mark donnigan marketing consultant

Mark Donnigan constructs disruptive innovative start-ups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market strategies and marketing movements that drive real company results for technical and product-centric creators. Mark's development and market development experience covers 20 years as a transformative B2B marketing and magnate, driving demand, 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 developers and CEOs from B2B disruptive development technology business to assist them develop, bootstrap, and scale their marketing and go-to-market actions.

FIND OUT MORE: https://growthstage.marketing

Mark Donnigan has actually managed groups as large as 25, comprising SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark brought spending plan responsibilities 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 consultant, Mark Donnigan's incoming and outbound marketing experience include structure and mentoring high-performance groups that carry out as needed generation, brand and item marketing, PR, digital, and events where he establishes and carries out high-impact programs that drive income, produce ROI, trigger the marketplace, and provides business results.

Mark Donnigan believes that the very best marketing experts and marketing leaders are doers. Mark's marketing experience consists of all elements of need generation, ABM, SEO, email marketing, paid marketing, events, PR (internal & company), and item marketing.

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

Mark has found that constructing a category must be the leading objective for every single marketing leader and it is the structure of his approach and technique. Mark Donnigan has extensive B2B marketing experience that consists of structure and mentoring high-performance teams.

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he places a high worth on team effort. Mark has extensive experience working along with sales, product, operations, and financing to ensure that business and earnings goals of the business are always exceeded.

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

Architecting the market classification that is best fit to the distinct worth proposal of your innovation.
High effect marketing assistance so that you can reach your income objectives and scale sustainably.
Achieving go-to-market alignment throughout the sales and marketing organizations.
Drawing out the highest worth from every marketing dollar.
Expert knowledge and insights about the B2B purchasing journey and how to browse an increasingly fragmented client choice hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and procedure advancement to making the first hires.

Thoughts on what it requires a successful marketer and CMO today.

If you are a CEO who feels your B2B marketing does not have a clear connection to business, you are not alone. A study finished by the marketing consultancy Fournaise found that 80% of Chief Executives are not pleased with the work their leading Marketing leader is doing. Examining what the present service fact implies for marketing leaders, I kept in mind the concept of a Peacetime leader and a Wartime leader from Ben Horowitz's book "The Hard Feature Of Hard Things."

Horowitz described the concept in a short article where he made up that the Peacetime CEO "focuses on the huge image and empowers her individuals to make comprehensive decisions." The Wartime CEO, on the other hand, "values a speck of dust on a gnat's ass if it interrupted the prime instruction."

The Peacetime CEO "understands what to do with a substantial benefit," while the Wartime CEO "is paranoid." Peacetime CEO "works to decrease disagreement," and Wartime CEO "heightens the contradictions."

Peacetime in company is when a company has the capability to grow in its core market due to a substantial advantage vs. the competitors. In times of peace, business concentrates on broadening the marketplace and boosting business's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are absolutely free to be imaginative with our trademark name structure by attending each exhibit with an even bigger cubicle than in 2015's and investing exorbitantly on sponsorships, all under the guise of constructing the trademark name.

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

This is more than remaining in an area with the light on, and suddenly you find yourself in pitch-black darkness, so you walk tepidly, continuing in the very same directions knowing that you were heading towards the door prior to the lights got turned off. No, not just has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown an enormous crater in our path that was not there prior to, and lacking light in the space, can not be seen. Nevertheless we must avoid at all costs falling under the crater.

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

How to function as a Wartime CMO.

Throughout Wartime, everyone remains in uncharted waters, however this is where the chance is for many business who formerly had a hard time to complete against bigger competitors and dominant market forces. Now, for the very first time, you may be on equivalent footing as your more powerful competitors. It's the perfect possibility to define your future.

In a worldwide decrease like what COVID-19 has triggered, absolutely nothing makes sense. And yet, a few of your rivals will continue to perform their usual "attempted and real" marketing playback, presuming that constructing the brand name with corporate interactions messages from the CEO is going to add to their business objectives. 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 worldwide business environment has actually changed, and the stability of the core business called into question, CMO's should be prepared to reassess their preliminary strategy.
Believe about that less customers will equate to lowered requirement. And lowered need suggests markets will not react as they did prior to the crisis.

Believe about it in this manner, when people purchase less, marketers invest less. However prior to you follow a slash and burn the marketing invest playbook, here are a number of things to be educated about:

Investment bank Cowen and Company examined the last 6 economic recessions given that 1950 and found that costs on direct marketing grew throughout the previous financial downturns. Significance, you will wish to consider your mix of brand name marketing thoroughly compared to sales activation marketing. It's not time to stop marketing. Keep in mind, there will be deals throughout the board as media outlets see business cut their marketing and marketing spends. Push marketing and branding drops in a downturn, but sales activation marketing constantly increases.

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

Declines produce a chance for companies that are more efficient at turning marketing financial investments into income. In the middle of a decrease when advertisers are cutting their costs is an enjoyable time to take advantage of low CPMs and Qualified public accounting professionals.

The Institute of Practitioners in Marketing finished a research study in 2008 that discovered, "Following a budget cut, a brand name will continue to acquire from the marketing financial investment made over the previous few years. This will minimize any short-term service effects, and will lead to a dangerously misleading increase in short-term success. The longer-term business damage will be more considerable, however will not be observed in the start."

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

Maximize the worth of each lead produced.

In a slowdown, risk-averse buyers take even longer to research study purchases, and this applies similarly to B2B and B2C buyers. When you first recognize a possibility, they will likely remain in the awareness phase of your funnel and will not be all set to engage with an SDR or BDR. Do not force this interaction. Marketing needs to take care not to move a possibility through the funnel too rapidly. Keep in mind, the possibility's expert life has actually been turned on its head. What was an issue just a number of weeks or months earlier, is most 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 necessary. Here is where lead scoring can be a valuable tool to acknowledge highly engaged potential customers from those who are not most likely to become your clients. Now is the time for Online 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 prospect 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 do not wish to lose out on the future sale because you didn't keep in contact and include worth though the journey. In a "Wartime" economy, you must do whatever possible to optimize the worth of your MQL's.

CMO's that do a far better task of managing leads and developing early-stage prospects into sales-ready leads will remain in the finest position to win during the crisis and most certainly once it has actually passed.

Concentrate on your present consumers.

It's cheaper to grow incomes with your existing clients. Consider whether now is the time to downsize your mass list building programs and focus on structure much deeper relationships with those who currently know your company. This does not suggest to stop your need gen efforts, but it does imply that you might wish to explore with item and sales how you can sell more to your existing clients.

In Peacetime, marketing groups are operating on autopilot in pursuit of driving MQL's to satisfy sales reps. For a service that has actually acquired traction on their method to becoming a category king or queen, this technique, though expensive feels great because of the remarkable volume of activity that is being produced. Nevertheless, without mindful analysis, the high degree of activity fools lots of CMO's and management groups into believing that their need generation engine is finely tuned when, in reality, it's discharging enormous contamination, i.e. extremely high CAC, higher than average churn for the category, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing needs to line up with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader concerns the business with a remarkable education and pedigree, having in fact held substantial titles with big companies. There was a time when the marketing group may handle all corporate and item details and messaging with the marketplace. If a buyer desired to discover a brand-new product or explore whether a solution might satisfy their requirement, they had no alternative however to call the business.

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

We understand that online marketers are no longer in control of the buyer's journey. It is essential to define a funnel that lays out evictions a possibility must pass on the way to doing business with business. Purchasers can link with us on the platform of their choosing. As the purchasing group has actually expanded to as lots of as two lots individuals, the notion that they will follow our procedure as we have actually prescribed is rarely real.

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

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

Today, marketing requires greater levels of technical capability as an outcome of the explosion of digital media and the marketing innovations that are associated with online marketing. This transformation has been highlighted by Forrester, discussing a 20-year-old shift to digital as the driving force behind CMOs moving from being brand-builders to earnings drivers. Forrester goes on to report that a value designer, revenue-driven Online online marketer, should be a story maker and not just a storyteller.

The CMO today ought to be a professional at creating and leading imaginative engagement and company approach to develop a category for the organization to control.

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

They will work thoroughly with the sales group to find and map the purchaser's journey. Where presumptions do not match what is occurring in the market, a value designer CMO will leave the work environment and hang out in the field. This leader understands that you can not drive earnings if you aren't near to where the sale happens.

A revenue-focused CMO develops content targeted at each phase of the buyer's journey. Consider the purchaser's journey as a set of gates where the content reacts to the primary issues a buyer has at each action so that they can finish the buying journey.
The brand-new generation CMO will gather engagement metrics for each gate while examining the success of the end-to-end marketing cycle to deliver the most prompt and certified result in their sellers. A worth designer CMO sees marketing as close allies to the sales group.

The revenue-centered CMO is always finding from and tweak the process so that they can improve the amount and quality of leads that included to the pipeline and closed company.
Revenues attribution and marketing ROI styles will show genuine results, not theorized or "presumed" requirements. This details is important for the revenue-focused CMO to solve given that they appreciate marketing's influence on organization.

A revenue-focused CMO will focus on how their marketing efforts map to closed/won offers that drive the revenue and service goals of the company. 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 amongst the most tough things to do. Every market, company, and market section is different. Even where you can acknowledge prospects from the exact same company neighborhood or environment, it's inadequate to simply have a look at years of experience or education. You require to take a look at the inspirations and believed patterns of the individual. Ask:
Is the CMO a problem solver?

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

Are they a doer?
In many marketing groups, there will be specific professionals 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 demonstrate functional capability in the core areas that the group runs, will be more trustworthy than a supervisor just.

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest method to ensure that you draw in a CMO who is earnings and not brand-driven is to hire somebody who has actually turned up through item, sales, and corporate approach. Having direct exposure to the inner workings of product and sales is specifically beneficial as service technique is ending up being a more substantial part of the CMO's series of obligations.

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

As digital has exploded the number of marketing user interface points, allowing purchasers to disaggregate the service from the purchasing journey, a CMO should have the ability to think about systems and structures rather of securely specified marketing lanes. It is no longer sufficient to prepare in concerns to the social project, material marketing job, events, and PR, all as different activities. The effective CMO will start with organization objective they are serving and be all set to question whatever.

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

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

As the CMO will require to work cross-functionally to guarantee that they have placing with product and sales, the marketing head must be a motivator. To develop a classification requires conversation, settlement, and the capability to look for and reach an agreement.

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

A CMO who tries to lead with ultimate authority will have a hard time to accomplish company goals of the organization. Marketing groups today must work as engineering groups operate in an agile fashion. Instead of perfectly arranged 90-day job cadences, an agile marketing group carries out a consistent circulation of efforts while preserving the flexibility to alter as the market or business requirements figure out.

Does the CMO comprehend category design?

I have really made up about category style and why every business requires to own a classification to achieve its optimal capacity. There is a framework for carrying out classification style. Still, whether an Online marketer follows the summary or methods classification style another way, a CMO must be putting routine idea and preparation into how they define the classification they mean to control. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no other way to complete a proper category design.

The Wartime CMO will require to increase the accountability of marketing by showing the result of each marketing activity on the pipeline as figured out by profits contribution.
In a decrease, marketing needs to move the understanding of being a cost center to an earnings driver. Reporting beyond the number of marketing certified leads produced to consist of the general chance worth for each lead source is an excellent method to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the financial goals of business.

Research studies have in fact revealed that a properly developed landing page can double your conversion rate over sending traffic to your house page, which tends to do not have the appropriate call to action that matches the advertisement. Since of this, examining landing pages can increase conversions as much as 50% or more. Together, these strategies can offer a 2.5 X increase for every single dollar you purchase marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a distinction.

Throughout Wartime, every marketing dollar is valuable, and a Wartime CMO understands that winning will not boil down to a single strategy or "silver bullet" approach. Instead, many small things performed well. The CMO, who can not understand the interaction of copy, messaging, creative design, and development, will have a hard time to discover and acknowledge rapidly where little modifications can provide better conversions.

This content method worked, for a season, sort-of. However with the increase of Google RankBrain, the method has not worked for several years. Without being in the middle of a crisis, you need to stop this ineffective activity. Now as spending plans are under pressure and every marketing activity should count, the manner in which we do content marketing needs to be upgraded.

Now, the content that we create needs to interest someone searching for our service, and it should include buyer intent triggers like keywords and expressions that a purchaser would use as they get close to acquiring choice. A Havas Group research study revealed that 84% of individuals prepare for brand to produce content, yet 60% of the material produced is of bad quality or unimportant, stopping working to meet the needs of the audience. Regardless of a 71% connection in between content effectiveness and a brand's impact on individual wellness, simply 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand produce material that satisfies this requirement. Brand name's are stopping working to produce considerable content.

Stop producing assembly line material that is simply indicated to develop the trademark name or introduce the product. Rather, content needs to target specific personalities to fix any troubles preventing the prospect from moving on. This material will take longer to produce and require a greater community and product knowledge level.

CMO's in Wartime need to have an exceptional understanding of the buyer mind and their mental needs so that they can develop material that alleviates fear 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 whole category.

Learn more about Classification Design.

The B2B sales procedure today is fragmented and complex, with lots of stakeholders requiring to validate a purchase choice. This renders standard marketing ROI and attribution techniques less advantageous for anything besides scholastic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into three functional pillars making up Item, Need Generation, and Classification Style. Because many marketing leaders have actually not completely embraced category design, it's a remarkably simple method to beat an incumbent throughout a crisis. As soon as the sector starts to discuss the category as you have in fact defined it, your service will end up being the classification and the apparent choice.

To do Classification Design needs a various working cadence. Wartime is the best time to start Classification Design considered that absolutely nothing is "normal" throughout a crisis.
To deal with the difficulty of building a Classification King company requires a ton of grit, determination, and an unfaltering drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who handles the difficulty, there can be no larger pot-o-gold if successful.

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