Erika Barbosa

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.

I recommend viewing this question from the perspective of a demand generation toolbox. From strategy to strategy and based on the goal at hand, you will use a variety of tools. This is the nature of demand generation. If you factor in seasonality, product offerings, and just pure human nature, the channels and tactics will need to be tested. This does not mean that some tactics and channels aren't consistent. You will have trusted channels that are more mature and better measured. This essentially comes down to the goal for a particular strategy.

In order to prioritize needs/deliverables you first have to understand the associated goal(s). Based on this, you can work backwards to better understand what will drive the desired outcome. It’s easy to quickly become overwhelmed as the one demand generation manager. Prioritization is key. Ask questions about deadlines. Be sure to have a solid understanding of scope while also managing scope creep. Lastly, it’s important to clearly articulate blockers, dependencies, and set realistic expectations.

Both virtual and live events have their own advantages and disadvantages. While I believe that live events will always be favored due to the level of connection and engagement they provide, there is still a place for virtual events as well. That being said, virtual events can offer better ROI due to their accessibility, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. Ultimately, the goals of the event should guide the decision-making process regarding the event format. Depending on those goals, a hybrid event that combines elements of both virtual and live events may be the best approach.

You can improve your interviewing skills in what I group as five different but complementary categories. 1. Preparation: This is first and foremost. The more prepared you are the more confidence you’ll have. Regardless of what level you are at in your career, I’m an advocate for preparation. It will just take different shapes depending on the stage you are at. 2. Get your reps in: The more experience you have interviewing for demand generation roles, the more improvement will become evident. This just takes time. Be kind and patient with yourself in the process and know you are playing the long game of continuous improvement. 3. Stay up to date: Demand generation is a career path that requires staying curious, learning about the latest updates and trends, and knowing the latest and greatest. One day can go by where you can start to feel out of the loop from not learning. If you ever feel this way, remember the next best time to start up again is now. 4. Do your research: Investigate what demand generation tactics are currently in-market. If possible, have a data-informed perspective. 5. Role-play: If you refer back to recommendation # 1 (preparation), you’ll see how this is a natural extension to preparation. Improvement is the result of preparation by way of getting your reps in. One way to do this is to role-play the interview with a friend or family. As human beings we are more confident with things that are familiar. If there is a specific sticking point that you practice and role-play with, it will feel more familiar and comfortable in the interview. Some individuals are generalists while others are specialists in specific areas of demand generation. Be sure to educate yourself based on the path you are taking. The hiring manager will ask questions based on the path the role is intended to be.

I recommend structuring a 30-60-90 day plan with clear timelines and goals. This will look different at an established org versus a start-up. This may also look different depending on the full scope of the role. That being said, let’s dive in: * 30 days: The first 30 days are about getting to know your customers, colleagues, and processes. “Drink from the firehose” as they say and so do with curiosity. This time is all about deeply understanding the mission, business, and customers. You don’t know what you don’t know. Ask questions and be a sponge. * 60 days: Start crafting and solidifying your plan, timelines, and the associated desired outcomes and targets. As a growth marketer in demand gen, I take the lens of experimentation. Start defining opportunities for experimentation and documenting what this plan would look like. Start digging into metrics critically. You’ll want to get a lay of the land with dashboards and reporting within your first 30 days, but they most likely won’t start to make sense until you have your footing. Be sure to start formulating your hypothesis, have several conversations cross-functionally, and identify any gaps in tracking and reporting. * 90 days: Start formulating the impact you are going to drive either as an individual contributor or as a leader. I recommend having a bottoms up perspective and how your plan will ladder up to company goals. Start executing experiments and defining what scale looks like. Be sure to communicate with stakeholders and be transparent throughout the process. While the fundamentals stay sound, I can speak from experience that my 30-60-90 day plan has looked different at every org I have been with. This shouldn’t be formulated from a cookie cutter approach. The plan must be tailored based on all of the variables of the org and the role. Lastly, I recommend that you start thinking about this early in the process. Approach it with an open mind with a bias towards action.

You present the success of the email strategies you are managing by focusing on metrics that matter. Tie your efforts back to revenue when you can. Open rates are interesting, but this metric does not truly speak to the success of your email strategy. With the progression of privacy and lack of cookie tracking, we have to rethink how we gauge success for email. I recommend thinking about addressing these types of questions for your stakeholders: * What messaging is resonating with our audience? * What assets are users engaging with? * What impact or outcomes is your email strategy resulting in? Here is another resource that may be helpful and I too agree with its perspective.

The one channel I would say is fundamental is SEO. Aside from SEO, there are too many variables to classify a channel as fundamental (e.g., business objectives, budgets, etc.). From my experience, it's imperative to have a testing mindset for demand generation. If you view demand gen from that lens, you too would agree that it is more impactful to test channels based on your goals and the problems you are solving for your customers. This will then illustrate what channels are more impactful for your business and a successful demand generation strategy.

I am of the perspective that website optimization should be incorporated as a priority (at least to some capacity) with all digital marketing strategies. I believe having a testing mindset is critical for growth. I do not recommend thinking about it as it relates to indicators for whether or not you should. Furthermore, I recommend including a CRO program as part of your digital marketing strategy. Be mindful of what you test and how you gauge success, but the practice is critical for maximizing impact. I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.

I recommend you first check out my answer related to this at the link below. One incredibly meaningful aspect of sales that is highly applicable in demand generation is having a deep understanding of your customers. The sales and marketing relationship is critical. I am of the belief you have a unique perspective that can truly be utilized in an entry-level demand generation role. How do you prove yourself for an entry-level demand generation role? Show your commitment to understanding customers, listening to their feedback, and crafting meaningful recommendations in service of your customers. Always bring it back to your customers. Happy customers see and realize the value that is delivered and as a result feel good about their investment. Related: https://sharebird.com/h/demand-generation/q/what-made-you-decide-to-choose-demand-generation-over-sales