Predictable B2B Success

Mandi Graziano is Vice President of Global Accounts for HPN Global where she finds hotels and venues; negotiates pricing/contracts for her client’s conferences all over the world. Here she has earned the awards of Chairman’s Club, President’s Club, and Top Producer. While on the hotel side Mandi worked in leadership roles in sales, marketing, and operations for Marriott, Starwood, Hard Rock Hotels, and Caesars Entertainment. While working for hotels she has been awarded Top Producer, Salesperson of the Year, Best Site Inspection of the Year, and Sales Strategist Award in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2008. Mandi is currently an instructor at San Diego State University Hospitality; Tourism Management program teaching Site Inspection; Contract Negotiation classes. Mandi is also the author of a relatable and remarkably funny book Sales Tales: The Hustle, Humor, and Lessons Learned from a Life In Sales, an Amazon best-seller in 5 categories and ranked #1 by Selling Power Magazine.  In this episode, she shares how we can use empathy in sales to easily influence and build trust to drive growth. Insights she shares include: Why we should develop empathy in salesHow to develop empathy in salesHow she overcame anxiety to become a public speaker and top salespersonThe business bedside manner and how she recommends we use it5 questions to ask to improve our business bedside mannerSWEATworking - what is it and why it's better than traditional networkingHow to keep up with public appearances and still build deep relationships Thoughts on events post-pandemic How we can use events to drive business growthand much much more ...

Liam Carnahan is a content strategist, SEO expert, and founder of Inkwell Content Services, which is about creating creative content to outrank your competition. He had attained his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Literature, Writing, and Publishing at Emerson College. Liam started as a writer in a content farm until he was given the opportunity to become the Director of Content at a digital content marketing agency in Sydney. He grew his skills in writing, content creation, and SEO publishing in the companies he had been previously affiliated with Croud and Brafton. In 2019, he left his 9-5 job to run his own company and help others achieve their goals. In this episode, he shares his thoughts on content marketing for startups and how we can drive growth by increasing organic traffic by as much as 77%. Insights he shares include: Why are SEO and content considered boring and robotic by some and what can be done about itHow to overcome time and resources restraints in a business when investing in content and SEOWhat makes for a good content strategy for startupsWhat makes for good content marketing for startupsHow to predict a return on investment with content marketing for startupsHow to best balance the purpose of content versus SEO outcomesWhat makes for a good piece of contentHow to get as much as a 77% increase in traffic via content marketing for startupsHow to ensure content is remark worthy to your audienceHow to leverage partnerships in content marketing for startupsand much much more...

John Horn is the CEO of StubGroup. John has been working in marketing for over a decade. He was the first employee at StubGroup in 2012 and has helped grow the business to become a Premier Google Partner ranked in the top 1% of all Google Partners worldwide and a trusted partner used by companies around the globe to manage their advertising across Google, Facebook, Amazon and more.  In this episode, John shares how we can overcome the advertising challenges businesses face today to drive growth fast. Insights he shares include: How to determine if PPC is right for a companyWhy the success of campaigns depends on understanding the business's stage of growth and parts of its funnel that need to be developed now and into the futureHow to leverage PPC to build relationships and enhance customer experiencesAdvertising challenges businesses experience todayAdvertising challenges involving automation and efficiencyThe mind-shift required to acquire the engagement and results, businesses wantResults that advertising can generate beyond salesThe advertising challenge of attributionThe role of creativity in advertisingJohn's take on AI and the evolution of advertising technologiesand much much more ...

R.T. Custer is the founder of Vortic Watch, one of the only American-made watch companies helping resurrect antique watches by combining vintage internals with modern wristwatch cases.  Within just 8 years, he has been able to take it from scratch to 7 figures in revenue.  The journey here wasn’t easy. For 5-years, R.T. had a legal battle against the Swatch Group after they accused Vortic of trademark infringement and counterfeiting in 2015. Federal Judge Alison Nathan ruled in favor of Vortic, stating they have the right to salvage and restore antique pocket watches and turn them into wristwatches; even those that carry the Hamilton trademark.  R.T has also been involved with and developed masterminds and a marketing agency. In this episode, he shares how we can leverage business masterminds to drive seven-figure growth fast. Insights he shares include: Issues R.T experienced and sees in businesses wanting to scale quicklyWhy a marketing agency and masterminds could helpR.T's definition of a business mastermind groupWhat a business mastermind group is notHow to ensure you are ready for a business mastermind groupHow to pick the right oneHow to get the most out of your investmentHow to start a business mastermind groupand much much more ...

Matthew Hunt is the founder of Automation Wolf, a company that supports B2B founders and CEOs to develop snackable content that keeps them top of mind and stay consistent in prospects’ newsfeeds; while also bridging the gap between short and long-form content. Matthew Hunt was an ashamed introverted dyslexic but has turned himself into a successful extroverted dyslexic entrepreneur. He built 3 B2B profitable companies in the last 13 years all built on the back of smart marketing & sales. Matthew has worked with 100s of companies (large & small) to help them implement marketing & sales strategies. To name a few, he has worked with RE/MAX, Valvoline, FedEx, Chef’s Plate, League & TouchBistro. Matthew knows that no one likes to be marketed to, or sold to, especially prospects. In this episode, he shares his 4 stage demand generation marketing strategies to drive pipeline growth. Insights he shares include: Commonly held beliefs that do not help demand generation marketing strategiesWhy you need to own the relationships more than great marketing and copywritingHow Matthew defines demand generation marketingHow to get personal with people in the post-pandemic world we live inHow demand generation and creating community works better than inbound or outbound marketingWhat could community look like for a businessWhy Matthew recommends every business consider hosting a virtual summitDoes demand generation work for all types of businessesWhat do demand generation marketing strategies hinge on and what does it entailWhat metrics to use for demand generation marketing strategiesand much much more ....

Pankil Shah is an entrepreneur, founder, and content marketing expert with over 10 years of experience leading product and growth for tech companies. He is the CEO of Outranking.io, an AI platform for writers, editors, and SEO professionals to create content that ranks. Before starting Outranking.io, Pankil led growth for an enterprise database company, scaling revenue using content marketing. He also co-founded Vclassrooming.com, a learning management system aimed at improving K12 learning outcomes. In this episode, Pankil shares how we can save time and expense in creating content with AI that helps drives organic traffic and converts. Insights he shares include: How to get AI to do research and train it to apply your clients’ tone of voiceThe right way to use AI while writing marketing contentWhat is active guidance and why does your AI need it?Why being lazy with AI gets you bad contentWhat purpose should amazing content fulfillThe role that outranking plays in the process of creating amazing contentMisconceptions around AI for content developmentThe focus that Pankil recommends to ensure we get a positive ROI from contentHow to approach keywords research when thinking about creating contentHow Outranking has grown its user adoption and much much more ...

Prarthana Sibal is the Head of Client Services at award-winning B2B Podcast Agency Pikkal & Co. Prarthana has managed over 1,000 Podcast Episodes from idea to launch including branding, public relations, corporate communications, brand reputation, and podcasting for brands.  In this episode Prarthana shares how to use storytelling in podcasts to easily drive revenue growth fast. Insights she shares include: Why do people hold the notion that Asians don't listen to podcastsWhy do people believe that long-form content is not engagingWhy use audio as opposed to video (which many say is more engaging)How to include storytelling in content marketingHow to include storytelling in podcastsHow to include storytelling in content marketing for brands with non-sexy products or servicesHow to think about episodic content that succeeds in engaging your ideal audienceHow to convince your management to start a podcastHow to measure success when using storytelling in your podcastsExamples of successful B2B podcast practicesand much much more ...

Jon Lightfoot is the Founder & CEO of Strategic SEO Solutions (SSS). He has over 20 years of marketing experience in both brand-side and agency-side. Jon is an SEO expert with decades of experience in working with many SaaS brands, B2B enterprise firms, Fortune 500, and startups alike. He and his team are hands-on in managing their client’s on-site technical SEO, as well as offsite SEO, CRO, and overarching analytics. Additionally, Jon sits on the Customer Experience Advisory Board at the University of California Irvine. In this episode, Jon shares how we can rank higher on Google and spur business growth fast. Insights he shares include: Why is SEO so misunderstoodWhy Jon believes Google has made its algorithm easier to understandHow do you create content that ranks for keywords and yet is valuable to readers with examplesWhat does building authority have to do with SEO How do we rank on Google fastHow to rank higher on GoogleHow to rank higher on Google by investing in thought leadershipHow to rank higher on google for multiple terms from a single piece of contentHow Jon suggests we approach link buildingHow to look at competitors as look to rank higher on GoogleHow to get your audience to spend more time on your contentand much much more ...

Alan Gleeson is a London-based B2B SaaS marketing consultant with a particular interest in supporting tech startups to generate leads and grow their businesses.  Alan started his career in financial services, joining Barclays in its graduate program. During his time at Barclays he joined Freeserve on secondment, then one of the poster boys for the ‘dot com’ boom. He subsequently joined Palo Alto Software, a leading Software as a Service (SaaS) company in 2004 where he acted as the Managing Director for the European subsidiary for a number of years.  More recently Alan has worked for a number of leading B2B SaaS startups, in a mix of full-time and consultancy engagements. These include the likes of Cognism (one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the UK) and Indeemo (a leader in the emerging mobile ethnography space).  In this episode, he shares how we can use B2B SaaS marketing to drive growth fast and scale internationally. Insights he shares include: Why the pursuit of quick wins is a problem in the B2B SaaS worldHow to navigate the mind-shift required to enable leaders to see B2B SaaS marketing through a different lensHow to balance the desire for hockey stick growth vs organic growthWhat should companies be doing to future proof themselves and scale, given the trends we are seeing todayWhat should companies entering the European market be aware ofHow should European companies entering North America prepare themselvesDoes it make sense to find locals to help navigate the cultural nuances of going internationalMarketing skillsets and indicators to look for in a potential hireHow to best handle content needs when going to international marketsHow Alan addresses the issue of marketing attributionand much much more ...

Angela Thurman is the Principal Managing Director at Thurman Co. LLC. As an electrical engineer, she has worked with companies like NASA and Collins Aerospace leading to the launch of her own company that aims to add the personal touch to Project, Contract, and Supplier Management. Angela holds a BS, in Electrical Engineering working as an analytical, process-oriented program and contract manager as well as a Mensa Society Member. Her background includes experience working in the aerospace, defense, telecom, and power sectors. Anglea is a proven leader dedicated to creating an environment where teamwork, organization, efficiency, and client satisfaction are core values. In this episode, she shares her experience and shares why project management communication is the critical linchpin to seeing projects achieve success and effectively mitigate risks. The implications of a project's success or failure could amount to millions of dollars if not more in a lot of instances. Insights she shares include: How to deal with project change managementHow to best deal with the million dollar implications of project management outcomesProject management communication - what is key and why it is so criticalA key area that is often overlooked in project managementWhy the boiled frog report is key to project management communicationUse of templates to aid project management communication and manage changeWhat does it entail for a project manager to mitigate riskDoes managing a project required developing a narrative of successWhy Angela doesn't focus so much on tools to ensure project management successHow to create the right project management culture and project management communication expectationsand much much more ....