As a hiring manager, what do the best Demand Generation candidates have in common?

Successful demand gen marketers have a broad skill set, from creative thinking to critical thinking. Some of the most important things I look for:

• Project management and relationship management: working cross functionally is essential to devlopping strategic demand gen programs and campaigns. Demand gen is the central hub if you will- channel owners, product teams, sales teams, content, field, etc. The ability to pull plans and tactics together to create time bound, TOFU, MOFU, BOFU or full funnel campaigns requires the demand gen team to be organized, while holding other teams accountable (to deadlines, targets, and more).
• Audience and industry knowledge: having a deep curiousity to understanding target audiences, the buying group, various personas, coupled with a solid understanding of industries and verticals allows demand gen marketers and teams to develop tailored strategies for the various audiences. To support this, the DG marketers also need to understand how their competitors market against their product, and understand why deals are won, or more importantly, lost.
• Data and financial acumen: DG teams are tied to targets, and need to forecast, and propose/invest budget accordingly. Understanding how this, coupled with deep understanding of each stage of the funnel, plays a role in CAC (customer acquisition cost), CPL (cost per lead), etc. will allow teams to optmize for efficiency and impact.

The best candidates have a ruthless attention to detail, this is by far the most important trait in my view. Without it planning, managing, executing, and scaling campaigns becomes nearly impossible. Additionally stellar demand gen team members understand the importance of building true cross-functional relationships. I encourage new members to take the first half of all regularly scheduled 1 on1s to chat about non-work related things, and really get to know your PMM, MOPS, web, paid counterparts. As campaign managers we rely on other teams to get work dones and sometimes on short notice, strong relationships will help you deliver.

Demand Gen is such a fun role (I know, I'm biased) because of the split because art and science. DG provides a unique opportunity to get creative and strategic in crafting new campaigns and programs, while also definitively measuring impact and analyzing results. As such, some of the best Demand Gen marketers I've hired and worked with contain a true passion for that combination, and with that, a deep sense of accountability and ownership over the success of those programs.

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 resources. However, if you layer in the key characteristics of curiosity and trainability, you can have a compounding impact.