Allie joins Steve MacDonald on the B2B Marketing Perspectives podcast to discuss the significance of thought leadership, its direct correlation with products and their perceived value, methods to infuse absolute authenticity into thought leadership communication, and the influence of data-driven insights on performance enhancement. Allie boasts extensive expertise in B2B SaaS marketing and a significant foundation in revenue operations (RevOps).

"Thought leadership is all about being the show, not the commercial that advertises on the show." - Allie Collins

Allie provides concrete illustrations of how she uniquely leverages thought leadership to establish her brand as an authority and to actively create and add value to her company’s products.

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“I tell my marketing teams to think of themselves as air traffic controllers. So the job of an air traffic controller is at any given time to know where the planes are at the airport, who's on the runway, who's on the ramps, who's getting ready to be pushed back from the gate, who needs to tow into the gate, who's been stuck for four hours, right? Air traffic control is responsible for knowing where every plane is at every moment. For the marketer, the equivalent of the plane is the lead. Know where they are at all times.” - Adam Figueira

Adam believes that understanding what motivates each team member and creating the conditions for them to thrive is crucial for the team and company’s success. Adam emphasizes the importance of psychological safety, creativity, and embracing failure in order to unleash productivity, incredible content, and accountability. He discusses the significance of holding marketing accountable for sales-qualified opportunities (SQOs) and working more closely with sales than is the industry norm. 

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Introducing Daniel Christian, the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Tradesmen International. Daniel is a proficient bridge builder between marketing strategy and profitability. His distinctive perspective stems from his leadership experience in marketing, running customer support, and the incorporation of insights from all internal departments. This collection of experiences forms his unique approach, termed "internal thought leadership.” By bringing together external perspectives with internal teams and anchoring them to the company's vision and mission, marketers can become thought leaders, propelling growth. Daniel aligns the company's internal focus with customer needs through the concept of a common unit of measure, effectively closing the gap between customer desires and corporate profitability.

"Because of the absolute focus on the customer and extensive internal touchpoints across departments, marketing has a unique opportunity to establish internal thought leadership by aligning the external and internal strategies of the company into a roadmap that the team can take to stay one step ahead of the competition.” - Daniel Christian

Topics covered:

• Establishing internal thought leadership
• Visualizing the story for internal teams
• Customer KPIs in a new light
• Filling the marketing gap
• When done right, content is more than vital
• The one measure that moves the P&L

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Monique de Maio is the founder and CMO of OnDemandCMO, a marketing agency specializing in B2B companies in the tech, professional, and financial services industries. With over 25 years of experience, Monique has helped numerous clients navigate the complex world of B2B marketing and leverage content to drive success.

​In this interview, Monique discusses the importance of understanding the non-linear nature of the buyer's journey in B2B marketing. She emphasizes the need for B2B companies to create content that meets the needs of buyers at every stage of their journey rather than relying on a linear funnel approach. Monique also highlights the importance of consistent messaging, providing value in advance, and making content about the customer rather than the company.

“Your buyer's journey is not linear anymore. So you can't predict how and where, and what assets they're going to be consuming in what order.” - Monique de Maio

Monique gives practical examples and recommendations for marketing in the world of non-linear buyer journeys.

For a link to Monique's visual of today's buyer's journey, CLICK HERE.

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Introducing Melissa Sargeant, a four-time CMO with 25+ years of experience in tech marketing. Melissa understands that content is the key to the company's success, rating it a 25 on a scale of 1-10. Across all marketing channels, Melissa leverages data to measure content attribution, revealing true pipeline velocity drivers. This data is shared weekly with her team, the C-suite, and sales, fostering trust, respect, and collaborative relationships across teams and the organization. Skillfully using content and marketing attribution data is key to her success, which is why she isn’t a CMO failing quickly—but thriving.

How do you measure the impact of marketing on pipeline and revenue? Melissa Sargeant shares her insights.

"As part of the total data set, we look at the win rate differentials between deals that close that have five or more marketing touches from an attribution perspective. They close at twice the rate of those that have less than that." - Melissa Sargeant

Click to gain insights from Melissa's expertise, spanning her best marketing strategies and how she leverages data for revenue generation—fostering internal team consensus, promoting collaboration, and executing successful go-to-market initiatives.

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Meet Denys Dubner, the visionary CEO at the helm of two prominent international companies. Boasting a rich marketing background, Denys has consistently delivered impressive growth in his previous roles as a CMO. His distinct approach to what he expects from his CMOs sets Denys apart.

In this interview, Denys strongly emphasizes generating customer value, particularly at the top of the funnel, targeting the 97% of potential customers who are not yet familiar with your brand. For Denys, it's crucial that CMOs prioritize brand awareness, trust, and likability in advance of direct contact. Being a faceless company approaching customers in the cold is a recipe for disaster.

To Denys, building trust and loyalty is a non-negotiable aspect of the job. He urges his CMOs to go the extra mile in making their brand indispensable and invaluable to customers. The key lies in establishing and nurturing strong relationships that withstand the test of time.

Key Quote: "One of our largest customers said that if one of your competitors calls us, we give them two names, your company and the largest company in the world in aesthetic medicine that patented every single thing that you know of. So they just say to the competitors, if you're one of those two, we'll talk to you. If you're not one of those two, I'm sorry. And that's the beauty of being valuable, and you can be valuable only if you know the customer." - Denys Dubner

Denys doesn’t like to be in a position where he needs to reach out to someone who doesn't know, trust, or like them. Click through to learn how he has ensured being first valuable and then highly successful as both a CEO and CMO. - Link TBD 

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In this podcast, join Marc McNamara, Founder and CEO of The Enablement Group, and Brian Cleary, a former CMO and Chief Strategy Officer, as they delve into the crucial topic of sales enablement and the significant role of content in this process. The discussion centers around the vital importance of providing salespeople with well-curated and organized content that is readily available to them.

Throughout the conversation, they shed light on the challenges that arise in content management and stress the significance of measuring content utilization, attribution, and engagement and how these indicators help sellers easily serve and engage with potential buyers. Notably, they underscore the value of thought leadership content, which is pivotal in establishing trust and credibility with buyers while positioning sellers as experts in their domain.

A key theme that emerges is the necessity for seamless collaboration between the marketing and sales teams to effectively leverage content, ultimately driving sales success. By synergizing efforts and aligning strategies, both departments can empower salespeople with the tools they need to succeed, enhancing overall business performance.

“Content is the lifeblood of modern organizations. It needs to be curated, organized, and served up to sales reps in a way that guides them to success. The key is to provide relevant content that is ready to be used in the context of the buyer's journey.” - Marc McNamara

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In this interview with host Steve MacDonald, meet Monique de Maio, the founder and CMO of ondemandCMO, a 25-year-old marketing company that serves some of the biggest names in B2B marketing, such as IBM, Intel, Cox Communications, and Iron Mountain. Monique discusses the importance of content in B2B marketing and how it can be leveraged across the buyer's journey. She emphasizes the need for companies to have a unique point of view and message bolstered by subject matter expertise that sets them apart from their competitors. Monique explains that thought leadership and highly valuable educational industry content sparks conversations and establishes trust with potential buyers. Monique emphasizes the role of the CMO as a business leader who understands industry trends, where the needs of the buyers are headed, and the implications for the company's future success.

Monique further emphasizes the importance that industry expertise has for the emotional connections between companies and buyers, which is equally as important as the products or services offered by the company. She explains it as a feeling. It's comfort. It's trust. It's all of those things wrapped into one. If you're not comfortable with the person or company providing you with whatever it is that you're looking to get, there's always going to be that tug. Did I make the right decision?

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In this interview with host Steve MacDonald, meet Stephanie Shreve, a MarTech CMO with over 25 years of marketing experience, as she shares a modern approach to the CMO's strategy and budgeting framework. In a time when marketing budgets are shrinking but expectations are not, Stephanie introduces the CORE-MORE-EXPLORE framework. This framework involves allocating 70% of the budget to known tactics that have proven to work (CORE), 20% to slightly outside-the-box strategies (MORE), and 10% to completely new and experimental tactics (EXPLORE). Stephanie emphasizes the importance of data and collaboration in gaining buy-in from the CFO and CEO. She also highlights the significance of thought leadership content in building trust and relationships with customers.

“We've got a really good approach to looking at in that planning stage; what are we going to do that we know well? What are we going to be willing to do outside the borders zone a little bit? And then what's that part where we're going to try something new?” - Stephanie Shreve

Stephanie talks about each area of the framework and how to maximize its potential. Click through to learn now. 

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Are you getting results from your email marketing for just pennies on the dollar? 

Join host Steve MacDonald as he delves into the world of email marketing with renowned expert Chip House. As a three-time B2B SaaS CMO and the CMO of Insightly, a leading marketing automation CRM tool, Chip brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. 

In this episode, they explore successful email marketing strategies, the importance of measuring ROI, and the role of engagement metrics in campaign evaluation. Discover how to create quality content, build trust with your audience, and leverage post-click engagement for optimal results. Whether you're a seasoned marketer or just starting out, this podcast will provide valuable insights to enhance your email marketing campaigns.

“I've heard marketing automation touted before as a time saver—just set it and forget it. But I think if you're approaching marketing that way, you're doing it wrong. You need to be looking at the engagement metrics at every area of the journey and using it to personalize more and more.” - Chip House