Marketing Acts, Bad Outcome

In the heart of a bustling tech startup, they had it all—cutting-edge software, a growing user base, and a hungry team ready to dominate the market. Their secret weapon? A recently agreed Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy. Focus, precision, and personalized outreach would surely turn the tide in their favor.

Not to mention a brand new $180,000 state-of-the-art account-based Marketing platform. 

They hadn't been impulsive buyers. They did their research - read the G2 and Capterra peer reviews, and tested the market alternatives. 

And now, yes, They were confident in its success. The world was their oyster!

The team gathered in the sleek, glass-walled boardroom, eyes on Jane, the marketing director. She pulled up the latest ABM campaign results, confidence radiating from her.

“We targeted the top 50 accounts and personalized every touchpoint—emails, workflows, ads, calls, even gifts! This is going to be big,” she said, grinning as the first slide flashed on the screen.

But then the numbers came up.

Silence fell. Her grin faded.

Not one of the accounts responded. The campaign, which had eaten up half their marketing budget, was a black hole.

“What went wrong?” someone finally muttered. Jane’s face turned pale as she clicked through the data—wrong job titles, misinterpreted pain points, automated messages that felt soulless instead of personal. 

Worse, their most valuable prospect had publicly tweeted about the "lazy spam" from the company, damaging their reputation.

The sales team had given them data that conflicted with the analytics from their ABM platform, and sales prevailed (who could argue - they closed the deals?). Then, to add to the growing sense of impending doom, the team began to lose faith.

Not only that, but installing & integrating the latest 2.0 iteration of the ABM platform had sucked valuable time, energy, resources and finally morale, from the entire team. 

Ultimately, they had to hire a marketing operations manager specifically for that job. The project had gone well over time (three times longer than planned) and budget (an additional $80,000, 45% over). 

The new Marketing Operations Manager gave his notice one week after the much-anticipated roll-out day. He wouldn't be around to oversee his work. And no one else had the complete picture of how this software worked.

Carnage!

Blood-curdling screams could be heard (or was that my imagination) in the background of video calls rapidly losing bandwidth ('Sorry, I'm gonna have to turn off my camera - my connection is bad').

Employees would disappear for days - childcare issues, family emergencies, illness, even the dreaded return of Covid (we thought it was gone forever.....). The team was disintegrating before our very eyes. What remnants remained looked exhausted, shrunken-headed and ghoulish. 

One poor lady went on a 'mental health' walk in the middle of a team meeting - and was not seen again for two weeks. Her spouse finally called in to say she was 'incapacitated' and would provide a doctor's note.

Then there was the dreaded sales kick-off, when one of the team got drunk and told the CEO 'what he really thought about how marketing was being managed at our company'.

Later that evening, Barry, head of enterprise sales, got into a punch-up 🥊 with a bystander—this time, it wasn't just HR that was needed 😬👀👮‍♂️.

Technology and analytics (and even Revops) professionals soldiered on, long past the point of no return, fighting bravely as hope dwindled. At times, it felt like the fall of the Roman Empire—the barbarians were at the gates, baying for blood. 

Where was the support? It was never coming! We were like lone wolves howling at night, with only a full moon's light guiding us.

Marketing had acted boldly, but the precision they prided themselves on was just an illusion. They had over-personalized to the point of irrelevance.

The CEO stood slowly, his voice cutting through the tension: “Let’s fix this. But remember, not every act of marketing ends in glory."

The team nodded, but deep down, they knew. Marketing had acted… and the outcome was bad 👹👹

Happy Halloween!

If you haven't noticed, 'Marketing Acts, Bad Outcome' is an anagram of 'Account-based marketing'.

I've been at the epicentre of a few great ABM horror shows. 

Did you know that according to the latest CMO Survey, 56% of marketing technology is never, or barely, utilized? That's at least $100 billion of wasted value, in the US alone. 

Horrorshow! 

Read my guide for ideas on how to escape an Account-Based Marketing nightmare and ensure you buy the right software for the job.

Fortunately, in addition to the nightmares, I've also had a twenty-year track record of success penetrating large enterprise accounts - details are included.

This guide contains the collective wisdom of ten senior Demand Generation leaders and CMOs from a range of midsized SaaS businesses (Cybersecurity, Fintech, Martech, and more), as well as a founder and a Venture Capital Investor.

Are you a marketing vampire?

This is Colin, the energy vampire from the show 'What We Do in the Shadows'. Colin works in an office and drains energy from his coworkers (unlike the other traditional vampires he lives with in Long Island). We've all worked with a fair number of 'Colins', haven't we? That's why this character is so funny. 

‘Hey, have you heard how many CEOs are asking their employees to return to the office?’ asked my marketing buddy, Jim. ‘They have no research to show that this will make the workplace more productive.'

'But you know why the CEOs say they want their employees back in? The real reason? It’s because the CEOs think – this is making our employees happy! There’s got to be something wrong with it if it makes our employees happy!’

A lot of my marketing friends are struggling. I want to understand why high-calibre professionals with extensive experience feel so dejected about the state of their industry.

One complains about being micromanaged and treated like a child by a CMO who doesn’t understand his job.

Another who almost killed herself for her job – literally gave up her social life – only to be dumped two years into the job – and replaced by someone less experienced and cheaper. 

I'm sure it'll backfire on the company.

However, someone in finance looked purely at the numbers and thought he was a genius for making this decision. I studied finance and worked as an analyst. It can be tempting to strip everything down to numbers, but that approach can be misleading. As Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, says:

'If the data and the stories don't match, I trust the stories'

During industry downturns and times of low macroeconomic growth, CFOs typically increase their influence in organisations. 

However, when finance is focused on cost control, it should be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It may be hasty to let go of essential lynchpins in the organisation and lose talent, knowledge, and a culture critical to a company's success. 

As this article demonstrates, Finance & Marketing are trying to achieve the same goals. It's just that sometimes their approaches are different. 

What about my other friend, who confessed that he might consider switching from his career in marketing to becoming a train driver? 😟

Ok, he was laying on a little there! But still, he's had a tough ride recently....

This accomplished marketer has a strong track record and incredible talent. Yet he talks about wanting to leave his profession right now. What’s going on in the marketing world?

Part of it is like the CEO my friend mentioned, making employees return to the office; He suspects his employees must not be working hard if they are happy. 

Have you ever been managed by someone intent on making your job miserable? We all have, right? It's such a wrongheaded and counterproductive approach.

I actually love my job. I love marketing—everything about it. But why does management sometimes seem to want to drain that enjoyment out of it? 

This is what my friend Elizabeth Lotardo wrote about - a fictional character called 'Rudi, a senior marketing manager, who's boss is always changing his mind' 

It is infuriating to be managed like this. Many of my marketing colleagues can relate to Rudi's story. 

If marketing teams are miserable, have little to no psychological safety, and are not valued or respected, they will produce subpar work.

It's human nature - research proves that employees work better with positive affirmation and in a civil and respectful environment.

And I’m afraid that no matter how good the product is or how eloquent the salespeople are, the company will most likely not thrive if the marketing is awful. 

There are countless examples of companies with arguably worse products that beat companies with better products because they had superior marketing, including some of the biggest in the world: Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Apple, Nike and Harley Davidson.

The brand has already been shown to be incredibly important in a company's success. Investors factor brand into their decision-making, and brand has had a value on the balance sheet for a long time. 

Read on to discover why brand is paramount for investors.

And just because your marketing team is enjoying what they do – that’s no reason for concern. In fact, You should be delighted they are doing a good job and having fun!

Many key people think that AI can solve all marketing problems! This is not new—every few years, a new panacea is considered the silver bullet that will solve all marketing woes. 

I've heard many stories about how AI could create fantastic marketing content for virtually nothing (obviously, finance loves this!). 

However, I have yet to see strong evidence that AI-created content delivers results (besides being cheap). 

Will it go the same way as: 

• Big Data
• Agile methodology
• Affiliate Marketing
• Guerilla marketing

Are you 'jumping on the bandwagon'? 

Initially, it was thought that it would solve all ills, but eventually, people came down off their high and realised that it was simply an approach that may work in a limited way if used effectively.

Unlike some of my colleagues, I do not fear losing my passion for marketing. Even in this challenging environment, I am still confident of my future in this profession.

You will always find rewarding work if you are passionate about what you do and are good at your job. At least, I always have. I'm also fortunate because I have a vast network.

I like to remind myself what the genius advertising guru, David Ogilvy once said: 

'Where people aren't having any fun, they seldom produce good work'

That is double or triple true for marketing, which relies so much on creativity and ideas. So let's focus on getting the job done, being polite, treating everyone with respect (you don't know what they are going through), and, above all, enjoying it. 

I don't want to end on a down note. I am immensely grateful to have found a rewarding and highly stimulating vocation I love - one that perfectly fits my strange mix of abilities and personality.

But I must re-iterate - beware of Marketing vampires this Halloween (and the rest of the year) - who may drain you of your passion, and will to live! 

The Power of Microinfluencer marketing

             

Suppose you look at where the most significant move in influencer marketing has been in the last few years. In that case, celebrity endorsements like Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez, Dwayne Johnson or David Beckham are passe—so 2010's

The real action these days is with micro-influencers or even nano-influencers. 

What Is a Micro-Influencer?

A micro-influencer has 1,000 to 100,000 followers who focus on a specific niche or area and is generally regarded as an industry expert or topic specialist.

Micro-influencers have stronger relationships than typical influencers. This is often driven by their perception as an opinion leader of [a] subject matter. Unlike a celebrity or regular influencer, a micro-influencer frequently has a very uniform audience. They are usually far more knowledgeable about the companies they talk about and more relatable to the regular consumer.

Everyone says that to succeed in business, you need an authentic brand. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made. But joking aside, Consumers crave authenticity these days. 

Some large brands have even had to scrap high-quality and expensive videos because they appear too commercial. Imagine a ludicrous situation where a giant brand is paying big bucks to make its videos look like they were taken by a regular person on their Apple phone. I kid you not - this is happening right now!

Authenticity is the quality of being true to oneself and one’s beliefs. Branding means presenting an honest representation of what your business stands for and how you want customers to perceive it. This includes conveying clear values and messaging and building trust with audiences through consistent communication and interactions.

When businesses are authentic, customers feel they can trust that their products and services are genuine. This helps you, as the business owner, build authentic relationships with your audience, which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty.

Additionally, authenticity helps brands stand out from the competition by allowing them to show their unique characteristics. When you're true to yourself, you trust your judgments and decisions, and others also trust you. They'll respect you for standing by your values and beliefs. 

And let’s face it – who do you really believe uses and loves l’Oreal shampoo, a celebrity who is paid millions of dollars for saying that and will probably be advertising another shampoo brand next year?

Or a beauty influencer who has been raving about how much she loves L’Oreal products for years without being paid for that? And whose blog or TikTok channel is devoted to that one topic (Beauty or even shampoos).

I talked about branding with Henny Frazer, the ex-head brand at Hyatt Hotels. She impressed upon me the idea that branding is not purely about a ‘logo’ or a company's image or colour palette. That is actually just a tiny part of the picture.

A brand is embedded in your employees and your culture—how they work and interact. Secondly, it is highlighted by your most passionate customers—the ones who evangelize your company and often tell others exactly why they love your brand. And if you have those types of customers, surely your company should help them get their message out?

From my experiences working in marketing, I know nothing is more potent than a delighted customer—no ad campaign, powerful celebrity endorsement, or even a mesmerising brand or silver-tongued salesperson.

But don’t just listen to me: Tech companies, including Adobe, Monday.com, SAP, and Squarespace, among many others, are well known to engage in micro-influencer marketing campaigns. 

Dunkin' Brand (Dunkin' even named a new drink, 'the Charli' after a Microinfluencer) has been doing this for years, as have many sports brands like Nike, which, for example, sponsors thousands of college athlete micro-influencers. 

Airbnb, Shopify, HelloFresh, Warby Parker & Audible are other well-known brands that are currently investing in micro-influencers.

Below: The return on investment is almost three times higher for brands that invest in micro-influencers than those that pay for celebrity endorsements.

Micro-influencers can help a business grow by:

> Targeting a specific audience

Micro-influencers often have a niche audience, so they can help brands reach the people most likely to be interested in their products. For example, a brand could work with a cake-decorating influencer to promote a new line of piping tips.

> Building trust

Micro-influencers often have a deeper relationship with their audience, which can lead to more effective endorsements and higher call-to-action rates. When influencers are accurate and transparent about products or services, their followers are more likely to purchase.

> Make Genuine Connections

Do you think there’s no such thing as the wrong client? If you’ve ever had a client who was a lovely person but just totally not aligned with you, you’ll know that there is! Not every client is the right client. If you’re not being authentic in your business, you’re not going to attract the people (clients, team members, partners) you’ll thrive with.

Authenticity builds strong connections with the right people who will become life-long customers and sing your praises to others. Micro-influencers can help potential customers determine if your brand is right for them.

One major issue most brands face right now is a decline in loyalty. With that comes the dreaded customer churn issue: companies lose long-term customers.

But suppose you build authentic relationships with customers who start out with shared values, goals, and aspirations. In that case, you will likely retain those customers and grow your business faster and more straightforwardly. Micro-influencers are your bridge to that end goal.

> Increasing brand visibility

Micro-influencers can help increase brand visibility by retaining followers and hooking them with their content.

> Boosting credibility

Working with popular influencers can help a brand's credibility within an industry. This can help the brand land new partnerships, attract talent, and develop meaningful industry relationships.

> Creating dynamic, and exciting new content

Influencers know how to create content that stands out on social media. Some of the hands-down best brand content I’ve seen over the last five years has come from small-time influencers (take Lauren Cella*, a schoolteacher influencer who works with Adobe and Dunkin’).

Monitoring content performance can help a brand determine what's working and what's not. This can help a brand adjust its strategy and decide whether to continue working with specific influencers or partner with new ones.

Should Your Brand Leverage Micro-Influencer Marketing?

Micro-influencers have a comparatively smaller following and don’t often boast celebrity status. Because of that, brands can bank on their followers' interest in whatever made the micro-influencer "internet famous.” 

In addition, smaller influencers tend to be more grateful for a brand's attention, produce far better results (in terms of actual sales revenue per spend), and are more cost-effective, on average, than celebrity endorsers. 

Some well-known micro-influencers include:

• Alina Gavrilov, a fashion micro-influencer with 99,800 followers

https://www.instagram.com/alinagavrilov_/

• Lauren Cella*, education micro-influencer (Millennial teacher who talks about her Gen Z and Gen Alpha students, who now partners with Adobe), 140,000 followers

https://www.instagram.com/laurencella/ 

Check out her hilarious history lesson on the French Revolution, designed to entertain and captivate Gen Z and Alphas. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSpNZnVdsX8   

• Anndrea Celleste, 198,000 followers, travel and culture micro-influencer

https://www.tiktok.com/@anndreacelleste/video/7372243586991066401

• Francesca Newman-Young, a travel micro-influencer with 84,900 followers
• Lonni Smith, a beauty micro-influencer with 64,000 followers
• Russ Crandall, a food micro-influencer with 40,400 followers
• Francesca Newman-Young, travel micro-influencer with 120,000 followers

A tweet from travel micro influencer Francesa Newman-Young:

Micro-influencers will often cost far less than macro-influencers. “[Micro-influencers] give you the best bang for your buck. They have a following, but typically don't charge the same rate as those with a larger following.”

For further reading: how to Build a micro-influencer marketing strategy by Shopify. 

Looking for a man in finance? The challenges of B2B Lead targeting

 

Yes, it's an incredibly catchy/cheesy (depending on how you feel about it) song in vogue right now - and no, this article is not about dating. It's about the question of lead targeting for SaaS companies.

The phrase was funny and relevant because the B2B world often consists of tiny volumes (compared to B2C). The BBC Radio Four show 'More or Less' recently estimated that only seven such individuals fit these requirements in the UK. 

Have you ever been asked to find a similarly small segment as a marketer? (Six foot five, blue eyes, trust fund, works in finance.) OK, not a segment with only Seven out of Sixty Million. But volume is a perennial B2B Marketing problem, I assure you.

- The more you segment, the smaller your target ad or campaign group becomes.

Over the years, many of my marketing campaigns have been driven by the need to find the right job title at the right company at the right time—what used to be called BANT qualified (Meddic has now overtaken it, as has Jon Miller of Demandbase's ideas of 'buyer groups'—at least for large enterprise ABM deals).

I have plenty of experience working with both early startups (20-100 employees), and mid-sized companies (100-2000 employees). Both types of companies have different challenges. 

Today, however, I will focus on early startups since the problems I describe are particularly pertinent to them.

In these types of companies, I sometimes work with Investors and founders who, by their own admission, 'do not know much about B2B marketing'.

In addition, I often work with CFOs and finance professionals, who at small startups, can be particularly demanding about driving ROI in a relatively short time.

If you look at the latest LinkedIn/Ipsos Mori data, which includes interviews with over 2000 CMOs globally, you can see that this is one of their top concerns. 

This CMO challenge is magnified many times in a startup, where you have to 'hit the ground running' and 'prove your ROI,' often under pressure and in very short periods. It's not for the faint of heart.

In the current climate, startups have struggled with a particularly critical problem in smaller companies: lackluster growth. 

The William Burroughs adage, 'when you stop growing, you start dying,' is more important for a company with 20 employees than one with 20,000. 

Founders know this, investors know this, and good startup marketers should know this, too.

From my own experience, and according to industry research, there are a few critical reasons startups stop growing:

Product Market Fit

If your startup has stopped growing, it may be due to poor product market fit. Your product must satisfy strong market demand and address a specific problem for your target audience. 

This is crucial, as 42% of startups fail due to a lack of market need. 

A good indicator of fit is if over 40% of customers would be "very disappointed" if your product disappeared. 

Too much competition, a niche product, or losing customers after trials are other signs your company does not have Product Market Fit.

Lack of Funds

Failing to plan for funding can lead to failure. Postponing funding rounds too long is a common mistake.

29% of startups fail because they run out of money. 

Early and thorough planning is essential to avoid stressful, last-minute funding scrambles. A clear long-term strategy and plan are crucial for later-stage funding where investors seek stability.

Talent Acquisition

Poor hiring decisions can hinder growth. Whether you're trying to do everything yourself or not hiring the right people, it all falls back on you. For a small business to grow, owners must use their time wisely. 

While great sales and marketing teams drive growth, having organized administrators and assistants is equally important. 

No HR department? - that could be a problem

No Head of IT? - again, if your employees aren't supported, that could negatively impact the entire business.

These roles keep the business running smoothly, allowing you to focus on strategic growth plans rather than time-consuming tasks that others can handle. 

Ineffective Marketing

A strong marketing plan is essential for startup growth, identifying potential customers, and establishing effective channels.

In the competitive US market, where I built my career, businesses spend $190 billion annually on advertising, and marketing generates the most leads by far (90%).

EMEA and APAC regions are different. Nevertheless, good marketing in those regions can be even more critical. 

Startups must build a strong marketing presence to avoid being left behind. 

Identifying and addressing marketing weaknesses immediately can lead to significant growth and success.

One area that founders and investors are often preoccupied with is 'finding the secret marketing sauce' that will create large amounts of sales revenue. This drive could show up in any number of ways:

• The 'perfect ad' that converts to a sale instantly
• The ideal campaign that creates engaged hot prospects to fill your entire funnel
• Setting up brilliant and engaging email nurture campaigns (workflows in HubSpot) that deliver a convertible sales pipeline.
• Incredible targeting that reaches the perfect buyer - this is the 'looking for a man in finance' problem that perhaps LinkedIn ads come closest to solving. 

Each of these ideas is fantastic, but one of them alone will not solve all your marketing needs.

All these desires spring from human nature: the desire to achieve great results fast. While that is a laudable aim, you will still need a structured marketing plan.

Genius startup founder and billionaire investor, Bela Hatvany waxes lyrical about how, over the years, when powerful investors pushed him hard for a deadline for results, he'd tell them that he'd achieve them in 'the fullness of time'!

Investors no doubt found his comments infuriating! I certainly wouldn't use that exact phrase myself to a client. But he has achieved great success in business by being patient. 

Pushy marketing rarely works, especially on larger deals.

B2B buyers are getting increasingly savvy and don't appreciate being pushed into buying. You need to nurture a relationship with them over time. 

Building such a relationship requires brilliant insights and nurturing a great network, community, and brand, and time.

You also need to discover when a prospect is 'in market' - the slippery and elusive buying intent! 

Gartner recently produced a graphic demonstrating a typical B2B buying process. This process requires a sophisticated, light touch. 

In short, your startup creates exciting, creative, and innovative content that engages with your audience across all the main channels and draws them into your company. This will include:

• Email Campaigns
• Ads
• Webinars
• Roundtables
• White Papers
• Case Studies
• Video

You need to take some risks here - you cannot just produce a lot of vanilla or AI-created content (AI replicates formulas; it's not innovative or creative, which requires breaking out of those patterns to form entirely new ones).

Such stellar results can rarely be achieved overnight. They can be best accomplished if you remember to:

1. Create high-quality content 
2. Work with creative and inspiring content strategists
3. Build a psychologically safe environment that supports innovation and testing
4. Value, support, and trust your marketing team

 Though segmentation and targeting in B2B marketing are valuable, startups sometimes undervalue the power of great ideas to motivate the right buyers to come to them. After all, that is what inbound marketing is all about. 

The dark side of 'grit' at work

 

According to Angela Duckworth, the author of the book of the same name, 'Grit' is the essential ingredient of success. 

She tells us that success is independent of talent or even intelligence. Instead, it depends on intensely focusing on a goal with passion and perseverance.

The concept of 'grit' gained significant traction after the release of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance in 2016, which swiftly became a New York Times bestseller. Her TED talk, which has amassed over 13 million views, further solidified this concept in the corporate world. 

Angela Duckworth states, 'We need to have an unrelenting belief that our business and ideas will defy the statistics and become the success story that we have always strived to achieve.' 

She also quotes the popular children's author, J.K. Rowling: 

"Anything is possible if you've got enough nerve."

This 'gritty' worldview is particularly pertinent to startups and entrepreneurs, who often have to have logic-defying self-belief to continue in the face of adversity.

However, finance professor and author Alex Edman highlights that such views are also prone to cognitive biases. 

In his book 'May Contain Lies,' he shows how many influencers, such as Angela Duckworth, Simon Sinek, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Steve Bartlett, 'cherry-pick' data to make their points. 

It's relatively easy to take ten or even a hundred cases of success and identify one common theme. But that is using hindsight, confirmation, and/or survivorship bias.

What about all the startup founders who had 'grit' but failed? Let's face it—four out of five startups do fail. Were all their founders not 'gritty' enough?

Therefore, I disagree.

Secondly, 'grit' has a dangerous side. It encourages us to push ourselves beyond reason, sense, or health. 

I have a very personal example of this. I had a substance abuse problem in my teens and 20s, and I sought help for it. I have been 'in recovery' since then. Perhaps more than most I have often seen the dark side of 'grit' in my life.

• A talented startup founder who destroyed himself by pushing too hard and not getting the mental health help that he badly needed (2013).

• A successful TV news journalist who has won numerous awards. A close friend, he passed away in 2021 from an alcoholism-related illness.

• One of the top tax lawyers in the country, who I tried to help for a time. He relapsed and died aged 58.

• Kate Spade, founder of the luxury handbag brand, committed suicide in 2018 at age 55. I don't think her problem was lacking grit.

• My uncle was pushed out of his job as CEO of a company in a family coup orchestrated by his father. He killed himself shortly afterwards, leaving a wife and two three-year-old children (twins).

Indeed, in my own experience, I have noticed a link between gritty, 'giving it 110% culture', and toxicity at a company.

That's not to say that I reject the idea of 'grit' or becoming more resilient at work. 

On the contrary, pushing myself within healthy limits is useful. But, as the philosopher Aristotle says, success lies in moderation. 

However, part of that effort is recognizing that resilience or 'grit' is not a solo effort. Resilient employees generally work in an environment that supports them, such as one that is trusting and psychologically safe. 

Indeed, we can all display 'true grit' healthily in the right environment with the proper support.

Below: During World War II, researchers from the Center for Naval Analyses studied the damage to returned aircraft after missions. 

They then recommended adding armour to the areas with the most damage to minimize bomber losses to enemy fire.

But they forgot Survivorship bias; the planes that were fatally hit and never returned. 

Thus, they failed to protect the most vulnerable areas of the plane. 

How many people have been fatally damaged by too much grit? Angela Duckworth never mentions them. She only mentions the success stories.

When I was first sober at the start of my career, I often felt bombarded with corporate messages about needing 'to go the extra mile' to achieve success. 

Often, I felt isolated at work because I didn't want to drink or wanted to avoid situations that were unhealthy for my mental health. 

However, I got sober in the 1990s, when there was almost zero respect for or accommodation made for non-drinkers and much stigma around substance abuse and those who did not drink. 

Luckily, the work environment has improved and become more inclusive and accepting of differences than when I began my career.

Nevertheless, a lot of the conversations I now read about 'Mental health at work' are still jarring to me. Mental health washing is massive right now in the corporate world.

Also, those who promise quick fixes to solving mental health issues or problems with work culture seem inauthentic.

Yet, I connected remarkably with one talk: Josh Graff, Head of LinkedIn UK's mission to 'bring your whole self to work'. He was talking about coming out as gay in the workforce. 

It worked just as well for my situation. After all, being gay, and having substance abuse problems were once both stigmatized. Neither are 'moral failings,' as used to be thought.

Having seen so many accomplished and talented professionals not only suffer in their careers, but actually die, I am confident that I have made the correct judgment calls by prioritizing my mental health at work for all these years.

If you want to learn more about how the grit or 'willpower' approach to combatting addiction is destined for failure, check out this video by Yale Medical School. Hopefully, I can help to stop this ignorant stigma that still does incredible harm.

I admire the work of my friend Marc Lewis, a Professor of Neuroscience, who investigates the science of addiction alongside his personal journey with recovery from substance abuse. 

I also like some of the writings of venture capitalist Tom Matlack. He was my 'sponsor' when I started my MBA in Boston, USA. However, we parted ways in the end because of differences in values.

Surfing B2B Marketing Trends in 2024 & beyond

CMOs & Founders guide to the latest B2B Marketing trends 

I know how busy you are, particularly CMOs and company founders, so I used this blog to save you some time by summarizing the trends and patterns in B2B marketing that I've picked up over the last few months. 

I hope you find my analysis of the current B2B marketing trends useful.

Top content platforms for Account-based marketing

Account-based Marketing

Account-based marketing has existed for as long as B2B companies have needed to attract, engage, and close complex sales with enterprise companies.

But over the last five years, Account-based marketing has become a significant trend, as prominent as 'AI'.

There's now an entire infrastructure around it, including numerous ABM platforms like 6sense, Demandbase, and Terminus, CRM and Marketing automation tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Marketo, Ad platforms like LinkedIn, or organic content platforms like Quora that are ideally suited to this deep, penetrating, targeted marketing approach.

The great content debate

What does a good 'content funnel' look like? Or can we just secure a new customer with one amazing ad? (This seems to be the obsession of quite a few founders and CFOs—could it be a question of money?)

And then the 64 billion dollar question (Yes, inflation has affected pricing on this problem, too!): What content is the 'best'—the most likely to quickly convert a key decision maker to a sale?

Here, an organization I've worked with called Netline has some excellent data. And I have to concur with them based on their research of millions of prospects that; 

-  'webinar fatigue' is bogus. Webinars are still highly effective. 

Virtual Roundtables

Virtual Roundtables were not even on my radar pre-pandemic. What happened? About four years ago, my CMO asked me to create one— around a CPQ solution on Salesforce for publishing executives (a tool to monetize their income). It was called 'Working smarter, not harder; surviving and thriving in the new age of first-party data'.

It was a great success: Eight attendees and three new sales opportunities. I continued to run them once every few months. But then, at my next company, they had a slick new name, 'pipeline acceleration events', which the sales team loved. At that company, I was running several each month.

Here's my entire campaign, including the roundtable: 

'Working Smarter: Maximizing Productivity and Programmatic success in 2022 and beyond'

Since then, I've continued to run them alongside face-to-face events—particularly the 'breakfast event', which is basically a roundtable but not virtual. This has worked well for me, especially when my prospects are time-pressed and not that social (for example, CIOs or IT directors). 

Which channels are the most effective?

I firmly believe in Paid Social media, Email, Google search, and retargeting campaigns for ABM. HubSpot is an inbound expert with extensive data on which channels produce the most significant ROI.

Ebooks, guides, and white papers are still popular in the 'C' suite. But recently, there's been a surge in interest in survey-backed reports; who doesn't like to see what their peers are interested in now and where they think opportunities will be over the next few years?

Peer-to-peer content has been a vast, rapidly growing trend in B2B over the last few years. In the past, I've managed paid G2 Crowd, Trustpilot, or other company account review sites. Getting good reviews is critical to building good SEO and even closing sales. 

When I worked at the marketing attribution company Visual IQ—Nielsen, we produced a survey-backed CMO report on the State of Marketing attribution.

And here's a guide that it inspired me to produce - looking at the rising video game industry and its corollary in digital advertising: In-game advertising 

We developed a lot of rapport with leaders in the industry, whilst we built and promoted the surveys.

It's also great for generating high-value, targeted leads who are truly serious about your solutions. We started to get about 100 a month from this report right from the start—from Ad agencies, advertisers, and video game companies.

Typically, those reading large 30-page or more survey-based industry reports are 'in-market', not 'just browsing'.

One issue I've had in the past is working with bland or uninsightful content. B2B content can be dull and repetitive. Content creators in this field often shy away from the vital risk-taking needed to innovate and excite audiences. 

Also, many B2B content strategists and creators kowtow too much to senior management, who are often not content experts. It's easy to get steamrolled by someone much more senior to you into producing work you know is sub-par!

This is similar to the scenario where a rather dull senior or long-time employee constantly speaks at events when the audiences consistently report that this is their least favorite speaker.

What's the point of absolutely 'nailing' your ad campaigns, reaching your ideal buyer persona, at your ICP, and at the perfect time, but then they download your guide, and it's.......................a big letdown?

Your SDRs follow up, and the feedback is invariably:

'The prospect hasn't read the guide yet'

Or the prospects aren't responding to the SDRs at all.

Top Content Challenges 2024 (HubSpot)

You know that they were interested enough to sign up for your white paper on, for example, pick one (of my made-up titles):

1. Cybersecurity

"What's keeping CISOs awake at night: A Comprehensive Guide to Cybersecurity in 2024 and beyond"

2. Software Development and IT Services

"DevOps and Beyond: Essential Strategies for IT Leaders"

3. Digital Marketing and Marketing Technology (MarTech)

"The Digital Marketing Playbook: Insights for the Modern CMO"

4. Telecommunications and Networking

"Connected Leadership: Navigating Telecommunications and Networking"

You invested heavily in capturing these great leads, so why would you let down your entire marketing process by providing poor-quality guides or white papers?

That's why I first got involved in content strategy and creation as a demand generation leader. 

Netline says that the C-Suite is 21% more likely to want to read a White Paper, than the rest of their B2B audience.

Remember that this is a blog post, so I will keep it succinct. However, I will add one last trend that everyone in B2B marketing is talking about: team development and team building. You need to attract and retain some of these top marketing skills in your team, to thrive in 2024 and beyond.

And even more importantly, as part of this trend, you need to be aware of, the exponential rise in freelancers and contractors 

In 2023, 52% of Gen Z workers and 43% of Millennials were freelancers. The shift is catching on globally: 

Gartner predicts that independent workers will make up 35% to 40% of the global workforce by 2025, and could be in the majority by 2030.

It's critical to get ahead of this trend to assert a competitive advantage over many companies that don't want to or don't understand how to incorporate freelancers into their marketing teams today.

ABM & Sunk Cost Fallacy: A Billion Dollar Blunder or Comedy of Errors?

Recently, a hiring manager contacted me about a job I'd applied for, which she said I was perfect for. It looked like an excellent fit to me as well. However, the office was far from me.  

I live in Central London. This job, as head of Demand Generation, was in Manchester, which is a 4-5 hour drive, and over 200 miles from my house.

The job was described as 'hybrid.' Given the distance, I assumed this meant being in the office once a week at worst, at best, once a month, or a couple of months.

I had worked in a similar role in Cambridge, about a two-hour drive and 60 miles away, in 2019, pre-COVID, where 'hybrid' meant precisely that.

Right at the start of the interview, I explained that my seventeen-year-old daughter, Charlotte, was struggling with her 'A' levels (the final school exams that determine which university you can attend).

She is also going through some mental health issues; therefore, I wanted to be home for a considerable part of the week to support her (and drive her to school).

However, despite my explanations, this hiring manager insisted I be in the office twice a week. Her reason was that the C suite had just leased an expensive office that 'they now needed to fill.'

Judging by how this hiring manager described it, this company's investment in an office was not going well. Besides, I thought, If management wants people in the office so badly, couldn't they come up with a more compelling reason than to fill an expensive office with bodies? 🤔

The irony was that this was one of the plethora of 'company culture' companies—some of which, unfortunately, don't seem to 'drink their own Kool-aid.'

This company advocates for making the workplace more empathetic, worker-centric, and reasonable. Yet they want me to force their irrational and emotionally tone-deaf decision on me before I have even started working for them!

I suggested taking on the freelancer or contractor role since the hiring manager said she was desperate to fill this role as quickly as possible. 

- I suppose my skillset is in short supply in the local area?

However, this company, devoted to improving corporate culture, couldn't bring itself to consider such a flexible option.

That evening, I was talking with my good friend Professor Orri Stefansson. 

He is a professor of  Philosophy who specializes in decision theory and ethics. His current research focuses on decision-making under extreme uncertainty.

Orri was intrigued by my story. He said, 'This is a perfect example of 'The Sunk Cost Fallacy'! 

You've bought a costly yet unbelievably uncomfortable pair of shoes that you cannot return to the shop for a refund. So you must wear them every day until they are worn out!'*

This story also demonstrates that independent experts within or outside organizations can be invaluable in changing such crazy decisions.

It's one of the reasons why, in the past, I've delighted in hiring accomplished & sometimes maverick freelancers. They tend to be 'straight shooters'.

They are not charming you with flattery just to get ahead. They are typically driven by a passion for the job alone. They are direct and honest in their feedback.

And often, they are your most talented assets.

Besides, it's one of the fastest-growing employment trends, so I might as well get used to hiring contractors & freelancers before they become 50% or more of the workforce!

Here are a few of such 'Sunk Cost Fallacy' situations, drawing from my 20+ years of experience, alongside some more well-known ones:

1. Continuing with a website refresh that had gone wrong and was crashing our SEO traffic. I've seen this happen at two different companies.                       
2. I worked at a company where no one acknowledged that the ABM system was ineffective. This was a different system bought before I started there. Since the company was focused on field marketing, nothing was done to fix it.  
3. The company's founder told his investors they had a fully functioning product. Yet even the head of product said this company did not have 'product fit.' However, the investors continued to support the company until it folded.                                                                                                                                                                                         
4. I worked at a company that sunk a massive amount into CRM and marketing automation implementation, which involved numerous issues. I was brought in to try and fix it. It would have been easier to start again. This story ended positively for me because a few years ago, I got to implement, onboard, and train the company on a (successful) purchase of a HubSpot CRM and marketing automation platform! 
5. A country invades a country and expends immense efforts to win the war, which it can't do. The government has trapped itself in a quagmire. However, it cannot accept defeat since this would mean many of its soldiers would have 'died in vain'.                                                                                 
6. The Sunk Cost fallacy is sometimes called 'The Concord fallacy' because the French and British governments continued funding the doomed supersonic airliner long after it was likely that it would not be commercially viable.

 *My father, Sir Kenneth Parker, commented on Orri's point: Interesting on sunk cost. What might be missing on the shoe analogy is budget constraint. The purchaser might not be able to afford another pair, or money for another pair might earn a better return/more welfare elsewhere. After the War it was commonly said that Germany had an advantage because it was compelled to re-build its factories with state of the art equipment. British industry struggled on with 19th century rubbish because the cost of replacement was high and it was not clear whether the investment would improve net returns. Undoubtedly a mistake in that instance.