Mark Donnigan - growth stage marketing

Mark Donnigan develops disruptive innovative start-ups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market strategies and marketing movements that drive real organization outcomes for technical and product-centric founders. Mark's growth and market advancement experience spans 20 years as a transformative B2B marketing and company leader, driving demand, brand name advancement, and strategy for startup and growth-stage business.

As a professional and virtual marketing leader (fractional-CMO), Mark Donnigan deals with start-up developers and CEOs from B2B disruptive innovation technology business to assist them establish, bootstrap, and scale their marketing and go-to-market actions.

FIND OUT MORE: https://growthstage.marketing

Mark Donnigan has actually handled teams as big as 25, making up SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark carried budget obligations to $3mm/year for operations and $400k/year for marketing. Deal sizes varying from mid-five figures to mid-six figures every year.

As a startup marketing consultant, Mark Donnigan's incoming and outgoing marketing experience consist of structure and mentoring high-performance groups that execute as needed generation, brand and item marketing, PR, digital, and occasions where he establishes and executes high-impact programs that drive income, produce ROI, trigger the marketplace, and delivers business results.

Mark Donnigan thinks that the finest marketing specialists and marketing leaders are doers. Mark's marketing experience includes all aspects of requirement generation, ABM, SEO, email marketing, paid marketing, events, PR (internal & agency), and item marketing.

Mark is a problem solver and a first-principles thinker who is creative and analytical. Mark constantly works cross-functionally and has shown success, structure, leading, and mentoring marketing, sales, and organization advancement groups that have really produced more than $500mm in revenue/shareholder value.

Mark has actually found that constructing a classification needs to be the leading goal for every single marketing leader and it is the foundation of his method and approach. Mark Donnigan has comprehensive B2B marketing experience that consists of structure and mentoring high-performance teams.

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he puts a high value on teamwork. Mark has extensive experience working together with sales, product, operations, and financing to ensure that the business and revenue goals of the business are constantly surpassed.

Growth Stage Marketing exists to supply entrepreneurs and creators services for:

Architecting the market category that is finest suited to the unique value proposal of your innovation.
High impact marketing support so that you can reach your earnings objectives and scale sustainably.
Attaining go-to-market positioning across the sales and marketing companies.
Drawing out the highest worth from every marketing dollar.
Insider knowledge and insights about the B2B purchasing journey and how to navigate a progressively fragmented client choice hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and procedure development to making the very first hires.

Ideas on what it requires 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 study finished by the marketing consultancy Fournaise discovered that 80% of President are not pleased with the work their top Marketing leader is doing. Assessing what today company reality implies for marketing leaders, I remembered the principle of a Peacetime leader and a Wartime leader from Ben Horowitz's book "The Hard Feature Of Hard Things."

Horowitz explained the principle in a post where he composed that the Peacetime CEO "focuses on the huge image and empowers her people to make detailed choices." The Wartime CEO, on the other hand, "values a speck of dust on a gnat's ass if it disrupted the prime regulation."

The Peacetime CEO "comprehends what to do with a big benefit," while the Wartime CEO "is paranoid." Peacetime CEO "works to reduce dispute," and Wartime CEO "increases the contradictions."

Peacetime in company is when a business has the ability to grow in its core market due to a significant advantage vs. the competition. In times of peace, business focuses on broadening the market and boosting business's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are totally complimentary to be imaginative with our trademark name structure by attending each exhibition with an even larger cubicle than in 2015's and investing exorbitantly on sponsorships, all under the guise of constructing the trademark name.

Wartime is a different thing completely because, in Wartime, the life and death of our company may be on the line.
As I compose this post, the whole world is fighting an unnoticeable enemy called COVID-19, which has let loose a discouraging dose of organization uncertainty globally. For CMO's, the COVID-19 pandemic is service equivalent of war. No longer do our 2020 marketing methods make great sense.

This is more than being in a space with the light on, and unexpectedly you find yourself in pitch-black darkness, so you walk tepidly, continuing in the exact same instructions knowing that you were heading towards the door prior to the lights got turned off. No, not simply has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown an enormous crater in our path that was not there prior to, and devoid of light in the space, can not be seen. However we need to avoid at all expenses falling under the crater.

Nobody longs for war, however a Wartime leader does not avoid the fight, rather, they recognize that Wartime is the single finest possibility to leapfrog sidetracked competitors and take ground away. What follows is a set of ideas and ideas to help you discover your "Wartime CMO combat strategy."

How to function as a Wartime CMO.

During Wartime, everyone remains in uncharted waters, but this is where the chance is for lots of business who formerly had a difficult time to complete against larger competitors and dominant market forces. Now, for the extremely very first time, you might be on equivalent footing as your more effective rivals. It's the perfect opportunity to specify your future.

In a worldwide decrease like what COVID-19 has triggered, definitely nothing makes good sense. And yet, a few of your rivals will continue to perform their usual "attempted and genuine" marketing playback, presuming that building the brand with corporate interactions messages from the CEO is going to add to their service objectives. Now is the ideal possibility for the Wartime CMO to take ground in the market.

Take strong action.

Imaginative marketing is needed in Wartime more than ever. Now is the time to examine your vital presumptions. As the worldwide organization environment has changed, and the stability of the core service cast doubt on, CMO's must be prepared to reassess their initial plan.
Consider that less consumers will equate to minimized need. And minimized requirement indicates markets will not respond as they did prior to the crisis.

Think about it in this way, when people buy less, advertisers invest less. Nevertheless prior to you follow a slash and burn the marketing invest playbook, here are a couple of things to be educated about:

Financial investment bank Cowen and Company analyzed the last 6 economic downturns offered that 1950 and found that spending on direct marketing grew throughout the previous financial downturns. Significance, you will want to consider your mix of brand name marketing thoroughly compared to sales activation marketing. It's not time to stop marketing. Keep in mind, there will be deals throughout the board as media outlets see business cut their marketing and advertising invests. Push marketing and branding drops in a slowdown, but sales activation marketing always increases.

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

Recessions develop a chance for business that are more effective at turning marketing financial investments into earnings. In the middle of a decrease when advertisers are cutting their spending is a fun time to benefit from low CPMs and Certified public accountants.

The Institute of Practitioners in Marketing finished a study in 2008 that found, "Following a budget plan cut, a brand will continue to get from the marketing investment made over the previous couple of years. This will lower any short-term organization impacts, and will lead to a dangerously deceptive increase in short-term success. The longer-term service damage will be more significant, however will not be seen in the beginning."

Millward Brown reported in their research study "Marketing During Economic Slump: 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 Use by 24% with a 28% decrease in Brand name Image. Brands that cut their ad spending plan at a greater rate relative to their competitors were at an even greater danger of share loss.
There are an unbelievable variety of marketing studies that verify in a decline, trademark name that continue marketing and advertising efforts recuperate faster. It takes strong action to invest when the information advises that ROI is not possible. A Wartime CMO battles to maintain the spending plan needed to continue marketing.

Make the most of the worth of each lead produced.

In a slowdown, risk-averse purchasers take even longer to research purchases, and this uses similarly to B2B and B2C buyers. When you initially recognize a possibility, they will likely stay in the awareness phase of your funnel and will not be all set to engage with an SDR or BDR. Do not force this interaction. Marketing must take care not to move a prospect through the funnel too rapidly. Remember, the possibility's skilled life has actually been turned on its head. What was an issue simply a number of weeks or months earlier, is likely not top of mind today.

It's tempting in a slow down to tighten your grip on leads considering that the rationale 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 likely to become your customers. Now is the time for more information here Marketers to hang on to MQL's for a prolonged period so that you can groom the prospect to the optimum possible extent 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, just not now. You do not want to miss out on the future sale given that you didn't keep in contact and consist of worth though the journey. In a "Wartime" economy, you must do everything possible to enhance the worth of your MQL's.

CMO's that do a much better task of handling leads and developing early-stage prospects into sales-ready leads will stay in the finest position to win throughout the crisis and most certainly once it has actually passed.

Focus on your present clients.

It's less expensive to grow earnings with your existing clients. Consider whether now is the time to scale back your mass lead generation programs and focus on building much deeper relationships with those who already know your service. This does not imply to stop your need gen efforts, however it does imply that you might want to check out with item and sales how you can offer more to your existing consumers.

In Peacetime, marketing groups are running on autopilot in pursuit of driving MQL's to satisfy sales reps. For a business that has obtained traction on their method to ending up being a category king or queen, this technique, though costly feels great given that of the exceptional volume of activity that is being produced. Nevertheless, without mindful analysis, the high degree of activity fools numerous CMO's and management groups into believing that their requirement generation engine is carefully tuned when, in reality, it's discharging enormous contamination, i.e. exceedingly high CAC, greater than typical churn for the category, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing needs to align with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader concerns the business with a remarkable education and pedigree, having really held significant titles with big business. There was a time when the marketing group may handle all business and item information and messaging with the marketplace. If a buyer preferred to learn about a new product or check out whether an option may fulfill their requirement, they had no option but to call business.

Responses to concerns such as, Who's real and who isn't? - Who's item works, and whose does not? - What's coming? Now where readily available with a single post on the appropriate 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 buyer's journey. It is essential to specify a funnel that details evictions a prospect need to pass on the way to doing business with the service. Purchasers can get in touch with us on the platform of their picking. As the buying group has broadened to as numerous as two lots individuals, the concept that they will follow our procedure as we have really prescribed is rarely genuine.

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

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

Today, marketing requires greater levels of technical capability as an outcome of the surge of digital media and the marketing innovations that are associated with online marketing. This change has actually been highlighted by Forrester, mentioning a 20-year-old shift to digital as the driving force behind CMOs moving from being brand-builders to income drivers. Forrester goes on to report that a value developer, revenue-driven Online online marketer, should be a story maker and not just a writer.

The CMO today need to be an expert at developing and leading creative engagement and company method to develop a category for the company to control.

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

They will work carefully with the sales group to discover and map the purchaser's journey. Where assumptions do not match what is taking place in the market, a value 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 takes place.

A revenue-focused CMO creates content targeted at each stage of the buyer's journey. Believe about the buyer's journey as a set of gates where the material reacts to the main issues a buyer has at each action so that they can finish the purchasing journey.
The new generation CMO will gather engagement metrics for each gate while assessing the success of the end-to-end marketing cycle to deliver the most prompt and qualified cause their sellers. A worth designer CMO sees marketing as close allies to the sales group.

The revenue-centered CMO is always finding from and tweak the process so that they can enhance the quantity and quality of leads that contributed to the pipeline and closed organization.
Profits attribution and marketing ROI styles will reflect genuine results, not extrapolated or "presumed" requirements. This information is crucial for the revenue-focused CMO to fix because they appreciate marketing's influence on organization.

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

What to look for in your next CMO.

In the vibrant state of company today, working with an effective CMO is among the most challenging things to do. Every market, service, and market section is various. Even where you can recognize potential customers from the very same company neighborhood or environment, it's not sufficient to simply have a look at years of experience or education. You need to analyze the motivations and believed patterns of the person. Ask:
Is the CMO an issue solver?

The most considerable threat today is on the market side and not innovation. A marketing leader who isn't a concern solver will have a hard time to manage the fast-changing nature of the market and community building.

Are they a doer?
In numerous marketing groups, there will be particular specialists who can work at the highest level throughout the series of abilities required. It's incumbent for a marketing leader to command regard as a doer. The CMO, who can demonstrate functional capability in the core locations that the group runs, will be more trusted than a supervisor just.

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest method to make sure that you attract a CMO who is income and not brand-driven is to hire somebody who has actually shown up through product, sales, and business technique. Having direct exposure to the inner functions of item and sales is particularly advantageous as organization method is ending up being a more significant part of the CMO's series of responsibilities.

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

As digital has actually exploded the variety of marketing interface points, allowing buyers to disaggregate the business from the buying journey, a CMO should have the ability to consider systems and structures instead of securely specified marketing lanes. It is no longer appropriate to plan in concerns to the social job, material marketing job, events, and PR, all as separate activities. The effective CMO will begin with company objective they are serving and be prepared to question everything.

Can they communicate outside the walls of the business to the marketplace?

To wind up being a story-maker, you should be worthy of listening to. A CMO is in the perfect position to presume the evangelistic function for the company. The most successful CMO's in any market are highly visible spokespeople for their organization.
Are they a motivator?

As the CMO will require to work cross-functionally to ensure that they have positioning with item and sales, the marketing head need to be a motivator. To establish a classification needs discussion, settlement, and the ability to look for and reach a contract.

Do they allow their group, or run by command and control?

A CMO who tries to lead with supreme authority will have a hard time to achieve business goals of business. Marketing groups today ought to work as engineering groups operate in a nimble fashion. Instead of nicely organized 90-day task cadences, a nimble marketing group performs a consistent flow of efforts while keeping the versatility to alter as the market or company requirements identify.

Does the CMO comprehend classification style?

I have really made up about classification design and why every company requires to own a category to achieve its optimal potential. There is a framework for performing classification design. Still, whether a Marketer follows the summary or methods category style another way, a CMO needs to be putting regular thought and preparation into how they specify the classification they mean to dominate. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no way to finish a right category style.

The Wartime CMO will require to increase the accountability of marketing by showing the impact of each marketing activity on the pipeline as identified by income contribution.
In a sluggish down, marketing should move the understanding of being an expense center to an income vehicle driver. Reporting beyond the number of marketing certified leads produced to include the overall possibility worth for each lead source is an excellent way to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the financial objectives of service.

Research studies have actually revealed that a correctly 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. Since of this, inspecting landing pages can increase conversions as much as 50% or more. Together, these strategies can offer a 2.5 X boost for each single dollar you buy marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a difference.

During Wartime, every marketing dollar is valuable, and a Wartime CMO comprehends that winning will not come down to a single method or "silver bullet" approach. Rather, lots of little things executed well. The CMO, who can not understand the interaction of copy, messaging, creative design, and development, will have a hard time to find and recognize quickly where little modifications can use much better conversions.

This content technique worked, for a season, sort-of. However with the boost of Google RankBrain, the method has actually not worked for several years. Without remaining in the middle of a crisis, you need to stop this ineffective activity. Now as budget plans are under pressure and every marketing activity ought to count, the way that we do content marketing needs to be updated.

Now, the material that we create requirements to interest somebody looking for our service, and it must include purchaser intent triggers like keywords and expressions that a purchaser would utilize as they get close to buying choice. A Havas Group research study revealed that 84% of individuals expect brand name names to produce material, yet 60% of the material produced is of bad quality or unimportant, stopping working to fulfill the needs of the audience. No matter a 71% correlation in between content effectiveness and a brand's impact on individual wellness, just 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand name names produce material that fulfills this requirement. Brand's are failing to produce significant content.

Stop producing assembly line content that is simply implied to establish the brand name or introduce the product. Rather, material must target specific personas to fix any setbacks preventing the prospect from moving on. This material will take longer to produce and require a greater neighborhood and item knowledge level.

CMO's in Wartime need to have an exceptional understanding of the purchaser psyche and their psychological requirements so that they can produce content that eases fear and addresses the sincere issues they have.

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

Find out more about Classification Design.

The B2B sales procedure today is fragmented and complicated, with great deals of stakeholders needing to verify a purchase decision. This renders basic marketing ROI and attribution techniques less helpful for anything besides academic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into three practical pillars making up Item, Requirement Generation, and Classification Style. Since numerous marketing leaders have actually not totally welcomed classification style, it's a remarkably simple way to beat an incumbent throughout a crisis. As quickly as the sector begins to discuss the classification as you have actually defined it, your organization will wind up being the category and the apparent choice.

To do Classification Style needs a various working cadence. Wartime is the ideal time to embark on Category Design offered that absolutely nothing is "normal" throughout a crisis.
To manage the challenge of building a Classification King organization needs a lots of grit, determination, and an unfaltering drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who handles the challenge, there can be no bigger pot-o-gold if effective.

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