Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers

*listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA Anthony Kennada is a B2C marketer trapped in a B2B body (I can SO relate). I met Anthony through Pavilion where he was teaching a course in CMO School about how and why companies are increasingly becoming media companies. Anthony is co-founder and CEO at AudiencePlus where the team is building software, content, and community to help every company become a media company. Prior to AudiencePlus, Anthony was CMO of Hopin and Front. He's worked at Box, LiveOffice and Symantec. Anthony was the founding CMO at Gainsight where he and the team created the Customer Success category and fueled the company’s growth from $0 to $100M+ ARR, and eventual acquisition by Vista Equity at a $1.1B valuation. Here's what we hit on: Why are companies increasingly becoming "media companies," why it's easier today more than ever and will continue into the future; Why gating content is no longer necessary or preferred; Instead of gating content, what can companies do instead (HINT: emails are important so you do need emails, you just need a better way for people to share their email address); "Community-led marketing" - what's all the fuss, let's define what this means and explain how this works and how can early stage startups leverage this marketing play; You gotta hook them on social media with video clips (demand creation) then bring them back to your website (demand capture) - but how to best run this play and who's doing this well; Why engagement with your company's content is an important leading indicator to EVERY business outcome (e.g. sale, renewal, expansion, adoption, etc.) and not just a TOF strategy; Anthony shares more about building AudiencePlus; At the very end, Anthony asks me his burning question. You can find Anthony on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/akennada/ Find out more about AudiencePlus: https://www.audienceplus.com/ This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review. And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. GTM bootcamp for EdTech Founders (sign up for the next cohort) >> https://gofuelsales.com/edtech-bootcamp/ 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

*listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show for ya: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA Oftentimes you'll hear marketers hating on cold outbound - it's not efficient, it's spammy, etc. And sometimes they're right. But what is truly the best approach?  So I brought on a long-time friend and (now) business partner Daniel O'Reilly (aka Dano) to help set the record straight. He's CEO and Founder of Fuel Sales and FuelK12. He's got a TON of sales experience -- 30+ years to be more exact. Dano and I met back in 2018 at Elevate K-12 and now we're running the Edtech Founders GTM Bootcamp together.  Dano is one of the few sales leaders I know that understands marketing and the interplay between sales and marketing to impact business growth. Here's what we hit on: Dano's got 40 SDRs working the phones, email, and LinkedIn outbound cadences and seeing good results. But many people show hate for cold outbound. Why is that, and what's the best approach; What makes someone a really good SDR (and not spammy); We discuss how paid ads and SDR outreach can have some similarities, here's the link to the LI post I mention; How does Dano help SDRs transition from inside Fuel Sales and integrate well within companies; What's the best approach to align marketing + sales to amplify business impact. You can find Dano on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/danoreilly/ Find out more about the EdTech Founders GTM Bootcamp: https://gofuelsales.com/edtech-bootcamp/ This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months! For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review. And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. GTM bootcamp for EdTech Founders (sign up for the next cohort) >> https://gofuelsales.com/edtech-bootcamp/ 3. (NEW) Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

*listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA I had the pleasure of bringing Latané Conant onto the show. She's pretty amazing and let me tell you why. Latané is CMO at 6sense (4+ years). Prior, she held sales and marketing leadership roles at Appirio (B2B SaaS, raised $111.7M in funding). She wrote a book called "No Forms, No Spam, No Cold Calls" (I read it, you should check it out). She's big on pushing the boundaries in B2B marketing which I love. We didn't get to cover everything during this episode so I'll be bringing her back on again soon. 6sense was founded in 2013, has 1,256 people, and is based out of San Francisco, CA. They've raised Series E ($200M total). The 6sense mantra: you can’t guess your way to quota. For sales and marketing teams, 6sense uses AI to capture anonymous buying signals, targets the right accounts at the ideal time, and recommends the channels and messages to boost revenue performance. Here's what we hit on: What made you decide to write your book (HINT: customer and prospect experiences); What steps have you taken to really nail sales+marketing alignment at 6sense (HINT: I don't care where it's sourced from, I'm going to make sure we hit our numbers); If you're thinking like a salesperson, how do you hold true to marketing mindset vs. fall into sales mode (they're different disciplines); What's your recommendation for early stage startups that don't have a lot of data points and can't rely on trends analysis to make decisions. You can find Latané on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/latane-conant/ Find out more about 6sense: https://6sense.com/ This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review. And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. GTM bootcamp for EdTech Founders (sign up for the next cohort) >> https://gofuelsales.com/edtech-bootcamp/ 3. (NEW) Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

*listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA When I asked Tyler to join me on the show, I thought I was bringing on a marketing leader from a video company (true) but I was also bringing on an amateur comedian, plus video expert, plus all around great personality and person to talk with! Tyler Lessard is VP of Marketing and Chief Video Strategist at Vidyard (8+ years). Prior, Tyler was CMO at Fixmo (a mobile security startup) and held leadership roles at Blackberry (10+ years). Vidyard was founded in 2011 and has 300+ people. They've raised $75.7M total funding. Vidyard is virtual sales made human. The easiest way to create, host, and share videos so you can keep connecting with customers and colleagues. Here's what we hit on: How has being an amateur comedian helped shape your career as a marketer (HINT: only use comedy if you're selling to humans); What are your top customers doing with video (HINT: LinkedIn is where ADULTS watch TikToks); Where do people go wrong with creating video content as part of their marketing strategy; Your marketing strategy during this downturn - where are you putting your dollars, where are you spending time and energy (HINT: we're investing more in PLG programs and growing our base of users); What marketing channels and content are you leaning into; Top marketing challenges; What are the last 1-2 really good, creative marketing ideas you/your team has come up with; What are some goals you want to accomplish (personal, professional) in 2022. You can reach Tyler on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tylerlessard/ Find out more about Vidyard: www.vidyard.com/ This episode is sponsored by UMSO, the website builder for startups. Visit umso.com/MSM to learn more and use the code MSM20 for a 20% discount on your first three months. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:   1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com   2. (NEW) GTM bootcamp for EdTech Founders (sign up for the next cohort) >> https://gofuelsales.com/edtech-bootcamp/    3. (NEW) Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

*listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show! https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA In this episode I’m getting interviewed by Nelson Gilliat (Founder of the Marketing-Led Growth™️ movement and community modernizing and liberating B2B from Sales-Led Growth from the 1980s).  Nelson wrote a book called Marketing-Led Growth via the Buyer Centric Revenue Model. He’s been advocating for a more Modern B2B Marketing and Sales model built for today, not 40 years ago. Main topics we cover: First I put my B2B buyer flip flops on to talk about the kind of buyer experience I enjoy (vs. don’t enjoy); Then I put my on my Marketing hat and we talk about what’s broken with the system today; We also talk about proper, modern, non-spam marketing (which I love). Check out his website: www.buyercentricrevenue.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! People call me (Anna) the Marie Kondo of startup marketing because I help VC backed early stage startups clean up their marketing mess to uncover more joy (and revenue). For those startups that have already built their marketing foundation and have been testing different marketing plays but just aren't satisfied with the traction they're seeing, I created the Marketing Audit + Roadmap offering. At the end of your audit, you’ll get a custom Roadmap with improvement opportunities for the next 3-6 months. So that you can finally put the missing pieces in place to start seeing more traction and stop spending time and money on the wrong things. You can learn more about it by visiting my website: www.furmanovmarketing.com/pricing You can also connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

*hey listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA HubSpot's INBOUND conference took place a couple weeks ago so I invited one of their speakers, Sarah Breathnach (Head of Demand Generation at Hunters, she was also on my show before this but that episode hasn't released yet) to jam on some of the highlights and topics covered during the conference. Of course our conversation took some winding turns! That's the point of these shorter unfiltered episodes and that's what makes them so fun to do and share. Here's the link to HubSpot's new community that Sarah mentioned in the episode: https://connect.com/ For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! People call me (Anna) the "Marie Kondo of startup marketing" because I help VC backed early stage startups clean up their marketing mess to uncover more joy (and revenue). For those startups that have already built their marketing foundation and have been testing different marketing plays but just aren't satisfied with the traction they're seeing, I created the Marketing Audit + Roadmap offering. At the end of your audit, you’ll get a custom Roadmap with improvement opportunities for the next 3-6 months. So that you can finally put the missing pieces in place to start seeing more traction and stop spending time and money on the wrong things. You can learn more about it by visiting my website: www.furmanovmarketing.com/pricing You can also find me regularly posting on LinkedIn and join the convo: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

*listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA Guys, you're gonna love this episode. I finally got to bring on Pete Lorenco (VP of Marketing at Alyce) to join me on the show. I'm a big fan and you'll soon be too. Prior to Alyce, Pete was VP of Marketing at Avid Technology (a public company) and several other enterprise companies including Iron Mountain and EMC (prior to their acquisition by Dell). Alyce was founded in 2015, has 174 people and is based out of Boston, MA. They've raised Series B funding ($46M total). Alyce provides a better way to do outbound B2B marketing by transforming from transactional touch-points to delivering personal experiences using gifting, swag, and direct mail. Here's what we hit on: I had Dan Frohnen (former CMO at Sendoso) on the show, Episode 16, and we talked about gifting. There are other players in the space, how do you compete; How does gifting work effectively within the buyer journey; Some people will not agree with our POV and why that's a good thing; How is outbound broken today, and what should we do about it; Why certain goals matter in order to create an experience people will love, and what those goals should be; At Alyce you’re sourcing 70% of total new logo pipeline & revenue from inbound marketing - what's your 2022 marketing plan; What channels are you leaning into; How're you setting up effective ABM at Alyce, from your target list of accounts to winning deals; What are your top marketing challenges; What are the last 1-2 really good, creative marketing ideas you/your team has come up with. You can reach Pete on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/peter-lorenco Find out more about Alyce: www.alyce.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! People call me (Anna) the Marie Kondo of startup marketing because I help VC backed early stage startups clean up their marketing mess to uncover more joy (and revenue). For those startups that have already built their marketing foundation and have been testing different marketing plays but just aren't satisfied with the traction they're seeing, I created the Marketing Audit + Roadmap offering. At the end of your audit, you’ll get a custom Roadmap with improvement opportunities for the next 3-6 months. So that you can finally put the missing pieces in place to start seeing more traction and stop spending time and money on the wrong things. You can learn more about it by visiting my website: www.furmanovmarketing.com/pricing You can find me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

*listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA Milestone Episode! I asked Gil Eyal (Founder of Stardust Ventures) to come back and talk with me on the show about startup celebrity partnerships which happens to be a very fascinating topic. In general we talk a lot about and even implement some of the (micro) influencer marketing strategies but I bet you never thought about working with a well-known celebrity to help grow your startup. Stardust invests in early stage consumer startups that want to leverage celebrities to grow their brand. Gil is a long-time friend I met back in business school and was my very first guest on the podcast (Episode 1!) so go back and listen to that one if ya missed it. It's still one of my more popular episodes. In THIS episode we hit on: What makes celebrity partnerships with startups so effective; How does it work; How much do startups pay celebrities; What KPIs are startups looking at; As a startup that wants to partner with a celebrity, where do you even start; In what ways does working with micro-influencers differ from a celebrity collaboration. You can reach Gil on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gileyal/ Check out Stardust Ventures: www.stardustventures.us For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! People call me (Anna) the "Marie Kondo of startup marketing" because I help VC backed early stage startups clean up their marketing mess to uncover more joy (and revenue). For those startups that have already built their marketing foundation and have been testing different marketing plays but just aren't satisfied with the traction they're seeing, I created the Marketing Audit + Roadmap offering. At the end of your audit, you’ll get a custom Roadmap with improvement opportunities for the next 3-6 months. So that you can finally put the missing pieces in place to start seeing more traction and stop spending time and money on the wrong things. You can learn more about it by visiting my website: www.furmanovmarketing.com/pricing You can also find me regularly posting on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

*listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA Here's a TikTok video I made for LinkedIn this week, also sharing with my listeners on here. I'm launching the new EdTech Founders Go-To-Market bootcamp next week (together with Dano who I worked with previously) in case you're an EdTech founder and listening and interested. Companies like Seesaw, Branching Minds, Pear Deck, Yoga Ed, Thimble, Graspable Math, Marker Learning and more have loved the program but it was very sales-focused so now we're adding the marketing side to round it out. Classes start Sept 14th, running for 7 weeks.  90-min sessions plus 1 on 1 time.  You'll get homework and resources. You can learn more and apply by going to the website.  For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! People call me (Anna) the "Marie Kondo of startup marketing" because I help VC backed early stage startups clean up their marketing mess to uncover more joy (and revenue). For those startups that have already built their marketing foundation and have been testing different marketing plays but just aren't satisfied with the traction they're seeing, I created the Marketing Audit + Roadmap offering. At the end of your audit, you’ll get a custom Roadmap with improvement opportunities for the next 3-6 months. So that you can finally put the missing pieces in place to start seeing more traction and stop spending time and money on the wrong things. You can learn more about it by visiting my website: www.furmanovmarketing.com/pricing You can also find me regularly posting on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov

Happy Labor Day to my US listeners! *listeners: please fill out this short 3-min. survey to help me level up the show: https://forms.gle/iporNXSgtfuoHSPJA On this episode I invited Frankie Scerbo (co-founder and CMO at Elude) to join me to talk about the cool travel startup he's helping to grow, their 2022 marketing plan, creative ideas, some challenges, and favorite places to travel. Prior to Elude, Frankie was West Coast Regional Director for EON, a hardware accessory company for the gaming tech industry. Elude was founded in 2019, has 21 people and is based out of CA. They've raised Seed funding ($7.1M total). Elude is the app that helps you wander more and wonder less. You might be wondering “where could we go for $600?” and the app helps you answer that question with a personalized trip list based on your travel preferences and goals. Here's what we hit on: Where did the idea for the startup come from; 10K+ followers on Instagram and 25K+ downloads in the app store within your first 2 weeks of launching – how’d you do that; What did your social media look and feel like; 2022 Marketing Plan - where are you putting your dollars (HINT: downloads and revenue comes much easier from Instagram and email and WOM - events); Our influencer strategy and what content they're sharing; Top marketing challenges; Creative marketing ideas ("The Boring Campaign); Favorite places to travel; Goals that Frankie wants to accomplish this year; Frankie asked me a question to round out the conversation. You can reach Frankie on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/frankie-scerbo-bba2ba81/ Find out more about Elude: https://elude.co/ For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! People call me (Anna) the Marie Kondo of startup marketing because I help VC backed early stage startups clean up their marketing mess to uncover more joy (and revenue). For those startups that have already built their marketing foundation and have been testing different marketing plays but just aren't satisfied with the traction they're seeing, I created the Marketing Audit + Roadmap offering. At the end of your audit, you’ll get a custom Roadmap with improvement opportunities for the next 3-6 months. So that you can finally put the missing pieces in place to start seeing more traction and stop spending time and money on the wrong things. You can learn more about it by visiting my website: www.furmanovmarketing.com/pricing You can find me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov