The Master Marketer Show

In-person events are making a comeback! Join us as we explore how Adam Beck and his team  at CADENAS Parts Solutions took their idea for an industry-specific B2B marketing event from concept to sold-out reality. Learn key insights on event strategy, including:- How to determine there is demand and find the right audience for your event idea- Tips for starting small by piggybacking onto established industry conferences - The step-by-step process for organizing speakers, venue, promotion across virtual and print channels- Measuring success via website traffic, customer feedback, and revenue impactWhether you're looking to organize your first ever event or make an existing one even better, this episode will give you the tools, mindsets, and skill sets needed to create an incredibly valuable in-person experience.#B2BMarketingLeaders #EventMarketing #BusinessGrowth

In the 50th episode of the Master Marketer show, Kacy Maxwell, the CMO at Provisions Group, author, and entrepreneur joins our hosts Mike Grinberg and Gaby Israel Grinberg. He talks about his extraordinary journey in marketing, his work as an author, and business startup, Sketchwell. They dive deep into LinkedIn strategies, unraveling how a powerful narrative can help drive personal and business connections effectively. "You're just sharing to start a conversation around," Kacy Maxwell instills the idea of using LinkedIn more as a platform for meaningful conversations rather than just for promoting one's brand or services. What else is in it for you? - How can transforming LinkedIn activity into a conversation foster a more genuine and engaging presence? - What are the common mistakes and strategies to enhance one's LinkedIn presence? - Why is it important to have a strong point of view while avoiding grandiose claims? - What is the framework implemented by the Provisions Group to assess their team members' strengths, expertise, and personality traits? - How can one leverage LinkedIn for effective lead generation? Delve into these questions and more about digital marketing and content strategies with the Master Marketer Show.

Join us as Mike Grinberg sits down with renowned marketing expert, Dr. Marcus Collins, to explore the role of culture in modern businesses. Discover how understanding and leveraging culture can enhance your B2B marketing strategies and drive impactful results. Gain valuable insights into community-led growth, aligning company culture with core strategies, cultivating a positive internal culture, and the influence of brands as cultural signifiers. Don't miss this enlightening conversation with Dr. Marcus Collins, where mindset, skill sets, and tool sets converge for B2B marketing success.

In this episode of Master Marketer Show, host Mike Grinberg sits down with Mark Stouse, founder and CEO of Proof Analytics, to delve into the often overlooked elements of time lag and opportunity cost in the B2B marketing landscape. Discover how understanding these factors can optimize your marketing efforts and drive revenue effectively. Gain actionable insights into leveraging data, analytics, and relationship-led growth strategies for business success. Don't miss out on this valuable conversation with two marketing trailblazers!

In this episode of Master Marketer Show, host Mike Grinberg sits down with Travis Bradshaw, Director of Marketing at Armanino LLP, to discuss the mindsets and skillsets marketers need to prove ROI and gain buy-in during economic uncertainty. They cover how to build strong relationships with revenue and finance teams, adopting a business-minded approach, leveraging data and AI tools to maximize resources, and staying nimble to changing business landscapes. Tune in for actionable insights on positioning marketing as a revenue driver.

In this episode of The Master Marketer Show, join host Mike Grinberg as he delves into the world of B2B product marketing with Mary Keough, Head of Marketing at Map my Customers. Discover the core concepts of product marketing, the importance of customer insights, and the evolving role of product marketing as companies grow. Gain valuable insights into strategies for a customer-obsessed mindset, and other necessary skillsets for product marketers. Explore Mary's unique approach to customer research, marketing tools and frameworks, and harnessing the power of LinkedIn. Don't miss out on optimizing your B2B marketing game with this enlightening discussion!

Let's face it: times are tough across the board. With a lot of financial uncertainties to consider, companies are scrutinizing their expenses with finer tooth combs, ensuring that there is absolutely no wasted time or efforts. For workers, this means being able to prove that your work is making an active difference for your company. While that doesn't mean that you need to be directly responsible for revenues, it DOES mean that you should be moving the needle of productivity in some way.This week, we welcome Mason Cosby back to the show to discuss the necessary steps that workers should take to prove your worth as a marketer. Mason is a Podcast Host, Ambassador at GTM Partners, and the long-term Director of Demand Generation for Sales Assembly. Suffice to say, Mason knows quite a bit about the work, the skills and the people it takes to bring a product to market. How did Mason get into his work, what were some of the mindsets that led him down this career path, and how did partner relationships drive many of his core decisions?Let's get started!MINDSETS: Utilize Marketing Relationships - LinkedIn continues to be an incredible tool for building business relationships. For Mason, LinkedIn was an opportunity to generate leads through trusted partners and connections — trust is the name of the game! Scale Through Skills - As Mason puts it, you can't over-index on head count. Rather, you have the team you have, and you are better off improving the skills of your team. Your team deserves the nurturing through skills-building to help them do their jobs! Ensure the Pipeline - Nobody cares what marketing does, as long as the pipeline is full. When it's NOT full, that's where the issues come in - job loss, budget reductions, and other short & long-term issues.  Soft Asks - Sometimes, the best thing you can do to start a conversation is ask someone if they need help. For Mason, this means sending out the occasional LinkedIn message to see what services people are looking for.  SKILLSETS: Adaptability - Mason was one of the first marketers hired by his company – and for a time, the only marketer of the team. When a person loses their leader in a company, the assumption is that THEY are now the leader. Adaptability and an openness to move swiftly in your role is crucial. Effective Content Production - When organic content is a huge component of your business, it better be good, or people will tune out.  Filling Skill Gaps - Skill gaps are the quiet killer of growth. Without the right skills, a company's growth will plateau. Being able to recognize those gaps and tend to them is a crucial skillset for any leader. Paid Ads - There is very significant value in being a paid ads specialist. On a team, diversifying your skillset by honing in on the data aspects of paid ads can be the key to securing your position. Addressing Bandwidth - You can't be everywhere all of the time. For startups, that can be a delicate balance. How much of your bandwidth can be dedicated to each activity? Knowing the importance of your work from a zoomed-out perspective will prevent issues down the road. Video Editing - Editing is a skill and a tool. Like any skill, there are experts in the field that will do it A LOT better than you, especially if it's not a top priority. As a skill, it is tremendously valuable for any marketing team. TOOLSETS: LinkedIn Video Editing Software Email PodSqueeze ChatGPT Niche-Podcast Tours Google Spotify The Content Matrix (Stephen G. Pope) RESULTS:For any business, at the end of the day, it is important to look at the correlation between it's marketing efforts and it's pipeline. Trackability ends up being one of the top focuses for a company like Mason's — and with that comes the importance of having the skill to track specialized data in the first place. No single source of marketing is a single cause of success. What matters is that the actions are happening, and that the pipeline continues to move and generate business.In a qualitative sense, Mason looks to tactics as simple as social media mentions, engagements, and other metrics to indicate how his company is breaking out of it's existing mentions to larger audiences. In creating more publicly accessible content (the type that stretches beyond existing audiences), Mason and his team at Sales Assembly see more and more people viewing and talking about their operations. A bit more about Mason:Mason Cosby hosts a variety of talents as a thought leader in the marketing space. Since February 2023, Mason has acted as the Director of Demand Generation for Sales Assembly,  a company that provides crucial educational tools that combine strategic skills development, peer communities and other learning platforms. Mason is also the host of The Marketing Ladder podcast, a podcast dedicated to learning how to grow a marketing career from today's leaders.Connect with Mason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masoncosby/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sales-assembly/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-marketing-ladder/ Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

“Culture” is starting to feel like more of a generality, don't you think? Companies fall back on pleasantries when describing day-to-day operations, and the one word that always comes up is “culture.” But what is good culture, and why is it so difficult to define? After all, team members need (and deserve) more than a pat on the back and a pizza party to establish company culture.In this week's episode, we speak with the Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer for Nymbus, Allison Netzer, for a conversation on company culture, and employer brand as an output of a culture-focused business. Is culture a measurable component of your brand? Is it possible to master culture while growing a brand?Let's get started!MINDSETS: Reference Scorecards - Beyond the fact that Allison *hates* KPIs, it's important to keep your goals measurable. You may score points with business jargon, for example, but does that have an internal or external benefit? Racking up points on a “scorecard” and understanding what those mean for your operations will help to shift focus to where the dollars are. Effectively, it's the culture of measurement! Don't Commission Consultants (yet) - Okay, you may NEED consultants, but let's be real — an extension of a company is a lot better than a rebuild, which consultants are more likely to suggest. Refine your business and connect the dots when things go astray — you likely have more data than you realize. Culture by Inertia v. Intention - It's nice for a company culture to build itself, but it's more likely that intentional work needs to get done (not all brands can be Starbucks). The key word here is INTENTION. Culture doesn't grow the way you want it to without active, intentional guidance.  Humans Do the Work and Need Engagement - AI isn't a replacement, it's a HUMAN tool, and humans deserve substance. Keep your teams engaged socially and intellectually, and most importantly, keep them happy. Success comes from within. You see engagement in people's actions, not surveys – when they see the vision and do the work without being asked, THAT is an indicator of your effectiveness. SKILLSETS: Master the Mission Statement - Get it, believe it, and execute it. Is your company culture clear enough for the masses? The mission statement can't stop at a ‘vision exercise.' It needs to be actionable and definitive in a way that makes your team capable to move the vision forward. Marketing/Branding at the Strategy Table - As Allison puts it, there's a perception that CMOs are just the “executives with the crayons,” and a change in branding requires a change in leadership. That's not necessarily the case. Rather, Marketing as a skillset needs to be brought into the early stages of strategy development — that can only succeed with good, active leadership. Communication and Participation - Is your CMO a “team player,” or do they have blinders on to meet a singular vision? A good CMO is working with the financial team, data team, and other leadership for a cohesive vision. Persistence - People may let a financial analysis, for example, go on FOREVER. But when it comes to a marketing campaign, people expect results after a week or two. That is NOT the case; rather, you need to be persistent in your vision in the same way that a salesperson is persistent with their pitch.  Break Down the Doors - Unless you're making space in work meetings, you won't get the empathy you need as a team player. ALWAYS get into the board meetings and stay involved. TOOLSETS: Corporate Calendar/Google Calendar Quantitative & Qualitative Data  Team Meetings Kantar Brandz Report RESULTS:One of the very first things the Nymbus CEO did to improve company culture was to make every employee a shareholder. The second thing they did was avoid the glitzy executive hires first. Third, everything from hires to layoffs happened in the public space, making for a tremendously transparent company.By making every employee a shareholder, workers were given equal value, and thus a reason to care about the solution and the product/service that Nymbus sells. This has put Nymbus in a tremendous sales point that has been both successful and fun, despite any difficulties that come from the financial services industry. A bit more about Allison:Allison Netzer is a best-selling author and the Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer for Nymbus, a company dedicated to assisting the banking industry and global financial service organizations with breakthrough banking tech products. Her 2022 book Think Like a Brand, Not a Bank has been praised for its no-nonsense deep dive into the emerging landscape of financial technology. Allison has kept a keen eye on data trends her whole career — one that includes over 20 years of experience helping companies like Aetna, Cisco, Southwest Airlines, and The Dallas Cowboys.Allison has been lauded as a Top 30 Fintech Marketer AND a Top 25 Global Woman in Fintech. Connect with Allison: http://nymbus.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-netzer-1b98335/ Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

“Tell me a little more about your business.” It's a simple request that generates simple answers — 70-90 percent of sales generated come from workers, focused relationships, and referrals. The conversation gets a little trickier with the follow-up questions, particularly this one: “What's stopping you from accelerating revenue growth?”This week, we sit down with David Rush, the CEO of SmallWorld for a discussion on the business relationships that drive and generate revenue. What are the misconceptions about referrals, who generates them, how do you start a referral program, and what do they mean for your business?Let's get started!MINDSETS: Activating Your Employees - When starting a referral program, sometimes the best place to start is your employees. They have relationships with peers from past and current projects, and incentivizing your employees first will set the stage for a referral structure.  Extended Networks of Trust - Workers find jobs often from professional connections. No matter what, though, there is a level of trust that always has to be established before that referral takes place.  Keeping Connections Intact - How do you rate your relationships? Are they strong with multiple referrals to consider, or do they have a weaker extended network? Making connections is important, but establishing and understanding their value is just as crucial. Keep it Timely - Revenue is important, but time is just as valuable. In building trust, you always have to ensure the work you're asking a person to put in to review a referral is worth their time. Anything less than a useful referral can feel like time wasted, which has long-term effects on business relationships. SKILLSETS: Attention to Detail - Staying in tune with the metrics that work for your business makes for better leadership, and ultimately better workflows for your team. Accelerating Growth through Active Participation - Leading by example, with the expectation that others will do as you do, produces consistent results across the board that will ensure growth. Ultimately, a team values and trusts a leader that works just as hard at referrals and relationships. Rate Your Relationships - ‘Relationship leads' are the actionable, high-conversion referrals that have a lasting impact on your business. But how are they tracked? It depends on the metrics of your business – be it revenue growth, visibility, or both. Setting the stage and ensuring your team effectively tracks data makes for more comprehensive growth. Nurture Relationships - Programs fail due to one-sided relationships and unmet expectations. Understanding the structure of incentives and regularly updating them not only keeps partners interested… it shows that you value their time. TOOLSETS: Referral Programs Relationship Building CRM Software ZoomInfo LinkedIn Email Lead Generation RESULTS:For David, referral programs are a crucial component of business growth. In his experience, any sales marketing team needs to look at the size of a pipeline and its quality. When looking into conversion rates, David sees that people will say “yes” to 83% of referrals, and the actual meeting is scheduled about 71% of the time. Compared to other methods (like the dreaded cold outreach), the effectiveness is not only greater, but the meetings take place quicker. In business, weeks are always better than months when it comes to making deals. That type of success doesn't come without an effective referral system, which David and the team at SmartWorld continue to perfect. A bit more about David:David Rush is the CEO of SmallWorld, a company dedicated to unlocking relationships available to companies for warm introductions and referrals and, in doing so, reducing the cost of customer acquisition. David is an entrepreneur in heart and practice, having previously held executive roles at tech companies like Earshot and DialogueTech. David was inspired to develop SmallWorld through a passionate belief that connection drives growth and ultimately has a direct impact on top-line revenue. Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drush29/ https://www.smallworld.ai/ Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

It's a little bit of everything, all of the time. Content is EVERYWHERE, and for many, it is EVERYTHING. Trends come and go, and millions upon millions of viewers are seeking the next “viral” video. The next “best” thing. If anything's changed in marketing (or, rather, content creation), it's that there are more content creators than ever, making for a busy space that keeps on growing. Add Artificial Intelligence into the mix, and you have thousands of hours of content produced DAILY. Exhausting, right?This week, we sit down with Brian Wallace, the co-founder of NowSourcing, for a discussion on the modern content environment. What happens to consumers when so much content is available? For marketers, what does it take for them to not throw their laptops at a wall and, instead, work to break through the noise? What does it mean for modern content to be not only entertaining but valuable to a consumer?Let's get started!MINDSETS: Doing the Complete Opposite - If you're hearing about possible ChatGPT prompts from, say, your Uber Driver — it's time to consider if you're either behind on your game, or if EVERYBODY knows the “secrets” to content creation. Pivoting to unchartered territory may be the key to being noticed.  AI is NOT a brain replacement - have you or your company embraced AI? Consider its limitations. For now, it's better served for menial, repetitive tasks — not as your content producer.  Remember How People Think - A polished, corporate mindset is a trap door. A fully functioning adult may somehow completely forget how humans think in a professional setting. It's not about “putting on a different shirt,” per se, but rather it's bringing that shirt to the office and remembering the importance of the human mindset. SKILLSETS: The Power to Be Everywhere - People are making decisions about the type of person you are through multiple social and web channels — due diligence causes people to find and review your digital footprint. It's important to stay ahead of the game, keep a professional presence across the platforms, and stay proactive. Picking Your Lane - Let's be honest — you can't be everywhere, at least not effectively. And if you are, it may come across as inauthentic or, even worse, fraudulent. Choosing channels that make sense to you and your brand plays an important role in your content's authenticity. Creativity and Caring - The market, in and of itself, does a terrible job of explaining itself. Why? It fails to make effective connections. As a marketer, you are required to be empathetic in the same way that you have to be an effective creator. Now THAT is something AI can't be: empathetic. Effective Hiring - “Fit for Business” and “Fit for Skill” are NOT the same thing. Consider your hiring practices — does a marketer vibe with your mindsets, or are they completely off base? Interpersonal skills should be considered just as strictly as tangible skills.  Understanding Humanity - Look at a company, its marketplace, and its customers … Odds are, the industry isn't telling the full story of its purpose. Understanding a company's place in the world ALONGSIDE humanity, as well as humanity's strongly-held beliefs about any given industry (say, chiropractic) AND truly caring about general human interests, plays a tremendous role in a company's longevity Avoiding the Safe Bet - Copying off of someone's homework was looked down upon in school — why would copying someone's creative work be looked at better? Unfortunately, people mimic creative styles because it is a familiar, safe bet. It'll hurt you in the long run.  Remember the Goal of Content - If you're a content creator, your goal may be to get the most likes, shares, and comments. That's fine. As a BUSINESS, you cannot forget that content is an aid to revenue growth. Popularity online is not the equivalent of financial success and business longevity. Sure, you're internet famous, but inflated egos don't pay the bills.  TOOLSETS: Infographics Podcasting YouTube Videos Artificial Intelligence (ChatGPT) Industry Conferences Blogging Generosity Networking Mastering Your Craft RESULTS:As a marketer, you may be inclined to look at vanity metrics as your company's most successful qualities — in the case of social media, for example, you may see more followers as a success when in reality more followers do NOT equate to more sales. Brian implores you to look deeper than that — two circles of a Venn diagram where you're either working for a high-profile company or an amazing company that achieves your ideal output. The “middle” of the Venn diagram is the sweet spot - amazing companies that do amazing things. Brian looks to the story of Moneyball as a great example. Scouts, at one point in time, sought out players that “looked the part.” The flaw with that is, while a person may look like a baseball player, they lack all the necessary fundamentals to succeed, meaning the team as a unit was destined for failure. The same applies to marketing. It is A LOT more scrappy. Data isn't always pretty, but it is necessary for forecasting and success. Effectively, Brian works to break through the noisy, busy content spaces by implementing processes that look past vanity numbers and flashy data for content that is effective, useful, and relevant. A bit more about Brian:Brian Wallace, the co-founder of NowSourcing, an infographic design agency with offices in Kentucky and Ohio.  NowSourcing's vast portfolio sees them assisting businesses ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies.Brian's focused mindset has garnered him accolades from the likes of Google, which has named him a top Small Business Advisor since 2016. Connect with Brian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nowsourcing/ https://twitter.com/nowsourcing Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

The value of creativity only gets stronger as the industry adapts to consumer needs. However, do advances in technology necessarily require more and more complexity? In many cases, it doesn't! Even commercials on TV and streaming services are utilizing more and more vertical-style videos from the consumer's POV. As marketers adapt to trends, so must their creative content. What are marketing teams doing? In this episode, we speak with Amrita Mathur, the VP of Marketing at Superside, on her team's approach to creativity, and what it means for their partners. Her mindset on creative marketing didn't come quickly; in fact, it wasn't something she considered strongly before joining the Superside team. Still, her shift in mindset and her approach to marketing with Superside has landed them tremendous partnerships with big tech companies, including Meta. How does creative get a proper seat at the table?Let's get started!MINDSETS: Zooming Out on Buyer Journeys - Despite recognizing the power of creative content, there still appears to be mental blocks between creative ideas and executions in marketing sectors. Taking a step beyond “safe” measures and realizing that creative marketing isn't a lever for specific actions, but rather for the larger scope of a brand, is important for overall growth that ensures users will advocate for your brand.  Leave Room for Delight- It's okay to have a formula if it works for your register stream, but how much of your marketing efforts are dedicated to a genuine attempt to surprise your customers? Be it merchandise, swag, or surprising Easter Eggs for your brand, a level of whimsy relevant to your brand should be considered in the marketing process. Memory and Resonance - You LOVE those Big Game commercials, but do you remember what the products are for? Think about it — there are PLENTY of commercials that don't feel relevant to the product. They may be aware of your brand name after the commercial ends, but no affinity was built, and let's be real, you can't buy affinity. SKILLSETS: Evaluating Good Creative - The idea of ‘good' creative checks all the boxes of speed, quality, and price — but beyond that, what is truly ‘good?' Can it be replicated? Most importantly, can it be done at scale? In many cases… it depends on your company's needs. If you're seeking cheaper creative, it could come at a sacrifice of time and effort.  Framing the Problem Correctly - Problems require proper solutions — thus, they should have guardrails when it comes to approaching the solution. However, you also want workflows to be open-ended to allow for innovation. Balancing the two allows creative teams to fill in the blanks to solve problem-solving while providing parameters for them to stay on-task. Communicating Needs - Are requests to clients or team members structured in a way that leaves them open to interpretation? If addressed too exactly, it could squander creative or innovative thought. Consider how you ask for content, and what that might be doing to the creative process – creatives very much appreciate open lines of communication. Incorporating AI - It is very possible that how creative is made won't matter in 5 years — as long as the creative is being made. So, understanding, learning, and embracing AI when you can is an excellent timesaver for companies. Over time, marketers and brands will have to try harder to get attention, and AI can't be discounted.  TOOLSETS: Blogging Webinars Artificial Intelligence Design-Ops Company Rituals Slack YouTube RESULTS:At Superside, Amrita has been pleased to offer positive results to clients, including a reduced cost of customer acquisition, virality, product launches, and reduced cost of assets. For Amrita's team, costs due to efficiency have been reduced dramatically, allowing room for more opportunities and innovation. One of those innovations came by chance; turning attention to the incorporation of blogging and video, Amrita's team recognizes that the hybrid (that is, including links to their videos within their blogs) was improving their ranking on Google — something that allowed them to expand on their strategy with new hires. A bit more about Amrita:Amrita Mathur is the VP of Marketing at Superside, a leading “Creative as a Service” company. As the first member of their marketing team, Amrita focuses much of her effort on Business Strategy, Go-To-Market Strategy, and building Superside's organization for success. She is also the host of the Gather & Grow Series, Superside's interactive series covering topics on the intersection of design and marketing growth. Amrita and her team revolutionize design at scale for ambitious brands like Amazon, Meta, Shopify, and Coinbase.Connect with Amrita: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amritamathur/ https://www.superside.com/blog/author/amrita-mathur https://www.youtube.com/@SupersideHQ Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

How easy is it for a marketing company to effectively produce a video? The answer is a lot simpler than you think — of course, the effectiveness comes down to proper orchestration and thoughtful planning, but even companies equipped with nothing but a smartphone have the opportunity to put out something great. In this episode of the Master Marketer Show, we sit down with Tara Robertson, the Head of Demand Generation at Chili Piper, for a discussion on effective Let's get started!MINDSETS: “Can this be a video?” - Even six years ago, video didn't have the impact it does now. Especially with TiKTok's strength and prominence, when you're at work, ask yourself whether or not what you're doing is video worthy. Embracing Scrappiness - Do videos have to be polished? NO! At least at the start, video production is a learning journey, and your audience will stick with it for as long as you do. Expert content developers may seek something “polished,” but consumers are always seeking something “real.” Organic-Looking Assets - Why spend more money to reach the same audience? Review your data and question whether spending more money on video production will actually get you the results you need. SKILLSETS: Embrace Kickoff Meetings - When a new project is starting up, don't limit ideas to the marketing team. Creativity extends to everyone, and being open to ideas is a leadership skill that can't be discounted.   Master the Process - Chili Piper often is able to produce 5 videos a week. That comes from a streamlined process that includes focus on storytelling, recognizing audience channels (TikTok v. LinkedIn), and testing EVERYTHING along the way. If you stick to the process, it not only becomes easier over time — the consistency will also be noticed by your audience. Understanding Your Audience - Video is certainly a skill, but content is an undeniable necessity no matter the venue. Understand, first, what your audience is even seeking. If you're spending resources on video for an audience that's best served by blogging, you're wasting your time.  Storytelling - Before beginning video production, ask yourself: do you have something interesting to say? And if the answer is “no,” are you able to pivot? Being able to self-edit plays a large role in the success of content creation. Get to the Point - Algorithms reward retention. Knowing when to cut a video short plays an important role in viewership completion and, in effect, how the algorithm of any given media venue treats your content.  TOOLSETS: Podcasting Video Production & Storytelling Demand Gen Softwares Paid & Organic Social Media Riverside  Gong Spreadsheets Chili Piper Calendar Booking Links Logitech Webcam Shure Microphones Lighting Equipment RESULTS:How has a focus on video production played out for Tara & the team at Chili Piper? Recently, their efforts have amassed them over 1,000 subscribers on YouTube — that's no easy feat! They've also expanded their following to over 50,000 followers on LinkedIn, and 50,000 total podcast streams (and counting!). Video has become a crucial touchpoint for everything from blogging to customer support, and the team is roughly able to attribute nearly $3 million in the Chili Piper pipeline to video production. A bit more about Tara:Tara Robertson is the Head of Demand Generation at Chili Piper, the only complete Meeting Lifecycle Automation platform built for teams. With a career in marketing dating back to 2009, Tara has expertly adapted to the business environment and curated the leadership skills that many of us dream of. As a B2B marketer with over 10 years experience in various marketing roles. Tara also works to connect with B2B marketers by writing newsletters and hosting the official Chili Piper podcast Demand Gen Chat.Connect with Tara: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taraarobertson https://www.chilipiper.com/resources/podcast https://www.youtube.com/@Chili_Piper Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

It's a hot take to say B2B is boring, but when compared to the glitzy nature of B2C, we can see the concern. Unlike the commercials intended for consumers (the ones with the A-List celebrities that are on 100 times a day), B2B marketing is not exactly glamorous by comparison.Fret not, for our latest guest can confirm that B2B does NOT have to be boring! In this episode, we sit down with Tim Davidson, Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at Directive Consulting, for an insightful discussion on content creation in B2B Marketing. A champion of the B2B market, Tim has repeatedly asserted that no matter what you think about B2B, it's the PEOPLE behind the marketing that makes it unique. How do you hire the right people in B2B, and what role does the influencer play in B2B marketing strategies? And more specifically, what role does personal branding play in your career as a whole?Let's get started!MINDSETS: Stick With It! - Authority building doesn't happen in a day. Tim tried and failed three times before gaining a large LinkedIn Following. By sticking with it, he was suddenly exposed to a series of communications that he may have never had if he quit posting on LinkedIn.  Just Post - Simple enough, right? Not really! If you get stuck on releasing content, keep in mind that every post you make is a test of effectiveness. It won't be perfect the first time, and it won't necessarily be original, but it WILL help you find your audience more than radio silence. The Community Aspect - Are you seeking influencers, or are you seeking community? There are plenty of people with influence who have interns making their content, but there are also plenty of businesses that are creating content, educating, and building community. It's the latter that will build the community you need to thrive.  Open Communication - If you're questioning if something is out of your realm, or if a piece of content may be perceived as inappropriate, ask! Open communication produces relevant feedback and offers a very important perspective for your work moving forward.  SKILLSETS: Building a Following - Companies are making the transition to authority building on social media. Even more so, workers seeking executive roles are also taking the “influencer play” into consideration as they build both their corporate and personal brands. Tim predicts that those who work on their brand will succeed in commerce. Post Twice a Day - Algorithms aside, your social media is a tool that needs to be nurtured, and those who stick with posting twice a day are likely to see their social nurturing rewarded. And NEVER discount the benefit of active engagement with comments on any content you post! Long-Term Consistency - Critical thinking, reaction to feedback, and intentionality all play into your success as a content creator. Are you open and willing to change? Are you able to find ideas and connect the dots? You might not know, but sticking to a consistent schedule and setting goals will get you there.  The Big Picture - As an executive, are you in tune with your goals? In the creator landscape, do you understand the importance of non-revenue generating content, and what it means to keep at the top-of-mind of all potential customers? Evaluating the big picture as a corporate leader, especially in the influencer era of marketing, is crucial to aiding the success of all marketing campaigns. TOOLSETS: LinkedIn TikTok Video Production Podcasts Cell Phones Capcut (Video Editing) Apple Notes App Gong RESULTS:Before taking action, Tim found himself watching LinkedIn and TikTok content that took a unique twist on user engagement, leading him to the unique production style that he implements today. From his perspective, being an influencer is not just about authority, it's about building community and keeping consistent. Since assuming his position at Directive, Tim has overseen over $500,000 in new business revenues and over $1 million in the pipeline. As we can all imagine, that doesn't come easy. By focusing on an influencer mindset, Tim has also actively been able to pull in potential customers because of his Tiktok, LinkedIn, and Podcast presence. The benefit? Being noticed by content from enthusiasts and customers alike produces a tremendously positive outcome that, despite being financially intangible, puts Tim lightyears ahead of similar companies who don't put in the effort. A bit more about Tim:Tim Davidson is the Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at Directive Consulting, a performance marketing company designed for the tech industry. In 10 years, Directive has generated over $1 Billion in revenue for its clients, largely due to leaders like Tim championing their teams and the influencers they partner with.Tim is an advocate of personal brand-building — his unique approach has amassed him over 11,000 LinkedIn Followers and 3,200 TikTok followers. Many may recognize Tim for his B2B-focused sketches and his incredibly popular Exotic Fruits video series, where he samples exotic fruits while offering vital information for B2B Marketers. Connect with Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 https://www.tiktok.com/@the_tim_davidson https://www.youtube.com/@Timdavidson Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

How much weight are you putting behind your branding? Is it the core of your marketing, or are you hoping that your product speaks for itself? Branding is a time-consuming process, and many companies don't have the budgets or teams to successfully manage branding efforts. However, that doesn't change the fact that branding is an investment into your product's effectiveness in the global market. Today, we speak to Lauren Lynch, the Director of Marketing at Set Solutions, a Houston-based cybersecurity consulting company, on her approach to branding and building awareness, and thriving within the parameters of small teams. Are her strategies replicable? Can Lauren's tactics apply to your business?Let's get started!MINDSETS: The DIY Approach - When Lauren first started with Set Solutions, there was a clear, established goal to build a podcast, but it wasn't “all engines go” from the start. During the 2020 lockdown, Lauren & Set Solutions turned their attention to the podcast with much more enthusiasm. Their DIY approach led to some stumbling and mistakes along the way, but they kept with it, and it evolved into the effective marketing tool they have today. DIY will always get you further than you think— just trust the process.  Choosing Your Format - There are many specialized podcasts, so how can yours be used effectively? First things first: you need to choose your format. For Lauren, this meant looking at the entire cybersecurity industry and recognizing that, with so many current events to be discussed, a news-style format would work best for the podcast. Explore Alternative Funding - Should only marketing revenues be used to fund marketing opportunities? Not when there are alternatives! Get creative with your funding efforts — crowdfunding is always an option, but for Lauren, it was co-branding and channel marketing funds (usually used for events) that worked as a catalyst for podcast development. SKILLSETS: Value Propositions - Gathering channel partners to fund a podcast wasn't easy, but it was necessary. For that reason, Lauren worked hard and came prepared to meet-ups by providing pricing sheets with dollar amounts tied to podcasts, webinars, and other forms of digital media. Establishing value (and results) played a large role in making channel partners comfortable with the venture. Don't Devalue Google - Don't know something? Look it up! This isn't a “fake it ‘til you make it” industry. It's important to go and learn what you don't know ASAP — and that'll help you gain a lot more skills than faking it. Podcast Distribution - Distribution can make Production feel like a walk in the park. Finding a partner in the field that can get your podcast onto the major platforms & automate the process for you is just as important as finding your next guest. TOOLSETS: Podcasts & Equipment (Lighting, Cameras, Microphones, Sound Dampening Boards) Google Adobe Creative Suite AI Tools Buzzsprout (Podcast Hosting) RESULTS:Lauren sees the majority of her results from LinkedIn Livestreams (though not in real-time — viewership tends to grow after the podcast is complete). Effectively, these results are coming in the form of engagement, and as we all know, more engagement means more visibility, and visibility is crucial for branding. It gets trickier when it comes to trackability — after all, channel partners want & deserve tangible results. For this reason, Lauren is pivoting to include paid ads campaigns in her podcasting efforts so that Set Solutions can determine where podcast viewers are coming from, and their qualifications as leads. So long as these metrics add value, Lauren looks forward to continued success with her partners in the podcasting space.A bit more about Lauren:Lauren Lynch is the Director of Marketing at Set Solutions. After a 7-year stint in the restaurant industry, Lauren pivoted to IT marketing and operations with astute management and customer service skills. With Set Solutions, Lauren leads a team of dedicated marketers through key innovation, brand management, advertising, and research projects. Starting as a Sales Communication Manager in 2019, Lauren assumed her current position as a Director of Marketing in 2021.  Connect with Lauren: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenandruslynch https://www.linkedin.com/company/setsolutionsinc/ https://www.setsolutions.com/category/podcast/ Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

What's your philosophy? Is it kindness, excellence, tenacity, or a mixture of multiple ideologies?Whatever your philosophy, how does it apply to your business, and better yet, your position as a leader? Philosophies curate your environment, in that how you choose to lead may greatly help or hinder your efforts in your business operations. In this episode, we welcome CMO & Go-To-Market Advisor Jamey Heinze to the Master Marketer Show! One look at his resume, and you'll understand why we're so thankful to have fit into his schedule for a thoughtful discussion on the philosophies behind effective, results-driven marketing leadership.Let's get started!MINDSETS: The Tom Sawyer Approach - Early on, Jamey recognized the motivators for success largely rested around diplomacy – something he considers “80% of the battle.” With that comes the genuine authenticity required to encourage others to take part in initiatives that may not be fun, but will be effective.  Marketing is Fun! - Jamey often reminds himself: you only get to live this life once. Smile, make a joke, and have fun! Marketers aren't surgeons - mistakes are okay, and the journey is bound to make you a better marketer as long as you stick with it. It's Not a Science - Automation has its place, but many of the intricacies of marketing aren't yet replacing the standard worker. Approaching marketing from a holistic approach — one that lifts the uniqueness of workers, and aids in the balance of metrics and authenticity.  Live Your Core Values - Did you attach core values to your company? You best be implementing them into every aspect of your business. A poster on your wall isn't enough - team members need to see their leaders walking the talk. SKILLSETS: Communication & Expression - A good project manager, to Jamey, comes with a person who can write — in his journey, Jamey found that C-Suite and Executive leaders may not have the time or the skill to write, and people who hold excellent communication skills have an upper hand in the industry. Risk as a GTM Strategy - Consider this: with the many AI software options that have come out over the years, why is ChatGPT on everyone's mind? In their GTM strategy, they made the initial software free to users. That was a risk, considering AI software of the past used a subscription strategy. Risk, when done wisely, gets you noticed. Empathy - The cultural component of your brand becomes more and more important as you take on leadership roles in a business. “360 empathy,” as Jamey calls it, implores leaders to find an empathetic structure so that everybody in a company is on the same page regarding what they need, and what distinct competencies will fulfill those needs. Driving Revenue-Focused Opportunities - What makes it easier for executives to spend money on marketing initiatives? RESULTS. Single out what's working and move forward with it to prevent waste and open up larger opportunities for your brand. TOOLSETS: The Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RACI) Pivot Tables CRM Automation Tools A/B Testing RESULTS:A company (and its leadership) thrive in spaces where its intentions are made clear, and most often intentions are made clear by solid, easy-to-understand core values. Jamey advocates for big and bold icons for core values. Much like a brand logo, core values must be easy to identify. Work is work at the end of the day, but marketing work leaves room for innovation, exploration, and fun, and a company that abides by core values by displaying them prominently every day is bound to see its workers succeed at a much greater rate. Authenticity is key, though, and if you feel like you're “faking” through developing core values, it's time to reconsider. A bit more about Jamey:Jamey Heinze is the CMO and Go-To-Market Advisor for HUVR and Waterloo Data, as well as the Go-To-Market Advisor for Five By Five and The Cortado Group. If you're surprised by Jamey's busy resume… don't be. With a lengthy career in marketing, Jamey has mastered leadership and earned a prominent position as a thought leader in the industry. With a career that started in sales with Xerox, Jamey quickly learned about the different types of motivations that go into any business department and has since used that knowledge to continually improve his efforts and the efforts of those around him.Connect with Jamey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameyheinze/ https://twitter.com/jameyheinze Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

We're excited to welcome Ashley Estilette to the Master Marketer Show! As the Chief Marketing Officer at Mitratech since 2021, Ashley has overseen some of the most transformational workplace moments of our lifetime. With the effects of the pandemic still looming over many businesses, and many companies continue to navigate the “in-office v. remote” discussions, one thing is for sure: it is more important than ever for leaders to actively listen and stay in tune with their teams, AND to evaluate the needs of potential hires.In this episode, we discuss culture shifts and effective business leadership as the possibility of a recession continues to loom over businesses across the world. How does a leader effectively lead the charge as pressure mounts, and what does that mean for their teams?Let's get started!MINDSETS: Understanding Your Culture - What is the culture you want to build for your company? Many companies are recognizing the shift to remote work as a necessity, which can LARGELY reshape recruiting efforts. Understand the culture you want to portray, and own it — authenticity is SO important. Intentional Leaders - Remote work pushes “water cooler talk” to extinction. So… how do you keep your team engaged? Active leadership, and celebrating wins of any caliber, keep even the most unconventional of workspaces engaged. Transparency - If your company is fast-paced, be forthright about it in the application process. Get to know your applicants, and get granular on their interests. Understanding their motivations and their ideal work environments will help develop that symbiotic relationship that workspaces need; remote work may not be for you, and that's okay! Navigating Meetings - While not always the case, companies who made the shift to remote sought to use meetings as a means of control. It's not EXACTLY that beneficial. Rather, two team members may be better served to work concurrently in a live document. Meetings are NOT the end all, be all of the remote work. Trickle Down Information - If you're responsible for attending board meetings, it's SUPER important to trickle that information down to your team, both for transparency and motivation. And if the board is happy, celebrate your team! SKILLSETS: Speed and Agility - Sure, speed as a skill makes more room for tasks, which if effective leads to revenue — like the urgency in certain salespeople. It's harder to coach. Too much speed, as we all know, can lead to its own trouble, like sloppy results.  Controlling the Calendar -TIme maintenance is, in itself, a time suck – time blocking and scheduling is just as crucial as performing your tasks, and in the autonomous world of remote work, proper time management can be one of the most important keys to success. Leading by Example - Above all, don't be a hypocrite - As leaders, we want to instill good practices in our team, but if we don't practice what we preach (like time blocking and sticking to a schedule), your team may not feel as empowered.  TOOLSETS: Calendars & Time-Blocking Software Email  Live Documents Like Google Drive Team Chats like Slack Team Happy Hours MentiMeter (Anonymous Q&A's) RESULTS:For Ashley, keeping her team in the know on initiatives, successes, and failures has been tantamount to her success as a leader. When a board of executives is excited about a new initiative, she shares that excitement with her team. We are creatures of reward, in that we like to see positive results from our hard work. Ashley has been cognizant of that for her whole career, and it's brought her to where she is today. With the remote environment unintentionally leading to some levels of isolation, it is more important than ever for leaders to trickle down as much information as possible so that regardless of the economic situation looming over many businesses, team members will continue to see the value of their work at a larger scale. A bit more about Ashley:Ashley Estilette lives, eats, and breathes leadership. She has been a champion of her teams and prides herself on the “Workplace Rally Cry,” an intentional mindset of celebrating her team's efforts. By her admission, she is “energized by people,” something that is clearly established in this week's episode. Ashley has been the Chief Marketing Officer of Mitratech, a software development agency designed to empower corporate legal, risk & compliance, and HR professionals to maximize productivityConnect with Ashley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-estilette-3a6b4320 https://www.linkedin.com/company/mitratech Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Ah yes — the influencer. From the dawn of social media, influencers have long held the ability to connect brands to viewers and convert viewers to buyers. And so often, it looks effortless. However, what's happening is a well-constructed narrative that, when done effectively, can authentically shift consumer perspective. How are influencer relationships maintained, and how can you collaborate with them most beneficially — particularly in unconventional industries? In this episode, we sit down with Eddie Saunders Jr., former Demand Generation Manager for Flex Machine Tools and current Sr. Content Strategy & Demand Generation Manager at Norgren, for an insightful conversation on how to inject fresh, new life into your marketing efforts and maintain a positive influence in marketing spaces.Let's get started!MINDSETS: The Direct Line of Attention - Consider fishing: you can check the pond, or you can go find the “sure thing” that another fisherman sends you too. The same goes for marketing; finding the users that produce qualified attention will have a huge impact on your awareness efforts. H2H - Flipping the B2B and B2C mindset to understand that, at the end of the day, marketing is a human-to-human interaction. Eddie immersed himself in the human experience as a way to expand his worldview and improve his marketing ability. Taking an empathetic approach opens opportunities to strengthen business relationships. Actively Avoiding Selfishness - Recognizing that the most important part of marketing is relationship building. Bonds aren't built overnight, but the crucial work of relationship management played a large role in Eddie's success as a leader. Making Noise - Keeping current plays a large hand in maintaining an audience. That includes taking risks, trying, failing, and trying again. Importantly, the noise attracts an audience, and those who like your noise are prepared to stick around so long as you're making it.  The Buddy Branding System - Synergistic collaboration — a kind that benefits both sides of a relationship, curates a mindset that expands creativity, and mutually helps participants expand their audiences and mindsets in the process while restricting the amount of work an individual needs to do to a tangible level.  Enjoying the Laughter - Laughter is a joyous activity that can benefit your mood, even during tough decision-making. In business interactions, keep the atmosphere as lighthearted as is appropriate, and it can help keep professional settings a lot more positive.  Gravitating Towards Expertise - Eddie may be a prolific communicator, but his penmanship? That's a different story, and that's OK. Gravitate towards what you're good at, emphasize what you're good at, and spend some time working on what you're not so good at.  SKILLSETS: The Human Decision-Making Process - Having a grand understanding of human interaction — with emphasis on why humans even make decisions — will make you a better thought leader. The “Them” Focused Framework – We learn about ourselves quite easily, so changing the framework in professional settings to emphasize the “other” in any situation — particularly potential business partners — reflects positively on any empathetic efforts. Strategic Experimentation - Content decisions may not only be focused on likes or views, but data plays a large role in any testing process. Open eyes, open ears, and general curiosity in content creation will yield results that can be replicable for your business over and over again. TOOLSETS: Podcasts Open Communication Video  Buffer (Social Posting & Analytics) Mailchimp Constant Contact Canva RESULTS:With Flex, Eddie was able to track 4 million impressions across Flex Machine Tool's major social media platforms — 95% of which came from organic traffic. Focusing on influencers afforded Flex over 1.6 million views — results that you may otherwise have had to spend tens of thousands of dollars for. Eddie had set a goal for 2 million impressions by the end of 2022, but after seeing initial results expected to double that goal by 2023 — all with no ad spend. A bit more about Eddie:Eddie Saunders Jr. considers himself a thought leader by strategy and by design— one who sought out and worked on the importance of scaling influence. With a background in theater, Eddie quickly found success in the industry of attention and has closely aligned himself with influencers at the most successful level of his career. Starting with a career in sales, Eddie quickly progressed as a Brand Development Manager, to hosting the Flex & Friends Podcast, and finally his current position as a Sr. Content Strategy & Demand Generation Manager at Norgren. In his free time, Eddie acts as an event MC, and manages his fitness and fatherhood Instagram page “The Flexing Father.”Connect with Eddie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddiesaundersjr https://www.instagram.com/theflexingfather/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/norgren Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

How does one become a prolific content creator in the e-space? On top of that, what is the purpose and the impact of an Elevated Resource Planning (ERP) firm? This week, we're changing pace as we speak to an expert outside of the marketing realm — but one whose efforts are crucial to the success of marketers in the digital space. Sam Gupta, the Principal Consultant at ElevatIQ, joins us to talk about his experience in the technical professional services space, the impact of building professional & personal relationships, and how his experiences have impacted his decisions as a content creator.Let's get started!MINDSETS: Valuing Your Journey - Sam's career path took some unique turns and, like anyone in the industry, success may not necessarily be replicable. Your journey isn't always going to line up with the companies you aspire to, and that's OKAY. Find what makes YOU unique. Trust (and lots of it)- A critical component of dealmaking is recognizing who you're making deals with, and if they belong in your professional space. Working hard and committing yourself to gaining credibility will go a long way in your career efforts. The Effort Threshold (a.k.a the “Path of Least Resistance”) - When starting from the bottom, consider the tasks you can accomplish with the least amount of effort and investment with the most beneficial impact. A blog-writing strategy, for example, added credibility to Sam's work, but it wasn't a task that came naturally (at least at first). Relationship-Building - While success may not be replicable, it can be discussed! Reaching out to connections you aspire to be like (In Sam's case, high-profile LinkedIn Influencers) and building those relationships both expands knowledge and establishes a support system. Acknowledging Past Results - As a service provider, keeping track of good & bad results (with clients or content) sets the stage for future success, and strengthens the learning curve. Symbiotic Relationships - From a zoomed-out perspective, sales and marketing are both sources of content, and when joined together can create an ongoing cycle of content ideation and development.  Content Volume - Where is your content most optimal, and how frequently is it consumed? Being aware of the venues for your content plays a large role in your content's success; frequent podcast episodes may be more beneficial than frequent YouTube videos, or vice versa. SKILLSETS: Do Your Research - Set yourself up for success in any content-focused relationship by understanding a potential partner's background prior to meeting. As Sam puts it, “I need to do enough research so I am able to talk with people, I am able to talk their language, and I am able to meet them comfortably when they are working with me.” Delegation - Finding collaborators who are able to “be their own boss” ensures a trusted partnership that allows them to take the lead on certain tasks so you can step in and provide input only when necessary.  Defining the Target Market - Getting ahead of content production and recognizing who content is for to begin with sets the foundation for more relevant work to be done (and for it to reach the right people!). Keywords, Keywords, Keywords - Are you using the words that people are searching? Connecting your content to rankable search items plays a role in content visibility and how it resonates with any given audience. Multi-Channel Strategies - When you're making a piece of content, it shouldn't always stop at a specific channel; for example, TikTok posts could (and should) find their way to YouTube Shorts. What gets 20 views on one channel may go viral on another. ALWAYS track performance, and the channels your competitors may be using to get a competitive advantage. TOOLSETS: Google  TikTok YouTube LinkedIn Canva (Graphic Design) Adobe Creative Suite Slack CRM Software RESULTS:From the start, Sam sought out opportunities to deliver content to an ideal audience. However, success doesn't happen overnight. Putting out content and tweaking based on results was key to his success, as it allowed him to seek out and address any content pitfalls. Sam went from 0 inbound traffic to inbound being the “bread and butter” for his content, and that didn't come without thoughtful testing and tweaking of his output. This has led to more qualified inbound leads for Sam's business, and ultimately a much more connected audience.A bit more about Sam:Sam Gupta began his career as an expert in B2B sales, and is currently the Principal Consultant of ElevatIQ, an independent Elevated Resource Planning and Digital Transformation Consulting firm. Using a Vendor-Agnostic approach, ElevatIQ works tirelessly to define enterprise architecture using ERP, eCommerce, and other technological resources. In his career, Sam has mastered business process re-engineering and IT enabled business transformation, bringing partnering businesses modern success.Since 2020, Sam has also hosted WBSRocks, a podcast series dedicated to a unique holistic approach  for  business systems and technology. Connect with Sam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samguptausa https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatiq/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/wbsrocks/ Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Brand vision, hard work and “a-ha moments” all play into the success of an early-stage tech startup. But how does a company thrive in the early stages when a vision exists, but the solution is not so clear? In this week's episode, we welcome Melissa Moody, Co-Founder & CMO of Gated, to outline Melissa's unique journey of category creation while concurrently building a product for the digital market, as well as what it takes to shape consumer behavior with those products and to get consumers talking in a way that benefits your marketing efforts. Let's get started! MINDSETS: Enjoy the Scrappy Approach - When launching an entirely new product with no marketing budget and a small team, it's crucial to approach your work with a fun, positive perspective, as opposed to worry or futility. Finding joy in “controlled chaos” is the name of the game. Heightened Risk Tolerance - Innovation doesn't come easy. No matter the size of your team, you need to have high risk tolerance in order to do innovative things. Looking at what you're NOT doing as an opportunity cost, and being okay with what you're not doing, is just as important as what you ARE doing with your work. Mindfulness of Team Size - Workers anticipating a large marketing team may be unhappy when their team is smaller, and vice-versa. Understanding your tolerance in the workspace for concepts (like the speed at which you need to work) is a crucial component of your success with any size team. If you prefer a slower pace, a small team may not be for you, and that's okay! Empower Customers & Get Them Talking - What does it take to put your product benefits into the customer's words? Understanding the humanity of a product or service plays a large role in being able to translate its benefits into words that the customer relates to.  Going the extra step to actively listen to how consumers talk about your brand, and using that language in your marketing, can be even more effective than coming up with your own language.  SKILLSETS: Active Listening - How does a company empower its advocates? Curating ideas through careful thought and mindful, active listening is an important place to start.  Decisiveness - When you've heard enough, it's time to take action! Eliminating the “Could Have/Should Have” mindset in decision making makes your leadership much more effective.  Leveraging Your Network - Melissa maintains what she calls the “Concentric Circles of Influence.” Keeping tabs on the groups you're affiliated with, and how to use those groups in a progressive and effective manner. Advisory groups with varying levels of focus ensures you receive support for any given task Maximize Impact - Focusing on channels based on your goals and going where your target users are plays a large role in the success of your strategy. TOOLSETS: Slack (Team Communication) Cabal Airtable (Project Management) Typeform (Forms and Surveys) LinkedIn Twitter Analytics Tracking Software RESULTS:At the start, Gated had virtually no product to market and 100 beta users who Melissa's team had listened to closely for one year. For Melissa, showing up with a strictly organic approach from the start (i.e, not rushing the consumer to use Gated or utilizing paid ads) and educating potential consumers on Gated's benefits led to roughly 750 signups in its first day, and 300,000 impressions on social content. For Melissa, the “Lightning Strike” moment came from Gated's initial widespread appeal on social media — particularly comments that the marketing efforts appeared like they were executed by a much larger team. A bit more about Melissa:Melissa is the Co-Founder & CMO at Gated, the self-proclaimed “noise-canceling headphones for your inbox.” Starting as a high school teacher, Melissa quickly transitioned to the marketing world; after a 14-year stint at Google (and many more mentoring startups and advising investment funds), Melissa jumped to startup marketing strategy, where she works hard to grow world-class brands from the ground up. Melissa is also the host of the podcast "2 Pizza Marketing," a podcast designed for small-team marketers.Connect with Melissa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissammoody/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/gated/ Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

We've all seen the movies and TV shows about startups and the intense commitment workers are expected to have in order for the business to thrive. However, what does it mean to work for a “visionary,” and how much of a voice should you have in the process of building a startup? In this week's episode, we welcome Carter Severns, Vice President of Marketing at Place, for a chat on the unique workflow challenges presented when working in a startup, as well as the opportunities to establish leadership and when you should outsource work to agencies to increase productivity.  We discuss the importance of transparency when entering a new marketing role, and how to advocate for resources to substantially improve the efficiency of your team's workflow.  Let's get started!  MINDSETS: Seeking Outside Validation - You have great ideas, but you need to back them up! Using examples of your proposal from outside sources, particularly ones that your CEO trusts, will gain their trust and afford you the opportunity to move your initiatives forward. Eliminating Risk - Risk affects both the buyer and the company. When purchasing a product or service, a buyer is seeking low risk and high reward. The same goes for the hiring process, ESPECIALLY when bringing in new executives. Eliminating or reducing the possibility right from the start can make for a much more rewarding experience. Knowing When to Outsource - The team you bring in depends on your company's biggest obstacles. You may not have every skill set on staff, and that's okay! Bringing in freelancers or gig workers while maintaining a high-level of quality is a cost-effective part of any startup's strategy.  Valuing Your Time - Never underestimate the amount of time Project Management takes. Checking in on project status, as well as updating people internally and externally, is a time consuming process that may take you away from physical work. The more people you bring in, the more time it will take to manage a project.  The “Figure It Out” Gene - Startups do not often have the space for workers to learn or grow on the job. Initiative in off-work hours, like taking the time to train, certify, or build something on your own that you may not have been asked to do in the workplace, will help you to build tangible and beneficial skills to bring to the workplace.  Keep ‘Em Satisfied - In the first 6-12 months of building a business, taking the time to figure out what's exciting to your team opens up opportunities to thrive in the work setting. Staying in tune with your team (like asking them how you can assist in overcoming roadblocks) will keep them satisfied and at your company for longer.  SKILLSETS: Recognizing Weak Spots - Hires need to be self-aware enough to know when they are capable of a new task, and when it's time to outsource. Even if your team hosts a particular skill set, ask yourself: is that the most efficient way for their time to be spent? Time Management - Are you tracking time, or do you trust your team to properly allocate their time to fit the needs of every project? With more remote jobs becoming available, proper time management plays a large component in your success with any company. As Carter puts it, “It'll come to light pretty quickly if you're not getting your stuff done.” Budgeting - When first interviewing for a marketing role, get a clear idea for the money that the team has to allocate time-intensive work to outsourced agencies. If a clear need isn't established, you run the risk of doing everything yourself.  Product Market Fit - Are the marketers in your organization able to explain what the company does? If not established, it will be VERY hard to explain that to the general public. Understanding what part of the “Product Market Fit” journey your organization is in helps to clearly establish the necessary workflows to make your efforts successful. Aligning Expectations - Establishing clear daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly stretch goals will help any marketer determine if initiatives are historically attainable, or if it's time to readjust the pipeline to e expectations.   TOOLSETS: Weekly Sales/Marketing Meeting  Ongoing Communication Lead Management/Nurturing Design Pickle Hubspot  RESULTS:As Carter puts it: “Marketing is NOT a silver bullet.” Marketing is a long-term investment that requires intention, transparency, and understanding. Some aspects of marketing are a long, slow burn that can take up to 6 months to see the benefits of. Being intentional and setting expectations from the start sets a very important foundation that leaves room for small wins along the way and big wins in time. A bit more about Carter:Carter is the VP of Marketing at Place, a software development agency which supports SaaS businesses using Salesforce with Subscription and Billing operations. For more than a decade, Carter has committed his career to helping B2B, SaaS, and growth-stage companies by running their growth and marketing initiatives, leading companies like BizNet Software, Creative cave and OneDay as a go-to marketing expert. Throughout his career, Carter has been noted for his from-scratch marketing and go-to-market strategies, as well as his revenue-focused leadership for high-growth companies.  Outside of work, Carter is an avid home chef, and has closely attributed the cooking process to the thought process he uses in marketing strategies: follow what works, and throw out what doesn't. Connect with Carter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carter-severns/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/place-technology/ Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

In this POV episode, we revisit "Ep. 21 Ryan Gibson - Customer Research Drives Revenue Growth" to explore even deeper insights to engage with in the B2B marketing space. 

Not everything we do as marketers sticks the landing on the first go. In fact, it often fails, which is what makes this work so compelling and diverse. In this week's episode, we welcome guest Corey Brown, current Head of Marketing at risk3sixty, for an eye-opening chat on the “power of the pivot”, and the opportunities that reveal themselves when we can accurately read the story behind the data and change up our strategy to meet our unique business goals. According to Corey, the key to success at every step is to operationalize your marketing objectives so that they can meet your equally essential business goals in order to make a real difference in results.  Let's get started!   MINDSETS: Diversify your investments in time, money, and energy - don't put all of your eggs in one basket, assess progress for a project or activation with a cross-comparative eye,  “Diversity/flexibility mindset” without spreading yourself too thin - you should still be focusing on niche skills or specializations, but not so much that you back yourself (and your team) into a corner. Be cautious about taking on new channels or tools, and do so with humility and an expectation that you'll need to pivot after initial data comes to light. Assess, reassess, test, re-test - of course you don't want to invest huge amounts of dollars or time into something without a track record or clear lead generation attached.  Balance mindset - have a birds eye view of how the story the analytics is telling you translates into your business data and goals. Every idea you have, informed by platform and engagement analytics, MUST ultimately serve your ultimate business trajectory. "5-3-2 mindset" - Corey employs this mindset strategy to balance his time across major priority areas. For Corey, he guides his team to put its energy towards content areas of varying number depending on priority: (5) topical industry content, (3), promotional content, (2) fun & new content. This scale model itself is scalable, and can be adapted to suit your specific needs.   SKILLSETS: Data analysis & manipulation - you can't argue with numbers, right? Interpersonal communication - be able to effectively converse using logic and emotion amongst diverse team members (with diverse skills and personalities).  Ability to operationalize & define your unique data inflection points - this makes your assessment of the data much more purposeful and efficient. It also allows you to pick tools that will help you with your specific data analytics needs. Understanding your analytics from all angles and platforms gives you an edge in the game. Ability to see the gaps in your department's operations.   TOOLSETS: Email campaigns  YouTube analytics  Your own version of Corey's “Delegation Chart” and “Operation Chart” (we love this)  Weekly team-wide meetings & one-to-one team member meetings “SMART” Goals  RESULTS:A team-wide decision to pivot from podcast strategy to webinar production, which has led to 4 successful webinar sessions that have generated 5x the amount of new leads, as well as massive growth in pipeline.  A bit more about Corey:Corey is currently the Head of Marketing at risk3sixty, which supports clients in the construction, management and certification of business-first security and other compliance-based programs. For more than a decade, Corey has worked in a diverse set of roles from web and digital art design to B2B content strategy and management. With a proven track record of developing and executing integrated marketing and communications plans from end-to-end, Corey is a meticulous project manager, balancing highly analytical and deeply creative approaches in his work.   Connect with Corey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ckbrown81/  https://www.linkedin.com/company/risk3sixty/   Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Let's talk $$$.  When you have hundreds of millions of dollars to spend (so, lots of $$$), even on work as multi-faceted and demanding as marketing, it's easy to get comfortable throwing large chunks of change at various ideas and seeing what “works”. But as this week's guest, the multi-talented Adam Shaw, will tell you, it's easy to slip into a lazy mindset when the wallet is too heavy. Now the Head of Demand Generation at WeSpire, Adam leads a much smaller team with a lean media budget. And it's precisely the challenges of this downsized budget that have made him and his modest team more creative and resilient marketers.  In this episode, join us for a case study in making the most of the tools in front of you … and, of course, the talented people at your side. MINDSETS: “Tinkerer” mindset - always be on the lookout for something that can be improved, tweaked, developed further in any project or campaign. Oftentimes, it's having this attention to detail that can help you maximize a slim budget. If you're in a leadership position, look for the tinkerers on your team and leverage their skills by putting them on projects suited to their interests! Wear all the hats - in smaller teams, you may be expected to do the job of what would be four different specialized roles in a big agency. Account manager, content strategist, content creator… having the mindset of all three takes you much further.  Leadership mindset - let your team members do what they're passionate about.  Focus on optimizing the “bottom least-efficient 10%” of your job. Doing this will allow you to carve out a workflow that is much more efficient.   SKILLSETS: In a leadership position, being able to build a culture where team members are encouraged to pushback, question, and take the lead on ideas they're passionate about. Being an “Excel nutcase” - as Adam says, at some point during your career, be the one to enter the data into an Excel spreadsheet. In other words, gaining the experience of doing the data “grunt work” gives you a holistic perspective when you do work in other roles such as management.  Leaning on the resource you have in front of you - don't over rely on outsourcing. In small teams, no one can afford to be anything less than super talented. Leverage both the talents and strengths of those around you.  Knowing in detail the buyer journey for your customers - Adam emphasizes that this comes with time and experience. But pursue opportunities that let you learn more about your customers and what drives them. Extensive knowledge of the buyer journey should inform every move you make. Maximizing output by prioritizing evergreen content. Being a good educator - especially with small budgets, it's essential as a manager/leader to educate your team members on the overall structure of the business model they are working in.    TOOLSETS: Excel (here's to you, “Excel freaks”)

What's one of the buzziest buzzwords in marketing right now? C'mon… you got this… yeah. “Storytelling”.

Negotiation seems to be a lost art these days. CEO of Negotiations Ninja Mark Raffan uses an array of negotiation tactics in his approach to marketing, and to say he's been successful at it is… an understatement. In this episode, Mark, a prolific content creator and strategist, introduces us to the negotiation processes and concepts that not just lead to great projects, but robust, enduring relationships with other professionals and creatives. In fact, many of the pleasant surprises that arise in our work are the result of engaging in compromise when the moment calls for it.  MINDSETS: Contextualize risk - compromise is not created equal. In a hostage situation, negotiations can't afford to play so fast and loose with the give and take of it all, not with human lives at stake. But luckily, this is marketing, and great marketing often requires a dynamic, carefully agreed-upon compromise. A bit of pain for the sake of the end game, if you will.  Intent is everything - check your ethics. Negotiation does NOT equal manipulation. Having a nuanced, well-balanced discussion requires a mutual respect between parties and a mindset geared toward creation and teambuilding.  Understand the logic AND emotion - human beings make decisions based on both, and persuading a prospective client requires that you've not only presented such a choice as both the most logical for them and their leadership, but that you've appealed to their emotions in key ways.  Stop trying to time the market - just like in finance, you can't possibly time everything correctly all the time. Don't drive yourself crazy. As Mark says, you have to be “on all the time”, focus on your slower-burning, more emotionally enduring brand marketing just as much as your more exciting, higher energy performance marketing strategies. That way you're more than ready to crush it when good timing finds you.  Reacting vs responding - in negotiation just as in marketing, it's a common mistake to react to every change the market throws at us. But if you've prepped well, you should be responding to potential outcomes as a result of said preparation. Reacting to every new story about the market is dangerous territory because it means we're making “costly decisions based on assumptions”... assumptions that we often haven't verified.  SKILLSETS: Customer research backed-by robust questions - asking the right questions will give you the right data! Asking lazy, leading questions is a huge impediment to making real progress in understanding your customers. Nurturing your curiosity may be the most important thing you can do as a marketer. Make sure you're getting the right answers to your questions. If a customer didn't give you a response that truly answers the dimensions of your question, ask again or rephrase your inquiry. If not, you're only operating off of assumptions. Verify any and all assumptions - we live in a world where we can get a plethora of information by tapping a screen. Having the skill to understand your assumptions, pick them apart, and then verify them by making use of the myriad research resources available to us in the modern age is essential to grow as a successful marketer (and negotiator!)  TOOLSETS: Diverse negotiation ideologies/practice sets (getting too hooked on one strategy leads to a dogmatization of one approach over the other… this can severely limit you.) Classic SEO Door-to-door/direct mail marketing (yes, it still works in the proper contexts!)  RESULTS:A successful podcast (Negotiations Ninja) that continues to build authority and credibility in the industry, and connects Mark's company to pivotal leaders in the marketing space.  Proofpoint's POV:One of the most interesting parts of this conversation was the discussion about ethics. Manipulation seems to have become synonymous with marketing, at least in the eyes of the consumer. People have become so used to clickbait, bait and switching, and other tactics that take advantage of what we know about human behavior that most of us are naturally skeptical and assume we are being manipulated. The same is true with sales.  There is a reason why buyer behavior has drastically shifted to where people go to their peers and communities for recommendations instead of search engines and review sites. Most of us know that the latter can be manipulated, while our peers will generally give their honest opinion. This has always been the case to a certain extent - word of mouth has always been the best performing form of marketing, but it has historically been hard to come by in B2B. But that has changed over the past 7 years. This is why we are so gung ho about relationships and Relationship Velocity(TM). Building genuine relationships throughout your ICP and target accounts, is the best way to give yourself a leg up in your negotiations. A bit more about Mark:Mark Raffan is the CEO of Negotiations Ninja and a successful host of their podcast where he hosts “negotiation experts, business people, and entrepreneurs from all walks of life and discusses which negotiation tactics work, which don't work and how we can improve our negotiation skills.” Mark is a prolific content creator and regularly explores the art of persuasion, sales, and procurement.  Helpful Links & Resources:Connect with Mark:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/markraffan/  https://www.negotiations.ninja/   Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing   

In a conversation that's been a year in the making, Nick Bennett of Alyce breaks down his philosophy on all things “personal brand” - what it really means, why it's crucial, and how it's made him a top content creator on LinkedIn. For Nick, it's all about centering what you create in the human element. Get personal. An audience invested in YOU as a human being and not just what tips you can offer is much more willing to engage with your brand in meaningful ways that go far beyond the “Like” button. MINDSETS: Clarity - have a CLEAR goal and vision beyond your target audience. Focus on your niche. This can take time, be patient with yourself. Feel free to experiment and you'll find a little self-reflection can lead to big insights. The human element - “Your story matters.” Get personal! Vulnerability and deeper connection to a human story can lead to robust, sustainable relationships. As a creator, living your truth and being your authentic self generates meaningful content (but as Nick says, not everyone will like what you put there… and that's OK).  Gear up for the down side - attitude in the face of adversity. At times, life doesn't seem to like our plans. Learn to embrace the unexpected and prepare for when things inevitably go wrong. Overnight hacks are a myth. The best things take time to build. And what's one of the best things to build, according to Nick? Community.  Leave your legacy - go beyond reputation. People should remember who you are. Also, it's ok to evolve. In fact, it's crucial. Just be open and purposeful along the way. Your identity is never set in stone.   SKILLSETS: Sharpen your ICPs - really understanding the various niches within the marketing space that you want to target generates faster leads.  Tie your content to the larger story of you - sounds simple, right? But the real “work” involves the ability to tie every piece of content you make to a larger picture. Viewed within this larger context of who you are as a brand, your audience sees you as a nuanced human being with a compelling story.  Personal branding is all the rage - more than ever, marketers and creators who can masterfully carve out a space as a personal brand have the edge. Curate your network, curate your social feed - anyone can accept every LinkedIn invite that comes their way. But this leads to a messy, clogged feed. The most successful creators are strategic about their connections. Doing this ensures that your audience returns to your feed to learn about YOU as a person, not just because you offer sound marketing advice.   TOOLSETS: “5 Minute Rule” (a Nick Bennett special) Shield  LinkedIn   RESULTS: 3% month-over-month growth for Alyce's LinkedIn presence A new Evangelism-based program internally at Alyce focused on personal branding for its employees… This leads to literally millions of impressions for the agency. A company-wide event focused on personal branding which generated nearly 4 million organic views on LinkedIn in just a month.   A bit more about Nick:Nick is the Director of Evangelism & Customer Marketing at Alyce. Voted as one of LinkedIn's top 100 creators, Nick shares his experiences with personal branding and customer marketing daily on LinkedIn and TikTok. A skilled speaker and creator, Nick is constantly exploring how B2B buyers make decisions today and applies his learnings as host of his own show, Rep Your Brand, one of the world's top 10% most popular podcasts.  Helpful Links & Resources:Connect with Nick @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickbennett1/  Connect with Mike & Gaby @ Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Marketing Website: www.proofpoint.marketing 

In a sea of marketing agencies, or many other service providers for that matter, the most common value prop is “we won't screw you over” or "we actually do what we say we are going to." Neither of these is a great way to go-to-market. What is a great way, you ask? Do something large and make yourself known for being an expert in something. This is exactly what Mason Cosby did with the ABM-athon at Mojo Media Labs. MINDSETS: Abundance mindset - give away your best content and ideas because there are plenty of fish in the sea - it's about maximizing engagement and content consumption from the right people rather than worrying about giving things away for free. What do you want to be known for? Flip the script, and control the narrative - focus on owning the conversation instead of renting attention from others. Have a longer time horizon when evaluating your major investments in things like events. The revenue will come later. Focus on content and promotion, not fancy tech to start with Think through what you want to learn from the initial test up front, and design the measurement around those things. SKILLSETS: People management is key - you need to know how to handle different personalities who are contributing to the event. Your job is to make them feel good about spending their time on this and feel valued. You need to be a good content and copywriter - you will inevitably need to create all the assets for promotion of the event, and also possibly for some of the speakers. Understanding of marketing technology and how to make them all work together. Customer research - understand what content your customers actually care about so you can create content they will show up to see. Consider surveying your existing customers about what they want. TOOLSETS: Zoom Events HubSpot LinkedIn (organic and paid ads) SalesIntel - for building target account lists Sendoso - for swag and thankyou gifts Veed.io - for video editing RESULTS: Mason's event was about to generate the following results: 1.1 million impressions within the marketing suite of their 1000 target accounts 700 registrants 300 attendees 4 deals influenced 2 deals sourced 15 deals sighted the event as part of what convinced them to move forward  Oh, and by the way, the event helped Gravity Global evaluate the entire team as part of the acquisition. Mojo Media Labs is now owned by, and is the center of excellence for ABM at Gravity Global. Proofpoint's POV:There are two major shifts happening in the marketing landscape that we touched on during this episode, and are worthwhile to highlight and elaborate on further.Brands owning the conversation. A concept we always talk to our clients about is “followers are rented, audiences are shared, community is owned.” Community is what allows you to own the conversation about your area of expertise. And a major event is a great way to build community. Mason even gave the cost comparison example where it can cost you $15k to have a 30-minute speaking engagement at a conference, or you can spend $23k to put on your own event. Now obviously this comes with a risk - you could screw it up and maybe people don't show up or have a bad experience, but the simple unit economics are definitely in your favor here.Creators and their personal brands are driving B2B brand growth. Companies are hiring creators internally to be growth levers and actual growth leaders for the organization. B2B organizations are also turning to influencer marketing—something that B2C brands have been doing for decades—more and more. And employee advocacy/engagement programs are popping up all over the place—though many not very effectively—but that's a story for another time.This conversation showed how effective a single personal brand can be at driving impact (in this case event attendance and resulting revenue) and how leveraging partners and associating your brand with other industry leaders can do wonders for the status your company takes in the eyes of the target audience. A bit more about Mason:Mason is the Director of Growth for Gravity Global and the host of The Marketing Ladder podcast, where he interviews marketing leaders to learn how they built their careers. And as part of his podcasting effort, he also helps tons of marketers find their next job opportunity. Helpful Links & Resources:Connect with Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masoncosby/ Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint Marketing: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Getting interviewed on podcasts is just as impactful, if not more, as guest blogging was in 2015. You can drive tangible business impact through strategic outreach. This For this episode, we had Mark Colgan on the show, to talk about how to choose the right podcasts to speak on, how to reach out to their hosts, and the impact it can have on your business if you do this well. Mindsets: It's not just podcasts - think about how you can get your brand in front of the people you can help. Use your gut - if it feels like the right thing to do, then do it, even if you can't 100% attribute the success Focus on building relationships, rather than pitching. Podcasting is an evergreen play, and compounds over time. Skillsets: Research Who else is talking to my audience? Who else is selling the same or similar product? Who is selling a service or product adjacent to yours? Who is speaking at industry events? Where are your competitors speaking? Copywriting Deep personalization is the key, just like in sales outreach. Keep it short Be different Admin and follow-up. No different than tracking sales pipeline activity, you should be tracking your podcast outreach and follow-up activity. Set your speaker up for success Run a practice interview Have a clear CTA rehearsed Toolsets: ListenNotes SparkToro Airtable for tracking activity Separate domain for sending emails, just in case your outreach emails get flagged as spam Rephonic Results:Personalized outreach can get you get you an outreach reply rate as high as 70%. And actually being interviewed on podcasts can drive sales activity, especially if you are focusing on smaller niche podcasts for the exact audience you are looking to get in front of. Some sample results that Mark shared from his clients: Over 50% of new signups for a coaching client SaaS company closed their largest deals from the host themselves  Proofpoint's POV:We love podcasts here at Proofpoint. We have even created shows for a number of our clients. We also love being on other people's podcast - It's fun! That said, even I walked away with some new things to try after this conversation. It makes complete sense to treat your podcast outreach like you would high ticket sales outreach. Focus on building a relationship first. The rigor that Mark describes for doing the research, crafting the message and building a repeatable process is an absolute master class in how to do this, and we will definitely be implementing some of these lessons as we try to speak on more podcasts. A bit more about Mark:Mark is the second guest in a row who lives in Spain. He is a long-time sales leader, who actually used his cold outbound skills to cold pitch his girlfriend on Instagram. Watch till the end to hear the story. Helpful Links & Resources:Connect with Mark on https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcolganmarketing/  Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

SEO is a fairly broad topic, but at the end of the day, whether we are optimizing for site speed or writing content, there should always be some sort of business objective driving the activity. We sat down with Maeva Cinfuentes of Flying Cat Marketing to talk about how SEO success needs to be evaluated based on the revenue it drives, not simply the traffic it brings in. Mindsets: You need to change the KPIs - it's not about traffic and rankings. Don't expect someone who charges by the word who you hired to write a blog post for $100, to have the time to interview SMEs and create really relevant content for your audience SEO is a channel, not a strategy Skillsets: Teach your writers to be journalists, so they can get the best, and most relevant content from the SMEs, especially in technical industries Learn how to select the right topics - you need to listen and know how to ask the right questions to understand your audience. Networking - your network will be extremely important so you can do your research. This means not only building your network, but also nurturing that network so when you reach out for a favor (to interview them) they are more likely to respond. Unlearn all your “SEO writing” skills. Don't write for the bots, but for the target audience. The Skyscraper technique doesn't make sense for every single topic and every single reader. Understand and measure content consumption The headline should tell a story BLUF - bottom line up front - if they want to keep reading, they will Toolsets: Ahrefs Clearscope ClickUp Google Search Console Google Analytics Results:400% increase in traffic… and revenue! CTA language optimized for the topic and the search intent of the keyword being optimized for and focusing on high purchase intent long-tail keywords. Proofpoint's POV:What gets measured gets managed. The downside to this, is if you measure the wrong things, you will manage the wrong things. Just as true with SEO as any other marketing channel. If you measure traffic and rankings, or even leads, then that is what you will manage your SEO program to. Unfortunately, it is way too easy to drive high volumes of traffic. Sometimes you may even do it by accident. Have you ever looked at your Google Search Console report and find one of your case studies ranking for something irrelevant about your client? Happens all the time. But that is almost never valuable traffic. You can also spend all your effort going after the broad, high volume keyword. My favorite example from a former client… “what is erp”. Yet when you are selling to enterprise buyers, it isn't terribly likely that they don't know what an ERP system is. We also often see this with professional services companies. They will optimize for a variety of “what is + [acronym]” searches, but it isn't likely their prospective customers will be looking for those definitions. Another really important thing to call out here, is to not trust everything the SEO tools tell you. Just because something seems like it has zero search volume, doesn't mean it actually has zero search volume. We have built entire programs out of only going after zero search volume keywords. Similarly, be very careful with how much trust you put in Google Search Console data. A recent analysis by Ahrefs showed that on average a site could be missing around 50% of it's traffic data in GSC. A bit more about Maeva:Maeva is a polyglot who has been living in Spain for quite some time. She loves improv theater and hopes to do some clowning one day. Helpful Links & Resources:Connect with Maeva on https://www.linkedin.com/in/maevaeverywhere/ Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

As a small team, you are often competing against much larger and more well funded teams. This is especially true in terms of content. Leveraging a podcast as a foundational asset can be a very efficient way to feed a variety of content types. We will talk with James Furbush about what mindsets, skillsets, and toolsets needed to build and execute a content strategy with a small team and minimal budget, to drive significant results.  Mindsets: Don't let perfect get in the way of the good - just get started Take your time to get people onboard with major mindshift projects Set clear expectations upfront Work parallel work streams to both capture demand that exists and deliver quick wins for sales, while you work on building net new demand Focus on creating a content engine, not just individual pieces of content Skillsets: Learn to be a journalist to effectively ask questions to capture quality content You need to get your reps in. Nobody wakes up and knows how to be a great interviewer Nurture and leverage your network to build your initial guest pipeline Building a guest pipeline is no different than managing a sales pipeline Focus on the guest experience - how do you make them feel good about being involved? Toolsets: Riverside.fm - this episode was recorded on Streamyard, but we have since switched to Riverside as well. Descript - we actually use Descript a ton for quick and dirty videos even though our podcast is professionally post-produced. Canva for creative templates (including video templates) Results:The company James works for was recently acquired, and the podcast helped build their brand presence. Proofpoint's POV:We have talked about the value of podcasts with several guests in the past (Jason Bradwell, and our very own James Ricks before he became a Proofpointer

Know your customer! This is something we hear all the time, but in most cases we don't define what this really means or how to effectively do it. In this episode, we dive deep into how to conduct customer research, with Ryan Paul Gibson of Content Lift, and talk about how asking the right people the right questions can have a major revenue impact for your business. We will talk about what mindsets, skillsets, and toolsets needed to conduct effective customer research, to drive results. This episode is literally a masterclass in customer research, so if you want to learn how to gain insights from talking to customers, don't miss a minute of this awesome conversation. Mindsets: [2:00 - 6:00] Be inquisitive, like a reporter - Ask yourself “what are some of your assumptions that might be wrong?” [8:43 - 12:30] Find the root cause, don't just treat the symptom. [12:40 - 14:00] Be self-aware - you are probably at least partially the cause of the issue which you are trying to research. Skillsets: [14:30 - 16:30] Ask one question at a time - no compound questions. [18:40 - 24:30] Have a hypothesis to test (e.g. are we talking to the wrong people?) and use that to drive organic discovery. [30:00 - 37:00] Active listening - do your prep and slow your speech down to force your brain to slow down and actually listen.  [38:08 - ] Codifying subjective language - find themes and trends in the responses to your questions Toolsets [42:44 - 49:40]: Transcription - Reduct Video or Rev.io Scheduler Video recording - Zoom - record everything because you won't remember Google Docs Results:Through all this work, Ryan's client Rewind was able to double installs.  Proofpoint's POV:We at Proofpoint are all about customer research. It is at the very core of our entire process, and is one of the first things we do upon engaging with a client. The goal is to understand what job your customers are trying to do - what their success milestones are, what their pain points are, what their emotional needs are, what their decision making process is like, and what their research process is like. What's important first though, is to understand who you should be talking to. We recommend first identifying your best customers and your worst customers via firmographic data in your CRM. This allows you to build your hypothesis, as Ryan recommends, and then better understand what you do well, what you don't do well, and what you can do about it. As we talked about with Ryan, personas tend to get a bar rap, but this is because most personas stop at basic demographic and firmographic information. What we advise is to build your personas not just around the information in your CRM, but combine that with first-person customer research. A bit more about Ryan:Ryan is a former field researcher and reporter, turned customer research whiz. He hails from Ottawa, Canada, which means yes, he has that awesome Canadian accent, eh!

Is there a single CEO or sales leader out there who wouldn't want to see their sellers hit 160% of quota? Well that's exactly what SAP, a client of Seismic's was able to achieve by going all in on social selling. Steve is the Director of Marketing for Seismic, which is why we are talking about this amazing case study. Amongst other things, Steve lives and breathes social selling and personal branding himself and specifically calls it buyer-centric social selling, which you can learn more about in this episode. What you'll learn in this episode: The mindsets, skillsets and toolsets you will need to build a successful personal brand and be successful at social selling. What metrics you should be looking at as it pertains to personal branding and social selling. How to build credibility by SHOWING to your prospective customers that you have walked many miles in their shoes. What the difference is between personal branding, thought leadership and social selling. Why relevancy is the most important thing in personal branding and social selling, and how to build relevancy. How to build your personal content strategy. Steve's recommendations: Think of LinkedIn as a giant ongoing business conversation. Make sure you aren't just counting the wins, but also the losses. How much better active social sellers perform compared to their non-active counterparts Social Selling isn't about fixing broken companies, it's a way to help already successful ones get even better. The qualitative data - the individual success stories are often the most direct way to measure success and evaluate performance... and it helps to incentivize and encourage others to get on board. The labels don't necessarily matter. What matters is the opportunity and the mindsets, skillsets and toolsets. The best sellers have been marketers and the best marketers have been sellers at some point in their careers. Also the best sellers have been buyers. You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Steve is looking forward to testing out more personalized video in social selling. Steve can't stand all the cliche prospecting messages that we have all likely grown to hate over the past several years (e.g. “how are you doing in these unprecedented times?”). Many more examples mentioned in the episode if you need a good laugh. Proofpoint's POV:We at Proofpoint are all in on personal branding and social selling. The majority of our business has been built via those efforts, and we are now building out training courses for our clients and the community at large.  Marketing is changing. Corporate brands are being built on the backs of employee personal brands, and we are really starting to see the emergence of the “employee influencer”. Interestingly, SaaS companies are the ones leading the charge here, with organizations like Gong, Dooly, Alyce and of course Seismic taking it to the next level. What's interesting is these organizations are selling products. Yet when we look at service companies, whose entire business model is built on personal relationships, and most of them are still following the old playbooks. The only caveat is marketing agencies

Want to increase your inbound revenue by 70% next year? Then you may want to listen to this conversation with Jonathan Morgan, the Director of Sales and Marketing Ops at AchieveIt. To do this, they were able to increase contract values by 30% and increase close rates by over 25%. Notice we haven't mentioned anything about MQLs here. What you'll learn in this episode: How to come balance revenue ops and marketing How to continuously give to your customers How to simplify goals and metric reporting for marketing How to adapt your go-to-market strategy and demand gen playbook when going into a new industry What marketing metrics should you be tracking (if you are in SaaS) What the core fundamentals are to be a good marketer How to work with your finance team as a marketer Jonathan's recommendations: Start by talking to your customers when coming into a new role Find ways to surprise and delight your customers in your marketing Enable a strong, trusting community with your customers through things like webinars First understand your business and your sales & marketing resources before you make any changes to your marketing Focus on demand capture optimization first before you focus on demand generation activities Rather than focusing on contact info capture, focus on understanding what your customers are actually doing on your site Don't forget to get your sales team onboard before you switch your marketing model Focus on ways for marketing to give credit, rather than take credit You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Jonathan hates the term “growth hacking”, which is music to my ears. I hate this term as well. For any revenue focused folks out there, take a listen to the Revenue Architect podcast which was highly recommended to Jonathan Proofpoint's POV:The most successful marketers out there have a unique combination of skills. Some are great at copywriting and technical SEO. Some are great at analytics and strategy. Others are great at creative and paid media. But more than any of these tactical skills, adding business knowledge and acumen as a layer is what makes a good marketer into a great marketer. The shift is happening where marketing is being seen more and more as a revenue generator, and as this happens, the marketing leaders that get a seat at the table are those who are good business people first, and great marketers second. CMOs need to be just shepherds of the P&L just as much as CFOs. Marketers need to understand how the business is funded. They need to understand how the business makes money. They need to understand what the strategic business priorities are at any given time, and why they are the priorities. Marketing strategy then needs to be built to support and reflect this knowledge. As Jonathan described in our conversation, understanding things like CAC payback period is crucial if you are not a VC backed business because your business will thrive or die based on cash flow. We also had a similar conversation with Garrio Harrison back in episode 11. So if you are a marketer coming into a new organization, or if you have been in with your current org for a while and are trying to get a seat at the table, do yourself a favor and work to understand the business first. Then you can go about shifting your and your organization's mindset about the value that marketing can bring. Shifting the mindset from marketing being a cost center, to a profit center is key, and the best way to do that is to shift how marketing is measured. Shifting to measuring marketing based on pipeline and revenue generated is what needs to happen. A bit more about Jonathan:Jonathan started in civil engineering, moved into management consulting, and then finally came into his current company as a customer success strategist, and finally moving into revops and marketing over the past few years. Helpful Links & Resources: Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-d-morgan/ FollowAchieveIt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/achieveit/ Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Content repurposing. Everyone is talking about it. I think we all understand the general concept: Create content in one format and then chop it up into micro content in a variety of other formats. The details of how to do this are a bit more elusive. We talked to Ben Reese about this a few episodes back, and now you can listen to how Camille Trent and her team executed a similar strategy, repurposing webinar content, with an extra layer of paid media video ad distribution, to generate hundreds of high intent leads for Marketer Hire (NOTE: she is now the head of content at Dooly, but this case study was too good to pass up). What you'll learn in this episode: How to create your pillar strategy - what niche you want your content to focus on. The logistics to running a webinar and how to repurpose them into ad content. What types of headlines work well for ads How often to refresh your ad content How many people do you need to execute this content repurposing playbook (hint: it's not as many as you think) Camille's recommendations: Your business model should drive your lead funnel and lead form strategy. Give people the content and context so that they can make their decision. You don't need any fancy tech to run quality webinars Post content organically first, before putting money behind it in ads (NOTE: This only works if your company page has enough followers or if your personal account has the right audience) You need to curate your feed when coming into a new industry as a marketer Ensure that you understand the channels you are looking to repurpose content in, as that will guide the type of content you pull out of the main piece. Consistent persistence - you just need to keep creating and publishing content. You aren't always going to feel it, but you have to push through it. Focus on the channels you are already in, and making them marginally and incrementally better over time instead of always chasing the new shiny object when it comes to content creation. You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Camille is looking forward to testing how a template library can drive effective traffic Camilly loves her password manager - nobody likes memorizing passwords. Camille isn't a fan of the phrase “adding value” and neither am I Proofpoint's POV:Many marketers, especially in very technical industries, struggle with content development. The struggle because the subject matter is so technical that the marketer isn't able to get deep enough to develop the content themselves. At least not content that a decision maker in the industry will care for or find valuable. They struggle because they aren't able to get their SMEs to create enough content. This is where using video (whether it be webinars, podcasts or video series) as your content engine can work wonders. Once you have the raw content developed, the marketing team can then spend their time cutting it up, repurposing it in various formats, and also focusing on effective distribution. Relevancy and timeliness are key in marketing and the best way to get both is to use SMEs who live and breathe the subject matter to create the content. The marketing team can facilitate the content creation, but the SMEs are actually submitting the subject matter. The way to do this, is to ensure that as much as possible you work your content creation into already existing workflows. So if you are already running webinars, see if you can repurpose those into podcast episodes and micro content for ads and organic. You can also create summaries and recaps which help with organic ranking and traffic. As an added bonus, having the SMEs creating the content allows you to more easily activate these people on social by providing them with the awesome content they helped create. You can simply cut up the long-form video and send the SME several short clips and say “hey, you provided some really awesome nuggets, you should totally share this with your network!”. A bit more about Camille:Camille is a content marketing extraordinaire. She is a LinkedIn thought leader - and I don't use that word lightly. She not only provides valuable educational content around content marketing, but she also likes to entertain her audience with things like this. Helpful Links & Resources: Connect with Camille on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camillehansentrent/ Check out Content Logistics Podcast: https://motionagency.io/content-logistics-podcast/ Follow Dooly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dooly/ Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

How great would it be if you had certified brand evangelists that consistently touted your product or service? Well, effectively creating a channel partner program will create just that. Finding super user consultancies or agencies can go a long way to drive significant referral leads and downstream revenue. Effective, is the operative word here, because making a partner program actually valuable to your partners takes a lot of work, and this is what Angelz Labrozzi, from Within3 did. What you'll learn in this episode: How to decide what initiatives and benefits to include as part of your program How to select participants for the initial pilot of the partner program How to nurture partner contacts and keep them engaged How to get internal buy-in and help with getting the program launched How to decide whether your certification program should be free or paid Angela's recommendations: Start with a pilot program of existing evangelists - people who are already referring you business without the program Make sure to consistently ask for feedback from your partners and keep optimizing your program Revshare doesn't have to be part of the program for it to be successful. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve and what behaviors you want to incentivize Check in with partner contacts personally on a quarterly basis Make sure you have internal buy-in from sales, marketing and account teams and align on the objectives of the program Double-down on events and co-marketing opportunities for your partners You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Angela is going to be testing LinkedIn's showcase pages to populate unique content for the partner program Angela hates the word “buckets” in the business setting Proofpoint's POV:Software partner programs are a dime a dozen. Just about every SaaS company has a partner program. However, many of them are not very successful. Many companies have either focus too much on revshare incentives or a “if you build it, they will come” mentality. The former will often have the opposite effect because you end up attracting the wrong kinds of partners. The latter often just fails because of a lack of interest. Interestingly, as we at Proofpoint are working on building out our partner program, we are finding that many people have become jaded about the concept. Many have been burned, likely by one of the above, and are reluctant to commit to anything. Oftentimes, these programs start with a lot of fanfare and excitement and then burn out. The reason is that the partner relationships are often not nurtured. They start out great, with the company keeping in constant contact and providing extra value, but over time it seems to peter out, at least until there is a major revenue push at the end of the quarter. All of that is to say, we are believers in partnership programs, since we do want to create our own, but you really do need to treat these programs just like every other part of your marketing. You have to deeply understand your customers - in this case your partners - and you need to consistently get their feedback and evolve your program offering accordingly. A bit more about Angela:Angela is healthcare marketing expert, specifically specializing in partner programs. Angela is especially passionate about great swag–or at least avoiding cheap, crappy swag. Helpful Links & Resources: Connect with Angela on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-labrozzi/ Check out Within3's partner showcase page on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/within3-virtual-engagement-partner-program/ Follow Within3 on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/within3/  Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Personal branding, employee advocacy, and social selling are all the rage right now, but what social selling actually is and what the impact that it can actually have can be fairly elusive. Social selling has actually been around for quite a while, and Alex Low has been evangelizing it since 2015. How would you like to drive $5 million in pipeline? That is what Alex was able to do with his social selling pilot way back in 2016, for JLL. What you'll learn in this episode: How to pitch a social selling/employee advocacy program to executive leadership How to measure success of a social selling program How to scale 1:1 conversations social selling The core principles of social selling (hint: they are the same now as they were back in 2015) How things have evolved in social selling over the past 5 years What changes need to happen in corporate leadership to facilitate and empower people to be active on social in the future Alex's recommendations: Don't force people to do something they really don't want to do You need to make your social selling program and related training all about what's in it for each seller individually. It needs to be relevant to them. You need to shift your mindset from broadcasting to engagement and conversation, to be successful on social. Don't overdo it with employee advocacy technology as that can actually be detrimental on LinkedIn If you are passionate and care about the company you work for, you should be proud to share content about it If your employees aren't willing to talk about your company's ESG initiatives online, you likely have a bigger problem than implementing an employee advocacy program. Read Timothy Hugh's book about social selling  You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Alex hates the word “pivot” Alex is very particular about how he takes his tea…  Tea (PG Tips or Yorkshire Tea), milk and one sugar, and the milk goes in once the tea bag has been taken out. None of this horribleness of putting the milk in while the tea bag is still in there. Proofpoint's POV:We are all in on personal branding and social selling at Proofpoint. LinkedIn has been responsible for the vast majority (90%) of our pipeline and in this most recent quarter has driven close to half a million in closed won deals. There isn't much of what Alex talked about that we can argue with. The one thing we can expound on a bit more though is the mindshift that needs to happen from interrupting and broadcasting to engaging and educating. Platforms like LinkedIn have made it much easier for us to have direct access to our peers. This has created a shift where B2B buyers put much more stock in what their peers say than what they read from other 3rd party sources online. This means that people want to hear opinions and learn new things on LinkedIn. They don't simply want to see/hear a regurgitation of the corporate message. They want to hear from you - the person. This means that content creation has to evolve to support this, and what we are generally advising and what we are seeing work wonders for us and our clients is leveraging video as the content engine. Whether this is a video podcast, webinars, lives or recorded events, video allows you to put your full self out there, and build trust with your audience and prospective buyers. Video can then be repurposed into a variety of other mediums which can also be disseminated via social and other channels. And as Alex mentioned, we are also starting to see more and more B2B content happening on TikTok, and we believe that it will be the next platform that B2B marketers will need to focus on as LinkedIn becomes more and more crowded over the next 6 - 12 months. A bit more about Alex:Alex is a sales transformation expert who has been championing social selling since the early days. He is a consultant as well as an advisor to a number of tech companies in the UK. Even though he hales from the land of football (the real kind… the one that actually involves kicking a ball) he isn't much of a fan, and instead follows Formula 1, with Nigel Mansell (“and his mustache”) is his favorite. Helpful Links & Resources: Connect with Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderlow/ Listen to Alex's podcast - The Death of a Salesman  Check out Alex's YouTube channel  Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing   

Want to build relationships, meet interesting people, have great conversations and also generate new business? You should consider starting a podcast. If Both guests and listeners can turn into net new business or into referrers, which is exactly what Tim Bornholdt, Partner at the Jed Mahonis Group has been able to achieve with his podcast, Constant Variables. What you'll learn in this episode: How to figure out what content your audience wants to hear. How to select your podcast guests How to decide on your podcast format How to get a podcast started - how to get it off the ground How little children always end up headbutting the “sensitive areas” when giving hugs. Totally not marketing related, but any of our listeners who are parents - you will get a chuckle out of that part of the conversation. Tims's recommendations: The podcast content needs to stand on its own and should be the focus, rather than focusing on business development. Consider giving your B2B podcast a separate brand with a separate website, to give it more authenticity and separation from your corporate brand. Don't edit your own podcast Consume some different types of podcasts before producing your own Figure out what parts of podcasting you like, focus on those and outsource the rest. You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Tim is really excited about testing AR Tim can't function without Slack Proofpoint's POV:We love podcasts here at Proofpoint. Obviously. Gaby and I have now run two of them. The first was Mixing Business With Pleasure, which we put on hiatus and hope to pick up again this year, and the second is this one. With over 50 episodes under our belts, and many more planned, here is what we have taken away: The worst thing that can happen if you host a podcast is you learn something. The second worst thing that can happen is that you mean someone interesting. We have learned a ton from some amazing marketing leaders and power couples, and we have made some genuine connections and even friends through this endeavor. While you can't take that directly to the bank, there is a lot of value just from that aspect. Of course you can't use that as a business case to your boss to start a B2B company podcast, but the next few should be good for that. A podcast can be your content development engine. A 30-minute episode can fuel more than a week's worth of social media and blog content. It can generate content for the company, to be used for demand generation efforts, and it can also generate content for the various individuals (hosts and guests) involved, which fosters personal branding and employee advocacy, which in-turn help put faces to the company name and build trust with your ICP. A podcast can be a business development tool in more ways than one. As we discussed with Tim, getting your ideal customers to come on the show is one strategy, and it's a great one as long as you focus on the content itself, not the business development activity. The goal is to create good content and build a relationship, not make a sale. But more than that, a podcast can fuel your sales outreach content strategy. Imagine your are having a conversation with a prospective customer and they mention that they are struggling to figure out how to make more from their webinars, and then you say “we actually just had a great conversation about that with Ben Reese last week, you should take a listen to that episode”.  So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and start your podcast! A bit more about Tim:Tim has a journalism and videography background and then got into development. He is the co-founder and partner at the Jed Mahonis Group - a full-stack, mobile software solutions consultancy. Tim is also an avid runner and outdoors enthusiast, and a student of minimalism. Helpful Links & Resources: Connect with Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timbornholdt/ Follow the Jed Mahonis Group on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-jed-mahonis-group/ Listen to the Constant Variables podcast: https://constantvariables.co/  Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing   

How would you like to increase your inbound revenue by over 1,000%? It's taken Ben and his team a solid 6 years to get to this point, but it has been solid triple digit growth every year. This case study is pretty much a playbook for anyone running marketing for complex technical businesses. What you'll learn in this episode: How to clearly define your pipeline stages and transition only qualified leads to sales How to get your internal SMEs to take part in content development How to leverage webinars as a content engine How to effectively build an annual marketing plan, when you are the sole marketer in the company How to leverage live chat to decrease friction The right way to nurture webinar registrants Ben's recommendations: Make sure that you are holding on to the lead as long as possible before you kick it over to sales. A lead should only go to sales once the prospective customer is ready to make some big moves. NOTE: This makes sense with smaller TAMs and lower lead volumes. Make sure that your live chat is staffed appropriately, and focus on answering questions, not selling. Focus on creating more opportunities for real human-to-human interaction Be transparent and own when something goes wrong in the customer experience Use voice of the customer to ensure that you are messaging to your customers in the way that they are talking If you are going to events, use that opportunity to do customer research Your website should be a living breathing thing - updated based on what's happening in the market, the challenges your customers are having and how they are talking. Make sure you are walking into planning meetings with a concrete plan. It's better to have sales and leadership to shoot things down and change topics, instead of asking for their input on what should be done. Never have one person present a webinar by themselves. Have one person available for color commentary and another to manage the live chat. You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Ben is a HubSpot junkie and can't live without it. As many out there, Ben hate's the word “synergy” Proofpoint's POV:What I love most about this conversation is that it makes you realize that the fundamentals of good marketing have always been around, but many marketers have gotten away from them because of technology. If you spend any time scrolling through LinkedIn these days, you will hear many - myself sometimes included - saying that we need to switch from lead generation to demand generation. And while that is true, based on what we see in the market today, solid demand generation has been around for a long time. Ben has been doing it since 2012. Whatever you call it, the point is that the focus needs to be on the customer and focusing on driving quality leads to your sales team. You do this by educating your customer, answering their questions, and focusing on pulling them in. The other thing I loved about this conversation is how Ben was able to get his internal SMEs onboard and involved in content creation.  We always tell our customers that the key to successful content creation in a technical company is making as much of it as possible part of the already existing workflow. And in general, video is one of the easiest ways to get information directly from SMEs. If your SMEs are presenting during internal meetings, record those presentations. If your SMEs are present at conferences, set them up in a room and record customer interviews If your executives are presenting at conferences, make sure you can get your hands on those recordings If you are running a customer or user summit, make sure you plan for some good recording material  As an added benefit, video also allows you to put real faces to your marketing, and on top of that, it creates an incentive for the SMEs themselves to share content and get active on LinkedIn, because they no longer have to think about what they should create/write. A bit more about Ben:Ben is a former sales guy, turned marketer, and has been in the trenches for Dimensional Control Systems for almost ten years. He is extremely knowledgeable and what we would call a full-stack marketer. He is a self-proclaimed HubSpot junkie. Ben is also a long-time martial arts enthusiast and instructor and has been most involved with Long Fist Kung Fu. Helpful Links & Resources: Connect with Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminreese/ Follow Alert Logic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimensional-control-systems/  Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing   

How would you like to be able to drive upwards of 90% of your direct net new logo pipeline via your BDR function? If that sounds like something you would be interested in, then this is a must listen episode for you. Bryan Urioste, CMO of cybersecurity firm Alert Logic, tells us all about how he creates alignment between the sales and marketing teams to achieve that result. What you'll learn in this episode: Does it matter who owns the BDR function in your organization? How to build and reconcile top-down and bottom-up forecasts What the handoff from marketing to sales should look like How to leverage webinars to drive pipeline How “pipeline is the great equalizer” How to build feedback loops between sales and marketing Bryan's recommendations: Marketing should own pipeline. While marketers and BDRs don't control closed-won deals, they do control pipeline being driven to the sellers. You need to build your bottom up plan from a program/channel perspective, which needs to marry up to a budget plan, which can be used to justify (or argue against) the top down plan. Create prioritization buckets based on intent and engagement. The more intent, the more personalized and 1:1 motion you drive. To create credibility within the organization, marketing needs to be accountable for a pipeline number. For large BDR organizations, create very structured team schedules - Bryan's team has a schedule for every 30 minutes of the day. Everyone should be doing the same thing for every chuck of the day. Maximize your tool stack. Don't bring in any new tools/technology until your existing stack is slowing you down. Here is the tool stack the team at Alert Logic uses: Salesforce Marketo Outreach Drift Smartsheet 6Sense Power BI You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Bryan is looking forward to leveraging podcasts for both demand generation and ABM Bryan can't live without Power BI Proofpoint's POV:We are revenue marketers here at Proofpoint, and just like Bryan, we are big proponents of strong integration between Sales and Marketing. There were three critical things Bryan mentioned during our conversation that stuck out and deserve some more color and attention: For marketing to have credibility, they need to own a pipeline number. While we generally agree with this sentiment, and always look to take ownership of marketing sourced pipeline for our clients, there does also need to be room for marketing to test, and operate against other objectives, without being constrained by short-term quarterly pipeline numbers.For example, you may find that the organization needs to reposition itself in the market. While that will have long-term impacts on pipeline and revenue, short-term it likely won't and will potentially take away from budget that could be spent on short-term objectives. There is also tremendous value in keeping your marketing team's creative juices flowing. Marketing is part art and part science, and if we only focus on short-term pipeline targets, that can stifle creativity which will hurt your organization in the long-run. Not least of which because you will end up with churn on your marketing team.  There should always be some percentage of marketing budget that is allocated to tests and pie in the sky ideas.  Reconciling top-down and bottom-up plans. This can't be stressed enough. It is critical for marketing leaders to have a good working relationship with the CEO and the board, to ensure that a logical discussion can be had about top-down plans and targets. Because unrealistic targets often just end up hurting marketing performance in the long-run because the pressure to scale incentivizes (P.S. this is one of Bryan's least favorite business words

Personal branding is all the rage these days, and specifically in B2B people are generally talking about LinkedIn as the personal branding platform of choice. In this episode, we talk with Steve Lamar, the CEO of PromoPrep, about how he has built a personal brand on Twitter - not LinkedIn - to more than double traffic to the site and increased product signups by 25%.What you'll learn in this episode: Why/how to build in public How to put out content that creates awareness but doesn't directly sell the product How to connect the personal brand to the company brand How to measure the impact of your personal brand on your business Steve's recommendations: Use the 80/20 rule for your content (80% who you are / 20% more promotional or product focus) Choose your channel carefully and don't spread yourself too thin.  Establish relationships with people by publicly engaging with people's tweets and via DMs. Keep an idea repository spreadsheet for tweets that has a character count Twitter needs to be snappier, compared to LinkedIn posts - they have a much shorter shelf life You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Steve is looking forward to expanding content marketing - having an SEO background he has admittedly not done enough for his own site. Steve loves Snagit, and we are big proponents of this screenshot tool as well. Proofpoint's POV:We are big proponents of personal branding at Proofpoint and encourage everyone who works here to build their personal brand. Not strictly because it will help Proofpoint - it will - but because it is invaluable for them as professionals.  Personal brands have become my go-to way to find people to recruit and to evaluate inbound candidates. I don't as much care about their resume, but I definitely pay attention to the content they have put out. And if I have two candidates with seemingly the same skillset, but one with a much stronger personal brand, I'll often choose the latter. It's interesting that personal brands have become all the rage because in the DTC space, influencers and content creators have been building personal brands for over a decade. Pretty much ever since social media became a thing, people have been building brands and leveraging those brands to make money, land deals, land jobs, etc. The big problem that I see with personal brands is that the term has become too nebulous. For the average professional, a personal brand is really your reputation management. If you think about it that way, it makes content creation much easier, because it gives your personal brand a purpose. A bit more about Steve:Steve is a former agency guy, with over a decade of SEO and PPC experience. From that experience he saw a problem - how marketing agencies managed marketing and content calendars - and decided to solve it by building PromoPrep. He has chosen to build in public and now has over 15K followers on Twitter. Helpful Links & Resources: Connect with Steve on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevelamar/ Follow Steve on Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevejlamar/ Follow PromoPrep to see what they are up to next: https://twitter.com/promoprep  Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Everyone loves a good unicorn story. But can you imagine being a mature business all of a sudden needing to go up against a major VC backed unicorn?By now, everyone knows the story of WeWork, but before the saga of Adam Neumann and SoftBank played out, WeWok was literally taking over the world. If you were in the co-working industry at that time, you were in WeWork's cross-hairs. If you are curious how a business can survive and succeed in the face of this kind of onslaught, you need to listen to this EXCLUSIVE David vs. Goliath story from Garrio Harrison.What you'll learn in this episode: How to work with your CFO to stress test your marketing plan What financial metrics are important for marketers to know and manage to, especially for those who aren't VC backed. How to analyze your CRM data to narrow in on your ICP The fundamental difference between how sales and marketing operate How to make marketing intentional by collaborating across teams The four stages of tackling marketing strategy What frameworks to use, to solve marketing problems Garrio's Recommendations: Make sure the math works for you. Trying to reverse engineer or replicate your competitor's strategy is often not the way to go, especially if their funding and business model is different from yours. Throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks, is not a fiscally responsible way to do marketing. Marketers need to understand managerial finance. Marketing needs to be aligned with business outcomes, which is more than just ROI and revenue. Marketers need to deeply understand the business model they are operating in. Your CRM will make you directionally correct, but you need to be talking with customers. You need to validate your CRM data. You need to have empathy for your sales team and your customer For new marketers, there are two things you need to learn: sales, and managerial finance. You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Garrio considers cash-flow to be a core marketing measurement Garrio is looking forward to co-creating content, like this podcast, with the ICP If you have any LinkedIn SalesNavigator questions, reach out to Garrio - as he can't live without that tool Proofpoint's POV:There are so many things to like about what Garrio shared in this episode, that there isn't enough time or room in this section to provide our in-depth opinions on all of them. We, at Proofpoint definitely share a very similar outlook on marketing strategy and how marketing needs to operate within the business. Here are a few highlights to expound on a bit more: Marketers need to be good at business, not just marketing. Garrio specifically mentioned understanding sales and managerial finance, and I like to talk about business concepts and data concepts. All of that is to say that the only way a marketer can progress in their career, be promoted, etc. is by understanding the role that marketing plays within the business, not just understanding marketing strategy and tactics.As Garrio mentioned, marketing strategy needs to be intentional, and needs to ladder up to the desired business outcomes and overarching business strategy. You see this very often with marketers who have “shiny object syndrome”. They are so enamored with what's hot in the marketing world, that they don't stop to think about whether the new thing makes sense based on their business model, their business objectives, their company ethos, etc. This also happens often when marketers spend too much time worrying about what the competition is doing, which brings us to the next point. Spend less time worrying about your competitors, and more about how you can address the market and show your value proposition. The reality is that every business is different, even businesses within the same industry can have different funding models, capital structures, org structures, etc. So if you are only looking at what they are doing for marketing, without understanding the rest of their business, it will likely be a recipe for disaster. Marketing and Finance should be best friends. The “grumpy CFO” meme has been around for ages. And sure, there is some truth to it. But as a marketing leader you should aim to make the CFO your best friend. I am not talking about taking the CFO out for drinks. I am talking about taking the time to understand their world - have a working knowledge of managerial finance. Have a working knowledge of the business and revenue model you are operating in. And, when you come to your CFO, don't simply ask for more budget, but instead bring them into the conversation and work on stress testing your marketing plan.This is especially critical for earlier stage, non-VC backed businesses. You need to understand, for example, how your plan is going to impact cash-flow and what tradeoffs will the business potentially have to make in order to fund it. This was one of our personal favorite episodes, as we got to dig into the mind of a marketer turned COO, and understanding the operational aspects of your business and how marketing impacts them, is a critical skill. Plus the suspense, drama and great ending to the modern-day "David and Goliath" story in Garrio's EXCLUSIVE case study is epic!A bit more about Garrio:Garrio was born and raise in Jamaica. He's currently the COO of two amazing Minnesota-based organizations. One is a sales training company called Closers Media; as well as a revenue-focused marketing agency, Curious. Outside of working with clients, he dedicates time to community development and supporting the next generation of business leaders and works with the Silicon North Stars, a non-profit committed to inspiring young Minnesotans to become future technology leaders. You can learn more about their work at www.siliconnorthstars.org. Garrio is not just a shrewd business person and an intelligent marketer, he's first and foremost a family man and a constant fixture on the Peloton leaderboard.Helpful Links & Resources: Connect with Garrio on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrioharrison/ Follow Closers Media for all your sales training needs: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffeeclosers/ Follow Curious to see what they are up to next: https://www.linkedin.com/company/discovercurious/ Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Marketers tend to focus on customer acquisition, but often the onboarding process is forgotten. Well, Jaclyn Mullen is here to tell us why onboarding is so crucial for product adoption and ultimately revenue impact. Would you like to increase your onboarding sequence response rate by 70%? Then you need to listen to this episode. What you'll learn in this episode: How to keep enough personalization in your automation so that it can both scale and still have an impact on the customers How to decide what information should be included in your onboarding sequence How to facilitate real engagement during onboarding How to make onboarding a full experience, not just simple automation Jaclyn's recommendations: The qualitative data from responses to onboarding sequences can be invaluable for better understanding your customers. Timing is everything when it comes to onboarding cadences. How quickly emails go out, and when. Make sure that your onboarding doesn't sound like an infomercial Open-ended questions are great, but sometimes you need to make it easy for people to self-select. Make sure your onboarding sequence is based on what they are actually doing (or not doing) in your platform/program. Talking to 5 customers is all you need to start and have enough qualitative information. People want to laugh and be entertained. Don't forget about that in B2B marketing. You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Jaclyn is looking forward to testing out Instagram Reels Jaclyn can't stand the phrase “brass tax” Proofpoint's POV:Client/customer onboarding is very much an overlooked aspect for many companies, and it often doesn't seem to matter what industry they are in. In professional services, we often find onboarding to overly focus on the project management aspect, while in SaaS the focus is often on automation and scale. And in both cases, the personal connection is missed. We are dealing with people in B2B afterall, aren't we? While it isn't the start of the business relationship, it is often the first interaction that anyone outside of sales and marketing has with the customer. It is a critical handoff, and sets the tone for the rest of the relationship. A botched onboarding can actually have a significant negative impact on client retention and ultimately revenue. At Proofpoint, we have created a stellar onboarding experience for our clients and have been working to optimize and improve it ever since. There are a few key takeaways from our conversation with Jaclyn that are worth highlighting and expounding on. First, your business model needs to drive your onboarding. While traditional onboarding sequences in SaaS try to get customers to upgrade or upgrade from freemium, Aspireship's business model doesn't require this for their candidate experience. So they didn't need to be pushy in their onboarding messaging. Second, visual continuity in the onboarding experience is valuable for creating a personal connection. We talked about this with Udi in last week's episode in terms of visual continuity helping to build brand equity. But in this case, the visual continuity really helps to build a personal connection and rapport with your customer. A bit more about Jaclyn:Jaclyn is the Growth Marketing Manager at Aspireship as well as a marketing consultant and speaker. She has also been a marketing instructor for many years.  Helpful Links & Resources: Connect with Jaclyn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaclynofalltrades/ Follow Aspireship to see what they are up to next: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aspireship/  Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing   

This episode was a real treat. Not only because we got to talk about the real impact of Superbowl ad for a B2B brand, but also because we got the chance to talk to the amazing Udi Ledergor, CMO of Gong, about how doing untraditional plays can help a B2B brand win an unfair share of hearts and minds of prospects and customers. What you'll learn in this episode: How a Superbowl ad can actually be relatively cost-effective (hint: regional spots) How to convince your CEO and CFO to do something unconventional (hint: it may include some drinks

We liked our conversation with James so much that we decided to talk about category design again. This time with John Rougeux - VP of Marketing Strategy. What you'll learn in this episode: What is category design, and what is the benefit When does category design make sense to pursue, and when it doesn't The time horizon for a category design initiative The impact of category design on the various teams within your organization How to get the right information from customers to drive the category definition and messaging language How to build experiences that bring the category to life How to get the leadership team and the whole company on board and excited about the work How a category can be redefined John's recommendations: You don't want to be in a position where you are trying to convince someone that category design is the way to go. You should be discussing the overarching business objectives and constraints. There needs to be a real challenge with where you are today as a business, to make pursuing category design make sense. You need to get an agreement on the problem (that your category solves) before you can talk about the solution. Create a “lightning strike” contest to get everyone involved and excited. Trust your intuition - not everything in marketing can be measured - do the things that other companies aren't willing to do. Build a close relationship with your CEO because category design needs to be led from the top.  You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: John hates the word “personalization” because it has lost its meaning John is looking forward to testing out how marketers sending out personalized videos to all inbound leads will impact revenue. Proofpoint's POV:We have already talked about category design for our previous episode with James Ricks, so to not repeat anything from that episode, something interesting to consider and dive into some more would be where does category design not make sense.  The main thing to remember, as John mentioned in our conversation, is that category design is a business strategy, and that to start you need to understand what the business objectives and constraints are. So something to consider is that there are some types of businesses where category design isn't really that feasible. Specifically, I am thinking about service businesses. There are only so many categories of services and most of them are fairly commoditized and often any new category is driven by external factors and/or technology vendors. The closest thing you can do in service categories is to niche down into a particular vertical or service sub-type, but it's hard if not impossible to create a new category of service.  The other thing to mention is that not every business needs to be a leader in a category to be successful. For example, if you are building a lifestyle business, you only need to have a small slice of the market to drive enough revenue. In a similar vein, if your business objective is to create a small to mid-sized company and get it acquired by a larger competitor, then you again don't really need to create a new category. A bit more about John:John is an entrepreneur and a category design practitioner and consultant. He founded and sold his former company Causely. He runs a category design blog and consulting company called Flag and Frontier and has been heading up marketing strategy for BombBomb for the past year and a half. Last but not least, and I am not sure how we forgot to ask John about this during the show… he hiked the entire Appalachian Trail after college. Helpful Links & Resources: John's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbrougeux/ John's Company: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bombbomb/  Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing   

If you can't be first in a category, then you should create a new category you can be first in. And that is exactly what James and his company RTA has been working on. What you'll learn in this episode: How to roll out a new category internally and how to “measure” initial success How to get employees involved in creating content about the category How to use a random viral video to sell your leadership on category design How to get your team active on LinkedIn A few examples of “lightning strikes” (a category-defining event/initiative): a book, a podcast, category training and certification How to get information from your customers James' recommendations: What got you here, won't get you there. As the market dynamics change, you have to do something you have never done before The entire team needs to be on board with the category, and it's important to have agreement on what embarking on category design can mean for each team - finance, product, sales, etc. not just marketing. Your category has to be bigger than your product. Read the Category Creation book by Anthony Kennada. Talking to customers is mission critical to seeing patterns and validating the idea and need for a new category. A “lightning strike” doesn't need to be something expensive or resource heavy.  You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: James is very excited about RTA's new podcast Don't use the word “unprecedented” around James Proofpoint's POV:Category design isn't new, but that doesn't make it any less impactful. Creating a category is the best way to differentiate your business.  When you create a category, you create an opportunity for your company to take a POV on the issue the category is dealing with. At that point, you are no longer selling your product. You are simply getting people to either agree or disagree with your POV. And once they agree with your POV, you are the only game in town. Doing so makes the work and decision making across all teams easier. Sales no longer needs to sell the better widget. Instead they are just promoting the POV. Marketing doesn't have to wonder what content to create. All content needs to support the POV. The product team doesn't need to wonder which features to prioritize. All features need to support the POV. Hiring becomes easier because your candidates either understand and get excited about your POV, or they don't. The list goes on. What I love about what James brought up is that their new category of Fleet Success is allowing RTA to over time stop competing and start leading. Specifically James mentioned declining unit economics of paid media in the Fleet Management space. This is something that many businesses, not just SaaS, are starting to see right now. Traditional intent-based channels like paid search have been becoming more and more expensive over the years - paying $15 - $30 per click is often not feasible, even when you are selling a $20,000 - $100,000 ACV product.  Creating a new category allows you to avoid this over time, since a new category creates a new category of keywords which initially will be less expensive, and if you are the leader, then you will also own the organic as well. Not to mention the mindshare captured in awareness channels like social. In short, creating a new category allows you to change your marketing mix. A bit more about James:James is an entrepreneur, marketer and a risk taker (follow his LinkedIn handle #takingricks). At one point pre-pandemic, James and his family decided to sell their home, put their stuff in storage and move to Hawaii all while James was starting The Consulting Launchpad. Helpful Links & Resources: James' LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricksjrr/ James' Company: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rtafleet/ Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Johnas is the senior global social media manager for Cadence Design Systems and created an award-winning social campaign for Cadence which more than doubled corporate channel followers and a significant increase in engagement, and while Johnas can't take credit for Cadence's stock going up during this period, there is a clear correlation What you'll learn in this episode: How to perform a social media audit How to get your executives involved How to repurpose written content to video How to humanize your social content Johnas' recommendations: You need to understand where your audience is - not just channels, but also location - and focus on those core channels In B2B, decision-makers want to buy from businesses whose leaders they believe in Don't guide executives on which channel to engage in, but instead encourage them to go after the channel they are already most comfortable with. If you are in a technical business, you need to humanize the content You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Johnas is all about short-form video Johnas can't live without Sprout Social Proofpoint's POV:Johnas is 100% correct in saying that people want to buy from companies whose executive leadership they trust. You don't have to look much further than Elon Musk. His personal brand presence is a huge reason for the success of both Tesla and SpaceX.Now it doesn't have to be the CEO, although that does help. But having executives like your VP of product, VP of engineering and CMO out there evangelizing the company narrative is huge. But, as we talked about in this episode, it is hard to get executives on board. Here are few recommendations, in addition to those that Johnas shared, to help: Explaining the impact in business metrics, not marketing metrics. Your executives don't care about engagement rates, page followers, and website traffic. They do care about revenue and customer acquisition costs. So show them the power of a personal brand by comparing cost-to-acquire from organic channels to paid. Find one single executive champion and use them as an example. Ideally, this should be someone who is already active on social, where the impact will be quicker to see, and you won't have to do much coercing to get them to commit. Make it easy to track the impact, by using trackable links through something like bit.ly and tracking pre and post-performance trends. Make it easy for them. Offer to identify topics and even provide rough outlines for written content. Provide talking points for video content.  Get them into communication situations where they already want to be, like speaking events and customer summits, and record them. Get them onto podcasts and ensure to ask for the transcript and any audio/video footage. You can then either repurpose this content directly or use it to create blog/article content for them. A bit more about Johnas:Johnas Street is not just a marketer, but also an actor and an American Idol finalist. He even opened a show for Usher as a teen. Johnas is the Sr. Global Social Media Manager and Senior PR Specialist at Cadence and is responsible for the corporate social media strategy and global plan to increase awareness and preference for the company, the brand, and products. This role is part of the Corporate Marketing team. Johnas is a father to three, two of which are twins! Johnas was also recently nominated as part of the Adweek Rising ‘21 mentee program. You can find Johnas on almost every social media channel!Helpful Links & Resources: Johnas' LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnasstreet/ Johnas' Twitter Profile: @Johnas_Street Johnas' IMDB Profile: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7862928/ Johnas' YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoHM-oQ2EMci10J2lpID_uQ Johnas' Company: https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home.html Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Hook Agency focuses on the niche construction and roofing contractor market and was able to build a strategic partnership with a YouTube influencer that drove 40 high-quality leads in 2 weeks, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in closed-won business.  This lead volume is about double what the agency generally received on a weekly basis. What you'll learn in this episode: How to find the right influencer for your business A sneaky way to attract said influencer How to build a relationship with a referral partner The kinds of co-marketing that can be done with a referral partner How to create the “attribution story” Tim's recommendations: Be useful to the people that know how to get attention in your niche, and start with making a list of the top 10 Focus on the channels where your influencers are, which may not be the same channels that your end users are on Don't worry about a certain amount of competition from your referral partners Everything he does in marketing, he believes in part influences potential referral partners Get your team involved in being active on social media, and more specifically in the various groups and micro communities where your influencers live Send the influencers gifts to “sweeten the deal” Don't “be desperate” - don't come off like you need business from them now.   You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Tim is doubling down on YouTube influencers for Hook's marketing Tim is a big fan of The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone, and apparently, everyone loves to hate this one, so curious what others think. Proofpoint's POV:While Tim is in a very different business than many of our clients, what they have done in terms of focusing on influencers to build up referral partnerships is a great strategy. Influencers are very much an accepted channel in the B2C space, but it is still often overlooked in the B2B space, and it definitely shouldn't be. In Tim's case, his team is focused on YouTube influencers, and I can tell you that just about every industry we work in with our clients has major YouTube influencers. We work with a company that sells farm management software, and there are a number of major YouTube influencers in the farming industry. We work with a company that sells restaurant automation technology, and there are a number of influential industry folks on YouTube. We work with a medical device engineering firm, and there are a bunch of engineers with huge followings on YouTube. I think you get the point. And it definitely doesn't have to be YouTube. You might have influencers on LinkedIn, on Twitter, heck even on TikTok. Or you might be looking at micro-influencers that are big in specific micro-communities on Slack. Or, if we want to go a bit more old school, maybe they are influencers inside of your industry trade groups. Any way you slice it, Tim's advice is very solid. Find the people that are good at getting attention in your industry, and be helpful to them. This is definitely a long-term play, but it generally has a great payoff. A bit more about Tim:Tim is a former musician and the founder of Hook Agency, which he now runs along with his wife Bea Bonte. If you are a construction or roofing contractor looking to scale your business, you would be remiss if you didn't get in touch with Tim and his team. Helpful Links & Resources: Tim''s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-brown-%F0%9F%8E%A3-3160bb35/ Tim's Company: https://hookagency.com/  Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing   

We're diving deep into ABM with Andrei Zinkevich. And no, we're not talking about expensive ABM tech stacks and intent-based display ads. We're talking about getting your hands dirty, figuring out your real ICP and aligning your sales and marketing teams around them, ABM. Andrei is an entrepreneur and has been in the trenches of sales and marketing for over 15 years. The case study we discussed generated $300k in revenue from 6 deals which closed from an ABM campaign focused on 30 target accounts. What you'll learn in this episode: When less leads can actually mean more revenue How to develop your actual ICP that is more than just firmographics What questions to ask during in-depth customer interviews How to get your customers to take the time to do the customer interviews How to warm up your accounts The timeline and bandwidth needs for an ABM campaign How to combine direct mail and gifting with personalized digital content hubs Andrei's recommendations for building ABM campaigns: Focus on best use cases, not revenue, when figuring out your ICP Ensure that leadership is onboard with focusing on customer interviews Make sure to also analyze common patterns of why deals are lost Focus on no more than 30 accounts for an ABM pilot Ensure that you analyze and dig into the negative campaign responses Do real personalization - no, not the dynamic name and company insert into emails.  You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Andrei is a huge fan of ActiveCampaign Andrei hates the words “growth” and “scalability” - you will have to listen to the episode to find out why. If you know anything about Soviet era cartoons, you will have probably heard or seen Karlsson on the Roof, which was Andrei's favorite growing up.Proofpoint's POV:  Well, confirmation bias really is a thing, because this was one of our favorite episodes. Not because the rest of our guests haven't shared great content, but because Andrei really hit on many of the points we usually stress to our clients: More leads doesn't necessarily mean more revenue You don't need an expensive tech stack to run ABM Display ads are generally a waste of money You need to spend the time to do the research - talking to customers is absolutely paramount A real human touch is time consuming, but is extremely beneficial when it comes lead-to-close rates  So we loved everything Andrei had to say about ABM, and honestly, we can't find a single thing to nitpick with any of his recommendations. The only thing to bring up is that ABM as Andrei is describing it may not be the place you want to start. It really depends on where you are in terms of your marketing playbook evolution. For example, if you are a fairly new startup and don't have a good idea of who your real ICP is, it's too soon for ABM. Or even if you are a company who is just trying to transition from the “lead gen hamster wheel” you should probably first focus on building up a demand gen playbook before going down the ABM route. This is because solid demand gen execution will provide that extra layer of awareness and scale that will be able to supplement an ABM effort. A bit more about Andrei: Andrei is the co-founder of Fullfunnel.io and ROIplan. He was born in the Ukraine and lives in beautiful Croatia.  Helpful Links & Resources: Andrei''s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azinkevich/ Andrei's podcast: https://fullfunnel.io/podcast/ Andrei's Company: Fullfunnel.io Andrei's Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/b2bmarketersnfounders Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing  

On today's episode, we dive into all things sports, theatre and podcasting with the amazing Jason Bradwell, Sr. Director of Marketing at Deltatre. As Jason says, the company "is the best kept secret in sports broadcasting.”  While Deltatre is fascinating in its own right, the success story we discussed was even more so—how to leverage a podcast to generate social proof, credibility and trust with potential customers, in industries where customers aren't terribly eager to provide/approve case studies. Jason and his team launched a podcast last year called Field to Fan, which has allowed them to get in front of 4 - 5 clients that had gone cold prior to then.   What you'll learn in this episode: A podcast isn't meant to be a sneaky play to get a customer to talk about your product, but it can happen naturally if there is no pressure. How to set measurement targets and benchmarks for your podcast. How to sell the ideas of starting a podcast to leadership. Why Jason believes every marketer should take an improv class. How to create a podcast on a shoe-string budget. How to repurpose podcast episode content. The two key functions of marketing—demand generation and brand building—and how they (should) play together. Jason's recommendations for company sponsored podcasts: Make sure you allow your customers (and other guests) to review the final episode content before pushing it live, to ensure that they are happy with what is going out there. Choose how you will measure the impact of your podcast. HINT: it doesn't need to be listenership and downloads unless your goal is to compete with media companies. Consider whether launching a podcast will make you a “big fish in a small pond” in terms of competing with competitors. Start small—don't worry about a professional studio or hiring a professional host. Don't over-prepare. It's ok to have a guideline, but focus on having real conversations rather than forcing it down the path you planned to take. Share the podcast with your sales team so they can share it with their networks. Focus on building real relationships with your guests. You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Jason doesn't know his blood type… and apparently neither does Mike! Jason is very excited in testing out Clubhouse or Twitter Spaces this year for B2B marketing. Don't use the phrase “move the needle” around Jason... Proofpoint's POV:We at Proofpoint are obviously very much in support of podcasts as a viable marketing channel. We've launched two podcasts: this one and another show called Mixing Business with Pleasure (currently on hiatus). We've met some amazing people through podcasting. Some of our guests have turned into amazing friendships and connections, while others have turned into real business opportunities. But the most important part is how it's allowed us to create a content engine. You may come across some that will tell you that they only way to measure a company podcast is by the number of business conversations generated. We strongly disagree, for two reasons: Most people have caught on to this trick and are wary of the “podcast sales pitch." By doing this you are potentially creating an incentive for mediocre content, which won't help you across all the other channels you could leverage this content on. Sure, you can focus on building a niche audience that is in your ICP, but many people mistake that to mean you should only invite guests onto your show that are directly in that ICP. Your ICP cares about more than just listening to their peers, and you have an opportunity to facilitate that. If you're creating great content, you'll foster better relationships with your guests and listeners in the long run. Speaking of great content… in this episode Jason provides many great suggestions on how to repurpose your episode content, and there are a few in particular we want to highlight and add: Providing podcast content as assets to your sales team. Not only the full episodes, but also the micro-clips and potentially blog recaps. Creating a blog summary, though simply providing a transcript won't be enough to have any impact on SEO, and likely isn't enticing enough for someone to read unless they know the person on your show or have immense interest in the topic being discussed. We recommend  a recap style format like this one. While it does take longer (about an hour for each of our episodes) it's well worth it. Focus on the micro-content. You and your team will likely have significantly more reach on social media than you will via the podcast directories—and people on social media have short attention spans. Prioritize 2-3 short-clips from your recordings in the form of video or audiograms.  Now for the fun part—measurement—how do you measure whether your B2B podcast is successful? There are several quantitative and qualitative indicators we recommend: Are the right people (people in your ICP) engaging with the content on social media? Is your sales team leveraging podcast content assets in their outreach? Is it helping them have more conversations? Is your sales team using the podcast guest invite as a way to start conversations with prospects? Are you seeing increased brand search traffic after the podcast launches? Are prospects mentioning the podcast in their lead submission forms or on sales calls?  If this episode does anything for you, it should give you the permission and tools to start creating your own podcast. Get started and let us know how it goes! We're happy to connect if you have any questions along the way. A bit more about Jason:Jason has over a decade developing strategies for everything from niche consultancy firms to enterprise technology businesses. He believes B2B marketing is broken and is on a mission to fix it. Jason shares some of his learnings on how to do better marketing in his weekly newsletter, The B2B Bite, and interviews other amazing audience builders on his podcast, B2B Better.  Helpful Links & Resources: Jason''s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-bradwell-40b45751/ Jason's podcast: https://b2b-better.buzzsprout.com/ Jason's newsletter: https://b2bbite.substack.com/ Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

We had the pleasure of talking with the talented Moira van den Akker, formerly the Senior Manager of Demand Generation at Trimble. Formerly, because since this recording Moira has changed jobs and is now Senior Manager, Demand Generation at Demandbase. In this episode, we talk about ABM—Account Based Marketing—something that's all the rage these days. Take a listen to learn what real ABM orchestration looks like. In Moira's case, her ABM pilot drove 3 new pipeline opportunities (out of 15 named accounts) in the first 30 days.  What you'll learn in this episode:  There is a difference between account-based campaigns and account-based marketing, where you have real alignment with sales, going after shared targets. How to pitch an ABM effort to senior leadership, and who the stakeholders should be How to measure account-based efforts How to curate and personalize content for each account Perfect is the enemy of the good - how to launch quickly and iterate as you go You need the right market intelligence and messaging to make the tech and targeting work well. Here's what Moira's ABM campaign execution looked like: 20 total accounts were identified for the pilot They used Uberflip to spin up custom curated landing pages for each account They sent personalized emails to account contacts They leveraged LinkedIn ads They leverage programmatic display ads via 6Sense, along with 6Sense intent data  Here are the tips and things to keep in mind for your next ABM campaign: Get real insights from your sales teams about each account. This will help when the time comes to create and curate content personalized for these people. Make sure you really partner with sales, and understand their pain - where in the funnel are you trying to make an impact. Don't overcomplicate it. Don't worry about having the perfect content or the perfect tech stack at launch. Focus on launching and quickly tweaking as assets are in-market.  You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Moira is a revenue marketer at heart, so marketing sourced revenue is her north star. Moira has a top notch B2B marketing blog, which you should definitely check out!  Proofpoint's POV: ABM is a buzzword these days and can be very overwhelming to figure out due to how much martech vendors have really pushed it over the past few years. As Moira so aptly stated, there is a difference between ABM campaigns and real account based marketing. There are three main components to it: The targeting - choosing which accounts to go after and then targeting them via a variety of platforms and tools. The content curation and personalization - you have to do this otherwise, there is no point in spending the extra time and money for targeting. The orchestration with your sales team - you can't just have this be a marketing effort.  The problem these days though is that the various martech vendors out there have really made it seem like you aren't doing real ABM unless you are using an ABM platform - they have built a category and done great marketing. That simply isn't true though.  If the accounts you are targeting are large enough, with many stakeholders, then you can target them directly in LinkedIn for example, without a tool. If you are focused on only a few particular contacts, then you are much better to use “hand-to-hand combat “methods to get in front of them. Again, no need for a tool. And if you do use a tool, especially if you leverage any type of “intent driven programmatic display” we recommend that you have a control group where you don't use this channel because while view-through and engagement metrics are great, neither of those really shows causality. There are two main issues that we generally see marketing teams make when doing ABM: They believe that ABM is the only way to do things and treat it as their saving grace when their inbound efforts aren't working. The problem is that in many cases the inbound efforts aren't working, not because of the targeting or the absence of curated account-based content, but because they are still following the gated content lead generation playbook.Before jumping into ABM you need to ensure that you have your messaging, demand generation and brand down pat. They measure the wrong things when executing campaigns. You even heard a bit of that in this episode where Moira discussed the view-through and engagement metrics. The good thing is that she and her team still stayed with their north star and focused on marketing sourced pipeline as the main metric.  A bit more about Moira: Moira has over 10 years of marketing experience and specializes in B2B demand orchestration and revenue marketing. She is a Forbes Communication Council member and contributor, and is passionate about helping women in B2B marketing find their sense of creativity and purpose, foster an innovative approach and to maximize their potential – in and out of the workplace.  Helpful Links & Resources: Moira''s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moiravandenakker/ Moira's Blog: https://www.moiravandenakker.com/ Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing

Show Me The Proof, Get to The Point's debut episode kicks off with Brooklin Nash, Head of Content at Sales Hacker, the leading community for the next generation of salespeople. Brooklin is a content marketer, and content is what we focused on in this episode—specifically content that drives organic search traffic. We discussed how to update existing content to increase organic traffic—a 43% increase in just 6 weeks, in Brooklin's case study! What you'll learn in this episode:  How to perform an SEO audit—*spoiler alert*—you don't need to be a technical SEO expert to create good content that drives organic traffic. How to identify existing content that can benefit from a refresh/update. How to execute large scale content optimization (think 100 pages in Brooklin's case) in a short period of time. What are the optimization opportunities on existing content. The importance of a good content brief, especially when working with outsourced writers.  Here's the audit method Brooklin implemented: Identify the pages that are already ranking either bottom of page 1 or top of page 2 for some target terms. In both cases, some slight tweaks can help them get to either top of page 1 or from page 2 to page 1, which in both cases creates major improvements in click-through rate and in turn traffic. Do a quick scan of each identified page (Brooklin says no more than 15 minutes per page) and write down a note or two about what is missing or could be improved. Take a second pass and in more detail create content briefs based on what top ranking competitors have included and also what gaps they have that your content can fill. You can find an example of a content brief that Brooklin used here. Evaluate the SERPs (top ranking results and “people also ask” section) to identify the search intent which the content needs to focus on. Cross-reference each page against Google Analytics and/or Search Console to identify things like CTR issues.  Here are the types of optimizations implemented to improve the content pages: Going more in depth on topics to get broader coverage Explain WHY the topic is important to get people interested in reading further Ensuring that headers and titles are optimized for target keywords Make the layout and content structure more reader friendly with shorter paragraphs, sub-sections, bullets, etc. Update statistics and internal links for recency Update images to reflect the modern aesthetic  Last but not least, here is an example of what one of SalesHacker's old pages looked like before Brooklin got his hands on it (thank you, Way Back Machine!) And here is what the updated page looks like after Brooklin's team worked their magic. The difference is pretty clear. You'll need to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the Lightning Round, but here are a few highlights: Brooklin's favorite content marketing tool is SEMRush Brooklin isn't sure whether he likes the phrase “Let's double click on that." Thankfully he didn't use the phrase during the episode. Otherwise we'd have to reevaluate our friendship status! (jk).  Proofpoint's POV:SEO is a very established practice, even though the algorithms keep changing and tactics keep evolving, but it can be daunting especially for smaller marketing teams. We have definitely been brought in on numerous occasions to do in-depth content audits, and they do take a lot of time and resources. We have also often employed a similar “quick and dirty” method to what Brooklin describes, especially for clients who have a lot of already existing content. We believe that most companies can simplify SEO to 3 core concepts: Content quality - the search engines have gotten pretty good at identifying it, so focus on that Site speed - people don't have patience and the search engines know that, so make sure your site is fast. User experience - again, people don't have patience, so make sure your site is easy to navigate and that your content is easy to consume  Unless you're in the content distribution game like SalesHacker, traffic and conversion rates alone aren't enough. You need to focus on which content is actually driving pipeline activity and revenue. It's also important to map your content to various stages in the customer journey so you can better optimize and understand how it's performing—but that's a topic for another time.A bit more about Brooklin:Brooklin has over 8 years of content marketing experience. Currently he is at SalesHacker as well as working on a number of marketing related side hustles. At SalesHacker he's responsible for organic traffic, a weekly newsletter, contributor relationships, and a team of contractors who make the magic happen. Brooklin currently lives in Guatemala and will always (ALWAYS) respond to an email with a GIF. He strives to help his clients “tell better stories."Helpful Links & Resources: Brooklin Nash's LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/brooklin-nash Sales Hacker Website: https://www.saleshacker.com/ Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint: Mike's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ Gaby's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/ LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing