EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
Marketing is an interesting science . It is responsible for facilitating the flow of deals , and at the same time , it sets the tone for how your company is perceived in the market . From my perspective – as the CMO of a B2B software company – there are two basic threads within marketing that you must consider . need to map your audience from the moment they become aware of your company . Nowadays , 70 % of people talking to your sales team about what you offer will have already researched what you do extensively , along with the benefits of your service or product compared to your closest competitors .
Firstly , think about the long-term . Consider your company from the perspective of what you want it to stand for – what its culture and its brand should look like .
Everything else you do will need to align with this , so it ’ s a crucial first step to ensure your company has a consistent look and feel . In today ’ s world , individual consumers and companies alike demand a high level of customer experience .
Customers have an extreme amount of power , with the easy ability to choose different options within minutes – your brand is the cornerstone of your success .
This is what makes marketing so vital ; almost everything your prospects know about your company will come from the content you produce – content is the fuel that makes the value stream flow .
You can ’ t manage what you don ’ t measure , and you can ’ t improve if you don ’ t know where you are right now . The data that you gather on your audience as they interact with you gives you visibility into what ’ s working and what isn ’ t .
You can record the actions of every person who visits your website , for example , tracking where they click and what pages they move between .
Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that marketing tools are the most important first step on their journey to success .
These are important , yes – but not at first . To build strong foundations for your company you need to know where you want to be , and how you want to reach your audience . Specific
TO SECURE DEALS WITH NEW PROSPECTS , YOU NEED TO MAP YOUR AUDIENCE FROM THE MOMENT THEY BECOME AWARE OF YOUR COMPANY . lead-gen tools can become very useful in time , but their appropriateness depends on who it is you ’ re talking to .
This brings us to the second thread : your day-to-day marketing activities . To secure deals with new prospects , you
This gives you incredible insight into what attracts their attention , as well as an idea of what elements of the site could be more userfriendly or appealing .
As a final note , never forget that your people are the key aspect of your marketing strategy . Marketing employs a huge scale of talent , with analytical , data-driven people at one end and artistic , creative people at the other .
To succeed , your marketing team should have a mix of both . Often the analytical side can be forgotten or even actively ignored in marketing , but it shouldn ’ t be . Only by considering your company from all viewpoints , can you truly build a marketing strategy that will make a lasting impact .
BOB DAVIS , CMO AT PLUTORA
22 www . intelligentcxo . com