mark donnigan

Mark Donnigan constructs disruptive innovative startups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market strategies and marketing movements that drive genuine company results for technical and product-centric creators. Mark's development and market advancement experience covers 20 years as a transformative B2B marketing and magnate, driving need, brand development, and technique for startup and growth-stage business.

As a specialist and virtual marketing leader (fractional-CMO), Mark Donnigan handles startup developers and CEOs from B2B disruptive development technology companies to assist them develop, bootstrap, and scale their marketing and go-to-market actions.

DISCOVER MORE: https://growthstage.marketing

Mark Donnigan has managed groups as big as 25, making up SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark carried budget commitments 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 groups that perform as needed generation, brand name and product marketing, PR, digital, and events where he establishes and carries out high-impact programs that drive profits, produce ROI, activate the marketplace, and provides business outcomes.

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

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

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

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he puts a high value on teamwork. Mark has substantial experience working along with sales, item, operations, and finance to guarantee that business and revenue goals of the business are always surpassed.

Growth Stage Marketing exists to supply business owners and creators services for:

Architecting the market classification that is finest suited to the special value proposition of your technology.
High impact marketing assistance so that you can reach your revenue goals and scale sustainably.
Achieving go-to-market alignment across the sales and marketing organizations.
Drawing out the greatest value from every marketing dollar.
Expert understanding and insights about the B2B buying journey and how to browse a significantly fragmented client choice hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and procedure advancement to making the first hires.

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

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

Horowitz explained the concept in an article where he composed that the Peacetime CEO "concentrates on the huge image and empowers her individuals to make comprehensive choices." The Wartime CEO, on the other hand, "appreciates a speck of dust on a gnat's ass if it interfered with the prime directive."

The Peacetime CEO "understands what to do with a huge benefit," while the Wartime CEO "is paranoid." Peacetime CEO "works to reduce conflict," and Wartime CEO "increases the contradictions."

Peacetime in organization is when a company has the ability to grow in its core market due to a considerable benefit vs. the competition. In times of peace, the business concentrates on broadening the marketplace and boosting the service's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are totally free to be creative with our brand name building by participating in each exhibition with an even larger cubicle than last year's and investing exorbitantly on sponsorships, all under the guise of building the brand name.

Wartime is a different thing completely because, in Wartime, the life and death of our company might be on the line.
As I write this post, the entire world is fighting an undetectable enemy called COVID-19, which has actually let loose a discouraging dose of service unpredictability worldwide. For CMO's, the COVID-19 pandemic is service equivalent of war. No longer do our 2020 marketing strategies make great sense.

This is more than being in an area with the light on, and suddenly you discover yourself in pitch-black darkness, so you stroll tepidly, continuing in the very same directions knowing that you were heading towards the door prior to the lights got shut off. No, not just has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown a huge crater in our course that was not there previous to, and devoid of light in the room, can not be seen. Nevertheless we should avoid at all expenditures falling into the crater.

No one wish for war, however a Wartime leader does not avoid the battle, instead, they acknowledge that Wartime is the single finest opportunity to leapfrog sidetracked rivals and take ground away. What follows is a set of tips and concepts to help you discover your "Wartime CMO combat strategy."

How to act as a Wartime CMO.

During Wartime, everybody remains in uncharted waters, however this is where the possibility is for numerous companies who previously had a tough time to compete versus bigger competitors and dominant market forces. Now, for the very first time, you might be on comparable footing as your more effective competitors. It's the perfect chance to define your future.

In a worldwide reduction like what COVID-19 has actually activated, absolutely nothing makes good sense. And yet, a few of your rivals will continue to perform their typical "attempted and real" marketing playback, assuming that building the brand with corporate interactions messages from the CEO is going to contribute to their organization objectives. Now is the perfect possibility for the Wartime CMO to take ground in the market.

Take strong action.

Imaginative marketing is required in Wartime more than ever. Now is the time to examine your necessary assumptions. As the worldwide organization environment has altered, and the stability of the core business brought into question, CMO's must be ready to reassess their preliminary plan.
Believe about that less consumers will equate to minimized need. And lowered need suggests markets will not react as they did prior to the crisis.

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

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

Shift costs to more quantifiable channels so that you can adapt rapidly. Speed is whatever. Marketing initiatives able to be tracked with specificity will be a lot better than broad mass-market tasks. Slowdowns speed up the decline of interruption-based mass marketing. In its location will be an increased focus on quantifiable and relationship-based methods.

Declines create an opportunity for companies that are more effective at turning marketing monetary investments into earnings. In the middle of a decrease when advertisers are cutting their spending is an enjoyable time to take advantage of low CPMs and Certified public accountants.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising completed a study in 2008 that discovered, "Following a spending plan cut, a brand will continue to gain 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 substantial, but will not be seen in the beginning."

Millward Brown reported in their research study "Marketing During Economic Recession: To Invest or Not to Invest?" that 60% of brand that went 'dark' during an economic 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. Brand names that cut their advertisement spending plan at a greater rate relative to their rivals were at an even greater danger of share loss.
There are an amazing variety of marketing research studies that verify in a decrease, brand that continue marketing and marketing efforts recuperate much faster. It takes strong action to invest when the information recommends that ROI is not possible. A Wartime CMO battles to keep the spending plan required to continue marketing.

Take full advantage of the worth of each lead produced.

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

It's appealing in a decrease to tighten your grip on leads considering that the rationale is that now more than ever, all leads are essential. Here is where lead scoring can be an important tool to recognize highly engaged potential customers from those who are not most likely to become your customers. Now is the time for Online marketers to hold on to MQL's for an extended period so that you can groom the possibility to the maximum possible extent prior to handing them off to sales as a SQL.

Without lead scoring and an ideal possibility tracking system throughout your digital channels, as numerous as 9 out of 10 MQL's who are not yet sales-ready might be lost. They will buy, just not now. You do not want to lose out on the future sale given that you didn't keep in contact and include worth though the journey. In a "Wartime" economy, you ought to do whatever possible to optimize the worth of your MQL's.

CMO's that do a better job of dealing with leads and establishing early-stage prospects into sales-ready leads will stay in the finest position to win throughout the crisis and most absolutely once it has actually passed.

Focus on your present consumers.

It's cheaper to grow incomes with your existing customers. Think about whether now is the time to scale back your mass list building programs and focus on building deeper relationships with those who currently know your business. This does not indicate to stop your requirement gen efforts, however it does suggest that you might wish to check out with product and sales how you can offer more to your existing clients.

In Peacetime, marketing groups are running on auto-pilot in pursuit of driving MQL's to please sales reps. For an organization that has obtained traction on their way to ending up being a classification king or queen, this approach, though costly feels good because of the exceptional volume of activity that is being produced. Nevertheless, without mindful analysis, the high degree of activity fools many CMO's and management groups into believing that their requirement generation engine is carefully tuned when, in truth, it's giving off enormous contamination, i.e. exceptionally high CAC, greater than typical churn for the category, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing should line up with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader worries the service with an impressive education and pedigree, having in fact held substantial titles with huge business. There was a time when the marketing group might manage all corporate and product details and messaging with the market. If a purchaser wanted to learn about a brand-new product or explore whether an option might meet their requirement, they had no option however to call the business.

Responses to issues such as, Who's genuine and who isn't? - Who's product works, and whose does not? - What's coming? Now where available with a single post on the proper online forum or LinkedIn group. As an outcome, the power shifted to the purchaser.

We understand that online marketers are no longer in control of the buyer's journey. It is necessary to specify a funnel that describes expulsions a possibility need to pass on the method to doing company with the service. Buyers can link with us on the platform of their choosing. As the purchasing group has expanded to as many as two lots individuals, the notion that they will follow our process as we have in fact recommended is hardly ever genuine.

You require a worth designer CMO who is revenue-focused.

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

Today, marketing needs greater levels of technical capability as a result of the explosion of digital media and the marketing innovations that are related to internet marketing. This improvement has actually been highlighted by Forrester, discussing a 20-year-old shift to digital as the driving force behind CMOs moving from being brand-builders to profits drivers. Forrester goes on to report that a worth designer, revenue-driven Online online marketer, need to be a story maker and not simply a storyteller.

The CMO today should be an expert at developing and leading imaginative engagement and service approach to develop a category for business to control.

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

They will work thoroughly with the sales group to find and map the buyer's journey. Where assumptions do not match what is happening in the market, a value developer CMO will leave the work environment and hang out in the field. This leader comprehends that you can not drive revenue if you aren't near to where the sale takes location.

A revenue-focused CMO creates content targeted at each phase of the purchaser's journey. Believe about the purchaser's journey as a set of gates where the material responds to the main issues a purchaser has at each action so that they can complete the buying journey.
The brand-new generation CMO will collect engagement metrics for each gate while assessing the success of the end-to-end marketing cycle to provide the most timely and certified result in their sellers. A worth designer CMO sees marketing as close allies to the sales group.

The revenue-centered CMO is constantly finding from and fine-tuning the procedure so that they can improve the amount and quality of leads that added to the pipeline and closed business.
Incomes attribution and marketing ROI styles will reflect genuine outcomes, not theorized or "presumed" requirements. This details is essential for the revenue-focused CMO to fix given that they care about marketing's impact on organization.

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

What to look for in your next CMO.

In the vibrant state of service today, dealing with an efficient CMO is among the most tough things to do. Every market, business, and market section is numerous. Even where you can acknowledge potential customers from the very same company community or environment, it's insufficient to merely take a look at years of experience or education. You require to examine the motivations and believed patterns of the individual. Ask:
Is the CMO an issue solver?

The most considerable danger today is on the marketplace side and not development. A marketing leader who isn't a concern solver will have a hard time to handle the fast-changing nature of the marketplace and neighborhood building.

Are they a doer?
In numerous marketing groups, there will be particular experts who can operate at the highest level throughout the series of capabilities required. It's incumbent for a marketing leader to command consider a doer. The CMO, who can show functional ability in the core areas that the group operates, will be more reliable than a manager simply.

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest method to ensure that you bring in a CMO who is revenue and not brand-driven is to work with someone who has come up through item, sales, and corporate technique. Having direct exposure to the inner functions of product and sales is particularly beneficial as service method is becoming a more considerable part of the CMO's series of obligations.

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

As digital has actually exploded the number of marketing user interface points, enabling buyers to disaggregate the 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 appropriate to plan more info in regards to the social job, material marketing task, occasions, and PR, all as different activities. The successful CMO will start with business goal they are serving and be all set to question everything.

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

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

As the CMO will require to work cross-functionally to make sure that they have placing with product and sales, the marketing head must be an incentive. To establish a category needs conversation, settlement, and the ability to try to find and reach a contract.

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

A CMO who tries to lead with ultimate authority will have a hard time to achieve organization objectives of the business. Marketing groups today should work as engineering groups work in a nimble fashion. Instead of nicely organized 90-day project cadences, an agile marketing group performs a constant blood circulation of efforts while preserving the versatility to alter as the market or business requirements figure out.

Does the CMO comprehend category design?

I have really composed about category design and why every company requires to own a classification to accomplish its optimal capacity. There is a framework for performing classification design. Still, whether an Online marketer follows the summary or approaches classification style another method, a CMO needs to be putting routine thought and preparation into how they define the classification they suggest to control. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no other way to complete an appropriate category design.

The Wartime CMO will require to increase the accountability of marketing by revealing the impact of each marketing activity on the pipeline as determined by earnings contribution.
In a decrease, marketing should move the understanding of being an expense center to an income driver. Reporting beyond the variety of marketing qualified leads produced to include the overall possibility worth for each lead source is an exceptional way to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the economic goals of company.

Research studies have actually exposed that a correctly developed landing page can double your conversion rate over sending out traffic to the 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 techniques can supply a 2.5 X boost for each single dollar you purchase marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a distinction.

During Wartime, every marketing dollar is important, and a Wartime CMO comprehends that winning will not boil down to a single technique or "silver bullet" approach. Instead, lots of little things executed well. The CMO, who can not understand the interplay of copy, messaging, creative design, and development, will struggle to find and recognize quickly where little adjustments can offer much better conversions.

This content technique worked, for a season, sort-of. Nevertheless with the boost of Google RankBrain, the method has 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 should count, the method that we do content marketing requires to be upgraded.

Now, the material that we develop needs to interest somebody searching for our service, and it needs to include purchaser intent triggers like keywords and expressions that a purchaser would use as they get near to buying decision. A Havas Group research study revealed that 84% of people anticipate brand to produce material, yet 60% of the material produced is of bad quality or unimportant, stopping working to fulfill the needs of the audience. Regardless of a 71% connection in between content efficiency and a brand name's impact on personal health, just 40% of the world's leading 1,500 trademark name produce content that meets this requirement. Brand name's are stopping working to produce substantial material.

Stop producing assembly line content that is just suggested to develop the brand name or introduce the product. Rather, content needs to target particular personas to resolve any troubles avoiding the prospect from carrying on. This material will take longer to produce and require a higher community and product knowledge level.

CMO's in Wartime should have an excellent understanding of the buyer psyche and their psychological requirements so that they can develop content that eliminates worry and addresses the sincere issues they have.

CMO's in Wartime double down on Classification Design 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.

Learn more about Classification Design.

The B2B sales process today is fragmented and intricate, with lots of stakeholders needing to confirm a purchase choice. This renders standard marketing ROI and attribution methods less advantageous for anything besides scholastic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into 3 functional pillars comprising Product, Need Generation, and Category Design. Due to the fact that numerous marketing leaders have in fact not entirely embraced classification design, it's a remarkably simple way to beat an incumbent during a crisis. As quickly as the sector begins to discuss the classification as you have really defined it, your business will end up being the category and the apparent choice.

To do Classification Style needs a different working cadence. Wartime is the ideal time to start Category Design considered that definitely nothing is "normal" during a crisis.
To handle the challenge of constructing a Category King service requires a lots of grit, decision, and a steadfast drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who takes on the challenge, there can be no bigger pot-o-gold if successful.

Read the book Play Larger to discover out everything about category design.