When the economy rocks as much as we've all witnessed in the past year, pivoting and reprioritizing can become the norm. But reprioritization doesn't need to feel chaotic.
Ryan Morel, VP of Marketing at Flexe, a software company delivering technology-powered, omnichannel logistics programs, knows this first hand. Being at the company for over seven years, Ryan is no stranger to change, which is why he's so adamant about having a North Star to work towards. With a clear North Star in mind, Ryan believes you can strategically direct a team and drive results no matter the outside circumstances.
In this episode of Revenue Talks, Ryan discusses his experience working at a start-up that is constantly evolving to meet current marketing demands. The two marketing VPs chew over knowing when it's time to “kill your darlings" in order to move forwar, how to manage team expectations and the importance of marrying marketing and sales activities through persistent collaboration.
You can connect with Justin on Twitter and Ryan on LinkedIn.
Read how other go-to-market leaders are strategizing their year: https://drift.ly/stateofconversations
"You're not listening!"
Be it in our personal or professional lives, most of us have heard this sentence once or twice. Why? Because we all like to think we know what others are thinking and feeling. In reality, however, the only way we truly know how our friends, customers, and prospects are feeling is by listening to what they have to say.
That's one of the reasons Amy Frampton, Head of Marketing for BambooHR, moved the sales development rep (SDR) team to the marketing team when she joined the company five years ago.
In this Revenue Talks episode, Amy shares how she leverages her SDR team to learn what pain points prospects really have, how her team actions on these pain points, and how the entire BambooHR go-to-market organization aligns around the voice of the customer.
You can connect with Justin on Twitter and Amy on LinkedIn.
Read how other go-to-market leaders are strategizing their year: https://drift.ly/stateofconversations
People, processes, and technology. That's the formula Rakhi Voria, VP of Sales for Procore Technologies, has found to be the most successful in building an inside sales strategy.
Rakhi is no stranger to inside sales strategies, either. She built a new digital sales force at Microsoft, managed the global digital sales development team at IBM, and now leads the sales development team at Procore Technologies.
In this episode of Revenue Talks, guest-hosted by Drift's VP of Mid-Market Sales, Armen Zildjian, the two sales leaders discuss the importance of hiring diverse talent in sales, how to determine your ideal sales tech stack, and what cross-functional alignment should look like in order to ensure quality pipeline.
You can connect with Armen and Rakhi on Twitter at @Azildj, @rakhivoria, and @DriftPodcasts.
Read how other go-to-market leaders are strategizing their year: https://drift.ly/stateofconversations
The CIA and product marketing: Two industries that are obviously different yet strikingly similar.
In this episode of Revenue Talks, Justin discovers why John Brezinsky (VP of Product Marketing at Searchmetrics) might have a background, or a future, as a CIA agent. John shares how his team figures out what messaging will resonate with different audiences across the globe, how to then ensure that the other go-to-market teams at Searchmetrics use that messaging, and how his product marketing organization fits within Searchmetrics' larger campaign strategy.
You can connect with Justin on Twitter at @justinkeller and @DriftPodcasts, and John on LinkedIn.
Read more go-to-market best practices: https://drift.ly/GTMBook
See who Drift's other Marketers to Watch are: https://drift.ly/MarketerstoWatch
Justin Keller isn't a sports guy, but in this episode, he gives sports analogies his best shot to understand how Kevan Lee (former sports journalist turned VP of Marketing) and his team at Oyster® drive sales and marketing alignment at their 2-year-old startup.
In the equivalent of just one hockey period, Justin and Kevan discuss what Oyster®'s go-to-market scoreboard looks like, how the go-to-market teams hold each other accountable, and how Kevan reports on the ROI of brand to his organization.
You can connect with Justin and Kevan on Twitter at @justinkeller, @kevanlee, and @DriftPodcasts.
Read more go-to-market best practices: https://drift.ly/GTMBook
See who Drift's other Marketers to Watch are: https://drift.ly/MarketerstoWatch
Janet Jaiswal (VP of Global Marketing at Cloudbeds) doesn't believe personalization can happen overnight. Instead, she encourages her team to look at it as a journey.
In this episode of Revenue Talks, Janet talks to Justin about what that journey looks like. The two marketing leaders question whether verticalization makes personalization easier or harder, discuss how Janet balances top-of-funnel content with bottom-of-funnel content, and Janet shares her tips for trying to span marketing messages globally.
As a bonus, you'll hear Janet's favorite travel and food destinations (spoiler: they're not the same place).
You can connect with Justin and Janet on Twitter at @justinkeller, @JanetJaiswal, and @DriftPodcasts.
Read how other go-to-market leaders are strategizing their year: https://drift.ly/stateofconversations
See who Drift's other Marketers to Watch are: https://drift.ly/MarketerstoWatch
Marketers, we get it. You feel like you're constantly moving in a thousand directions, you don't know what your true North star metric is, and it feels impossible to make everyone happy.
This marketing therapy session is for you.
In this episode of Revenue Talks, Neil Cohen, a self-proclaimed marketing therapist, talks with Justin about the biggest problems he sees in sales and marketing teams today. The two debate if sales and marketing teams should report to the same leader, discuss how to balance a sales team's asks with market research, and why branded editorial is the future of content marketing.
You can connect with Justin and Neil on Twitter at @justinkeller and @DriftPodcasts, and Neil on LinkedIn.
Listen to your customer is the advice all marketers and sellers receive, but who really understands them best?
If you ask David Malmborg, the Vice President of Marketing, Community & Partnerships at Nivati, it comes down to macro and micro levels of communication.
On this episode of Revenue Talks, Justin and David discuss what building brand affinity looks like in practice, how to create messaging that customers will resonate with, and how to ensure the entire company is using that same messaging.
You can connect with Justin and David on Twitter at @justinkeller, @davidmalmborg, and @DriftPodcasts.
See who Drift's other Marketers to Watch are: https://drift.ly/MarketerstoWatch
Read more go-to-market best practices: https://drift.ly/GTMBook
Humans, humanity, and how we are wired: those are the three components that lie at the heart of marketing according to PAR Technology's CMO, Seth Temko.
Seth has been involved with internet marketing since the internet first became commercialized in 1995. Seeing its evolution over the years has caused Seth to have a unique outlook on technology's role in marketing, which he shares on this episode of Revenue Talks.
In the episode, Seth explains how he thinks about the value of each piece of technology in his marketing tech stack, how technology can work alongside the essential humanity of marketing, and what the balance of the art and science of marketing looks like at PAR Technology.
PLUS he shares his number one book recommendation for all marketers.
You can connect with Justin and Seth on Twitter at @justinkeller, @SethTemko, and @DriftPodcasts.
Read more go-to-market best practices: https://drift.ly/GTMBook
Lisa McClure (Regional Vice President, Revenue Cloud (SMB West), Salesforce) spends her day selling to people just like her - salespeople.
While this means Lisa understands the persona, it also means that she knows the roadblocks preventing a deal from getting done.
In this episode, Lisa talks with special host Armen Zildjian (Drift's VP of Mid-Market Sales) about how her sales team overcomes these roadblocks. She explains what it's like to sell an "add-on" component of the larger Salesforce product, how she leads a start-up sales function, and the key characteristics that constitute a strong startup seller.
You can connect with Armen on Twitter at @Azildj and @DriftPodcasts, and Lisa on LinkedIn.
Read more go-to-market best practices: https://drift.ly/GTMBook
*Note: This episode was recorded when Lisa was the Regional Vice President of SMB West at Salesforce Revenue Cloud. She is now the Director of Sales Development - Commerce for Salesforce
Data, not drama. That's the motto of The RepTrak Company's marketing team.
RepTrak's marketing team uses data to inform the majority of decisions they make, but that doesn't mean they don't take risks.
Ali Jawin, The RepTrak Company's Vice President of Marketing, believes strongly in leveraging data to justify marketing spend.
In this episode, she explains how her team balances data with creativity, how she communicates the ROI of big brand plays (even when the results don't come until months later) to her broader go-to-market organization, and how, despite operating in countries all over the globe, all of RepTrak's go-to-market teams are able to stay aligned on the end goal.
You can connect with Justin on Twitter at @justinkeller and @DriftPodcasts, and Ali on LinkedIn.
See who Drift's other Marketers to Watch are: https://drift.ly/MarketerstoWatch
Read the study on the importance of brand to revenue: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/when-the-going-gets-tough-the-tough-dont-skimp-on-their-ad-budgets/
Learn more about the Forrester New Wave™ Report: https://drift.ly/ForresterWave
When it comes to digital experience and design, you can't think of one without another.
No one knows this better than Mike Impelluso, the Vice President of Marketing, Brand and Digital for CentralReach.
In this episode, Mike explains how he aligns CentralReach's brand and digital teams to work towards the same goal, how he thinks about the ROI of brand plays, and what he considers as "must-haves" for a positive website experience.
You can connect with Justin and Mike on Twitter at @justinkeller, @MImpelluso, and @DriftPodcasts.
See who Drift's other Marketers to Watch are: https://drift.ly/MarketerstoWatch
Learn more about the Forrester New Wave™ Report: https://drift.ly/ForresterWave
What do B2B SaaS and lobstering have in common?
More than you think.
Jess Meschino is the SVP of Customer Services at Workable, but she's also a lobsterwoman on the side. Jess uses this side hustle to inform her 9-5 work, and that's just one of the topics Justin and she explore on this season premiere of Revenue Talks.
In this episode, Justin and Jess, alongside special guest Armen Zildjian (VP of Sales at Drift), discuss how Jess's team scales the 1:1 customer experience, what the sales --> post-sales hand-off looks like at Workable, and what the biggest blockers are that prevent go-to-market alignment at many organizations today.
You can connect with Justin and Armen on Twitter at @justinkeller, @Azildj, and @DriftPodcasts, and Jess on LinkedIn.
Learn more about the Forrester New Wave™ Report: https://drift.ly/ForresterWave
Sales and marketing (mis)alignment. A tale as old as time, but a tale Justin Keller, Drift's Vice President of Revenue Marketing, is tired of hearing.
That's why for Season 2 of Revenue Talks, Justin sits down with leaders across sales, marketing, and customer success to find out how they're aligning go-to-market teams to accelerate revenue at their organizations.
Listen to leaders from companies like Workable, Salesforce, and Nivati talk about how they measure success, how they hold teams accountable, and how they create campaigns that scale.
The first episode airs Monday, 10/17. Make sure to subscribe, so you don't miss it.
Because if there's one thing Justin knows for certain, it's that revenue talks.
You can connect with Justin on Twitter @justinkeller and @DriftPodcasts.
Ask your sales team what it means to "win." Now ask your marketing team the same question. Are their answers the same?
Joe McNeill, the Chief Revenue Officer of Influ2, a person-based advertising platform for B2B companies, would bet on no, and it's this discrepancy that he believes is the key blocker for sales and marketing alignment at companies today.
That's why Influ2 created Buying Group Marketing (BGM) - a new way to focus on all the people that matter in a sales process. On this episode of Revenue Talks, Joe tells Katie what exactly Buying Group Marketing is, how it can improve a company's go-to-market alignment, and he explains how BGM can co-exist with, and enhance, an ABM strategy.
Like this episode? Let us know by leaving a review! You can connect with Katie on Twitter @KatieJfoote, @DriftPodcasts, and Joe on LinkedIn.
"Best in class" "Cheapest" "Fastest"
All of these "-est" words seem great to win in the moment. But that's all they are: momentary wins. If you really want to win as a B2B brand today, you need to create a relationship with your customers - one that survives on the longevity of the emotional connection you create by solving a pain point your customers have. People have a lot of different pain points, so how do you pick just one, and what differentiates your solution, or brand, from the others?
If you can answer these questions, Sally Hogshead, best-selling author and world-class branding expert, believes you'll be better than the rest.
In this episode of Revenue Talks, Sally explains the logic behind her newest book, Different is Better. She explains why B2B marketers shouldn't fear being different (in fact, why we should embrace it), why marketing can be a lot like online dating, and she physically draws out the chart that will help you decide what stage of differentiation your brand is in, and where you need to go, in order to win, in the Revenue Era.
Like this episode? Let us know by leaving a review! You can connect with Justin and Sally on Twitter @justinkeller, @SallyHogshead, and @DriftPodcasts.
It's no secret that on this podcast we believe revenue is the responsibility of all go-to-market teams. But that begs the question, how do we think about attribution for sourced revenue?
Christy Marble, the current CMO of Pantheon - a WebOps platform that empowers marketers and developers to create, iterate, and scale websites - has been thinking about this question for years, and she always comes back to the same answer: Marketing's job is to delight and deliver value to their customer's at every aspect of their business.
In this episode of Revenue Talks, Christy explains what exactly delighting customers and delivering value at every aspect of the business looks like at Pantheon. She and Katie discuss leveraging automation to find out what buyers want and need, and they reminisce on direct mail - is it really dead?
Like this episode? Let us know by leaving a review! You can connect with Katie and Christy on Twitter @KatieJfoote, @MarbleChristy, and @DriftPodcasts.
Banks, software, even groceries. It doesn't matter the business - trust in the brands where we invest our money is a key reason for why we make the decisions we do, and it's why former Vice President of Customer Success at Liferay, Fred Tsai, believes trust is the core to every successful business.
In this episode of Revenue Talks, Fred explains why he believes building trust with buyers is crucial to a company's long-term success, how Liferay builds trust with its buyers, and how the Liferay customer success team aligns and works alongside the marketing team in a way the benefits both them and their customers.
NOTE: At the time of this recording, Fred led the Liferay customer success team. He has since moved on to Checkr, where he served as the Vice President of Customer Success.
Like this episode? Let us know by leaving a review! You can connect with Justin and Fred on Twitter @justinkeller, @fhtsai, and @DriftPodcasts.
Pipeline - is it the responsibility of sales, or marketing? And even before deciding that, how do you define "pipeline"?
Scott Berg, Vice President of Global Revenue and Field Marketing at Hitachi Vantara - an IT service management company - says that there are two definitions to pipeline, but both are the responsibility of both sales AND marketing.
In today's go-to-market landscape, Scott believes that for marketing to build trust with sales, sales and marketing teams must first align on the definition of pipeline, and marketing must be measured on outcomes (revenue), not actions (clicks).
In this episode of Revenue Talks, Scott explains what go-to-market alignment looks like at Hitachi Vantara, how his go-to-market processes scale globally, and he and Katie predict what marketing will look like in five years.
Like this episode? Let us know by leaving a review! You can connect with Katie and Scott on Twitter @KatieJfoote, @ScottBerg, and @DriftPodcasts.
Growing upmarket as a company means more than just hiring account executives to sell into new territory.
Lauren Weinberg, Global Head of Marketing and Communications at Square, a financial services and digital payments company, knows this first hand.
Before sales teams can even start selling, extensive research needs to be done in order to understand who the personas are in the new market and how they think and operate differently from the personas that reps may be used to selling to. It means tapping into the marketing channels you know they're in and creating content that will resonate with them, all while fighting to get ahead of a noisy digital market.
But more than anything, growing upmarket means increasing your brand's awareness not just of one product, but of your entire suite of solutions.
During this episode of Revenue Talks, Lauren explains how she's worked over the past four years to increase Square's brand awareness to help the company grow not only upmarket but also internationally.
Like this episode? Let us know by leaving a review! You can connect with Katie and Lauren on Twitter @KatieJfoote, @WeinbergLauren, and @DriftPodcasts.
