Great question! I get asked this all the time. It really all depends on your background, but I would urge you to familiarize yourself with marketing terminology like funnel stages, mqls, lead scoring, conversion rates, etc. I would also review your existing skills to see what would be transferable. Perhaps you are a strong writer, or tech savvy, or someone that is very organized and can project manage. These are all transferable skills. Sign up for free online courses through Hubspot or get certified in the latest automation tools. Find out who in your network has a demand gen role that you can interview. Lastly, whenever you are transitioning from one field to another, it's perfectly acceptable to apply for an entry-level position. Companies don't expect you to know everything, they will train you as long as you have a desire to learn.

I personally started my career as an entry level contractor at Salesforce, where I worked for 17 years and had 12 different roles. By the time I left, I was a Senior Vice President overseeing a large department that consisted of multiple functions and business units. My high level advice for anyone is to stay curious and slightly uncomfortable – because that will keep you learning and engaged. For recent graduates looking to start a career in Demand Generation, the key is to embrace continuous learning and adaptability. Demand Generation is a multifaceted field that touches many areas of marketing—paid media, content, email, field marketing, and analytics—offering exposure to a wide range of skills. This variety makes it an excellent starting point for those eager to develop a well-rounded marketing foundation. Early in your career, be open to taking on tasks beyond your immediate job description. In an entry-level role, saying yes to new challenges—whether it’s campaign execution, data analysis, or content development—can accelerate your growth. The more you immerse yourself in different aspects of Demand Generation, the more career pathways you create for the future. Since Demand Generation is both strategic and executional, building both soft and hard skills is crucial. Develop analytical skills to understand campaign performance, but also refine communication and collaboration skills to work cross-functionally. Being proactive, resourceful, and willing to experiment will set you apart. Finally, seek mentorship and stay curious. Follow industry trends, ask questions, and leverage every opportunity to learn from experienced marketers. Over time, this broad experience will help you identify your strengths and areas of interest, positioning you for long-term success in marketing. By staying open-minded, taking initiative, and continuously learning, you’ll set yourself up for a thriving career in Demand Generation and beyond.

First, congratulations on your new role! I love this question because it suggests you have already come to the realization that there are significantly more things that you could establish as KPIs than things you should establish as KPIs. A good manager earlier in my career told me once that good goals are those you can a) directly influence and b) easily translate into detailed plans to achieve them. In other words, try to avoid “goals by wishful thinking,” which is often how early-stage companies approach setting Marketing objectives. If I was in your shoes, here’s where I’d start: 1. Understand the Sales Process: If you haven’t already, define the lead stages & what will happen at each. Is Marketing qualifying leads or is Sales? This will help you understand what your team is accountable for vs what you can/should hold Sales accountable for. (Typical KPIs: MQLs, SALs, SQLs) 2. Know How Much Pipe You Need: This is harder in early-stage companies where GTM processes are less mature and changing rapidly; however, you should be able to establish baselines for stage-to-stage CVR% and C/W%, which are critical to understanding how much pipeline you need to generate. (Typical KPIs: Marketing Contributed Pipeline (MCP), Marketing Originated Bookings (MOB). 3. Establish a North Star: Finally, start by asking what the business is trying to achieve and on what timeline. What % of growth is Marketing expected to drive? If this is a brand new company or nascent category, awareness might also be a challenge that you need to invest in solving. Regardless, starting with the big picture will help you understand where to allocate resources and whether your budgets are sufficient to generate what the business is expecting of you.

If Demand Generation and Content Marketing were to share a single KPI, Marketing Engaged Leads (MELs)—also known as leads generated or new emails in the system—would be ideal. MELs provide a clear view of top-of-funnel content performance, it answers which blog posts, landing pages, and ad creatives drive new signups and grow the lead base. This KPI is powerful for understanding if content is attracting the right leads and if Demand Generation can scale paid traffic to that specific content effectively. However, there are additional KPIs and metrics to consider: For Pure Awareness Efforts: Content marketing can be assessed through web traffic metrics, such as page views and visits. It’s crucial to exclude any artificial traffic boosts, like those from paid promotion or newsletters, to get an accurate picture. I recall a time when a niche topic seemed highly successful in page views, only to later realize the blog post’s high traffic came primarily from onboarding emails rather than organic interest. Further Down the Funnel: Content and Demand Gen can align on KPIs like opportunity creation and revenue influenced by content. For instance, did a particular piece of content serve as the last touchpoint before someone started a trial or before sales created an opportunity? This alignment is even stronger when the sales team leverages content in outbound efforts, showcasing its value directly in the sales process.

To be successful as a Demand Generation Manager, both soft and hard skills are essential. More hard skills early in your career, and a clear shift to soft skills later. Here's my hot take: Hard Skills Data Analysis: Proficiency in interpreting data and analytics to make informed decisions. Ability to use tools like Google Analytics, Tableau, or Excel to track and analyze campaign performance. Getting comfortable with fast, sloppy startup math (vs the ideal but rarified state of statistical significance and variables with little swing). Marketing Automation: Expertise in using marketing automation platforms such as HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, or Eloqua. Understanding how to set up and manage automated workflows, email campaigns, lead scoring and lead delivery systems will all pay off for you over time. CRM Management: Familiarity with CRM systems like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics. Getting hands on with your reporting, and the data-bridge between sales and marketing, is critidal. You gotta be able to get in and generate your own reports. Knowledge of and experience with integrating your CRM and your MAP is a real bonus. Content Creation and Management: Skills in developing compelling content that attracts and engages potential leads. Experience with content management systems (CMS) like WordPress isa plus. But the most important elements are 1) research capabilities and 2) writing skills. If you can identify customer pain and write in plain, easy to read english EVERY job will be easier for you. SEO and SEM: Understanding of search engine optimization techniques and search engine marketing strategies. As you grow in your career, you will benefit from the ability to conduct keyword research, optimize content, and manage paid search campaigns. You'll need to learn platform specific idiosyncrasies, and be able to keep up with the ceaseless flow of UI updates, algorithm changes, pricing models and creative formats. Project Management: Competence in managing projects, timelines, and budgets effectively. Massively helpful skill that can quickly transform you into the most valuable person in your department and your leader's go-to person. Get familiar with project management tools like Asana, Trello, or Monday.com. Read a book, attend a class or better yet...get certified (your company may even pay for it). Outbound and ABM (Account-Based Marketing): Knowledge of Outbound and ABM strategies will become more important as your organization inevitably moves "up market". The ability to work with Sales to develop a target account list, assemble Outreach sequences, execute personalized marketing campaigns and develop custom reporting for your efforts (it's always a shitshow at first) are tremendously valued by Marketing leaders at late stage growth startups. Soft Skills Analytical Thinking: Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to make data-driven decisions. At every level of the Marketing organization, the capacity to interpret complex data sets and derive actionable insights is going to be critical. So is the ability to translate the data into "insights" that can shape your organizations go-to-market strategy. Creativity: Innovative thinking to develop unique and compelling marketing campaigns. The ability to generate new ideas and approaches to attract and engage potential leads will never go away. Finding alternative solutions to business problems is what startups are all about. Build your creative problem solving skill set and watch your career blossom. Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills to convey ideas clearly and persuasively. This one is under-rated. The ability to communicate effectively with team members, stakeholders, and customers is mission critical and will have a multiplying effect on your career. Every role you will ever have on a startup marketing team will be better if you invest in your communication skills. Not good at it? Now is the time to lean in and get good. Collaboration: Strong teamwork skills and the ability to work cross-functionally with sales, product, and other marketing teams. The willingness to share knowledge and collaborate on projects is going to matter more and more as you become more and more senior. In fact, your promotion to Director is dependent on it. If you can't partner with other marketing teams, with the SDR/BDRs or with Sales you are going nowhere my friend. Build a reputation as an amazing collaborator - it will serve you well for the rest of your career. Adaptability: Flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions, technologies, and business priorities. Startup Marketers must be open-minded and willing to learn new skills and adopt new strategies. It's literally part of the job description. If you tell your manager "this is not what you hired me for" you are the problem and you have likely stunted your career. Get flexible, stay flexible or get out of the startup ecosystem. Leadership: Ability to inspire and lead a team towards achieving common goals. Skills in mentoring and developing team members is crucial for leaders. So is the much maligned cousin to leadership, "management." Both are required to run a successful marketing team. Talk to the leaders you admire, ask them their secrets, read interviews and form your own point of view on what great leadership looks like...then go and be that person. Time Management: Effective time management and organizational skills to juggle multiple tasks and meet deadlines. Your going to run into the need to prioritize tasks based on their impact and urgency, at every level of the organization. Any success I have, from running a tactical meeting to delivering a major company strategy is constrained and multiplied by my ability to manage time well. Whew. That was a lot! But it's I think it's all true. By developing a blend of these hard and soft skills, Demand Generation Managers can navigate the complexities of modern marketing, drive effective campaigns, and lead their teams to success. Continuous learning and adaptation are key to staying ahead in this dynamic field. And remember, invest in your hard skills first...but don't neglect the soft skills. They are going to get you across that line from IC to Manager and eventually CMO.

Here are a group of internal stakeholders that I believe is important to get buy-in and approval. I would ensure every group listed below have seen your plan prior to getting it launched as each group can actually help provide assets/ideas to complement your plan. Sales leadership (Informer): Please note I specifically didn't put Sales leadership as an approver. This doesn't mean you shouldn't work with your Sales leaders often and early to get their feedback on your strategy but make sure every decision you make nested underneath that strategy is back by data and historical trends to predict the desired outcomes. Field (sellers/AEs, inbound/outbound sales rep (Input): You should always find a handful of seller to understand what painpoints your customers/prospsects are facing in market and whether or not your messaging resonates with those pinpoints. Product Marketing (Influencer): Messaging and positioning is a critical part to your success! Ensure you bring PMMs on early and often to ensure you are on point with pitch and value propositions. Your boss/VP/CMO (Approval): This one is obvious but I would absolutely make sure you get sign off on this by your chain of command to ensure your plan is complementary to the rest of the overall global marketing strategy. Customer Marketing (Influencer): It's critical to have customer success stories to validate your product/services! Your prospect/customers are going to ask sellers how other customers are using your product/services similar to them or in their industries. ABM (for up market, Influencer): Make sure your plan doesn't overlap with ABM's plan! Product (if you own PLG, Informer): same logic as ones listed in the "sales leadership" section above. Sales Enablement/Sales Programs (Informer): doing things in silo will never work. Amplify your impact by ensuring everything you do aligns with sales programs and the enablement programs for the quarter. That way, whatever you are creating demand for, your sellers will have the proper education/training to sell the solution and they will have tools from sales program and target accounts to go after. Once everyone signs off on your plan I would recommend you check in mid campaign and post campaign.

For each cross-functional project, I build a clear RACI with one ultimate decision-maker for each milestone. This defines who has the power to green-light the project, and it is shared during the introduction phase of the project. It’s important to make clear who has decision-making power vs. consultative power early on in the project and get buy-in from leadership. Likewise, it’s important to provide a strong workback schedule with go-no-go dates that have to be met and be clear on when deadlines will push and which teams will be impacted. If needed, this work can be up-leveled to managers if too many projects are impacting downstream teams.

Congratulations on this exciting opportunity! What a wonderful opportunity and an exciting ride that you're about to embark upon. As someone who has been in a similar position, here’s some of my advice: 1. Don’t underestimate the work culture. Demand Generation is a structured discipline, often relying on data, metrics, and a systematic approach to driving leads and revenue. Your colleagues with creative or brand-focused marketing backgrounds might find this way of working unfamiliar. Take time to understand the existing culture and their style of work—how decisions are made, how success is celebrated, and how teams collaborate. 2. Know that you live in a bubble. As a Demand Generation expert, you bring specialized knowledge, but you may quickly realize others in the organization don’t fully grasp the terminology, concepts, or value of what you’re building. Before you launch your programs, invest time in educating stakeholders and peers. Provide presentations to explain what Demand Generation is, how it works, and how it aligns with the company’s goals. Show teams what success could look like with concrete examples from similar businesses or industry benchmarks. 3. Take everyone on a journey, but know that time is against you. It’s essential to bring colleagues along, especially other parts of the Marketing organization as well as cross-functional partners like Sales, Product, and Customer Success. Build rapport, seek input, and actively campaign for their buy-in. But don’t wait for perfect alignment before getting started—prioritize quick wins to build momentum. For example, launch a pilot campaign targeting a low-hanging fruit segment and share the results to demonstrate early success. 4. Communicate often and clearly. Your role and its impact may not be immediately apparent to everyone. Regular updates—whether through team meetings, email updates, or dashboards—are critical to keeping stakeholders and colleagues informed. Share not just your activities but also your progress against goals. 5. Emphasize the critical nature of your work. Demand Generation is the lifeblood of pipeline creation, and your programs will directly impact revenue. Frame your role as a key partnership with Sales to fuel business growth. Use data to illustrate this connection, such as projecting how your campaigns will contribute to pipeline targets or revenue growth. Position Demand Generation as one critical component to the company’s success—without it, scaling will be nearly impossible. 6. Set up strong foundations. Before diving into tactics, focus on laying the groundwork. Define clear goals and KPIs, establish alignment with Sales on lead definitions and qualification criteria, and ensure your tech stack (e.g., CRM, marketing automation) is ready to support scalable programs. 7. Celebrate small wins and learn from failures. Building something from scratch is a marathon, not a sprint. Celebrate milestones like your first campaign launch, the first MQL that converts to an opportunity, or the first deal influenced by marketing. These moments will help rally the broader team around your efforts. At the same time, learn to fail fast. Be prepared for setbacks and treat them as learning opportunities. Your success in your new role will set the tone for how the company views Demand Generation in the long run so stay curious, adaptable, and focused on driving impact.

Socializing KPIs before and after a campaign is important. It allows all stakeholders to align, prioritize work that impacts these KPIs, and understand performance, including the reasons behind the performance. Before creating KPIs, it's important to understand the following: * Know the campaign messaging and call to action you want users to take: What do we want people to ultimately gain from this campaign? Do you want to drive users to a specific page on your site? Increase free trial sign-ups? Increase demo requests? Is this a top-of-funnel play where you'd want to measure engagement like impressions? It could be a mix of these depending on the campaign, in which case you'd want to account for these various KPIs accordingly. * Have a strong understanding of the different channels promoting the campaign: For example, if email is a large part of the promotion strategy, you'll not only want to include email metrics as KPIs but also include the percentage of sourced traffic from email versus other channels. Aside from determining KPIs, it's also important to establish goals and benchmark comparisons. To do this, you can review performance from similar marketing initiatives or research industry benchmarks and set goals based on these insights. With many moving pieces, it's crucial to communicate your KPIs once you know which ones you want to track and measure. I recommend sharing your KPIs in an easy-to-read template well ahead of your campaign launch to provide time for stakeholders to review and provide feedback. Once a campaign is launched, you can provide an end-of-day KPI performance readout, an end-of-week readout, and an end-of-month readout. Depending on the campaign's longevity, you could also provide additional KPI readouts. For instance, if the campaign is seasonal and only running for a specific amount of time, you'll want to do a final KPI readout once the campaign has ended.

To manage pipeline forecasting differences between sales and demand generation, I'd focus on building a system where sales, demand gen, RevOps, and MarOps work together, combining sales' insights with campaign data for one solid forecast and identifying any root causes. Below are the typical steps that I go through: * Create joint processes, like unified dashboards, to quickly spot and troubleshoot discrepancies. * Ensure a common understanding of key metrics - lead volume, conversion rates, etc. - and the assumptions behind them, such as product launches, P&P changes, or marketing campaign launches, so both teams are aligned. * Troubleshoot data pipeline, which often causes forecasting discrepancies and gaps. Addressing this first saves time before digging deeper. * Review individual metrics alongside historical performance to identify shifts in trends or dynamics, ensuring forecasts reflect current realities. * Set up weekly or bi-weekly check-ins to keep communication going, adjust forecasts as needed, and build trust across teams.