by William Walsh | Dec 13, 2023 | 2023
As previously published on 12/11/23 in MarTech
Catch-22, written by American author Joseph Heller, was published in 1961 and is often cited as one of the most significant novels of the 20th century.
Much of Heller’s prose in Catch-22 is circular and repetitive, highlighting in its form the structure of a “Catch 22.” Circular reasoning is widely used by some characters to justify their actions and opinions. In simple terms circular reasoning is often described as “if A is true because B is true, B is true because A is true.”
Modern day sales executives and marketers are caught in their own “Catch 22.” A version of circular reasoning that says we need more marketing activity because we have more sales resources — we have more sales resources so we need more marketing.
Removed from the circle is the connection to real demand in the marketplace. It is a cycle that prevents both sides from seeing (or admitting) the reality of the situation, which is that we have built inefficiency and costs into the system.
In a period of soft demand, like now (and probably 2024) investments in scaling sales and marketing efforts have led to a Catch 22 for both groups.
How did we get here?
A number of factors have led to the place we now find ourselves in B2B. The constant drumming in the ear of CMO’s to “scale” has caused them to focus on reach, at the expense of performance.
It has resulted in years of investment in scalable martech tools that have left marketing with the ability to create and execute massive outreach campaigns, producing marginal results.
On the other side of the house, the output of those marketing efforts has to be sorted through like panning for gold. As a result, we have sales organizations that have added an enormous amount of headcount (SDR and BDR’s).
In some organizations, the reverse is true. Sales seeking growth have added low cost reps, and those reps need to be fed. As a result, marketing has scaled its efforts to give them something to chase.
Now for the impact of the Catch 22. Marketing isn’t interested in cleansing the “leads” it’s producing at the risk of not hitting goals. Sales is not interested in narrowing its ICP to true buyers because of the legacy thinking of “more is better.” A bigger, broader playing field is always better.
Except it’s not, and now is the time to reset how sales and marketing operate. For many, budgets have been reduced leaving managers to do more with less in 2024. This presents a great opportunity to fix issues which have been created by the need for “scale.”
Here are 7 areas to fix next year that will reduce your costs and improve your effectiveness. It will, however, it requires an honest conversation between sales and marketing.
The Fix
- The MarTech stack – it’s time to evaluate tools by what they produce (results), and not what they track. Also, question – do you really need the scale they provide? This is an opportunity for cost savings.
- Outreach frequency – take a hard look at the performance you are getting in your campaigns and programs. Ask yourself, are you spamming audiences? Be honest. “Always on” doesn’t mean you’re going to catch someone in a buying cycle, in fact, you may cause them to ignore your efforts entirely when they are looking. Here’s the opportunity to improve performance.
- Lead routing and results – this one may be difficult. Evaluate what was routed to sales this past year and examine the results. If you do this correctly, it should be painful. If your lead to conversation rate is below 20-30%, set that as the goal for 2024. This can reduce cost and improve performance.
- Evaluate headcount – if you do #3 correctly, it will reduce the number of MQL’s that reps need to follow up on. And that will lead to an honest look at the number of SDR/BDR needed. It may also reduce marketing headcount and marketing spend.
- Take the hard road – there are two paths to performance and in the past, sales and marketing have taken the path of least resistance – volume. The other path is conversion, which should be the focus for 2024. You can do more with less as long as you improve the quality of what is flowing through the pipeline.
- Refine your ICP – to improve pipeline conversion you need to increase the quality of your prospects. Go deeper into defining your target customer. Add categories that include; motivations, influence, and behaviors. This narrows your targets.
- Have the courage to scrutinize…everything – sales and marketing people, in general, are “glass half full” kind of people. But, having that point of view doesn’t mean the glass isn’t also half empty. Sometimes you have to change your point of view to get better. Now is one of those times.
There is a lot of junk in the system sitting in both sales and marketing platforms. The new year offers an opportunity to clean it up.
Finally, I’m writing this piece for the CMO’s and CRO’s who like the characters in Heller’s novel trapped in a never ending cycle of despair with no relief in sight.
The only way out is for sales and marketing to work together. Marketing can’t improve performance if sales is still requiring it to hit an arbitrary target that keeps BDR/SDR’s busy. Sales has to come to the realization that more isn’t necessarily better. Better is better, and that means become lean and effective.
According to Hubspot, 23% of reps made or exceeded their quota last year. With demand down this year in most sectors, count on that percentage being even lower this year. It’s time to take a realistic look at the actual number of sales reps needed based on performance, not models.
If you cut reps, you can increase the probability of the remaining team making quota. Less reps require less feeding, and as a result, you can reduce marketing activities and budgets, while increasing the quality of the outputs. Doing both, allows you to stop spinning in a circle.
Both groups must come to the realization that “A” is not true because of “B” and “B” is not true because “A.”
You don’t need more marketing, because you don’t need more sales reps. The ones you have aren’t making quota because there aren’t enough opportunities in the market, and you don’t need more marketing because there isn’t that much demand.
There I said it, now it’s out in the open. The circle can be broken.
by William Walsh | Nov 13, 2023 | 2023
As previously published on 11/9/23 in MarTech
Investment is slowing, budgets are shrinking and generative AI threatens disruption. Here’s why 2024 may be a shakeup year for martech.
One certainty for marketers over the last dozen years is that Scott Brinker’s martech landscape map would grow. The map, which started in 2011 with only 150 companies listed, now contains over 11,000 companies* — a ridiculous growth rate of over 7,000%!
With investments bringing generative AI into every marketing area imaginable, it seems certain that next year’s map will continue on the same growth trajectory.
But that may not be the case. The glory days of “build it and they will come” may be over. Even more concerning is the marketing technology landscape may be headed towards a “killing field,” as Larry Ellison once described the software industry during the dot-com bubble.
As a vendor, many of us have seen our clients’ marketing budgets slashed in 2023. What was thought to be a temporary reaction to uncertainty in the economy is now the reality for 2024. And it’s getting worse. Budgets are under attack, with headcount and technology investments being slashed.
1. Investment is drying up
The impact on martech is already starting to surface. In Q3 2023, martech investments went down significantly. The martech pipeline for new product announcements has slowed to 65 in Q3, down from 128 in Q2 and 121 in Q1.
The beginning of the year saw big investments in ChatGPT-related tools, which have also slowed from $10 billion in Q1 to $1.9 billion. For established vendors, servicing debt is getting very expensive. Watch for that to also have an impact on vendor financial viability in 2024.
The cooling of the investment is one factor in the slowing of the product landscapes, but other forces are at play, like the reduction of marketing budgets.
Another force is generative AI itself. It threatens existing products both with its innovation, as well as becoming a replacement.
A whole host of existing videos, content, SEO products, email platforms, list generators and so on could be eliminated if they don’t integrate their own AI solutions immediately.
3. Pressure on marketing to cut budgets
On the client side, marketers are now trying to find efficiencies in their spend. They’re also giving performance a hard look — and it isn’t pretty. In a down market, it’s difficult to defend investments that are not producing. A CMO I recently spoke to told me that in 2022, they closed one out of four opportunities created by marketing. In 2023, that number was one out of 10.
Data integration issues still plague organizations, as well as historical attribution challenges. Existing tools will be difficult to defend without hard evidence of business impact or ROI.
Martech “stacks” have grown so large that even in small organizations, it’s not uncommon to see 30 to 50 products aimed at various stages of the buyer journey. Those tools are now beginning to be under the microscope, and CMOs have to rationalize those investments.
Count on seeing marketing organizations unbundling and/or not renewing contracts with existing vendors at the end of this year or early next year. Vendors, the days of multi-year contracts will also be under pressure as buyers look for more flexibility.
Marketers love shiny new tools, and generative AI has the type of shine that is hard to resist. There is no question about AI’s ability to help marketing organizations be more efficient. Whether it’s content development or video production, the tools are fast and produce a pretty good output if trained appropriately.
The question of whether they are more effective remains to be seen. The pressure of not falling behind competitors may help CMOs justify those investments for now, but it will come with strings attached. The biggest string — a zero-based budget. It will no longer be an “additive” game. New investments will come from the elimination of other tools.
5. Barbarians will be at the gate
Expected to see a significant increase in M&A activity next year, Adobe, Microsoft, and Oracle will be hunting for opportunities to enhance their portfolio or plug gaps in their solution set. Reduced funding, combined with slowing (perhaps dramatically) market demand and more expensive debt, means there will be opportunities to pick up innovative technologies cheaply.
Also, look for competitors in similar categories to merge to reduce cost, expand the customer base and conserve cash. The martech landscape could very much become a killing field of the past.
CMOs who have become “data-driven” must now become performance-driven. In what is a more permanent stage of a slowing economy, competition for funding internally will pit sales, marketing and product organizations against each other. These groups will be increasingly skeptical of what marketing investments are producing.
Marketing organizations and technology providers will be pressured to defend their value, performance and worth. Buckle up — 2024 is going to be a rough ride for everyone!
by William Walsh | Oct 26, 2023 | 2023
As previously published on 10/11/23 in MarTech
By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 6 Minutes
Explore strategic vs. haphazard approaches in B2B social media and how the best-in-class companies are finding their “sweet spot.”
Never has the expression, “Don’t confuse activity for performance,” rang truer than in B2B social media programs.
You can divide organizations into two buckets based on their approach to social media execution:
- Those that think strategically and plan their program.
- The ones who just post… anything and everything.
In a nutshell, that was our finding from a best-in-class research project evaluating the social media programs of close to 50 companies spanning multiple industries.
Unlike the B2C world, which successfully uses multiple social media platforms to engage with consumers and drive revenue, B2Bs have struggled to find the “killer app” for its social programs. More bluntly, how do businesses use these social media channels to impact their business performance?
Our research has uncovered a handful of businesses beginning to find the “sweet spot” for B2B. They have evolved their social media posts from simple updates and events to more sophisticated and produced content intended to engage audiences and drive business goals.
In parallel, they have invested heavily in agencies and in-house resources dedicated to various roles related to their social platforms. Because of these investments, best-in-class (BIC) companies have progressed their program planning from weekly to quarterly.
But that is the exception, not the rule. We also observed plenty of organizations still stuck in week-to-week planning of essentially “what do we have that we can post?”
B2B content focus areas
When it comes to content, we found that BIC organizations are focusing the majority of their efforts into four essential “buckets” aimed at various audiences, including:
- Product/solution. Featuring products through HD images, video and content on successful implementation, customer testimonials, etc., aimed at buyers and prospects.
- Recruiting/HR. Information and imagery on culture, careers, training, diversity, etc., aimed at recruits and existing employees.
- Brand. Content and branding focused on communicating or enhancing brand pillars, for example; innovation, inclusion, efficiency, reliability, etc.
- Community. Posts focused on topics close to their hearts, such as Earth Day, Bring Your Child to Work Day, MLK Day, volunteer work, etc.
AWS (Amazon Web Services) has become a content juggernaut by producing daily podcasts through LinkedIn, Streaming to their 8.5 million followers, and then redistributing through other platforms.
The production quality of content has increased dramatically. Most BIC companies, like SAP, use short, highly produced and stylized videos to reach their followers.
In terms of channels, not surprisingly, the 800-pound gorilla for B2B companies is LinkedIn. Twitter (now X) has lost much of its business audience and interest from B2B companies. Instagram (IG) is now one of the four essential platforms for B2B (YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook, to a lesser extent).
For example, IG has become a significant channel for McKinsey in distributing thought leadership. Their posts offer high educational value and most often link to studies and research.
Novartis, the pharmaceutical company, shares content in batches with a similar theme ( a charity, cancer research, culture, etc.) These “campaigns” usually have a consistent style, tone, and topic. At any given time, there may be 2-3 campaigns running on IG, tied together visually on the feed. This means they can create the content in a large batch and strategically schedule it out.
TikTok is growing its B2B audience, but it is very specific to industries/companies. Threads is still a question mark. It might be safer than X, but it’s having a difficult time building a B2B audience.
Abandoned pages and user behavior changes
A few other surprises also emerged through our research. “Legacy” platforms, like Facebook, where companies quickly rushed in years ago to set up pages and/or groups, have a vast graveyard of abandoned groups and pages. And that has left a door open for opportunists. We found fake pages using company branding and/or suspect posts using company pages.
We also observed behavioral changes by users, creating a challenge for brand consistency, particularly on LinkedIn. In the digital past, you had, on average, eight seconds to make an impression. Visitors would hit your site and quickly assess if they would explore or bounce. Now, with the scrolling features of social media, especially for Reels, that time is not down to seconds.
For example, during a social media research assignment for a client, we reviewed the LinkedIn post of a competitor. Our team found that consistent brand imagery (blue background with a cartoon image) for their posts created the impression that the viewer had already seen the post because of the similarity. So, if you want an audience to notice that your posts differ, use distinctively different imagery — and don’t tell the brand police!
Key takeaways and next steps
Along with our research, we created a social media maturity model built on the axis of content goals (marketing versus business) and production quality (a function of content, design and planning). We plotted the companies profiled and created a roadmap to elevate social media’s business impact. Below are our key takeaways:
- Visit and clean up what was built in the early days of social media and what might be lingering in the public domain (see my Facebook example).
- Start to think about creating a content schedule for a month and then two months in advance.
- Define the requirements to fill that calendar.
Based on BIC companies, you need to be posting:
- 1-2 times a day on LinkedIn (including weekends).
- 3-5 times a week on Instagram (daily on Stories).
- 1-4 posts a day if you would like to experiment on TikTok.
Map where the content will, or should, come from within your organization. You’ll need to go to HR, sales, product and corporate responsibility (they fill the four content buckets mentioned earlier).
Discuss their goals and how social media can help achieve and/or support them. Then, get their commitment and explain your process for capturing, reviewing, approving and posting their content.
Not everyone will invest in this journey. Some prioritize activity over performance, while others set higher expectations for prospects and customers.
Social media platforms in B2B are growing in importance, and companies need to mature their approaches to discover what works best for their business.
by William Walsh | Oct 10, 2023 | 2023
As previously published on 9/21/23 in MarTech
By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 5 Minutes
Learn the benefits of AI personality profiling, from reaching a wider audience to honing in on what your audience values most.
Every day we form impressions of the people we meet. We assess their trustworthiness, credibility and level of friendliness based on our interactions.
In business, we often assess contacts based on how they will — or will not — support what we’re promoting. Will they be an advocate or influencer? Will they be skeptical or feel threatened?
This can extend to organizations or industries. We describe organizations as being “data-driven” or “research-based” and industries as “cutting edge” or “slow-moving” to help us understand how to position ourselves and improve our messaging.
With AI personality profiling tools, we can become more familiar with an audience, segment or industry before we even engage with it. B2B marketing, usually kept at arm’s reach from customers, can now know them as well as account managers who have long-standing customer relationships. Here’s what this means for B2B marketing organizations.
What are AI personality profiling tools?
When it comes to engaging with customers or potential clients, understanding preferences and behaviors is key. This has traditionally been done through surveys, focus groups or other forms of direct communication.
However, AI personality profiling tools provide a new and more efficient way to gain insights into your target audience. They use algorithms to analyze a variety of data points (i.e., social media activity, online searches, and even speech patterns) to identify patterns and traits indicating a person’s personality type. This information lets you create more personalized and effective marketing campaigns.
One of the biggest advantages of AI personality profiling is the ability to reach a wider audience while still tailoring your message to each individual. In the past, developing different personas and buyer journeys could be time-consuming and require a lot of guesswork. AI tools can quickly and easily identify commonalities within your audience and develop targeted content.
Another benefit is the ability to uncover hidden insights about an organization’s corporate culture. By analyzing its leadership team’s personalities and behaviors, you can better understand its values and priorities. This can help you tailor your messaging to fit the company’s culture and present your solution in a way that will most likely resonate with decision-makers.
How AI personality profiling can reshape your marketing strategy
We recently profiled the personalities of the C-suite executives at a Fortune 500 company. Although diversifying board rooms has helped bring a wider variety of individuals with different life experiences and points of view, one area has not been diversified.
Perhaps best described as “birds of a feather flock together,” an individual’s personality type often dictates their profession or the industry where they work. Of the senior executives we profiled, 21 out of 22 executives had the same personality type.
This is an extreme example of a concentrated personality type. Typically, we find only one dominant type in 60-70% of the executive team. We also found a dominant personality type of Fortune 500 executives, 58% of the CEOs.
A homogenous population is a marketer’s dream. It means a “one size fits all” messaging and content approach. The other benefit it provides is insight into the corporate culture. The company we profiled is in the construction industry, with the dominant personality type being analogous to a “project manager.”
Given the dominance of the personality type, it is safe to assume that the corporate culture is a “get it done” environment. That nugget of wisdom is gold for sales. This type of environment signals that if it isn’t broken, it will not get fixed.
Trying to sell a “nice to have” will be virtually impossible, but selling a “need to have” should be easier. In particular, if you can find a burning need or demonstrate an advantage gained by the new solution.
A chance to hone in on what your audience values
Finding the “pain” and then building the argument for the business case will attract your audience’s attention. The greatest advantage in understanding their personality is knowing their behaviors and motivations.
For example, the “project manager” mindset is motivated by achievement, career advancement and recognition. Their behavior is to be heads down, so you have to interrupt them in order to get their attention.
To do this, you’ll need to align to their personal content preferences (which are industry-specific case studies) and use and business cases. They also prefer references, especially peers in the same role and industry.
All of this can be known, created and executed without ever having a conversation with a prospect.
AI profiling tools are simple to use and can easily provide new insights into audiences. It opens the door for creating new personas, buyer journeys and, most importantly, better content.
And you know what loves a homogenous population and insights about them more than marketers? Machines. All of this information can be fed into AI content generators.
Birds of a feather do flock together, and with AI tools you can know exactly what type of bird you’re hunting and how to knock them out of the sky.
AI personality profiling alone is not enough
AI personality profiling has its limitations. It’s crucial to recognize that personality types are dynamic and can evolve. Moreover, exclusively depending on data-driven insights may hinder empathy and a comprehensive understanding of the human experience.
Leverage AI personality profiling if you’re looking to gain valuable audience insights and enhance your marketing campaigns. But for a holistic approach, make sure to complement it with other research and communication methods.
by William Walsh | Sep 20, 2023 | 2023
By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 2 Minutes
Here’s an observation for my friends in tech marketing.
Above is an extract from research we recently conducted. Close to 500 C-Level IT buyers (CTO, CIO, CISO, etc.) were interviewed or surveyed.
The graph represents the top 4 purchase drivers. Each of the 4 categories include the platform and the people. Technical expertise includes not only the solution, but also, the people selling, integrating and supporting it.
The “people” component in the other categories is pretty obvious. The question is, how are you communicating the value of your people in your content and messaging? Are you?
In my observations, most organizations have shifted to almost exclusively focusing on the technology/platform. We’ve become very myopic in marketing our solution. It could be pressure coming from the product group or senior management. It’s pushed marketing too far in one direction.
People use technology to get an output. They don’t buy it because of what it is, they buy it because of what it does…oftentimes, for them specifically. How you sell and support your tool most often dictates whether or not you’ll get the renewal, add-on or even a referral.
People also buy from people. If you’re leaving the human piece out, you are doing the customer, company and your colleagues a disservice.
by William Walsh | Sep 13, 2023 | 2023
Join Scott on the 27th at 11:35 am to hear how to take your ABM program to the next level or perhaps learn how to address some of the issues that are holding it back.
Grab your free pass to discover cutting-edge technologies and solutions to power exceptional customer experiences.
Register here: MarTech Conference
