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Top Things to Consider When Hiring a Demand Gen Leader

Published: Aug 19, 2020

 
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Did you know that 70% of companies are increasing their demand gen budget and 34% indicate that their spending will grow by over 20%?

Demand generation is a complex discipline in today’s fast-changing business environment. A demand gen manager or director needs to be a master in many aspects of marketing and technologies to successfully attract high-quality leads and increase ROI.

What Does a Demand Generation Manager Do?

A demand gen manager is tasked with delivering experiences that attract high-quality leads and nurture the relationships to engage prospects and customers. It’s a key marketing function that aims to increase sales and revenues.

Responsibilities of a demand generation manager include:

  • Defining customer segments to inform the application of appropriate outreach strategies and the delivery of targeted content.
  • Designing and implementing marketing campaigns using the right media platforms and technologies.
  • Collaborating with different departments (e.g., sales, customer care) to meet lead generation goals.
  • Ensuring marketing databases are current and the martech stack is up-to-date.
  • Tracking marketing campaigns and analyzing the results to optimize lead generation and lead nurturing efforts.
  • Manage teams across different marketing disciplines. This may include overseeing the entire marketing group within the company.

What To Look For When Hiring a Demand Gen Manager

Here are some key considerations when you’re seeking a demand gen manager with the right experience, knowledge, and skillsets:

Extensive Technical Experience

Using the right marketing technologies is the key to delivering a memorable and personalized experience that can effectively capture more leads and nurture prospect relationships.

Your demand gen manager should have the in-depth technical knowledge and the ability to implement a martech stack that can meet your organization’s business objectives.

Also, he/she should be up-to-date with the latest technologies (e.g., AI-driven software) and comfortable with applying them to your marketing campaigns, as well as able to use various tools to track and analyze results to fine-tune the strategies.

A Deep Understanding of Your Audience

As buyers expect a more personalized customer experience, your demand gen manager needs to have a deep understanding of your audience and the buyer’s journey to design effective campaigns and select the most appropriate channels.

Such an understanding will also allow him/her to have informed discussions with your CMO, content creators, website designers, sales team, customer support team, etc. to create a customer experience that will increase conversions.

In addition, your demand gen manager should be passionate about your brand and knowledgeable about your industry. He/she should stay on top of new trends and be able to apply them to the latest campaigns.

Well-Rounded Online and Offline Marketing Skill Sets

Customers expect an omnichannel experience. Your demand gen manager should be well-versed in all marketing platforms so you can deliver a consistent and seamless customer experience to accelerate the sales cycle.

While email is still the go-to channel for demand generation, SEO and online ads are growing in popularity. Meanwhile, social media marketing has become a key demand gen method for B2B marketers, with 64% using LinkedIn, 49% using Facebook, and 36% using Twitter.

Also, don’t overlook offline marketing tactics. Event marketing has been found to generate the most leads for B2B organizations. Your demand gen manager should be able to bridge online and offline marketing so you can effectively progress prospects down the sales funnel.

Content Marketing Expertise

Content marketing is cost-effective in driving high-quality traffic, capturing leads, and nurturing customer relationships. As such, your demand gen manager needs the relevant expertise to design and implement effective content marketing campaigns.

He/she should be well-versed in creating different content formats to engage your audience. For example, 53% of content marketers use interactive content for lead generation and 66% of marketers use videos in their lead nurturing campaigns while case studies are found to be the most effective format for accelerating the sales cycle and converting leads.

As such, a demand gen manager needs to have a thorough understanding of content marketing methodologies, stay current with the latest tactics, and be able to execute a content marketing strategy effectively.

IT Savviness

Demand generation is a fast-paced profession and you need someone who can stay on top of all the moving parts whether he/she is at home, in the office, or on the go using various online tools.

Your demand gen manager should be comfortable working virtually and have the ability to set up his/her equipment and network for remote work so he/she can collaborate seamlessly with other team members in real-time.

In addition, he/she should be aware of the latest cybersecurity protocols and adhere to your company’s IT policies. Since he/she is likely to log into your systems that store customer information, you need to prevent costly data breaches by ensuring the security of the connections and the privacy of his/her network.

Leadership

This may be the most important skill that a demand gen manager can poses since they oversee many different team members with different job types and personality traits. Data analysts have different needs than salespeople. Having the leadership skill set to manage the many different personalities across different teams towards the same end goal is incredibly important for someone in this role. 

Conclusion

Hiring a demand gen manager with the right knowledge and expertise helps increase sales and profitability by attracting and nurturing high-quality prospects. This will allow you to maximize marketing ROI while building brand awareness and staying relevant in today’s competitive market.


Matt Shealy is the President of ChamberofCommerce.com. Chamber specializes in helping small businesses grow their business on the web while facilitating the connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

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