Episode Summary

In this episode, Jayashree Rajan shares her unique journey from electrical engineering to becoming a seasoned marketing leader, emphasizing the importance of aligning marketing and sales strategies through trust, empathy, and shared goals. She discusses best practices for balancing inbound and outbound approaches, determining the right marketing mix based on organizational maturity, and prioritizing accounts and leads in an account-based strategy. Jayashree also highlights common challenges in marketing automation, such as data silos, and the need for vendor support and empathy. Throughout the conversation, she shares insights and recommendations that underscore the value of empathy, continuous improvement, and a customer-centric mindset in driving marketing and sales success.

About the guest

Jayashree Rajan is a seasoned marketing and product management professional with over 20 years of experience in both B2B and B2C sectors. With a background in programming languages and enterprise software development, she has a unique ability to build marketing infrastructures from the ground up and optimize IT marketing frameworks. Jayashree's management philosophy is rooted in collaboration, leading by example, and fostering team growth. She is passionate about mentoring women and draws on her journey to encourage others to break barriers. Her focus remains on leveraging technology to drive marketing excellence and customer engagement.

Connect with Jayashree Rajan

Key takeaways
- To align marketing and sales build relationships based on empathy and trust, have joint ownership of goals, and work backward from revenue targets.

- When balancing inbound and outbound marketing, Jayashree recommends starting small with outbound, training the sales team, and gradually expanding the approach based on success and organizational maturity.

- To determine the right mix of inbound and outbound look at past performance, ROI of tactics, and the team's skills and comfort level, then continuously adjust the approach.

- For account-based marketing, Jayashree stresses the importance of marketing keeping in touch with target accounts, building their interest, and prioritizing MQLs based on demonstrated intent and engagement.

- Key challenges in marketing automation include data silos from too many tools, which can be addressed by simplifying the tech stack and consolidating data to reduce friction for sales.

Quotes
"Leads don't mean much. It's the opportunities. At the end of the day, we all win when you have the right opportunities."

-Jayashree Rajan

Recommended Resource

Books:

- The Advantage by Patrick M. Lencioni
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Episode Summary
In this episode, Julie Liu, the Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Marketing at AvePoint, shares her unique journey into the world of B2B marketing. Despite not having a traditional marketing background, Julie has built a successful career by embracing a "T-shaped" approach - being a strong generalist with deep expertise in specific areas. She discusses AvePoint's consistent go-to-market strategy, which is centered around a buyer journey framework spanning five stages from "horizon scanners" to "clients." Julie emphasizes the importance of aligning the entire organization around this framework and associating each stage with specific metrics. She also highlights the value of investing in the next generation of marketers, focusing on cultivating curious, risk-taking individuals who can bring diverse perspectives. Looking ahead, Julie predicts a shift towards targeting end-users rather than just economic buyers, underscoring the need for adaptable, data-driven marketing strategies.

About the guest

Julie Liu is the Senior Vice President of Global Marketing at AvePoint, a SaaS and data management platform that manages and protects data to secure collaboration in the Microsoft Cloud, SharePoint, Salesforce, and Google. Julie is an industry-recognized marketing leader, most recently mentoring others to create scalable marketing strategies, launching a sustainable global partner program, and establishing AvePoint as a publicly traded company.

Connect with Julie Liu

Key takeaways
- Embrace a "T-shaped" approach to marketing - be a strong generalist with deep expertise in specific areas. This versatility is crucial as the marketing landscape continues to evolve.

- Implement a consistent, organization-wide buyer journey framework to align sales, marketing, and customer success. AvePoint's 5-stage model (horizon scanners, explorers, hunters, active buyers, clients) helps drive targeted strategies and metrics.

- Empower and invest in the next generation of marketers. Look for self-starters, problem-solvers, and risk-takers who bring diverse perspectives, not just those who think like you.

- Anticipate a shift towards targeting end-users, not just economic buyers, as AI and technology increasingly influence the buyer's journey. Adapt marketing strategies to focus on overall account growth, not just individual leads.

- Establish "strategic plays" where all resources are concentrated to achieve significant, measurable outcomes, rather than spreading efforts too thin across multiple initiatives.

- Leverage inspiring figures like Paid Playa, Scott Brinker, and Brene Brown to inform your marketing approach, from martech to interpersonal relationships.

Quotes
"I will never stop learning, because the market changes, right? So the second that I get comfortable is the second I become useless." -Julie Liu

Recommended Resource

Books:

- Transforming the B2B Buyer Journey

- Hacking Marketing

- Brene Brown’s books

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Episode Summary
In this episode, Avishai Sharon, Co-founder and CEO of Trend Demon, discusses the evolving landscape of B2B marketing and the rise of account-based strategies as a solution to the challenges posed by traditional demand generation tactics. He shares data-driven insights on the changing buyer journey, highlighting decreases in buying group size and website engagement, but increases in conversion rates and marketing investment. Avishai emphasizes the critical role of storytelling and audience captivation in supporting the buyer's process, rather than solely focusing on lead capture. He provides recommendations for better alignment between marketing and sales teams around target accounts and the use of listening technologies and AI to optimize account-based efforts. Avishai predicts that ABM's future evolution will center on understanding anonymous buying groups and orchestrating seamless journeys across multiple channels.

About the guest

Avishai Sharon, Co-founder and CEO of Trendemon, is a passionate entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the marketing and sales technology landscapes and their transformative potential. Prior to leading Trendemon, a company revolutionizing the way B2B marketers can effortlessly optimize website experiences and orchestrate buyer journeys, Avishai founded GISight, a leading software development agency serving Fortune 500 customers. He developed his leadership skills during his tenure as an officer in the Israeli Air Force, serving in various key technological roles.

Connect with Avishai Sharon

Key takeaways
- Traditional demand generation tactics are becoming increasingly ineffective, leading to the rise of account-based marketing (ABM) as a solution.

- Buyer behavior has shifted, with buyers remaining more anonymous and having greater control over their journey. This has resulted in low conversion rates from MQLs to pipeline.

- Data analysis by Trend Demon reveals decreases in buying group size and website engagement but increases in conversion rates and marketing investment, indicating a potential shift from the bear economy.

- Storytelling and consistently captivating audiences are critical for demand generation, moving beyond just lead capture. This requires educating leadership on the new marketing landscape.

- Sales teams need to focus on listening and providing value to support the buyer journey, with the gap between good and poor sales performance widening.

- Alignment between marketing and sales around target accounts is essential, with a shared understanding of the buying group and the inputs required to qualify and vet accounts.

- Leveraging listening technologies and AI can help uncover insights, personalize content, and orchestrate buying group journeys across multiple channels, which is a key focus for the future evolution of ABM.

Quotes
"If we are doing our job correctly, we are saving our buyers time. And I think this should be probably the main benefit, or the main advantage, or the objective of any go to market organization." -Avishai Sharon

Recommended Resource

Podcasts:

- NexGen CMO with Kelly Hopping

- Nick Bennett’s People-First GTM Model on Marketing Powerups podcast

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Episode Summary
In this episode, Christopher Mael discusses how he has made alignment meetings the most enjoyable part of the month. Christopher explains how he created a unified, goal-oriented environment by bringing diverse perspectives together and facilitating honest conversations to address gaps and align perceptions. He emphasizes the importance of understanding leadership's priorities and building consensus, even when different metrics and priorities exist across functions.

About the guest

Christopher Mael has been the Director of Sales and Operations Planning for Precor subsidiary Peloton and the fitness space for the last five years. Previously he worked for Loud Technologies, a global leader in performance professional audio equipment for over 12 years.

Connect with Christopher Mael

Key takeaways
- Make alignment meetings the most enjoyable part of the month by facilitating difficult conversations and bringing diverse perspectives together

- Build consensus and align perceptions by creating space for honest conversations and understanding leadership's priorities

- Address misconceptions about alignment, as it is not a given and can prevent teams from being on the same page

Quotes
"The biggest misconception about alignment is that it exists most of the time. You get into a meeting and people think they're all on the same page, and they might even be grumpy, like, why are we even having this meeting?" -Christopher Mael

Recommended Resource

Books
- "Fundamentals of Demand Planning and Forecasting" by Chamal Jain

- "Demand Management Best Practices" by George Palmatier and Colin Crum

Journals
- Journal of Business Forecasting by Institute of Business Planning and Forecasting
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Episode Summary
In this episode, Peter discusses the problems with the traditional "marketing qualified lead" (MQL) metric, arguing that it doesn't accurately reflect the relationship between marketing and sales, and suggests focusing on "marketing qualified accounts" (MQAs) instead. Bregman emphasizes the importance of aligning marketing, sales, service, and product teams around a shared go-to-market strategy and customer-centric approach. He also provides recommendations for using AI in marketing to empower sales teams, as well as books, podcasts, and industry experts that listeners should check out.

About the guest

Peter Bregman is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience propelling organizational growth across diverse sectors. Peter has expertly navigated complex business landscapes, assisting various companies, from startups to Fortune 150s, in both B2B and B2C markets. His approach emphasizes collaboration and building strong alliances across Marketing, Sales, Product, and Tech teams to ensure success. Committed to delivering actionable strategies, Peter empowers businesses to drive substantial growth through strategic innovation.

Connect with Peter Bregman

Key takeaways
- The traditional "marketing qualified lead" (MQL) metric is flawed and doesn't accurately reflect the relationship between marketing and sales. Marketers should focus on "marketing qualified accounts" (MQAs) instead.

- Aligning marketing, sales, service, and product teams around a shared go-to-market strategy and customer-centric approach is crucial for successful B2B growth.

- AI can be a valuable tool in marketing, but it should be used to empower sales teams, not replace them. The key is finding specific use cases and having enough data to train the AI models effectively.

Quotes
"Quality Matters way more than quantity, prospects have to be at the right place in their buying cycle, the ideal customer profile has to match, and generating a whole bunch of leads is really just resulting in bad conversion metrics, distrust between marketing and sales." -Peter Bregman

Recommended Resource

Books:
- "Invisible Rulers" by Renee de Resta - A fascinating look at how influence and ideas spread on the internet and the creation of "bespoke realities" on social media.

Podcasts:
- "Planet Money" - An entertaining economics podcast

- "Hard Fork" - A podcast covering the state of technology

- "In Depth" from First Round Capital - Interviews with founders of companies they've invested in

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Episode Summary
In this episode, Mana guides on implementing ethical and unbiased practices when using AI in marketing. She emphasizes the importance of ensuring data diversity, regular model audits, and transparency around how AI makes decisions to avoid bias. Mana suggests marketers ask fundamental questions about AI models, such as how they avoid overfitting, to validate outputs and understand the reasoning behind recommendations, especially for high-stakes decisions. Overall, the discussion highlights the potential for AI to create new opportunities in marketing by enabling more data-driven, scientific practices, and recommends that marketers learn about machine learning concepts to become more proficient in this area.

About the guest

Mana Ionescu is a digital marketing leader and Head of Digital Marketing at Axos Bank in San Diego. A former agency founder, Mana loves to demystify complex marketing concepts and debunk digital marketing myths. She teaches at the Kellogg Professional Certificate in Digital Marketing and is a sought-after keynote. In her free time, Mana likes to explore the peaks and valleys of our beautiful earth: hiking and SCUBA diving.

Connect with Mana Ionescu

Key takeaways
- Implement ethical and unbiased AI practices through diverse data, regular audits, and transparency

- Ask fundamental questions about AI models, like how they avoid overfitting, to validate outputs

- Maintain visibility into the "why" behind AI recommendations, especially for high-stakes decisions

- Embrace AI's potential to create new opportunities in marketing by enabling more data-driven, scientific practices

- Recommend that marketers learn about machine learning concepts to become more proficient

Quotes
"We can't have a black box. You need to be able to explain to stakeholders how the AI models work and the risks involved." -Mana Ionescu

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Episode Summary

In this episode of OnBase, Victoria Sakal explores effective go-to-market strategies and the delicate balance between data-driven insights and intuition in marketing. She discusses common challenges companies face, such as organizational disconnects and the struggle to be proactive in rapidly changing markets. Victoria emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs, monitoring trends, and using an innovation pipeline framework to guide strategy development. She advocates for quality over quantity in marketing efforts, recommending targeted campaigns for specific audiences rather than broad, unfocused approaches. Sakal underscores the value of curiosity and asking better questions to drive growth and innovation in marketing and product development.

About the guest

With a passion for turning complex inputs on customers, market dynamics, and competitors into smart strategies that drive growth, Victoria has spent the last decade helping companies ask better questions to get better data, source more powerful insights, and stay on top of important dynamics that matter. Previously at Morning Consult and Kantar, Victoria now focuses on all things demand gen, product marketing, market research, and growth strategies to deliver more value for Wonder users.

Connect with Victoria Sakal

Key takeaways
- Balance data-driven insights with intuition for effective marketing decisions

- Focus on customer needs and problems when developing go-to-market strategies

- Use an innovation pipeline framework to guide strategy from problem identification to launch

- Prioritize quality over quantity in marketing by targeting specific audiences with tailored messages

- Stay informed through industry newsletters, podcasts, and thought leaders

- Embrace curiosity and ask better questions to drive growth and innovation

- Align different parts of the organization for cohesive go-to-market execution

- Adapt agile approaches to market research for speed and relevance

Quotes

"Being a degree off at your starting point can leave you a mile off down the road." -Victoria Sakal

Recommended Resource

Newsletters:

- Scott Clary's newsletter on mental models and business inspiration

- James Clear's newsletter on life frameworks and processes

- Seth Godin's daily digestible content

Podcasts:-

Lenny's Podcast, which covers product strategy and related disciplines
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