The Difference Between Demand Gen and Growth Marketing

While they can have crossover, they are not the same.

There is a fundamental difference between hiring a demand gen person vs hiring a growth marketing person. In the simplest terms it’s:

• Demand Gen - focuses on creating awareness and interest to fill the sales pipeline

• Growth Marketing - focuses on optimizing the entire customer journey to drive revenue and retention, often through constant testing and iteration

They are not the same and do not have the same skillsets. However, often demand gen folks are responsible for growth in smaller organizations. In larger orgs, there is a clear delineation and usually both roles are established.

Demand Gen vs Growth Marketing Skillsets

Company size determines Demand Gen and Growth Responsibilities

For SaaS, the responsibilities, tactics, and goals vary depending upon whether you’re SMB, MidMarket, or Enterprise:

What should the org chart look like?

If you’re a PLG company, often times I’ve seen growth report into product, but not always. It can report into marketing. For dual funnel or sales led orgs, it usually reports into marketing.

In a mid-sized or larger org it could look something like this:

In simpler terms, in smaller orgs, it can look like this:

There’s no perfect org chart solution and each business is different. Take these as a guide, but not gospel.

Who should you hire first, growth or demand?

Neither. You should hire Product Marketing first and establish product market fit, narrowing the focus on your ICP and your messaging to help build your brand. THEN, you should hire demand gen or growth — depending on your strategy and your business model.

p.s. next week tune in to find out why newsletters are having a renaissance and what you need to do to set up a successful email campaign.