AMA: Notion Account-Based Marketing - Lead, Sruthi Kumar on Building a Demand Generation Team

The best demand gen candidates understand two things deeply: the sales funnel and how to work cross-functionally. You can use tools like Notion to build campaign briefs or use Notion AI to help with content and research, but those things only go so far. What really makes someone stand out is their ability to build campaigns that actually move deals forward. That requires understanding how buyers move through the funnel, and just as importantly, how to partner across sales, product marketing, and ...Read More

It already is! AI helps me move faster. I have used it for top of funnel content development, personalizing sales sequences, and synthesizing learnings across campaigns. I use Notion AI’s Research Mode to break down things like win/loss analysis or competitor insights, and tools like Claude for drafting content. But the key is knowing when AI is a co-pilot and when the people on your team's judgment, storytelling, and cross-functional collaboration are irreplaceable. The best demand gen still co ...Read More

I try to meet teams where they are and share updates in a few different ways: With sales leadership, I run a bi-weekly sync with all the segment leads, plus additional 1:1 or segment-specific check-ins with managers. I also join team calls with individual reps to share updates or gather feedback directly. For broader sales visibility, I present in sales all-hands and share updates in our sales Slack channels. Everything we cover points back to our Demand Gen Sales Digest Notion page. This way re ...Read More

It starts with building a strong partnership, PMM and Demand Gen have to operate as one team. In terms of roles: Product Marketing owns what we say: they’re responsible for the positioning, messaging, and audience insights. Demand Gen owns where and how we say it: that includes channels, timing, and campaign strategy. Our KPIs often overlap (like MQLs and pipeline), but we stay in close lockstep to make sure the story resonates with the right buyers at the right time. The best campaigns come fro ...Read More

Transparently, I got lucky. I joined because the team was sharp, down-to-earth, and genuinely fun to build with. The product was exciting, and I saw a ton of room to grow. And I did. I hope that kind of fit and growth happens for everyone, but I know luck played a part. That said, when I’ve made decisions more intentionally, I would look for: A founder or exec team that values marketing early and not as an afterthought A sales team that wants a partner A product I believe in and can clearly diff ...Read More

When you're expanding the team from one to a few people, here are a few things that help: Define clear swim lanesMake sure it’s clear who owns what, whether that’s channels, segments, or products. I also recommend leaning into people’s strengths. If someone’s a strong writer, maybe they take the lead on outbound messaging. Let folks learn from each other, it makes everyone stronger. Use campaign briefs and retrosCreate a shared doc (Notion is great for this!) to align on goals, tactics, and resu ...Read More