What Is Demandbase?
Demandbase is a B2B account-based marketing platform that helps you identify, target, and engage specific high-value accounts. This means instead of chasing individual leads, you focus your marketing and sales efforts on entire companies that match your ideal customer profile.
The platform combines three core capabilities: advertising to target accounts, tracking their buying signals, and providing contact data for sales outreach. Demandbase Inc., based in San Francisco, built this system for mid-market and enterprise B2B companies that sell to multiple decision-makers within an organization.
Here's how it works in practice. You upload a list of target accounts into Demandbase. The platform then shows you which of those accounts are visiting your website, researching topics related to your product, and engaging with your content. You can run ads specifically to people at those companies, see when they're showing buying intent, and get contact information for the right people to call.
Account-based marketing flips traditional demand generation upside down. Instead of generating thousands of leads and hoping some convert, you pick 100 or 500 accounts you actually want as customers and focus all your resources there. Demandbase gives you the tools to execute that strategy across advertising, marketing, and sales.
The platform tracks every interaction those target accounts have with your brand. Website visits, ad clicks, content downloads, email opens, sales calls. All of it feeds into a score that tells you which accounts are hot and which need more time. For revenue teams trying to hit aggressive targets with limited resources, this focus matters.
Demandbase One Platform and Core Products
Demandbase One is the company's unified platform that brings together four separate products under one roof. Before Demandbase One, these were standalone tools. Now they share data and work together.
The four modules are ABX, Advertising, Sales Intelligence, and Data. Each handles a different part of your account-based strategy.
ABX (Account-Based Experience) runs your campaigns across target accounts. It coordinates what message each account sees based on where they are in the buying process and what they've engaged with so far.
Advertising puts your display ads in front of decision-makers at specific companies. You're not buying ads based on job titles or demographics. You're buying ads that only show to people at the 200 accounts you care about.
Sales Intelligence gives your reps contact data and account research. Phone numbers, email addresses, org charts showing who reports to whom, and background on what the company does and what technology they use.
Data provides the foundation for everything else. Firmographic information like company size, revenue, and industry. Technographic data showing what software and systems they run. Intent signals indicating they're actively researching topics related to what you sell.
These modules talk to each other. When the Data module spots an account showing strong intent signals, the Advertising module can automatically increase how often that account sees your ads. At the same time, Sales Intelligence surfaces the right contacts for your reps to call. That coordination is what makes a unified platform valuable versus buying separate point solutions and trying to connect them yourself.
Key Demandbase Features
Demandbase's features solve specific problems revenue teams face when running account-based strategies.
Account identification tells you which companies are visiting your website, even when visitors don't fill out forms. The platform uses IP addresses and device tracking to match anonymous traffic back to specific companies. This matters because most website visitors never convert. Now you can see that Acme Corp visited your pricing page five times this week, even though nobody from Acme filled out a demo request.
Intent data shows you which accounts are actively researching topics related to your product. Demandbase tracks content consumption and search behavior across its network. When an account suddenly increases research activity around a topic, that's a buying signal. The platform calls these "topic surges" and alerts you when they happen at your target accounts.
Advertising Cloud runs your B2B ads through programmatic networks, targeting specific accounts instead of broad audience segments.
Pros and Cons of Demandbase
Here's where Demandbase delivers and where it falls short.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Account identification accuracy using IP intelligence catches anonymous website visitors | Price point runs higher than alternatives, especially when you factor in advertising spend |
Native advertising capabilities mean you don't need a separate ad platform | Learning curve is steep for teams new to ABM or complex marketing technology |
Intent data from proprietary network shows buying signals across target accounts | Platform requires dedicated resources to configure, manage, and optimize |
Unified platform reduces integration headaches from stitching together point solutions | Some integrations still need custom configuration and technical work |
The platform delivers value when you commit to account-based strategies across both marketing and sales. If you're still running mostly lead-based programs, you won't get your money's worth. The capabilities are built for coordinated account plays, not individual lead nurturing.
You also need to staff appropriately. One person trying to manage Demandbase while also running all your demand gen programs will struggle. The platform works best with dedicated focus.
Demandbase Alternatives and Competitors
The ABM and sales intelligence market includes several platforms with different strengths.
ZoomInfo provides comprehensive B2B contact data with verified phone numbers and email addresses, plus intent signals and engagement tools. ZoomInfo prioritizes data accuracy and depth over advertising capabilities. The platform serves as the data foundation for outbound sales teams.
6sense focuses on predictive analytics that identify accounts entering buying cycles before they show obvious intent signals. Strong on anonymous buyer identification and account scoring.
Bombora sells intent data that you can plug into your existing tech stack. Instead of adopting a full ABM platform, you add Company Surge intent signals to whatever tools you already use.
Terminus combines ABM with conversational marketing through native chat functionality. Positioned for mid-market buyers who want advertising plus website engagement tools.
RollWorks targets smaller teams without dedicated ABM resources. Simplified workflows and lower price point than enterprise platforms.
Each platform makes different tradeoffs. Demandbase emphasizes advertising and orchestration. ZoomInfo emphasizes contact data quality and sales intelligence. 6sense emphasizes predictive analytics. The right choice depends on whether your priority is coordinating campaigns, reaching the right people, or predicting account behavior.
Demandbase vs. ZoomInfo
Demandbase and ZoomInfo solve different problems, though they overlap in some areas.
Demandbase focuses on ABM orchestration and advertising. The platform excels at coordinating campaigns across target accounts and running targeted ads. ZoomInfo focuses on contact-level data accuracy and sales intelligence. The platform excels at giving sales reps verified contact information and buyer intent signals.
Capability | Demandbase | ZoomInfo |
|---|---|---|
Contact database depth | Moderate coverage focused on target accounts | Extensive database with verified contact information |
Intent data | Proprietary signals from advertising network | Proprietary intent plus third-party integrations |
B2B advertising | Native programmatic advertising platform | Partner integrations with ad platforms |
Sales engagement tools | Limited native capabilities | Built-in with GTM Workspace |
Data accuracy focus | Account-level engagement and firmographics | Contact and account-level verification |
Many revenue teams use both. ZoomInfo serves as the data layer that feeds accurate contact information into Demandbase's advertising and orchestration engine. But ZoomInfo's GTM Workspace also provides AI-powered prospecting and workflow automation that can replace some ABM platform functionality.
The decision comes down to your bottleneck. If you struggle to reach the right people with accurate contact information, ZoomInfo solves that problem. If you struggle to coordinate messaging across accounts and run targeted advertising, Demandbase solves that problem.
For sales teams running outbound motions, ZoomInfo's contact data quality and sales intelligence depth typically matter more than advertising orchestration. For marketing teams running inbound and ABM campaigns where advertising is a primary channel, Demandbase's native ad capabilities and campaign coordination matter more.
How to Evaluate an ABM Platform
Choosing an ABM platform requires testing both technical capabilities and organizational fit.
Data quality matters most. Request sample records from your target account list before you buy. Call the phone numbers. Send test emails. Verify the contacts are current and accurate, not outdated or generic company emails. Poor data quality makes every other feature worthless.
Integration fit determines whether the platform actually works with your existing tools. Confirm it connects to your CRM, marketing automation platform, and sales engagement tools without custom development. Ask about API rate limits and how often data syncs between systems.
Use case alignment means matching platform strengths to your actual priorities. If advertising drives your strategy, native ad capabilities matter. If sales intelligence drives your strategy, contact data depth matters. Don't pay for features you won't use.
Total cost of ownership includes more than the subscription fee. Factor in implementation costs, training time, ongoing platform management, and advertising spend. Calculate cost per target account to compare options fairly.
Vendor support affects whether you'll succeed with the platform. Evaluate onboarding resources, customer success engagement, and response times for technical issues. Ask references how quickly the vendor fixes problems.
The best platform is the one your team will actually use. Sophisticated features mean nothing if adoption stalls because the interface confuses people or workflows don't match how your team operates. Test the platform with real users before you commit.
Frequently Asked Questions About Demandbase
What does Demandbase do for B2B marketing teams?
Demandbase helps B2B companies identify which target accounts are showing buying signals, run advertising campaigns to those specific accounts, and coordinate sales outreach based on account engagement across all channels.
Is Demandbase a CRM system?
No, Demandbase is not a CRM. It integrates with CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot to enrich account records with engagement data and intent signals, then triggers workflows based on account behavior.
What is Demandbase One?
Demandbase One is the unified platform that combines ABM orchestration, advertising, sales intelligence, and data capabilities into a single system instead of separate standalone products that need manual integration.
How much does Demandbase cost per year?
Demandbase provides custom pricing quotes based on your number of target accounts, selected modules, and advertising budget. Contact Demandbase directly for pricing specific to your company size and use case.
Who competes with Demandbase in the ABM market?
ZoomInfo, 6sense, Terminus, Bombora, and RollWorks compete with Demandbase, each with different strengths in contact data accuracy, predictive analytics, advertising capabilities, or ABM orchestration depending on buyer priorities.
