Marketing Demand & Acquisition
Acquisition playbook for Series A+ startups scaling internationally (EU/US/Canada) with hybrid PLG/Sales-Led motion.
Table of Contents
- Role Coverage
- Core KPIs
- Demand Generation Framework
- Paid Media Channels
- SEO Strategy
- Partnerships
- Attribution
- Tools
- References
Role Coverage
| Role | Focus Areas | |------|-------------| | Demand Generation Manager | Multi-channel campaigns, pipeline generation | | Paid Media Marketer | Paid search/social/display optimization | | SEO Manager | Organic acquisition, technical SEO | | Partnerships Manager | Co-marketing, channel partnerships |
Core KPIs
Demand Gen: MQL/SQL volume, cost per opportunity, marketing-sourced pipeline $, MQL→SQL rate
Paid Media: CAC, ROAS, CPL, CPA, channel efficiency ratio
SEO: Organic sessions, non-brand traffic %, keyword rankings, technical health score
Partnerships: Partner-sourced pipeline $, partner CAC, co-marketing ROI
Demand Generation Framework
Funnel Stages
| Stage | Tactics | Target | |-------|---------|--------| | TOFU | Paid social, display, content syndication, SEO | Brand awareness, traffic | | MOFU | Paid search, retargeting, gated content, email nurture | MQLs, demo requests | | BOFU | Brand search, direct outreach, case studies, trials | SQLs, pipeline $ |
Campaign Planning Workflow
- Define objective, budget, duration, audience
- Select channels based on funnel stage
- Create campaign in HubSpot with proper UTM structure
- Configure lead scoring and assignment rules
- Launch with test budget, validate tracking
- Validation: UTM parameters appear in HubSpot contact records
UTM Structure
utm_source={channel} // linkedin, google, meta
utm_medium={type} // cpc, display, email
utm_campaign={campaign-id} // q1-2025-linkedin-enterprise
utm_content={variant} // ad-a, email-1
utm_term={keyword} // [paid search only]
Paid Media Channels
Channel Selection Matrix
| Channel | Best For | CAC Range | Series A Priority | |---------|----------|-----------|-------------------| | LinkedIn Ads | B2B, Enterprise, ABM | $150-400 | High | | Google Search | High-intent, BOFU | $80-250 | High | | Google Display | Retargeting | $50-150 | Medium | | Meta Ads | SMB, visual products | $60-200 | Medium |
LinkedIn Ads Setup
- Create campaign group for initiative
- Structure: Awareness → Consideration → Conversion campaigns
- Target: Director+, 50-5000 employees, relevant industries
- Start $50/day per campaign
- Scale 20% weekly if CAC < target
- Validation: LinkedIn Insight Tag firing on all pages
Google Ads Setup
- Prioritize: Brand → Competitor → Solution → Category keywords
- Structure ad groups with 5-10 tightly themed keywords
- Create 3 responsive search ads per ad group (15 headlines, 4 descriptions)
- Maintain negative keyword list (100+)
- Start Manual CPC, switch to Target CPA after 50+ conversions
- Validation: Conversion tracking firing, search terms reviewed weekly
Budget Allocation (Series A, $40k/month)
| Channel | Budget | Expected SQLs | |---------|--------|---------------| | LinkedIn | $15k | 10 | | Google Search | $12k | 20 | | Google Display | $5k | 5 | | Meta | $5k | 8 | | Partnerships | $3k | 5 |
See campaign-templates.md for detailed structures.
SEO Strategy
Technical Foundation Checklist
- [ ] XML sitemap submitted to Search Console
- [ ] Robots.txt configured correctly
- [ ] HTTPS enabled
- [ ] Page speed >90 mobile
- [ ] Core Web Vitals passing
- [ ] Structured data implemented
- [ ] Canonical tags on all pages
- [ ] Hreflang tags for international
- Validation: Run Screaming Frog crawl, zero critical errors
Keyword Strategy
| Tier | Type | Volume | Priority | |------|------|--------|----------| | 1 | High-intent BOFU | 100-1k | First | | 2 | Solution-aware MOFU | 500-5k | Second | | 3 | Problem-aware TOFU | 1k-10k | Third |
On-Page Optimization
- URL: Include primary keyword, 3-5 words
- Title tag: Primary keyword + brand (60 chars)
- Meta description: CTA + value prop (155 chars)
- H1: Match search intent (one per page)
- Content: 2000-3000 words for comprehensive topics
- Internal links: 3-5 relevant pages
- Validation: Google Search Console shows page indexed, no errors
Link Building Priorities
- Digital PR (original research, industry reports)
- Guest posting (DA 40+ sites only)
- Partner co-marketing (complementary SaaS)
- Community engagement (Reddit, Quora)
Partnerships
Partnership Tiers
| Tier | Type | Effort | ROI | |------|------|--------|-----| | 1 | Strategic integrations | High | Very high | | 2 | Affiliate partners | Medium | Medium-high | | 3 | Customer referrals | Low | Medium | | 4 | Marketplace listings | Medium | Low-medium |
Partnership Workflow
- Identify partners with overlapping ICP, no competition
- Outreach with specific integration/co-marketing proposal
- Define success metrics, revenue model, term
- Create co-branded assets and partner tracking
- Enable partner sales team with demo training
- Validation: Partner UTM tracking functional, leads routing correctly
Affiliate Program Setup
- Select platform (PartnerStack, Impact, Rewardful)
- Configure commission structure (20-30% recurring)
- Create affiliate enablement kit (assets, links, content)
- Recruit through outbound, inbound, events
- Validation: Test affiliate link tracks through to conversion
See international-playbooks.md for regional tactics.
Attribution
Model Selection
| Model | Use Case | |-------|----------| | First-Touch | Awareness campaigns | | Last-Touch | Direct response | | W-Shaped (40-20-40) | Hybrid PLG/Sales (recommended) |
HubSpot Attribution Setup
- Navigate to Marketing → Reports → Attribution
- Select W-Shaped model for hybrid motion
- Define conversion event (deal created)
- Set 90-day lookback window
- Validation: Run report for past 90 days, all channels show data
Weekly Metrics Dashboard
| Metric | Target | |--------|--------| | MQLs | Weekly target | | SQLs | Weekly target | | MQL→SQL Rate | >15% | | Blended CAC | <$300 | | Pipeline Velocity | <60 days |
See attribution-guide.md for detailed setup.
Tools
scripts/
| Script | Purpose | Usage |
|--------|---------|-------|
| calculate_cac.py | Calculate blended and channel CAC | python scripts/calculate_cac.py --spend 40000 --customers 50 |
HubSpot Integration
- Campaign tracking with UTM parameters
- Lead scoring and MQL/SQL workflows
- Attribution reporting (multi-touch)
- Partner lead routing
See hubspot-workflows.md for workflow templates.
References
| File | Content | |------|---------| | hubspot-workflows.md | Lead scoring, nurture, assignment workflows | | campaign-templates.md | LinkedIn, Google, Meta campaign structures | | international-playbooks.md | EU, US, Canada market tactics | | attribution-guide.md | Multi-touch attribution, dashboards, A/B testing |
Channel Benchmarks (B2B SaaS Series A)
| Metric | LinkedIn | Google Search | SEO | Email | |--------|----------|---------------|-----|-------| | CTR | 0.4-0.9% | 2-5% | 1-3% | 15-25% | | CVR | 1-3% | 3-7% | 2-5% | 2-5% | | CAC | $150-400 | $80-250 | $50-150 | $20-80 | | MQL→SQL | 10-20% | 15-25% | 12-22% | 8-15% |
MQL→SQL Handoff
SQL Criteria
Required:
✅ Job title: Director+ or budget authority
✅ Company size: 50-5000 employees
✅ Budget: $10k+ annual
✅ Timeline: Buying within 90 days
✅ Engagement: Demo requested or high-intent action
SLA
| Handoff | Target | |---------|--------| | SDR responds to MQL | 4 hours | | AE books demo with SQL | 24 hours | | First demo scheduled | 3 business days |
Validation: Test lead through workflow, verify notifications and routing.