Our CEO Megan Bowen was a guest on Charles Gaudet's Predictable Profits podcast to talk about the outdated funnel and how to market in the AI era.

From Predictable Profits: "If you’re still trying to grow your business with traditional funnels and wondering why your capture, create, convert demand strategy isn’t working, you’re about to discover why those old-school tactics are completely dead. In this episode, I sit down with one of the very few people who actually gets it – Megan Bowen – and we dive deep into the evolution of buyer behavior from the analog buying era all the way through to where we are now in the AI era. We explore why 96% of the buying process now happens before prospects ever talk to your sales team, and Megan breaks down her game-changing framework that’s helping B2B companies completely rethink how they approach demand generation. Trust me, you’re going to want to have a pen and paper handy for this one because we’re going beyond the surface-level funnel nonsense that everyone else is teaching.My guest today is Megan Bowen, CEO of Refine Labs, and she’s someone I have tremendous respect for because she actually eats her own pudding. With over 20 years of experience building and scaling go-to-market teams across B2B industries – including companies that achieved IPOs and acquisitions – Megan co-founded Refine Labs in 2020 with a mission to completely change how B2B companies approach their go-to-market strategies. What I love about Megan is that her leadership philosophy isn’t some theoretical framework from a business book – it’s rooted in real-world experience as an individual contributor, people manager, and executive leader. She understands that without customers, you don’t have a business, and she’s laser-focused on creating the conditions for long-term relationships and meaningful results.KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Volume-based funnel marketing fails because high-intent leads convert at 25% while low-intent leads convert at less than 1%
• Use “split the funnel analysis” to show the dramatic difference between lead quality and stop wasting budget on low-intent leads
• By 2030, nearly 100% of buying decisions happen before sales calls, making self-service information critical
• Put pricing, social proof, and competitive advantages directly on your website to eliminate buyer friction
• Brand marketing gets you into buyers’ “day one consideration set” before they start searching for solutions
• Dark social is the invisible 6-12 month buying cycle where prospects research before visiting your website
• Create content that actually solves buyer problems rather than just promoting your services
• Talk to your customers regularly to understand their evolving needs and grow beyond seven figures

Growing your business is hard, but it doesn’t have to be. In this podcast, we will be discussing top level strategies for both growing and expanding your business beyond seven figures.The show will feature a mix of pure content and expert interviews to present key concepts and fundamental topics in a variety of different formats. We believe that this format will enable our listeners to learn the most from the show, implement more in their businesses, and get real value out of the podcast. Enjoy the show.Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any future episodes. Your support and reviews are important and help us to grow and improve the show."

Megan Bowen hosts ChampionHQ’s CEO Gianna Scorsone to cover Refine Labs’ Brand, Demand, Expand strategy. 

They discuss how combining brand strength, creating demand, and expanding existing customer relationships can combat current market challenges, especially in the AI era. The conversation demystifies these pillars and offers practical, actionable insights into efficiently integrating them into a comprehensive marketing plan.

Listeners are introduced to advanced concepts such as leveraging customer advocacy to enrich demand-generation efforts and using AI to enhance matchmaking between prospects and existing clients. With insights from real-world applications, Megan and Gianna elucidate why businesses must align sales and marketing strategies and adopt a proactive stance on expanding through advocacy. The duo also addresses the significance of correct budgeting, emphasizing that while demand often receives adequate funding, both brand and expand need stronger financial backing to foster long-term profitability and growth.

Episode topics: #marketing, #leadgen, #demandgeneration, #sales, #B2BSaaS, #digitalmarketing #ads #paidads #googleads #paidsearch #paidsocial #ctv #connectedtv

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Gianna Scorsone

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Megan Bowen

Called to Action is back with Liam Moroney of Storybook marketing to walk us through his journey as a marketer focused on brand and storytelling. He gives his history, philosophy, and advice on how to change your leadership's mindset. 

Liam draws from his extensive background in B2B marketing to share his experiences in navigating various industries, emphasizing the importance of moving from a 'growth at all costs' mindset to a more sustainable, brand-centric strategy. The conversation highlights key challenges faced by marketers in tech, especially in convincing stakeholders about the value of storytelling and brand awareness. Liam discusses how understanding the fundamentals of marketing and human behavior fosters better brand development and market reach. Stressing the significance of storytelling as a tool to improve brand recall and customer connection, Liam shares strategies for changing leadership mindsets resistant to traditional perceptions. This episode is rich with insights for marketers, challenging existing paradigms and encouraging more proactive approaches in achieving effective growth.

Episode topics: #marketing, #leadgen, #demandgeneration, #sales, #B2BSaaS, #digitalmarketing #measurement #metrics #sales #marketingalignment #storytelling #brandmarketing

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Liam Moroney

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Evan Hughes

Steph Crugnola

Matt Sciannella hosts Dale Harrison in a three part summer event series to cover the intricacies of Brand and Performance marketing. This is the full recording, including previously unreleased Q&A from the live audience, of the final summer event.

Dale presents a compelling case for revolutionizing how marketing investments are understood, measured, and communicated. This episode transforms complex financial details into digestible insights, revealing why relying solely on current period revenue versus cost fails to capture the true impact of marketing efforts.

Within this conversation, critical topics emerge around the technicalities of accurately quantifying the "R" (Revenue) and "I" (Investment) in marketing ROI. Dale dissects how traditional methods often overlook time lags between marketing initiatives and realized revenue, especially in B2B environments where extended sales cycles are norm. Through detailed examples, the episode guides listeners on associating past marketing efforts with current revenue, emphasizing the significance of contribution margin and proper attribution of marketing expenses. The discourse further unveils the misconception that brand marketing takes time to produce results, illustrating its immediate and lasting impact, and how historical brand efforts inflate future ROIs.

Episode topics: #marketing, #demandgeneration, #brand, #B2BSaaS, #digitalmarketing #ads #brandmarketing #performancemarketing 

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Matt Sciannella

Dale Harrison

Matt Sciannella hosts Dale Harrison in a three part summer event series to cover the intricacies of Brand and Performance marketing. This is the second part of the final event, and covers all of the specific calculations you need to know to accurately find your Marketing ROI. 

Dale presents a compelling case for revolutionizing how marketing investments are understood, measured, and communicated. This episode transforms complex financial details into digestible insights, revealing why relying solely on current period revenue versus cost fails to capture the true impact of marketing efforts.

Within this conversation, critical topics emerge around the technicalities of accurately quantifying the "R" (Revenue) and "I" (Investment) in marketing ROI. Dale dissects how traditional methods often overlook time lags between marketing initiatives and realized revenue, especially in B2B environments where extended sales cycles are norm. Through detailed examples, the episode guides listeners on associating past marketing efforts with current revenue, emphasizing the significance of contribution margin and proper attribution of marketing expenses. The discourse further unveils the misconception that brand marketing takes time to produce results, illustrating its immediate and lasting impact, and how historical brand efforts inflate future ROIs.

Episode topics: #marketing, #demandgeneration, #brand, #B2BSaaS, #digitalmarketing #ads #brandmarketing #performancemarketing 

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Matt Sciannella

Dale Harrison

Matt Sciannella hosts Dale Harrison in a three part summer event series to cover the intricacies of Brand and Performance marketing. This is the first part of the final event: covering where Marketing ROI fails, and digging into the problems with measuring Revenue. 

Dale and Matt get into the conventional approaches to calculating marketing ROI, highlighting their limitations and presenting a more comprehensive framework. The discussion sets the stage for a robust understanding of marketing's true impact on a business's financial health.

Throughout the episode, Matt and Dale critique traditional metrics used by major platforms like Facebook, HubSpot, and Salesforce, arguing that these models fail to capture the real contributions of marketing efforts. They stress the importance of focusing on gross margins rather than revenue, and present a compelling argument for using contribution margin as a more accurate representation of marketing's ROI. The conversation also touches on the historical neglect of brand marketing in favor of performance marketing, particularly in the B2B sector, and the repercussions that this shift has had on long-term business value.

Episode topics: #marketing, #demandgeneration, #brand, #B2BSaaS, #digitalmarketing #ROI #return #investment

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Matt Sciannella

Dale Harrison

Evan Hughes hosts Matt Sciannella, Aaron Weekes, and Kyle Taylor to discuss how to integrate Connected TV (CTV) into paid media strategies, particularly for B2B companies. 

With digital landscapes evolving, the conversation emphasizes the importance of leveraging CTV's unique opportunities for audience reach and targeted awareness. The experts provide a detailed discussion on how CTV not only complements traditional digital efforts but also stands out with its TV dominance, capturing audiences more effectively through non-skippable ads.

Throughout the session, the guests dig into the practical aspects of launching a successful CTV campaign. They address the initial budget allocation, common challenges in creative production, and measurement techniques that align with long-term brand objectives. As discussions progress, they highlight the unique advantages CTV offers compared to traditional online advertising, particularly through LinkedIn's platform, citing notable cost efficiencies and advanced targeting capabilities. This conversation serves as a comprehensive guide for marketers aiming to harness CTV's potential in enhancing brand visibility and driving engagement within their target market segments.

Episode topics: #marketing, #leadgen, #demandgeneration, #sales, #B2BSaaS, #digitalmarketing #ads #paidads #googleads #paidsearch #paidsocial #ctv #connectedtv

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Matt SciannellaAaron WeekesKyle Taylor

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Evan Hughes

From Dreamdata:

"Things have changed over the last five years… and these are the core pillars you need to think about if you want to be successful as a company.

Amidst intense budget scrutiny, disruptive AI, and failing lead-generation tactics, B2B marketers must overhaul their strategies to survive and grow by shifting focus from capturing existing demand to strategically creating it for the future.

Speaking on a recent Attributed Podcast, Megan Bowen, CEO of Refine Labs, broke down the strategy that she believes is now essential for survival and growth.

She argues that the "growth at all costs" era is definitively over, and in its place is a more sustainable, holistic go-to-market motion she calls the 'Brand. Demand. Expand.' framework. 

She explains the specifics of each pillar, including the key metric that makes brand performance measurable, a proven formula for reallocating ad spend, and strategies for turning existing customers into your best growth lever."

Matt Sciannella hosts Dale Harrison in a three part summer event series to cover the intricacies of Brand and Performance marketing. This is the second part of the second event, digging into four different common arguments that CFOs make against brand, including: timing, budget, outdated beliefs about buyers, and misguided thoughts on company scope.  

Check out our⁠ events page⁠ to register for the third event, happening live on August 21. 

Episode topics: #marketing, #demandgeneration, #brand, #B2BSaaS, #digitalmarketing #ads #brandmarketing #performancemarketing 

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⁠Matt Sciannella⁠

⁠Dale Harrison

Matt Sciannella hosts Dale Harrison in a three part summer event series to cover the intricacies of Brand and Performance marketing. This is the first part of the second event, digging into Measurement and ROI.  

Throughout the conversation, Dale systematically demystifies common misconceptions surrounding brand marketing efforts, particularly in the B2B sector, highlighting why measuring brand ROI can be challenging yet essential. The discussion also uncovers how digital marketing's data-driven approach has changed traditional ROI expectations and how this shift has influenced financial executives' demands for precise outcomes.

Check out our events page to register for the third episode, happening live on August 21. 

Episode topics: #marketing, #demandgeneration, #brand, #B2BSaaS, #digitalmarketing #ads #brandmarketing #performancemarketing 

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Connect with the hosts:

Matt Sciannella

Dale Harrison