In the past few months a cool new term has appeared on my radar. That term is, “revenue marketer”. Wish I had thought of it first. It defines a new level of marketing professional. While I’m energized by the term, sadly, I’m concerned that too many B2B marketers don’t have the right perspective and skills to play in this new league.
My latest exposure to the term was at an event in Austin hosted by Marketo, a marketing automation platform vendor. Speaking at the event was Debbie Qaqish , Chief Revenue Marketing Officer of The Pedowitz Group, a demand generation agency based in Atlanta area. Debbie has a Revenue Marketer blog, a Revenue Marketer internet radio show and is writing a book on the subject. I’d say that qualifies her as a thought leader on the subject. I think the Pedowitz Group has trademarked the term, as well.
In brief here is what Debbie defines as the characteristics of a revenue marketer and the role they play in their companies.
A revenue marketer is different from a demand generation marketer primarily in that the former is able to plan and execute predictable and repeatable campaigns. Other attributes:
- Is obsessed about the impact that Marketing must have on revenue. Shares a business vernacular with the Sales VP.
- Is a master of lead funnel management.
- Possesses a deep understanding of the market, of buyers, and the buying process.
- Is responsible for lead generation campaigns that can be tracked through the funnel and on to revenue impact.
With this check list in mind I did a quick mental exercise to see how many marketers that I know in B2B companies who have attributes of a revenue marketer. My unscientific survey had these results:
- 20% are in the pro league; they have the skills, experience and the tools, such as marketing automation, and funnel modeling, to be a revenue marketer.
- 20% are in the demand generation league, the farm league for revenue marketers. They are skilled at lead generation, but they are focused on lead counts, not on quality and not on revenue. The funnel may or may not be part of their world. They most likely have an email marketing platform, but don’t have a marketing automation system in place.
- 60% are in the marketing awareness and branding league. Their focus begins and stops at ‘getting the product known’; having an attractive logo and website; and being mentioned in social media. They confuse gathering names with generating leads.
If you surveyed your marketing community what would the profile look like? I’d also like to hear from my friends in academia about what colleges are doing today to better prepare marketers for taking on the responsibilities of a revenue marketer.
