A high-performing demand-generation team is the backbone of a company’s revenue engine. Without the right structure, clear objectives, and aligned efforts, marketing can become siloed, making it difficult to drive meaningful business impact.
Here’s how to build and structure a demand generation-focused marketing team that delivers measurable results.
Step 1: Define the Core Functions of Your Demand Gen Team
A demand generation team needs to cover multiple aspects of customer acquisition, pipeline growth, and revenue impact. Key roles to consider include:
- Demand Generation Manager: Owns the overarching demand gen strategy and execution.
- Performance Marketing Specialist: Manages paid campaigns, advertising spend, and optimizations.
- Content Marketing Lead: Develops content to drive inbound leads and nurture prospects.
- Marketing Operations Manager: Ensures data accuracy, lead flow management, and attribution tracking.
- Lifecycle & Email Marketing Specialist: Focuses on lead nurturing and engagement programs.
- SEO & Website Optimization Specialist: Optimizes organic visibility and web conversion rates.
Step 2: Align Team Goals with Business Objectives
Your demand generation team’s success should be measured by its impact on pipeline and revenue. Define clear objectives that align with broader company goals, such as:
- Increase marketing-sourced pipeline by 30% year-over-year.
- Improve lead-to-customer conversion rates by 20%.
- Expand brand awareness and inbound lead volume by 40%.
Step 3: Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Each function within the team should have measurable KPIs to track progress. For example:
Demand Generation Manager:
- Pipeline contribution from marketing.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA) and customer acquisition cost (CAC).
Performance Marketing Specialist:
- Paid ad conversion rates.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS).
Content Marketing Lead:
- Engagement metrics on key content assets.
- Contribution of content to lead generation.
Step 4: Assign Ownership and Structure Workflows
Clear ownership ensures accountability. Track projects and deadlines using collaboration tools like Asana, Trello, or Jira. Regular team syncs help align priorities and address roadblocks.
Step 5: Foster Cross-Team Collaboration
Demand generation doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Ensure alignment with:
- Sales: Share insights on lead quality and optimize lead handoff.
- Product Marketing: Sync messaging and positioning with product launches.
- Customer Success: Use customer feedback to refine demand gen strategies.
Step 6: Test, Optimize, and Iterate
A demand gen team must be data-driven. Run experiments, analyze performance, and refine strategies based on insights. Key areas to test include:
- A/B testing ad creatives and landing pages.
- Optimizing email nurture sequences.
- Enhancing lead scoring and routing.
Building a demand-generation-focused marketing team requires strategic hiring, clear objectives, and a culture of collaboration. You can create a demand-gen engine that fuels predictable and scalable revenue growth by aligning team functions with business goals, tracking performance rigorously, and optimizing continuously.
