Demand Generation Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the demand generation, funnel, and martech terms that matter — from MQL and SQL to CAC, pipeline, and attribution.
Demand Generation
The marketing discipline of creating and capturing interest in a product across the entire buyer journey, so qualified buyers arrive ready to engage.
MQL
Marketing Qualified Lead — a lead whose engagement signals (content, fit, behavior) meet the threshold marketing agrees is worth passing toward sales.
SQL
Sales Qualified Lead — an MQL that sales has accepted as a genuine opportunity worth active pursuit.
Dark Funnel
The untrackable touchpoints — private communities, word of mouth, podcasts, peer reviews — that influence buyers before any attributable click.
TOFU / MOFU / BOFU
Top, middle, and bottom of funnel — shorthand for the awareness, consideration, and decision stages content and offers are mapped to.
CAC
Customer Acquisition Cost — the fully loaded sales and marketing spend required to win one new customer, usually paired with LTV.
Pipeline
The total value of open opportunities in the sales process; the demand-gen target that converts into bookings over time.
Attribution
The practice of assigning credit for a conversion to the marketing touches that influenced it, using models from first-touch to multi-touch.
Part of the demand generation hub.