This is a great question! Demand generation marketing and content marketing should work hand-in-hand to achieve broader marketing objectives. When identifying KPIs and metrics to measure demand generation and content marketing together, you should consider the type of content being distributed and the channels through which it's being distributed. This will help determine your KPIs. For example, a blog post may not have the same KPIs as a gated piece of content or a video. The channel mix of promotions will also factor into KPIs. Is this a larger integrated marketing campaign that will require a more extensive mix of promotions and budget? Or is this a smaller campaign, perhaps targeted at a specific/smaller audience, that won't require as much external distribution and promotion? Once you understand these components, you can determine your KPIs. Here are some general KPIs to consider: * Number of site sessions to a blog post * For gated content: Conversion rates, form fills * Number of video views * MQLs, SQLS, sourced opps and/or influenced opps from the content being promoted (how many deals/opps were generated or influenced by this content) * Impressions * Share of voice * SEO metrics - keyword rankings, organic search traffic to the content

Different organizations have various criteria and promotion processes. Depending on your company culture, different leaders will review promotions and sign off on these changes. What I’ll say is these are the typical questions managers and leaders consider before someone is put up for promotion: 1. What are the current business needs? For example, if someone is promoted, what work would they do differently to fill a business gap? People managers usually only open up when the business has a need for an additional people manager. 2. What are the technical competencies someone needs to have at the next level? 3. What brief of work can you point to showcase that this person is already operating at the next level? 4. What peers and leaders can speak to the level of work this person owns? If you are looking for someone to help advocate for you in your promotional journey, it’s essential to have a transparent conversation around the expectations of the next level, and if you are meeting those, provide them clear examples and metrics about how you’ve exceeded in these specific areas. 

Always be open to feedback. Any feedback either positive or negative is a gift. There's always opportunities to improve and grow no matter how much experience you have. In your case, if you don't agree with the feedback, I would ask for examples on how you could have done something differently, or better. Your boss may not see eye to eye with you and that's okay, but as long as you can show impact through your work, numbers don't lie.

I answered this more comprehensively in another question, but to summarize: 1. Vanity Metrics: Anything that can be gamed or doesn't directly reflect impact with your target audience (e.g., raw traffic, followers, engagement metrics, etc.) 2. "Leads" Without Context: There are lots of low-value, scam-y ways you can incentivize someone to fill out a form on the internet. For that reason, "lead" volumes without context (qualification criteria) tell you very little about whether demand gen efforts are working.

It's not too different from your traditional demand funnel/waterfall and KPIs, but instead of leads > MQLs > SQLs > Opportunities > $ pipeline, your funnel should start with web traffic, both from an aggregate perspective, as well as the core pages you want to drive users to sign-up for your self-service offering. Quality web visitors are essentially your "leads," and from there you measure conversions to your sign-up pages, web trial downloads and starts, paid users, and eventually upgrades, expansion, etc. Then depending on your martech sophistication you can get extremely granular with your UTM parameters to measure where traffic is coming from, whether by channel (i.e. organic search, SEM, paid media, organic social, etc.), tactic, campaigns, etc. and continually optimize based on where you're seeing the greatest conversion throughout the self-serve funnel.

I said it earlier, but it bears repeating: I don’t necessarily believe in ABM as originally defined. I think ABM is just really good targeting combined with specific, intentional marketing efforts. The industry has a habit of renaming things we’ve always done in slightly evolved ways, and ABM is no different. ABM, in theory, was about treating a single account as a market of one, crafting hyper-personalized campaigns tailored to its specific needs. But in practice, ABM is rarely done at that level. Instead, it has evolved into tiered targeting; sometimes it's 1:1, sometimes 1:few, and often it's just really well-segmented 1:many. To me, ABM is not a standalone strategy; it's a system. It’s just great marketing with strong targeting, tight sales alignment, and a clear understanding of customer needs. It’s about shifting from a lead-based model to an account-centric view where success is measured by engagement, pipeline velocity, and expansion within key accounts rather than just MQL counts. At its core, ABM is an execution model, a system, and not a separate discipline. It’s how you prioritize, structure, and scale outreach to the accounts that matter most. Whether that’s through outbound plays, inbound nurturing, or a hybrid of both. It’s not about running a playbook called “ABM”; it’s about running the right campaigns, with the right message, to the right audience, at the right time. If you’re doing intent-driven, multi-channel, sales-aligned marketing that leads to revenue growth, you’re doing ABM, at least as I define it, even if you’re not calling it that.

Framing KPIs in terms of control and impact: if you control it or influence it, you can own it. In Demand Gen, we can control lead quality, MQLs routed to sales, and even the initial stages, such as Sales Accepted Leads, meetings, and early-stage opportunities. However, once we move past meetings and into opportunity creation, we enter a gray area. At that point, we’re less in control of what sales is doing during meetings or POCs, making it harder to be accountable for bottom-of-funnel outcomes. Similarly, in a self-serve model, it’s challenging to be fully accountable for results that are dependent on the product experience and UX. We can drive engagement with emails and in-app messages to guide users toward a successful trial, but ultimately, accountability for product and UX changes lies outside of our control.

As soon as you have product-market fit determined. My recommended first three marketing hires, in order, are: 1. Product Marketing: to help with that product-market fit assessment. This must come first. Spending money on demand generation campaigns when there is no assurance of revenue afterwards is a recipe for disaster. 2. Demand Generation: to help build pipeline and close revenue. This is a good hire when it is time to pour gasoline on your fire and start scaling. 3. Marketing Operations: to build marketing infrastructure and report on what is working and not. A strong reporting capability early on will set you up for continual success and reduce data challenges farther down the road.

It’s crucial for Demand Generation professionals to see how their contributions align with larger company goals and strategy. This fosters a sense of purpose and keeps them invested in the organization’s success. Given the cross-functional nature of the role, offer senior team members the opportunity to lead strategic workstreams rather than being limited to tactical execution. This not only increases their impact but also enhances their leadership skills and long-term career prospects. To retain top Demand Generation talent, provide a clear career path with opportunities for growth. Ensure they are continuously challenged with stretch projects that expand their skill set and keep them engaged. While empowerment is key, leadership must also offer necessary support and “air cover” to help them navigate obstacles effectively. By fostering growth, empowerment, and strategic involvement, you create an environment where top talent feels valued and motivated to stay.

Let me unpack this question. #1 Team structure and size There’s no one-size-fits-all approach here. How you structure a demand gen team depends on a few key factors: * Business maturity and goals: Are you in startup mode or scaling a mature operation? * Company growth rate: YoY growth and pace shape resource needs. * Current team and marketing org: What’s the skill set, experience level, and output of your existing team? How do they fit into the broader marketing structure? The key is to align the team with the business strategy. Start by assessing the current state: What’s the growth trajectory? What’s the demand gen team delivering now, and where’s the gap for the next 1-2 years? From there, consider: * Cross-functional partners: Demand gen doesn’t work in a vacuum. Sales and product teams are your starting point - map out who else you need to collaborate with. * External support: Do you need agencies to fill gaps or scale efforts? Two common setups I’ve seen work well: * Channel-focused: Each person owns a channel (eg. paid media, email, events). This suits mid-sized businesses with clear lanes. * Campaign/demand gen orchestration: In larger companies, demand gen acts as a hub, coordinating with stakeholders to build and execute integrated demand gen plans. #2 Measuring success Keep it simple with a streamlined OKR framework. Every individual should know exactly how their work ties back to the team’s objectives and which metric they’re driving or influencing. As you set OKRs, define roles clearly: * Drivers: Who owns the metric and pushes it forward? * Supporters: Who contributes to the effort? Map this out so everyone sees their piece of the puzzle. Clarity here is everything - success metrics only work if they’re specific, measurable, and tied to the bigger picture.