AMA: Shopify Director (Head of) Global GTM & Demand Generation, Tamara Niesen on Demand Generation Soft and Hard Skills

Demand generation is to create pipeline, and transparently, it's easy to cheat and create volumes of leads. Accountability lies in quality, and so measuring teams on the metric that is a true indication of quality is essential for ensuring teams target the right audience and it's also a measure for fit intent- what leads are truly the right fit (product fit/timing fit, high intent/high). Whether you are creating pipeline for a self-serve buying process, or a sales-led process, marketing/demand gen should also use closed-won as a lagging indicator...in fact, marketing should monitor all stages of the funnel- this data should drive investment decisions. Closed won, not closed done ;) 

Operating in a silo from sales and not treating them as my first team. B2B demand gen marketing- developing pipeline for sales is our job. If we are not in lockstep with sales, and don't show up as one team, we end up with an unhealthy tension that pits teams against eachother. I have only made this mistake once, where I hit my MQL/Sales accepted targets and when we didn't hit our deal target for the quarter, I did not take accountability for the full funnel, and left sales to take responsibility. Marketing and sales need to have trust, sales needs to know that marketing understands how they qualify, sell, and close deals. Marketing needs sales to provide feedback on programs, narratives, campaigns so we can continually iterate and drive growth. In order for this to happen, marketing needs to be accountable from awareness--> closed won--> churn.

Successful demand gen marketers have a broad skill set, from creative thinking to critical thinking. Some of the most important things I look for: * Project management and relationship management: working cross functionally is essential to devlopping strategic demand gen programs and campaigns. Demand gen is the central hub if you will- channel owners, product teams, sales teams, content, field, etc. The ability to pull plans and tactics together to create time bound, TOFU, MOFU, BOFU or full funnel campaigns requires the demand gen team to be organized, while holding other teams accountable (to deadlines, targets, and more). * Audience and industry knowledge: having a deep curiousity to understanding target audiences, the buying group, various personas, coupled with a solid understanding of industries and verticals allows demand gen marketers and teams to develop tailored strategies for the various audiences. To support this, the DG marketers also need to understand how their competitors market against their product, and understand why deals are won, or more importantly, lost. * Data and financial acumen: DG teams are tied to targets, and need to forecast, and propose/invest budget accordingly. Understanding how this, coupled with deep understanding of each stage of the funnel, plays a role in CAC (customer acquisition cost), CPL (cost per lead), etc. will allow teams to optmize for efficiency and impact.

Creating an environment where we have trust, pysocholigical safety, and fun is key, but it's trust that allows team members to have autonomy and agency. Celebrating wins toegther, celebrating mistakes (fail forward!), and removing roadblocks are foundational to building healthy teams. Something I try to encourage is that each team member is the owner of their business line, audience, program, etc. As a business owner, they know what they are accountable to, and what is required to meet their goals. Retaining top talent means giving team members sapce to strategize, navitgae, execute, and pull their leadership in when required. But it's also really important that our talent is challenged, constantly growing year over year, and that as leaders, we have a solid understanding of their career asipirations, and we constantly surface opportunities for growth. It's really important that my teams know I have confidence in them, and I have their back.

Network and seek advice. Getting to know people in the field, genuinely asking about their roles, responsibilites, what keeps them up at night, recommendations on where you might learn more is the best starting point. In addition to that, get in on these Sharebird AMAs, Demand Gen podcasts, take courses where applicable- this could be in digital marketing/performance, SEO, PMM, sales....all of these crafts are inputs/influence demad gen. A personal goal of mine throughout my career has been to be a Tshaped marketer - to have a solid expertise in a few areas, and be knowledgeable enough in others (so I understand how it all works together as a system), this is an always on exercise and should never be "complete".

As an engineer, I suspect you have deep product and user knowlege, and this could be a huge asset in marketing! I would start with getting to know the demand gen team at your organization, or, start to network, subscribe to AMA's like this one, listen to demand gen podcasts to better understand: * role responsibilities- what are they responsible for, how are they measured, what does a day in the life look like * when targets are not being met, what are the levers demand gen has at their disposal * learn about inbound vs. outbound, marketing vs. sales funnels, stages of the funnel, conversion rates * understand how campaigns come together, the teams and tactics involved * how does product play a role in marketing- from positioning, to automating stages of the funnel, to self serve acquistion * martech- what is the marketing tech stack, how does this play a role in lead scoring, upsell or cross sell This is just a starting point, perhaps a way to dip your toes is to ask your marketing team about contributing to a campaign, follow along from ideate to launch, and offer to take on tasks where you can, ie. speaking on a webinar. Good luck!

This is a difficult question to answer, I would love more context in order to respond thoughtfully, but I will share this- a work enironment that is build around psychological safety, one that encourages healthy debate and conflict is (IMO), the envinroment that breeds the most creative and successful teams. It's good to disagree and work together to come to an agreement, or comprimise, but your leader may have context you don't have, and they may not even be able to share that context. In some cases, you may need to agree to disagree. Feedback is a gift, but how you take and apply that feedback is what will help you grow, mature in your career. Some of the hardest feedback I have received has been the most crucial to my development and success.

The answer here is nuanced. I have a background in product marketing, so I am biased, but if this role is the first marketer overall, I would actually prioritize a product marketing hire or skill set and focus on the foundations: * Positioning, value props, messaging, personas, pitch decks, roadmap, leave behinds * Sales and product feeback loops- customer insights, win loss analysis * Customer stories- social proof of product market fit * Competitive intelligence If this hire is the first demand gen hire, with the assumption the high level areas above are covered, I would prioritize the following skills (some of the below is repetitive from the skill set question also asked in this AMA): * Understanding of sales teams, inbound vs. outbound, and willingness to get scrappy and executing in the field (ie. joining sales calls, pitches, etc), and taking these learnings to then zoom out and develop a demand gen strategy, campaign calendar, and the know-how to patch leaky buckets in the funnel. * Project management and relationship management: working cross functionally is essential to devlopping strategic demand gen programs and campaigns. Demand gen is the central hub if you will- the central team that brings together channel owners (note, in smaller orgs, they might also be the channel owners), product teams, sales teams, content, field, etc. The ability to pull plans and tactics together to create time bound, TOFU, MOFU, BOFU or full funnel campaigns requires the demand gen team to be organized, while holding other teams accountable (to deadlines, targets, and more). * Audience and industry knowledge: having a deep curiousity to understanding target audiences, the buying group, various personas, coupled with a solid understanding of industries and verticals allows demand gen marketers and teams to develop tailored strategies for the various audiences. To support this, the DG marketers also need to understand how their competitors market against their product, and understand why deals are won, or more importantly, lost. * Data and financial acumen: DG teams are tied to targets, and need to forecast, and propose/invest budget accordingly. Understanding how this, coupled with deep understanding of each stage of the funnel, plays a role in CAC (customer acquisition cost), CPL (cost per lead), etc. will allow teams to optmize for efficiency and impact.