A Guide to Hiring Your First B2B SaaS Demand Generation Marketer
One thing I know for certain:
You can ask 100 demand gen marketers what their role is, and you’ll hear 97 different answers.
This is true for so many reasons. But primarily I believe it’s because demand generation is a marketing strategy. Not a role for one person, or one department.
For demand gen to work inside organizations, it needs to be owned and driven at the leadership level (VP/CMO/etc.) and have buy-in from everyone in the GTM org.
At its core, demand gen is how you create, capture, and retain demand. And the reason most demand marketers recount their experiences so differently is because the tactics and programs used to reach this goal vary by company type, stage of growth, and market advantage.
Not every demand marketer should be focused on paid and intricate marketing ops setups, which is the typical go-to when you hear "demand gen."
Different stage companies require different specialties. And it needs to touch nearly every area of GTM for it to work.
Brand. Community. Content. Creative. Customer success. Design. Events. Growth. Internal marketing. Lifecycle marketing. Marketing ops. Paid media. Partner. Product marketing. Public relations. Sales.
The programs and initiatives to drive the create, convert, and retain demand can be specialized. You'll have programs and initiatives that support various strategies. But they should all roll up under the same goal and be communicated accordingly.
If you silo demand gen, it won't fire like it needs to due to org hierarchy, competing priorities, internal politics, and alignment. It requires the main leader to guide the team to complete the goals.
In the current landscape of B2B SaaS, a demand gen strategy is often the key differentiator between startups that thrive and those that struggle. As your company scales, the need for a dedicated demand gen lead becomes increasingly apparent. But when is the right time to make that crucial hire, and what should you look for in the ideal candidate?
When to Hire Your First Demand Generation Marketer
Optimal timing to bring a demand generation marketer on board depends on a few things, including the growth trajectory of your company. Generally, the need arises when:
Product-Market Fit is Established: In the early stages, all marketing is product marketing. Before delving into demand generation, it's essential to ensure your product resonates with the market. If you’re spending money to amplify a bad or wrong story, it’s money down a drain.
Sales Team is in Place: A demand gen marketer works as the bridge between marketing and sales. Ensure you have a solid sales foundation before bringing in someone to drive demand.
You Need Scalable Growth: If your company is ready to transition from early-stage growth to a more scalable model, and you’re ready to actually invest in that growth.
Crafting the Ideal JD
The Do's:
Strategic Role Overview:
Provide a strategic overview of the demand generation position, emphasizing the critical role in building a forecast model, aligning program investment to the marketing budget, and being held accountable for ARR contributions.
Highlight how this role directly contributes to achieving specific growth milestones and market penetration objectives.
Focused Responsibilities Aligned with Startup Goals:
Outline key responsibilities and tasks critical to your startup's growth. The more specific you can get here, the better! By this point in your company’s growth you’ve likely identified a few “core” channels that are critical to your success. At Gong (fast forward to 33:20 if the link doesn’t time stamp automatically) for example, this would have been organic LinkedIn, email subscription list, and events (virtual + field). Ideally you hire for someone expertly skilled in your core channels, with an index into 1-2 net new channels.
For all hiring managers who just read this and said, “wait, we don’t know our core channels yet” I bet you do! Think through your product marketing research you likely used or are using to shape your ICPs. Where do your customers and prospects spend time? Those channels should be on your core list. You got this!
Clearly articulate the role's contribution to qualified pipeline, conversion rates, and overall revenue growth. This will be critical. If candidates are only citing their experience driving MQLs but don’t understand the mechanics of contributing pipeline, they’re not your first demand hire.
Specific Requirements and Qualifications for a Startup Environment:
Do specify skills and experiences crucial for navigating the unique challenges of a B2B SaaS startup, such as agility in adapting strategies to evolving market conditions.
Name your tech stack. They’ll need to be experts in your infrastructure.
Seek candidates who’ve seen the movie before. If this is your first demand hire and this is their first demand role, not a fit. The risk is too high.
Startup Culture and Values Integration:
If your company is remote but values quarterly on-sites, name them. If part of your startup culture encourages employees to travel the globe to spend days co-working together, say it’s so. Too many companies hide behind what they ‘value’. Not being transparent in this case hurts both sides of the equation.
At the same time if you have weekly All Hands at 9 am Eastern, might want to call it out so your West Coast applicants can self-disqualify if they know they won’t thrive in this environment.
Career Growth Opportunities in a Startup Setting:
Every single candidate that’s top talent is going to ask you what the roadmap for growth is. Do not give some blanketed answer like “rising tides lift all boats”. Have a progression plan prepared as you’re prepping the JD.
Things that would be great to add here: Does your company follow a twice annual promotion cadence? Are your roles all comped based on levels and bands? Do you have a leveling system of record that you can share with the candidate so they have an understanding of what criteria is part of the hiring process?
Roles and Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities:
To address my opening point, demand gen encompasses a range of responsibilities aimed at creating, capturing, and retaining demand. No one person can do everything. To be successful your first hire excels in 3 of the 5 core responsibilities:
Campaign Development and Execution: Develop and implement comprehensive demand generation campaigns across various channels, ensuring consistency with overall marketing strategy. This could include ABM, one:many, one:few, one:one spanning digital and physical program activations.
Loop Orchestration: This role should be the bridge from marketing to your customer success and sales orgs. Collaboration creates effective loops that guides prospects to convert, renew, and evangelize your product. This could include customer advocacy efforts, lead handoff processes, etc.
Data Analysis: While you might have a fully staffed in-house analytics team to support analysis, your demand gen lead should have the skills to track performance, identify trends, and spot pitfalls in campaigns with the skill to action those findings accordingly.
Content Strategy: Demand gen is nothing without the content that fuels it. This role should work closely with content creators to develop content that resonates with target audiences. They should have a strong pulse on what good looks like, and how to achieve it.
GTM Alignment: This person will likely own the largest variable budget in the organization (over time). The role will require soft skills like meticulous organization, ability to manage up, collaboration with others, and a deep understanding of marketing with your business model.
Desired Skills and Qualifications:
Analytical Mindset: Ability to interpret data, derive insights, and make data-driven decisions to optimize campaign performance.
B2B SaaS Experience: Familiarity with building, implementing, and owning an experiment oriented growth process. Experience building/owning demand functions preferably from a scrappy 0 to 1 stage. Comfortable executing in an ambiguous and evolving environment.
Creativity: The capacity to think outside the box and create engaging campaigns that capture attention in a crowded market.
Excellent Communication Skills: Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, to effectively convey the value proposition of the product.
What Doesn't Make Someone an Ideal Fit for the Role
Lack of B2B SaaS Experience: In the dynamic world of B2B SaaS, industry-specific knowledge is invaluable. A candidate without prior experience may struggle to navigate the nuances of the market.
Resistance to Collaboration: Demand generation is inherently collaborative. A candidate who prefers working in silos may find it challenging to align with the broader marketing and sales teams.
Overemphasis on Quantity Over Quality: Prioritizing lead quantity without considering lead quality will be detrimental. A successful demand generation professional understands the importance and has a keen eye on qualified pipeline. They won’t waste your time telling you about the 350 leads they drove to a webinar. Instead they’ll craft a story about the impact those leads had on pipeline over time.
Inability to Adapt: If anything is certain in startup SaaS, it’s that change will happen–often. But not everyone is comfortable in that environment. An ideal candidate should exhibit adaptability, embracing new technologies and strategies to stay ahead of the curve.
Limited Analytical Skills: Success in demand generation relies heavily on data analysis. A candidate lacking proficiency in interpreting and utilizing data will struggle to optimize campaigns effectively.
Here’s to the next chapter of growth!
Most importantly, if you’re reading this to prep for your first growth hire, know that the new marketing playbook is actively being written.
But, we need a space for inspiration. One where we, as marketers, can all come together.
A space without boxed lunches, crowded conference halls, and uninspiring product pitches.
AudiencePlus has just launched Goldenhour, a gathering designed to actually help you impact revenue.
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And your next demand gen lead just might be there! I’ll be there, too!
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