¿Cómo construir y nutrir un equipo de generación de demanda?

Understand your main final goals. Work towards by setting smaller goals and ideas. Build a strategy accordingly. Look at your KPIs and change them accordingly.

It isn‘t just setting smart goals and tracking KPI progress it is setting the RIGHT goals. When it comes to demand gen, most companies make the same costly mistake. They measure short term impact instead of long term strategy. Before you can track any progress you MUST figure out what you need. KNOW YOUR ICP. Your ideal customer has the problem you solve and is willing to pay for getting it solved. Then set KPIs that hold you accountable in attracting and converting those customers. Fun Fact: your product team already has a good idea who that customer is, they have likely used Design Thinking to build your software for them!

Before building your demand gen dream team, chart a course. Set clear SMART goals that connect to your business and your buyers' needs. These goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Track your progress with key metrics (KPIs) like website traffic, conversions, leads, revenue, and ROI. By getting everyone on the same page about goals and metrics, your team will be a well-oiled machine, ready to crush your demand gen goals!

In my experience, having a diverse group of talent with varied skills in marketing, analytics & sales is a must. However, empowering the team with the write tools is also extremely important for them to deliver results that align with your organizational goals. We implemented a dashboard that provided real time insights into our lead generation efforts. This allowed us to pivot quickly and optimize our campaigns based on what was working and what wasn’t. Also, the digital landcape is constantly changing, I remember organizing monthly training sessions where the team members could learn from industry experts or share their own knowledge. This not only enhanced our skills but also fostered a culture of continuous learning and innovation.

Before building a demand generation team, it is important that you've outlined your plan for meeting revenue contribution from marketing if there is a requirement from management. Is it 20% of revenue? 40%+? Is it just for new logos? Sometimes there is misalignment on what the function of demand generation does so it is imperative that you have these conversations up front. This clarity allows you to flesh out a plan for the type of pipeline you can contribute to and the required branding, awareness and leads your team will need to generate. You can then define your goals and the budget requirements and type of team members necessary to meet your goals.

I've been crafting demand gen strategies for a while, and the team makeup depends on the company's size. For smaller teams, you might be the manager, content creator, and data whiz all rolled into one. But for larger teams, you'll have specialists like content marketers and data analysts to supercharge results. The key is finding people who are passionate, data-driven, and love telling compelling stories that turn strangers into fans.

It's not necessarily only about skills -- skills can be taught, especially at a junior level. Some of the most important things to look for are: -- Does the person have the right attitude? -- Will they fit in with not only the core team, but the sales team as well? -- Are they curious and always reading about the latest and greatest things in the industry? -- Are they (or can they be) an effective communicator? With demand generation, along with most marketing teams, being able to sell through ideas and build relationships with the sales teams is critical to getting ideas approved and executed.

Hiring the right roles and skills for demand generation initially focuses on setting up and automating basic processes. However, a key challenge soon emerges: overcoming the bottleneck of creating quality content that resonates with audience interests. It's vital to have a team with diverse skills, including those adept in content creation and marketing automation. This ensures not only the efficient running of demand generation processes but also addresses the critical need for high-quality, engaging content tailored to audience preferences.

Think of it like putting together a superhero team where each member has a special skill. It's all about finding the right people who are good at what they do and ready to work together towards the same goal.

The ability to write well, and to write relatively quickly, is the number one skill that allows a member of a nurture and demand generation team to make the biggest contribution. Whether we are talking about drafting marketing emails, publishing articles, creating guides and ebooks, planning a podcast episode, or writing a video script, writing is still at the core of almost every marketing function. And as impressive as generative AI has become in recent years when it comes to business writing, the ability to write well as a marketer is still the clearest indicator of being able to communicate well, both internally and with your target audience.

Demand generation, and marketing in general, is constantly evolving and it's important to be thinking about how you keep your team up-to-date. A few ways I've gone about it are finding or approving workshops and certifications that are related to the role (might be very specific part of it, but as long as it's relevant) and creating channels and other avenues to share interesting learnings. For example, a LinkedIn group to quickly share interesting posts from experts in the field, or a Slack channel that team members can post links or files that they find. Fostering a culture of learning not only helps improve the skills of the team, it helps retain a team that feels involved and supported.

Establishing a continuous learning cycle is essential in demand generation teams. Implementing the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework can facilitate this, but it's the manner in which learnings are discussed that determines success. Key elements include the ability to reflect, maintain curiosity, and be honest about failures. This approach not only fosters personal and team growth but also cultivates an environment where innovative ideas and strategies can flourish, adapting to market and customer changes effectively.

Change is the only constant, and marketing is no exception. Working with Finance to share this perspective and carve out a budget to allow team members to stay abreast is foundational to building, retaining and growing high-performance teams. I have shared books, communities, forums, networks, and courses with my team to help foster learning and knowledge gathering on specific topics. Before COVID, I sponsored off-site workshops and pods to foster my teams' learnings. Creativity comes from acquiring knowledge and learning. Creativity will continue to be the currency organizations win by. Invest in the currency of creativity.

"Training" isn't about a webinar or course they can take IMHO. Training is keeping them engaged and focused on what's going on in the market everyday. It happens with the conversations you are having with each other. From sharing perspectives and insights based on the actions you're taking. You empower your team by letting them share their ideas and not dismissing them. Simply asking why someone came to the conclusion they did and explain why it's a good/bad idea can go a long way.

Continuous training and empowerment, alongside a culture of collaboration and communication, are vital. Regular strategy evaluations and adjustments based on performance data ensure the team remains agile and effective.

In my experience of demand generation , its very important to communicate & align your team to few KPI's that signals demand for your product ( those might be in form of signups, demo requests, relevant searches for your product and use case pages , more form submits on your ad, social word of mouth of talking about your product , closures of contracts ). This should be tracked every week and your campaigns, strategies should be optimised to grow these crucial numbers.

In the context of demand generation, learning and experimentation are pivotal. It's important to ensure that experimentation includes sufficient variance to avoid optimization around local maxima. This approach enables teams to explore a broader range of strategies and solutions, leading to more effective and innovative outcomes. Creating a culture that values reflective learning, open discussion of failures, and honest feedback is key to fostering an environment where meaningful, data-driven experimentation thrives.

All marketing is continuous testing. What worked today won't work tomorrow but I think what is often overlooked are the details in which something creates a predictable outcome. Structure your creation process and understanding the thinking behind it can help a lot in that regard. When you've found something that works, it is just a matter of making it work better, faster and further.

Collaboration is critical for a dynamic team environment. Work with sales and other departments to ensure alignment. Set clear goals and KPIs for measurable success. Provide cutting-edge technology and tools like marketing automation platforms. Encourage innovation by cultivating a culture of experimentation and flexibility.

Alignment across the GTM teams and finance, combined with a growth mindset | and continuous learning approach, allows GTM teams to go from good to great. Sharing and reviewing results, sharing insights, outlining program tweaks, and collaborating on the next best action are all key ingredients in building a scalable, predictable demand-generation engine. Celebrating successes and driving a sense of wanderlust and excitement is critical.

As a Demand Generation Specialist, I've observed numerous success stories with significant lead increases and few failures, largely due to robust commitment. Industries vary, but the average uplift in leads and conversions is noteworthy. Failures, when they occur, often stem from insufficient commitment to implementing and adapting strategies. This trend underscores the effectiveness of dedicated demand generation practices across different sectors.

1. Differentiated Market Positioning and Narrative 2. Understand your customer's pain and problems better than anyone else 3. Build content that forges a relationship and an appetite to change. Also, please ensure the content answers, why now, why me and why buy? 4. Be obsessed with customer success 5. Get to know your Customer | ICP better or all over again.

Strong leadership is vital. A good leader guides the team, celebrates successes, offers growth opportunities, and adjusts strategies based on feedback. This cultivates a motivated and skilled team, leading to organizational success.

I agree with Arpana - leadership plays a crucial role in bringing out the best in a team, especially when faced with challenges. A good leader can turn a difficult situation into an opportunity for creativity, leading the team to success with innovative solutions.

I believe that in a Demand Generation team, it is essential to work on and focus on the following points: 1. Deeply understand the value proposition and our differentiation in the market. It is important to define a value ladder for our services or products. 2. Have success stories that support the nurturing process. We must build trust with our potential clients. 3. Create actions that target the short and medium term. A sales funnel and a nurturing strategy should include OTO offers, upselling, and downselling. 4. Hyper-personalise messages. Complement this with remarketing (ads).