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Marketing is neither science nor art.

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by SEBASTIAN CUERVO AND ADRIENNE BARNES for 42 Slash Madmen's days of all-nighters, heavy drinking, smoking cigars and coming up with game-changer last minute slogans like "it's toasted" seem far gone when we think about digital marketing today. We are in a different moment where we have data points to back up our bets and make the best calls possible to ensure our solution resonates with the right customer at the right time.  Initially, many thought of marketing as an artistic, risky, and uncertain activity (literally something for mad men and women). Today, we find ourselves in a systematic, organized, and…

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Your boss is obsessed with productivity without knowing what it means

By in Human Resources, Self Improvement, Work Tag ,

By Rani Molla for Vox Like pretty much every other company that could, HubSpot let its employees work from home when the pandemic hit. The difference was that, early on, the enterprise software company made a strong commitment to let workers continue working remotely if they wanted. And that’s what the majority of HubSpot workers did. Meanwhile, about a third are hybrid, and less than 10 percent are back to the office full time. Now, HubSpot is trying to figure out the pros and cons of different working situations to make the most of each going forward. And, like many companies,…

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Full steam ahead: What can we learn from Generation Z to create distribution’s brightest future?

By in Operations, Revenue, Sales Tag , , , ,

by Mark Dancer on Innovating B2B Generation Z, the first generation born into a world powered by the Internet, is coming of age, entering the workforce, pursuing advanced education, and pushing for change. Generation Z is the future of everything. In this edition, I share insights about Gen Z gleaned by listening to Roberta Katz, a cultural anthropologist, lawyer, and senior research scholar on the Stanford Pathfinders podcast. As a Baby Boomer, I feel obligated to listen to Gen Z’s members, learn from them, and at the same time, offer my network and knowledge to help them find answers, resources, and connections. I’m…

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Dumb advice that works

By in Business Management Tag , , , , , , , ,

by The B2B Growth Newsletter Hi all — This week, I’m reflecting on a conversation I have with *literally* every founder. What do your buyers want to buy? Very few buyers want to buy software. Why? They already have a lot of software Most of their software sucks They associate software with a lot of things that aren’t good → There are a billion different software companies with virtually identical websites, how the hell am I supposed to decide? Why do I have to talk to a 22-year-old who doesn’t know anything before I can talk to a 28-year-old who’s…

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Joy as a Strategy

By in Business Management, Human Resources, Self Improvement Tag ,

by PATRICK E MCLEAN for REINFORCEMENTS While redoing one of my social media profiles, I included two short sentences at the end. “Enjoyment is a skill. Joy is a strategy.” They flew off my fingers, I liked them. Here’s what they mean, and why these ideas might be useful for you. Enjoyment is a Skill. This is growth mindset applied at the largest scale. And I wrote an essay about it here The point is, if you can get better at enjoying things you have instantly become richer. And if you can find a way to take something you hate —…

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Usage-based pricing isn’t always best

By in Revenue, Sales Tag , , , ,

by Chris Reuter Usage-based pricing Usage-based pricing has been the darling of SaaS founders since Twilio, Stripe, and Snowflake broke through in the 2010s by generating monumental wealth for them and value for their customers. Ever since, investors and operators alike have tried to shoehorn consumption pricing into their products. However, there are some pretty hard and fast rules where it can be used effectively. 🪧 PSA: I’ll use the term usage or consumption pricing interchangeably from here on out, deal with it. First, the setting I’m not sure you’ve heard, but I’m from Maine. Coupling this with my experiences at a little company called IBM…

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Genuine vs. Generative: Is AI Going to Work for B2B?

By in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Information Technology Tag , ,

By Gordon Ritter & Jake Saper, General Partners at Emergence for Surfacing 2022 was a year that personified AI. Many of us had moments last year playing with ChatGPT and DALL-E where we saw the future. Some applications were more practical, such as students getting help with their homework or software engineers de-bugging their code, while some were more fun, such as asking the model for a new mac n’ cheese recipe or chatting with dead celebrities. While these applications have strong potential for consumer audiences and new marketing techniques—as evidenced by the fast growth of companies like Jasper AI—we don’t believe that…

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BE A THERMOSTAT, NOT A THERMOMETER

By in Human Resources, Self Improvement, Work Tag , , ,

by Lara Hogan As I’ve learned more about how humans interact with one another at work, I’ve been repeatedly reminded that we are very easily influenced by the mood of those around us. It’s usually not even something we do consciously; we just see someone using a different tone of voice or shifting their body language, and something deep in our brain notices it. If you’ve ever attended a meeting where there were some “weird vibes,” you know what I’m talking about. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but something about the energy of the room was off—and that…

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Employee-Driven Content: A 4-step Framework on How to Get Started

By in Content Marketing, Lead Generation, Marketing Tag , ,

by JASON BRADWELL for B2B Byte You’ve got to invest in more content. “Damn Jason, what is this - 2005? We’ve been creating content for years!” …to which my response would be… “Sure. But when did you last create good content?” If the recent phenomenon that is ChatGPT has taught us anything, it’s that we are on the precipice of a huge acceleration in the publication of mediocre marketing collateral. Particularly on blogs. Volume is no longer the aim of the game. Dialling in on doing less that says more must become the new normal. And a great way to do this is by investing in employee-driven content. Here’s a…

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The Anatomy of a Solid Sales Demo

By in Sales Tag

by How To Grow, on Substack “Show me your recorded sales demos, and I’ll tell you everything that’s wrong about your business.” - Confucius I keep getting questions about sales demos, so this week I’m going to open the vault and share a bit more. Components of an effective demo A demo is where *everything* about your business comes together: Your product Your messaging Your positioning Your packaging Your “offer” Your competitive strategy etc. etc. etc. Last week, I wrote about why your demos underperform when you ONLY focus on them as a “product” or a “sales” thing. This week,…

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