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Camila Cook

AMA: 8x8 Vice President, Global Demand Generation, Camila Cook on Demand Generation Strategy

January 22 @ 10:00AM PT

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  1. What are some typical indicators that website optimization should be a priority in your digital marketing strategy?

    Camila Cook
    Camila Cook

    8x8 Vice President, Global Demand Generation • 5mo

    If any of these are true, stop launching campaigns and fix the site:

    • Traffic up, conversions flat

    • High bounce on core intent pages (pricing, demo)

    • Form fill ≠ sales-qualified conversations

    • Long time-to-value on homepage

    • Multiple CTAs competing for attention

    Your website is not a brochure.
    It’s a conversion system for different intent levels.

    512 Views
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  2. What role do customer and partner testimonials play in a demand generation campaign’s content strategy?

    Camila Cook
    Camila Cook

    8x8 Vice President, Global Demand Generation • 5mo

    Testimonials are trust accelerators, not just social proof.

    Best use cases:

    • Mid-funnel (evaluation stage)

    • Objection handling

    • Sales enablement

    • Enterprise deals with long cycles

    Best formats:

    • Outcome-focused quotes (“reduced X by Y”)

    • Short video clips

    • Partner POVs validating category leadership

    What to avoid:

    • Generic praise

    • Logo walls with no context

    407 Views
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  3. What are your top channels when it comes to inbound demand generation? Where do you invest first when you need to drive more top of funnel volume?

    Camila Cook
    Camila Cook

    8x8 Vice President, Global Demand Generation • 5mo

    If I need top-of-funnel fast, here’s the order I invest:

    1. High-intent content + SEO

      • Problem-led, not product-led

    2. Paid social (LinkedIn first)

      • Target buying groups, not job titles

    3. Retargeting with POV

      • Not demo ads—insight ads

    4. Email to warm audiences

      • Only after segmentation is fixed

    5. Partner co-marketing

      • Underrated, especially for credibility

    Key insight:
    Inbound only works when message-market fit is tight. Traffic amplifies clarity or, confusion.

    465 Views
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  4. How do you adapt one strategy to garner different types of wins from different campaigns and how do you best set expectations with internal stakeholders about what kinds of results they might see over the life cycle of the demand generation strategy?

    Camila Cook
    Camila Cook

    8x8 Vice President, Global Demand Generation • 5mo

    This is where most teams fail.

    Every campaign should declare its primary win type:

    • Awareness lift

    • Buying group expansion

    • Pipeline creation

    • Sales acceleration

    Campaign maturity model:

    • 0–30 days: Engagement & learning

    • 30–90 days: Pipeline signals

    • 90–180 days: Revenue impact

    Expectation-setting framework:

    • Define:

      • What this campaign will not deliver

      • Leading vs lagging indicators

    • Publish a results ladder before launch

    Internally:
    Never promise revenue without first promising behavior change.

    510 Views
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  5. How can you balance creating demand vs. capturing demand when management doesn't understand the importance of creating demand?

    We often have to shift budget, time, and resources into only BOFU campaigns in order to hit our MQL targets, which hurts our ability to create demand in the long run.

    Camila Cook
    Camila Cook

    8x8 Vice President, Global Demand Generation • 5mo

    This is a language problem, not a strategy problem. Reframe “creating demand” as: Pipeline risk reduction Cost-per-opportunity protection Sales efficiency improvement What works with execs: Show a demand coverage model: % of pipeline from high-intent vs non-intent sources Average deal size & close rates by source Run controlled experiments: 70% capture / 30% create → then flip it Show the pipeline drop-off when creation is paused Golden rule: Capture demand pays this quarter.Create demand pa ...Read More

    688 Views
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  6. How can a demand gen leader improve content strategy and engagement for email marketing? I'm looking to leverage email as a channel but have very low open/ engagement rates for our current email newsletters.

    Camila Cook
    Camila Cook

    8x8 Vice President, Global Demand Generation • 5mo

    Start by accepting a hard truth: most email newsletters fail because they are company-centric, not buyer-centric. What actually moves the needle: Segment beyond persona → Segment by buyer problem + buying stage + recent intent behavior (page visits, demo views, product usage, sales conversations). Kill the “newsletter” mindset → Replace with single-theme, single-outcome emails. Shift from “inform” to “trigger”: Triggers outperform broadcasts (product usage, pricing page visits, content consumpti ...Read More

    856 Views
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  7. What recommendations do you make in order to assure the continued success of your strategies?

    Camila Cook
    Camila Cook

    8x8 Vice President, Global Demand Generation • 5mo

    Sustained demand generation success does not come from individual campaigns or channel; it comes from operational discipline and leadership alignment. High-performing demand teams build tight feedback loops with Sales, using weekly qualitative input to validate lead quality, buying group engagement, and message resonance. They protect time and budget for experimentation, understanding that what worked six months ago will not work forever. Successful leaders also invest continuously in buyer rese ...Read More

    401 Views
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  8. What's one "best practice" you think Demand Gen teams around the world should STOP doing in 2026?

    Tried-and-true strategies are dying every day with a quickly evolving acquisition landscape. What's the next tactic/channel/program/behavior/or strategy everyone is still doing and should be put to rest?

    Camila Cook
    Camila Cook

    8x8 Vice President, Global Demand Generation • 5mo

    Demand generation teams must stop treating MQL volume as the only proxy for success. The obsession with hitting arbitrary lead targets has trained organizations to optimize for form fills instead of real buying intent, flooding sales teams with low-quality contacts and eroding trust. In 2026, success will be defined by how effectively teams engage buying groups, influence active deals, and accelerate revenue, not how many leads they produce. Continuing to prioritize MQLs encourages shallow tacti ...Read More

    421 Views
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