Marketing in an Era of Constant Change

Author:

Dan Seabrook
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Episode

76

Marketing in an Era of Constant Change

Dan Seabrook

VP Sales at Operatix

Mark Johnston

VP of Product Marketing at Domo

Nothing in marketing ever stays the same because nothing in life ever stays the same, does it?

(All of us are thinking about ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic right now.)

On a recent episode of the B2B Revenue Acceleration podcast, we talked with Mark Johnston, VP of Product Marketing at Domo, about how to hit a marketing target that’s always moving.

“The data to make decisions just changed completely because of all of the different dynamics that are going on in the world,” Mark said. 

Data is about 1,000x more important in the present era of change than it was even a couple of years ago — or a matter of weeks ago before the current pandemic.

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Your strategy is going to be completely different than what it was six months or three months – or three weeks ago.

Mark Johnston

Marketing’s biggest changes

Marketing data can help improve our world. 

Big businesses need data to make strategic decisions about COVID-19 impact, and SMBs rely on data to stay nimble and ahead of the pandemic curve.

Mark sees large businesses having to throw out the traditional way of decision making.

You can’t look at data monthly anymore. You pretty much have to get a fresh forecasting report from your business intelligence team daily now.

“Resetting big organizations is difficult, but the benefit that they have is intelligence and insights, so they’re able to understand the marketplace that they serve and operate in.”

On the flip side, smaller organizations tend to be more nimble and agile. “They don’t have any of those preconceived processes around how they run their business,” Mark pointed out.

The downside is they might not have the breadth of data or the insight of experience that a larger company can bring.

Both types of businesses need data to make effective marketing decisions in this era of change.

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The customers’ needs and what they’re trying to achieve should match with your company’s objectives.

Mark Johnston

B2B marketing during remote living

Given that schools and workplaces are closed and hardly anyone is driving anymore, B2B marketing looks different than it ever has before.

“The concept of innovation and change for marketing has been true forever,” Mark pointed out.

What’s uniquely challenging about the changes in the current marketing era is how resilient and adaptive marketers need to be.

Quick story…

Domo turned Domopalooza – its customer conference – into a virtual event. So, the CEO flew out to the site to make live recordings as a way to still serve those who would have attended.

It wasn’t just COVID-19 stress and concern that Mark and the marketers had to contend with. 

On the morning of the digital event, there was an earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale.

With aftershocks all throughout the recording.

Mark saw 3 truths come out of this era of change in marketing.

  • The loss of the face-to-face option requires creativity. “What that forced us to do was ask ourselves what does the customer experience need to look like so that we can replace it with something?” Mark said.
  • Marketers excel at innovation. “We could have a very different type of event because of that limitless scale of digital,” he said.
  • Serving the customer has always been the core of marketing. “You’re dealing with earthquakes, and then you’re trying to figure out whether your customer could buy and how you serve them,” he said.

This event disaster became a digital event that customers have given positive feedback about, despite the pandemic and the earthquake.

“At a human level, being able to have that resilience is one thing, but at an operational level, making sure that you have that intelligence to guide the organization through this period,” Mark said.

left quote
right quote

The concept of innovation and change for marketing has been true forever.

Mark Johnston

A customer-centric focus

“The customers’ needs and what they’re trying to achieve should match with your company’s objectives,” Mark said.

Especially in eras of change like this one, figuring out what commercial success looks like for many B2B businesses is a complicated dynamic.

“The benefit of having the customer at the center is that it’s really about understanding what the customer’s going through and matching your choices to that,” Mark said.

Let’s say your customers are in hospitality, and right now they just can’t buy.

“Your strategy is going to be completely different than what it was six months or three months — or three weeks ago,” Mark pointed out.

You need to have the best data at your fingertips (quick plug for Domo’s coronavirus info site) to stay agile and understand your customers’ constantly changing objectives.

In that sense, marketing in the era of change is just called marketing.

“If the customer and the customer context match your commercial outcomes, then you’re never going to go far wrong,” Mark said.

To hear this interview and many more like it, subscribe to The B2B Revenue Acceleration Podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here, on our website.

Connect with Operatix to learn how to build your pipeline in an era of constant change.

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About Operatix

Operatix is a Sales Acceleration company specialized in supporting B2B Software vendors to identify new revenue streams, increase qualified sales pipeline, and accelerate channel development across Europe and North America. Operatix has a wealth of experience in working with the biggest tech players worldwide as well as a multitude of emerging software vendors.

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Channel Transformation

Digital transformation is changing how companies buy and use business solutions, making vendors re-assess the capabilities of their channel ecosystem. With channel dynamics in constant flux, vendors need to be ready to cut ties with partners that don’t share their vision or have connections with the right B2B buyers.

 

Operatix has supported numerous vendors in their path to Channel transformation by assessing current partners and recruiting new partners that are more aligned with their new channel strategy. Once the right partners have been identified, Operatix built scalable outbound sales development programs that accelerated their routes to market.

Inbound Response Management

In a competitive industry like technology every lead counts. Operatix can help you maximize conversion from MQL to SQL and from lead to pipeline, increasing both your revenue and ROI on marketing activities.

Account Identification

Identifying the accounts that are more likely to buy from you is part of our expertise. We will research the market, identify verticals and industries that can benefit from your solution and set up qualified sales engagements for your teams to kick-off the sales process. 

Cold Prospecting

Our team will identify new sales opportunities within the strategic accounts that you haven’t been successful in penetrating through your sales & marketing efforts. By applying the ‘Challenger Sale’ methodology we use a tailored, multitouch approach to connect with prospects, generating qualified sales engagements for your team and ultimately increasing your pipeline.

Outbound Sales Development

Using a proactive outbound sales approach has been proven to be one of the most effective methods to engage with prospective customers. By applying the ‘Challenger Sale’ methodology we use a tailored, human approach to getting in touch with prospects to increase your qualified sales engagements and ultimately generate more pipeline.

Outbound Sales Development

Using a proactive outbound sales approach has been proven to be one of the most effective methods to engage with prospective customers. By applying the ‘Challenger Sale’ methodology we use a tailored, human approach to getting in touch with prospects to increase your qualified sales engagements and ultimately generate more pipeline.

Partner Concierge Service

Our Partner Concierge Service helps vendors accelerate their channel programs, by engaging and nurturing channel partners and supporting them to get to revenue quicker.

Demand Generation

Whether you need to implement a demand generation strategy or get more results out of your existing demand gen engine, Operatix can work alongside your marketing team to yield better results out of your demand generation programs.

Account-based Marketing

An Account-based Marketing strategy is only as successful as the revenue it generates. At Operatix we will support your 1:1, 1:few or 1:many approach to get your team in front of decision makers in the accounts that matter the most to you. 

Lead Qualification

If your marketing leads aren’t converting, it might be a lead qualification issue. Operatix can help sieve through leads that need further qualification, so they are ready for an AE or sales team member to engage with.

Account-based Selling

At Operatix we will support your 1:1, 1:few or 1:many approach to get your team in front of decision makers in the accounts that matter the most to you. 

Pipeline Generation

Generating Pipeline for our clients is our key-objective. And we do that by using a multi-touch, multi-channel approach to generate qualified sales engagements for our customers’ sales teams.   

Account Intelligence / Deep Dive

Understanding buying centres, hierarchies and relevant personas in strategic accounts is a fundamental step to increase conversion rates. By leveraging account intelligence in a sales conversation your team can tailor their message and provide value to their prospective customer. But sales & marketing teams often struggle to dedicate time and resources to do the deep research and this is where Operatix can help.

DMID – Decision Maker Identification

Finding quality data is an on-going challenge for B2B Tech vendors. The accuracy of data platforms is questionable and that is why Operatix developed a manual process to identify & verify contact details for decision makers within strategic target accounts.

Playbook design

Operatix can develop Sales Playbooks that enable teams to sell more effectively. Your Playbook will be fundamental to get your messaging right, accurately position your solution against competitors, and adapt the communication of your value proposition to different buyer personas.

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Recorded Testimonial: Qualys

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Recorded Testimonial: Incorta

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Sales Playbook Development

Operatix can develop Sales Playbooks that enable teams to sell more effectively. Your Playbook will be fundamental to implementing the correct messaging, accurately position your solution against competitors, and adapting the communication of your value proposition to different buyer personas.

Lead Qualification

If your leads aren’t converting, it might be a lead qualification issue. Operatix can help filter through leads that need further qualification, ensuring that they’re ready for an AE or sales team member to engage with and progress through the funnel. 

Partner Portal / Marketing Concierge Service

Vendors often spend thousands of dollars building multifunctional Partner Portals to help channel partners educate their teams, manage opportunities, and create marketing programs. Still, these portals are often underutilized due to lack of bandwidth and capacity from vendors to offer support in enabling their partner community. Operatix, through their Partner Development team, can support your partners to make the best use out of your partner portal, managing the relationship with your partners and helping them set up co-marketing campaigns to drive more revenue for both businesses. 

Marketing & Sales Alignment

The sales development function is often seen as the “glue” that brings sales & marketing teams together. By working as an extension of your teams, Operatix will be your predictable source of pipeline, sales & revenue.

Optimization of MDF

Market Development Funds are an important component of any channel ecosystem, though vendors believe they are not maximizing the return on investment they should be getting from their MDF programs. At Operatix, we build scalable outbound sales development programs that will give you the visibility of return over the invested spend and will provide clear value for your channel partners.

Increase Partner Productivity

The 80/20 rule is still very applicable to the channel, which means that investing in partner productivity should be a priority for vendors looking to grow their businesses. Operatix can increase partner productivity and shorten sales cycles, by identifying ready to engage sales opportunities for your most valued channel partners.

Virtual Channel Account managers

Our VCAM team is responsible for building, maintaining, and managing sound relationships with current and prospective channel partners. They can get involved in opening up new sales conversations as well as closing small businesses up to $ 10k.

Tier 1 & Tier 2 Activation

Whether your business decided for a Tier 1 or Tier 2 distribution model, Operatix can help your channel partners get to revenue quicker. By providing qualified sales engagements to your channel partners we can accelerate your route to market with tangible and easily measurable results.

Solution Selling Training

Far too often vendors insist on enabling their channel partners to talk about features and technical details of their solutions. Customers don’t buy features; they buy the benefits your solution can bring. Operatix will work with your partner community to train them in articulating your message from a high-level business perspective, enabling them to talk to prospects about the value your solution can bring to their company from a board-level perspective.

Channel Enablement

Enabling your channel partners have measurable wins for your business when done right. Operatix has a proven track record in enabling channel partners from a sales & marketing perspective, providing them the knowledge and tools to successfully pitch your solution and sell the value & benefits of it. 

Partner Recruitment

Recruiting the right Channel Partners is the first step for a successful channel program. Operatix has helped over 350 B2B Software vendors recruit suitable channel partners across EMEA and North America, supporting them to scale and expand their presence in different geographies and verticals. 

Risk/Reward Business Model

To truly work as an extension of our client’s sales & marketing teams, we have also adapted our business models to show how our clients operate, and how their success is measured. With our risk/reward business model your investment is proportional to the results our team delivers.

Sales Qualified Leads

On average, 52.5% of the sales engagements set up by our team progress into a next step in the sale process. That means that 5 out of 10 meetings will progress either into a POC, a Demo or a pipeline opportunity.

Geographical Scale

Trading in different geographical markets not only requires a knowledge of the native language, local rules & policies, but a deeper understanding of the local culture and habits. We have the ability to deliver campaigns in multiple countries with flexible resource allocation. This is through our team of international speakers, who have the ability to sell in 17 different languages across the globe.

Increase Revenue & Decrease Cost

Building an internal sales development team comes with many additional costs and challenges that aren’t always taken into account: recruiting resources, training and enabling them etc. You also need to take into account the need for having the data and tools to make them successful, which in turn requires time, capital and effort. By outsourcing your sales development to Operatix you will see your revenue increasing, while decreasing costs and business risk.

Predictable Pipeline Generation

On average, our clients see a 26X ROI on the programs we deliver. By understanding your revenue targets and sales pipeline gap, we will work on a sales & marketing plan that will deliver tangible results.

Vertical Growth

Entering new industries or launching new product lines? Operatix can accelerate your growth by supporting your go-to-market strategy, and getting your sales teams in front of decision makers in key target accounts.

Reduce Headcount

By outsourcing your sales development and partner programs to Operatix; we reduce headcount and the challenges that come with managing people, technologies, and processes. We take care of your sales development, so you can focus on what matters the most: growing your business.

Revenue Acceleration

Operatix helps your business get to revenue quicker. By providing qualified sales engagements for your direct sales team (to kick-off new sales cycles), or by accelerating the growth of your channel partners, our focus remains on delivering tangible results for your business. 

Persona-based Selling

Operatix team will design specifically tailored messages to influence the different levels of decision makers in the sales process, tailoring the communication according to each job function. Our focus is to sell the value of your solution from a business perspective, not its features.    

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