Harnessing the Power of Demand Generation
Earlier this month, we hosted the Norwest Demand Generation Summit at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley, where more than 120 sales, marketing, and demand generation executives gathered to learn about current trends and best practices in demand gen and customer acquisition through a mix of inspiring keynotes and panel discussions.
Our speaker lineup included marketing and demand gen executives from some of the most successful public and private companies including Salesforce, Marketo, Act-On, Extole, Kapost, Skyword, Okta, Pure Storage, Dropbox, and Lending Club.
Highlights from the 2015 Demand Generation Summit:
- Sara Varni Bright (Salesforce) shared best practices for achieving alignment between marketing and sales teams.
- Heidi Bullock (Marketo) discussed what it takes to build a transformative demand generation program. She even introduced a signature concept called the “Taco Bell Content Strategy.”
- In the “Content Marketing: Get it Right” panel —moderated by Vab Goel (Norwest) with panelists from Act-On, Extole, Kapost, and Skyword —challenges in creating and activating content were discussed, as well as tips for developing content that speaks to your target customers.
- Ethel Chen (Norwest) presented a proprietary market map of the demand generation tools landscape based on NVP research augmented with a survey.
- The “Marketing Leaders” panel — moderated by Rama Sekhar (Norwest) included panelists from Okta, Pure Storage, Dropbox, and Lending Club — these leaders shared personal stories of trials and successes around their own demand generation programs.
Building a Successful Demand Gen Program
While our speakers covered a wide range of topics throughout the day, there were a few key pain points that kept surfacing in each session such as the disconnect between marketing and sales as well as the challenges in creating and distributing compelling content. Norwest has decided to develop a “how-to” white paper that will not only address these pain points but also provide key takeaways and actionable insights on building a successful demand generation program and measuring marketing’s impact on the sales pipeline.
We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone who attended and participated in the 2015 Norwest Demand Generation Summit, especially to our speakers:
- Sara Varni Bright, SVP of Marketing, Salesforce
- Heidi Bullock, VP of Demand Generation, Marketo
- Kevin Bobowski, VP of Demand Generation, Act-On
- Christopher Duskin, VP of Marketing, Extole
- Toby Murdock, CEO, Kapost
- Patricia Travaline, Chief Marketing Officer, Skyword
- Ryan Carlson, VP of Marketing, Okta
- Luanne Dauber, VP of Marketing, Pure Storage
- Mike Kim, Head of B2B Demand Generation, Dropbox
- Chris Williams, SVP of Marketing, Insights and Acquisition, Lending Club
If you missed the 2015 Demand Generation Summit, please visit the Norwest Slideshare page for the following materials:
- Framework, Strategy and Transformation by Heidi Bullock, VP of Demand Generation for Marketo
- Sales & Marketing: Meet the New Power Couple by Sara Varni, SVP of Marketing, Salesforce
- 5 Must-Fill Roles on Your DemandGen Team (infographic)
- Norwest Venture Partners DemandGen Success Secrets (Slideshare)
- Norwest Venture Partners Demand Generation White Paper
