The Episode in 60 Seconds

It's a widely known fact in our realm that the CMO is one of the shortest tenured slots in the c-suite. And it's often due to a lack of alignment.

This week on Studio CMO, we speak with Marketing & Business Growth Consultant Mark Donnigan about how marketing can (and why it should) work cross-functionally between sales and product, or in other words, the "translation layer."

This episode delves into: 

• Why sales and marketing alignment is critical to the success of CMOs
• Becoming a master of your ecosystem
• How we can move marketing into its rightful position in the c-suite
• Every marketing leader's role outside the office
• The unique value CMOS can bring to the table

Our Guest

Mark Donnigan is a marketing leader, business builder, value creator, and market maker. Formerly the VP of Marketing at Beamr, Mark focuses on high-impact programs that drive revenue, activate the market, and deliver real business results.

He has 20 years of experience contributing to the success of startup, emerging, and growth-stage product and technology companies that have been backed by some of the largest VC firms in the valley. His secret weapon is his strong sales acumen, making him a powerful ally and collaborator to the head of sales.

Mark also co-hosts a podcast called The Video Insiders, speaking on topics like video compression, codecs, encoding, transcoding, workflows, technology trends and business models.

Mark Donnigan has prepared a free presentation for those who are curious about his viewpoint on category creation and building a marketing system. Click to download.

Show Notes

We talked in depth about the "Translation Layer" in Episode 002 of Studio CMO, featuring Cofense SVP of Marketing Kevin Fliess.

The Demuxed Conference was born from meetups for engineers to discuss video technology.

The Critical Alignment Between Marketing and Revenue Leadership

Back when Mark was a sales leader, he quickly uncovered the need to become a student of the market.

This realization allowed Mark to become more strategic in his roles and facilitated opportunities to work closely CEOs and CROs. 

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Taking a Strategic Seat at the Table

The marketing role inside technology organizations recently transitioned from creative arts to data science, becoming a revenue driver and more strategic function.

"I make it my business to be a master of the ecosystem." - Mark Donnigan

When you invest in understanding the ecosystem, you learn the big players and systemic risks so that when the time comes, you are in a much better position to influence the customer or market.

Moving Marketing Into Its Rightful Position in the C-Suite

Marketing is an essential part of the revenue picture, planning, and development of any company. Unfortunately, not everyone views it as such.

Mark never went to school for marketing, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a student.

"I'm not saddled with the legacy understanding and framework of what the marketing function is and how it's executed." - Mark Donnigan

How can CMOs ensure they're producing value in an organization? Mark's advice:

• CMOs should step away from the traditional playbook and focus on producing actionable ideas that can move the business forward with a clear revenue target. 
• Get to know your ecosystem. This may mean spending nights and weekends reading and studying. 
• You need to be able to answer these questions, always: What are the trends in our industry? How are we talking to the market? Are we talking to the market in a way that's consistent with where the it's heading?

Every Marketing Leader's Role Outside the Office

"If you're going to be filling the CMO chair, you've got to be out in the field." - Mark Donnigan

If you look at Mark's LinkedIn activity, you wouldn't necessarily guess he's a marketer. Why? Because LinkedIn is a channel he frequently uses to explore the ecosystem, master the industry, and make connections.

"As a marketing leader, if you're not aggressively working to maintain objectivity, you're vulnerable to be becoming irrelevant." - John Farkas

One of the most important things you can bring to your organization is a clear sense of what's happening in your industry. Be the force that's keeping that perspective.

{{cta('27f4cde5-0384-4b2b-9ef5-2179f541a9d7','justifyleft')}} The Unique Value of a CMO

The CEO is regularly speaking with their peers and fellow industry leaders, and the CROs is constantly in the field speaking to buyers. What unique value can CMOs bring to the table?

CMOs should be focusing on and emphasizing the buyer's journey -- how the buyer isarriving at their buying decision and what steps they're going through to get there.

Mark makes a point to find out what events people are attending, get feedback from those events, and talk to others about emerging trends and value points.

New Episode Coming Soon...

Throughout our conversation with Mark, we came across several great focus points around reporting marketing activities.

In fact, he'll be back to talk about the critical translation aspect of helping people understand the effectiveness of and what the potential is for marketing. Subscribe now to hear it first.