Where do you see the future of Demand Generation heading? What skills will a future Demand Generation manager need that he/she doesn't have today?

I wish I had a rosier outlook, but I think demand gen is actually going to get gradually more challenging as time goes on. I think that the profession itself is going to need to move away from things like PII exchange through gated forms, and focus more on value delivery to the viewer/reader/consumer. Global digital privacy regulation is more likely to expand than contract at this point. I think the way companies measure demand generation is going to need to evolve as well - with broader full-funnel attribution being more socialized, accepted and understood at the highest levels in the company.

One area where many demand gen leaders underinvest is strengthening finance and marketing alignment. Everyone talks about sales and marketing alignment - that's just a must to have a functional revenue team. How to strengthen that bond with finance? Educate them on marketing's broader contribution, and demonstrate that you have the respect and feel the responsibility for what is usually a large portion of variable company spend.

Where do I see Demand Generation heading? That's an interesting question. Like most DG roles I am see them being converted to Field Marketing. In my humble opinion, a traditional Demand Generation role is much more than just Field Marketing. With Demand Generation you basically sit with one foot in marketing and one foot in sales. You not only strategize and run campaigns, but you track the metrics, ROI, leads and conversation rates/success metrics all the way to closed won. Those skills are the reason I LOVE DG. It is all encompassing. This is not to undervalue the importance of the Field Marketing role, my title event recently has shifted to include Field Marketing in it. Maybe the real future of Demand Generation is converting Field Marketing to it?!

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 reducing churn.

GenAI is advancing quickly and for those who are playing and experimenting, they'll have an advantage over those who aren't. Being able to learn how to prompt will be a critical skill so finding ways to explore with ChatGPT in your personal life is a good way to test if your company hasn't provided access yet. There is also a ton of advancement with personalization and creative. Check out Midjourney, Pencil, Krea as just a few to start.

Ohhh! Interesting question. Demand generation has come a long way in the last several years thanks to marketing automation, analytics, and more. We can measure, slice and dice data, and optimize in ways we never thought possible. I believe many of these systems will get smarter, likely augmented at least in some part by AI. Data will become even more important going forward. Long gone are the days when a partial picture of campaign performance is acceptable. 

Campaign and demand generation managers should continue to focus and hone their skills around data manipulation, analysis, optimization, and using data to tell stories. They should understand how tools with AI can help their tech stacks, program performance, and more.