AMA: Panorama Education Sr. Director of Demand Generation, Natasha Dolginsky on Demand Generation KPI's

One of the metrics I find overhyped is ROI by channel because it's a self fulfilling prophecy. If marketing is doing its job right, then all the channels are firing on all cylinders, creating the optimal outcome. ROI by channel is like asking which ingredient in the minestrone soup made it a success - broth, tomatoes, onion, salt - obviously the answer is the combination of ingredients and execution in cooking made It a success. Same, in marketing, it’s the combination and interaction of all the ...Read More

Great question and I’ll start with a very marketing-y answer - it depends. Because it really does! Depending on industry, sales cycle, product, etc the KPIs for marketing might be different because the GOALS for marketing teams might be different. However, in broad strokes metrics the first DG hire should own are: Pipeline related - depending on business (+ budget and sales motion) DG should own a % of pipeline that’ll be driven by inbound activities Qualified Lead related - no MQLs are not dead ...Read More

To develop annual DG OKRs and tie them to individual projects, I take a working backwards approach. If my ultimate goal is pipeline, I can make an impact by increasing top of funnel leads/demand or improving conversion rates. With focus on conversion rate, I’d understand where the gaps are, get baselines, and set goals of what good looks like. Then identify activities that can help close the gaps. For example, if analysis shows that the biggest gap is within early-stage conversion rates in my mi ...Read More

My least favorite KPI is 'incremental ROI,' which I find almost impossible to calculate accurately. Even with tools and software it’s difficult to isolate the true incremental impact of any single campaign or tactic in a complex buyer journey and an everchanging market. It’s tempting to be able to say that for every extra dollar, I’ll make x dollars in pipeline, but that answer is usually more of a vanity metric than true representation of reality, even when the math matches. And when teams focu ...Read More

There are a few processes my team manages uses to track KPIs by channels. First is clear goal setting for both leading and lagging indicators by channel.  Leading indicators differ by channel, while lagging indicators include leads, pipeline, funnel conversions. Both are looked at frequently to make stop, start, continue decisions.  Second, all data stems from a single source of truth reporting in Hubspot, and then is sliced and diced by various segments and views by channel dashboards. This mea ...Read More

I always start with pipeline and am hard-pressed these days to find a DG team that doesn't have pipeline as their key result. The pipeline conversation should happen with all pipeline-generating teams – to ensure every team knows how much pipeline they're responsible for AND agrees on what's considered “marketing pipeline” vs “sales”, etc.  Then I work backwards from pipeline. I look for the biggest impact levers I can pull in each channel - increasing conversion on the website; getting more mee ...Read More