Marketing Spark (The B2B SaaS Marketing Podcast)

Sales is a combination of art and science. The best salespeople combine personality, insight, research and time to engage people and convince them to make purchases. In this episode of Marketing Spark, SellX's Steve Schmidt talks about: - How salespeople should operate given the economic landscape - What makes for a great sales person beyond sales - How sales and marketing can work together effectively - The biggest mistakes made by salespeople on LinkedIn  - Why Steve has enthusiastically embraced TikTok - The link between sales and demand generation.

Consultants get a bad rap. They're seen as people who like telling other people what to do, but they don't do the actual work. But consultants can play a key role in helping companies fill gaps and seize opportunities. The right consultant at the right time can deliver huge ROI. On the Marketing Spark podcast, I talk with Faheem Moosa, who helps consultants drive higher revenue. Faheem and I look at the consulting landscape amid volatile economic times, the role of content in marketing and sales, and the keys to launching a successful consulting business. If you're a consulting, thinking about getting into the business, or looking to hire a consultant, Faheem delivers great insight.

Words are powerful. They make as much an impact as video, photos, and audio. But words and writing are often under-appreciated, particularly by people who aren't writers or marketers.  In this episode of the Marketing Spark podcast, Sam Howard talks about why words matter and best practices for using them to drive Website conversions. Sam embraces a research-driven copywriting approach involving interviews with employees, customers and a competitive audit. We talk about: Whether copy or design should come first when developing a Website Best practices for copy and structure of homepages Three killers tips for Website conversions How to create better CTAs, demo pages, and About pages.

What a difference a year makes for B2B Saas entrepreneurs. In 2021, business was booming, venture capital was flowing, and the focus was customer acquisition and growth. Today, the economic landscape is bumpy, venture capital has evaporated, and customer retention is paramount. In this episode of Marketing Spark, Lately.ai CEO Kate Bradley Chernis talks about her professional challenges and how she's navigating the B2B SaaS waters. She also talks about Lately's struggles to raise venture capital and Lately's bootstrapped approach to marketing.

Typeform is one of the world's best-known and most popular tools for creating online forms and surveys. Armed with $135 million in Series C financing, the Barcelona-based company is aggressively expanding its marketing activities to drive brand awareness and cement its industry leadership. In this episode of Marketing Spark, Typeform CMO Carrie Sanderson talks about: - How Typeform works to ensure that its positioning and messaging stay fresh, relevant, and current - How to deal with the realities of the Dark Web and Dark Social given a lot of activities can't be quantified. - How it conducts market research to identify new competitors and challengers. - How Typeform plans to better leverage LinkedIn. - Her biggest accomplishments over the past year and plans to make more people and businesses aware of Typeform.

For all the focus on data, messaging (and positioning) is crucial for companies looking to connect with prospects and customers. If you cannot talk about your product and why it matters clearly, it's like operating with one hand tied behind your back. In this episode of Marketing Spark, Diane Wiredu talks about how to develop messaging, the deliverables (more than a document or guide) and how to quantify the success of messaging engagements. We also talk about the difference between messaging and position

As B2B SaaS sales become more challenging, demand gen can be an important way for companies to attract, educate, encourage, and nurture prospects. In this episode of Marketing Spark, Chris Roche talks about the benefits of demand gen and how companies can get started or ramp up their efforts. We also talk about how B2B SaaS brands can leverage LinkedIn and experiment with TikTok.

Over the last couple of years, the fractional CMO (FCMO) has been gaining momentum as companies look for marketing leadership without hiring a full-time and expensive resource. As a fractional CMO, I've been seeing more interest and more people embracing the title. In this episode of Marketing Spark, I talk with David Poulos, a fractional CMO, about why there is growing interest, when and why to hire a FCMO, how to establish the rules of engagement, and how long a FCMO should stick around. 

What's it like to operate a red-hot startup? What's it like to raise $56-million in venture capital in a relatively short period of time? In this episode of Marketing Spark, Walnut.io CEO Yoav Vilner talks about the interactive demo software company's rapid growth and how it raised major venture capital, including a $35 million Series B round in January. Yoav and I also talked about: - How B2B SaaS companies can attract their first 100 customers - When sales teams should be scaled. - When to hire your first full-time marketer and what type of marketer to hire - The new world of networking.

When should a B2B SaaS company change its pricing and how often should it happen? How do free trials and freemium play within the pricing equation? In this episode of Marketing Spark, Dan Balcauski and I explore the pricing landscape. We look at who should be responsible for pricing, know when prices have to be increased and know when your pricing is working. Pricing may not get the attention it deserves so Dan has great insight into its role and how to think about it.