Marketing Spark (The B2B SaaS Marketing Podcast)

In marketing, nothing is guaranteed. Sometimes, it’s about taking risks and leaps of faith. In a data-driven world, data doesn’t deliver all the answers. Marketing is an unpredictable and often surprising creature. Last year, a lot of B2B wanted to de-risk marketing. They pulled back on spending, chopped staff, and counted every dollar. But that approach only works for so long. At some point, you need to get back in the game and take risks to succeed. On the Marketing Spark podcast, Mano Guiragossian talks about how he has navigated the risk journey with clients.

For people who spend a lot of time focused on a particular topic or area of interest, the idea of writing a book is appealing. It's a great way to demonstrate thought leadership, attract a bigger audience, and get speaking gigs. But Juliet Clark says writing a business book isn't for everyone, particularly if you don't have a large audience. Clark, who helps authors self-publish their books, says writing a book isn't for everyone. It takes a lot of work, not only to write a book but, as important, promote it. From personal experience, writing a book is a labor of love. The ROI is being able to differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace.

It used to be that marketing and sales meant jumping on airplanes to meet prospects and clients. Many people didn't think twice about flying hundreds of miles to a meeting and returning the same day. At one time, Andrew Deutsch was a hard-core road warrior. He flew as much as 300,000 miles a year. Andrew visited a lot of places but eventually decided it was an unsustainable lifestyle. Today, Andrew does most of its selling and from home via Zoom or virtual conferences. On the Marketing Spark podcast, Andrew and I talk about the new age of sales and marketing, and how new in-person business activities could emerge post-COVID.

How’s Clubhouse going to make money? Given the platform’s growth, it’s a fascinating question. Of course, Clubhouse has time given it just raised more VC. But, at some point, Clubhouse will embrace monetization. Mallory Lee says the possibilities are endless. She believes the options include: - Advertising - Sponsored rooms - Private rooms for companies looking to connect employees via audio rather than video Personally, I think podcasting a huge opportunity for Clubhouse.

Every company wants its marketing to drive leads, sales, and ROI. But marketing can be an up and down situation. Sometimes, marketing works. Sometimes, it doesn't. On this episode of the podcast, Yaag Ganesh talks about why revenue marketing is an approach that ROI and predictability.  It's about focusing on marketing that works and then developing structures and workflows to "shampoo, rinse, and repeat." Yaag and I also talked about: - The rise of Clubhouse and why he's been spending a lot of time on the audio-only platform - Building a personal brand as an international marketer.

How much content do you consume? Most of us probably overdose on reading, watching, and listening to content. There’s so much great content available that it’s hard to resist. I would argue that most of us need to be more structured, disciplined, and focused. Nemanja Zivkovic has an interesting approach. He’s on a “content diet”. Nemanja consumes content selectively and judiciously and relies on a few go-to resources but tries to stay above the fray. It allows him to be strategic about content consumption as opposed to gorging out at the content buffet.

Marketers love chasing, engaging, and nurturing prospects. Marketers love MQLs and revelling in sexy metrics how about well they are performing. But once a prospect turns into a customer, marketers move on to the next shiny prospect. A customer becomes the responsibility of customer success or customer service. Linda Komisak, CEO of Upturn Consultants, believes this is the wrong approach. Not marketing to customers, she says, means you're: - not making enough of an effort to keep them happy and loyal - not educating to get more value from your product - not creating opportunities to expand their business with you. In this Marketing Spark podcast, Linda talks about how marketing to customers matters and why "trusted advisors" play a key role in making sure customers are served properly. 

LinkedIn's 2020 was stunning; more than 60 million+ additional users and its emergence as a truly social platform featuring content, connections, and conversations. Like a lot of people, Liam Darmody jumped hard into LinkedIn last year. You only have to look at the 530+ posts that he published to understand his enthusiasm. In this episode of Marketing Spark, Liam and I talk about how and why LinkedIn changed last year, how he approaches the platform from a content and connection perspective, and how LinkedIn will develop in 2021. It's a high-level, strategic conversation about a platform that many people discovered or rediscovered and, in the process, saw amazing ROI. If you're on LinkedIn, check out Liam's recently launched LinkedInthusiasts! page.

At a time when conferences are not happening and salespeople can't meet with prospects, marketing has become a key revenue engine. A growing number of B2B and SaaS leaders are realizing that marketing can effectively attract, engage, and nurture prospects. Marketing is no longer supporting sales but driving sales. And, in the process, marketing is getting more respects and budget. In this episode of Marketing Spark, Shiv Narayanan gets into the different roles that marketing is playing. We explore the growing importance of content marketing and how CMOs and CFOs need to establish close working relationships.

As B2B and SaaS companies scramble to leverage virtual events, many people are looking to become better and more engaging virtual speakers. These are people who thrive at in-person events but now they have to present digitally. There's no stage and no audience sitting in front of them. Now, that's a huge challenge. Andrew Churchill has seen his consulting business explode as more people look to become better, more dynamic virtual speakers. In this episode of Marketing Spark, Andrew talks about the tricks and techniques that speakers need to deploy to keep people focused, interested, and interacting. One good piece of advice is to stand up when presenting virtually rather than sitting down. It's simple but, when you think about it, makes a lot of sense.