Demand Gen U

Get ready as we take a trip down memory lane… 

We’ve got a bit of a different episode for you this time. We’re sad to say that Jason, our VP of Marketing, will be leaving Metadata. So we thought this would be a great opportunity to look back at Metadata’s marketing highlights, challenges, mistakes, and fun stories from behind the scenes of DGU.  

Join us for a bittersweet farewell as we swap stories and sum up all the lessons we’ve learned over the past few years of Jason’s reign over the marketing team.  

This podcast will be taking a pause after this episode – so watch this space for updates!  

Find out: 

• The DGU origin story 
• How Jason hired Mark 
• What we learned from our time running DGU

0:00 – 1:33 Intro 

1:33 – 4:13 Jason’s announcement  

4:13 – 5:35 How Jason found his first startup experience  

5:35 – 8:16 How working at Metadata compares to his previous roles 

8:16 – 12:56 The DGU podcast origin story 

12:56 – 17:13 The story behind Jason hiring Mark 

17:13 – 20:26 Metadata’s experiments with LinkedIn video 

20:26 – 24:03 Metadata’s LinkedIn strategy 

24:03 – 25:18 How Jason and Mark became the faces of Metadata  

25:18 – 32:56 How Metadata dipped its toes into marketing with celebrities 

32:56 – 36:31 How Metadata partnered with DGMG 

36:31 – 46: 20 Top moments from the marketing team’s retreat  

46:20 – 1:02:32 The not-so-great moments of marketing Metadata  

1:02:32 – 1:05:42 Goodbye from Jason  

We’d all love customers to have zero objections to buying from us, but overcoming sales objections is a key part of any sale.  

How we handle those objections makes all the difference between gaining a new customer and losing one.  

The truth is that sales objections are nothing to be afraid of. In fact, they’re a window into potential customers’ thoughts – and those thoughts can inspire great marketing content. In this episode of DGU, we talk about our own experiences with sales objections and how we turn that into valuable content to help win sales in the future. 

Find out: 

• How we identify sales objections 
• Ways to overcome them 
• How to use objections for marketing content 

To learn more, check out the full episode for tips on turning sales objections into high-value content.  

• 0:00 – 4:46 Intro 
• 4:46 – 8:08 What is objection handling? 
• 8:08 – 10:57 Objections vs. competition in the market  
• 10:57 – 12:24 How to decide which objections to address 
• 12:24 – 15:41 Objections we’ve dealt with at Metadata  
• 15:41 – 18:16 Why you need consistent responses to sales objections 
• 18:16 – 20:19 How to talk about objections in Leadership meetings  
• 20:19 – 24:15 How Metadata responds to objections in marketing  
• 24:15 – 28:33 Content you can create from objections 
• 28:33 – 29:07 Why we focus more on renewal rates than new sales  
• 29:07 – 37:28 Recent content we’ve created from sales objections  
• 37:28 – 39:30 How Metadata created a landing page to address sales objections  
• 39:30 – 40:17 Outro 

The number one goal for demand gen marketers has always been generating pipeline and revenue. 

However, times are changing and more of us are now required to focus on staff retention. Given the economic climate, it’s understandable but, for many, it’s unfamiliar territory. 

So, where do we start? 

In this episode of DGU, Mark and Jason discuss how they’re prioritizing customer retention as a marketing team, what they do to try and improve retention and what they’ve learned along the way. 

Tune into the episode for a 101 on Net Retention Rate (NRR) and Gross Renewal Rate (GRR), why it’s a focus right now and an outline of Metadata’s approach. 

Find out: 

• How to define NRR and GRR and why it’s important 
• The challenges affecting NRR and GRR 
• How Metadata prioritize customer retention 

0:00 – 0:27 – Introduction 

0:27 – 2:49 - Jason’s wacky episode idea 

2:49 – 4:37 - Customer retention is unfamiliar territory 

4:37 – 5:53- Let’s define NRR and GRR 

5:53 – 7:22 - Why NRR AND GRR? 

7:22 – 10:41 - Best-in-class retention 

10:41 – 18:03 - Why Metadata prioritize retention 

18:03 – 20:55 - The company’s number one goal 

20:55 – 28:59 - How Metadata are supporting NRR and GRR 

28:59 – 30:12 - Creating content that helps us overcome objections 

30:12 – 36:31 - Another funny story from Jason 

36:31 – 41:04 - Leveraging playbooks (and marijuana water) 

41:04 – 42:01 – Outro  

Every B2B marketing team is currently asking themselves the same thing... how do you adjust your marketing plan according to what's going on in the world right now? 

It's a chaotic time and having a plan is a great start. But what happens when you have to adjust that plan and then a few months later, have to adjust it again? It’s no easy feat, which is why in this episode of DGU, Mark and Jason cover one of Jason’s not-so-favorite topics… planning!  

Tune in to find out how the team at Metadata is approaching marketing planning in the current environment, mistakes they’ve made in the process, and how to say ‘no’ when you really have to.  

Find out: 

• Why Metadata are taking another crack at their Q4 / Q1 plan 
• How and why our goals have changed in the last six months 
• What happens when you work on everything at once 

0:00 – 0:32 Intro  

0:33 – 1:49 Why Jason wants to go back to paper and pencils 

1:49 – 3:15 The question every marketing team is asking right now  

3:15 – 7:01 Metadata’s Q4-Q1 planning process 

7:01 – 12:20 Reworking the plan  

12:20 – 24:49 How to goals of the company have changed  

24:49 – 28:15 Guardrails Metadata have in place  

28:15 – 33:44  Level of effort and potential impact 

33:44 – 35:42 What happened when Mark stood in for Jason in a leadership meeting  

35:42 – 36:40 Outro 

A laser-focused approach to audience targeting is a must in today’s market. And with all the different tools out there that can collect data, we can really dig into the numbers to improve our targeting. 

In this episode of DGU, Mark and Jason revisit a topic they’ve covered before – how to target effectively and define your ICP with data. But we’ve made a whole bunch of changes at Metadata since that episode, and arguably, targeting is more important than it’s ever been. 

Tune in to hear Metadata’s approach to targeting, how it’s changed, and what tools we’re using to zero in on our target market.  

Find out: 

• How we approached building targeting criteria 
• How Metadata has evolved its targeting 
• Why we started using Keyplay 

0:00 – 1:23 Intro 

1:23 – 5:51 How Metadata approaches targeting  

5:51 – 9:05 How to improve your targeting  

9:05 – 21:23 How we’ve built targeting lists and criteria in the past  

21:23 – 24:06 How data can help you personalize your outreach 

24:06 – 26:56 How the Metadata team has evolved its targeting  

26:56 – 31:12 How we’ve been using Keyplay 

31:12 – 36:46 Other tools we’ve been using for targeting  

36:46 – 37:23 Why you don’t need a lot of tech to do targeting effectively  

37:23 – 38:15 Outro  

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, times are tough for B2B marketers.

Every buying decision, whether it’s a new purchase or renewal, is under serious scrutiny right now. 

The best place to start for B2B marketers is to recession-proof your messaging. You need to make sure whatever your company sells is positioned as a must-have product or service in any type of economy.

On DGU this week, get an inside look at we’re adjusting our messaging in a down economy at Metadata.

Listen to the full episode to hear what Mark and Alex learned so far, or keep reading for the show notes.

PS give episode 13 of Demand Gen U a listen (How To Develop Your Positioning and Messaging (And Make It Stick) if you missed it last year

Find out: 

• Why B2B companies need to adjust their messaging in a down economy
• When, where, and how to get started at your own company
• How to work with your Sales team on new messaging 

0:00 – 1:32 Intro 

1:32 – 4:31 Why many companies neglect to change their messaging  

4:31 – 5:42 How to define messaging  

5:42 – 7:06 What you need to think about when changing your messaging 

7:06 – 9:06 How to start tweaking your messaging  

9:06 – 11:58 Signs you need to rethink your messaging  

11:58 – 13:13 A quantitative look at company messaging  

13:13 – 14:41 Where to start  

14:41 – 16:21 Why Metadata is starting small with company messaging 

16:21 – 21:46 How to talk about messaging and ask the right questions  

21:46 – 23:58 How to account for non-traditional personas  

23:58 – 26:56 Testing out your new messaging  

26:56 – 30:56 How often you should revisit messaging  

30:56 – 32:21 Outro 

Every demand-gen marketer knows what it’s like to get stuck on the MQL hamster wheel. You get into a cycle of churning out more leads and demos – while pipeline and revenue are left out of the party.

Moving away from MQLs to revenue involves a big overhaul of sales and marketing processes, and sadly B2B marketers on LinkedIn aren’t really explaining how to do it.

In this week’s DGU, you’ll get an inside look at how we moved away from being solely focused on MQLs to working across the whole pipeline and revenue.

Check out the full episode to hear why marketing should look further down the funnel.

Find out:

• Why it’s always important to look at data
• How Metadata changed its approach to pipeline and revenue
• How we distinguished real from “fake” pipeline

0:00 – 1:14 Intro

1:14 – 2:49 Why data is always important to track

2:49 – 6:44 Advice for dealing with “armchair marketers”

6:44 – 15:07 How Jason began to change the way we measure data at Metadata

15:07 – 17:00 What “good data” looks like

17:00 – 23:32 How Metadata moved from leads to MQLs to pipeline

23:32 – 25:54 How to look at leading indicators

25:54 – 27:08 Why measure your funnel every day?

27:08 – 32:46 Why planning for a worst-case scenario isn’t always enough

32:46 – 36:51 Advice for people making the jump from MQLs to pipeline and revenue

36:51 – 38:16 Outro

How do you get customers hooked on your product? Not just signing up, but hooked in a can’t-imagine-life-without-it way. We can’t all be Starbucks, after all.  

That’s the idea behind PLG or product-led growth – get your customers hooked on your product and telling everyone about it. It’s something we’ve been trying out at Metadata, and as usual, we’re here to tell you about the stuff we’ve got right along the way, and the things we’ve got wrong, so you don’t have to do the same. 

Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing, and Jason Widup, VP of Marketing, share honest insights into the Metadata PLG experiment, how companies are doing it right, and which issues are causing the biggest roadblocks.  

Find out: 

• What is PLG and how does it work? 
• Metadata’s approach to PLG 
• How successful companies manage PLG

0:00 – 2:17 Intro 

2:17 – 7:15 What is PLG? 

7:15 – 9:42 How companies get PLG right 

9:42 – 17:29 How Metadata first approached PLG  

17:29 – 22:39 The early days of Metadata’s PLG strategy 

22:39 – 25:38 Starting with the product changes in Metadata  

25:38 – 33:38 How Metadata’s soft launch went  

33:38 – 37:14 How Metadata plan to build on its V1 

37:14 – 38:03 Outro 

Are you standing out on LinkedIn for all the right reasons? Or is your page gathering dust and tumbleweeds? 

We’ve seen our fair share of LinkedIn blunders over the years, from radio-silent accounts to outdated memes to leave-it-to-the-intern strategies and cringey self-promotional posts. 

…And we’ve been guilty of a couple of them ourselves. Admittedly, our LinkedIn game wasn’t great in the early days. But thanks to the help of some LinkedIn masters, we’ve turned that around.  

In this episode of Demand Gen U, Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing, chats to Katie Cooper, freelance Social Media Content Creator who works closely with us on Metadata’s LinkedIn presence, about the top mistakes B2B brands make on LinkedIn, why the one-size-fits-all approach never works, how to find your voice, and the best way to use comedy on LinkedIn. 

Find out: 

• What NOT to do on LinkedIn 
• How to find your voice on LinkedIn 
• How to mix value and comedy   

0:00 – 4:12 Intro 

4:12 – 10:25 Where B2B brands are going wrong on social 

10:25 – 14:17 Why you should focus on one channel first  

14:17 – 18:02 How Katie started working with Metadata 

18:02 – 21:10 How to find your voice on social media (and how we found ours) 

21:10 – 25:43 The best way to balance comedy with value 

25:43 – 30:14 How to measure ROI 

30:14 – 32:45 Dealing with negative mentions  

32:45 – 36:09 The top things Katie wants to try out at Metadata  

36:09 – 37:16 Outro 

Are you hitting the nail on the head when it comes to internal marketing?

…you are doing internal marketing, right?

Don’t worry if you’re not. We’ve got your back with this episode of Demand Gen U. Metadata duo Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing, and Jason Widup, VP of Marketing, break down exactly why internal marketing should be a priority. You’ll hear about the challenges, mistakes, and experiments the Metadata marketing team has explored while doing internal marketing – so you don’t have to do the same.

Tune in to hear about our tactics for getting the word out across the company so that everyone is on the same page about marketing.

Find out:

• Why internal marketing is so important
• How to use “show and tell” to share what you’re working on
• Why repetition is key to getting your message across

0:00 – 0:30 – Intro

0:30 – 2:30 What internal marketing is (and isn’t)

2:30 – 6:19 Why Metadata initially started internal marketing

6:19 – 10:05 Our lightbulb moment on why internal marketing is so important

10:05 – 14:47 – What our internal marketing looked like at the start

14:47 – 19:04 How we borrowed the show-and-tell idea for internal marketing

19:04 – 24:46 How Mark preps for his show-and-tell

24:46 – 29:47 Early challenges and confusion

29:47 – 32:02 Other ways to do internal marketing

32:02 – 36:16 Why we built the Metadatabase

36:16 – 40:31 Why the importance of repetition is the biggest lesson Mark learned from internal marketing

40:31 – 41:44 Outro