Fanette Jobard

If Demand Generation and Content Marketing were to share a single KPI, Marketing Engaged Leads (MELs)—also known as leads generated or new emails in the system—would be ideal. MELs provide a clear view of top-of-funnel content performance, it answers which blog posts, landing pages, and ad creatives drive new signups and grow the lead base. This KPI is powerful for understanding if content is attracting the right leads and if Demand Generation can scale paid traffic to that specific content effectively. However, there are additional KPIs and metrics to consider: For Pure Awareness Efforts: Content marketing can be assessed through web traffic metrics, such as page views and visits. It’s crucial to exclude any artificial traffic boosts, like those from paid promotion or newsletters, to get an accurate picture. I recall a time when a niche topic seemed highly successful in page views, only to later realize the blog post’s high traffic came primarily from onboarding emails rather than organic interest. Further Down the Funnel: Content and Demand Gen can align on KPIs like opportunity creation and revenue influenced by content. For instance, did a particular piece of content serve as the last touchpoint before someone started a trial or before sales created an opportunity? This alignment is even stronger when the sales team leverages content in outbound efforts, showcasing its value directly in the sales process.

This is the million-dollar question! It’s a real challenge for many companies, as it touches on all the complexities of attribution. 1. I would start by defining a straightforward way to track each channel’s performance across the funnel stages—Leads, MQLs, and SQLs—for different channels (events, paid, product, organic, etc.). 2. Next, analyze past results to identify where you have control over volume, and adjust planning for the upcoming quarter based on these insights. 3. For ongoing tracking, the team should sync regularly on KPIs with sales and hold a mid-quarter review to refine goals and make necessary adjustments. KPIs and Goals live into a central updated document everybody can check.

You could just rename MQL to PQL (product qualified lead) and, voilà! Just kidding. Many teams treat sales-led and self-serve as entirely separate models, but in my view, the KPIs don’t need to change much. In most companies, it’s actually helpful to keep KPI names consistent so that new hires familiar with a sales-led funnel can easily understand the different stages. You’ll still track Leads/MELs, PQLs/MQLs, paid users/SQLs, and ARR/revenue. Of course, in self-serve, you won’t have stages like "Sales Accepted Leads", "meetings", "Proof of concept", or "Sales Qualified", but you’ll have equivalents that allow you to effectively track ARR.

Congrats! This is an exciting role, and it’s definitely an addictive one because you’ll have the chance to build everything from the ground up. I’d start by focusing on MQLs as your north star—quality leads that either support sales or, in a self-serve model, drive free trials. The definition isn’t set in stone; it’s a work in progress. You’ll need to find the right balance, possibly through lead scoring, to determine what qualifies as a perfect MQL. It’s also helpful to consider metrics like Leads or Marketing Engaged Leads to gauge how many inbound leads you’re able to support. Demand Gen typically owns conversions, so those are key KPIs you can commit to as the business scales. Think of it as tracking the journey from eyeballs (page views, impressions) to leads, then leads to MQLs, and finally MQLs to SQLs/opportunities. Every quarter your efforts should be able to improve these conversion rates.

Start by aligning Demand Generation’s OKRs with the company’s main pillars so that every internal stakeholder can understand your goals. For each theme, define 2-3 highly measurable KRs (key results), then tie each KR to specific activities, campaigns, or initiatives to achieve those results. For example: * Company Goal: Become the leader in the Enterprise segment. * DG Matching Goal: Drive demand for the Enterprise segment. * DG OKRs: Increase Enterprise ARR by X%; acquire X% more new Enterprise logos. * DG Activities: Invest in Enterprise trade shows and field events, launch an ABM campaign, consider some Enterprise content syndication...

Framing KPIs in terms of control and impact: if you control it or influence it, you can own it. In Demand Gen, we can control lead quality, MQLs routed to sales, and even the initial stages, such as Sales Accepted Leads, meetings, and early-stage opportunities. However, once we move past meetings and into opportunity creation, we enter a gray area. At that point, we’re less in control of what sales is doing during meetings or POCs, making it harder to be accountable for bottom-of-funnel outcomes. Similarly, in a self-serve model, it’s challenging to be fully accountable for results that are dependent on the product experience and UX. We can drive engagement with emails and in-app messages to guide users toward a successful trial, but ultimately, accountability for product and UX changes lies outside of our control.

SEM can be implemented as soon as you have dedicated marketing resources. While it can seem complex initially, the barrier to entry is lower than many believe. SEM tools are generally affordable, and campaigns can be launched quickly, even with a modest budget. Collaborate with your product and engineering teams to identify relevant keywords. Even in highly competitive markets, focusing on niche or long-tail keywords can be a successful starting point. Leverage Google's recommended initial budget guidelines to begin experimenting and gathering data. Above all, ensure your ad copy is clear, accurate, and avoids misleading potential customers.

This is a great question, and there are many ways to approach segmentation. Each digital marketing team often develops a unique approach tailored to their specific business. Beyond the typical segments like company size, job title, and industry, I find segmenting by pain points particularly effective. This approach aligns well with product content and customer success stories. Ideally, I would focus on a specific pain point, connect it with relevant "jobs to be done" content, and nurture the conversation with the customer story (using retargeting if available or email) Another valuable segmentation strategy is based on the target company's tech/business maturity. Understanding where they are in their technological journey allows for more targeted and relevant messaging.

Sharing in a central wiki or company repository (we use Notion at Sentry), at the same time as other teams to give them the same level of attention. I am a big fan of async communication. Connecting ahead of time with other business stakeholder to see how these KPIs fit in their pictures and serve their need. Connecting ahead of time with the Demand Gen DRIs for each KPIs to request their feedback and how they would prioritize these differently. On a regular basis, organizing weekly pipeline meetings to track trends and collect feedback on these KPIs.

Similar to the question about worst KPIs, I believe vanity metrics and volume KPIs are often too easy to manipulate and can be used to tell a misleading story. Metrics like email open rates and click-through rates can be artificially inflated by bots. Lead counts and sign-ups can also be influenced by acquisition campaigns that don’t necessarily bring in high-quality prospects. Likewise, a low cost-per-lead (CPL) is often over-hyped; in the end, what matters is quality, bottom-of-funnel conversion. Constantly feeding the top of the funnel with low-quality leads won’t actually move the needle.