Archive May 24, 2023

Demand Generation Demystified

by KAMIL REXTIN for 42 Slash What is Demand Generation? If you believe the gurus on social media selling services, demand generation is about putting out content, amplifying it with paid spend, and hoping your prospects come into the funnel.  Wishful thinking. Demand Generation (DG) is an umbrella that includes customer acquisition (channels, content, and strategies) and infrastructure (how do the systems and technologies support the revenue teams - for example, what happens once you implement a tool to help Sales & Marketing to be more efficient at generating revenue). DG, in our experience, is about understanding the job is done…

Read More

4 principles for marketing compensation

By LIZ CHRISTO at Dear Stage 2 DEAR STAGE 2: Do you recommend variable compensation for members of the marketing team? If yes, what has worked for you to drive results and create alignment? ~Founder aligning incentivesSubscribe DEAR FOUNDER ALIGNING INCENTIVES: We brought in 2 stellar CMOs to help us answer this critical question. Kirsten Newbold-Knipp, who led marketing at companies like Fullstory, Convey and BigCommerce and Shane Murphy-Reuter, the CMO at Webflow, and former marketing lead at ZoomInfo and Intercom. Our collective answer? A resounding YES! We’re glad to hear you started with the goal of creating alignment. Too often we see…

Read More

Brand vs. Performance Marketing Spectrum

By Wes Kao There are few philosophical stances that will influence everything about your marketing thereafter. Deciding to prioritize brand versus performance is one of those things. I call this the Law of Brand vs Performance Marketing. It states: All marketing activities are a trade-off between immediate conversion and brand equity. This means there is a trade-off between brand marketing and performance marketing. Performance marketing means better short-term conversion, but worse long-term brand equity. Brand marketing means worse short-term conversion, but better long-term brand equity. This is worth discussing with your team: “If you could only prioritize brand or performance,…

Read More

5 PRIME SOURCES FOR B2B CONTENT

by Message Up You recognize that content marketing is mission critical for your B2B business, and you’re committed to making it happen. You’ve done your homework and prioritized a list of themes and topics on which your team is going to publish. All well and good, but how are you going to create the content itself? More precisely, where are you going to find the inspiration, ideas, and insights that will make it relevant and engaging? Here are five tips on where to look. But First, Back to Identifying B2B Content Topics Before we dive into the sources, let’s rewind…

Read More

How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product Market Fit

by Rahul Vohra, the founder and CEO of Superhuman We’ve all heard that product/market fit drives startup success — and that the lack thereof is what’s lurking behind almost every failure. For founders, achieving product/market fit is an obsession from day one. It’s both the hefty hurdle we’re racing to clear and the festering fear keeping us up at night, worried that we’ll never make it. But when it comes to understanding what product/market fit really is and how to get there, most of us quickly realize that there isn’t a battle-tested approach. In the summer of 2017, I was waist-deep in my search for a…

Read More

Breaking boundaries to form a new value chain

by MARK DANCER on Innovating B2B Becoming a data intermediary Data is the future of distribution. The incumbent value chain exists to move products from manufacturers to customers, with distributors adding value to help customers find, evaluate, buy, receive, and use the products they need to run their businesses. But a new value chain will emerge as customers, distributors, and manufacturers leverage data, analytics, automation tools, and artificial intelligence to optimize business results. In the not-too-distant future, the value chain’s primary role will center on data, not products. And the role of distributors, as intermediaries, will be to facilitate the…

Read More

Why Most Analytics Efforts Fail

by Crystal Widjaja for Reforge From 20K orders per day to 5M. Zero to 100 people in business intelligence. Eight to 85 people in growth. All in 4.5 years. It was a wild ride, but not one that many in the US startup scene are familiar with. This wasn't Uber or Lyft, but rather Gojek, Southeast Asia's largest Super App. For those unfamiliar with Gojek or Super Apps in general, the product serves all your on-demand needs. Ordering food, transportation, digital payments, hyper-local delivery, and a dozen other services. To give you a sense of scale, Gojek completes more daily…

Read More

Five Mistakes to Avoid as an Advisor

by ELENA VERNA for Elena's Growth Scoop Five Mistakes to Avoid as an Advisor To shortcut your way to a success. ELENA VERNA APR 28, 2023 52 7 Share An advisor is an individual who offers guidance, recommendations, or expertise in a specific area to help others make informed decisions or achieve specific goals. Becoming an advisor in addition to the full-time role is a great way to: Gain exposure to more companies, industries, teams, and products Try-before-you-buy potential new opportunities Sharpen your strategic thinking Unlock career optionality For me, advising was a gateway drug to solopreneurship. But I’ve made…

Read More

The Importance of Being Human in Your B2B Content: Liz Murphy on Marketing Smarts

by George B. Thomas for Marketing Profs The best thing about humanizing your content, says content strategist Liz Murphy, is that there's no learning curve: You don't have to learn how to be human. PLAY NOW Listen to it later: Download the MP3 "Good news, if you're listening to this podcast, unless you are our prevalent Skynet AI overlords, you are already a human being," jokes Liz in Episode 544 of Marketing Smarts. "Congratulations, you did it, you have your human card, you're already there!" However, most of us overcorrect, to the point of stiff formality and tired catchphrases. "We go…

Read More

Marketing is neither science nor art.

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…

Read More