How to Hire a Demand Generation Manager: 7 Things to Look Out For
As AI revolutionizes marketing, the demand for talented professionals to bridge the gap between technology and strategy is higher than ever. Demand generation managers combine technical expertise with creative insight, ensuring your campaigns reach the right audience and convert effectively.
Over 75% of companies are pursuing aggressive growth targets nowadays. But growth ambitions can’t live on hopes and dreams – businesses need impactful demand generation to materialize them. Aside from advanced tools, businesses need a leader who can translate data-driven insights into actionable strategies that drive real, sustainable growth.
What Does a Demand Generation Manager Do?
The demand generation manager develops strategies to generate demand for your brand, ultimately adding leads to the pipeline and driving sales. This position requires close collaboration with various teams—including marketing, sales, and product development—to ensure that the company effectively reaches its target audience and generates high-quality leads.
Here are some demand generation tactics that these managers work on daily:
- Campaign Development- The demand generation manager creates and leads campaigns across various channels—like content marketing, social media ads, webinars, and trade shows—to increase brand awareness and attract potential customers.
- Persona Development- The manager develops detailed buyer personas to ensure campaigns resonate with the target audience. These personas guide the marketing strategy by helping customize messaging and content to address potential customers’ needs and challenges.
- Performance Analysis- The manager continuously tracks and analyzes campaign results data to assess what’s working and where improvements are needed. This approach ensures that marketing efforts are aligned with the company’s goals.
- Sales Collaboration – This role works closely with sales to ensure that leads generated by marketing are well-qualified. This collaboration helps create a smooth transition from marketing to sales, increasing the likelihood of conversions.
- Automation Tools Management – The manager oversees marketing automation tools such as email platforms, social media management systems, and CRMs. These tools are essential for streamlining operations, improving efficiency, and scaling efforts.
The specific responsibilities of a demand generation manager can vary based on a company’s size and structure. In smaller companies, they may handle all these tasks independently, while in larger organizations, they might lead a team of specialists, each focusing on different aspects of demand generation.
Regardless of the company’s size or industry, the demand generation manager is critical to driving growth by generating leads that the sales teams can close and increase revenue.
Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation Managers
While demand generation and lead generation managers contribute to business growth, their roles and strategies differ significantly.
Demand Generation Manager
This role focuses on the early stages of the buyer journey—building brand awareness, educating potential customers, and fostering engagement across multiple channels. These managers use a variety of tactics to create interest and drive customers down the demand generation funnel, nurturing them so that sales can convert.
Lead Generation Manager
A lead generation manager focuses more on capturing and converting leads. Their primary objective is to collect contact information from potential customers and nurture these leads through the sales funnel. They often do this through targeted strategies like email marketing, gated content, and paid advertising.
Demand generation sets the stage by creating interest and establishing thought leadership, while lead generation capitalizes on this foundation by identifying and converting qualified leads.
It’s also essential to distinguish between demand generation managers and marketing managers. While marketing managers are responsible for a company’s overall marketing strategy, demand generation managers specifically focus on generating leads and driving sales.
Do I Need a Demand Generation Manager on My Team?
Here are four considerations to help determine if your company needs a dedicated demand generation manager:
1. Growth Goals and Timelines
A demand generation manager can be a game-changer if your company is planning rapid growth. They help by developing and executing strategies that quickly generate high-quality leads, making reaching your ambitious growth targets easier and faster.
2. External Support
If you currently rely on an agency for demand generation, consider whether an in-house manager might be more efficient. While outsourcing can be effective, it may not always align perfectly with your company’s objectives, especially if you have complex needs or high lead volume targets. An in-house manager offers greater control and can tailor strategies more closely to your business.
3. Collaboration Between Sales and Marketing
A demand generation manager can be a crucial link between your sales and marketing teams, ensuring alignment in goals and a seamless handoff of leads. This collaboration is critical to maximizing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
4. Current Lead Generation Results
A demand generation manager can bring fresh perspectives and expertise if your demand generation strategies are plateauing or not delivering consistent results. They can evaluate your existing tactics, identify areas for improvement, and implement innovative approaches to boost lead flow.
7 Things to Look Out For When Hiring a Demand Generation Manager
1. Comfortable Leveraging Data
A top-notch demand generation manager lives by the numbers. They know that data isn’t just a bunch of statistics but a goldmine of insights that can shape effective marketing strategies. They should be comfortable diving into metrics from multiple sources, such as customer behavior, campaign performance, and broader market trends.
Their ability to interpret this data is critical to driving smarter, more effective campaigns. They should also be proficient with analytic demand generation tools like Google Analytics, Marketo, or HubSpot, which are the bedrock of any data-driven marketing strategy.
2. CRM and Marketing Automation Proficiency
With the goals and expectations from demand generation activities, efficiency is everything. That’s where CRM systems and marketing automation tools come into play.
Your ideal candidate should be familiar with these platforms and know how to leverage them to streamline processes, segment audiences, automate repetitive tasks, and track the customer journey from start to finish.
CRM Platforms like Marketo, Salesforce, or HubSpot are industry standards, and expertise in these tools will ensure your demand generation efforts are scalable and effective.
3. Multi-Channel Campaign Management (Organic and Paid)
One of the hallmarks of a successful demand generation manager is their ability to juggle multiple channels simultaneously. Today’s marketing landscape is diverse, encompassing everything from email and social media to SEO content marketing and paid advertising.
The person you hire should have a proven track record of executing integrated campaigns across these various platforms to ensure a consistent brand message and maximize reach. They should be adept at organic and paid strategies and understand how to balance them to achieve the best results.
4. Social Media Expertise
Social media plays a significant role in amplifying your brand’s voice. A demand generation manager should understand how to use social media channels to engage with the audience, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to other channels.
B2B social media platforms like Oktopost can be invaluable for automating social media efforts. They allow your demand generation manager (and the wider marketing team) to maintain a strong presence on various social media channels without losing focus on other strategic initiatives. Oktopost also offers social listening and advanced analytics features so you can understand your customers and competitors, improving your chances of success.
6. Project Management and Strategic Thinking
Demand generation isn’t just about creating great ideas—it’s about executing them effectively. That’s why strong project management skills are essential. Your demand generation manager should be able to manage multiple projects, each with its own set of deadlines, resources, and objectives.
They should also demonstrate strategic thinking, with the ability to identify new opportunities, anticipate market trends, and develop innovative campaigns that deliver measurable results. In short, they should be both a visionary and a tactician.
7. Proven Track Record of Success
Past performance is often the best indicator of future success. When interviewing candidates, ask for concrete examples of their achievements in demand generation. Look for evidence of impressive lead generation numbers, significant revenue growth, or successful campaign launches. A strong track record demonstrates their ability to deliver results and shows they have the experience to tackle the role’s challenges.
But don’t forget – examples of failures are just as important. Ask your candidates about situations that didn’t turn out the way they had hoped or planned for. Then, ask them how they have managed these, their response to the broader team, and their learnings. Not everything will always go right, so knowing how to deal with failure is crucial for any leader.
8. Communication and Leadership Skills
Communication is at the heart of a demand generation manager’s role. They need to be able to work closely with various teams, articulate their strategies clearly to stakeholders, and foster strong relationships with internal and external partners. Look for people who deliver clear, concise messaging so you know their communication is effective.
Leadership skills are equally important. Leaders should be able to inspire and motivate their team, developing a culture of innovation and excellence. Communicating complex ideas in an easy-to-understand way is vital to aligning everyone around common goals.
How to Measure the Success of a Demand Generation Manager
While results vary, you should expect a noticeable impact within the first 6-12 months. During this period, focus on demand generation metrics that reflect both the effectiveness and efficiency efforts:
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) – An increase in MQLs indicates that your campaigns successfully create interest in your products or services and raise brand awareness.
Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) – Tracking the conversion of MQLs to SQLs helps you gauge the effectiveness of lead nurturing efforts. A higher SQL count shows that leads are appropriately qualified and moving closer to becoming customers.
Cost Per Lead (CPL) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)- These metrics provide insight into the cost-effectiveness of your demand generation campaigns. Monitoring CPL and CAC allows you to optimize budget allocation and ensure the best return on investment.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)- Increased CLV suggests that your demand generation efforts attract and retain high-value customers who engage with your brand over the long term.
Pipeline Velocity and Sales Cycle Length – A successful demand generation manager will help speed up the sales process. This change can be observed through faster pipeline velocity and shorter sales cycles, indicating that leads are progressing quickly and efficiently through the funnel.
In addition to these quantitative metrics, consider the impact on internal processes and team dynamics. See how streamlined your workflows are and how marketing and sales collaborate. You can even circulate a quick quiz to look for signs of a cohesive team that is motivated and aligned with the company’s goals.
Boost Your Demand Generation Potential with Oktopost
For most B2B companies, a skilled demand generation manager is necessary to drive sustainable growth. Their ability to bridge the gap between data and strategy to craft successful campaigns can be a boon to your business. But remember, even the most talented demand generation manager needs the right tools to thrive.
Social media is an integral component of any demand generation strategy. It offers incredible opportunities for engagement and brand building, but it can also be a significant time drain. That’s where Oktopost comes in.
Our platform empowers your demand generation manager to streamline social media activities, ensuring consistency, amplifying reach, and tracking results without sacrificing precious time and resources. Try a demo today to see how Oktopost can boost your demand generation efforts.
