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One bite at a time.
B2B growth&marketing are hard, so we bring it to you in delicious, bite-sized chunks.
Go ahead and binge some topics below, but don’t forget to sign up to get a B2B Bite in your inbox every morning.
KPIs for B2B marketing
“So what’s the ROI on B2B marketing/ABM/Linkedin/xyz/[insert unquantifiable initiative]?” I think there is a time and place for that question, but it’s definitely not at
The data party is on
The attached image is the most important comic you’ll probably see this year. If you’re in sales, marketing or in the founder’s seat, you need
Content distribution 2.0
What’s demand generation without successful content distribution? It’s like Barcelona without Messi, peanut butter without jelly, dance without music… you get the picture: no bueno.
How many MQLs are too many MQLs?
MQLs are cool. I want all the Marketing Qualified Leads I can get, and then some. I know this sounds like sacrilege to many… If
Successful social selling mechanisms
What’s the visible part of social selling success on LinkedIn? I’m talking about selling products and services leveraging LinkedIn. This is different from building a
priming: new-school demand gen
Here are the five simple steps we implemented to 3x engagement&reach and get 4 inbound leads in just 30 days from just one small account.
Social selling power score
Here’s what we did to the Li account of a busy CEO with less than 2000 connections to – boost their reach almost 3x and
Creating great buying experiences
me: I’m interested in your software. sales rep: let’s set up a demo me: sure, I’m in! [sales rep does the demo. low (no) pressure,
Inbound or Outbound? Allbound
Can we just settle this debate once and for all? There are three camps: 1. the inbound cult 2. the outbound cult 3. those who
Consolidating sales and marketing at the top
I know there is controversy around this and it tickles the “fear” button in both sales and marketing leaders, but here it goes 🥁…: “Sales
Bootstrapped go-to market path: ClickFunnels
There’s a $100M ARR startup you’ve likely never heard about. It went from zero to 100 in 6 short years. And there is more »»
7-letter star: priming
The simple solution to pretty much all your pipeline problems is a 7-letter word. (Scroll for the answer if you’re impatient…) Let’s see what most
Revenue Operations: doing social selling right
Let me walk you through a neat way to do demand generation and lead generation in the same instance, without messing up social selling. You
The priming strategy that works for YOU
B2B sales leader: Hey, lead generation isn’t working like it used to! What are we doing wrong? Me: You’re not priming your accounts before you
Escape from mediocre marketing
Can you spot mediocre marketing… and people? Over-relying on common sense is a recipe for mediocrity. And what happens to almost ALL mediocre people and
Shiny new sales & marketing tools
Buying sales&marketing tools is like buying sports gear. Here’s what I mean: you know the rich kid with brand new sports gear, but zero skills?
Improving lead gen efficiency
When a CEO or sales VP tells me: “Our leadgen efforts suck. Let’s improve the efficiency”… and I go: 🤔 ⁉️ ”what do you mean?”
Asking the wrong questions?
When a tech company is sales-driven, they will realize at one point that they need to: – generate demand at scale, not just through biz
The GTM wedge components
How does your go-to market measure up?B2B growth/going-to-market is a complex affair with lots of components and moving parts. I think it can be simplified,
Leading vs. lagging indicators
Should marketers even consider leads as an indicator? Or just remove the term from their vocabulary altogether? I think of leads as a – wait
Doing ABM right
Here is encouraging success to kick things off in ABM, coming to you in the form of the shortest account based marketing case study ever:
Marketing: art or science?
Does marketing success come down to science? Or is it art? I used to think you can succeed over the long haul just by being
Paradigm shift in leadgen
In many places, the majority of cold leadgen efforts are quantifiably wasted, thrown out the window. The worst part: some leaders are reluctant to admit
The GTM wedge
Go-to Market… demand generation… Have we been making things too hard for everyone? I think we have… but there’s a solution. Here is the thing:
Demand generation: are you giving up too fast?
What sucks about Demand Generation programs? The beginning. Demand generation takes time and loads of effort to get going. Initially, you need dedication – almost
Niching down for IT development companies
You have teeth, right? You likely also own a few spoons. Yet, you still buy a bottle opener to open bottles and don’t use your
Experiment-based approach in markeitng
What is failure in marketing/growth/business/life? If you ask me: it’s when you lose a battle, you don’t know why you’ve lost, and you give up.
KPIs for B2B marketing
“So what’s the ROI on B2B marketing/ABM/Linkedin/xyz/[insert unquantifiable initiative]?” I think there is a time and place for that question, but it’s definitely not at
Strategy-first approach to ABM
Here is how to lose faith very fast in account-based marketing and go back to the old way of doing lead generation: 1. realize you
Creating better buying experiences
Today, account-based marketing – the way most people think about it – is mostly this: 1. getting intent data and 2. running account-targeted ads. Sure,
Integrating sales, marketing and customer success departments
Probably 9 out of 10 high-ACV companies are sales-driven, where marketing plays just a supportive role. Is that a problem? No, it’s an opportunity for
Confusing marketing jargon explained
You know, how marketing jargon pops up all over the place and has people confused? Here is the solution… For starters, consider these terms: –
How to avoid webinar fatigue
It’s marketers’ fault that tens of millions of people worldwide have webinar-fatigue. Why? Because this is how they run webinars at the top, middle and
Outbound direct campaigns, the ABM way
If you’re a sales leader, this will strike close to home: outbound direct marketing rocks. As unfashionable as this opinion is… I love outbound direct
Adding personality to your marketing & sales collateral
Most B2B marketing and sales collateral sucks. There is a reason why “B2B” has been dubbed “boring to boring”. Is there a quick fix? Yes.
Take the leap, it might surprise you
She: I dare you to do a flip! Me: You’re nuts. She:……. Me (going for it): …wheeee!! I was facing a similar fear when we
Should you bother with marketing?
You might have sales dialed in with little to no marketing… and you might be doing millions of dolares in ARR. You might be tempted
The right questions to ask when starting out with marketing
You’re a sales leader or a founder. You know you need (more) marketing. You know it should ultimately drive sales and revenue. But, you’re confused
Demand and lead generation — thoughts on the awareness pyramid
Two thoughts on the awareness pyramid… 1. when most companies speak of demand generation, they refer to targeting people in the product aware or maybe
The 5 steps to a better story
In marketing, a story is NOT a nicely written series of events in chronological order. A story is a narrative that pulls in your customers
Give and take, not give and give
Be super-generous with content, don’t try to pitch and sell – the buyers will just come. Yeah, right. This myth feels credible, but it’s one-sided.
Common indicators for LI and TikTok
Views, clicks, followers. According to smart people, these are so-called vanity metrics you’re not supposed to care much about. To an extent that’s true, but
Turning crisis into opportunity
Three truths ☝ 1. it’s never been more crowded in the B2B technology scape. 2. the global economic climate hasn’t been this dull and gloomy
How’s your Employee Value Proposition looking?
Truth is: you need to treat talent acquisition with the same rigor (what an untrendy word, I know!) as you treat client acquisition. The reality
Setting up growth operations the right way
Go from zero to hero? Good news: you can totally skip the stages you see on my screenshare video here. You can start at stage
B2B growth 101
Do people overcomplicate B2B growth and marketing? There are a lot of ways to slice and dice it, but the framework and the general strategy
Recruiting top talent
Hands up if recruiting top talent is a strategic priority at your organization. Thought so… I’m seeing 98% of the hands go up. If that’s
Does organization limit creativity?
There are two major truths that seem to contradict each other. 1. hire smart people and let them choose their way of doing things Who
win the war for talent
When tech companies hire our marketing firm to help ’em get big clients, the conversation very quickly shifts to this: EMPLOYER BRANDING »» attracting and
3 simple questions: Have, Feel, Average day
I’m not a fan of shortcuts… except when they work. This is one instance where they do: krafting kompelling kopy. You know how you’re supposed
B2B on TikTok: yay or nay
Me in 2006: “social media is not for B2B” Me in 2007: “Twitter is for B2B but not Facebook” Me in 2012: “Tw and Facebook
Myths about B2B marketing
I get to talk to many B2B companies who have strong sales operations in place but are only beginning to launch full-scale demand generation and
Don’t just capture demand, generate it
There is all this buzz around technology that signals intent at target accounts. SDRs love it, marketing loves it because it’s simple. This is the
long-term success vs. short-term success in B2B marketing
Freshly funded Saas CEO: we’ve got money. Average marketer: And a good product. CEO: Gimme a plan to “hockey-stick” and triple revenue in 19 months!
Category creation in B2B
You’ve just got to love strategies that are counterintuitive to status quo-thinking. Where you’d first think “this makes no sense, this will make a company
Ungate your content. Now
I wish people could be brainwashed into healthy thinking and decision-making. 🤨 Especially founders and marketers. Here’s what I mean… It’s easy to see how
May the best content win
Yes, you can win the game with an inferior product, but better marketing than your competitor. Most people think this is unfair. I just think
Should you be upfront with pricing?
Just got off a call with a client. We recommended they display pricing on their website (enterprise-grade software product). The reason is simple: buyers LOVE
Highest bidder wins
In the long run, whoever can pay the most to acquire a customer, wins. If you want to be able to pay more than your
Getting to the integrated growth department
I have this theory/observation. It’s a work in progress, but here goes. It’s about the “stages of evolution” for high ACV B2B Saas and tech
Revolution without techincal innovation
Ask your customers what they want and give it to them! Sorta true, but meh. Here is the thing: This approach won’t lead you to
What even is demand generation?
Is “demand generation” just a buzzword that means a different thing for everyone? Is it the same… or an evolution of inbound? It’s neither, and here
Executing the ideal ABM strategy
What is the FASTEST, surefire way to execute an account-based marketing strategy? Hint: it’s not a sexy, trendy thing. For starters, ⏳ content takes a
Scaling in B2B is about to look very different
How you take your B2B tech company from a few million $ per year to $8-10 mil ARR will be very different in the coming
Time to cut off a few prospects
Ready to actually CROSS OUT some great-looking prospects from your target account list? Here’s why you should do it… Disqualifying prospects is just as important
A marketer’s journey to near-perfection
B2B marketers are near-perfect people who are almost always right, except for this one thing: They usually over-estimate the size of the total addressable market
Getting your ICP right
“This strategy ain’t worth a dang unless you’re very clear on your ICP… and consequently, have targeted, on-point messaging.” ☝ This is the proverbial fine
Direct mail in 2022
Direct mail is probably the oldest trick in the ABM-book. And it works like gangbusters. Even in the age of digital and the coming (?) metaverse,
Micro-committing your way into your prospect’s life
Here is how to fix a B2B funnel with some ABM and common sense, by applying some micro-commitments. Sales folks tend to understand and use
Accessing a marketer’s skills
What’s the one question that reveals more about a marketing job candidate’s skills and past performance, than anything else? You see, hiring a marketer is
Get better at writing copy and content
“You can’t replace reading with other sources of information like videos, because you need to read in order to write well, and you need to
What works better for video? Short-form or long-form?
Here is why you should keep doing longer videos regardless of what the average view-time stats and engagement stats tell you… The prospects who end
#1 trait of successful marketers
Creative and successful marketers are bold. Period. For me, it’s a must-have component when I’m hiring for marketing. By boldness, I’m talking about the willingness
What should you look for in a marketing hire?
Are you looking to hire a marketing star but don’t have a clear idea of what qualities you should be looking for? Let me
Demand generation: content, community, education, entertainment
Here is low hanging fruit that zero (or very few) of your competitors are using: Go in very heavy very early in the buying journey
The #1 sales & marketing killer
What causes your marketing and sales to die? ☠️ I’ll tell you. It’s two words: 🥁 Generic messaging. If what your communicating is 1. unhelpful
Why does the lazy marketer win?
Stacking the odds in your favor is underrated. It’s the lazy, but sophisticated marketers’ game. Marketing, growth and getting new clients is supposed to be
Being better B2B marketers
It’s career-tips time for B2B marketers. These are important tips for SDR/BDRs too, because your role is changing; your company needs you to step up
ABM at different stages of marketing-maturity
ABM 101… Scratch that… B2B Marketing 101! Trust me, this never gets old. First, account-based marketing is not a silver bullet. Second, it’s not a
Content quality vs. aesthetics
You might hate me for this, but here it goes… Your prospects don’t care about you. They only care about how you can help them.
Leveraging LI to work for you
Your LinkedIn presence can have three pillars: 1. organic content: posting stuff on your personal profile. This includes commenting. 2. advertising content: paying to put
Where should you spend your $$$?
Where should you spend your marketing budget? What should you do with your advertising money? Marketing fundamentals in this spinoff here, ladies and gentlemen… When
Does advertising on LI make sense for you?
Should we advertise on LinkedIn? There are two things to consider. Thing #1? CLV, or your customer lifetime value: if it’s below $10-$15K, you’re going
LinedIn isn’t social media
Are you showing up regularly and kicking butt on Linkedin? If not – if you think there is a lot more to Li than what
Marketing 101. Is it really that simple?
When you’re a tech service company and want to expand internationally, the shortcut seems to be to find a partner who can subcontract work to
TikTok FOMO in B2B
B2B marketers doing thought leadership: do you have TikTok FOMO? If you have limited resources, it’s usually wise to think 2x when joining a new
Short guide on how not to be a pretentious ass
“Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.” (The first person to guess who the quote is
It pays to do execution right
If business success is 20% strategy and 80% execution…(☝ Tony Robbins)…then it pays to do execution right. And do you know, what the backbone of
Don’t be everything to everyone
IT development companies face several challenges when they try to expand (and go international). One of the better problems they have is being good at
Niche down to move up
Many (especially) service-companies want a larger piece of the international pie… but, are unsure about how to start marketing and selling in a new market.
Klear’s category design
Been going on about blue oceans and category design… And I thought: wouldn’t it be fun if I told you how my company, Klear B2B
How to get your prospects to like you
People (and companies!) buy from people they 1. know 2. like 3. trust Obvious, right? You’ve heard this 734 times – but the (multi)million dollar
Creating a category instead of leading it
This is the no.1 marketing question most businesses in competitive B2B markets ask: 👉 How can I stand out? How can I be unique? Here
Providing value in your videos
Is done better than perfect? Not always. But, when it comes to launching marketing initiatives like social or video, aiming for perfect quality is going
SDRs as thought leaders
Lots of companies struggle with SDRs having to warm up prospects on Linkedin, reach out and engage them, but not knowing how. So, marketing or
Focus on the “right” things
It’s not that the things on the left are wrong. They aren’t. They’re just the wrong things to focus on, when creating (video) content for
Content quality > aesthetics any day
What people think B2B social video 📹 should be about: – sounding smart – looking flawless – making a professional presentation Who could blame them
Lauching a B2B video initiative in 3,2,1
3+1 commandments for launching a B2B video initiative I’m probably the 2357th person to tell you that video works like gangbusters for getting sales opportunities.
Marketing-led proposals
I will get stoned for this, but oh well, here it is: Marketing needs to lead the proposal-process in your company. I say this, because
Proposals for high ticket customers
Are you sending proposals to get big projects or sell high ticket, enterprise plans for your Saas? Here are 3 easy things you can do
The undiscovered protege: proposals
What is the lowest hanging fruit in your revenue operations…? The area you can tweak for a few hours today and get immediate results tomorrow?
Hooking B2B buyers with a good story
You’re checking out this company online and really resonating with their messaging… you’re not even 100% sure what exactly they offer, but you just *know*
From nice-to-have to must-have
…and they lived happily ever-after. 😘 What is the state of total happiness and transformation that your solution can achieve for customers? You need to
The psychology behind micro-commitments
A call-to-action in your marketing (like, getting a visitor to tap a button, engage with a bot, fill out a form etc.) is about more
The 7-step framework to build your brand narrative
What’s the easiest way to reframe your market’s thinking? This is literally the (multi)million-dollar question for any B2B business, no matter what stage your market
What does your brand narrative say about you?
There is no such thing as building a brand. Think about it. A brand in B2B is really the sum of experiences with your company
8 componenets to fix your leaky messaging
Leaky messaging sucks… It sucks buyers out of your funnels, pipeline. It leads to a leaky revenue-flow. When you’ve got the ads, the landing page,
Does your B2B agency care about your goals?
The harsh reality is, most B2B agencies’ interests are not aligned with yours – their client’s interests. That’s because most agencies’ revenue model makes it
A short guide on how NOT to do ABM
Hey, we have our target account list, now let’s get them on a demo! I learned the hard way: that’s not how the world works.
What does the “right” marketing strategy look like?
What is your big WHY behind marketing? See, some of the coolest outcomes of good marketing aren’t related to revenue. Sure, the most obvious result
The 3 pillars of B2B marketing
I get it: systematic, scalable content creation feels overwhelming. Good news: when there isn’t much useful content you’ve created, you don’t need a plan or
The B2B agency model is broken
The B2B agency model is broken. The way 99% of saas/growth/b2b agencies operate is wrong. Why? Because it creates misaligned interests between client&agency. The two
Three pillars of B2B marketing + principles
Many B2B marketing programs end up being “meeh”. On the surface, they’re doing the right things. You really have to peel back the curtain to
Core skills to excel at marketing
How do you build a marketing department for a tech product or service company? A key question that tech leaders ask is along the lines
How do you take software from meh to wow?
How do you turn a dull software feature into a sexy theme that hits home? Here’s how I did it… So many tech and B2B companies
Emotionally hooking your prospects in B2B
Get a pint of beer with a successful salesperson and have her talk about big wins. 100% of victories she’ll mention will involve emotionally hooking
Is your solution easy-to-implement?
We can frigin’ do this. This is probably the most important conviction or feeling that your prospect needs to have if you want to go
Making B2B brands exciting
What if your B2B brand were exciting? You know, like the way the best consumer brands hook crowds and turn them into followers. Heck, disciples.
Using emotion in communication
Does your communication and demand generation use emotion, story, and even ecstasy? C’mon, we’re a B2B company, we can’t do that?! Bullship, I say to
failing at content marketing?
So, you’re getting into content marketing? Here’s how to fail. The biggest threat to your brand new content strategy creating impact and influencing buyers is…………:
90:10 rule on LinkedIn
Alright, let’s settle a simple but important debate, shall we? (Warning: you might get offended.) These are two truths that many leaders in IT and
personal branding haunting you?
So, this super-bright exec from a SW dev company is on a Zoom with me. He stares right into his camera and thus straight in
Flipping the buyer-persona-thinking
Doing complex B2B marketing? Want to DEEPLY understand your market and your buyer personas? 👉Then screw buyer persona research👈🏻 …at least the way most go
Elevate your company LI page
I’ve been guilty of this. 😳 Neglecting company pages on Li. The old logic goes that focusing on demand generation by putting out good content
ABM research
Ah, the research! It’s such an overlooked part of account-based activities, yet it’s the foundation on which you build the marketing-castle. Here are two common
When should SDRs step in?
Sales development reps ROCK… that is, IF they are managed right. But the way most people use an SDR team, they’re leaving a lot of
What makes ABM special?
I created a summary of three great books that will change the way you market and sell high-ticket services. As you’re reading the review (and
Your prospects don’t care about you
You don’t matter?! Ouch. I understand that this line is not a good way to make friends, so let me explain… Video on social media
How to spot the bad apple, agency edition
So, you’re looking for solid tech/saas marketing help – and you’re unsure how to tell whether an agency boasting nice logos really know their game.
Agile account-based content creation
Easy-peasy, but super-effective content play for changing your propsect’s thinking: 1. sales faces an objection with a prospect that is hard to overcome 2. marketing
Ideal engagement numbers
Is 8 likes on a post cheesy? It depends. A post with the right angle can help land enormous deals IF it gets in front
Podcasting to prospecting
By total accident, I found out that a podcast interview can land you 6-figure projects. No, not BEING interviewed or “building authority” as you might
Marketing boring things
Raise your hand if you like to market and sell boring, uninteresting things… I hear crickets. Who does, right? Actually, I kinda do now. Here
Getting quality leads 101
How do you kill a B2B marketing program fast? How do you burn mountains of money with little to show for on the bottom line?
Personalized B2B marketing through digital events
One of the most straight-forward ways to make B2B marketing not just personalized but actually HUMAN, is to do events. As in, digital events. Now,
