Growth Stage Marketing Consultant - Mark Donnigan



Mark Donnigan builds disruptive innovative startups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market plans and marketing movements that drive real business outcomes for technical and product-centric creators. Mark's development and market development experience covers twenty years as a transformative B2B marketing and magnate, driving demand, brand name advancement, and strategy for start-up and growth-stage companies.

As a specialist and virtual marketing leader (fractional-CMO), Mark Donnigan deals with startup developers and CEOs from B2B disruptive innovation technology companies to help them establish, bootstrap, and scale their marketing and go-to-market actions.

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Mark Donnigan has managed groups as large as 25, making up SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark carried spending plan responsibilities to $3mm/year for operations and $400k/year for marketing. Offer sizes differing from mid-five figures to mid-six figures every year.

As a start-up marketing expert, Mark Donnigan's incoming and outgoing marketing experience consist of structure and mentoring high-performance teams that execute on need generation, brand name and item marketing, PR, digital, and occasions where he develops and implements high-impact programs that drive income, produce ROI, activate the market, and delivers organization outcomes.

Mark Donnigan thinks that the very best marketing experts and marketing leaders are doers. Mark's marketing experience includes all aspects of need generation, ABM, SEO, e-mail marketing, paid marketing, events, PR (internal & company), and item marketing.

Mark is an issue 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 service advancement groups that have really produced more than $500mm in revenue/shareholder value.

Mark has actually found that building a classification must be the leading objective for every marketing leader and it is the foundation of his technique and technique. Mark Donnigan has substantial B2B marketing experience that consists of building and mentoring high-performance teams.

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he places a high value on teamwork. Mark has extensive experience working alongside sales, item, operations, and finance to ensure that the service and income objectives of the business are constantly surpassed.

Development Phase Marketing exists to offer entrepreneurs and founders services for:

Architecting the marketplace classification that is best matched to the unique worth proposal of your technology.
High impact marketing support so that you can reach your profits objectives and scale sustainably.
Attaining go-to-market positioning throughout the sales and marketing companies.
Drawing out the greatest value from every marketing dollar.
Insider knowledge and insights about the B2B buying journey and how to navigate a progressively fragmented consumer choice hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and procedure development to making the very first hires.

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

If you are a CEO who feels your B2B marketing does not have a clear connection to business, you are not alone. A study finished by the marketing consultancy Fournaise discovered that 80% of Chief Executives are not delighted with the work their top Marketing leader is doing. Examining what the present service reality means 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 concept in a short article where he composed that the Peacetime CEO "focuses on the huge image and empowers her individuals to make in-depth 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 "understands what to do with a big advantage," while the Wartime CEO "is paranoid." Peacetime CEO "works to lower conflict," and Wartime CEO "increases the contradictions."

Peacetime in business is when an organization has the capability to grow in its core market due to a substantial benefit vs. the competition. In times of peace, the service focuses on broadening the marketplace and enhancing the service's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are totally complimentary to be imaginative with our brand name structure by going to each exhibit with an even larger cubicle than last year's and investing exorbitantly on sponsorships, all under the guise of building the brand name.

Wartime is a various thing totally because, in Wartime, the life and death of our organization might be on the line.
As I write this post, the whole world is battling an invisible enemy called COVID-19, which has actually let loose an aggravating dose of service unpredictability worldwide. For CMO's, the COVID-19 pandemic is business equivalent of war. No longer do our 2020 marketing techniques make great sense.

This is more than being in a space with the light on, and suddenly you find yourself in pitch-black darkness, so you walk tepidly, continuing in the same directions knowing that you were heading towards the door prior to the lights got switched off. No, not simply has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown a huge crater in our path that was not there previous to, and devoid of light in the room, can not be seen. Nevertheless we must prevent at all costs falling under the crater.

Nobody wish for war, however a Wartime leader does not diminish from the fight, rather, they acknowledge that Wartime is the single finest possibility to leapfrog sidetracked rivals and take ground away. What follows is a set of pointers and ideas to help you discover your "Wartime CMO combat plan."

How to serve as a Wartime CMO.

Throughout Wartime, everybody is in uncharted waters, however this is where the possibility is for lots of companies who previously had a difficult time to complete against bigger competitors and dominant market forces. Now, for the very first time, you might be on comparable footing as your more powerful rivals. It's the ideal possibility to define your future.

In an international reduction like what COVID-19 has actually set off, definitely nothing makes good sense. And yet, a few of your competitors will continue to perform their usual "tried and real" marketing playback, assuming that building the brand name with business interactions messages from the CEO is going to contribute to their service goals. Now is the best opportunity for the Wartime CMO to take ground in the market.

Take strong action.

Creative marketing is required in Wartime more than ever. Now is the time to check your vital presumptions. As the around the world service environment has actually modified, and the stability of the core organization brought into question, CMO's ought to be prepared to reassess their preliminary plan.
Consider that less customers will equate to reduced need. And reduced requirement indicates markets will not react as they did prior to the crisis.

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

Financial investment bank Cowen and Company evaluated the last 6 financial downturns offered that 1950 and discovered that costs on direct marketing grew during the previous economic recessions. Significance, you will want to consider your mix of brand name marketing carefully compared to sales activation marketing. It's not time to stop marketing. Remember, there will be deals throughout the board as media outlets see business cut their marketing and advertising spends. Push marketing and branding drops in a slowdown, but sales activation marketing constantly increases.

Shift spending to more measurable channels so that you can adjust rapidly. Speed is everything. Marketing initiatives able to be tracked with uniqueness will be a lot better than broad mass-market jobs. Downturns accelerate the reduction of interruption-based mass marketing. In its location will be an increased concentrate on measurable and relationship-based methods.

Declines create a chance for companies that are more effective at turning marketing financial investments into income. In the middle of a sluggish down when advertisers are cutting their costs is a fun time to benefit from low CPMs and Licensed public accounting professionals.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising ended up a study in 2008 that found, "Following a spending plan cut, a brand name will continue to get from the marketing investment made over the previous few years. This will minimize any short-term organization effects, and will result in an alarmingly deceptive boost in short-term success. The longer-term company harm will be more significant, however will not be noticed in the beginning."

Millward Brown reported in their research study "Marketing Throughout Economic Decline: To Invest or Not to Invest?" that 60% of trademark name that went 'dark' throughout an economic recession by cutting their TV marketing invest for 6 months experienced a decrease in Trademark name Usage by 24% with a 28% reduction in Trademark name Image. Brands that cut their advertisement budget at a greater rate relative to their competitors were at an even higher risk of share loss.
There are an incredible variety of marketing research studies that validate in a decline, brand that continue advertising and marketing efforts recover faster. It takes strong action to invest when the information suggests that ROI is not possible. A Wartime CMO fights to preserve the spending plan required to continue marketing.

Make the most of the worth of each lead produced.

In a downturn, risk-averse buyers take even longer to research study purchases, and this uses equally to B2B and B2C buyers. When you first recognize a prospect, they will likely remain 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 take care not to move a prospect through the funnel too quickly. Keep in mind, the prospect's skilled life has been turned on its head. What was a concern just a number of weeks or months back, is 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 vital. Here is where lead scoring can be an important get more information tool to recognize extremely engaged potential customers from those who are not most likely to become your customers. Now is the time for Marketers to hold on to MQL's for an extended duration so that you can groom the prospect to the optimum possible level prior to handing them off to sales as a SQL.

Without lead scoring and an ideal possibility tracking system throughout your digital channels, as many as 9 out of ten MQL's who are not yet sales-ready may be lost. They will purchase, just not now. You do not wish to lose out on the future sale since you didn't keep in contact and consist of worth though the journey. In a "Wartime" economy, you ought to do everything possible to optimize the worth of your MQL's.

CMO's that do a better task of dealing with leads and developing early-stage potential customers into sales-ready leads will remain in the finest position to win during the crisis and most absolutely once it has actually passed.

Concentrate on your present customers.

It's less expensive to grow earnings with your existing consumers. Think of whether now is the time to downsize your mass list building programs and concentrate on structure much deeper relationships with those who already know your organization. This does not suggest to stop your requirement gen efforts, however it does indicate that you might want to explore 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 satisfy sales reps. For a company that has actually gotten traction on their way to ending up being a category king or queen, this method, though costly feels excellent given that of the impressive volume of activity that is being produced. However, without mindful analysis, the high degree of activity fools numerous CMO's and management groups into thinking that their need generation engine is carefully tuned when, in truth, it's emitting enormous contamination, i.e. exceptionally high CAC, higher than typical churn for the classification, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing should align with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader worries business with an amazing education and pedigree, having actually held considerable titles with huge companies. There was a time when the marketing group may manage all business and product information and messaging with the market. If a purchaser desired to discover a brand-new product or check out whether an option may satisfy their requirement, they had no option but to call business.

Reactions to concerns such as, Who's genuine and who isn't? - Who's product works, and whose does not? - What's coming? Now where available with a single post on the appropriate online forum or LinkedIn group. As a result, the power shifted to the buyer.

We understand that online marketers are no longer in control of the purchaser's journey. It is essential to define a funnel that lays out expulsions a possibility should hand down the method to doing service with the organization. Buyers can connect with us on the platform of their picking. As the buying group has expanded to as lots of as two lots people, the idea that they will follow our procedure as we have really recommended is hardly ever real.

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

A revenue-focused CMO will manage the engine behind a CEO's development strategy. The shift from companies being physical item designers or service companies, to digital development companies where the product is dispersed as software or software as a service through the Internet, has actually reduced the function of marketing. And is the factor a revenue-focused CMO who is a value developer is what all start-ups and disruptive development business need today.

Today, marketing needs higher levels of technical capability as an outcome of the explosion of digital media and the marketing technologies that are connected with internet marketing. This improvement mark donnigan marketing consultant has been highlighted by Forrester, mentioning a 20-year-old shift to digital as the driving force behind CMOs moving from being brand-builders to revenue chauffeurs. Forrester goes on to report that a value designer, revenue-driven Online marketer, must be a story maker and not simply a writer.

The CMO today should be an expert at producing and leading creative engagement and service method to establish a category for business to control.

Here are a couple of techniques 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 taking location in the market, a value developer CMO will leave the work environment and hang out in the field. This leader comprehends that you can not drive earnings if you aren't close to where the sale takes place.

A revenue-focused CMO produces 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 new generation CMO will collect engagement metrics for each gate while assessing the success of the end-to-end marketing cycle to provide the most prompt and qualified result in their sellers. A value 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.
Earnings attribution and marketing ROI designs will reflect real outcomes, not theorized or "presumed" requirements. This information is important for the revenue-focused CMO to fix because they care about marketing's impact on service.

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

What to search for in your next CMO.

In the vibrant state of organization today, working with a reliable CMO is among the most hard things to do. Every market, organization, and market section is different. Even where you can acknowledge prospects from the exact same service community or environment, it's not sufficient to simply take an appearance at years of experience or education. You require to examine the inspirations and believed patterns of the individual. Ask:
Is the CMO a problem solver?

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

Are they a doer?
In numerous marketing groups, there will be particular professionals who can work at the highest level throughout the series of abilities 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 reputable than a supervisor simply.

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest way to make sure that you bring in a CMO who is revenue and not brand-driven is to hire somebody who has turned up through product, sales, and corporate method. Having direct exposure to the inner functions of item and sales is specifically advantageous as business approach is becoming a more considerable part of the CMO's series of obligations.

Do they believe in systems or approach company in a structured way?

As digital has blown up the variety of marketing interface points, making it possible for buyers to disaggregate business from the purchasing journey, a CMO should have the capability to think about systems and structures rather of securely defined marketing lanes. It is no longer adequate to plan in regards to the social task, material marketing project, occasions, and PR, all as separate activities. The successful CMO will begin with organization goal they are serving and be ready to question everything.

Can they interact outside the walls of the service to the market?

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

As the CMO will need to work cross-functionally to ensure that they have positioning with product and sales, the marketing head must be a motivator. To establish a category needs conversation, settlement, and the capability to look for and reach a contract.

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

A CMO who tries to lead with supreme authority will have a hard time to achieve service goals of the organization. Marketing groups today ought to work as engineering groups work in an agile style. Instead of nicely organized 90-day project cadences, a nimble marketing group performs a consistent blood circulation of initiatives while maintaining the adaptability to alter as the marketplace or service requirements identify.

Does the CMO comprehend classification design?

I have really made up about classification style and why every business needs to own a classification to accomplish its optimum potential. There is a structure for carrying out category design. Still, whether a Marketer follows the summary or approaches category style another way, a CMO needs to be putting routine idea and preparation into how they define the category they suggest to dominate. Without input from the CEO and INFO other members of the executive group, there is no other way to complete a right classification design.

The Wartime CMO will need to increase the accountability of marketing by showing the result of each marketing activity on the pipeline as determined by profits contribution.
In a sluggish down, marketing should move the understanding of being an expenditure center to an income driver. Reporting beyond the variety of marketing certified leads produced to include the overall chance worth for each lead source is an outstanding method to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the economic goals of business.

Studies have in fact revealed that a properly designed landing page can double your conversion rate over sending out traffic to your house page, which tends to do not have the correct call to action that matches the advertisement. Because of this, examining landing pages can increase conversions as much as 50% or more. Together, these methods can supply a 2.5 X increase for every single single dollar you buy marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a difference.

Throughout Wartime, every marketing dollar is important, and a Wartime CMO understands that winning will not boil down to a single technique or "silver bullet" method. Instead, lots of small things carried out well. The CMO, who can not comprehend the interaction of copy, messaging, creative style, and innovation, will struggle to discover and recognize quickly where small modifications can provide much better conversions.

This content technique worked, for a season, sort-of. Nevertheless with the increase of Google RankBrain, the technique has actually not worked for several years. Without remaining in the middle of a crisis, you need to stop this inefficient activity. Now as spending plans are under pressure and every marketing activity should count, the manner in which we do content marketing requires to be updated.

Now, the content that we develop needs to interest somebody looking for our solution, and it should include buyer intent activates like keywords and expressions that a buyer would utilize as they get near to purchasing decision. A Havas Group research study exposed that 84% of people prepare for trademark name to produce material, yet 60% of the material produced is of bad quality or unimportant, stopping working to meet the needs of the audience. No matter a 71% correlation in between content efficiency and a brand name's influence on individual wellness, simply 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand name names produce content that meets this requirement. Brand name's are failing to produce considerable content.

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

CMO's in Wartime should have an exceptional understanding of the buyer psyche and their psychological needs so that they can create material that eliminates fear and addresses the genuine concerns 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 choice, putting them in the enviable position to take as much as 76% of the economics from the whole category.

Learn more about Classification Design.

The B2B sales procedure today is fragmented and complex, with lots of stakeholders requiring to verify a purchase choice. This renders basic marketing ROI and attribution methods less useful for anything besides academic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into 3 practical pillars making up Item, Need Generation, and Classification Design. Due to the fact that numerous marketing leaders have actually not completely welcomed category style, it's a surprisingly easy method to beat an incumbent during a crisis. As quickly as the sector starts to go over the category as you have actually specified it, your organization will wind up being the classification and the apparent option.

To do Classification Style needs a different working cadence. Wartime is the best time to start Classification Style considered that definitely nothing is "normal" throughout a crisis.
To handle the challenge of building a Category King service requires a ton of grit, decision, and an unfaltering drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who takes on the difficulty, there can be no bigger pot-o-gold if effective.

Check out the book Play Larger to find out all about category design.

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