In a sea of marketing agencies, or many other service providers for that matter, the most common value prop is “we won’t screw you over” or "we actually do what we say we are going to." Neither of these is a great way to go-to-market. What is a great way, you ask? Do something large and make yourself known for being an expert in something. This is exactly what Mason Cosby did with the ABM-athon at Mojo Media Labs.
 
MINDSETS:

• Abundance mindset - give away your best content and ideas because there are plenty of fish in the sea - it’s about maximizing engagement and content consumption from the right people rather than worrying about giving things away for free.
• What do you want to be known for?
• Flip the script, and control the narrative - focus on owning the conversation instead of renting attention from others.
• Have a longer time horizon when evaluating your major investments in things like events. The revenue will come later.
• Focus on content and promotion, not fancy tech to start with
• Think through what you want to learn from the initial test up front, and design the measurement around those things.

SKILLSETS:

• People management is key - you need to know how to handle different personalities who are contributing to the event. Your job is to make them feel good about spending their time on this and feel valued.
• You need to be a good content and copywriter - you will inevitably need to create all the assets for promotion of the event, and also possibly for some of the speakers.
• Understanding of marketing technology and how to make them all work together.
• Customer research - understand what content your customers actually care about so you can create content they will show up to see. Consider surveying your existing customers about what they want.

TOOLSETS:

• Zoom Events
• HubSpot
• LinkedIn (organic and paid ads)
• SalesIntel - for building target account lists
• Sendoso - for swag and thankyou gifts
• Veed.io - for video editing

RESULTS:

• Mason’s event was about to generate the following results:
• 1.1 million impressions within the marketing suite of their 1000 target accounts
• 700 registrants
• 300 attendees
• 4 deals influenced
• 2 deals sourced
• 15 deals sighted the event as part of what convinced them to move forward

 
Oh, and by the way, the event helped Gravity Global evaluate the entire team as part of the acquisition. Mojo Media Labs is now owned by, and is the center of excellence for ABM at Gravity Global.
 
Proofpoint’s POV:

There are two major shifts happening in the marketing landscape that we touched on during this episode, and are worthwhile to highlight and elaborate on further.

Brands owning the conversation. A concept we always talk to our clients about is “followers are rented, audiences are shared, community is owned.” Community is what allows you to own the conversation about your area of expertise. And a major event is a great way to build community. Mason even gave the cost comparison example where it can cost you $15k to have a 30-minute speaking engagement at a conference, or you can spend $23k to put on your own event. Now obviously this comes with a risk - you could screw it up and maybe people don’t show up or have a bad experience, but the simple unit economics are definitely in your favor here.

Creators and their personal brands are driving B2B brand growth. Companies are hiring creators internally to be growth levers and actual growth leaders for the organization. B2B organizations are also turning to influencer marketing—something that B2C brands have been doing for decades—more and more. And employee advocacy/engagement programs are popping up all over the place—though many not very effectively—but that’s a story for another time.

This conversation showed how effective a single personal brand can be at driving impact (in this case event attendance and resulting revenue) and how leveraging partners and associating your brand with other industry leaders can do wonders for the status your company takes in the eyes of the target audience.
 
A bit more about Mason:
Mason is the Director of Growth for Gravity Global and the host of The Marketing Ladder podcast, where he interviews marketing leaders to learn how they built their careers. And as part of his podcasting effort, he also helps tons of marketers find their next job opportunity.
 
Helpful Links & Resources:

• Connect with Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masoncosby/

 
Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint Marketing:

• Mike’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/
• Gaby’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/
• LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc
• Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube
• Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing