marketing consultant - mark donnigan

Mark Donnigan builds disruptive ingenious startups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market strategies and marketing motions that drive genuine company results for technical and product-centric founders. Mark's development and market development experience spans 20 years as a transformative B2B marketing and magnate, driving demand, brand name development, and technique for start-up and growth-stage companies.

As an expert and virtual marketing leader (fractional-CMO), Mark Donnigan handles start-up creators and CEOs from B2B disruptive development technology business to help them develop, bootstrap, and scale their marketing and go-to-market actions.

FIND OUT MORE: https://growthstage.marketing

Mark Donnigan has managed teams as big as 25, comprising SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark carried budget plan commitments to $3mm/year for operations and $400k/year for marketing. Deal sizes differing from mid-five figures to mid-six figures every year.

As a start-up marketing consultant, Mark Donnigan's incoming and outgoing marketing experience consist of building and mentoring high-performance teams that carry out as needed generation, brand and product marketing, PR, digital, and events where he develops and implements high-impact programs that drive earnings, produce ROI, trigger the market, and provides business results.

Mark Donnigan believes that the finest marketing consultants and marketing leaders are doers. Mark's marketing experience consists of all elements of need generation, ABM, SEO, email marketing, paid marketing, occasions, PR (internal & company), and item marketing.

Mark is an issue solver and a first-principles thinker who is imaginative and analytical. Mark always works cross-functionally and has actually proven success, structure, leading, and mentoring marketing, sales, and business development groups that have really produced more than $500mm in revenue/shareholder worth.

Mark has discovered that constructing a classification needs to be the leading objective for every marketing leader and it is the structure of his method and approach. Mark Donnigan has extensive B2B marketing experience that includes structure and mentoring high-performance groups.

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he places a high worth on teamwork. Mark has comprehensive experience working alongside sales, product, operations, and financing to make sure that the organization and earnings goals of the business are always gone beyond.

Development Stage Marketing exists to offer business owners and creators services for:

Architecting the market classification that is best matched to the distinct value proposal of your technology.
High impact marketing support so that you can reach your income objectives and scale sustainably.
Achieving go-to-market alignment across the sales and marketing organizations.
Drawing out the greatest value from every marketing dollar.
Insider knowledge and insights about the B2B buying journey and how to browse a progressively fragmented consumer decision hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and procedure development to making the first hires.

Ideas on what it takes to be a successful marketer and CMO today.

If you are a CEO who feels your B2B marketing does not have a clear connection to the business, you are not alone. A research study finished by the marketing consultancy Fournaise found that 80% of Chief Executives are not happy with the work their leading Marketing leader is doing. Assessing what the present organization truth suggests for marketing leaders, I kept in mind the principle of a Peacetime leader and a Wartime leader from Ben Horowitz's book "The Hard Aspect Of Hard Things."

Horowitz explained the principle in a short article where he made up that the Peacetime CEO "concentrates on the big image and empowers her people to make in-depth choices." The Wartime CEO, on the other hand, "appreciates a speck of dust on a gnat's ass if it disrupted the prime regulation."

The Peacetime CEO "comprehends what to do with a huge advantage," while the Wartime CEO "is paranoid." Peacetime CEO "works to decrease dispute," and Wartime CEO "heightens the contradictions."

Peacetime in service is when an organization has the capability to grow in its core market due to a considerable advantage vs. the competition. In times of peace, business concentrates on widening the marketplace and boosting the organization's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are totally free to be imaginative with our brand building by attending each exhibition with an even bigger cubicle than last year's and investing exorbitantly on sponsorships, all under the guise of building the trademark name.

Wartime is a various thing entirely because, in Wartime, the life and death of our organization may be on the line.
As I compose this post, the entire world is fighting an undetectable opponent called COVID-19, which has let loose a frustrating dosage of company unpredictability worldwide. For CMO's, the COVID-19 pandemic is company equivalent of war. No longer do our 2020 marketing strategies make excellent sense.

This is more than being in an area with the light on, and suddenly you discover yourself in pitch-black darkness, so you stroll tepidly, continuing in the exact same instructions understanding that you were heading towards the door prior to the lights got shut off. No, not simply has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown a massive crater in our course that was not there previous to, and lacking light in the room, can not be seen. However we must avoid at all costs falling under the crater.

Nobody longs for war, but a Wartime leader does not avoid the fight, instead, they acknowledge that Wartime is the single finest possibility to leapfrog sidetracked competitors and take ground away. What follows is a set of suggestions and concepts to help you discover your "Wartime CMO fight strategy."

How to act as a Wartime CMO.

Throughout Wartime, everyone remains in uncharted waters, but this is where the possibility is for numerous companies who formerly had a tough time to complete versus larger rivals and dominant market forces. Now, for the very very first time, you might be on comparable footing as your more powerful rivals. It's the best chance to specify your future.

In an international decline like what COVID-19 has actually activated, absolutely nothing makes sense. And yet, a few of your competitors will continue to perform their typical "tried and genuine" marketing playback, presuming that constructing the brand name with corporate interactions messages from the CEO is going to add to their business objectives. Now is the ideal possibility for the Wartime CMO to take ground in the market.

Take strong action.

Creative marketing is needed in Wartime more than ever. Now is the time to check your essential assumptions. As the worldwide company environment has actually altered, and the stability of the core service cast doubt on, CMO's needs to be all set to reassess their preliminary strategy.
Think about that less consumers will equate to decreased need. And decreased need means markets will not respond as they did prior to the crisis.

Think about it in this manner, when individuals buy less, advertisers invest less. However prior to you follow a slash and burn the marketing invest playbook, here are a couple of things to be well-informed about:

Investment bank Cowen and Company examined the last 6 financial slumps offered that 1950 and discovered that costs on direct marketing grew throughout the previous economic recessions. Significance, you will wish to consider your mix of brand marketing carefully compared to sales activation marketing. It's not time to stop marketing. Remember, there will be offers throughout the board as media outlets see companies cut their marketing and advertising spends. Press marketing and branding drops in a downturn, but sales activation marketing always increases.

Shift spending to more quantifiable channels so that you can adapt quickly. Speed is everything. Marketing initiatives able to be tracked with specificity will be a lot better than broad mass-market tasks. Downturns accelerate the reduction of interruption-based mass marketing. In its place will be an increased concentrate on quantifiable and relationship-based techniques.

Recessions create an opportunity for business that are more effective at turning marketing financial investments into income. In the middle of a decrease when marketers are cutting their spending is a fun time to gain from low CPMs and Certified public accountants.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising completed a study in 2008 that discovered, "Following a budget cut, a brand name will continue to get from the marketing financial investment made over the previous few years. This will decrease any short-term company impacts, and will result in a precariously misleading boost in short-term success. The longer-term service damage will be more substantial, however will not be discovered in the beginning."

Millward Brown reported in their research study "Marketing Throughout Economic Downturn: To Invest or Not to Invest?" that 60% of trademark name that went 'dark' during an economic recession by cutting their TELEVISION marketing invest for 6 months experienced a decrease in Trademark name Usage by 24% with a 28% decrease in Brand Image. Brands that cut their advertisement budget at a higher rate relative to their rivals were at an even greater threat of share loss.
There are an incredible number of marketing studies that confirm in a decrease, trademark name that continue marketing and marketing efforts recover much faster. It takes strong action to invest when the data suggests that ROI is not possible. A Wartime CMO fights to preserve the spending plan needed to continue marketing.

Take full advantage of the worth of each lead produced.

In a slowdown, risk-averse buyers take even longer to research study purchases, and this uses similarly to B2B and B2C buyers. When you first acknowledge a possibility, they will likely stay in the awareness stage of your funnel and will not be all set to engage with an SDR or BDR. Do not require this interaction. Marketing should make sure not to move a possibility through the funnel too quickly. Remember, the prospect's professional life has been switched on its head. What was an issue simply a number of weeks or months earlier, is most likely not top of mind today.

It's appealing in a sluggish down to tighten your grip on leads since the reasoning is that now more than ever, all leads are necessary. Here is where lead scoring can be a valuable tool to recognize highly engaged potential customers from those who are not most likely to become your clients. Now is the time for Marketers to hold on to MQL's for an extended period so that you can groom the possibility to the optimum possible level prior to handing them off to sales as a SQL.

Without lead scoring and a perfect prospect tracking system throughout your digital channels, as lots of as 9 out of 10 MQL's who are not yet sales-ready may be lost. They will purchase, simply not now. You do not wish to lose out on the future sale because you didn't keep in contact and consist of worth though the journey. In a "Wartime" economy, you should do whatever possible to enhance the worth of your MQL's.

CMO's that do a far better job of handling leads and developing early-stage potential customers into sales-ready leads will remain in the finest position to win during the crisis and most certainly once it has passed.

Concentrate on your present consumers.

It's less expensive to grow incomes with your existing consumers. Think of whether now is the time to scale back your mass lead generation programs and focus on building much deeper relationships with those who already understand your organization. This does not suggest to stop your requirement gen efforts, but it does imply that you might wish to check out with item and sales how you can sell more to your existing customers.

In Peacetime, marketing groups are operating on autopilot in pursuit of driving MQL's to please sales click here reps. For a business that has gotten traction on their way to becoming a classification king or queen, this approach, though expensive feels good because of the amazing volume of activity that is being produced. Nevertheless, without careful analysis, the high degree of activity fools numerous CMO's and management groups into believing that their requirement generation engine is finely tuned when, in reality, it's discharging enormous contamination, i.e. extremely high CAC, greater than typical churn for the category, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing must align with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader concerns business with an amazing education and pedigree, having really held substantial titles with huge companies. There was a time when the marketing group might handle all corporate and product details and messaging with the marketplace. If a purchaser desired to discover a new product or check out whether an option might satisfy their requirement, they had no alternative however to call the organization.

Responses to concerns such as, Who's authentic and who isn't? - Who's item works, and whose does not? - What's coming? Now where available with a single post on the appropriate online forum or LinkedIn group. As an outcome, the power shifted to the purchaser.

We understand that online marketers are no longer in control of the purchaser's journey. It is very important to specify a funnel that describes expulsions a prospect must hand down the method to doing organization with the company. Buyers can connect with us on the platform of their picking. As the buying group has actually broadened to as lots of as two lots individuals, the concept that they will follow our procedure as we have actually recommended is hardly ever real.

You require a worth developer CMO who is revenue-focused.

A revenue-focused CMO will handle the engine behind a CEO's development strategy. The shift from companies being physical item developers or service companies, to digital innovation companies where the item is distributed as software application or software as a service through the Internet, has reduced the function of marketing. And is the aspect a revenue-focused CMO who is a value designer is what all start-ups and disruptive development business need today.

Today, marketing needs greater levels of technical ability as a result of the explosion of digital media and the marketing technologies that are related to online marketing. This transformation has been highlighted by Forrester, mentioning a 20-year-old transition to digital as the driving force behind CMOs moving from being brand-builders to earnings motorists. Forrester goes on to report that a worth developer, revenue-driven Online marketer, should be a story maker and not simply a storyteller.

The CMO today should be a specialist at developing and leading imaginative engagement and company method to establish a classification for business to dominate.

Here are a number of methods that a revenue-driven CMO requirement to run:

They will work carefully with the sales group to find and map the buyer's journey. Where assumptions do not match what is happening in the market, a worth developer CMO will leave the office and hang out in the field. This leader understands that you can not drive revenue if you aren't near where the sale happens.

A revenue-focused CMO develops content targeted at each phase of the buyer's journey. Consider the purchaser's journey as a set of gates where the material reacts to the primary concerns a purchaser has at each action so that they can complete the purchasing journey.
The brand-new generation CMO will gather engagement metrics for each gate while evaluating the success of the end-to-end marketing cycle to deliver the most timely and certified leads to their sellers. A worth designer CMO sees marketing as close allies to the sales group.

The revenue-centered CMO is constantly discovering from and tweak the procedure so that they can enhance the quantity and quality of leads that contributed to the pipeline and closed service.
Revenues attribution and marketing ROI styles will show real outcomes, not extrapolated or "presumed" requirements. This information is vital for the revenue-focused CMO to fix because they appreciate marketing's impact on business.

A revenue-focused CMO will focus on how their marketing efforts map startup marketing consultant to closed/won offers that drive the profits and organization goals of the organization. Vanity metrics like traffic, click-thru rates, CPM, and CTA conversions inform just a piece of the story.

What to search for in your next CMO.

In the vibrant state of organization today, dealing with an efficient CMO is amongst the most tough things to do. Every market, business, and market section is different. Even where you can acknowledge prospects from the exact same organization neighborhood or environment, it's inadequate to simply have a look at years of experience or education. You require to take a look at the motivations and thought patterns of the person. Ask:
Is the CMO an issue solver?

The most substantial danger today is on the market side and not innovation. A marketing leader who isn't an issue solver will have a hard time to deal with the fast-changing nature of the marketplace and community building.

Are they a doer?
In lots of marketing groups, there will specify experts who can work at the greatest level throughout the series of capabilities needed. It's incumbent for a marketing leader to command consider a doer. The CMO, who can demonstrate practical capability in the core locations that the group runs, will be more trustworthy than a supervisor simply.

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest way to make sure that you draw in a CMO who is revenue and not brand-driven is to employ somebody who has come up through product, sales, and corporate approach. Having direct exposure to the inner workings of product and sales is especially helpful as service approach is becoming a more substantial part of the CMO's series of responsibilities.

Do they think in systems or method organization in a structured manner?

As digital has actually blown up the number of marketing interface points, making it possible for purchasers to disaggregate business more info from the purchasing journey, a CMO ought to have the capability to think about systems and structures rather of securely specified marketing lanes. It is no longer sufficient to prepare in concerns to the social task, content marketing job, occasions, and PR, all as different activities. The effective CMO will start with organization goal they are serving and be ready to question everything.

Can they connect outside the walls of the company to the market?

To end up being a story-maker, you must be worthy of listening to. A CMO is in the perfect position to presume the evangelistic function for the organization. The most effective CMO's in any market are extremely noticeable spokespeople for their business.
Are they a motivator?

As the CMO will need to work cross-functionally to ensure that they have positioning with item and sales, the marketing head should be a motivator. To develop a category requires conversation, negotiation, and the capability to search for and reach a contract.

Do they enable their group, or operate by command and control?

A CMO who attempts to lead with ultimate authority will struggle to accomplish business objectives of business. Marketing groups today should work as engineering groups operate in an agile style. Rather of well arranged 90-day task cadences, an agile marketing group carries out a constant flow of initiatives while maintaining the adaptability to alter as the market or organization needs determine.

Does the CMO comprehend category style?

I have in fact composed about category style and why every organization needs to own a classification to accomplish its ideal capacity. There is a framework for carrying out classification style. Still, whether an Online marketer follows the summary or approaches classification design another way, a CMO needs to be putting routine thought and preparation into how they define the category they imply to dominate. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no chance to finish a proper classification design.

The Wartime CMO will require to increase the accountability of marketing by showing the impact of each marketing activity on the pipeline as determined by earnings contribution.
In a slow down, marketing should move the understanding of being an expense center to an earnings driver. Reporting beyond the number of marketing qualified leads produced to consist of the overall opportunity worth for each lead source is an outstanding method to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the economic objectives of company.

Research studies have really exposed that an appropriately created landing page can double your conversion rate over sending out traffic to your home page, which tends to do not have the proper call to action that matches the advertisement. Due to the fact that of this, examining landing pages can increase conversions as much as 50% or more. Together, these strategies can supply a 2.5 X boost for every single dollar you purchase marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a distinction.

Throughout Wartime, every marketing dollar is valuable, and a Wartime CMO comprehends that winning will not boil down to a single technique or "silver bullet" approach. Instead, many little things performed well. The CMO, who can not understand the interaction of copy, messaging, imaginative design, and development, will struggle to discover and recognize rapidly where little adjustments can offer much better conversions.

This material method worked, for a season, sort-of. Nevertheless with the increase of Google RankBrain, the method has actually not worked for several years. Without being in the middle of a crisis, you need to stop this ineffective activity. Now as spending plans are under pressure and every marketing activity should count, the way that we do content marketing requires to be upgraded.

Now, the material that we create requirements to interest someone looking for our option, and it must include buyer intent triggers like keywords and expressions that a buyer would utilize as they get near acquiring decision. A Havas Group research study exposed that 84% of individuals prepare for brand names to produce material, yet 60% of the content produced is of bad quality or unimportant, failing to satisfy the needs of the audience. Despite a 71% connection in between content effectiveness and a brand name's influence on personal wellness, just 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand names produce content that satisfies this requirement. Trademark name's are failing to produce considerable material.

Stop producing assembly line material that is simply indicated to establish the brand name or introduce the item. Rather, content must target specific personalities to deal with any setbacks preventing the possibility from moving on. This content will take longer to produce and need a higher neighborhood and product understanding level.

CMO's in Wartime need to have an excellent understanding of the buyer mind and their mental requirements so that they can develop content that eases fear and addresses the genuine issues they have.

CMO's in Wartime double down on Category Style so that their organization will come out as the leader, making them the dominant choice, putting them in the enviable position to take as much as 76% of the economics from the entire classification.

Read more about Classification Design.

The B2B sales process today is fragmented and complex, with lots of stakeholders needing to validate a INFO purchase choice. This renders basic marketing ROI and attribution Mark Donnigan methods less useful for anything besides academic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into 3 practical pillars making up Item, Requirement Generation, and Category Style. Since lots of marketing leaders have in fact not entirely welcomed classification design, it's a surprisingly simple way to beat an incumbent throughout a crisis. As quickly as the sector begins to discuss the category as you have really specified it, your service will wind up being the classification and the obvious option.

To do Classification Style needs a different working cadence. Wartime is the perfect time to embark on Category Design considered that definitely nothing is "regular" throughout a crisis.
To manage the obstacle of constructing a Category King organization requires a lot of grit, decision, and a steadfast drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who takes on the challenge, there can be no larger pot-o-gold if successful.

Read the book Play Bigger to find out everything about category design.