AMA: Observable Head of Growth Marketing, Erika Barbosa on Demand Generation Soft and Hard Skills

The best demand generation candidates have curiosity in common. The demand gen space is constantly evolving. If you are not curious, it’s difficult to keep up. How do you stay curious and motivate curiosity? Keep reading, learning and exploring topics of interest. Embody a testing mentality. Develop new skills. If you pair curiosity with trainability, you have gold. It’s not a requirement to have an advanced degree to have a demand gen career. Many of the skills can be developed through free res ...Read More

What hard skills are must haves for a demand generation leader?  Curiosity. While a soft skill, a curious, growth mindset is critical for a demand generation leader. This is how you can stay humble, but also continue to allow for growth in yourself and your team.  Data analysis / data-informed. Don’t just be data-driven, but rather be data-informed. Put your curiosity to work and think deeply about what the data is showing, coming to your own insights, and visualizing the data.  Storytelling. Be ...Read More

I see the future of demand generation getting more complicated. However, let’s be up for the challenge. Attribution and understanding impact is getting trickier. And at present day, budgets are generally being reduced. That being said, this just means we need to continue to evolve. We need to focus on areas such as revenue marketing, skills for data analysis, and an overall stronger focus on customers’ needs. We need to focus more on actions that will drive more quality users for longer while re ...Read More

I recommend you first check out my answer related to this at the link below. One incredibly meaningful aspect of sales that is highly applicable in demand generation is having a deep understanding of your customers. The sales and marketing relationship is critical. I am of the belief you have a unique perspective that can truly be utilized in an entry-level demand generation role. How do you prove yourself for an entry-level demand generation role? Show your commitment to understanding customers ...Read More

In order to retain good talent, I believe you have to care for the person as a whole. They need to know you care about their wellbeing. The leader of the team needs to cultivate an environment where this is naturally developed over the course of micro moments and time. I recommend focusing on the following areas: Build trust with the individual, not just in their role. It’s important that an individual knows you don’t just care about the output of their work. This could take the form of career d ...Read More

Attaining a demand generation leadership role is certainly not attainable on an island by yourself. There are some responses to this question that are a given such as the support of others. This is such a critical element of growth, but I won’t solely focus here. Support of others. As noted above, relationships are critical to growth. Lead from the perspective of elevating others. Desire for growth. The desire for continued growth has been consistent fuel for me. Let this help guide you on what ...Read More

I recommend that you stay motivated and curious. It’s absolutely possible to get an entry level role in demand generation early in your career. One of the amazing aspects of demand gen is the breadth and depth that it allows for various entry points. It makes demand generation quite accessible. Let your determination fuel the areas outlined below: Be curious. Curiosity has been a huge driver for me. What other revenue levers can I define? How can I become more efficient? When thinking about this ...Read More

From my perspective, you can transition to demand generation quite easily. Depending on where you are transitioning from and the associated level, this can help determine where you could land. This is absolutely doable though. I recommend doing some research and educating yourself on what aspect of demand generation interests you the most. Demand gen can mean different things in different orgs so get clarity on what you are motivated by. There are tons of free resources to get you started. Where ...Read More

The most important soft and hard skills to help you build your demand gen career are captured below. While I captured each in three buckets, there is so much more to consider. Demand gen spans over many disciplines. Soft skills: Effective communication Critical thinking Empathy Hard skills: Data analysis Deep knowledge of your skill (e.g., SEO) Digital marketing strategy Dig into what you are passionate about in demand generation and truly become a subject matter expert. Read often. Study daily. ...Read More

The obvious answer is both. : ) However, if I had to select one option I would say it is better to have the right soft skills. Hard skills within demand generation are very teachable. In fact, “being teachable” is a critical soft skill to have. Oftentimes you’ll find educating yourself on demand generation hard skills is an ongoing process over the course of your career. While soft skills are too, having these skills come more naturally would be beneficial. For example, you can teach someone how ...Read More

That’s a tough position to be in. Hopefully you have the type of communication in place where you feel safe to discuss it. If you do, I recommend approaching it from an objective perspective. There could be nuggets of growth opportunities within the feedback you receive. “... Don’t always know what to do with it…” Does this mean the way the feedback is given doesn’t feel productive? Or is something unclear as it relates to next steps? “... I don’t even agree with the feedback…” It’s completely f ...Read More

I wouldn’t say these perspectives are exclusive to demand generation, but they certainly are imperative to the role. This could also be highly effective across any org. Curiosity. If you’ve read some of my other responses, you’ll notice a common thread of curiosity. I believe it is critical to the role. It’s also a useful way to approach not only your job but also life. Metrics focused. I recommend staying close to your metrics. Understand what is working and what isn’t working. Study them and u ...Read More

I actually started my career in sales and transitioned over to marketing and demand generation. What made me decide to make the switch? Personally, it felt like a better fit for me. I’m more on the analytical and creative side than sales afforded me. However, sales did give me a unique perspective and foundation to build my career. I truly see the value in partnering with sales as a member of the marketing department. I can understand and empathize with different perspectives. I recommend thinki ...Read More