growth stage marketing consultant Mark Donnigan



Mark Donnigan develops disruptive ingenious start-ups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market strategies and marketing motions that drive real service results for technical and product-centric creators. Mark's growth and market development experience covers 20 years as a transformative B2B marketing and company leader, driving need, brand name advancement, and technique for startup and growth-stage business.

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

LEARN MORE: https://growthstage.marketing

Mark Donnigan has actually managed groups as large as 25, making up SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark brought budget obligations to $3mm/year for operations and $400k/year for marketing. Offer sizes varying from mid-five figures to mid-six figures every year.

As a startup marketing expert, Mark Donnigan's inbound and outbound marketing experience consist of building and mentoring high-performance teams that carry out as needed generation, brand name and product marketing, PR, digital, and occasions where he establishes and carries out high-impact programs that drive revenue, produce ROI, trigger the marketplace, and provides service results.

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

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

Mark has discovered that constructing a classification ought to be the top objective for each marketing leader and it is the structure of his approach and approach. Mark Donnigan has extensive B2B marketing experience that consists of building and mentoring high-performance teams.

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he puts a high worth on team effort. Mark has extensive experience working alongside sales, product, operations, and finance to ensure that business and profits objectives of the company are constantly surpassed.

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

Architecting the marketplace classification that is finest suited to the unique worth proposal of your innovation.
High effect marketing assistance so that you can reach your revenue objectives and scale sustainably.
Attaining go-to-market positioning throughout the sales and marketing companies.
Drawing out the highest value from every marketing dollar.
Insider knowledge and insights about the B2B buying journey and how to navigate a significantly fragmented consumer choice hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and process advancement to making the very first hires.

Ideas on what it requires an effective marketer and CMO today.

If you are a CEO who feels your B2B marketing does not have a clear connection to the service, you are not alone. A study completed by the marketing consultancy Fournaise discovered that 80% of Chief Executives are not pleased with the work their top Marketing leader is doing. Examining what the present business reality indicates for marketing leaders, I remembered the principle of a Peacetime leader and a Wartime leader from Ben Horowitz's book "The Hard Aspect Of Hard Things."

Horowitz described the concept in a post where he made up that the Peacetime CEO "concentrates on the big image and empowers her people to make in-depth decisions." The Wartime CEO, on the other hand, "values a speck of dust on a gnat's ass if it interrupted the prime regulation."

The Peacetime CEO "comprehends what to do with a substantial advantage," while the Wartime CEO "is paranoid." Peacetime CEO "works to reduce disagreement," and Wartime CEO "heightens the contradictions."

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

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 combating an unnoticeable opponent called COVID-19, which has actually let loose a discouraging dosage of organization uncertainty globally. For CMO's, the COVID-19 pandemic is service 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 all of a sudden you discover yourself in pitch-black darkness, so you stroll tepidly, continuing in the exact same instructions knowing that you were heading toward the door prior to the lights got shut off. No, not simply has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown a huge crater in our course that was not there prior to, and devoid of light in the room, can not be seen. However we need to avoid at all expenses falling into the crater.

No one wish for war, however a Wartime leader does not shrink from the fight, instead, they recognize that Wartime is the single finest opportunity to leapfrog sidetracked competitors and take ground away. What follows is a set of ideas and ideas to help you find your "Wartime CMO battle strategy."

How to function as a Wartime CMO.

Throughout Wartime, everyone remains in uncharted waters, but this is where the possibility is for many business who formerly had a difficult time to compete versus bigger competitors and dominant market forces. Now, for the very very first time, you might be on equivalent footing as your more effective competitors. It's the perfect possibility to define your future.

In an international reduction like what COVID-19 has triggered, definitely nothing makes good sense. And yet, a few of your competitors will continue to perform their typical "tried and real" marketing playback, presuming that building the trademark name with business interactions messages from the CEO is going to add to their service goals. Now is the perfect opportunity 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 examine your necessary presumptions. As the around the world company environment has altered, and the stability of the core organization called into concern, CMO's needs to be all set to reassess their preliminary plan.
Think about that less customers will relate to decreased requirement. And lowered requirement indicates markets will not respond as they did prior to the crisis.

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

Financial investment bank Cowen and Business analyzed the last 6 economic recessions offered that 1950 and found that spending on direct marketing grew during the previous financial declines. Significance, you will wish to consider your mix of brand marketing carefully compared to sales activation marketing. It's not time to stop marketing. Keep in mind, there will be offers throughout the board as media outlets see companies cut their marketing and advertising invests. Push marketing and branding drops in a downturn, but sales activation marketing constantly increases.

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

Declines create an opportunity for companies that are more effective at turning marketing financial investments into profits. In the middle of a slow down when advertisers are cutting their costs is an enjoyable time to take advantage of low CPMs and Licensed public accountants.

The Institute of Practitioners in Marketing finished a research study in 2008 that found, "Following a spending plan cut, a brand will continue to acquire from the marketing investment made over the previous couple of years. This will lower any short-term service impacts, and will result in a dangerously deceptive boost in short-term success. The longer-term business harm will be more considerable, however will not be noticed in the start."

Millward Brown reported in their research study "Marketing During Economic Slump: To Invest or Not to Invest?" that 60% of brand that went 'dark' throughout a financial recession by cutting their TV marketing invest for 6 months experienced a decline in Brand name Usage by 24% with a 28% reduction in Brand Image. Brands that cut their ad budget at a higher rate relative to their competitors were at an even higher danger of share loss.
There are an unbelievable variety of marketing studies that confirm in a decline, brand that continue advertising and marketing efforts recuperate much faster. It takes strong action to invest when the information advises that ROI is not possible. A Wartime CMO battles to keep the spending plan required to continue marketing.

Take complete benefit of the worth of each lead produced.

In a slowdown, risk-averse buyers take even longer to research purchases, and this uses equally 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 require this interaction. Marketing ought to make sure not to move a prospect through the funnel too rapidly. Keep in mind, the prospect's professional life has actually been turned on its head. What was an issue just a couple 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 given that the rationale is that now more than ever, all leads are necessary. Here is where lead scoring can be an important tool to recognize highly engaged prospects from those who are not likely to become your consumers. Now is the time for Marketers to hold on to MQL's for a prolonged period so that you can groom the possibility to the maximum possible degree prior to handing them off to sales as a SQL.

Without lead scoring and a perfect possibility tracking system throughout your digital channels, as numerous as 9 out of ten MQL's who are not yet sales-ready may be lost. They will buy, just not now. You don't want to miss out on out on the future sale because you didn't keep in contact and consist of worth though the journey. In a "Wartime" economy, you ought to do whatever possible to enhance the worth of your MQL's.

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

Concentrate on your present consumers.

It's less expensive to grow incomes with your existing clients. Think about whether now is the time to downsize your mass list building programs and focus on structure much deeper relationships with those who currently understand your service. This does not suggest to stop your requirement gen efforts, however it does imply that you may wish to check out with product 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 service that has actually gotten traction on their method to becoming a category king or queen, this approach, though costly feels good because of the remarkable volume of activity that is being produced. However, without mindful analysis, the high degree of activity fools lots of CMO's and management groups into thinking that their requirement generation engine is carefully tuned when, in reality, it's releasing massive contamination, i.e. exceedingly high CAC, greater than typical churn for the classification, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing must align with sales.

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

Responses to issues such as, Who's authentic and who isn't? - Who's item works, and whose does not? - What's coming? Now where offered with a single post on the proper forum or LinkedIn group. As a result, the power moved to the buyer.

We understand that online marketers are no longer in control of the purchaser's journey. It is essential to specify a funnel that describes expulsions a prospect need to pass on the way to doing organization with business. Purchasers can get in touch with us on the platform of their choosing. As the purchasing group has broadened to as lots of as two lots individuals, the notion that they will follow our process as we have actually recommended is rarely real.

You require a worth designer 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 product developers or service companies, to digital development companies where the item is dispersed as software application or software application as a service through the Internet, has decreased the function of marketing. And is the element a revenue-focused CMO who is a worth developer is what all start-ups and disruptive innovation companies require today.

Today, marketing requires higher levels of technical ability as an outcome of the surge of digital media and the marketing innovations that are associated with online marketing. This improvement 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 income chauffeurs. Forrester goes on to report that a value developer, revenue-driven Online marketer, should be a story maker and not simply a writer.

The CMO today must be an expert at producing and leading creative engagement and organization technique to develop a category for the service to dominate.

Here are a couple of approaches that a revenue-driven CMO requirement to run:

They will work thoroughly with the sales group to discover and map the buyer's journey. Where presumptions do not match what is occurring in the market, a worth designer CMO will leave the work environment 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 creates content targeted at each stage of the buyer's journey. Think of the buyer's journey as a set of gates where the material reacts to the main concerns a buyer has at each action so that they can finish the buying journey.
The new generation CMO will gather engagement metrics for each gate while evaluating the success of the end-to-end marketing cycle to provide the most prompt and licensed leads to their sellers. A worth developer CMO sees marketing as close allies to the sales group.

The revenue-centered CMO is constantly discovering from and tweak the process so that they can improve the quantity and quality of leads that added to the pipeline and closed organization.
Incomes attribution and marketing ROI designs will reflect real outcomes, not extrapolated or "presumed" requirements. This information is essential for the revenue-focused CMO to resolve because they care about marketing's influence on organization.

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

What to look for in your next CMO.

In the vibrant state of service today, working with a reliable CMO is among the most challenging things to do. Every market, business, info and market section is numerous. Even where you can acknowledge potential customers from the very same organization community or environment, it's insufficient to merely take a look at years of experience or education. You require to examine the inspirations 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 development. A marketing leader who isn't a problem solver will struggle to handle the fast-changing nature of the market and community structure.

Are they a doer?
In numerous marketing groups, there will be particular experts who can work at the greatest level throughout the series of capabilities required. It's incumbent for a marketing leader to command consider a doer. The CMO, who can demonstrate practical capability in the core areas that the group operates, will be more trustworthy than a manager simply.

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest way to ensure that you attract a CMO who is revenue and not brand-driven is to hire somebody who has shown up through product, sales, and corporate method. Having direct exposure to the inner workings of product and sales is specifically helpful as service technique is becoming a more significant part of the CMO's series of responsibilities.

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

As digital has exploded the number of marketing user interface points, enabling buyers to disaggregate business from the buying journey, a CMO needs to have the ability to think about systems and structures instead of firmly specified marketing lanes. It is no longer adequate to prepare in regards to the social task, content marketing task, events, and PR, all as different activities. The effective CMO will begin with business goal they are serving and be all set to question whatever.

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

To wind up being a story-maker, you should deserve listening to. A CMO is in the ideal position to presume the evangelistic function for the organization. The most successful CMO's in any market are extremely noticeable spokespeople for their company.
Are they an incentive?

As the CMO will need to work cross-functionally to make sure that they have placing with item and sales, the marketing head should be a motivator. To establish a classification requires conversation, settlement, and the capability to try to find and reach an arrangement.

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

A CMO who attempts to lead with supreme authority will have a hard time to accomplish service goals of the organization. Marketing groups today need to work as engineering groups operate in a nimble fashion. Rather of perfectly organized 90-day project cadences, an agile marketing group performs a constant blood circulation of initiatives while maintaining the adaptability to change as the market or service requirements identify.

Does the CMO comprehend category style?

I have really composed about category style and why every company needs to own a classification to achieve its optimal potential. There is a framework for performing category style. Still, whether an Online marketer follows the summary or approaches classification style another method, a CMO needs to be putting regular thought and preparation into how they specify the classification they indicate to control. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no method to finish a correct category design.

The Wartime CMO will require to increase the responsibility of marketing by revealing the effect of each marketing activity on the pipeline as determined by revenue contribution.
In a decrease, marketing needs to 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 total opportunity worth for each lead source is an excellent method to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the economic goals of business.

Research studies have really revealed that an appropriately developed landing page can double your conversion rate over sending out traffic to your home page, which tends to do not have the correct call to action that matches the advertisement. Since of this, checking landing pages can increase conversions as much as 50% or more. Together, these methods can offer a 2.5 X boost for each single dollar you invest in marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a distinction.

During Wartime, every marketing dollar is important, and a Wartime CMO understands that winning will not boil down to a single strategy or "silver bullet" method. Rather, many small things carried out well. The CMO, who can not comprehend the interaction of copy, messaging, imaginative style, and development, will struggle to find and acknowledge quickly where little modifications can use 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 require to stop this inefficient activity. Now as spending plans are under pressure and every marketing activity ought to count, the method that we do content marketing requires to be updated.

Now, the content that we create needs to interest someone searching for our service, and it should consist of buyer intent activates like keywords and expressions that a purchaser would utilize as they get near purchasing decision. A Havas Group research study revealed that 84% of people expect brand names to produce material, yet 60% of the content produced is of bad quality or unimportant, stopping working to satisfy the needs of the audience. Despite a 71% connection in between content performance and a brand's influence on personal wellness, just 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand produce content that satisfies this requirement. Trademark name's are stopping working to produce substantial material.

Stop producing assembly line material that is simply meant to establish the trademark name or present the product. Instead, content should target specific personas to deal with any holdups preventing the prospect from moving on. This content will take longer to produce and require a higher neighborhood and product understanding level.

CMO's in Wartime must have an outstanding understanding of the purchaser psyche and their psychological requirements so that they can develop material that eases fear and addresses the sincere 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 option, putting them in the excellent position to take as much as 76% of the economics from the entire category.

Check out more about Classification Style.

The B2B sales process today is fragmented and intricate, with great deals of stakeholders requiring to verify a purchase choice. This renders basic marketing ROI and attribution methods less advantageous for anything besides scholastic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into 3 functional pillars comprising Item, Requirement Generation, and Classification Design. Due to the fact that numerous marketing leaders have actually not entirely accepted category style, it's a remarkably easy method to beat an incumbent during a crisis. As quickly as the sector starts to go over the classification as you have actually defined it, your business will wind up being the classification and the obvious option.

To do Classification Design requires a different working cadence. Wartime is the ideal time to start Classification Style considered that absolutely nothing is "regular" during a crisis.
To deal with the challenge of building a Classification King company requires a lots of grit, determination, and an unfaltering drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who handles the obstacle, there can be no larger pot-o-gold if successful.

Read the book Play Bigger to learn all about category design.

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