Field Notes with Dushala Agarwal, Senior Marketing Manager, METNA at Cloudflare

We continue our knowledge-sharing mission through a series of interviews with field marketers from all over the world and are thrilled to have Dushala with us today. Dushala, please introduce yourself and your company. 

Hi Sabrina. First of all, thank you very much for this opportunity. I am Dushala Agarwal, Senior Marketing Manager for the METNA Region at Cloudflare. Cloudflare is one of the world’s largest networks offering robust security, performance, and development services for organizations of all sizes.

As you mentioned, as a Senior Marketing Manager in your company, what is your current main focus? 

Basically, my responsibility is to connect my company’s product to potential customers in the METNA region through strategic, data-driven field marketing campaigns.

That’s actually very exciting because you work with different departments to create something together with the team. On that note, if you can tell me about a particularly innovative or successful field marketing campaign that you recently executed. 

Well, I wouldn’t say that it’s one particular campaign because that’s not really how we approach marketing at Cloudflare, or even me as a person. Marketing is typically a 360-degree experience that you’re giving to your target audience. You’re basically targeting them through all channels. For example, you will touch your clients at events; you probably want to do another touchpoint with them via digital platforms; you may even have some brand awareness campaigns as well that could be part of your marketing campaign. And how we’re measuring the outcome of all your touchpoints is, again, as a field marketer, the primary way that you would consider is the direct impact on your pipeline growth.

I would say it’s, at the end of the day, all the campaigns that directly influence and impact your pipeline growth; those would be particularly the most successful campaigns. 

That is a holistic approach. It’s like a multi-touchpoint attribution wherein one connection could also mean that it was supported by a previous connection. What I want to better understand is your biggest marketing challenges at the moment. 

Typically, in the B2B space, there’s too much noise. I think we’re all smart marketers nowadays; We all know what works, and we all know how and where we’re targeting our right customers and prospects. But there’s just so much going on. I also feel like your potential target audience is very well-informed nowadays. They know that they are part of targeted campaigns. They know what possible ways your company is going to target them. For example, let’s say this is a CXO of a particular company. He knows he’s probably the most sought-after person and that companies would target him. I believe the biggest challenge for me as a real marketer today is that our target audience wants fewer touchpoints and probably less often. The question is, how do we, in the least possible steps, make the most significant impact for them? 

That is a very interesting point. How do you make out to be the loudest noise in the room, but do it with one to two types of pushes without it being overwhelming for everybody who would possibly want to listen? On that front, what I want to know next is how your company stays ahead of its competitors in terms of marketing. 

Yes, I would say we’re definitely very relentlessly customer-centric. I would say the biggest differentiator that I can point out is that we focus a lot on hyper-targeting and hyper-personalisation. I believe these two initiatives are key to making an impact on your customers and prospects. The moment they feel that they are part of your top-of-the-funnel activities, that they’ve been mass-targeted, or that they’ve been mass-called, mass-emailed, they don’t care; they don’t have time. I believe it’s just more about them knowing that, ‘yes, okay, this company is of interest to me.’ 

To shift gears a bit here, I also want to put forward that it’s important nowadays that companies know how to position themselves as thought leaders. The more you start positioning your company as a thought leader where you’re addressing the day-to-day challenges of your customers, the less you seem in that space like a hard sales pitch. I believe that’s the right key point. Another thing is a data-driven approach. Data is easily available nowadays in different ways and forms, but how we use it is also very important. I believe that how you use data to make these hyper-personalisation and hyper-targeting campaigns is key. Those are what we probably do differently at Cloudflare.

I couldn’t agree more. The bespoke approach to targeting these specific leads makes them feel special, seen, and heard. At the end of the day, because we are looking at it from a more specific approach, it’s when those people really fall into the funnel because they see that you’re putting a lot of effort into personalising the connections with them. Currently, what I want to ask is, what do you believe is the biggest opportunity for field marketers today that might not have been available in the past?

I believe the biggest opportunity for field marketers today, especially in the IT space, is how much the role has evolved. Ten years ago, B2B marketing was often seen as quite dry and limited to basic campaigns. But now, with all the new technology available to marketing teams, we’ve got a much more dynamic toolkit to work with. Field marketers are much more integrated with sales teams now, and we’re using advanced tools to really understand the customer’s journey and add value at every step. We can blend digital and in-person experiences in a way that’s much more impactful, creating highly personalized journeys that engage people on a deeper level. It’s not just about pushing out content or running one-off campaigns anymore; we’re shaping the entire buyer experience in a way that’s trackable, scalable, and delivers real results.

At the end of the day, it’s really just about how we learn and grow with all of the things that we’ve known for the past couple of years and be able to apply that in the now. I agree. My next question is, what is the role of the field marketer for you in one word and why? 

Pipeline generator. Marketing is the first step and when done right, everything else follows.

Pipeline isn’t a one-off result of a single campaign; it’s a continuous, evolving process. You can’t just launch something, see a spike, and move on. It takes consistency, alignment, and ongoing effort. That’s why I see pipeline generation as a constant reflection of how well marketing is doing its job—and ultimately, that’s my ‘why.’

What’s a piece of traditional leadership advice that you believe does not apply to modern field marketers? 

Good question. I believe, based on my own experiences as well, that a top-down approach isn’t as relevant in today’s context because marketing is already such a dynamic field, specifically field marketing. As I said before, we’re very close to sales; we’re very close to stakeholders on the field. I believe that a more collaborative approach to leadership style, and way of working within the marketing team is essential, as we’re also focusing on empowering others and trusting each other with our own tasks and our own expertise. I believe that’s the only way to success.

On my last question here, what career advice would you like to share with other marketing leaders, given that you’ve also been in the industry for about 10 years or so? 

It comes as part of the role, but you have to be curious, and you have to be adaptable. I also feel like it’s very important to be well-read on what’s happening in your industry as a whole, as well as what’s happening within your field marketing role and how it’s evolving. Aside from that, it’s also essential for us to stay ahead of the curve by being aware and hands-on with newer MarTech tools as well. That’s going to be your differentiator if you throw in a little mix of all of these things that I mentioned;  it’ll make you shine out from the rest.