AMA: ServiceNow Director, Integrated Marketing Campaign Management, Ravali Dodia on Growth Marketing Strategy

Demand generation KPIs: leads generated - # of new leads captured (from form fills, webinar, etc) MQLs - leads that meet your criteria and are sales ready (could be BDRs, SDRs that take the initial call based on your org set up) CPL - cost per lead, how much do you spend to acquire each lead lead conversion rate - the % of leads that move to the next funnel stage (ie: MQL > SQL or different stages based on your org setup) pipeline contribution - value of deals influenced by demand gen efforts ...Read More

Great question! A lot of demand gen tactics we use for net-new can actually work really well for retention and expansion too, it’s really about tweaking the message. For example: Nurture programs can focus on feature adoption, best practices, or upsell paths Webinars and events still work - just shift the focus to deeper product use or customer stories (these are the best because you want your customers to speak on your behalf!) Persona-based campaigns apply here too; you can target admins, powe ...Read More

Growth marketing is all about smart, steady growth across the whole customer journey. Here’s a quick rundown: Keep testing stuff: A/B tests are your best friend. Track what works so you can repeat it Think beyond just getting people in the door: you gotta keep them coming back. If retention is low, it’s time to rethink the game plan Make it personal, and tailor messages based on who people are and what they do Work together: product, sales, analytics, brand, everyone should be on the same page M ...Read More

SEO isn’t a quick fix like paid ads, it’s more like planting seeds that grow over time and keep bringing in traffic without extra spend. To show why SEO’s worth it, focus on how it drives real, high-intent traffic that converts and costs way less than paid. Think of paid ads as renting traffic, once you stop paying, it’s gone. SEO is owning your traffic, evergreen stuff that keeps working for years. Plus, SEO builds trust and brand visibility long-term. If we don’t invest, we’re missing out on d ...Read More

If you’re moving from a sales-led to a product-led GTM, your marketing has to change too. Instead of just helping sales, you gotta help people discover and use the product on their own. Here’s the gist: Let the product do the talking: push free trials, freemium options, or live demos so folks can jump right in Make content that gets people to sign up: so think of stuff like how-to guides, SEO-friendly posts, and messaging that actually speaks to the end user, not just the big bosses Focus on get ...Read More

How we measure if growth marketing’s actually working: First off, know what you're aiming for — more signups, better retention, more pipeline, whatever. Make that clear upfront Use the dashboards you already have — Tableau, PowerBI, whatever your team’s into. Don’t overcomplicate it Test stuff — A/B different messages, channels, or offers. Track what worked so you can actually learn from it later (trust me, future-you will appreciate it) Keep checking in — regular reviews help you catch what’s w ...Read More

Customer acquisition is about bringing new folks in, you want to get their attention, show them the value, and make it easy for them to try or buy your product/service. This means that you need to have smart targeting, clear messaging, and removing friction from the time they are engaged to purchase process. Customer retention is about keeping these individuals around and happy. You want to make sure they are getting ongoing value, feel supported, and have reasons to stick around with your org l ...Read More

Why data matters in growth marketing (and how we actually use it): Make smarter calls – data shows what’s working and what’s just burning budget Uncover hidden wins – sometimes the best-performing stuff isn’t where you expect. Digging into the data helps spot those Stay on your game – test, tweak, repeat. It’s the only way to keep campaigns fresh and effective. Personalize the heck out of it – good data = messaging that actually lands with the right people. Prove your impact – things like CAC an ...Read More

Traditional marketing is more like "let's get our name out there." So think of big campaigns, billboards, TV ads, magazine spreads. It's not super personalized, planned in advance and it's mostly around brand awareness. Growth marketing is like "let's figure out what actually works, and let's do more of it." It focuses on the entire customer journey. From awareness to retention and upsell/cross-sell. It's data-driven and can be scrappy at times, but its all about testing and growing users, engag ...Read More

I've engaged with this in my past organization and really it builds trust and loyalty, drives word of mouth, provides direct feedback, boosts retention, supports content and campaigns, and the most important I have always found is helps spot new growth opportunities. Let me dig more into each one: build trust - when you interact with your community, people feel heard and valued. This creates a real connection and this turns your customers into fans provides feedback - your community and all the ...Read More

Let’s be real, content is how people find you, trust you, and eventually choose you. Not by being pushy, but by being helpful. Good content pulls folks in, teaches them something, and nudges them closer to saying “yeah, I’m in.” And that's the stage you want them to get to, whatever you're building. A few things to keep in mind when creating it: Know who you’re talking to – what do they care about? What’s stressing them out? What do they actually want? Match it to where they are – someone just l ...Read More

There are TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU - Top, Middle and Bottom of Funnel TOFU - the goal here is to get people to discover you, and it focuses on awareness and traffic (attract phase) MOFU - the goal here is to educate and warm the lead-up, so building that trust and answering their questions through your content, and showing them value for your product/services (engage & nurture phase) BOFU - goal here is to turn their interest into action (demo, call with sales, purchase) and the focus here is to ...Read More