Focused B2B

Don’t Make Product Marketers Write—Make Them Outline

June 3, 2019May 31, 2019 by Trisha Winter 6 Comments

Product marketers. They are the golden goose of software companies. This mythical combination of technical product knowledge and writing prowess. Marketing is depending on them for a steady stream of whitepapers (a.k.a. golden eggs) so they can generate demand for the business. It sounds wonderful, but alas, it is really more of a fairy tale.

The Reality of What Product Marketing Does

According to Pragmatic Marketing’s Annual Survey, on average product marketers work 46 hours per week and 53% of that time is spent in meetings and managing email. Another 20% is spent supporting development efforts and 15% is spent helping sales with existing customer deals or prospects. That leaves a measly 9% of their time spent creating and reviewing marketing materials. Not a lot of golden eggs can be created in 4 fragmented hours a week.

Survey Says! Personalization is Key to Content Marketing

April 25, 2019April 25, 2019 by Trisha Winter 1 Comment

Personalization. It’s not just the latest marketing buzz-word. It’s the way to break through the noise and reach your target audience. In fact, it’s a concept that is driving much of the marketing automation technology innovation for both B2B and B2C companies. So, it makes sense that we spend some time figuring out why it is so important and how you can start personalizing your go-to-market. To help us on our journey, I’ll reference key statistics and findings from three well done research studies: the Salesforce State of Marketing Survey, Salesforce’s State of the Connected Customer Research and the B2B Content Marketing 2019: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report from Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs.

The Opportunity Cost of Product Marketing Content Gaps

February 26, 2019February 25, 2019 by Trisha Winter 5 Comments

After writing an article on the ROI of outsourcing demand generation content, I was asked if the same numbers and reasoning held true for product marketing content. I definitely write a lot of white papers, core website messaging and even sales enablement content so there must be value there too. But what are the actual numbers?

Read on for the hard numbers on more than doubling the output of product marketing with ⅙ of the cost of a product marketer.

The ROI Case for Outsourcing Demand Generation Content

February 12, 2019February 12, 2019 by Trisha Winter 2 Comments

The gig economy sounds great, but is it really a fit for Corporate America? Marketing departments have been outsourcing for years to get specialized deliverables. But what about outsourcing the content that defines your message and relationship with your prospects and customers? Should that ever be outsourced?

Absolutely! Here’s why:

It’s 4x less expensive! (Read on for the calculations.)
It can produce a better product.
Higher quality resources are now available to deliver on these promises.

10 Steps to Set Up Your ABM Program, and 10 Mistakes to Avoid

January 29, 2019February 11, 2019 by Trisha Winter

Article originally published on MarketingProfs here.

In my experience implementing ABM as a SaaS CMO, and then working with other B2B companies as a consultant, I’ve found 10 key steps that lead to ABM success. More important, I’ve identified some common mistakes so you can avoid them.

Step 1: Identify your ideal buyer

Successful Business Development Have These 4 Things In the Bag

August 7, 2018August 2, 2018 by Trisha Winter

One of the most common moves I see a startup do is hire a business development person too early. Yes, there is pressure from early investors (and your spouses) to start making money. However, investing too early will be wasted money because your hotshot business development hire won’t have the right tools to succeed. Read on to learn what you need to figure out and create before making that critical hire or to evaluate whether or not you have the right tools for your existing team.