GTM News by Taylor Wells: Recent Episodes

GTM News

What's happening today in the world of B2B Go-To-Market. The world of B2B marketing, sales and even customer success is changing fast. Keep up to speed on the latest from industry experts in marketing, sales, customer success, and product to ensure you have a holistic strategy in these times. \

Who is it for?

B2B Founders, CEO, marketing, sales, or customer success leaders or aspiring leaders that want to grow holistically across all the go to market functions. The best organizations treat GTM as one team, not separate organizations

Generating consistent demand and a steady flow of sales opportunities is one of the biggest challenges facing B2B companies today. With over 14 competitors vying for your prospects' attention and people being inundated by over 5,000 ads per day, it's never been harder to cut through the noise. However, by leveraging an innovative "Selfless Advantage" approach to go-to-market, you can build real trust and relationships with your ideal customers before they even become a lead. In this information-packed podcast, you'll discover counterintuitive strategies to systematically generate more pipelines by providing immense value upfront, without any expected return. You'll walk away with 3 cost-effective, proven tactics you can implement immediately to fill your funnel with more qualified opportunities.

I had the pleasure of being a guest on the “GTM Cheat Code Podcast” to discuss partnerships and partnership-led growth strategies for early-stage startups.On the episode, I share perspectives from my experience advising startups on how to build successful partnerships. We covered:- Different types of partnerships beyond referral fees (co-marketing, co-selling, channels, etc)- The importance of focusing first on customer impact- How to lead with relationships first rather than transactions- Tips for getting started small with things like co-marketingCommon mistakes companies make with partnerships#B2BMarketing #StrategicPartnerships #BusinessCollaboration

Building a community to drive growth is essential in today's crowded market. In my recent podcast with Mel Shires of Circle, we explored some insightful tactics on leveraging community for growth. Mel shared how communities can create authentic connections with your audience to accelerate business growth. 1: Communities can fuel growth for any business by creating authentic connections and relationships with your audience. Think about what your audience wants and needs from a community. 2: Map out a community strategy by understanding your story so far, figuring out what's missing, and charting a path forward. Leverage existing touchpoints you have with your audience. 3: Launch tactics based on your audience's needs and wants, while also fulfilling your own goals like positioning yourselves as thought leaders. Tactics can include webinars, reports, training programs, etc.4: Engage your best community members by recognizing them. This creates user-generated content and word of mouth as they share their experiences organically. A little recognition goes a long way. Let me know if you want me to refine or expand on any part of this newsletter. I'm also happy to generate more detailed summaries of specific insights from the podcast.

I recently did a talk recently all about hosting impactful virtual events.

Here are 4 of my biggest takeaways that you can immediately apply to your next event:

Keep a Fast Pace: With short attention spans, you must pack your event with value and maintain a dynamic pace. Avoid long intros and fluff. Get right into the meaty content.
Vary Your Guests: Don't rely on the same internal speakers. Bring on customers, prospects, influencers, and subject matter experts. This will add fresh perspectives.
Promote Extensively - Think of your event as its own product and promote it across paid ads, organic social media, email outreach to prospects, employee networks, and more.
Repurpose Widely Let your content live on! Repurpose it into blogs, newsletters, snippets on social media, and more. Repurposing drives more value and engagement.

Apply these tips to make your next event a lead-generation machine. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Podcasting continues to grow rapidly, but many businesses are still wondering if there's still an opportunity or how to stand out. In my recent conversation with podcast expert Rachel Downey, she shares valuable insider tips for b2b podcasters. Let's listen in.

Influencer marketing has become an extremely popular and effective strategy in B2C marketing. Now, it's also gaining momentum in the B2B space. In this week's GTM News podcast, host Taylor Wells interviews Vinod Varma, Co-Founder of Creator, about leveraging influencers specifically for B2B marketing. Key Takeaways:1. Consumers trust recommendations from people like them more than branded content. Influencers can help B2B brands overcome the trust barrier. 2. There is a wide spectrum of business influencers beyond just social media experts. Consider employees, customers, journalists, industry thought leaders. 3. Promoting events, creating blog/webinar series, industry presentations, instructional videos, and product reviews are effective influencer strategies.4. Build an ambassador program to incentivize long-term partnerships with influencers to keep driving conversations about your brand.5. Avoid treating influencer relationships as transactional. Focus on reciprocity and building connections. 6. Influencer marketing complements your existing efforts by tapping into new audiences and driving brand awareness and trust.Check out the full episode to hear examples and advice from influencer marketing expert Vinod Varma on successfully leveraging influencers to grow your B2B marketing impact.

Elevate your company's brand in the B2B marketing space with strong founder branding and thought leadership. Join Taylor Wells and Sam G. Winsbury as they discuss the essential strategies for building a powerful founder brand, including positioning, content creation, and engagement. Learn how to humanize your brand, establish authenticity, and drive inbound leads through personal branding and utilizing platforms like LinkedIn. Discover the importance of PR in amplifying your brand and gaining credibility in the industry. Get valuable insights on founder branding and content creation to take your marketing efforts to the next level.

Are you tricking buyers into opting in and giving you their email address for an ebook, and then you “lead nurture” them into oblivion?

Why do you think Apple created the Hide My Email feature?

Indeed, one of the reasons is that consumers are tired of unnecessary email exchanges for content.

Thankfully, there is a better way to build relationships and trust with future buyers.

Owned media (and really subscription-based content) has been a hot topic over the past year.

Rightfully so.

From the business side, rented media (organic search / PR / organic social) has become much harder.

Paid media channels seem to get more expensive every year.

But what if you could own the media instead of being at the mercy of rented or paid media channels?

In this week’s GTM News episode, I pulled a conversation I had with Bolaji Oyejide at a recent event.

Bolaji lays out a clear strategy for leveraging a subscription-based owned media strategy.

Four things that stood out to me in this conversation:

Research your ideal customer profile (ICP) deeply to uncover their real pain points and frustrations. Use this understanding to create content that resonates emotionally.
Build content that feels like a “flag” around which your ICP can rally. Position yourself not as the hero but as the flag bearer for their cause.
Create stakes and anticipation through devices like contests and competition. Think about formats like reality TV that create drama to hook the audience.
Infuse your personality, tastes, and quirks into content to make it “category adjacent”—familiar yet distinct. The most creatively owned media feels like “x but different.”

Discover valuable insights from Casey Hill at ActiveCampaign on the resurgence of B2B newsletters and email marketing. Dive into the effectiveness of B2B newsletters, strategies for creating engaging content, and leveraging data to build trust with your audience. Learn how businesses are using email marketing as a cost-effective channel to drive engagement and reach their target market. If you're a B2B marketer or GTM leader looking to optimize your email marketing strategy, this video is a must-watch!

Join Taylor Wells in a deep dive with industry experts Rachel Elsts Downey, Sam G. Winsbury, Casey Hill, and more as they unravel the latest trends and strategies in B2B inbound marketing. Discover invaluable tips on B2B podcasting, virtual events, SEO optimization, and leveraging owned media for maximum impact. From founder branding to organic social media, this session is a goldmine for B2B marketers and go-to-market leaders looking to stay ahead of the curve.

Let's be honest: the internet is a mess. It's hard for buyers to find unbiased and accurate recommendations for new solutions. This is why buyers have turned to niche communities, and you see a new Slack community popping up every week. Buyers are trying to tap into folks they trust for recommendations and help. Cliff shared smart strategies to tap into these niche communities for growth as a seller. Here are four things that stood out to me:

Find communities where your ideal customers hang out. This could include Slack groups, conferences, networking events, etc. Identify where your potential buyers are already engaged.
Provide value without pitching. Focus on building authentic relationships by offering helpful advice and expertise, not selling. Ask questions and listen.
Be consistent and empathetic. Keep showing up consistently over months and years. Put yourself in their shoes. Treat people how you want to be treated (the golden rule).
Think long-term. Have patience in building trust and credibility. If you do this properly over time, the referrals and word-of-mouth momentum will come.

Looking to level up your B2B outbound sales game? Join Taylor Wells as she interviews Mandy McEwen, an industry expert in social selling for the B2B space. In this insightful conversation, they delve into the need for a new term for social selling and discuss its effectiveness in building relationships and driving sales. Mandy shares her best practices, including the revolutionary Friendly Leader Method, and how to fully utilize LinkedIn Sales Navigator to engage prospects. Discover the importance of leadership buy-in, personalization, time management, and consistency in maximizing your social selling success. If you're a B2B seller or marketer, this video is a must-watch to unlock game-changing strategies for your business growth.

Conferences and events are extremely powerful and also extremely expensive! Zoe Hartsfield shared a few killer ideas about maximizing your time there to book more meetings.

Here are five key takeaways from the podcast that could be used for a short newsletter:

Do your research beforehand to identify top accounts and prospects attending the conference or event. Coordinate with marketing to invite key targets to ancillary events.
Visit sponsor booths of target accounts to start building relationships, even if your main prospect is not there. Don’t overtly pitch but invite them to your events.
Prepare your follow-up sequence before the event so you can start running it immediately after. Also, capture conversation details and personal info during talks to enable personalized, relevant follow-ups.
Create memorable follow-up moments by having good conversations, capturing engaging content together, or context gifting. This gives you a genuine reason to follow up.
Share the planned subject line of your follow-up email - ideally an inside joke from your conversation - so they’ll recognize and open it when it arrives. The familiarity builds rapport.

Watch this week’s GTM News show and learn more about this topic from Zoë:

Taylor

P.S. We are doing another 9:9 event on February 22nd; this time, it's all around B2B inbound marketing. We have an incredible line-up covering topics like B2B podcasting, influencer marketing, founder branding, etc. Learn more here

In this insightful conversation, B2B go-to-market practitioners, AEs, BDRs, and SDRs discover expert tips and strategies for leveraging LinkedIn to secure valuable warm introductions.

Join Taylor Wells as they speak with Matt Liebman from Revenue IO, a leading expert in the field, as they reveal unique methods to establish local connections, build trust, and unlock new sales opportunities. From personalized video messages to leveraging shared connections and groups, learn how to optimize your LinkedIn profile and make meaningful connections that will elevate your B2B sales game. Don't miss out on this must-watch discussion that will supercharge your networking skills and enhance your overall go-to-market strategy!

Join Taylor Wells as she interviews top industry experts, including Will Aitken, Mandy McEwen, zoë hartsfield, Jesse Ouellette, Matt Liebman, Cliff Simon, Laura Erdem, Tyler Washington, and Kevin Hopp, as they share their invaluable insights and practical tips for driving B2B outbound sales and prospecting. Learn how to craft attention-grabbing cold emails, leverage social selling for building relationships, maximize the value of conferences, set up secondary domains for effective email marketing, and much more. Whether you're a B2B account executive, sales team member, or part of a marketing team, this must-watch recording will equip you with the strategies needed to supercharge your sales efforts and achieve remarkable results.

Taylor Wells interviews Howard Dover, director at the Center for Professional Sales at the University of Texas at Dallas. They discuss Howard's new book "The Sales Innovation Paradox", the future of sales, and how to optimize sales teams in a changing landscape with new technologies like AI.Main Discussion Points:- The impetus behind Howard's book "The Sales Innovation Paradox" and why sales has not seen efficiency gains despite new technologies (00:02:18)- Why sales leaders hired more salespeople despite technology gains (00:04:25)- Platform consolidation and the impact of generative AI like Copilot (00:17:15)- Using frameworks like Jobs To Be Done to understand where buyers are in the decision process (00:23:40)- Being relevant, contextual, precise, and potent to provide value to buyers (00:29:03)- Reimagining sales workflows instead of just making incremental changes (00:44:59)Guest Bio:Howard Dover is the Director at the Center for Professional Sales and a sales coach at the University of Texas at Dallas. He has a technology background and a PhD in quantitative methodologies focused on sales.Key Quotes:"We deployed technology, which was giving us the capacity to have one person do the job of five to ten, even up to 100 salespeople. And at the same time, we increased the number of people doing outbound by 13x." (00:02:43)"When I contact you, am I hacking you or am I delivering value?" (00:21:01)"If we keep on doing what we've always done, we're going to survive to 2025. But if we really think about pivoting completely...reimagine where the puck's going to be, reimagine the skills that are going to be needed, reimagine the way the work gets done." (00:44:07)

ABM? PLG? Community? Outbound? Inbound? What GTM motion is right for your organization, and at what stage?In this insightful conversation, Taylor Wells engages with Beth Yehaskel with Winning By Design, an expert in go-to-market strategy and revenue architecture. They dive deep into the importance of developing the right go-to-market motion for organizations and how it impacts sustainable growth. From understanding revenue architecture to aligning marketing, sales, and customer success, they discuss practical strategies for B2B go-to-market leaders. Gain valuable insights, learn best practices, and optimize your go-to-market approach to drive lasting success in the ever-evolving market.This recording is a must-watch for B2B go-to-market leaders seeking to leverage data-driven strategies and cross-functional collaboration. Discover how to navigate different growth stages, hone your revenue model, and achieve meaningful impact for your customers. Don't miss out on the expert advice and actionable insights shared by Beth Yehaskel from Winning by Design.#B2BGoToMarketStrategy #RevenueArchitecture #SustainableGrowthVideo Section Headlines[00:00:00] Understanding Go-to-Market Motions and Finding the Right Strategy for Your Organization[00:01:26] The Concept of Revenue Architecture[00:02:55] The Importance of Sustainable Growth in the SaaS Market[00:05:18] The Importance of Impact in Recurring Revenue Businesses[00:09:55] The Importance of Go-To-Market Strategy in Different Growth Stages[00:13:33] The Importance of a Cohesive Go-to-Market Strategy[00:16:40] Ownership and Responsibility in the Revenue Architecture[00:19:21] Creating a Revenue Architecture for Sustainable Growth[00:24:09] Aligning Go-to-Market Strategies for Success[00:26:22] The Importance of Focusing on One Go-to-Market Motion at a Time[00:28:56] Finding the Right Go-To-Market Motion for Early Stage Startups[00:35:58] Beth Yehaskel discusses the growth model and activities for startups[00:38:27] Data Model Best Practices for Early-Stage Companies[00:42:05] Understanding and Implementing Revenue Architecture for Recurring Revenue Companies[00:43:50] The Future of Go-to-Market Strategy in 2024[00:45:46] Interview with Beth Yehaskel from Winning by Design

45 episodes. 3,000 subscribers. Thousands of hours of GTM content were consumed.

I am super grateful for your attention and excited for 2024 and the new things I have planned for this show.

But before that, let's review seven things I have learned from starting this show and how they apply to your business.

It's been a weird ride for go-to-market teams, specifically around demand generation and driving new revenue for your organization in 2023. With AI, stiff competition, and increased channel saturation, we are in for a real treat in 2024.Thankfully, I see a few handfuls of hope in 2024 through 16 different predictions (& actionable strategies) your organization can leverage to drive more revenue in 2024.

I hope you enjoy my soap box and analysis on the current state of demand gen affairs and what I expect to work in 2024. :)

Let's jump into Part 2 of the 10 Top Go-To-Market Strategies for 2024. Throughout the year, I had many insightful conversations with individuals who provided useful ideas and strategies. However, these discussions consisted of actionable takeaways that could be immediately implemented in addition to useful ideas & strategies.

It's been an awesome 1st year of the GTM News show. Grateful for the 42 episodes published to date, 2000 subscribers+, and 10,000+ listens. Most of all, I'm grateful for all I've learned from our expert practitioners, each pushing the boundaries in different areas of B2B go-to-market.

Before I get into what's in store for 2024 (stay tuned...), I wanted to highlight the top 10 conversations I've had this year over the next two episodes.It was so hard to pick as each guest that came on the show I've learned something new from, and I recommend folks go through and listen to all the conversations as we've highlighted all the emerging GTM strategies, and each one has something relative for 2024. Today, I want to honor these five guests because of the importance of the topics they shared and the prescriptive takeaways they outlined:Shawn Li - Shawn lays out practical ways to tap into strategic partnerships

Anthony Kennedy - Anthony discussed the shift from earned & rented media to owned media

Jordan Crawford - Jordan is a master of creative outbound email strategies using data, research, and AI

Leslie Barrett - Leslie shared tons of powerful ideas on how to get your customers to advocate for you more and drive more adoption & expansion through customer marketing.

Sam Jacobs - Sam gave us an important lesson in the economics of go-to-market (this is a must-watch for every GTM leader)

You can have the best product & go-to-market strategy, but if you don't have the right people in the right seats, it doesn't matterConversely, if you are a stellar GTM professional but you pick the wrong company, you are set-up for failure.In 2023, we have a interesting paradox we are looking at: many folks (myself included) were laid off this year or in 2022 but many companies are struggling to find the right GTM talent even with the surplus of supply. Thankfully, Graham Locklear, a stellar GTM recruiter and extremely knowledge in the fundamentals of GTM came on the show and shared his best practices for hiring the right go-to-market talent and finding your next role.

Here is rundown of our conversation:[00:00:01] Strategies for Attracting Talent and Finding Your Next Gig[00:01:18] Graham Locklear Discusses the Current State of the Market in the Tech Industry[00:03:36] Challenges in Job Hiring despite Surplus Supply in the Market[00:05:51] Building High Performing Go-to-Market Teams[00:08:14] Taylor Wells Discusses Marketing and Sales Strategy Shifts for SaaS Companies[00:09:43] Graham Locklear on Successfully Scaling Your Sales Team Based on Business Stage[00:12:31] Discussion on Hiring and Compensation Strategies for Early-Stage Companies[00:16:46] Discussing Recruiting Principles and Strategies Amidst Challenging Times[00:18:58] Finding the best candidates for job positions[00:24:08] Identifying Key Aspects of a Candidate's Profile for a Job Role[00:25:16] How to Prioritize When Hiring and Evaluating Potential Candidates with Graham Locklear[00:33:36] Insights on Leadership & The Importance of Hiring the Right Employees[00:34:22] Effective Interview Process for Hiring Managers[00:36:54] Tips and Tricks to Finding Top Go-To-Market Talent[00:38:31] The Advantages of Specialized Expertise in Businesses and Employee Hiring[00:39:55] Job Hunting Best Practices for Go-to-Market Leaders with Graham Locklear[00:46:18] Graham Locklear discusses job-hunting strategies and the importance of maintaining emotional well-being

Cisco recently announced they were going to train 84,000 of their employees to become Linkedin influencers and create content on Linkedin. Employee advocacy at its finest.

There are innumerable, ripple effect benefits for the employer and employee when employees build their own personal brands.

But how do you get started and create a culture of employee advocacy, get over imposture syndrome and build your company's brand and your personal brand?

I’ve learned a ton from interacting and watching Nick Bennett over the last few years. He generated millions in new revenue for the companies he worked for while building his own personal brand along the way. His former employer still gets brand awareness and leads from advocacy he did years ago.

Spoiler alert: he’s now taken his personal brand to the next level with starting his own company from it all! Epic.

A picture-perfect example of the exponential growth opportunity in employee advocacy

Here are a few things we covered in our conversation this week:

How to provide leadership around employee advocacy in your organization- How employee advocacy has nothing to do with the employee-talking about the company - Simple strategies for creating content as an employee - How can employee advocacy help with recruiting - How to have to have a point of POV - And much more!

What if every advertisement you saw provided you value/impact/helped you solve a problem? Or, what if every ad gave you inspiration, encouragement, and entertained you? What if you were driving down the highway and the countless billboards you saw provided something of meaning and value to you in the advertisement; not just a weak promise to solve a problem if you give the company money? Not only have I seen this type of advertising work wonders to drive most efficient way to build brand affinity and drive revenue (especially in the B2B world), but I believe this is the future of marketing & go-to-market as consumers are tired of the same old direct-response type ads (i.e. "look at how awesome we are so buy my stuff") - Not including the fact that your buyers sees thousands of ads per day.

Traditional advertising is getting less and less effective at delivering & creating trust (#1 currency in business) that is essential for large B2B purchases. This is why my conversation with Casey Hill was so great. Casey is a Senior Growth Manager at ActiveCampaign and is trailblazing all things demand creation through creating ads that leverage valuable insights from their team, customers, and partners. We talked about all things thought-leader ads, getting your customers and partners to help you create content / ads, and leverage your team to drive employee advocacy and create valuable content that can be turned into advertisements. A gold conversation and I learned a ton! We covered:

Why traditional ads don't create or deliver trust
What are thought-leadership ads and why are they so specials
How to leverage your customers & partners to help you create content that you can turn into ads
What is zero click content and why social platforms don't like links
How to mobilize your internal team to create thought-leadership content
Why content that is 2 or 3 degrees away from your product can drive revenue
What types of thought-leadership ads work best

There is a misalignment between how buyers want to buy and how the B2B sales processes are set-up.G2 last year reported that 90% of the buyer's journey happen's before a buyer talks to a sales person. But many B2B buyer's have to sit through multiple sales conversation before they can get a demo or try a product. It's my opinion that those who provide impact the fastest (time to value ratio) will get the most customers at the most efficient cost. That's why my recent conversation with Natalie Marcotullio is so important. Natalie came on the show to chat through all things interactive product demo experiences and how they can substantially improve your buyer's experience leading to increased pipeline and higher win rates. We covered:

How buyer's want to buy in 2023/2024 using dat and how B2B sales processes haven't kept up
What is an interactive demo experience and how can a software or PLG focused organization use them
How can a service-based company use them
How can AEs use them in the sales process to get buy-in from busy executives & decision makers
How to get started and what types of demo experiences you should create first
What to avoid when creating a interactive demo experience

I know you feel it. In today's highly saturated market, acquiring new B2B customers has become increasingly challenging.

Traditional outbound marketing and sales efforts were followed by the rise of inbound marketing and marketing automation, which allowed for a more personalized approach to the customer's journey.

However, as these channels and tactics become more accessible to everyone, their effectiveness is diminishing, leading to higher costs in customer acquisition.

To combat this issue, forward-thinking B2B go-to-market teams are turning to owned media assets and building their own audience of potential buyers.

Owned media (vs. earned or paid media) refers to creating content that your audience chooses to engage with, whether it's through a newsletter, webinar series, or podcast. The key is to provide content that entertains, educates, and inspires, focusing on solving real problems and delivering actual impact.

Unlike content that solely promotes your product, owned media aims to build a long-term relationship with your audience. It's about selflessly providing value and impact, rather than pushing sales. By leveraging first-party interactions and data, you can establish a deeper connection with potential customers, gaining their trust and loyalty.

Bolaji Oyejide 🔥🎙 came on the GTM.news show to talk all things building an audience and the new era of go-to-market we are in. Let's listen in:

BIG WARNING:

This is not just another content marketing strategy to throw on your marketing team. This really needs to be an entire organization / go-to-market strategy (internal, customers, partners, etc) effort to make this work. Why would anyone want to watch your content when there is a million choices out there? There is now the need for content differentiation as everyone is competing for each other's attention. Think of owned media / building an audience as your organization's first product. Really invest in making it great.

Other cool GTM stuff to check out:

I did a conversation with Anthony Kennada from AudiencePlus on owned media earlier this year. Check out our conversation if you want more info on the subject.
Sara Stella Lattanzio shares a great post on mind bending logic shift when it comes to outreach emails
Great post from Wil Reynolds on why you should be careful what "thought-leadership" and success stories you read
Mark Kilens talks about the success he's seen without using a pitch deck in his sales calls

Until next week my friends, Taylor

P.s. What are you learning in the world of B2B growth and go-to-market? Share your favorites in the comments. Love to learn from you!

Let's be honest, creating content can be a bear. Whether it's for your own personal brand or for your organization.

Brendon Hufford, a thought-leader in the B2B SaaS space around content and marketing came on the show to talk through his simple Content IP framework. Yes, this framework can help you get views but the real power is driving business outcomes & revenue.

We discussed:

Why building a category is less important than really going deep on your customer's problem
How to create content that resonants with your audience
The power of a simple template
How to think about case studies and sharing social proof
How to tie all these different pieces of content into a journey to educate or connect with your buyer
How to work overtime to get inside our customers shoes to try to understand them better
And a bunch of rabbit trail / tangential topics!

David Spitz posted on the power of vertical markets (did anyone say niche down?)

Rand Fishkin shares an important lessons around why the best marketing channels are the least provable (basically the best 5 minutes you could spend all week)

Taylor Wells (wait, is it ok to feature myself??) shared a post on how go-to-market motions have changed and which ones you should avoid based on your ACV

See you all next week!

Taylor

With AI, the cost of creating great content is potentially going to go to zero. Google is also creating more zero click search results (SGE).

So how will ranking on Google search change in the future?

Gregory Brooks with SearchTides, an expert in all things SEO (search engine optimization) comes on the GTM News show to talk about the future of SEO as a go-to-market strategy.

We discussed:

What’s working now to get ranked on Google search
Domain authority and how to analysis ranking factors
What types of content is working now and theories on what will work in the future
How Google organic search is a zero sum game
Are backlinks dead?
How we are in the age of the practitioners / influencer
Who should and who should not invest in SEO as a marketing strategy
Thoughts on Google’s zero click search results (SGE) and what that means for the future

We all get so many spam emails, sales calls, and people sending us annoying sales pitches on Linkedin. So, do the traditional outbound channels still work and if they do, how do we do it in the right way? Scott Martinis, a B2B outbound expert came on the show to shares his insights on how to stay ahead of the challenges of outbound. We discussed:- How to create the right type of outbound content- How to analysis your ideal customer profile & target the right prospects- How to reverse engineer your buyer's journey to match your future customer's expectations- What data providers, email senders, and other tech work best - How to leverage social networks and thought leadership to boost your outbound efforts#gotomarket #b2b #outbound #sales #growth

There is already so much content on the internet and AI is just getting started.

So, how does your content stand out, continue to provide value, while driving revenue for your organization?

Ross Simmonds, a dynamic content practitioner and expert in the B2B tech space, came on the show to shares his insights on how to stay ahead of the constant content changes.

We discussed:

Selfless vs. selfish content
How to use AI to make your content better
How to use customer insights and research to craft the right content
How to turn one piece of content into dozens or hundreds of other pieces of content
Why you need to market your content better
And much more

Video podcasts can be one of the most powerful ways to create content at scale, provide value, and build an audience you don't have to rent or pay for (owned media).Here are some of the benefits:- Create a lot of content to repurpose- Associate your brand with industry experts- Showcase customers and even have your prospects on!- Build an audience that you don't have to rent or try to earn- Tap into other peoples audiencesThis 1-hour long session I went behind the scenes on how I created GTM.news and other B2B shows/podcasts.Here is what you'll learn:- My system for hosting & producing a video podcast- How to easily repurpose and 100x your reach with the content- All the tools and tech you need (under $75/mo)- How to get guests on the show easily- How to build your own audience from itWant to follow along with the deck? Click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tXBojuRADKpkV8Cdow3E9XnG6ti91WI3/view?usp=sharing

The stats for B2B sales teams hitting quota in 2023 is rough.

So how does your sales team stand out in the front

You've probably never heard of Klaviyo unless you are a Shopify customer or in the e-commerce space.

I didn't know much about them either and totally looked up how to pronounce their name (more on that later.)

So what's so special about Klaviyo?

Klaviyo filed their S-1 to go public last Friday - As Tomasz Tunguz said in his newsletter "one of the first software companies to do so since the beginning of the economic downturn in late 2022. It’s a marvel of business with strong growth, great efficiency & the potential to reignite interest in SaaS IPOs."

I dove into their S-1 to see what all the fuss is about and learn why they achieved such incredible results.

What I found was pretty awesome from a go-to-market standpoint. Very cool combination of growth strategies.

First before I jump into the learns, here is what they have achieved so far:

Almost $500m in revenue in 2022, growing 60%ish year over year
Profitable as of June 2023The company raised $455m in venture capital, but has used only $15m
Cost of acquisition payback period of only 14 months
119% Net Dollar Retention
When the company spends $1 in sales & marketing expense, Klaviyo produces $1.03 in gross profit next year.
Lots of strong competitors such as: Adobe, Salesforce, Mailchimp, and Braze but still growing like crazy

So how did they do it?

I take a deep dive into 7ish go-to-market learnings I found from Klaviyo on this week's GTM News show.

Here is summary of the learnings:

Great product that has an cute market need (yeah, I get it no brainer but shouldn't be discounted)
Growing market & focused on one vertical to start (e-commerce & retail)
Demonstrated impact through their version of ROI: Klaviyo at scale (KAV)
"Maniacally" focused on easy self service expansion
Crushed one GTM motion (PLG) and then went up market naturally (enterprise customers came to them)
Strategic Partnership with Shopify: ecosystem growth but didn't rely on Shopify to drive all the growth
Partner-led: over 5,000 agencies/consultants referred customers in 2022 (!!)

7.5. A good name is everything? I don't know about that. Can't tell if their name is brilliantly random/unique or it doesn't matter. And oh, they completely made it up.

What a cool company. I love to see companies create a great product, do awesome marketing, and get to profitability without blowing a ton of money along the way.

What do you think of Klaviyo?

P.s. S-1 and other public information are the only metrics or "benchmarks" I really trust these days. So much of the success metrics and benchmarks are lacking context. By law S-1s have to be overly transparent and share all the negatives and risk factors.

Building strategic partnership isn't a new concept.

But one that is so important in 2023.

There is so much noise in the market.

The average person sees someone between 5,000 and 10,000 ads per day (Forbes)

So how do you stand out?

One amazing strategy is leverage partnerships with other organizations that serve your same ideal customer.

Isaac Morehouse, CMO of Reveal and Co-Founder of PartnerHacker, shares their take on it: Nearbound

As Bob would say, "the time are a changin"

B2B buyers behaviors are fast catching up to B2C / consumer behaviors.

Buyers don't want friction. They just want it now.

McKinsey recently came out of report that stating about 70 percent of decision makers are prepared to spend up to $500,000 on a single e-commerce transaction. Higher than the report I read last year from them.

Also B2B organizations reported their best sales channel was self-service e-commerce vs. in-person, video, phone, etc.

This "e-commerce" buying experience is also product-led growth in the B2B world.

Could be a self-service freemium, free trial, etc.

There is also ways a traditional sales-led (i.e. you have a sales person close the deal) organization can adapt these concepts to improve pipeline & sales velocity

Julia Gilinets & I unpacked product-led growth and more in our recent conversation.

-

Trying something here:

Here are some additional top picks & posts I found this week

Interesting post from Tyler Pleiss on a lunch 'n learn ABM 1:1 strategy that I'm going to try soon
Comprehensive post from Justin Rowe on how to do Linkedin ads right (and really any content distribution + advertising)
My favorite B2B tech pick of the week on Linkedin

-

P.s what other go-to-market related topics would you like to learn about?

Taylor

In 2023, on average only 1 in 3 sales reps are hitting quota in the B2B world.

Sales outreach (email, cold calling, etc.) has seen dramatic diminishing returns.

To add to it, sales tech stacks have only gotten more bloated, confusing, and unhelpful.

Can AI help solve the outreach challenges and improve sales performance overall?

In this week's episode of GTM News, Jake Dunlap shares his expertise on how B2B sales has evolved, reimagining sales tools, and how AI can potentially how solve many of the challenges above.

Here are a couple of takeaways I got from our conversation:

I learned that tools were designed for personalized outreach but were later misused for mass automation, leading to a neglect of quality in favor of quantity.
The main takeaway is that B2B sales should evolve by combining human interaction with technology and AI, adapting to changing customer preferences, and focusing on delivering value quickly.
The key is to use technology to quickly turn insights into action for revenue growth through frequent short-term iterations rather than long delays.
I discovered that the conventional outbound sales approach lacks effectiveness, and it's essential to use AI for customized communication and value addition to achieving successful sales results.
The critical lesson is that scalability and automation aren't the same; depending only on automation, without personalization, can reduce sales effectiveness.

Why aren't your customers choosing you?

Unraveling the magic of marketing starts with understanding human behavior.

Each decision we make is a revealing dance of emotions, experiences, and influences. In this week's episode, Purna Virji, Principle Consultant at LinkedIn and author of the new book High-Impact Content Marketing, shared her thoughts on engaging your audience through content.

With the proper understanding, marketers can choreograph this dance, turning potential customers into brand loyalists.

Here are a few insights I gained from our discussion:

What I learned in this episode was that many of the things that make content marketing work have been discovered for hundreds of years. It's about getting back to the basics of human behavior and adult learning.
AI kind of sucks right now for many content marketing tasks but this is the worst it will ever be. Start investing in it now and down the road the payoff could be big.
The Power of Surprise: We all know surprise and delight. But you can also have delight and disgust. Make sure you are doing the latter and not the former!

Community-led growth is a buzz word and a very hot topic in the world of B2B go-to-market.

But what is it really and how can your organization leverage this go-to-market strategy?

There isn't just one size fits all and there are many different approaches to community-led growth.

Kathleen Booth, SVP of Marketing & Member Experience at Pavilion on this week's show shared her insights from how Pavilion has grown their community.

Couple of things I learned during our conversation:

There are three main approaches to community-led growth (build your own, engage and sponsor another community)
Gating (through charging a fee or making it exclusive) your community creates a premium experience
Trust is at the heart of community-led growths (the goal is to build relationships)
What’s community led growth & why now? Marketing & sales returns are diminishing across the board. Community-led growth can be a very efficient GTM strategy

You don’t have a marketing problem.

You don’t have a sales problem.

You don’t have product problem.

You don’t have a customer success problem.

You have a go-to-market problem.

On this week's show, Sangram Vajre, co-founder and CEO of GTM Partners, shares his wealth of insights around go-to-market and how every grow challenge you are facing ties back to an overarching GTM problem.

Couple of takeaways for me:

Net Revenue Retention: Double your revenue every 5 years without adding a single new customer
Number #1 GTM Challenge: Relying on Heroic Sales Efforts
Who owns GTM in your org? Spoiler: Your CEO

Many organizations are struggling to hit pipeline and new revenue targets in 2023.

This is why demand generation is such an important topic right now.

Janelle Amos, Founder & Demand Gen Consultant shares her perspective on full funnel demand generation and how to unit your entire organizations around driving demand for your product.

(this is a recording from a live event from June 2023)

Getting new B2B customers in 2023 is tough. Consider these stats:

85% of buyer's journey happens before they talk to sales (Forester)
95% of your target market isn't in market (Forester)
Customers see 5000+ ads daily (Forbes)

But don't lose hope! Listen to a recording of a recent webinar I did on all things B2B marketing.

Learn how to efficiently grow to $10mm ARR and beyond. Gain insights from my decade of B2B marketing experience; failures included.

Topics covered:

Selfless Advantage mindset
Position yourself as the obvious choice
Fundamentals of generating opportunities (Partnerships, Customers, Outbound, Paid Media, and Content)

We talk a lot about go-to-market strategies in marketing, sales, and customer success on this show.

But all of that wouldn't work if we don't have a great products that customers love.

Great marketing/sales/CS can't save a bad product.

Dr. Else van der Berg and I discuss in this week's show how to build a B2B products or services that customers LOVE.

Couple of take aways for me:

Marketing/sales can’t save a bad product
Competitive differentiation is not a marketing only problem
Validate your assumptions around your ideal customer profile, etc
It’s counterintuitive to validate & we have to work hard to counteract this

This is probably my favorite topic we've done on the GTM.news show (sorry to the rest of my guests 😅)

Because marketing and sales can be the most self-focused & inward departments in an organization:

"My leads" - "My quota" - "Our revenue"

Not only can this mindset suck the life out of you as a practitioner but the mindset DOESN'T WORK to actually drive impact for customers and your organizations.

This is why an Outward Mindset is so important.

Watch/listen to my conversation with Aaron Hill, SVP Growth Strategy at the Arbinger Institute.

Couple of takeaways:

Don't weaponize empathy: This is what psychopaths and expert criminals do. They use the super power of empathy to manipulate people. You will suck your soul dry of joy in your work and also not succeed long-term.
Inward mindset is very counter-productive: If you are focused on your goals and objectives, you will miss the mark for how to serve and impact others. Customers are savvy and can smell this approach a mile away and you won't build rapport or trust with your ideal customer.
Make your success their success: It seems simple but to true win for the customer and the organization, it has to win for everyone. This is the great balance we should all strive to achieve.

No one likes to be "nurtured" or in a "sales process"

Buyers have way more control of their buying experience now and according to Forester 85% of the buyers journey happens before a buyer ever talks to sales person. 🤯

This is why demand generation is so important.

It focuses on the entire buyers journey and how you can optimize it to drive better experiences for your buyers and more revenue for your company. Let's agree that generating crummy leads for sales isn't working the greatest.

In this conversation with Graceanne & Liam from Storybook, we unpack what is demand generation, how is it different from lead generation, and so much more.

Key take aways:

1️⃣ What is demand generation: it's a go-to-market strategy to move people towards considering you as a solution. It's about reaching your audience where they are, delivering a strategic message through your content, and then providing a really low friction way for them to enter into a sales conversation with you when they're ready.

2️⃣ Brand awareness is not a destination, there is a “Demand Curve’ to it - What does good brand awareness look like? A lot of organic inbound requests.

3️⃣ Breaking down your marketing: On-ramps and off-ramps. On-ramps: how do you reach your audience (where are they spending their time) and off-ramps: how they actually entering a sales conversation.

4️⃣ We’ve made lead generation & demand generation way more complicated than it has to be because of misaligned incentives (marketing is focused on generating leads and not qualified pipeline) and we’ve built these crazy tech stacks that aren't always helpful.

Listen to the whole conversation HERE

Until next week,

Taylor

P.s. Know of anyone that might find this show helpful? Pass it along!

In this conversation we cover topics of how to systemize your B2B go-to-market and marketing through simple frameworks, processes and more. Get your organization pointing int the same direction to maximize efficiencies and accomplish your business objectives.

Peter Mahoney is the co-author of "The Next CMO: A Guide to Operational Marketing Excellence" and is a self-described marketing nerd.

Just saying the "webinar" puts a bad taste in my mouth. They are usually either too salesy or too boring. But, done right can be a phenomenal way to build relationships at scale with your ideal customers and drive new revenue. Kris Sharma shares his strategy and formula for creating a truly helpful webinar for the audience. He also shares how to drive low cost registrations through a unique outbound strategies and much more.

Especially in the venture-backed B2B SaaS world, "growth at all costs" was the norm for awhile.

Things have changed and that's why unit economics is so important for every person on your team to understand & help to optimize.

Sam Jacobs opens up the spreadsheet and shares how you can grow at the RIGHT costs and ensure your business doesn't fail.

WARNING: Buckle up as this conversation is not for the faint of heart but it's important for every person on your team to understand. You'll get a math lesson in business & go-to-market financial fundamentals.

P.s. for aspiring go-to-market leaders, master this spreadsheet and you'll have a shot at the executive table. If you don't, you'll run the risk of becoming a commodity.

On this episode with Julia Nimchinski, the conversation revolves around the future of go-to-market strategies and the role of technology in automating tactics. Julia Nimchinski shares the upcoming release of a new concept from Hype Cycle that expands the T-shaped marketer framework. We also delve into the importance of creating a great customer experience, siloed departments, and the use of AI in the go-to-market space. Additionally, the podcast explores the concept of unifying all departments and encouraging cross-training to provide a holistic vision. Finally, the guest shares their insights on how companies can align their business objectives with customer experience.[00:06:31] Book necessary for legal documentation of ideas for building a B2B community; based on author's successful marketing frameworks.[00:07:55] The book is focused on the importance of going to market in B2B and is based on the author's decade of marketing experience.[00:10:05] Go-to-market for B2B is more than just marketing and sales, it's about creating a better customer experience. The two ways to achieve this are by creating a superior product and competitive pricing. B2B companies need to constantly adapt to market conditions, and should focus on more active approaches to marketing instead of just events.[00:14:08] Procter and Gamble introduced cross-functional brand management in 1931. BTC allows for more creativity and collaboration, while B2B can be siloed. Hype Cycle was created to address this.[00:16:51] Understand the essence of go-to-market and separate it from marketing jargon. They created a community for go-to-market movement, relating to Japanese philosopher Kinichiome's framework of three foundational stones: customers, corporation, and competitors. Unify every department of go-to-market through cross-training and holistic vision. Every person responsible for go-to-market is important in creating the customer experience. Frameworks and innovations in the industry come from historical foundations.[00:22:28] Customer experience depends on understanding company mission and vision, starting with conversations with the CEO. Examples like Nike, Airbnb, and Apple demonstrate the importance of a clear vision beyond just making money.[00:24:45] Founders have a reason for starting a company but it may not align with creating a great customer experience if the goal is just to go public and exit.[00:26:20] New platform for go to market skill training launching soon with a focus on practical knowledge and individual needs, not general information.[00:29:07] Automated tactics from Chat GPT will make the go-to-market space more strategic and require cross-training in various fields, including customer success, finance, and marketing. The Hype Cycle concept will expand on the T-shaped marketer framework to show effective methodologies. Leading figures will participate in the series to excite and bring this to the masses.[00:33:27] Follow on LinkedIn, participate in Hype Cycle, access free recordings with top coaches, join interactive Slack channel with industry experts.

Daniel Weiner is the Founder of You Should Talk To and has been helping B2B organizations find the right marketing agencies & freelancers.

He shares insightful ideas around what you should look for when searching for an agency, what questions to ask yourself, and how can agencies differentiate themselves.

B2B marketing is changing fast. Dennis Yu is known for his Dollar A Day ad strategy and other strategies that are still effective to this day. In our conversation, he shares his wealth of experiences across B2C and B2B digital marketing. From leveraging TikTok in the B2B space to how to create powerful derivative content, Dennis lays it all out for how to maximize your marketing dollars.

Mark Stouse is a powerhouse of marketing, go-to-market, and growth knowledge.

Mark shared his thoughts on what go-to-market means for B2B and B2C organizations and how to leverage non-linear growth through effective GTM.

gtm #marketing #sales #growth #b2b #b2c #gotomarket

Sales, especially in the B2B world can unlock opportunities that you never thought possible. However, there is still tremendous potential to make it a great career path and generate predictable revenue for the organization.

Really enjoyed my conversation with Josh Wagner, host of the podcast Love Selling, Hate Sales and Co-Founder & Partner at In Revenue Capital.

sales #b2b #growth #selling #revenue #career

Many B2B organizations are now having a Chief Customer Officer on their executive team. But why and how can your organization utilize this unique position to break down silos in your go-to-market teams?

Listen to this special conversation with Leigh Chesley, Chief Customer Officer with Longbow Advantage, an enterprise SaaS company to learn all this and more.

As I said in the podcast, the CCO title is my favorite executive / c-suite title because it's so focused on customer and creating unifying & memorable experiences.

Leigh Chesley Linkedin

gtm #gotomarket #marketing #customersuccess #sales #growth #b2b

The world has changed, and buyers are now smarter and harder to reach. The environment is more competitive, and it's no longer enough to rely on traditional sales tactics. Buyers have access to more information than ever before, and they're more likely to research a product or service before engaging with a salesperson.

Matt Liebman shares how SDR leaders and SDR / BDRs can stand out in the noise.

Whether it's cold calling or gifting, it's harder to stand out. You need to level up and Matt provides a packed 18-minute deep dive into how to think about sales development and business development in 2023

If there was an award for Most Valuable Growth Driver, your customers would win the award every year. Tap into one of your best growth drivers: your customer. From adoption to advocacy, your customers are your best path forward to grow and customer marketing is in a sweet spot to leverage your customer success to grow revenue.

Join Leslie Barrett & Taylor Wells as they discuss all things customer marketing, how to get team alignment, how to get started, and so much more.

Join Mark Kilens and Taylor Wells as they discuss all things events in the B2B world. From how to keep your events engaging, to virtual vs hybrid vs in-person, and much more. Mark Kilen's Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/markkilens/

RevOps is a buzzy term and for good reason. This role is in high demand and potentially worth the investment. Learn from Rosalyn Santa Elena and I as we discuss all things RevOps. #b2b #marketing #growth #sales #gtm #gotomarket #saas

Declan Mulkeen, CMO at strategicabm shares his wealth of knowledge around account-based marketing. Learn how some B2B organizations are leveraging this growth strategy to land and grow the right customers. Declan Mulkeen's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/declanmulkeen Subscribe to GTM.news: https://www.gtm.news

B2B outbound (cold calling, cold email, etc.) continues to get more and more challenging to get the same results.

Join Jordan Crawford with Blueprint to discuss their unique strategy for achieving 10-30% reply rates on their cold email outbound strategies.

No BS. No scamming. No lying.

Here are a few of things we discussed:

Invert your thinking when it comes to outbound,
Targeting not personalization
Targeting incorrectly
Target for pain maturity
Zero click connect for outbound

Jordan Crawford Linkedin

Taylor Wells Linkedin

Owned media is all about building an intimate relationship with your audience, where they learn from you and are inspired by your content. In return, they provide their email address and subscribe to your brand, allowing you to hit them with more valuable content in the future. This exchange of value is essential for building a loyal audience that is more likely to convert into paying customers.

Anthony Kennada: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akennada/

Where does marketing fit in a Sales-led organization? Join Mary Keough and Taylor Wells as they discuss the specific challenges & opportunities Mary's industry experiences as it relates to marketing, sales, and overall growth goals. You'll walk away with actionable insights for how to grow your B2B business in a sales-led or professional service organization.

Get the latest at www.GTM.news

Mary Keough Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-keough-437824a2/

It’s been all over the news. ChatGPT.

But what does it mean to your B2B organization?

Join Taylor Wells & Kyle Racki to learn how to use ChatGPT to generate lots of ideas and get you started in creating content.

We also discussed the pros/cons of AI in go-to-market teams and where we think it’s headed.

Kyle Racki - Linkedin Profile

Lock arms with other brands to maximize your shared impact on your ideal market. There is a reason why strategic partnerships and ecosystem growth is a trending topic. Many B2B organizations have leveraged partnerships to grow not only fast but also efficiently.

In this conversation with Shawn Li, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Flip, we discussed the ins and outs of strategic partnerships, the many ways brands can partner, and how to get started.

Get exclusive content by subscribing at www.gtm.news

Shawn Li - Linkedin Profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnli170508/

What's happening today in the world of B2B Go-To-Market. The world of B2B marketing, sales and even customer success is changing fast. Keep up to speed on the latest from industry experts in marketing, sales, customer success, and product to ensure you have a holistic strategy in these times.