AMA: Qualia Director, Demand Generation, Laura Lewis on Demand Generation Skills

Know what Demand Generation is, why you want to go into it, and show that you've done from preliminary work to build skills relevant to the field. Many times, recent graduates are looking for any job, not necessarily this job. That's the very first thing I look for in an interview for an entry-level role: why this field and why this function. If you can answer that, you're already going to be ahead of many others interviewing for the same job. Show that you've done some marketing work as well. P ...Read More

When starting an entry-level role, no one will expect you to have the hard skills figured out. They'll train you on those. What they will be looking for is the soft skills: can you communicate well, are you organized, hard working, a good writer, or whatever else is important for that specific role. For a mid-level role, say a Digital Marketing Specialist, the skill set flips. You will be required to be an expert in that discipline, advise and train others on that discipline, and be able to figu ...Read More

That depends on what "extensive marketing background" means. If you've been, say, a Social Media Marketer and are looking to make a change, I would suggest having a conversation with your boss and the DG leader at your current organization to see if there is any between-teams movement available. There might not be anything right now, but that could change in 6 months or 1 year and then you will be top of mind. In the meantime, they might even be able to have you work on some small projects to le ...Read More

This is one of my favorite topics! Usually, the answer is no difference at all. The term "Demand Generation" came first, and over time has evolved into "Growth Marketing." Many organizations still use DG as the term, even through they actually mean Growth Marketing and the DG leader is responsible for Growth Marketing. Officially, however, Demand Generation is a subset of Growth Marketing. Growth Marketing encompasses all of the marketing tactics focused on Pipeline and Revenue: funnel managemen ...Read More

You don't have to agree with feedback. But you do have to be open to hearing it, especially from a boss who has power over your career and performance reviews. And - I hate to say it - but not all bosses will have your best interests at heart, so not all feedback might be valuable. The best thing you can do is to take a step back and think about the feedback and where it might be coming from. Ask for specific examples and how they would have preferred you handle the situation or the work. And tr ...Read More

Planning, process, and following the data. Planning - a campaign goes through a robust cross-functional process before it launches, and involves milestones with dates on a project plan and getting deliverables in a few days early for review cycles. Other functions can benefit from planning their initiatives thoroughly. Process - the most successful campaigns follow a process. Usually, that's ideation, planning, execution, and monitoring results. This isn't specific to marketing or DG. Following ...Read More