Humans of Martech

Lourenço Mello, Product Marketing Lead at Snowflake, dives into the future of marketing data. He discusses the powerful concept of data gravity, which streamlines operations by bringing applications closer to data. He highlights the significance of mastering data quality to outpace competitors. Trends like AI advancements and privacy challenges are reshaping the marketing landscape. Lourenço also shares insights on the collaborative potential of AI in marketing technology, emphasizing the importance of adaptable data architectures in a fragmented ecosystem.

Rutger Katz, a GTM Operations Consultant and founder of NEON Triforce, shares valuable insights on Lean methodology in marketing. He discusses how eliminating waste can enhance efficiency and drive conversions. Rutger also highlights the challenges in aligning marketing with sales and the importance of a streamlined tech stack. He addresses the complexity of MarTech systems and advocates for a composable strategy enhanced by AI. His journey from neuroscience to MarTech consulting illustrates the need for continuous improvement and effective collaboration.

Jared DeLuca, Director of Operations at Appcues, shares his fascinating journey from demand generation to operations and front-end development. He discusses integrating demo bookings into products and the key differences between ops and rev ops. Jared dives into the advantages of AI tools for marketing, exploring machine learning in campaigns and the importance of data management with modern CRM systems. He also emphasizes the significance of operational synergy between marketing and sales teams, showcasing how adaptability is crucial in the rapidly evolving martech landscape.

Ron Jacobson, Co-founder and CEO of Rockerbox, discusses the nuanced world of marketing attribution. He explains how multi-touch attribution serves as a credit distribution tool but fails at determining true causality. Incrementality testing is highlighted as a superior method to identify what drives conversions. Ron emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions in measurement and stresses the need for first-party data, especially as third-party cookies diminish. He also shares insights on balancing professional challenges with parenting.

Join Erin Foxworthy, Industry Lead at Snowflake, as she navigates the evolving landscape of marketing technology, adtech, and AI. She reveals how first-party data is becoming crucial in a privacy-conscious world and discusses the implications of Google's cookie rollback. Erin challenges marketers to move beyond traditional APIs toward data sharing and a unified data layer, emphasizing the importance of blending creativity with data-driven strategies. Dive into the future of advertising, where collaboration between marketers and data engineers reshapes the industry.

What’s up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Liam Moroney, Co-Founder of Storybook Marketing. Summary: Liam handed us warm tea and one of his hand-knitted beanies as we explored how marketing goes beyond just hitting pipeline numbers. It’s about building trust, shaping perceptions, and ensuring your brand is top-of-mind when it matters. Balancing short-term wins with long-term brand-building is crucial, yet often misunderstood. Clear communication and a broader approach to measuring impact are key. For startups, focusing on trust and credibility lays the foundation for success. Marketing’s true power lies in creating a lasting impact that drives real decisions.About LiamLiam started his career in various industries wearing several different marketing hatsEventually he landed at NewsCred, a content marketing agency for enterprise teams where he started leading Demand Gen before shifting to client side and advising clients on attribution and ROIHe then had Revenue Marketing leadership stints at various startups across different industries like personalization, travel, mobile and identity verificationHe then started his entrepreneurial journey by founding a consulting firm for growth-stage B2B companiesLiam is also a contributing writer at Martech.org and recently started his own podcast called The B2B BrandToday Liam is the co-founder of Storybook Marketing, a full-service demand gen agency for B2B SaaS specializing in paid media programsMarketing’s Role Beyond the PipelineMarketing, historically viewed as the "arts and crafts department," has evolved significantly. Yet, according to Liam, there’s a lingering misperception, particularly in B2B, that needs addressing. When asked about his concerns with marketing being reduced to a mere pipeline number, Liam didn’t shy away from dissecting the issue. It’s not about rejecting accountability—marketing should indeed own a number. The real problem lies in how we've overcorrected, narrowing the focus to such an extent that it undermines the broader role marketing plays.Liam points out that this shift in perception—driven by the need to demonstrate that marketing is a data-driven, outcome-producing function—has caused demand generation to become nearly synonymous with marketing. This reductionist view oversimplifies marketing’s contribution. When marketing is pigeonholed into a single metric, such as its share of the overall pipeline, it suggests that marketing is just another channel, responsible only for a fraction of the sales process. This perspective shortchanges the true purpose of marketing.Liam believes that marketing's ultimate goal is to make the sales process smoother and more efficient. When more people know about a product, believe in its value, and have confidence in its efficacy, selling becomes easier. Marketing should be responsible for influencing the entire pipeline, not just a portion of it. The role of marketing is to make deals faster, bigger, and more frequent. By restricting marketing’s scope to its contribution to the pipeline, we inadvertently diminish its impact.In B2C, marketing drives consumers directly to purchase. In B2B, it drives prospects into the sales process, partnering with salespeople to guide the purchase decision. While the dynamics differ, the overarching responsibility remains the same: marketing should facilitate the entire journey, not just the initial steps.Key takeaway: Marketing should not be reduced to a pipeline number. Its true value lies in its ability to influence and enhance the entire sales process, driving not just awareness but also belief, confidence, and ultimately, conversion.Balancing Short and Long-Term Marketing GoalsWhen asked about the perception that marketing hides behind long-term goals to avoid accountability, Liam was quick to dispel this myth. He argues that marketing isn’t unique in balancing both short and long-term objectives—many functions, like data science and financial advising, operate with a future-oriented perspective. Yet, marketing often faces undue scrutiny because it’s expected to produce immediate, tangible results each quarter.Liam acknowledges that some of this mistrust is self-inflicted. Marketing has, at times, oversold its capabilities and doubled down on being seen solely as a pipeline-generating function. This narrow focus has contributed to the misconception that marketing’s only job is to deliver immediate results. However, Liam emphasizes that marketing's true role is both long-term and short-term. The primary objective is to generate future customers by building awareness, while also activating efforts that yield results today.In B2B and B2C alike, successful marketing requires a dual approach. Brand awareness campaigns, for example, are designed to create a long-term impact by making more people aware of a product. Simultaneously, demand generation activities work to convert that awareness into action. The two functions are interdependent—effective demand gen relies on strong brand awareness, and vice versa.Liam draws an interesting parallel with B2C marketing, where the distinction between long and short-term strategies is often clearer. Brand campaigns might run over months or years to build awareness, while in-store promotions are designed to trigger immediate purchases. The same principles apply in B2B marketing, where demand gen efforts must be supported by a solid foundation of brand awareness. Without this balance, even the best demand gen strategies will falter.Key takeaway: Marketing must balance long-term brand building with short-term activation efforts. Success comes from integrating these approaches, ensuring that immediate demand generation is supported by strong brand awareness.Educating Leadership on the Value of Brand MarketingWhen marketers find themselves trapped by the constant demand for immediate pipeline results, it can be challenging to advocate for the long-term value of brand building. Liam addresses this issue head-on, acknowledging that while it’s easy to champion long-term thinking on platforms like LinkedIn, the reality for in-house marketers is different. Every marketer has targets to meet, and failure to hit those can lead to quick dismissal. However, Liam emphasizes that this doesn’t mean abandoning the long-term strategy—rather, it’s about balancing both while educating leadership on what brand marketing truly entails.Liam points out that part of the problem lies in a lack of education—both for marketers and the C-suite. Marketers need to articulate better what brand marketing is and how it contributes to the overall business objectives. However, the burden of education doesn’t end there. Liam advises against the common notion of only working for CEOs who "get" marketing, as those opportunities are rare. Instead, much of the work involves reeducating leaders on the role and impact of marketing.The key, according to Liam, is alignment with the sales team. If sales perceive that marketing isn’t contributing to their efforts, it can create friction that quickly undermines marketing’s initiatives. By engaging in conversations with sales, marketers can uncover the real challenges that hinder sales efforts. For instance, if sales teams find themselves consistently listed last in RFPs, it might indicate a brand awareness issue. Or, if there’s a widespread misconception about pricing, that points to a perception problem that marketing can address.By identifying these pain points and framing them as marketing challenges, marketers can gain the trust of their sales counterparts. This trust can, in turn, lead to greater permission to allocate resources toward long-term brand-building efforts. It’s not an overnight process, but Liam stresses that when done correctly,...

Benoit Leggieri, Head of Growth at Livestorm, shares insights from his impressive journey through growth marketing. He discusses how Livestorm’s martech stack, centered around Customer.io, drives personalized customer experiences and boosts conversions. Benoit highlights the efficiency of automated workflows and data-driven strategies for user engagement and retention. He also touches on optimizing outbound sales with nuanced email marketing and the importance of webinars in lead generation. Tune in for a vibrant discussion on crafting effective marketing workflows!

Pranav Piyush, Co-Founder and CEO at Paramark, delves into the pitfalls of multi-touch attribution, urging marketers to focus on genuine sales impact. He advocates for early-stage startups to prioritize simple geo-based testing over complex models, enabling intuitive experiments. Pranav emphasizes understanding customer motivations and highlights the significance of holdout tests and marketing mix modeling for effective strategies. As businesses grow, he suggests balancing intuition with structured analytics to transform marketing into a valuable investment.

What’s up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Jacqueline Freedman, CEO and Founder at Monarch Advisory Partners. Summary: Jacqueline straps on her jetpack and invites us to soar through the martech skies, teaching us how to navigate the journey of becoming an independent martech advisor. From hands-on execution tasks strategy and advisory projects and assembling a futuristic composable martech stack, we cover a lot of air miles. We navigate the build versus buy decision in martech, the realities of composable CDPs and embracing user-friendly modern marketing automation tools.About JacquelineJacqueline started her career in Account and relationship management before joining WeWork where she would eventually settle into a Global Engagement Marketing and Operations Manager role as the fifth marketing hire during the company’s hyper-growth She later joined an email and lifecycle growth agency as the 2nd team member and built out their NYC office where she worked with startups ranging from seed to series CShe then moved over to Grammarly as the founding Marketing Operations hire where she built out the B2B MOPs team and led their marketing technology stack to support their transition to a B2B2C companyAnd recently Jacqueline strapped on her jetpack and went out on her own as a solopreneur founding Monarch Advisory Partners, a full-stack Marketing Ops and Martech consultancyWhy Introspection is the Secret Weapon for Aspiring EntrepreneursJacqueline, reflecting on her transition from Grammarly to entrepreneurship, reveals the depth of her decision-making process. With a family history rooted in entrepreneurship, Jacqueline always envisioned herself running her own business. Observing her father and grandfather, she felt like she had a front-row seat to an MBA. This early exposure planted the seed of entrepreneurship, but it wasn’t until she recognized her unique skill set that she felt truly ready to take the plunge.The decision wasn’t impulsive. Jacqueline emphasized the role of introspection and reflection in her journey. She spent a year contemplating the right moment, fueled by her natural tendency to overthink. Through late nights and early mornings, she assessed her career achievements, from scaling WeWork during its prime to steering Grammarly’s shift to B2C. These experiences solidified her belief in her capabilities, leading her to recognize that she was ready for the entrepreneurial leap.Jacqueline’s courage was also bolstered by her practical approach. While at Grammarly, she had already begun advising several founders, driven by her passion for problem-solving rather than monetary gain. These conversations not only honed her skills but also provided a soft landing into entrepreneurship. By the time she officially launched her business, she had a lineup of clients ready, thanks to her reputation and the support of colleagues and partners who championed her abilities.Her journey highlights the importance of strategic preparation and the value of building a strong professional network. Jacqueline’s story is a testament to how a combination of introspection, practical experience, and a supportive community can make a significant career transition smoother and more successful.Key takeaway: Use introspection to identify your unique skills and career achievements. Reflecting on these aspects will not only boost your confidence but also clarify your readiness for major career changes, like transitioning to entrepreneurship.How TV Dramatization Barely Scratches WeWork's RealityWhen asked about the accuracy of the WeWork TV show "WeCrashed" on Apple TV, Jacqueline offered a candid perspective. Having watched all the content related to WeWork, she noted that "WeCrashed" starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway, came closest to capturing the essence of the events. However, she emphasized that the series only scratched the surface of what truly transpired.Jacqueline explained that while the series contained a kernel of truth, the actual events at WeWork were far more intense. Everything depicted in the show was amplified tenfold in reality. This amplification was very much in line with WeWork's brand, known for its high-energy and sometimes chaotic environment. She described her experience of watching the dramatization as somewhat PTSD-inducing due to its accuracy in portraying the underlying ethos of WeWork.Despite the dramatization, Jacqueline found it fascinating and somewhat validating to see the story unfold on screen. The series succeeded in conveying the core truth of WeWork's journey, even if it couldn't fully encapsulate the extremities of the real-life scenarios. For Jacqueline, revisiting those memories through the show was a mixed experience, balancing between validation and the resurfacing of intense memories.Her insights underscore the dramatic nature of WeWork’s history and how media adaptations, while engaging, often have to simplify or condense reality. For viewers, it’s a reminder that behind the scenes, the stories of such companies are often more complex and multifaceted than any series can fully capture.Key takeaway: Jacqueline noted that while "WeCrashed" captured the essence of WeWork, it only scratched the surface of the true events, which were far more intense. The dramatization, though somewhat accurate and PTSD-inducing, validated the chaotic environment of WeWork. However, she emphasized that media adaptations often simplify the complexities of real-life scenarios.How to Become a Martech AdvisorBalancing Hands On Execution Projects vs Strategic AdviceJacqueline addresses the nuanced demands of clients in marketing operations (MOPs). While she shares a passion for every facet of MOPs, she acknowledges a point in her career where hands-on tasks like copywriting and sending emails no longer align with her long-term vision. This shift towards focusing on advisement and strategy is something she enjoys, and it's about setting clear expectations from the start with clients.Each client’s needs vary, which Jacqueline finds exciting. However, it necessitates clear communication about what she offers. When clients require extensive lifecycle or demand generation email execution, Jacqueline is upfront about her role. If it's a short-term need, she might handle it, but for long-term commitments, she refers them to trusted partners. She mentions firms like Modular Marketing and Ragnarok, highlighting her strong relationships with these agencies. This symbiotic partnership ensures clients get top-notch service while allowing Jacqueline to concentrate on strategic advisement.By focusing on strategy, Jacqueline can provide high-level insights and direction that impact her clients' overall marketing operations. She values the ability to step back from the minutiae and look at the bigger picture, helping businesses navigate their marketing landscapes more effectively. This approach not only suits her professional growth but also ensures her clients receive specialized, high-quality execution from her partners.Jacqueline’s journey exemplifies the importance of evolving in one’s career and recognizing when to delegate tasks that no longer fit one’s vision. It’s about leveraging strengths and building a network of reliable partners to deliver comprehensive solutions. Her ability to set expectations and offer strategic guidance is a testament to her experience and foresight in the marketing operations field.Key takeaway: When transitioning to a more strategic consulting role, clearly communicate your focus and delegate hands-on tasks to trusted partners. This allows you to leverage your strengths, provi...

What’s up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Simon Heaton, Director of Growth Marketing at Buffer. Summary: Simon helps us explore Buffer's martech journey, highlighting their shift from traditional tools to a product-led approach driven by data and server-side analytics. We unpack their use of Customer.io for automation and hold out testing, Redash for data insights, and their agile sprint model that fosters continuous innovation. Discover how Buffer's small team thrives with efficient, data-driven strategies.About SimonSimon started his career in the agency world at Banfield in Ottawa, CanadaHe later moved over to Shopify where he would spend nearly 7 years, first as a content Marketing Manager and later as the Senior Growth Lead, AcquisitionSimon’s also worn a part-time teaching hat for over 5 years, he was an Instructor with Telfer School of Management at UofO as well as a Professor at Algonquin CollegeHe’s a startup mentor for founders that are part of the Singapore-based equity fund at AntlerToday Simon is Director of Growth Marketing at Buffer, the world-renowned social media management platformBuffer’s Marketing Tech Stack and Why it Doesn’t Include a CRMBuffer’s marketing strategy is unique. They don’t use a traditional CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce. Simon explains that Buffer is a product-led company without a dedicated sales team. This means they don't need typical CRM functionalities like lead routing and scoring. Instead, Buffer relies heavily on data and product analytics to drive their marketing efforts.The core of Buffer’s operations is their data warehouse, with Segment acting as their Customer Data Platform (CDP). This setup allows Buffer to integrate various tools and centralize crucial information. Mixpanel, their product analytics tool, is pivotal in this system. It gathers both product usage and marketing data, providing a comprehensive view of user interactions.Simon highlights the importance of server-side tracking and integrating data from diverse sources such as AdWords, Customer.io, and Pendo. This integration helps Buffer understand the user lifecycle and measure the impact of marketing efforts beyond basic website metrics.Tools like Customer.io are also essential for Buffer. It manages most user communications, making it a critical component of their stack. The combination of Mixpanel, Customer.io, and other integrated tools ensures that Buffer can seamlessly track and analyze user behavior.Key takeaway: Not all B2B companies need a CRM or a sales team. A product-led approach, using robust data and product analytics tools, can effectively drive your marketing efforts and provide comprehensive insights into user behavior.The Power of a Visual and Intuitive Automation Flow InterfaceSimon loves working in a smaller team like Buffer, where he can get hands-on with their tools daily. He highlights how Buffer uses Customer.io for their marketing automation, a tool he's familiar with from his previous experience at Shopify. Unlike Shopify, which eventually switched to Salesforce Marketing Cloud for more enterprise-level needs, Buffer continues to thrive with Customer.io.Buffer relies on Customer.io to manage email marketing, push notifications for mobile apps, and various communication programs. Simon appreciates how the tool handles both marketing and transactional communications, offering a unified view of user interactions. This integration ensures consistency in messages, whether they're marketing emails or product notifications.Simon praises Customer.io's user-friendly interface, especially the journey mapping functionality and the WYSIWYG editor, which make it accessible for non-technical team members. Despite its ease of use, the platform also boasts deep technical capabilities, allowing for extensive customization through HTML and API integrations. This flexibility has been crucial for Buffer's needs.The integration with Segment, Buffer's Customer Data Platform (CDP), is particularly valuable. Simon emphasizes that having all data in Segment and seamlessly integrating it with Customer.io enables precise data handling. This setup ensures accurate and timely data flow, essential for personalized and effective marketing automation workflows.Key takeaway: Even as a small team, you can effectively manage complex marketing automation needs by choosing user-friendly tools like Customer.io that offer both simplicity and deep customization. This approach allows your non-technical team members to contribute meaningfully while ensuring your technical needs are met, enhancing overall efficiency and personalization in your communications.Experimentation and Holdout Testing at BufferExperimentation is a cornerstone of Buffer’s approach, and Simon is particularly enthusiastic about the capabilities provided by Customer.io. He explains that the platform's holdout testing functionality is essential for validating new programs and comparing campaign performance. Unlike some tools, Customer.io counts a delivery for the holdout group, simplifying the tracking process over time.The integration with Segment and Mixpanel is a game-changer for Buffer. This setup allows them to surface Customer.io data in Mixpanel, creating unique reports and dashboards to support their experiments. Tracking differences in behavior between groups becomes straightforward, thanks to the detailed delivery events logged for both test and holdout groups. This level of detail ensures that Buffer can effectively measure the impact of their campaigns.Simon also highlights the ease of A/B testing within Customer.io. Whether at the message level or within workflows, the platform’s randomization logic allows for extensive testing. Buffer can run tests on content, sequencing, and other variables, ensuring they continually optimize their marketing efforts. The ability to branch workflows and test different variants simultaneously is particularly valuable, enabling ongoing experimentation.Key takeaway: Leverage holdout testing and detailed event tracking within your marketing automation tools to gain deeper insights into your campaign effectiveness. This approach allows you to validate new programs, compare performance, and optimize your strategies based on precise, data-driven insights.Testing Journeys and Templating Language with QA Draft ModeSimon praises Customer.io's QA draft mode, a feature he finds invaluable for Buffer’s marketing automation. This functionality allows the team to build complex workflows, trigger off specific data points, and test the entire process in a production environment without actually sending emails. It’s a unique capability that Simon has not found in other tools, making it a standout feature of Customer.io.Simon highlights how QA draft mode lets them see real users qualifying for different branches of the workflow while emails remain in draft. This means they can verify that users are correctly segmented and the emails look as intended, all without prematurely sending any messages. This testing phase is crucial for catching errors that might not be evident during initial previews.Buffer has used this feature for several initiatives, such as new onboarding iterations and product notifications. Given the high frequency and volume of these emails, ensuring everything works perfectly before going live is essential. Simon appreciates that once the testing phase is complete, it only takes a click to start sending the validated emails to users.This capability saves time and reduces the risk of errors in live campaigns. It allows Buffer to maintain high st...