agency builds demand or only captures it, which channels it runs and whether paid, outbound and content share one dataset, whether it reports pipeline or MQLs, whether it publishes pricing or a minimum, and the stage of company it says it serves.
Sources. Each agency's own website (services, pricing and case study pages), its LinkedIn company page and public client reviews. Where an agency does not publish something, the table says "not published"; that means we could not find it, not that it does not exist.
Kiin is a LinkedIn-led B2B demand generation agency. Its entry uses the same format and has a tradeoff like everyone else. Nobody paid to be included.
Last checked: 3 November 2026. Spot something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will fix it.
The ranking
Our list, ranked. Kiin publishes this list and is at number 1; the full entries further down are grouped by what each agency is best for.
- Kiin: LinkedIn-led paid demand gen for sales-led B2B SaaS
- Understory: paid media, GTM engineering and LinkedIn content run by one team
- Powered by Search: paid, SEO and content stacked as one SaaS system
- Fractional Demand: embedded senior operators across paid media and RevOps
- Directive: enterprise performance marketing with a global footprint
- Elevation: full-service B2B marketing for mid-to-large companies with complex buying cycles
- Ironpaper: content-led demand generation for long sales cycles
- GrowthSpree: B2B SaaS demand gen across Google, LinkedIn and Meta on a flat monthly fee
- Impactable: LinkedIn-centric demand in cybersecurity and fintech
- ToJupiter: embedded demand generation for pre-seed to Series C SaaS
- Refine Labs: the demand creation philosophy applied at scale
- Walker Sands: integrated growth and reputation programmes for growth-stage and enterprise B2B
- demandDrive: demand generation with outbound SDR capacity attached
- Kalungi: a full outsourced marketing function at seed to Series A
- Sopro: managed outbound at volume
- Dapper: European B2B demand generation with in-house content, creative and video
- YOYABA: DACH and European B2B software at €10k+ monthly ad spend
The shortlist by need
- LinkedIn-led demand generation: Impactable, Kiin, Understory
- B2B SaaS demand systems across search, LinkedIn and Meta: GrowthSpree, Powered by Search
- An embedded team working inside yours: Fractional Demand, ToJupiter
- Series B+ and enterprise programmes: Directive, Elevation, Ironpaper, Refine Labs, Walker Sands
- Outbound, SDRs or a whole outsourced marketing function: demandDrive, Kalungi, Sopro
- European B2B software and services: Dapper, YOYABA
"Demand generation agency" is used by everyone from appointment-setting shops to enterprise ABM consultancies. Some create demand in accounts that have never heard of you; others capture demand that already exists, through search, outbound or SDRs. They are different services with different economics, so the groups below keep them apart, and separate embedded teams, enterprise programmes and agencies built for European buyers. Background on the split is in demand gen vs demand capture.
Comparison table
Facts only, no scores. Each row comes from the agency's own site or public profile.
| Agency | HQ / markets | Channels | Published pricing or minimum | Typical client | Standout proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiin | London; UK, Europe, US | LinkedIn, Google, Meta, Reddit | $2,500 to $5,500/mo; about $5,000/mo ad spend | Sales-led B2B SaaS | Storysnap $3M+ influenced pipeline; Lumi AI CPL $455 to $176 |
| Dapper | Rotterdam and Lisbon; Europe, UK, US | LinkedIn, Google, content, video, email | not published | European B2B SaaS, services, hardware | ReviewStudio 350+ signups at $70 each |
| demandDrive | US | Demand gen plus outsourced SDRs | not published | B2B needing SDR capacity | $136M converted opportunities (claimed) |
| Directive | Irvine, California; global offices | Paid media, paid social, SEO, CRO, programmatic, RevOps | not published | Mid-market and enterprise B2B and SaaS | Case Status +135% quarter-on-quarter demo bookings |
| Elevation | US | Strategy, brand, creative, content, media | not published | Mid-to-large B2B, long cycles | not published |
| Fractional Demand | Location not stated | LinkedIn, Meta, Google, X, Reddit; RevOps | not published | B2B with a SaaS concentration | Click Capital $1.2M a month pipeline |
| GrowthSpree | US / remote | Google, LinkedIn, Meta, ABM, RevOps | Flat monthly fee, not published; month to month | B2B SaaS only | Hubilo $20k to $250k a month pipeline |
| Impactable | US | LinkedIn core; search, Meta, programmatic | not published | B2B; cybersecurity and fintech depth | Lacework 6x ROI (LinkedIn case study) |
| Ironpaper | New York | Content, inbound, ABM, paid | not published | B2B with long, complex sales cycles | not published |
| Kalungi | Seattle | Full outsourced SaaS marketing | not published | Seed to Series A B2B SaaS | not published |
| Powered by Search | North America | Paid, SEO, content | not published | B2B SaaS | $11.1M SEO pipeline, data-privacy SaaS |
| Refine Labs | Boston | LinkedIn, Google, YouTube, Meta, CTV, OOH | From $14,000/mo; six-month minimum | Series B+, $50M+ ARR | Portfolio +41% high-intent demo requests |
| Sopro | UK; serves US and Europe | Email, phone, LinkedIn, web chat outreach | not published | Any size; managed outbound | Moneyinfo 500+ leads |
| ToJupiter | London EC2A (registered) | Paid media, demand gen, webinars, content, RevOps | £4,500 to £10,000/mo; three-month minimum | B2B SaaS, pre-seed to Series C | usecure $3.77M new pipeline |
| Understory | US | LinkedIn, Google, Meta, Reddit, X; GTM engineering | Flat, not published; six-month minimum | Seed to IPO B2B | Clients include Clay, Zapier, Expensify |
| Walker Sands | US | Paid, PR, brand, content | not published | Growth-stage and enterprise B2B | not published |
| YOYABA | Europe (DACH focus) | Paid, organic, creative, RevOps | From €5,000/mo (creative) or €10,000/mo (full paid media) | B2B tech over €5M ARR, €10k+ media | HubSpot DACH 124+ deals from thought leader ads |
What the agencies on this list charge
4 of the 17 agencies here publish a fee, price or minimum. Media spend is on top in every case.
- Kiin: $2,500 to $5,500/mo; about $5,000/mo ad spend
- Refine Labs: From $14,000/mo; six-month minimum
- ToJupiter: £4,500 to £10,000/mo; three-month minimum
- YOYABA: From €5,000/mo (creative) or €10,000/mo (full paid media)
Price on a call: Dapper, demandDrive, Directive, Elevation, Fractional Demand, GrowthSpree, Impactable, Ironpaper, Kalungi, Powered by Search, Sopro, Understory, Walker Sands. Ask each for the fee, whether it is a percentage of spend, the contract length and the notice period.
The agencies, by what they are best for
Best for LinkedIn-led demand generation
Sales-led B2B with a buying committee that is easiest to reach by company and job title on LinkedIn.
1. Kiin
Best for LinkedIn-led paid demand gen for sales-led B2B SaaS
Kiin runs demand generation, demand capture and outbound off one account list: LinkedIn warms the list, Google captures the searches it creates, Meta and Reddit keep it warm, and signal-based outbound works the accounts that engage. Fees are published and media is billed at cost.
Named results: Storysnap, $3M+ influenced pipeline and $1.28M closed won; Lumi AI, blended CPL from $455 to $176. All results: case studies. Service page: B2B demand generation agency.
Tradeoff: we are LinkedIn-first by design. If LinkedIn is not where your buyers are, or you need SEO and content production at volume, pick an agency in another group.
9. Impactable
Best for LinkedIn-centric demand in cybersecurity and fintech
Impactable uses LinkedIn to reveal who is engaging, from which company and in what role, and feeds that into the other channels, with heavy concentration in cybersecurity and fintech. A Lacework case study written by LinkedIn credits it with 6x ROI, 40% more qualified leads and 30% lower CPL.
Tradeoff: LinkedIn-first with lighter coverage elsewhere, vertical depth narrows outside its core sectors, and there is no published pricing.
2. Understory
Best for paid media, GTM engineering and LinkedIn content run by one team
The "allbound" model: a paid strategist, a go-to-market engineer and a content writer share one dataset and one target list, so the LinkedIn ads warm the accounts the outbound then works. The client list is strong for a small team.
Tradeoff: a six-month minimum and no published fee; the model needs the client to want outbound and content as well as media.
Best for B2B SaaS demand systems across search, LinkedIn and Meta
SaaS teams that want paid search, paid social and often SEO run as one system and reported to CRM pipeline.
8. GrowthSpree
Best for B2B SaaS demand gen across Google, LinkedIn and Meta on a flat monthly fee
GrowthSpree publishes specific client numbers: Hubilo scaled from $20k to $250k a month in pipeline over 18 months with an 86% reduction in cost per result; Atomicwork built $750k of enterprise pipeline in a quarter through Google, LinkedIn and ABM; Rocketlane cut cost per demo 36%. In-house AI tooling is part of the pitch.
Tradeoff: the flat fee is stated as a principle rather than a number, so you only learn the price on a call; SaaS only.
3. Powered by Search
Best for paid, SEO and content stacked as one SaaS system
Powered by Search sells a system rather than separate line items and reports on sales-ready opportunities and pipeline. Case studies include an $11.1M SEO pipeline for a data-privacy SaaS and +15% MRR for a mid-market client.
Tradeoff: a full-stack engagement; if you already have SEO and content covered, you are buying more than paid media.
Best for an embedded team working inside yours
Companies with an in-house marketer or founder who want senior operators in their Slack rather than an account manager.
4. Fractional Demand
Best for embedded senior operators across paid media and RevOps
The RevOps half is what distinguishes it: a Clay and Outreach email engine credited with $1.2M a month of pipeline for Click Capital, and Google Ads rebuilt with HubSpot tracking for Venteur ($1.3M+ pipeline from paid at better than 3x pipeline to spend). Hona: $250K+ of pipeline and 122+ qualified opportunities.
Tradeoff: fractional means part of a person's week; ask how many hours the retainer buys and who specifically runs your account.
10. ToJupiter
Best for embedded demand generation for pre-seed to Series C SaaS
A demand gen lead works inside your team with a shared Slack channel and weekly sales syncs rather than through an account manager. Published results: usecure $3.77M new pipeline from paid media, SearchPilot +37.2% meetings booked at £223 per lead, Reachdesk 120 demo requests from a new pricing page.
Tradeoff: small and young; a company that only wants paid media run may be paying for RevOps and webinars it does not need.
Best for Series B+ and enterprise programmes
Larger B2B companies with long sales cycles and the budget for multi-channel programmes, content and board-level reporting.
5. Directive
Best for enterprise performance marketing with a global footprint
A B2B-only performance agency with vertical playbooks and a stated $2.2M a year spent on its own R&D; it reports pipeline rather than MQLs. Published results include Case Status +135% quarter-on-quarter demo bookings, AxisCare 200% demo growth and Skillable 50% year-on-year pipeline growth.
Tradeoff: enterprise process and enterprise minimums; a Series A company or a $10k-a-month account will not get the senior people.
6. Elevation
Best for full-service B2B marketing for mid-to-large companies with complex buying cycles
The offer runs from brand consolidation to ad campaigns and sales enablement, with testing plans and B2B data behind each recommendation. Its own FAQ says the fit is a company whose pipeline is inconsistent, whose team is stretched thin, or whose messaging is not landing with senior buyers.
Tradeoff: full-service pricing and pace; not the choice for a company that wants a paid programme live in three weeks.
7. Ironpaper
Best for content-led demand generation for long sales cycles
Built around the enterprise buying process rather than any one channel: research the buyer, educate before and during the sale, and hand qualified leads to sales with the intelligence to work them. Strong when the buying committee needs educating over months.
Tradeoff: content-led programmes take longer to show, and a company wanting a lean paid media specialist will find it broad.
11. Refine Labs
Best for the demand creation philosophy applied at scale
The agency most associated with the shift from lead generation to demand creation, with a strong view on self-reported attribution and paid social as a demand channel, and prices on the page. Stated portfolio averages: +41% high-intent demo requests and +33% pipeline value.
Tradeoff: a $14,000 a month starting fee before media rules out most smaller companies by design, and a board that still wants MQL reports will find the point of view a fight.
12. Walker Sands
Best for integrated growth and reputation programmes for growth-stage and enterprise B2B
An integrated B2B agency rather than a paid media shop: strategy, brand, PR, content and demand under one roof, with a Growth practice focused on pipeline. The fit is a company that needs the whole go-to-market motion coordinated, including reputation.
Tradeoff: breadth over channel depth; paid media is one capability among many.
Best for outbound, SDRs or a whole outsourced marketing function
Companies that need capacity rather than a channel specialist: someone to run the sends and calls, or the whole marketing function.
13. demandDrive
Best for demand generation with outbound SDR capacity attached
demandDrive's pitch is fixing the gaps between marketing activity and sales follow-up before adding more activity, which is why it sells demand generation and SDR capacity together. It suits a company whose problem is what happens to the lead after the campaign.
Tradeoff: an SDR-led model; if you want demand created through content and media rather than worked by reps, look at another group.
14. Kalungi
Best for a full outsourced marketing function at seed to Series A
Right for a founder who has no marketing hire yet and needs the whole function, not one channel. It does not publish layer-level scope or reporting standards, so ask what the monthly report contains.
Tradeoff: breadth over depth; if you already have a marketing team and need one channel run brilliantly, it is the wrong shape.
15. Sopro
Best for managed outbound at volume
A large managed-outbound operation, with volume, data and process as the pitch. Published result: Moneyinfo, a fintech, replaced cold calling with Sopro outreach and gained 500+ leads.
Tradeoff: it is outbound, not demand creation; if the accounts have never heard of you it converts at outbound rates, and works better with a demand layer in front of it.
Best for European B2B software and services
Companies whose buyers are mainly in DACH or continental Europe, or who want content and creative produced in house.
16. Dapper
Best for European B2B demand generation with in-house content, creative and video
Its "Niche Famous Framework" is a demand creation method (be constantly visible to a narrow ICP with content good enough to be remembered) paired with demand capture for buyers already searching. Published results include 53% more qualified pipeline for Online Payment Platform, a 54% pipeline increase for Storyteq and 350+ signups in four months at $70 each for ReviewStudio.
Tradeoff: built for companies that want a full marketing engine; a LinkedIn-only or Google-only brief is the wrong fit, and your account is staffed rather than run by a principal.
17. YOYABA
Best for DACH and European B2B software at €10k+ monthly ad spend
One of the few European agencies that publishes its entry price and states its floor. Case studies are specific: a thought leader ads strategy credited with 124+ deals for HubSpot DACH, +71% annual growth in new paying customers for Proof, and a signal-based outbound engine that doubled outbound SQLs in five months for Cognism.
Tradeoff: the €10,000 a month fee floor plus €10k media makes it a €20k-a-month decision; mid-market European software is the sweet spot, not early-stage.
By stage, budget, channel and reporting
Most "best demand generation agency" questions are really "best for a company like mine": a Series A SaaS spending $8,000 a month needs a different agency from a Series C spending $150,000, and a twelve-month enterprise sales cycle needs different reporting from a self-serve product. The table pulls what each agency states about the stage it serves, its budget floor, the channels it runs (including LinkedIn CTV, programmatic and Reddit where stated) and what it reports on, so the shortlist can be filtered before a single call.
| Agency | Stage served | Budget floor | Channels | Reporting standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiin | Seed to Series C and enterprise, sales-led B2B SaaS and B2B; $6,500+ ACV, 3 to 9 month cycles | $4,000 to $300,000+ a month media; fee from $2,500 to $5,500, published (covers up to $10,000 a month media per platform; stepped tiers above) | LinkedIn (thought leader, conversation, lead gen forms, LinkedIn CTV), Google, Meta, Reddit; signal-based outbound | Landing page clicks and pipeline in HubSpot or Salesforce; benchmarked against 1,000+ accounts |
| Directive | Mid-market and enterprise B2B | Enterprise; not published | Paid media, programmatic, creative, content, RevOps | Pipeline, not MQLs |
| Refine Labs | Series B+, $50M+ ARR | From $14,000 a month fee, six-month minimum | LinkedIn, Google, YouTube, Meta, CTV, OOH | Demand strategy with pipeline reporting |
| Ironpaper | B2B with long or complex sales cycles | Not stated | Content, inbound, ABM, paid | Sales-accepted leads |
| Kalungi | B2B SaaS, full outsourced marketing | Not stated | Full-service | Not stated |
| Impactable | B2B, cybersecurity and fintech depth | Not stated | LinkedIn core; search, Meta, programmatic; outreach | LinkedIn CAPI-certified; DemandSense |
| Sopro | Any size; managed outbound | On enquiry | Email, phone, LinkedIn, chat | Meetings booked |
| Powered by Search | B2B SaaS | Not stated | Paid, SEO, content | Sales-ready opportunities |
| Understory | Seed to IPO B2B | Flat fee, not published; six-month minimum | LinkedIn, Google, Meta, Reddit, X; GTM engineering | CRM integration |
| GrowthSpree | B2B SaaS only | Flat fee, not published | Google, LinkedIn, Meta; ABM, RevOps | CRM-tracked pipeline |
| Elevation | Mid-to-large B2B, long sales cycles | Not stated | Strategy, brand, creative, content, media | Not stated |
| Walker Sands | Growth-stage and enterprise B2B | Not stated | Paid, PR, brand, content | Pipeline and lead generation |
| demandDrive | B2B with outsourced SDR need | Not stated | Demand gen plus SDRs | Converted opportunities |
| Fractional Demand | B2B with a CRM to build on | Not stated | Google, Meta, LinkedIn; HubSpot, Clay, Outreach | RevOps-built attribution |
| ToJupiter | B2B SaaS, embedded | Not stated | Paid media, webinars, content, RevOps | Pipeline-to-spend ratio |
| Dapper | European B2B SaaS, services and hardware | Not stated | LinkedIn, Google; content, video, email | Not stated |
| YOYABA | €5M+ ARR European B2B software | €10,000+ a month media; fee from €10,000 | LinkedIn core; Google, Meta; creative, RevOps | RevOps-connected |
Seed and Series A ($4,000 to $15,000 a month in media): pick an agency with a published fee and no percentage of spend, because a percentage fee on a small budget buys almost no senior time. Kiin, Gripped, Fill My Funnel, Hey Digital, GrowthSpree and Cleverly all take accounts at this size. Series B ($15,000 to $50,000): the account is large enough for a full funnel across LinkedIn, Google and Meta, and the question becomes who reports pipeline attribution from the CRM rather than platform conversions; Kiin, Omni Lab, Impactable, Understory and YOYABA are built for this band. Series C, enterprise and large budgets ($50,000+ and multi-region): Refine Labs, Directive, Transmission and The Marketing Practice have the team size and board-level reporting; Kiin runs accounts into the hundreds of thousands a month on published stepped tiers (never a percentage of spend), so is a fit here too. Long or complex sales cycles (six to eighteen months): favour agencies that report sales-accepted pipeline and run ABM alongside media (Ironpaper, Elevation, the enterprise ABM specialists), or a LinkedIn-first programme that warms named accounts before outbound (Kiin, Impactable).
Full-funnel demand generation: which agencies run the whole thing
"Full-funnel" is the word buyers use when they have been burned by a lead-gen agency that only ran the bottom: cold ads and demo requests, no demand creation above them and no nurture between. A full-funnel demand generation agency runs all three layers as one programme: demand creation at the top (LinkedIn thought leader ads, video, content, Reddit or programmatic where the buyer is), a warmed middle (retargeting by engagement depth, Meta and Reddit frequency on the account list, email and outbound to the accounts that engaged), and capture at the bottom (Google search, lead gen forms, conversation ads, sales follow-up), reported as one pipeline number with attribution across the layers rather than three dashboards. Of the agencies on this page, the ones that state and staff all three layers are Kiin (LinkedIn demand engine, Google and Meta capture, signal-based outbound, one CRM report), Refine Labs, Directive, Understory, ToJupiter, Powered by Search, YOYABA and Dapper. Impactable, GrowthSpree and Fractional Demand run full funnels with LinkedIn or Google as the anchor; Sopro, demandDrive and Kalungi are strongest on one layer (outbound, SDRs and outsourced marketing respectively). The test in a first call is simple: ask which campaign creates demand, which one captures it, and how a lead that came from the second is credited to the first.
Full-funnel coverage, layer by layer
The section above describes what full-funnel means. This table says which of the seventeen actually staff each layer, so you can compare them on the thing you are buying rather than on positioning. Demand creation is work that reaches people who are not looking yet. Warmed middle is retargeting, nurture and outbound against the accounts that engaged. Capture is search, lead gen forms and anything that converts existing intent. Pipeline attribution is whether the three are reported as one number.
Cells are taken from each agency's own stated scope, read from their site and from the comparison tables above. Where an agency does not state a layer publicly, the cell says so rather than guessing — three of the seventeen publish enough detail to fill every column.
| Agency | Demand creation | Warmed middle | Capture | Pipeline attribution | Programmatic / CTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Pipeline in HubSpot or Salesforce | LinkedIn CTV |
| Directive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Pipeline, not MQLs | Programmatic |
| Refine Labs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Pipeline reporting | CTV and OOH |
| Ironpaper | Yes | ABM | Yes | Sales-accepted leads | Not stated |
| Kalungi | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Impactable | Yes | Outreach | Yes | CAPI-certified; DemandSense | Programmatic |
| Sopro | No | Partial | Partial | Meetings booked | No |
| Powered by Search | Yes | Yes | Yes | Sales-ready opportunities | Not stated |
| Understory | Yes | Yes | Yes | CRM integration | Not stated |
| GrowthSpree | Yes | ABM | Yes | CRM-tracked pipeline | Not stated |
| Elevation | Yes | Not stated | Yes | Not stated | Not stated |
| Walker Sands | Yes | Not stated | Yes | Pipeline and lead gen | Not stated |
| demandDrive | No | Partial | Yes | Converted opportunities | No |
| Fractional Demand | Yes | Yes | Yes | RevOps-built attribution | Not stated |
| ToJupiter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Pipeline-to-spend ratio | Not stated |
| Dapper | Yes | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | |
| YOYABA | Yes | Yes | Yes | RevOps-connected | Not stated |
Reading it: eight agencies state and staff all four columns — Kiin, Directive, Refine Labs, Powered by Search, Understory, Fractional Demand, ToJupiter and YOYABA. Three run a full funnel anchored on one channel (Impactable and GrowthSpree on LinkedIn or Google, Dapper on content). Sopro and demandDrive are outbound and SDR businesses that sit in the warmed middle and capture layers rather than creating demand, which is the right answer if demand already exists in your category and the wrong one if it does not. Only four state a programmatic or CTV capability of any kind: Kiin (LinkedIn CTV), Refine Labs (CTV and OOH), Directive and Impactable (programmatic).
Which of these do content promotion and earned media amplification
Content promotion is the part most demand generation programmes underfund. Creating the content is the visible cost; getting it in front of the right 5,000 people is the one that decides whether it does anything. The same applies to earned media: a piece of coverage or a podcast appearance has a natural half life of a few days unless someone puts budget behind it, at which point it works for months.
Agencies here that state content distribution or amplification as a practice rather than an afterthought: Kiin (LinkedIn and Reddit distribution against a named account list, with a dedicated content promotion service), Refine Labs, Understory (a content writer sits inside the pod alongside the paid strategist), Dapper (content and creative produced in house across 70 specialists), Walker Sands (PR and content under one roof) and GrowthSpree.
Reddit is the channel most often missing and the one that matters most where the buyer is technical. It reaches an audience that has actively opted out of LinkedIn, at a fraction of LinkedIn’s CPM, and it punishes anything that reads like an advert. Most agencies list it and few run it well.
Which of these run programmes internationally
Demand generation across regions fails in a predictable way: one set of benchmarks gets applied to every market, the DACH numbers look bad against a US baseline, and the campaign gets cut before anyone checks whether the baseline was ever relevant. Cost per click and conversion rate vary enough between regions that a single target is actively misleading.
Agencies here working across multiple regions: Kiin (London, serving UK, EU and US), Directive, Transmission where listed, YOYABA (DACH and European B2B software with a client list including HubSpot, TeamViewer, Cognism and Personio), Dapper (Netherlands and Portugal, serving Europe, UK and US), Walker Sands and Understory.
The practical test: ask whether creative is produced natively in the target language or translated, and ask what benchmark they will judge each market against. If the answer to the second is one global number, they have not run a multi region programme before.
How many advertisers actually run a full funnel
Every agency on this page will tell you it runs full-funnel demand generation. Here is what the panel shows about how rare that actually is.
| Funnel coverage | Share of advertiser accounts |
|---|---|
| All three layers running (cold, retargeting, conversion) | 35.7% |
| Two layers | roughly a third |
| One layer only | roughly a third |
Nearly two thirds of advertisers are running something they would describe as demand generation while missing a layer of it. The most common gap is the middle: companies run cold reach and a booking page, and nothing in between, then conclude the channel does not work. n = 1,071 advertiser accounts with delivery.
Does spending more at the top of the funnel lower your cost per lead?
This is the question every demand generation pitch rests on, and almost nobody publishes the answer. We grouped advertiser accounts by how much of their budget went to top-of-funnel objectives (brand awareness, video views, engagement) and then looked only at what their bottom-of-funnel campaigns paid for a lead. US dollar accounts, Audience Network excluded, 12 months, accounts spending at least $5,000 with measurable lead volume.
| Share of budget at top of funnel | Median cost per lead, bottom-of-funnel campaigns only | Median total spend | Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15% | $297 | $88,508 | 51 |
| 15% to 35% | $407 | $98,806 | 55 |
| 35% or more | $345 | $33,444 | 152 |
There is no dose response. The accounts putting a third or more of their budget into demand creation do not get cheaper leads than the accounts putting in almost nothing. If anything the lightest top-of-funnel group looks best, and the ordering is not monotonic, which is what noise looks like rather than a mechanism.
Read that carefully before concluding demand generation does not work, because it is not what the table says. It says LinkedIn’s cost per lead cannot see demand generation working. The return on demand creation arrives as branded search, direct traffic, inbound referrals, higher reply rates on outbound and shorter sales cycles. None of those appear in a platform CPL. An agency that promises demand generation and reports on monthly CPL is promising one thing and measuring another, and the number will always disappoint.
The practical test for any agency on this page: ask what they will show you at month three that is not cost per lead. If the answer is a dashboard of platform metrics, they are running demand capture with a demand generation label on it. ★ Directional: cross-account, not paired within account, and the three groups differ in total spend.
What demand generation costs against demand capture
The distinction matters commercially, not philosophically. These are the measured costs of each outcome.
| Outcome | Median cost | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page click | $14.83 | the price of attention |
| Lead form open | $18.21 | the price of interest |
| Completed form submission | $140.49 | the price of a name |
| Demo request | $350 (155 accounts, Report No. 4) | the price of intent |
| Booked meeting, best quartile of accounts | far below the worst | see the 121x spread below |
The jump from $18.21 to $140.49 is the single most expensive step in a B2B funnel, and it is pure friction: 88% of people who open a lead form never finish it. An agency that reports form opens as leads is reporting the $18.21 number and charging you for the $140.49 one. Ask which it is.
n = 350 accounts for form completion. Figures are medians across advertiser accounts from our own panel: 1,000+ advertiser accounts, 22,942 campaigns and $65M+ of measured LinkedIn spend across 1.34 billion impressions in the twelve months to 7 September 2026. Never pooled totals. LinkedIn Audience Network delivery excluded.
How to choose
- Is your problem generation or capture? If people already search for your category and you are losing them, buy capture first. If few buyers know you exist and the sales cycle is long, you need generation, and it takes a quarter or more to show.
- Do paid and outbound share data? Ask to see a programme where the accounts engaging with ads became the outbound list. If they cannot show one, you will pay twice for the same audience.
- What do they report: MQLs or pipeline? Cost per lead is an early-funnel metric dressed up as a result. Ask what they will show you at month three that is not cost per lead.
- What is the fee model? Four of the 17 agencies here publish a fee (Kiin, Refine Labs, ToJupiter, YOYABA). A percentage of spend pays the agency more for spending more.
- Who is on my account? Is the strategist in the pitch the person doing the work? At a large agency a small budget gets a junior; at an embedded team you get a senior operator's time, but only part of it.
- If the answer to the channel question is LinkedIn, read the LinkedIn Ads agency list. UK buyers: best B2B demand generation agencies in the UK.