I thought it may be fun to share a bit about myself today and tell you my story and why I fell in love with demand generation.
My First Chance
Lots of college graduates find themselves in the same place I was abut 15 years old. I had my degree in hand but no experience to speak of (aside from bagging groceries at Market Basket). I applied and applied and applied for a myriad of marketing jobs across all types of industries. I needed experience to secure a position but I needed a position to get the experience. Aha, the chicken and the egg!
After months and months, I became the Marketing Assistant at a moving company as a temp-to-hire. Within a year, I was hired and promoted to Marketing Coordinator. In both roles I had a great opportunity to try new things and participate in all types of programs. I was doing everything from designing postcard mailers,managing the website and even wrote a primer on moving tariffs.
An Introduction to the Art of Demand Generation
About 2 years after I joined the moving company, I had an opportunity to join a tech start-up as the Marketing Communications Manager. This was my chance to enter the tech start-up scene which quickly fueled my passion to working with innovators and risk-takers on a daily basis.
In this role, the terms 'demand generation' and 'lead generation' were not exactly a skillset - yet. Sales needed leads, but the art of lead generation was not fully defined as it's own function on a marketing team. It fell as one of many things to-do on a generalist's agenda.
My Personal Sweet Spot
Having the opportunity to strategize and execute across many areas of marketing, I found my sweet spot with lead generation and lead acceleration. Words cannot express how happy I was to gain the respect and appreciation of the sales team.
Then my next opportunity came to join a company as the Inbound Marketing Manager. This was my chance to be part of a marketing team and focus solely on generating leads.
I fell in love with the metrics and how quantifiable this area of marketing is. I know what I spent, what I did and what the results. We built forecast models to illustrate to our Board how we were going to reach revenue goals and could present expectations to sales in a very confident manner.
After 15 Years, My Love Hasn't Faded
I've held a few additional positions since then and they have all focused on demand generation marketing.
I still love it and will continue to pursue this area of marketing. Lead generation and the ability to maximize your customer acquisition cost to gain positive ROI is addicting. There is nothing like conceptualizing a program, executing it and seeing the numbers!
Now with Christina Lee Marketing, I have the chance to work with amazing brands! I get to learn more about the value they deliver to the market, how we can connect with potential buyers, how we dominate share of voice in their markets and how we can turn demand generation on it's head and amplify results.
It's been amazing!
TIP: Never stop learning and never stop believing in yourself.
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