Marketing Spark (The B2B SaaS Marketing Podcast)

In this  episode, Mark Evans interviews Jim Kraus, President of the Buyer Persona Institute, about the value and mechanics of buyer personas in marketing and sales. 

We discuss the definition of buyer personas, how to extract insights from customers and prospects, and the value of buyer personas in messaging, prioritization, and business performance.

Jim explains the process of developing buyer personas and the key elements that make them effective. 

Jim emphasizes the importance of talking to recent buyers who have made the exact buying decision that a company is trying to influence rather than relying on existing customers. 

In this episode of Marketing Spark, Mark Evans and Clay Ostrom discuss the importance of brand positioning and how it applies to marketing, sales, HR, product development, and raising capital.

We explore how positioning is about finding a unique place in the market and creating a memorable connection with customers.

We talk about the importance of clear and effective positioning in order to stand out in a competitive market and avoid being lost in the crowd.

We also discuss improving a company's positioning, including understanding customers, analyzing competition, and developing an offering that aligns with customer needs.

We also touch upon the key deliverables of the brand positioning process and how to measure the ROI of the work done.

In this episode of the Marketing Spark podcast, Mark Evans interviews Paul Slack, founder and CEO of Vende Digital, about account-based marketing (ABM) and its growing popularity among B2B companies.

The conversation covers the definition of ABM, its benefits, and best practices. Paul explains the four pillars of executing demand or ABM effectively and the importance of intent data in ABM campaigns.

Mark and Paul also discuss the common mistakes that B2B companies make when implementing ABM strategies and the challenges of generating leads in a tough economic climate.

Paul says that among the keys to ABM's success is the need for marketing and sales alignment and building strong relationships with potential clients.

In this episode of Markeitng Spark, Laura Gainer provides insight into how she helped turned pickleball into North American's fastest-growing sport.

Laura talks about how she approached the sport after being hired by USA Pickleball to overhaul its brand, Website, and logo.

We discuss how pickleball has attracted celebrities like Lebron James and why it has become so popular.

In this episode of the Marketing Spark podcast, host Mark talks to Sam Dunning, co-owner of Web Choice, about the common mistakes that B2B companies make with their websites and how to ensure that a website is a conversion machine. 

We discuss the importance of planning, messaging, and design when building or relaunching a website. 

Sam shares his insights on how to optimize the homepage, product page, pricing page, about page, and call-to-actions (CTAs) on a website. 

We also get into the signs that a company needs to redesign its website and where listeners can learn more about Sam and his work.

For many B2B SaaS companies, PR is a mysterious creature.

They like the idea of media coverage to drive brand awareness and new business, but they're not sure how PR works and how to approach it.

In this episode, Crackle PR's Parry Headrick provides great insight into the inner workings of technology PR and how companies can create win-win partnerships with PR agencies.

We also talk about why entrepreneurs don't understand PR, why PR (and marketing) are among the early budget victims, and why Parry is excited about the work from home revolution.

In this episode, Sergey Ross and I explore the power of video for B2B SaaS companies looking to accelerate their growth. 

We talk about how video can be used at every stage of the sales funnel, from initial pitches to product demos and beyond. 

We also dive into best practices for creating effective video content, including tips for scripting, filming, and editing. 

Whether you're a startup or an established B2B SaaS company, we will give you the tools you need to use video to drive growth and increase conversions. 

Join us for an in-depth discussion on how to harness the power of video and take your B2B SaaS business to the next level.

In challenging economic times, marketing budgets are low-hanging fruit when it comes to cost cutting. In the process, many B2B SaaS companies turn to freelancers, contractors and agencies for strategic and tactical support.

In this episode of Marketing Spark, Gwen Lafage (who has worked for agencies and as a B2B SaaS marketing leader) talks about how to hire and get value from top-quality suppliers.

We also talk imposter syndrome and how B2B SaaS marketers can be creative to break out of the box.

In this episode of Marketing Spark, Andrew Arocha, Drift's chief revenue officer, talks about how less (marketing) will be more amid more difficult economic conditions.

He talks about how companies will focus on revenue growth rather than brand awareness, the future of conferences (smaller and more intimate), best practices for ABM, and how companies should approach customer retention and churn.

As B2B SaaS companies focus on retention rather than acquisition, customer intelligence is becoming more important.

On this episode of Marketing Spark, Mike Diaz talks about the different ways that companies can leverage data and information to keep customers in the fold.

Chatbots are becoming more popular to serve the needs of customers and answer their questions, but the AI is making chatbots smarter and more valuable. On this episode of Marketing Spark, Liverperson's Sonny Patel's talks about the future conversational inteligence and how companies can use it to drive marketing and sales.

Podcasts can be a valuable marketing tool for B2B SaaS companies because they provide opportunities to connect with customers, prospects, and influencers. 

Podcasts can also help generate a lot of content by extracting insight about multiple topics, which can be useful for content marketing efforts. 

However, it can be challenging for marketers to convince senior executives to invest in a podcast because it can be difficult to measure return on investment (ROI). 

In this episode of Marketing Spark, Connversa Podcasting CEO Jeremy Shere, talks to Mark Evans about:

- How companies should quantify ROI

- Why podcasts continue to be embrace amid tough economic conditions

- The biggest reasons why companies shy away from podcasts

- The reasons why companies jump on the podcast bandwagon; podcasts done by competitors being one of biggest factors.

- Why consistency is the key to podcast success

- The role of podcasts within the sales process

The digital marketing landscape is always changing.

There are new channels, tools, and approaches.

But it feels like we’ve entered uncharted territory for digital marketing amid global economic growth.

The rising tide that lifted many, if not all, ships has disappeared. And there’s increasing pressure on digital marketers to perform and do marketing that converts.

I couldn’t think of a better person to offer insight and perspective about digital marketing than Andy Crestodina, who has been operating in the digital world since 2000.

On the podcast, we talk about:

- How blogs can rank in search

- How to use GA4

- The effectiveness of "Get a Demo"

- Why so much homepage messaging is unclear

- Whether AI-powered writing tools will make an impact

One of the more interesting business trends is the rise of the fractional executive.

It's the idea that you can someone with skills and experience but not on a full-time basis. It's an intriguing model for companies looking to fill gaps economically.

In this episode of Marketing Spark, I sit down with Malcolm Lewis to explore the fractional CMO (FCMO) model.

We look at the definition of FCMO, what they do, how to hire one, and how to define the rules of engagement.

Malcolm also talk about the value of positioning as a pillar of the B2B marketing foundation.

Learn more about how I help B2B SaaS companies with positioning.

For many years, marketers have leaned hard into data for information and insight about how people interact with different activities.

But the landscape has dramatically changed. 

A lot of digital marketing can't be tracked or attributed. People see content but never click, or they learn about products on the Dark Web.

Spark Toro CEO Rand Fishkin says marketers need to return to the days of creativity and ingenuity to attract and engage customers. 

He says they need to make leaps of faith when making marketing decisions as opposed to depending on data to lead the way strategically and tactically. 

It's an insightful conversation with someone who's been in the digital trenches for a long time. 

Definition of annoying: most pitches from podcast booking agencies.

They’re not personalized.

Clearly, no research has been done.

They’re frequently off-topic.

And sometimes they use the wrong name.

Agencies using these types of agencies are getting bad deals.

It’s hard to get a guest on podcast, so you can't use a company that does a poor job.

Having received so many bad podcast guest pitches, I asked Jakub Zajicek from Speak on Podcasts for insight and advice on how and when to use a podcast agency.

Since launcing in 2020, Speak on Podcasts has booked more than 2,000 guests and represents companies like @gong and @paddle.

The key to finding the right partner is simple: research and being clear about your point of view and who’s going to do the talking.

As important, companies need a strategic plan that integrates how podcasts will fit into the marketing and sales mix.

The more that you know your customers, the better.

That's Marketing 101.

As marketing attribution becomes increasingly more challenging, companies will need new tools to identify and engage prospects.

Getting this type of customer intelligence will allow them to make better and faster marketing, advertising, and sales decisions.

On the Marketing Spark podcast, Clearbit CMO Kevin Tate talks about how companies can use technology to identify their ideal customer profiles (ICPs), how to gain insight into what customers and prospects are thinking and the questions being asked, and how to identify Website visitors who don't provide any contact information.

We also took a look at Clearbit's marketing activities - content marketing and free tools.

In theory, podcasts are a great thing for B2B and B2B SaaS companies.

They allow companies to connect with prospects, customers, and influencers and generate a ton of content (blog posts, social media updates, videos).

But podcasts can be a hard sell for marketers. One of the challenges is that the value and ROI of a podcast are more than data-driven.

When a marketer is asked by a CEO about how to measure a podcast's success, the answer is "a podcast can be quantified but many of the benefits aren't visible".

To get insight into the B2B podcast landscape, I connect with Tom Hunt , founder of Fame.

We talked about:

- Whether companies are still enthiastic about podcasts

- How to sell a podcast to. CEO or CMO

- The role and value of an internal podcast for employees

- Whether CEOs really understand their customers, and how a podcast and creating content is a great way to discover valuable insight.

Sales is a combination of art and science.

The best salespeople combine personality, insight, research and time to engage people and convince them to make purchases.

In this episode of Marketing Spark, SellX's Steve Schmidt talks about:

- How salespeople should operate given the economic landscape

- What makes for a great sales person beyond sales

- How sales and marketing can work together effectively

- The biggest mistakes made by salespeople on LinkedIn 

- Why Steve has enthusiastically embraced TikTok

- The link between sales and demand generation.

Consultants get a bad rap.

They're seen as people who like telling other people what to do, but they don't do the actual work.

But consultants can play a key role in helping companies fill gaps and seize opportunities. The right consultant at the right time can deliver huge ROI.

On the Marketing Spark podcast, I talk with Faheem Moosa, who helps consultants drive higher revenue.

Faheem and I look at the consulting landscape amid volatile economic times, the role of content in marketing and sales, and the keys to launching a successful consulting business.

If you're a consulting, thinking about getting into the business, or looking to hire a consultant, Faheem delivers great insight.