Podcasts about b2btech

Building a brand just online is not that easy. But this company, ViAct, a Construction Management Software, made it look very easy and simple. In this episode, Surendra Singh, ViAct's Marketing and Public Relations Lead, shares how their company built a brand online through SaaS marketing, and how they #getnoticed and got a 2-million dollar investment deal.Surendra also shares how ViAct can help construction companies, not just to monitor their operations, but to #getnoticed as well. He also explains how they are being noticed through their brand ambassadors, acquiring client feedback, sharing organically on social media and partnerships, and how they are contributing to ESG. Surendra also mentioned DingTalk, which is a communication tool they mainly use within all of their teams in 50 different locations.Post-production, transcript and show notes by XCD Virtual AssistantsBuild responsive quizzesGenerate higher quality, higher converting leadsVidyard - Use Video In Your EmailsVidyard is the easiest way to record and send videos that build personal connections.AI Writer - Content writing made easierGenerate Accurate, Relevant & Quality Content in 2 MinutesPeppertype - Virtual Content AssistantGenerate better content copies in seconds.If you want to know how to get noticed this show is for you. I have interviews, tools, tips, everything that an entrepreneur could need in order to help their organization to get noticed for free. Thank you for joining me on the unnoticed show.Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEPlease rate the show here.

Building a brand just online is not that easy. But this company, ViAct, a Construction Management Software, made it look very easy and simple. In this episode, Surendra Singh, ViAct's Marketing and Public Relations Lead, shares how their company built a brand online through SaaS marketing, and how they #getnoticed and got a 2-million dollar investment deal.Surendra also shares how ViAct can help construction companies, not just to monitor their operations, but to #getnoticed as well. He also explains how they are being noticed through their brand ambassadors, acquiring client feedback, sharing organically on social media and partnerships, and how they are contributing to ESG. Surendra also mentioned DingTalk, which is a communication tool they mainly use within all of their teams in 50 different locations.Post-production, transcript and show notes by XCD Virtual AssistantsBuild responsive quizzesGenerate higher quality, higher converting leadsVidyard - Use Video In Your EmailsVidyard is the easiest way to record and send videos that build personal connections.AI Writer - Content writing made easierGenerate Accurate, Relevant & Quality Content in 2 MinutesPeppertype - Virtual Content AssistantGenerate better content copies in seconds.If you want to know how to get noticed this show is for you. I have interviews, tools, tips, everything that an entrepreneur could need in order to help their organization to get noticed for free. Thank you for joining me on the unnoticed show.Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEPlease rate the show here.

No upfront cost. Unlimited income potential. Absolutely love this tagline from Uvaro. Sales Talent Acquisition is one of the biggest challenges of B2B Startups as I see it. There are simply not enough great sales people available on the market.

Make it, Don't Fake It is a mantra that has long lived in the entrepreneur start-up culture in the B2B tech industry!Sabrina Horn is not only a pioneer in the B2B Tech public relations space, she is one of the most networked executives in the B2B tech industry.After only 4 years in the corporate world, Sabrina took the plunge to found The Horn Group, with a specific goal to help B2B tech companies exploit the impending business transformation created by the personal computer.  Her first "pitch" to bring on her first customer was to an early stage, enterprise software company with less than 50 employees - that company was PeopleSoft which became one of the world's largest B2B enterprise software companies.The rest of her 24 year+ run as the CEO of the Horn Group is one of the most successful and admired companies in B2B tech public relations.  To determine the return on investment for public relations, she has two recommendations: 1) Ask yourself what does success looks like one year from now; 2) look at outputs versus outcomes like increasing inbound leads, social engagement, market sentiment, etc. Secondly, she recommended having a range for success versus a single point and having the right tools to measure the impact of PR.Public relations goals also need to be dynamic and evolve with both the company and the market that the company exists and the market it targets to acquire new customers.  PR is part science and part art, and cannot be successful without continuing to evolve the strategy and the measurements of success.The "founders curse" was one of the first topics we discussed that was highlighted in Sabrina's book.  This happens to entrepreneurs, founders and CEOs who have an emotional bond to their company that is similar to a parent/child relationship.  This can lead to the effect of having blinders on and not listening to the market's feedback on your company and what they really need.  Having a founders agreement might be prudent, and even identify key inflection points in the company growth that may require the founder to take on a new role. Also, having mentors who are not part of the company and will provide objective, unbiased feedback is critical to maneuvering difficult moments and decision points.  Sarina even recommends founder performance reviews by the board and conduct an annual "self-assessment" to ask yourself where my company is headed, what is needed to achieve the next phase of growth and am I still having fun!As a founder, surrounding yourself with an executive team that is not like you, has different experiences, and even disagrees with you is a critical skill to develop.  Having a team that shares your passion and excitement for the company vision is a foundational element for every member of the leadership team to share.  This materially impacts building culture and building a strong brand.Establishing "founding company values" early on is foundational to the company culture.  As a company grows, the values may evolve by shifting in meaning and/or priority, but remain as a beacon throughout the company's evolution.  Being a CEO is a never-ending, learning journey.  Being in the CEO role is key, as learning on the job cannot be replaced by reading, theory or external advice alone...experience matters.  In fact, Sabrina highlighted that the experience from losses is typically the largest learning opportunity.  Being a CEO is a "lonely" place to be, and having a network of advisors and mentors who have shared the role of CEO is an incredibly valuable resource. The "isolation iceberg" is real, and Sabrina even mentioned how giving back was a great outlet to feel more connected.MAKE IT, DON'T FAKE IT!  is a great read for any founder, CEO, or aspiring entrepreneur considering embarking on the founder's journey!

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds It's one thing to think you know your customer. It's another thing to create a marketing message that grows and changes as your customer does. In this edition of Studio CMO, we talk about: The privacy challenges of data gathering Has email marketing run its course? What is an MQL in our data-rich world? Programatic solutions for marketing messages How your understanding of the buyer's journey changes the data you gather and then is changed by what you gather Our Guest Bill Odell is the CMO of Aerospike who strives to build next-generation data systems for their customers. Bill has spent over 25 years in the trenches launching new products, building businesses, and leading high performance marketing organizations. He is passionate about helping educate customers on how to apply new technology solutions that help drive transformative business outcomes. Bill has held executive positions at Cisco, Dell Software and SonicWall as well as multiple category-creating growth stage B2B technology companies. Show Notes In 2012, researchers at Harvard said, "Data is the new oil." Bill Odell believes that realtime data is truly the new oil. Email marketing might be running its course because LinkedIn and social media are becoming more of the way that we engage with people. But how do you do it contextually and appropriately? — Bill Odell Privacy matters surrounding data gathering for companies with an online presence have become more complicated in the last two years. Find out how and when your company needs to comply with GDPR and CCPA with these articles: GDPR for B2B Tech: Sales and Marketing Tips You Need to Know Does CCPA Apply to B2B? What You Need to Know CCPA Penalties Target SaaS & Digital Marketing There is a standard Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) methodology. If they do X plus Y plus Z, they're scored and we make a phone call, send them an email, or perhaps an InMail on LinkedIn. But what if you could also look at their activity off your site?  That gives you a better signal. You can truly determine if the lead is worth your time. Because the truth of the matter is the number of MQLs—that should be your best leads that actually convert is still relatively low. So how do we get it to go higher? Use different kinds of data signals to try to figure out when's the right time to contact. That's a fundamental sea change in marketing. — Bill Odell Tools Discussed Bombora Demandbase Marketo Salesforce The Trade Desk Appnexus Wouldn't you rather put your ad in front of the right person at the right time and the right place. But underneath that is an engine that has to be able to deal with massive amounts of data. So as marketeers, as we think about choosing ad platforms, you've got to really understand that not all ad platforms are the same and you want to go with the ones that actually know how and can deal with massive amounts of data and can prove that they can target and deliver your ad at the right time at the right price to get the right yield. — Bill Odell What defines us, isn't our name and our title and our company, right? What defines us is a whole bunch of information, right? It's where we spend our time. What do we enjoy? What do we purchase? Where do we purchase things from? You know, the companies that are figuring this out, spend a tremendous amount of time, building a very comprehensive profile store. How well you can build the profile store on a bunch of attributes that go beyond name, title, and company. But how do you keep that contextual? Because we move around, we change, we age, we get married and we have kids. And so in order to do any kind of AI- or ML-driven application, it comes down to the data models and those data models are as good as the amount of data you can feed them and how fast you can refresh the models. — Bill Odell   Data + profile store + frequency of changes + AI = best decision at the moment it matters Information About the Buyer's Journey Don’t Leave Your Users Behind: Mapping The B2B User Experience How To Optimize Your Messaging & Content for the B2B Buyer Journey Embracing The Digital Revolution: The New B2B Buyer Journey Understanding Your Customer The Buyer Matrix: Mapping Your B2B Tech Product Features to Market Problems The Buyer Matrix Doesn't Just Sell Features, It Solves Problems. Bring Your B2B Buyer Persona to Life: 8 Clues Learned from Studying Fiction How to Realize a Breakthrough in Content using "The Power of One" Case Studies from Aerospike

What Are You Looking For? 2020 has been a year of transformation. Our way of living and working, how we lead our teams—and for many of us, how we grow our businesses—has fundamentally changed. Did you feel the great pause in March? There were a few minutes or days where many of us held our breath, paused our marketing efforts, and waited. We listened, watched, and worked to understand how the new landscape was going to take shape. Technology exists for transformational moments like 2020. Businesses of all kinds around the world were forced to increase efficiency, improve engagement, and keep funnel activity moving. We saw a massive surge in demand for automation, in all sorts of forms, to help handle the changes in customer behavior everywhere from banking transactions to healthcare provider engagement. We took a quantum leap forward in our ability to engage remotely. The nature of technology is moving from an old way of doing things to a new, more efficient—and more automated—way of doing things. This is a time to harness that energy and provide a compelling vision of the horizon for your team and for your customers. It’s time to take some risks, lean into the opportunities, and let some creative wind fill your sails as we move into the new year. Looking forward, John P.S. Marketing leadership can be a lonely place. 2020 has certainly been a lonely year for many I know. Do you need an objective party to bounce ideas off of? Do you need someone outside your organization to help you get unstuck? We would love to get to know you. And we’d love, at no obligation, to have a conversation with you to explore, brainstorm, and/or bounce some ideas around. If you’d like to have a conversation, please accept my invitation. I look forward to talking with you soon. The Episode in 60 Seconds 2020 has been the year that will not end. 2020 has also been a schoolmaster pushing business leaders to new lessons, risk, and creative solutions. In this episode, Golden Spiral CEO and Chief Storyteller, John Farkas, reflects on six major lessons 2020 has taught B2B Tech companies. He explores: The Nature of Technology The Weight of Marketing Creativity and Risk Virtual Events Customer Experience Tracking and Reporting Critical Alignment “When pressure is applied, businesses will look for ways to do things better.” — John Farkas Our Guest John Farkas has always worked to bring creative projects together. After working nearly two decades as a creative director for two large organizations, he turned his focus toward leading Golden Spiral, a B2B tech marketing consultancy and agency that harnesses the forces of media, technology, and community to create compelling brand narratives that empower clients to soar in the post-digital, experience-centric world. John reflects: “Great stories cut through our defenses and imprint us at our core. Tell someone a great story — at the least it will leave an impression — but it could change the course of their lives.” John, a 1988 University of Wisconsin graduate, enjoys creative writing, exploring the outdoors, building and remodeling houses, and riding his bicycle. Seven Lessons Learned in 2020 1. The Nature of Technology Exists for Moments like 2020 The transformative solution that produces greater efficiency, when things get pressurized, people want the solution more. 2. We Feel the Weight of Marketing in Moments like 2020 We can’t do what we used to do. Marketing is absorbing the weight of all of the old stuff 3. Creativity and Risk are Necessary in Moments like 2020 Listen to our episode with Andrew Hoerner 4. Virtual Events Fueled Marketing in 2020 Virtual events have required extraordinary creativity and hard work from those who’ve pulled them off. Don’t just create not just a better webinar, but a virtual event where you’re engaging on a number of different fronts, bringing a number of different point of views together to really create a contagious and interesting experience for people who want to engage with you and your solution. SAP events link Issues to Consider When Creating a Virtual Event Speakers - how do they present on camera for a virtual audience? Topics - how do they fit in with a more segment-able, micro-casting opportunity? Production - what do you want the event to look like on screen? Connective tissue - what ties the experience together—digital hosts? [Ursula goes into great detail about finding hosts to tie the event together at 16:30] Platform - what software can manage the registrations, video streaming, recording storage, visitor interaction, VIP connectivity, and social engagement? Interactivity - how will you facilitate connection—breakout rooms, chatbots, information exchange? Budget - if transitioning from live to virtual, reallocate the funds along the lines needed to produce a great event. 5. Customer Experience Took Center Stage in 2020 In our virtual world, we want to experience the brands we care about. How do we help people who are new to our brand to understand it and experience it? How do we take prospective and existing customers deeper into your world? How do we treat existing customers, move them to talk about us and engage the market on our behalf? Through our Customer Experience (CX) efforts. Mary Drumond link 6. Tracking and Reporting KPIs Became More Essential in 2020 Chris Turner quote Do you have a clear picture of what all of your marketing activities are yielding? What framework are you using to report to the board or your C-Suite? Mark Donnigan link Six KPIs Every CMO Should Report to the C-Suite Net New Revenue from Marketing-Generated Sources Percentage of Contribution from Marketing to Overall Revenue Qualified Pipeline Generated Leads (MQLs) Length of the Sales Cycle vs. Win Rate Sales-Qualified Leads Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) 7. We Can’t Move from 2020 without Alignment Among all Departments It is critical for sales, marketing, product development, customer success, and other departments to all be aligned and moving forward together. It is possible. Nicholas Holland link

Show Notes You don't long suffer things that are underperforming and you don't long deprive things that are performing of their due investment. — Jack Mardack The Model Thinker, by Scott Page, was a mind-bending book for Jack Mardack. For more on first principles, consider this article or this video.

The Episode in 60 Seconds One of the contributing factors to CMOs having the shortest tenure in the C-Suite is a lack of understanding of their role at the revenue table. A CMO must take up the mantle of responsibility to track activity and results, grow the company despite the changing attitudes of the buyer, and make meaning for the CEO and CRO. On this edition, Mark Donnigan, B2B marketing leader turned consultant, unpacks six key performance indicators that every CMO should track and report on in the revenue conversation. He is joined by Golden Spiral's SEO and analytics expert, A. Chris Turner. The KPIs are: Net New Revenue from Marketing-Generated Sources Percentage of Contribution from Marketing to Overall Revenue Qualified Pipeline Generated Leads (MQLs) Length of the Sales Cycle vs. Win Rate Sales-Qualified Leads Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Our Guests Mark Donnigan is a marketing leader, business builder, value creator, and market maker. Formerly the VP of Marketing at Beamr, Mark focuses on high-impact programs that drive revenue, activate the market, and deliver real business results. He has 20 years of experience contributing to the success of startup, emerging, and growth-stage product and technology companies that have been backed by some of the largest VC firms in the valley. His secret weapon is his strong sales acumen, making him a powerful ally and collaborator to the head of sales. Mark also co-hosts a podcast called The Video Insiders, speaking on topics like video compression, codecs, encoding, transcoding, workflows, technology trends and business models. Mark Donnigan has prepared a free presentation for those who are curious about his viewpoint on category creation and building a marketing system. Click to download.   Chris Turner is Golden Spiral’s Senior Director of Digital Strategy and Performance Analytics and an expert in all things digital. Chris manages and monitors the online strategies for our clients related to paid media, content, social media marketing, and digital optimization. Chris helps our teams build synergistic digital strategies that touch on everything from relationship building with partners to content creation and syndication — all to help clients make an impact through their business. He leverages his experience of 10+ years of marketing leadership to direct marketing teams to success based on addressable KPIs and data-driven tactics. Chris has a bachelor’s degree in information technology and a master’s in information systems. He is well educated, heavily experienced, and always seeking more knowledge. Show Notes  Today's CMO must be intentional. - John Farkas A successful CMO: proactively seeks alignment with the CEO has a command of the ecosystem intimately knows the customer, the market, and the competition has a world-class understanding of marketing strategy, tactics, and tools Executive Level Marketing KPIs 1. Net New Revenue from Marketing-Generated Sources (12:27) The total dollar figure for a period of time (e.g., monthly) of new gross sales from marketing channels only.   2. Percentage of Contribution from Marketing to Overall Revenue (13:53) All marketing income (new and renewal) represented as a percentage against all revenue from all sources.   3. Qualified Pipeline-Generated Leads (MQLs) (15:06) A MQL is not just a lead. It must meet the criteria of a future customer. Do you have deep information on the role of the lead? Is this lead at the decision or purchase table? Is the lead's company in your niche? Does the lead's company fit the profile of your target customer? Is the lead's company the right financial size for a good deal? (Some companies have other criteria for leads.) 4. Length of the Sales Cycle vs. Win Rate (20:43) How long does a lead spend in your funnel? Count the days from first touch to signed contract for completed deals. What percentage of Qualified Pipeline-Generated Leads convert. By looking at both numbers at the same time—and in light of the other KPIs—you'll be able to see the impact of a lengthening sales cycle or a high win rate versus decreasing income. 5. Sales-Qualified Leads (26:46) An MQL shows promise. An SQL is certified by your sales team that it meets all of your criteria and has a probability of converting. Some companies divide SQLs into qualified and accepted leads. For more information on titles and definitions, check out this excellent article from Golden Spiral's President and COO, Peter Smith. 6. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) (31:17) Mark Donnigan goes into detail about how to calculate CAC for SaaS companies that have long sales cycles. Listen to this section for a greater understanding of the number of marketing expenses you must pack into the acquisition cost. 

The Episode in 60 Seconds What happens when your industry is turned on its head? In Symphony's case, they moved from quarterly plans to weekly ones and infused their mission and values into everything they do. On this episode of Studio CMO, we discuss with Andrew Hoerner: The role culture plays in marketing and branding The not-so-easy pivot from in-person events to digital When marketing and product development overlap How to create refined and laser focused content How to attract the biggest clients in your industry Our Guest Andrew Hoerner is the Executive Vice President for Global Marketing for Symphony, considered one of the top 50 fintech firms by Forbes. Their solution allows banks and financial markets to send messages, share files, automate trade flows, and meet in real time. Andrew has been leading marketing teams or overall marketing functions throughout his career including companies like Blue Martini, PayOne, Securify, McAfee, and Soltra. He also spent five years leading marketing for the largest cybersecurity trade organization, FS-ISAC. Show Notes Symphony hosts more than 530,000 users on their collaborative platform and has seen 300+% growth during COVID. Fast Fail is a part of their iterative culture. Culture If you share a sense of mission as a team, that drives a lot of behavior that you can't even always document or articulate. — Andrew Hoerner These times are just almost sheer chaos in some ways, right? It's really easy just to go to the lowest common denominator, get the basic job done, do business as usual, and make creativity the first thing to go. I've tried to give my team the mental headspace to be creative because creativity is critical to marketing. — Andrew Hoerner Check out Symphony's end-to-end, secure, encrypted meetings platform for the financial sector. https://www.youtube.com/embed/vD1t9x-K2XY   Live Events We put all the best practices from a live event into a digital event. Plus we sought out an event producer. — Andrew Hoerner Build in layers of redundancy Build an engine to run the necessary digital production Be aware of how your guest's schedules and calendar maintenance have changed It's still about telling an amazing story Keep it human (leave time for guests to "take the elevator") We also talk about digital events in this episode of Studio CMO:   Why are fax machines still in use? Symphony is hosting a series of hackathons in 2020. Andrew discusses how he is exploring the OODA Loop methodology throughout his teams. Check out this helpful guide.

The Episode in 60 Seconds Understand your buyer's problems. You hear us say these words at the end of every episode. Knowing your audience is one of the core tenants of Golden Spiral. How well do you understand who they are, what their heartbeat is, and have insight into the things that are in front of them? Surveys are a tremendous way to get in your buyer's mind. On this episode of Studio CMO, we discuss with Leela Srinivasan: What Survey Monkey's own research is showing us about work during the pandemic How surveys can be HIPAA compliant Using surveys to determine your NPS score How to invite senior-level executives to participate in surveys How to build better surveys Our Guest Leela Srinivasan is the first-ever CMO of SurveyMonkey who led marketing through their IPO. Prior, she was the CMO at Lever and also in charge of marketing for OpenTable. She spent longer than four years at LinkedIn leading marketing for their talent solutions division.  She also serves currently as an advisor to Bravado and a board member for UpWork. Show Notes 50% of employees at agile companies say that they feel extremely or very prepared for economic downturn, and only 10% of those at companies not deemed agile, feel like their companies are well-prepared. — Leela Srinivasan How TripActions and SurveyMonkey worked together before and during the pandemic. How Rhode Island Department of Health used surveys to help their citizens survive during the pandemic. Information about SurveyMonkey's HIPAA compliance. SurveyMonkey's Expert Solutions help Enterprise companies pressure test their new ideas and creative campaigns. Golden Spiral's take on NPS Scores and other surveys. SurveyMonkey's look at NPS Scores. More information about SurveyMonkey's GetFeedback CX tool. Listen to a great interview about Customer Experience (CX): Inviting Senior Level Executives to Participate in Surveys They are more likely to respond to questions if the answers to those questions would help them benchmark their own work. Offer the results to the survey for participants. Offer an opportunity to send a donation to a charity in lieu of gift cards or other incentives. Close to 50% of surveys are taken on mobile devices. This puts quite the onus on you as a survey creator to make sure that your survey is succinct. —Leela Srinivasan Build Better Surveys Make sure your survey is mobile-optimized. Preview how your surveys will look on mobile, tablet, desktop, and different browsers. Consider surveys an extension of your content marketing. Think of surveys as a conversation. Frame your questions in an engaging way so your participants will dive right in. Ask questions with empathy so that they know you know their world. Download the SurveyMonkey Survival Guide here:

The Episode in 60 Seconds Who is your brand's most powerful voice? Outside influencers have more sway than official spokespeople. SAP's Ursula Ringham and Rachel Miller join us today to discuss. What influencer marketing is How influencer marketing is changing the landscape How to properly vet potential influencers Two case studies of successful implementation of influencer marketing The future of Influencer Marketing Our Guests Ursula Ringham leads the Global Influencer Marketing team in collaborating with the entire SAP product portfolio in creating innovative content with trusted external voices to build brand awareness and create sales. Before her tenure at SAP, she had stints at Yoh, Adobe, and Apple where she was the partnership manager for Worldwide Developer Relations. She has a reputation as a storyteller, author, creator, influencer marketer, digital innovator, social media maven, champion of girls education, and an outdoor sports freak. Rachel Miller is a social media and content marketing strategist. She's listed as one of the top 50 MarTech influencer marketing and B2B marketing experts worldwide. Her background before SAP includes Thulium, TopRank Marketing, and PureMatter. During the pandemic, she is taking her fitness seriously and has earned the nickname "baby hulk" and is a craft beer aficionado. Show Notes 77% of all revenue transactions worldwide run through systems powered by SAP. - Ursula Ringham What is Influencer Marketing? Influencer Marketing noun partnering experts and trusted authorities together with your brand to help guide customers forward into their buying decision. creating innovative content with trusted external voices to build brand awareness and create sales trusted voices that influence the decisions of others people-to-people marketing Hear a discussion about definitions at 4:15 How Can a Brand Deploy Influencer Marketing? Starting an Influencer Marketing program with your own people. Bring in those who have understand people, existing success, a strong social following, understand your business, and get that it is people-to-people networking and marketing. —Ursula Ringham Improving Live Events by Taking Them Virtual How to Properly Vet Influencers Follow on social media Read their writings Watch their videos Listen to their interviews, podcast and otherwise Discover whom they have promoted in the past, even if your competitors Identify those you trust who are already connected with them Identify their strengths (for example, is someone strong on camera and social, but not a long-form writer. Or, this person asks amazing questions and draws out others.) Know them so well you can name their dog and favorite craft beer Discuss your findings with your team and get their input Talk to them on a video conference if not in person, and get "a feel" for the person How Do You Measure Influencer Success? Identify the true goal. What are you trying to accomplish? Closely monitor the effectiveness of your collaborations How often is the influencer sharing on social media? What level of engagement—likes, comments, shares? What type of audience are the attracting through video or podcasts? Are they exciting to watch? There is no true set of criteria because technology is changing so rapidly. Listen to a success story at 16:00 You have to understand the intent of wanting to work with a particular influencer. It has to be mutually beneficial. — Ursula Ringham Nobody wants to hear from a brand spokesperson. — Rachel Miller Hear another success story at 21:11 Check out SAP Industries LinkedIn Live Series As we live in an age where reviews, references, and third-party validation become increasingly important, having a disciplined, principled, and intentional effort within our companies to connect our value propositions to the market through people that are able to talk about us better than we can talk about ourselves is incredibly important — John Farkas

The Episode in 60 Seconds What is Account-Based Marketing and is it best for your company? If you deploy an ABM strategy, how does it affect the relationships between marketing and sales? What metrics do you need in place to make it effective? Jennifer Pockell Dimas from Gigster discusses: Where digital transformation resides best in your company What Account-Based Marketing is The Power of ABM How the pandemic has proven the power of distributed and remote teams Our Guest Veteran marketing leader, Jennifer Pockell Dimas, has led marketing teams at Polycom, Demandbase, and Plex. She was CMO at Egnyte, and now serves in the leadership role at Gigster. She's also an advisor at Sendoso, a member of Revenue Collective, and she co-founded Women in Revenue.  Gigster Gigster has always helped their customers transform their offerings to their own customers. They have curated a global talent network made up of developers, project managers, technical architects, dev ops, machine learning experts, and more to help establish distributed teams to help your company build your solutions. (Jen goes in depth about Gigster at 4:20 and how they've developed a new platform to help you manage your internal and contracted talent.) Find out more. Women in Revenue To empower current and future women leaders in technology sales and marketing roles with education, support, and networking opportunities. (Jen discusses how it has grown to over 3,000 members at at 2:30 in the podcast.) Find out more. Show Notes Digital transformation happens best when there is joint ownership throughout the organization. Hear more at  Remote teams are happening. If you don't change the way you are behaving when you are a remote, distributed team, you will have less success. -- Jennifer Pockell Dimas What is Account-Based Marketing? A company should focus its resources and attention on the accounts and people most likely to become customers. So it's a way of creating focus and also of increasing impact. — Jennifer Pockell Dimas

The Episode in 60 Seconds Why do your prospects become customers? Why do your customers stay with you? Why do your customers leave? The science and art of Customer Experience (CX) can answer these questions and help you grow your business in the face of your competition and a tumultuous market. In this episode, we explore: Why Worthix was started How customers’ expectations change Why CX is important to ROI The five drivers of CX and how they apply in different industries The KPIs you need to measure CX The difference between frequency and impact of customer feedback Our Guest Mary Drumond is the Chief Marketing Officer at Worthix. She is the past CEO of Advance Languages, where she rose up from the marketing and sales functions to senior leadership. She serves on the board of advisors at the University of Georgia Masters in Marketing Research Program and co-chairs the Atlanta, Georgia chapter of Latinas in Tech Voices of CX Podcast Mary interviews top marketers, industry experts, thought leaders, and best-selling authors on how their markets overlap with Customer Experience. She investigates tech innovations in data sciences, market research and surveys, behavioral analytics and design, and more to help companies improve their customer’s experiences. Worthix helps companies understand their worth and keep their value propositions updated by deploying AI-assisted surveys that tap into customers’ decision-making process, capture the voice of customer, and harness raw, unbiased insight that delivers a clear portrait of what value means to customers. Find out more about Wothix here. Show Notes The self-service sale has revolutionized B2B business. We discuss it in depth in this article and this video. 2020 has demonstrated how quickly customer expectations can change. Think for example of the number of issues that have stolen our attention this year: pandemic, social justice, the election, and more. When you look at big data, when you look at the technology that’s out there tracking consumer behavior, all of it is like looking through the rear view mirror, because what you get is transactional data on past behavior, but with behavior changing so quickly because the world is changing, everybody has like a blank page, a clean slate. - Mary Drumond Understanding your competition is one of the most important foundations for building your customer experience activities. Golden Spiral’s Competitive Analysis Worksheet remains one of our most popular downloads because it gives B2B tech companies such clarity. Download it today Your customers’ experiences must be linked to your profit and they have to be used as a growth strategy. And if that’s not how you’re doing CX, then you’re not doing it right. If you are not able to prove to your executive board, to your C suite, to your leadership, that the work that you’re doing with the customers is actually resulting in more money for your organization. You’re going to be canceled. - Mary Drumond The Five Drivers of Customer Experience Depending on your business, your product, and your market, these will have different levels of importance. Cost Price Relationship Brand Identification Social Proof Check out information about Worthix’s relationship with Praxair . Mary and the Worthix team recently discussed McDonald’s CX differences per market in this article . Want to know more about NPS scores? Check out Golden Spiral’s article about the survey technique. What does it take for a company to be able to cater to so many different people with so many different needs on a global scale? It takes really good listening skills and large-scale empathy. - Mary Drumond Read more about empathy from Golden Spiral. Satisfaction is not enough. It’s subjective. You can be super happy and still leave for a series of reasons. - Mary Drumond

The Episode in 60 Seconds It's a widely known fact in our realm that the CMO is one of the shortest tenured slots in the c-suite. And it's often due to a lack of alignment. This week on Studio CMO, we speak with Marketing & Business Growth Consultant Mark Donnigan about how marketing can (and why it should) work cross-functionally between sales and product, or in other words, the "translation layer." This episode delves into:  Why sales and marketing alignment is critical to the success of CMOs Becoming a master of your ecosystem How we can move marketing into its rightful position in the c-suite Every marketing leader's role outside the office The unique value CMOS can bring to the table Our Guest Mark Donnigan is a marketing leader, business builder, value creator, and market maker. Formerly the VP of Marketing at Beamr, Mark focuses on high-impact programs that drive revenue, activate the market, and deliver real business results. He has 20 years of experience contributing to the success of startup, emerging, and growth-stage product and technology companies that have been backed by some of the largest VC firms in the valley. His secret weapon is his strong sales acumen, making him a powerful ally and collaborator to the head of sales. Mark also co-hosts a podcast called The Video Insiders, speaking on topics like video compression, codecs, encoding, transcoding, workflows, technology trends and business models. Mark Donnigan has prepared a free presentation for those who are curious about his viewpoint on category creation and building a marketing system. Click to download. Show Notes We talked in depth about the "Translation Layer" in Episode 002 of Studio CMO, featuring Cofense SVP of Marketing Kevin Fliess. The Demuxed Conference was born from meetups for engineers to discuss video technology. The Critical Alignment Between Marketing and Revenue Leadership Back when Mark was a sales leader, he quickly uncovered the need to become a student of the market. This realization allowed Mark to become more strategic in his roles and facilitated opportunities to work closely CEOs and CROs.  {{cta('0e8ec695-c11f-45c4-a6ae-5f14aae06c12','justifycenter')}} Taking a Strategic Seat at the Table The marketing role inside technology organizations recently transitioned from creative arts to data science, becoming a revenue driver and more strategic function. "I make it my business to be a master of the ecosystem." - Mark Donnigan When you invest in understanding the ecosystem, you learn the big players and systemic risks so that when the time comes, you are in a much better position to influence the customer or market. Moving Marketing Into Its Rightful Position in the C-Suite Marketing is an essential part of the revenue picture, planning, and development of any company. Unfortunately, not everyone views it as such. Mark never went to school for marketing, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a student. "I'm not saddled with the legacy understanding and framework of what the marketing function is and how it's executed." - Mark Donnigan How can CMOs ensure they're producing value in an organization? Mark's advice: CMOs should step away from the traditional playbook and focus on producing actionable ideas that can move the business forward with a clear revenue target.  Get to know your ecosystem. This may mean spending nights and weekends reading and studying.  You need to be able to answer these questions, always: What are the trends in our industry? How are we talking to the market? Are we talking to the market in a way that's consistent with where the it's heading? Every Marketing Leader's Role Outside the Office "If you're going to be filling the CMO chair, you've got to be out in the field." - Mark Donnigan If you look at Mark's LinkedIn activity, you wouldn't necessarily guess he's a marketer. Why? Because LinkedIn is a channel he frequently uses to explore the ecosystem, master the industry, and make connections. "As a marketing leader, if you're not aggressively working to maintain objectivity, you're vulnerable to be becoming irrelevant." - John Farkas One of the most important things you can bring to your organization is a clear sense of what's happening in your industry. Be the force that's keeping that perspective. {{cta('27f4cde5-0384-4b2b-9ef5-2179f541a9d7','justifyleft')}} The Unique Value of a CMO The CEO is regularly speaking with their peers and fellow industry leaders, and the CROs is constantly in the field speaking to buyers. What unique value can CMOs bring to the table? CMOs should be focusing on and emphasizing the buyer's journey -- how the buyer isarriving at their buying decision and what steps they're going through to get there. Mark makes a point to find out what events people are attending, get feedback from those events, and talk to others about emerging trends and value points. New Episode Coming Soon... Throughout our conversation with Mark, we came across several great focus points around reporting marketing activities. In fact, he'll be back to talk about the critical translation aspect of helping people understand the effectiveness of and what the potential is for marketing. Subscribe now to hear it first.

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds Events have been and are being canceled and postponed worldwide due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. From South by Southwest to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to HubSpot's Inbound, events of all types and for all industries are affected. SAP's annual user conference, SAPPHIRE NOW, hosts more than 40,000 customers, prospects, partners, and influencers in Orlando. The original conference was scheduled for May and nearly completely planned when the US lockdown occurred. Within six weeks, SAP had reframed the event and created a snackable, interactive online experience. The results were remarkable. Two leaders behind the scenes of the major shift, Ursula Ringham and Rachel Miller, were tasked with the challenge of finding the connective tissue for the experience without losing the opportunities for business. Our Guests Ursula Ringham leads the Global Influencer Marketing team in collaborating with the entire SAP product portfolio in creating innovative content with trusted external voices to build brand awareness and create sales. Before her tenure at SAP, she had stints at Yoh, Adobe, and Apple where she was the partnership manager for Worldwide Developer Relations. She has a reputation as a storyteller, author, creator, influencer marketer, digital innovator, social media maven, champion of girls education, and an outdoor sports freak. Rachel Miller is a social media and content marketing strategist. She's listed as one of the top 50 MarTech influencer marketing and B2B marketing experts worldwide. Her background before SAP includes Thulium, TopRank Marketing, and PureMatter. During the pandemic, she is taking her fitness seriously and has earned the nickname "baby hulk" and is a craft beer aficionado. Show Notes User conferences have become a staple in SaaS showcasing the latest software developments and uniting users with platform providers, their partners, and other interested parties. These events also become huge public relations gains. [Find lists of user conferences: IT/Tech, software, engineering] SAP hosts their annual user conference, SAPPHIRE NOW, for all aspects of their business. Major sales occur at the event. SAP's reselling partners come together to learn new ways to promote SAP and to feel energized about their partnership. SAP is the backbone of America's supply chain and helps businesses run at their best. 77% of all revenue transactions worldwide run through systems powered by SAP. - Ursula Ringham Shifting an event for in-person to virtual first requires a shift in mindset. As Ursula talks about at 11:00, "It wasn't a huge change but we had to pivot with how we tell the story." For a virtual event, keep in mind who your audience is and how they will consume the content. As Rachel puts it at 14:00, "No one is going to sit through a 40-minute, talking head keynote to kick off your event. Think about how your content can be "snackable," easily-digestible, with great takeaways." Ursula and Rachel talked about the excellent video work provided by their two hired producers. You can reach them here: Sam Juno Jon Lieberman Issues to consider when creating a virtual event Speakers - how do they present on camera for a virtual audience? Topics - how do they fit in with a more segmentable, micro-casting opportunity? Production - what do you want the event to look like on screen? Connective tissue - what ties the experience together—digital hosts? [Ursula goes into great detail about finding hosts to tie the event together at 16:30] Platform - what software can manage the registrations, video streaming, recording storage, visitor interaction, VIP connectivity, and social engagement? Interactivity - how will you facilitate connection—breakout rooms, chatbots, information exchange? Budget - if transitioning from live to virtual, reallocate the funds along the lines needed to produce a great event.   Was the Virtual Event of Lesser or Greater Value? We were able to make a lot more noise. - Ursula Ringham SAPPHIRE grew from 40,000 to over 100,000 attending. The travel barrier was eliminated. Those curious could sample SAP and the event without great risk. SAP grew from a primarily US-based audience to a truly global audience in a matter of weeks. We have this virtual global audience now. If we want to make a big announcement, we'll do it virtually because we can reach so many more people. - Ursula Ringham   There's going to be a lot more pressure on making in-person events more compelling. - Rachel Miller Deploying Influencers to Augment a Virtual Event Ursula goes step-by-step through how they used influencers at 22:00 minutes. Mark Schaefer's article on SAPPHIRE NOW Reimagined. Here are some excerpts from the virtual experience. You can follow the links to pay for access to the video library. Building better core processes Tackling short-term challenges while planning for long-term success Closing experience gaps  SAPPHIRE NOW is known for giving the entire audience a once-in-a-lifetime concert experience. Past artists include Coldplay and Lady Gaga, and this year, Sting joined the virtual crowd straight from his home studio. Here are brief excerpts from all three past concerts. Coldplay Lady Gaga  Sting

Whether you’re used to the remote life or not, it feels a little different not having a choice in the matter. In this episode of B2B Tech Talk (COVID-19 edition), Ingram Micro’s UCC Director Steve Yochum jumps on a call with Keri to discuss tips for working remotely and staying secure while doing so. Plus, they talk about: Four types of remote workers How to make sure your remote employees are operating on a secure network Making the best of working from home with kids The remote worker checklist  Reach out to Steve on LinkedIn or email at uccsales@ingrammicro.com Follow us on Twitter @IngramTechSol #B2BTechTalk Sponsored by D-Link and  Ingram Micro Financial Solutions Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. Or, tune in on our website.

Customer experience is a priority for most industries and B2B tech sales is no exception. That’s why Ingram Micro and ConnectWise have teamed up to bring their affiliates Partner Go. In this episode of B2B Tech Talk, guest host Logan Lyles of Sweet Fish Media speaks with Keith Graham, director of channel sales at ConnectWise, and Craig Parsons, a senior sales exec at Ingram Micro. Live from Ingram Micro’s ONE event, the three discuss: The part customer experience is playing in digital transformation Why optimizing sales teams’ time is good for the end customer How Partner Go shortens the sales cycle Follow us on Twitter @IngramTechSol #B2BTechTalk Sponsored by Cisco and Ingram Micro Financial Solutions Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. Or, tune in on our website.

Why does the way we sell online feel so foreign to how we sell in real life? Janet Shijns, founder and CEO of JS Group, has consulted entrepreneurs and corporate leaders alike on consolidating the two different ways we tend to sell. Live from Ingram Micro’s U.S. Sales Kickoff, Janet shares with B2B Tech Talk host Keri Roberts five tips for tech entrepreneurs to ultimately achieve more success in selling. The two discuss: Janet’s journey through the entrepreneurial world and climbing the corporate ladder Why sales pros need to act more human when they’re selling online How regular social selling helps entrepreneurs attain success faster Follow us on Twitter @IngramTechSol #B2BTechTalk Sponsored by Ingram Micro President’s Club and Ingram Micro Financial Solutions. Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. Or, tune in on our website.

Which company sells the most tires to consumers? Bridgestone? Goodyear? In reality, the biggest tire sellers are companies like Ford and GM. Without tires, vehicles wouldn’t be as valuable. In this episode of B2B Tech Talk, Alex Madrigal, business development leader at IBM, explains how IBM wants to be the Goodyear to your Ford through IBM’s Embedded Partner Program. Alex talks about: -How IBM can provide your company with the tech it needs to deliver its solution to the market -The advantages of partnering with IBM to go to market -How companies will succeed in the new world economy Find out more about Embedded Solution Agreements here and here. You can also email Kevin Fischer at kevin.fischer@ingrammicro.com for more information. Join the discussion! Follow us on Twitter @IngramTechSol #B2BTechTalk Sponsored by Ingram Micro Financial Solutions and Ingram Micro Imagine Next Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. You can also listen on our website.

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds Angus Nelson, Golden Spiral’s Director of Development, and Mark Whitlock, Golden Spiral’s Marketing Manager, are co-hosts of the Studio CMO podcast. This past week, Angus and Mark dug into email marketing analytics following a plummet in open rates. In this episode of Studio CMO, Angus and Mark report on their findings and reveal additional marketing observations they uncovered in their research. The episode delves into: Major changes in email marketing COVID-19’s effect on consumer behavior Incentivization in this new environment How to approach digital ad spend and goal-setting Why you should be “redeeming your commute” Our Hosts Mark Whitlock spends his days telling others about Golden Spiral, a full-service B2B technology marketing agency helping clients realize their marketing potential. He is Golden Spiral’s Marketing Manager and has used words to craft stories and influence others from his days in radio, through his time recruiting partners for non-profits, as a senior acquisitions editor for a major publisher, and as a best-selling author. Mark quotes way too many movies, always has something playing through his AirPods, and enjoys laughing with his wife and children. Angus Nelson, Director of Development at Golden Spiral, is a forward-thinking marketing professional with proven success in brand strategy, innovation, and identifying emerging trends. From Fortune 500 brands to battle-tested startups, he helps leadership teams gain solid ground—solving problems, guiding strategy, and navigating challenges. He’s the host of the "Up In Your Business" podcast and has spoken for brands like Walmart, Whole Foods, BMW, Coca-Cola, and Adobe. Last but not least, Angus is a huge fan of travel, family, a great bourbon or cigar, and the Green Bay Packers. Show Notes Learn how to fortify your marketing infrastructure on the Golden Spiral blog. Daniel Glickman, CMO of Wave.video, thinks of B2B as B2U (Business to User), meaning we should always remember that we are marketing to real people. Daniel is also an expert in creating high-quality video funnels. Learn more in Episode 009 of Studio CMO. ARE WE THE PROBLEM? Hubspot reported a 67% increase in the volume of emails being sent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Golden Spiral’s marketing team decided not to increase or decrease our cadence of emails, but instead to sharpen our existing efforts by focusing on two factors: Repetition: A repeated message matters. The more times someone sees a message, the more likely they’ll remember it. Fundamentals: Practicing the fundamentals is critical. One of those fundamentals is email subject lines. CoSchedule, the social media scheduling tool, offers a free headline analyzer. Check it out here. The verbs in your emails matter, especially in your subject lines. We compiled 756 verbs that will help you avoid cliches and create better CTAs. COVID-19 IS A POWERFUL TECHNOLOGY ACCELERATOR Consumer behavior is changing. Here's how companies are responding: Incentives: if you pay in advance, you’ll receive a discount. Expanding bandwidth: providing more access or features at cheaper levels Innovation: finding new ways to meet customer needs.   COMPANIES ARE INCENTIVIZING HUMAN BEHAVIOR What does incentivization look like in this new environment? How can companies engage customers in a way that really matters to them? Many companies are providing bonuses if consumers behave a certain way. For example, some insurance companies are installing programs into vehicles that monitor whether or not the driver remains within the speed limit, makes complete stops, etc. If the driver meets expectations, he or she receives savings or bonuses. Coming out of the pandemic, B2B leaders may need to consider what kind of reward structure they could provide their customers. IT’S ALL HUMAN TO HUMAN Do B2B and B2C still exist? The people that are engaging in the sales process with your products or services are other humans with challenges and mandates and goals. It’s incumbent upon your company or product to position itself in a way that directly speaks to their pain points. “Let's be honest. You want that deeper human touch. You want to be more human in what you're doing despite the technology around you.” - Mark Whitlock   HOW TO NAVIGATE DIGITAL ADS DURING COVID-19 Spending is down 50% across all channels, clicks are down, and cost per click is down correspondingly. Companies don’t know what to make of it, so digital budgets have been significantly cut. Is that being driven from a budgetary standpoint? Is it being driven because they feel like they’re tone deaf? Mark and Angus revealed their greatest piece of advice during the pandemic: Fortify your marketing infrastructure. Right now, it’s a week-by-week proposition. You should be setting goals for the next 2 weeks at most. Then, watch the trends and respond rationally. Once we come out of this, it’s important not to set a goal for the rest of 2020. Set a goal for one month, maybe two. Then, once again, watch and respond rationally. “Everything is changing rapidly, almost daily. Your paid spend needs to represent that.” - Mark Whitlock WHAT DOES WORKING REMOTE LOOK LIKE FOR YOUR COMPANY? As more and more companies offer a remote work option, will more management and leadership teams begin to recruit talent from anywhere in the world? As mentioned by Rishad Tobaccowala in Studio CMO Episode 003, find out what Automattic does with their distributed workforce to strengthen on- and offline bonds.   REDEEM YOUR COMMUTE If you had a daily commute before the pandemic, what could you do at home to redeem that time before work starts up again? “Keep the M.A.I.N. thing the main thing.” - Angus Nelson Mindset. Allow yourself to see more objectively and creatively in how you approach your customer, your product, and your teams. Improve your leadership, communication, and delegation to help your team have ownership and influence over the future of your company. Attitude. Come from a place of generosity, a place of abundance where all things are possible. Inputs. Find the people that are speaking to your soul and inspiring you. You and your company need intellect, data, and heart in this season to truly connect with your customer. Nurture. We have to make time for ourselves and the things that are important in our families in order to remain effective.

It’s true: IT pros usually aren’t famous for their sales and marketing skills. But that shouldn’t stop tech experts from building their own business when they see the opportunity to do so. It certainly didn’t stop the founder of Integrated Technology Systems NYC, Michael Coopersmith. In this episode of B2B Tech Talk, guest host James Carbary of Sweet Fish Media catches up with Michael to talk business at Ingram Micro’s ONE event. The two discuss: How Michael went from IT pioneer to owner of a multi-million-dollar company Michael’s approach to keeping data secure for SMBs How being an Ingram Micro partner has helped Michael’s business succeed Follow us on Twitter @IngramTechSol #B2BTechTalk Sponsored by Cisco and Ingram Micro Financial Solutions Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. Or, tune in on our website.

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds Daniel Glickman, CMO of Wave.video, joins us on this episode of Studio CMO to discuss the importance of video in B2B marketing, including what videos you need in your arsenal and the most effective approaches. Daniel is an innovative and internationally experienced CMO with a passion for building data-driven marketing systems that empower creative marketing teams to thrive and perform. This interview delves into: The most effective type of marketer Wave.video’s role in the revolution of video marketing Why video is a critical tactic for B2B marketers to employ in their stack How to maintain control over your video marketing efforts Wave.video’s approach to video marketing Our Guest Daniel Glickman is the CMO of Wave.video, an online tool to easily create videos at scale for your social media, emails, website, and blog throughout every step of the customer journey. Daniel has successfully built acquisition teams and marketing departments, managed multi-million dollar marketing budgets, and delivered speeches to national audiences at CMWorld, B2B Marketing Forum, and MarTech. Daniel has authored two books, Personalize This and Disrupt That, is the host of the B2U podcast, and founded, developed, and continues to run popular CMO Confessions meetups in Boston and Tel Aviv. {{cta('77cf0ba2-7682-4721-a379-182e39d3cb47','justifycenter')}} Show Notes Videos in universal search results have a 41% higher click-through rate than their plain text counterparts. Daniel is the host of the B2U Podcast. Subscribe here. Browse more resources on video marketing: Six Videos Every SaaS Company Needs How to Use Video in Your B2B Lead Nurturing Strategy WE NEED MORE MARKETERS WHO CAN DO BOTH There are often two types of marketers: analytical marketers and people-centered marketers. When in reality, we need more who can be both. “You have to be able to do things at scale, to very analytically drive audiences and conversion pixels and really get things down by data. But, never forget we're dealing with people. We want to touch them emotionally.” - Daniel Glickman People should not only buy from you because you have great product, but also because they know you and trust you. THE ORIGIN AND TRANSFORMATION OF WAVE.VIDEO Wave.video began as a very simple app that filled a huge demand: videos with high-quality backgrounds and text overlays. In a year’s worth of research and development, Daniel’s team noticed a very interesting phenomenon. Companies that were really successful on social media, driving traffic, and creating buzz all had one thing in common: video marketing. “The competitive advantage that we have to keep all the time is not by developing something really great. It's by constantly being ahead of everyone else at developing something great.” - Daniel Glickman THE REVOLUTION OF VIDEO MARKETING With 82% of all consumer internet traffic predicted to be online videos by 2022, we can confidently say that video marketing is the future. However, it’s not about creating random videos. Daniel and his team discovered that companies successful with video all follow a methodology that mimics how content marketing affects the funnel. Marketers are creating sequences of videos that are designed to lead people to action. “In the early days of video marketing, people were just making videos without really thinking about strategy. And that's the missing piece.” - Daniel Glickman WHY IS VIDEO A CRITICAL TACTIC FOR B2B MARKETERS TO EMPLOY IN THEIR STACK? “Content marketing is not dead. We still need SEO. We still need text-based content. Video does not replace; it is just a way of tapping into new audiences.” - Daniel Glickman Videos in universal search results have a higher reach than their plain text counterparts. If you’re considering a traditional content marketing perspective, adding a video layer on top of it or adding a video component can boost your SEO dramatically. Make sure to have these types of videos in your B2B arsenal: Live videos: Try live-streaming at an event or in-office. It doesn’t have to be perfect. If live video seems highly produced, it’s seen as inauthentic. Promotional videos: These videos could be teasers for your marketing efforts, products, and services or even personalized for a client. Try playing around with text overlays and stock footage. HOW TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OVER YOUR B2B COMPANY’S VIDEO MARKETING EFFORTS It’s not about one specific video leading to another specific video. It’s about a series of videos around a specific topic leading to another series of videos around a different topic. In your first video series, you could build awareness. In your second video series, you could build trust. In your third video series, you could pitch your solution. The key to maintaining control over how and when users consume your videos is to let engagement die down before beginning the next phase. HOW TO CONQUER THE B2B BONANZA Producing videos on a regular cadence can get expensive. The challenge here, the B2B Bonanza, is figuring out how to utilize content you already have. Thankfully, there's one thing that all B2B marketers have in their arsenal: webinars. Here’s what you can do with them: 1. Organize all your webinars. Decide what’s still relevant and for whom. 2. Take what you’ve already produced and put it behind some sort of gate. Tell your audience it’s only available if they take a certain action. 3. Create short clips of highlights in your webinars. You can create entire video funnels from a single webinar, and so many of us have a library full of them. WAVE.VIDEO’S APPROACH TO VIDEO MARKETING Before creating a blog post or email, Daniel’s team first decides what kind of video they want to deliver and the most effective way to do so. Almost every week, Wave.video’s Facebook group posts a webinar featuring a guest influencer. Daniel’s team then creates a campaign based on that single video. Here’s how it works: Daniel’s team creates a blog post that’s written around the video rather than the other way around. The video gets embedded into the blog post to redirect traffic, increasing SEO value. The guest influencer is asked to promote the post to help produce backlinks. Pieces of the original recording are turned into short videos and posted to social channels.

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds 8w7, iD at peace, DC under stress, ENTJ. If you know one or more of those codes, you’re going to have a lot of fun in this conversation. If you don’t, stay tuned. We dig a little deeper. Drew D’Agostino, founder and CEO of Crystal, joins us to discuss common assumptions and biases that disrupt the true art of communication. This interview delves into: How Crystal was born What communication really means How Crystal can improve your company’s messaging How your company can leverage personality differences during the COVID-19 crisis The hidden meaning behind Crystal' “Personality AI” categorization Our Guest This week’s guest is Drew D’Agostino. He’s the Founder and CEO of Crystal Knows, an online application that uses AI to predict personality so users can communicate effectively, resolve conflict, manage stress, influence others, and make better decisions in their professional lives. Previously, Drew was CTO of Attend.com, an event management software company. He is a thought leader in Personality AI and has been featured in Inc., Fortune, CNN, Fast Company, MIT Technology Review, Wired, and The Guardian. Drew has been recognized by Forbes as 30 Under 30 in enterprise technology and is the co-author of Predicting Personality, published by Wiley in 2019. Show Notes Learn more about how psychological studies can help you shape your buyer personas. HOW WAS CRYSTAL BORN AND WHERE IS IT HEADING? After Drew and Crystal COO Greg Skloot left their previous company, they became fascinated by the idea of using DiSC assessments in a predictive manner. Drew dove into NLP and machine learning in order to create a prototype that could analyze a LinkedIn profile and produce a personality assessment. The company sold its first subscription and officially launched in early 2015. Since then, it’s been off to the races. “It was an emotional response to software that I’d never seen before.” - Drew D’Agostino Drew and his team are now trying to build a foundation off of where Crystal Knows truly fits in the market. THE TRUE ART OF COMMUNICATION When it comes to communication, there should be no blanket ideas. There should be no assumptions based on our personal preferences. When sending an email, how do you know whether to use short, to-the-point sentences versus elaborate, colorful language? Communicating and connecting with people in the context of marketing is more than just gut feelings. It’s a science. “Most people think communication is saying what you want to say in the way you want to say it. The true art of communication is altogether opposite. It's saying what you want to say in a way the other person can understand.” - Angus Nelson HOW CAN CRYSTAL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE? Over the years, Crystal has oscillated between markets because it’s generally a powerful, flexible personality tool. Crystal can be utilized by marketing professionals in micro- or macro-approaches. For example: Identifying the communication styles that will be most effective in sales emails and pitches Identifying common personality traits of their customer-base to develop effective messaging. “Data can be your secret weapon.” - Drew D’Agostino There’s a danger in making assumptions about people, in making assumptions about personality types. “Making assumptions about people results in biases, which results in awkwardness, which results in miscommunication and just overall inauthenticity.” - Drew D’Agostino IS YOUR COMPANY LEVERAGING PERSONALITY DIFFERENCES DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS? “When you’re remote, personality differences seem to blow up.” - Drew D’Agostino In written communication, what people really mean versus what is interpreted from the message can be dramatically different. It creates real problems. Just like companies attempting to better understand their employees or customers during this crisis, Drew and his team are trying to understand how this remote shift is affecting how people are actually using Crystal Knows. We've compiled four steps to fortify your infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn how your company can emerge from this crisis stronger than ever. THE HIDDEN MEANING BEHIND CRYSTAL ' “PERSONALITY AI” CATEGORIZATION Although Crystal Knows is categorized under a blanket term (AI), Drew views Crystal Knows as technology that is enhancing human communications and relationships where technology may have previously stripped the humanity away. “Technology is here to stay, but how do you re-inject emotional intelligence into where it has been taken?” - Drew D’Agostino

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds Elana Anderson, CMO of Veracode, sat down with us at RSA 2020 to discuss the essentials of effective marketing leadership. Elana has had an unexpected journey leading up to her current role. She began her career as a consultant at Accenture and led many marketing and product teams before accepting a position at Veracode. According to her Twitter profile, she is the “marketer marketing marketing to marketers.” This interview delves into: How Elana's unique perspective strengthens her marketing leadership How Veracode has grown since its last acquisition The value of revisiting marketing fundamentals What enables Veracode to be a great partner The marketing advice all CEOs and CMOs need to hear Our Guest Elana Anderson’s marketing background spans nearly three decades as a marketing executive, industry analyst, and consultant working with Fortune 500 B2C and B2B enterprises. Previously, Elana led global marketing for the SaaS e-commerce leader Demandware and was Vice President of Strategy and Products at marketing tech provider Unica. “Elana’s success building global brands in established and emerging markets is testament to her deep technology expertise and marketing prowess,” said Veracode CEO Sam King. At Veracode, Elana implements go-to-market strategies, creates programs to drive customer growth and advocacy, and amplifies Veracode’s global presence to reach new audiences and expand its geographic footprint. Show Notes Check out Veracode’s newly released case studies: Veracode Enables Cox Automotive to Integrate Security into the SDLC and Increase Speed to Market Automation Anywhere Leverages Veracode to Secure their Leading RPA Solutions Advantasure's Secure SW is a Competitive Advantage YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE A TRADITIONAL HISTORY IN MARKETING TO BECOME A GREAT CMO… …just a unique perspective. Elana’s first marketing role was Head of Marketing at Demandware. Before she was the marketer, her buyer was the marketer. She essentially marketed to marketers. Elana’s background has allowed her to work with many, many companies on many different aspects of marketing. “I was building a business. I wasn't a marketer. I was advising marketers, I was building our consulting practice and our consulting offerings. I was building our portfolio of services to marketing organizations.” - Elana Anderson ELANA’S TENURE AT VERACODE Elana’s team has been focusing on strengthening Veracode’s voice in the market. Before the impact of COVID-19, Veracode was at RSA launching a new brand platform and visuals that inspire boldness and confidence to create software that changes the world. Read more about Veracode’s impressive booth display at RSA 2020. Elana has made structural changes to her team that bring out the strength of each core pillar of marketing. Achieving growth in your organization means plotting a vision for the future, getting people to recognize it, and fostering excitement within your team. MARKETING FUNDAMENTALS WILL ALWAYS REMAIN THE SAME Fundamentally, it’s about understanding what makes your customer tick and engaging them in conversation. Who is the customer? What do they want? What do they need? What do they feel? How are they moved? What’s their pain? “The idea of conversational marketing or customer engagement isn’t new. We’ve been talking about it for years.” - Elana Anderson VERACODE SECURITY LABS Veracode’s Security Labs enables developers to work in an interactive coding environment to find and fix appsec vulnerabilities. In launching the tool, Veracode’s mission is to empower developers to change the world while providing them with the skills needed to prevent attacks. VERACODE IS ALWAYS LISTENING Since Veracode can see how developers are integrating and interacting with the platform, they are able to use that data to provide valuable feedback and guidance. Veracode’s Customer Advisory Board enables customers to provide feedback on the product and engage directly with product managers. “Our business model behind what we do enables us to be a better partner.” - Elana Anderson THE MARKETING ADVICE ALL CEOS NEED TO HEAR Your CMO needs some independence in order to do their job effectively. Avoid silo marketing. Allow your CMO to focus on moving the business. A great CEO-CMO relationship resembles a strategic partnership. Many CMOs get stuck on the tactical implementation, the micro-view of marketing. You must consider the business as a whole and what it means to move the company forward. It’s about understanding the market, understanding the customer, and understanding what you’re trying to achieve as a business. “I’ve always been a student of marketing. I don’t bring a recipe book to the job.” - Elana Anderson HOW MARKETING LEADERS SHOULD FORM RELATIONSHIPS WITH ANALYST GROUPS Building rapport and trust with your analyst is essential. The relationship should never be transactional. It’s about getting to know each other. It’s about understanding tendencies and being able to engage and use that resource to help you further your business.

To most CEOs, running a business at optimal profitability sounds a little far-fetched. However, to achieve optimal profitability means your business will be prepared for selling whenever the opportunity presents itself. And someday, your business will eventually be sold. In this episode of B2B Tech Talk, guest host James Carbary of Sweet Fish Media sits down with a business advisor to CEOs and partner at A&G Advisory Services, Scott Goemmel. Live from Ingram Micro’s ONE event, the two discuss: Annuity and business valuation How A&G helps businesses run at optimal profitability How to build a plan to reach optimal profitability Follow us on Twitter @IngramTechSol #B2BTechTalk Sponsored by Cisco and Ingram Micro Financial Solutions Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. Or, tune in on our website.

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds Golden Spiral’s own Chris Turner, Senior Director of Digital Strategy and Performance Analytics, joins us via Zoom to discuss how companies, specifically marketing leaders, can transition, think, plan, and strategize during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris eats, sleeps, and breathes digital strategy and has a tremendous backdrop that has facilitated his deep expertise in the field. This interview delves into: The three categories B2B tech companies are falling into amidst the crisis Why this isn’t the time for bold actions How and when to advance your B2B tech company Why it’s critical to fortify your digital marketing infrastructure How to avoid data paralysis during the COVID-19 pandemic Our Guest Chris Turner is Golden Spiral’s Senior Director of Digital Strategy and Performance Analytics and an expert in all things digital. Chris manages and monitors the online strategies for our clients related to paid media, content, social media marketing, and digital optimization. Chris helps our teams build synergistic digital strategies that touch on everything from relationship building with partners to content creation and syndication — all to help clients make an impact through their business. He leverages his experience of 10+ years of marketing leadership to direct marketing teams to success based on addressable KPIs and data-driven tactics. Chris has a bachelor’s degree in information technology and a master’s in information systems. He is well educated, heavily experienced, and always seeking more knowledge. Show Notes Before diving into data analytics, learn how to create and maintain a SaaS marketing and sales scorecard. We created a comprehensive guide to fortifying your marketing infrastructure. Check it out. The marketing and sales funnel is rapidly evolving. To learn more about optimization from Chris, check out his Compete SEO Guide for B2B Tech Marketing. How Does Your B2B Tech Company React During a Time of Crisis? Given the current coronavirus pandemic, B2B companies are generally falling into these three categories: The company’s solution meets a need that has been accelerated by the crisis (i.e. healthcare, healthtech, health IT) The company’s solution remains essential regardless of the crisis The company’s solution transforms a workflow — increasing efficiency and offering significant savings — but isn’t seen as essential amidst the crisis Most B2B tech companies are falling into the third category. If your solution isn’t essential to overcoming the crisis, it will be difficult for your company to start conversations. It’s not a great time for your company to act boldly. If your funnel has evaporated overnight, your salespeople can’t get anyone to return calls, your open rates have dropped through the floor, and you’re grasping at straws trying to figure out how to engage in the market… “It’s not time to advance right now, but it is time to fortify.” - John Farkas Don’t Give Up Now: Here’s How Your B2B Tech Company Can Advance Just because the environment around you changes, it doesn’t mean you can’t still keep moving forward. The journey will just look a little different. It’s important for B2B companies to expand focus into innovation and transformation, so when the time comes, they’ll be ready to enter the conversation. “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” - Benjamin Franklin Your key asset is your people. Ask them what your company should do to make an impact in the future. Why You Must Fortify Your Digital Marketing Infrastructure If you put your soldiers in place now, when the time comes, you’ll be more than ready to win the battle. Fortifying the essentials means understanding and optimizing the assets that you currently have while also planning for the assets you need to have. There are three prerequisites before you are able to fortify your digital marketing infrastructure: Have a clear view of your goals and make sure they’re in line with the rest of your organization. What do you want to see happen by the end of the next quarter? Have a solid understanding of your buyer's needs. Then, articulate your solutions in the context of those needs. Have a clear view of your competition. What are they declaring right now in the market, and how can you present your product or service in a way that’s clearly differentiated? 1. Evaluate Your Toolbox You must understand what you have that solves the problems your buyers are really trying to figure out. Evaluate not only your content and digital assets, but also the assets in human capital that can help you move forward. Determine what elements of your marketing strategy align with the awareness, consideration, and decision phases of the buyer’s journey to know exactly what you need to address. To appeal to buyers in the consideration and decision phases of the buyer’s journey, it’s essential to dissect your buyer and develop a deep understanding of their motivations. “It's looking at demographics, it's looking at engagement with your content, it's looking at the ways that buyers want to be engaged.” - Chris Turner 2. Fill Your Toolbox Once you’ve identified the gaps in your digital strategy, it’s all about taking your insight and understanding of the marketplace and saying “what’s the easiest route to the end goal?” In the consideration phase, potential buyers are comparing and contrasting different solutions. Are you answering those questions? If you’re not, your competitors may be. “It’s not about what the environment's doing, it's what your buyers doing and how you can address that buyer in a meaningful way.” - Chris Turner 3. Optimize Your Assets The rubber meets the road when you combine the great assets that you've now crafted or developed, but you also need to make sure they’re visible in the right ways and at the right places. Not all content needs to be everywhere. There are three keys to optimization: Understanding the feedback you receive. SEO, and any marketing efforts, should be executed based on the data of the people you’re targeting. Sometimes those changes will be drastic, sometimes they’ll be minimal. Connecting the dots between existing pieces of material that help to foster the whole journey. There’s an actual physical path that people will take through your website. Leading people towards the final goal, otherwise known as conversion optimization. {{cta('5098f490-0fa2-42cf-a89b-ca6846b30cc3','justifycenter')}} How to Effectively Leverage Data During the COVID-19 Pandemic What gives data value is your interpretation of it. Look at your company’s data, truly understand what you’re seeing, and create a narrative. That’s what real insight is. These are tools Chris, and most SEOs, use to interpret data in meaningful ways: Google Analytics Google Search Console Moz SEMrush Are you creating material that actually matters? “Content for content’s sake, webinars for webinars’ sake, videos, infographics, anything digital for digital’s sake has little value. You have to have a purpose behind it all.” - Chris Turner What is Data Paralysis and Why Does it Matter? Marketing leaders often dive into data and end up over-analyzing, resulting in a sense of coma. They put their own biases inside of the data set. It may then be difficult to identify driving factors. You must break apart all that you are as a business, and parse it into solution sets, content, material, and resources that inform and equip your audience. Your website doesn’t rank, your pages do. “Your people aren’t looking for you. They’re looking for a solution.” - Chris Turner The most important thing to remember is: “The key to success in the correlation is not causation. It's common sense.” - Chris Turner

The Episode in 60 Seconds Kyle Lacy, CMO of Lessonly, joins us via Zoom from Indianapolis, Ind. to talk marketing/sales alignment, customer experience, leadership during COVID-19, and golden llamas. Kyle brings over 12 years of experience in marketing strategy and digital operations and is obsessed with how technology influences and changes human behavior. Additionally, Kyle has written three books: Twitter Marketing for Dummies, Branding Yourself, and Social CRM for Dummies. This interview delves into: The importance of storytelling in marketing and branding A unified approach to sales and marketing Differentiating your company in some way outside of your product’s features The power of customer experience Lessonly’s approach to COVID-19 challenges The mentality of a successful CMO Our Guest Kyle Lacy leads marketing for Lessonly, a training and enablement software company based in Indianapolis, Ind. Kyle's team touches everything you can imagine when it comes to marketing, including demand generation, content marketing, branding, design, messaging, go-to-market development, and thought leadership. He drives growth at Lessonly using the knowledge he has gained while working at a venture capital firm, the largest software company in the world, and the fastest-growing email marketing company. Kyle has authored three books that have been published in five languages and seven countries. The books include Twitter Marketing for Dummies, Branding Yourself, and Social CRM for Dummies. Kyle has spent the last seven years traveling the world speaking at marketing and technology industry events and has been recognized as as one of Indiana’s Forty-under-40 by the Indianapolis Business Journal, Anderson University's Young Alumni of the Year, and TechPoint's Young Professional of the Year.  Show Notes Check out Lessonly CEO Max Yoder’s book Do Better Work. Lessonly sends this book to prospects throughout the entire sales cycle. Your best stories come from your customers. They are your best salespeople. Companies either approach the sales funnel with the power of customer experience or a feature push. Where do you stand? A Unified Approach to Sales and Marketing The traditional sales funnel has radically transformed over the last five years. We’ve seen this self-service sales framework begin to develop in marketing where people are doing a lot of research independent from any sales conversations. Kyle Lacy’s marketing team transitioned from being only top of funnel to being full funnel, touching 100% of everything happening at the company. “The team felt renewed. They were more positive. They felt challenged in a good way. And then because of that, because they had the feeling that they were accomplishing something, we started to see success.” - Kyle Lacy As its sales and marketing teams grew, Lessonly then focused on organization and process development to adjust alignment. The True Value of Brand Experience in B2B Tech If you don’t differentiate in some other way outside of features, you’ll just be another demo. Try telling a story that’s a little bit different, a bit more human. A few things Lessonly has done to humanize the sales cycle: Sent prospects Donors Choose gift cards to give to a classroom in need in their city, so kids can do better work, too  Developed a 13-page coloring book to help working parents entertain their kids during quarantine Sent employees, prospects, and customers golden llamas (spray painted by Kyle, himself!) modeled after Lessonly’s mascot, Ollie Llama. Lessonly receives most of its customer feedback from a weekly personal and leadership development newsletter sent by Lessonly CEO Max Yoder. Kyle on sending prospects Golden Llamas… “We don’t talk about Lessonly at all as a product, but it’s a first touch for us. It works extremely well because it’s different, and it has nothing to do with our product.” - Kyle Lacy #SprayPaintingLlamas   Here’s an unboxing of Lessonly’s Golden Llama by Sendoso. Lessonly has also launched a word search, a board game called Llama Land for their software users, and a Lego Llama. (And if you haven't seen Ludacris freestyle the children's book, Llama Llama Red Pajama, check it out.) Kyle Lacy's Mentality as A Successful CMO What’s the essential mentality for a Chief Marketing Officer to be successful? Timeframes. “Marketing directors think in quarters. Chief Marketing Officers should think in years when it comes to strategy development.” - Kyle Lacy Make your customer the hero. To achieve that, avoid a constant focus on feature development and growth. Instead of focusing on the top of the funnel, CMOs and marketing leaders should focus on two things: 1. Owning a revenue number (and a seat at board meetings) 2. Influencing 100% of company decisions that are related to money Lessonly's Approach to Leadership During the COVID-19 Crisis When attempting to make decisions on an unknown, you must over-communicate with your team and over-index on empathy. What Kyle’s team has been doing to maintain company culture during quarantine: Daily stand-ups Spontaneous happy hours 24-hour zoom room Online games Individual check-ins Great Articles on Sales-Marketing Alignment The Missing Piece of Sales-Marketing Alignment 8 Strategies for Internal Communications Alignment How to Master Sales and Marketing Alignment How to Align Sales and Marketing with Revenue Goals

Historically, the B2B IT industry has been a little behind the times in terms of networking and brand marketing. Industry events — like Ingram Micro’s ONE event — have provided great networking opportunities for IT professionals. Even so, there are myriad chances outside of conferences to connect with peers and prospects. In this episode of B2B Tech Talk, guest host James Carbary founder and CEO of Sweet Fish Media catches up with Jason Carriere, the IT channel sales leader at LinkedIn. From the Ingram Micro ONE event, the two discuss how IT pros can leverage the power of LinkedIn’s platform to build awareness and convert leads. Are you able to easily track & analyze the reach of your organic LinkedIn content? If not, you may want to check out a tool we've been using here at Sweet Fish: SHIELD Use the promo code B2BGROWTH for a 25% Discount Follow us on Twitter @IngramTechSol #B2BTechTalk Sponsored by Cisco. Listen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. Or, tune in on our website.

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds Rishad Tobaccowala has invested a lifetime understanding human connection and leading a team to influence and persuade others through Publicis Groupe, one of the largest advertising and communications companies in the world. In his new book, Restoring the Soul of Business, he outlines how companies can learn to live in the balance between spreadsheets and stories. He has also spent time considering the implications of a worldwide pandemic on business and leadership. This interview delves into: understanding your audience in a new light the five characteristics of a successful human leader the six words to remove from your communication how to maximize your distributed workforce Our Guest Rishad Tobaccowala is the Senior Advisor to Publicis Groupe, an advertising and communications firm with 80,000 employees worldwide. Over his 37-year career, Tobaccowala has worked across almost every area of marketing including brand advertising, media, database, direct and interactive marketing. As a pioneer in digital marketing, Tobaccowala was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top business leaders for his pioneering innovation and TIME magazine dubbed him one of five Marketing Innovators. He is in the Ad Age Interactive Hall of Fame and has received a lifetime achievement silver medal award from the Chicago Ad Federation. Rishad is also is chairman of The Tobaccowala Foundation, which helps over 10,000 people gain better access to health and education in India. He regularly presents keynotes at industry conferences and speaks at global organizations such as Kellogg’s, IBM, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. He is the author of Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in an Age of Data. Show Notes Companies can be boiled down to two major components: a math component or data-driven component and the story side of business. John Farkas on the soul of business Technology is extremely important as an enabler, but not as a discussion point even if you are selling technology. - Rishad Tobaccowala 56% of people who work in business in America are not engaged at work. They just show up. The Six Factors of Retaining Employees Money Fame Power for the senior executives, autonomy for growing employees Growth Purpose and Values Connections What is the best word to use for your prospective customers? Customer? Consumer? Prospects? Targets? Audience? Gods? Think about this: technology has enabled us to have god-like powers. Your number one salesforce is not happy customers, it's your employees. Happy employees. Happy company. The Six Words You Can't Say in Your Presentations Personalization Datalake Database Disruption Platform Optimization #gibberishings Your Customers Need You to S.A.V.E. Them Show me a solution Make it accessible Give me value Give me a great experience How to Lead a Distributed Workforce You have to be a leader of your team and a leader of yourself. The Five Criteria of Successful Human Leaders Capability Integrity Empathy (read more about empathy on Golden Spiral's blog) Inspiration Vulnerability Meetings are not conversations. They are gatherings around a modern fireplace—the spreadsheet on a screen. A true meeting is when we look into each other's eyes and talk. Genuinely talk.  - Rishad Tobaccowala What Automattic does with their distributed workforce. [listen at 22:00] The stronger the offline bond, the more online relationships can work. - Rishad Tobaccowala  Three Things to Consider for Your B2B Tech Company in a Time of Chaos What is your product/pricing mix? What are you messaging? How should you change it? During times like this, your audience will see the true caliber of your company. What is it? Understanding the Turd on the Table We are in the midst of corporate, national, and personal crap. [listen more at 29:19] How do you put Humpty Dumpty back together again? [listen at 32:45] Golden Spiral articles on trust Golden Spiral articles on empathy

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds Chief Marketing Officers have the shortest tenure in the C-Suite. In tech businesses, that tenure is even shorter. How marketing executives handle the first few months sets the tone for the rest of their tenures. Kevin Fliess, VP of Marketing for Cofense, just wrapped up his first 12 months in the role. In this episode of Studio CMO, we explore the decisions, strategies, and tactics he implemented and the lessons he's learned along the way, including how to: fully implement a rebranding movement, even if your company has tried before press a new mission into every nook, cranny, and heart of your team bring sales and marketing synergy to your organization, not just alignment Kevin also talks about "The Translation Layer" that marketing creates between the product team and the executive team. Our Guest Kevin Fliess is Senior Vice President of Marketing of marketing for Cofense, an anti-phishing platform company for global enterprise companies. Cofense provides end-to-end phishing protection to stop attacks in minutes, not days. He is responsible for facilitating Cofense’s global growth by overseeing the planning, development, and execution of Cofense’s marketing strategy across all channels. Kevin has been a marketing leader for more than two decades in SaaS, internet-based companies, and the event planning industry. Past companies include ATPCO, Cvent, Room 77 (acquired by Expedia), SAP, and HP. Kevin is a named inventor on six technology patents and holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics at Washington and Lee University. Show Notes CMO Tenure Data Who are the three bald, dancing dads? Check it out. This episode was recorded at the 2020 RSA Conference. Cybersecurity is an exciting industry. The problem set is always changing. Cybersecurity is mission-driven. You're actually helping organizations and people deal with problems and pressing issues. Check out Cofense's rebranding: then and now. Psishing affects everyone and all companies, including these landmark examples: Target breach Equifax breach John Podesta's campaign affected by phishing Creating a purpose-driven culture is beyond just a mission statement, it's about creating something that is integral to the company. A Scaleable Marketing Organization 1. You've got to have great people in every role. Give them the organizational North Star and let them run. 2. Build strong relationships with your sales team. Be aligned on what success looks like. 3. Strategy should follow your goals, however you measure success Everything we do has a sales executive sponsor and a marketing executive sponsor. We are clear about what the outcomes we're going to work on together. 4. Establish a clear roadmap and then have constant dialogue about where we are. (Google's OKR method) Constant communication is key. The pace of change in enterprise software companies and in technology is so rapid that it requires regular check-in and communication between teams in order to stay on track. The Translation Layer Companies don't have an unlimited number of arrows in their quivers. Marketing straddles the gap between sales and product. Marketing keeps those arrows pointed to the right opportunities that make the most sense and yield the highest outcome. Take the gobbledygook and turn it into something your customers care about. Take important, technically-sophisticated features and functions and translate them into use cases that make sense to customers. Understand what sales is hearing and what pain points actually exist Tailor the message  What are customers asking for, that they will need in 12 - 18 months, that are not on the product road map? A Special Message from John Farkas We wanted to share this important message with you. You can lead your company from chaos to growth.

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds Our world seems enamored with AI. Should our marketing be? We discuss: Brand is the human bridge your prospects and customers cross to get to you Category creation is, at its core, a human process Anthony Kennada's thoughts on human marketing Plus, we tell stories about what happened at The Dead Rabbit, at a private dinner with a start-up founder, and on a plane back from Manhattan. Our Guest Anthony Kennada is Chief Marketing Officer at Front. His team is taking on email. He said, "Email is the workplace communication standard that has not seen much innovation since Wilson Phillips was on top of the global music charts." Prior to joining Front, Anthony was the founding CMO at Gainsight where he created the Customer Success category. He is the author of Category Creation published by Wiley. He has previously worked at Box, LiveOffice, Symantec, and serves as an investor, advisor, and board member to enterprise software startups around the globe. He calls himself a "B2C marketer trapped in a B2B body." Anthony is married and the father of a sweet daughter. Show Notes Category Creation is not for the faint of heart. It's also inherently human. John Farkas: "Anytime something new happens, you have to mark the moment. You have to say, 'Think about this differently.'" Allen Gannett, The Creative Curve: "You always have to mix the novel with the known." Listen to the entire interview with Anthony Kennada. Download a free excerpt from Anthony's book, Category Creation. John Farkas: "Brand is the human bridge." John Farkas articles on Category Creation: Category Creation: The Power of Understanding Your Buyer's Problems Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Category Creator? John Farkas: "Don't miss the handshake." Read more about empathy here and here. Mark Whitlock: "I learned about The Power of One through my radio experience."

In this 30-minute interview, CMO of Front, Anthony Kennada discusses with Golden Spiral: What is Category Creation? Is creating a new category a good idea for every company? Are Gartner and Forrester still relevant? The signals that you should pursue category creation Lessons learned from being a CMO Download a free excerpt from his book Amazon link to book

Subscribe | Transcript | Comment The Episode in 60 Seconds Welcome to Studio CMO, the podcast full of real-life conversations about the B2B tech marketing issues that leaders care about the most. Golden Spiral, a B2B tech marketing agency and consultancy, began Studio CMO to bring to light the marketing challenges and victories in the fintech, healthtech, cybersecurity, and business intelligence marketplaces. We also want to showcase the best, brightest, and most creative leaders in the space. Our three core tenants: We must understand the perspective and problems our customers face. With that empathetic understanding, we must lead the way. Always make the customer the hero. Show Notes We don’t expect you to trust us… yet. All we’re asking for is a chance to earn your trust. John Farkas hosts the podcast. John is the CEO and Chief Storyteller of Golden Spiral. He began the agency nearly a decade ago. Read more from John | Discover Golden Spiral | LinkedIn Angus Nelson builds relationships as Director of Development for Golden Spiral. Angus has spent time in non-profit leadership, influencer marketing, and so much more. Read more from Angus | LinkedIn Mark Whitlock works as Executive Producer for Studio CMO and Marketing Manager for Golden Spiral. He’s spent his career divided between broadcasting and book publishing. Read more from Mark | LinkedIn Our theme is created by some of Nashville's greatest musicians. Check out their production library and explore their custom options at humanmusic.com.  

Host Aaron interviews his inspiration, Will Boyd, about why doubling down on paid digital advertising is a smart move because of its retargeting capability. Show highlights: 05:00 - Will's story in transitioning from Physical Therapist to a coach and digital marketer for physical therapists 11:30 - How no formal marketing background can be an advantage in forward-leaning tactics 13:00 - Will gives his thesis on Facebook advertising 17:00 - Getting beyond the sponsored post with the FB Tracking Pixel and LinkedIn Insight Tag 21:00 - Rules and Ethics in advertising to your customers 27:00 - The power of ethical retargeting 33:00 - Will talks about wins for his customers with Healthy Funnel

We are excited to have Andrew Savage of LimeBike with us in the studio, fresh off of their investment by Alphabet and partnership with Uber. LimeBike is at the forefront of addressing the “last mile” issue: 60 percent of trips people take in vehicles are under one mile and 40 percent of these trips are under 2 miles, yet our cities have been built around making those trips by personal automobile. We know those trips aren’t efficient, aren’t good for the environment and create tons of congestion. Tune in for Andrew’s view on the “last mile” and more in the mobility space. The relationship between mobility technology companies and public transit agencies: "We have a very large program in Dallas, we’ve been working with DART, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, in the Bay Area we’ve been working with BART and Caltrain, we think there’s an incredible synergy between the work that we’re doing, which is the sort of microtransit, and the work of mass transit. And bringing those two things together, we really think we can solve the urban problem of the first and last mile." What’s driving the popularity of electric scooters: "Electric scooters are really interesting, we have a charging program where in many markets, up to 80% of our scooters are being charged in a crowd-sourced way from people within the community, so we will pay people to pick up the scooters at the end of the night, we’ll have an app for that side of the business, and we’ll pay them to be what we call “juicers”, and they go home, plug in 1, 2, 5 or 10 scooters and then redeploy them with our guidance and guidelines the next day, so we, for a major part of our operation, will be able to use folks within the community and actually that’s additional resources in the community’s pockets as well." Safety and rideshares: "Safety is a top priority for us. We have a lot of information on our product in our app and website on how to operate scooters and bikes safely, wearing helmets, choosing the right place to ride. I think an important conversation that we have with city leaders is, how can we give you data so that we can show you where protected lanes would be most beneficial, and how can we show you where people are turning left and turning right in the community where you actually could add infrastructure improvements to make riding and scooting safer." Andrew’s journey to Lime as an entrepreneur in the cleantech space: "I did do a stint on Capitol Hill where I was working on energy and cleantech issues as well as in communications, two years during the Bush administration and two years during the Obama administration, so very fascinating times. I spent the beginning time of my career working both in politics and in government and then shifted over to the cleantech space working as a Chief Strategy Officer for a solar company and I came into this current position a little bit by chance. I was actually looking for positions in solar and stumbled across Toby and Brad, who prior to starting Lime were thinking about what kind of team do we need to put together to make this a success. We jumped in together, I moved out to the Bay Area from Vermont, and here we are." LimeBike and Uber’s strategic partnership: "The Uber partnership is particularly exciting because what it will allow us to do is access and be available to far more people, more ubiquitously in cities across the US and increase internationally. As we expand internationally across Europe and other parts of the world, it’s more exciting because people can now go on the uber app and decide whether they should take a car or a scooter, what we’ve found is that if you’re downtown in the city and you open up Google Maps and look at the drive time of a mile and a half trip, you’re actually going to find that being on a bike or scooter is much faster than a car. So we are really excited for this partnership because we think people will realize how valuable it is, how much lower cost it is and how efficient it is and the environment implications as well." Andrew’s vision for smart regulatory action within the transportation industry: "We view the idea of saying “you can put X number of scooters or bikes in the community as sort of an absolute number”, as really a backwards approach. You never see that regarding cars. So let’s cap the number of cars in a community before we cap the number of bikes. We are nowhere near the need, or nowhere near the saturation of what we would need in the community to solve the problems, so either no cap or a dynamic cap, and what that means is if we have bikes and scooters being widely used, being used multiple times a day by people in the community, let’s not cap it until it gets to the point where there are enough." "We actually do like minimum numbers of fleet size, because without a minimum number you really can’t operate an effective and efficient system. You won’t have the operations staff on the ground to be able to run a good program, so we do think a minimum makes more sense than a type of cap. One other thing we work with cities on is performance standards around operations and our response time, those are all things we can do, we actually work proactively with a number of 311 system within cities, so that we could tap right into their systems and be as responsive as possible, so it’s not that hard to think about what are responsible regulations, and we think cities are going to get there." The role of transportation in increasing economic equality: "The equity component of what we are doing is a critical part of our mission and is one we’ve been able to really demonstrate work, so a perfect example is we’ve been in Seattle for a year, we’ve had a million rides in Seattle last year, we’ve replaced a dock-based program up there, and that dock based program was available like most programs only to downtown, the financial district, the wealthy neighborhoods or tourism locations. That’s not where most people live, that’s not where low income people live."

Introducing Raising Your Antenna, a B2B tech podcast that explores the latest trends and news shaping the B2B technology industry. Hosted by Keith Zakheim, CEO of Antenna Group, the podcast features technology experts and thought leaders from across the cleantech, sustainability, life sciences, mobility, and emerging technology sectors. For the inaugural episode, we’re discussing all things energy storage with the incredible Pat Sapinsley, a renowned clean technology expert and industry thought leader, currently the managing director of Cleantech Initiatives at the Urban Future Lab. In conversation, Pat and Keith touch upon the origin of Urban Future Lab, Pat’s perspective on the cleantech venture capital landscape, and the implications of advances in battery technology on the storage industry and grid ecosystem. What Makes Urban Future Labs Approach to Startups Different: “One of the reasons we’ve had such great success is because we vet them so well coming in, we have a 93% survival rate since 2009 of companies we’ve incubated, that’s exactly the opposite of what happens in the startup world in the United States,” compared to 10-15% of startups on average." The Impact of Federal, State and Local Policy: New York As An Energy Storage Hotbed: “We are helped by a dollar commitment that the governor has made, NYSERDA is putting 260 million dollars towards this, 200 million through Green Bank lending, and 60 million for pilots that NYSERDA will pay for directly, so that’s going to push us forward to the goals we need to get too.” Pat’s Perspective: Energy Startups to Watch Brenmiller HighviewGo Electric Voltaiq What Does the Next Generation of Energy Storage Look Like? The Importance of Transparency and Analytics: “If you are a grid operator and you want to purchase one of these battery technologies, it’s very hard to compare Vanadium flow to lithium-ion because the metrics they’re giving are different.” Lithium Vs. Alternative Chemistry Batteries: “I don’t want to bet on one [alternative chemistry] but they are coming along. I see them get more and more mature and less expensive every year. There’s one out of Tufts University that is very promising right now and one out of MIT that’s also very promising. For these, it’ll be a few years, but in the meantime, we have things like Brenmiller and Highview