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

As a DG leader, you play a critical role in supporting Sales by driving the acquisition and conversion of prospects into leads and converting them into customers. Here are some hard and nice-to-have skills (the list isn't extensive) Hard skills: Vision and experience building a multi-channel demand gen strategy - Having a good understanding of the levers that are available to you is necessary to build out your plan. This includes understanding your target persona so you can address their pain points, behaviors, and the channels they like to consume content. Data driven decision-making - This skill has become very important as finance and executives are interested in ROI and the results of your programs, so being comfortable around metrics/numbers and the ability to have deep inspection of funnel conversions will help you diagnosis and evolve your strategies. Strong cross functional collaboration - In this role, you are often the go between with Sales, Product Marketing, and Content teams. Strong communicator - Getting buy-in and alignment are important, so if you are able to provide the strategy, successes, and challenges to executives, they will more likely support your requests for resources. Nice-to-haves: Deep technical proficiency with marketing tools - basic knowledge is adequate Advanced graphic design skills In-depth product knowledge Sales-specific skills as you won't be negotiating or closing deals.

Don't believe the "experts". NO ONE knows the answer to this question with confidence). All that said, here are my hot takes: AI will have an impact on your career as a Demand Generation professional in the medium term. How? -Automation of your routine tasks: AMEN. This is a great thing and will allow us all to spend more time focused on more interesting creative and strategic problem solving. -Enhanced Data Analysis: Again, this is rad. Imagine you have your own, personal data scientist to help you parse the reams of data we collect as marketers, and develop real and impactful business insights. -Personalization at Scale: More great news here. AI will help us personalize sales and marketing interactions beyond the hard limits of 1:1 "account based marketing". That means more net new leads, more qualified leads, more opportunities, higher average deal sizes, more closed won and happier customers. -Improved Lead Generation and Nurturing" See above for personalization; it will have a meaningful impact on our ability to ship the right ad to the right prospect at the right time. It will help us customize our nurture streams and produce the right content. This is great news for all of us. -Content Creation and Optimization: This is probably where you can see the biggest impact RIGHT NOW. If you are not using free, off the shelf tools for content ideation, outline creation, narrative flow, H1 & H2 creation and editing for readability....you are missing out. Will this replace the Content Marketing Manager or Copyeditor role anytime soon? I don't think so. It's just going to make them more productive. -Real-time Customer Insights: I don't think we're here yet, but I think it's coming and it's a GREAT THING. In near-future states, AI will provide real-time insights into customer behavior and engagement, allowing for more us to be responsive and pivot quickly to marketing strategies. The big question for us human working professionals is, "can we increase our agility and be prepared to quickly adjust campaigns based on these insights?" -Skillset Evolution: Ok so this one is INTERESTING. You want to take a risk and get ahead of building an inevitably hot, in demand skill? Invest in your query development skills (I recently heard of a startup shutting down for a month to train their entire staff on this). Get proficient in using AI tools and platforms, understanding AI-driven analytics, and how businesses can integrate AI into your overall strategy. All that said, I don't think AI will replace your role in the next 5-10 years, provided you embrace and leverage the tools that are rapidly becoming made available to you. In the long term - ten plus years - AI will almost certainly transform the the role. Maybe even eliminate it as it stands today. But there's no need to panic. It may be hard to remember, but there were no "Demand Generation Managers" 20 years ago. And Marketers like you and me still have jobs.

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.

As a people manager, you must wholeheartedly invest in your team and your employees’ career objectives, even if it’s not Demand Generation. Here are a few things I do to cultivate my team’s growth: 1. Create strong career ladders. This drives a few things: 1. Clear articulation of my expectations for their existing role and promotional requirements. 2. Transparency in your career discussions on their strengths and areas of opportunity, which can be used throughout the year and during the review cycles. 3. Hiring skills are clearly outlined, so your recruiting team can attract the right candidate at the correct job level. 2. Leave the space for them to grow. There are a few ways to do this: 1. Carve out dedicated time on people’s calendars where they can hold space for learning opportunities. 2. Support outside L&D with company funding for educational courses. 3. Host team L&D sessions on relevant topics related to your career ladders. 4. After discussing their areas of interest, stretch projects allow them to learn a new skill hands-on. 3. Give them autonomy to do their best work, this includes but is not limited to: 1. Allowing them to own their work. Do not micromanage a top performer. 2. Designate team leaders to represent your team on calls and projects, and remove those who are necessary. Allow their voice to represent your entire team. 3. Be clear about when you want to be more involved and why.

For marketers transitioning into Demand Generation, the key is to demonstrate a strong grasp of marketing fundamentals and a strategic mindset. Start by showcasing your understanding of marketing channels, the funnel, and key Demand Generation metrics like conversion rates, pipeline contribution, and ROI. Employers want to see that you can think both analytically and creatively when executing campaigns. Leverage your existing marketing experience to highlight relevant skills. For example, if you come from product marketing, emphasize your expertise in messaging and positioning—both critical for demand programs. If your background is in content marketing, illustrate how storytelling and content strategy play a role in lead generation. Understanding how different marketing functions collaborate to drive demand is a huge advantage, so demonstrate your ability to work cross-functionally to execute campaigns. Creativity is also essential. Be prepared to discuss how you would activate a campaign in the market, optimize performance, and scale results. Employers value candidates who can not only strategize but also roll up their sleeves to get things done. Finally, show initiative by familiarizing yourself with Demand Generation best practices, tools (such as marketing automation platforms and CRM systems), and emerging trends. Demonstrating a proactive learning mindset will reinforce your ability

Always base it on revenue performance. When evaluating any channel think about the customer acquisition cost in that channel compared to the total lifetime value of any customers required from that channel. If those economics are not positive, you shouldn't be in that channel. There is too much pressure these days to be in every single channel. It's not necessary. What I've found is 20% of the channels you're in drive 80% of the revenue results. So keep testing until you find that 20%

As you take charge of the function, * Start with understand the current landscape across the business and marketing – what is currently working, what is the need of the business, etc. * The next order of business would be to establish short term and long term goals. * Short term goals, will help you establish credibility with the business and show some quick wins. * Long term goals, is where you will get to establish the function and show significant impact to the business. * As you go about the above, make sure to set up regular reporting so that everyone is aligned and aware of the goals you are working towards.

* Start With Company Goals: Align OKRs with overarching business objectives (e.g., pipeline targets, new market penetration). * Set Cascading OKRs: Break down the company’s goals into actionable demand gen objectives. For instance: * Objective: Generate $2M in pipeline this quarter. * Key Results: Launch 3 campaigns, achieve $500k pipeline per campaign, drive 100 SQLs. * Project Mapping: Each OKR ties to specific initiatives. For example, a webinar might target pipeline generation for a specific segment.

It depends entirely on your marketing objectives. If your primary goal is lead generation, then lead volume is a key metric. You'd want to identify which channels are driving the highest volume of leads—perhaps it's Google Ads, YouTube, or a specific social media platform. However, volume alone isn't enough. The next critical question is which of those channels are delivering the most valuable leads, meaning the ones that ultimately convert into users or paying customers. If your focus is more on brand awareness or a highly targeted strategy like Account-Based Marketing (ABM), you'll want to prioritize reach and engagement. Which channels are exposing your brand to the largest and most relevant audience (or accounts), and which ones are generating the most interaction? A balanced approach to ranking lead sources considers the long-term impact. Instead of simply looking at initial touch points, consider which sources are driving the most signups, regardless of the initial landing page. This requires solid tracking of referrers and UTM parameters to attribute sign-ups to their original source. Finally, I'd caution against ranking lead sources solely based on cost or Cost Per Lead. While cost is a factor, it's not always directly correlated with lead quality. A high-volume, low-cost channel might generate a lot of leads, but if those leads aren't converting, it's useless.