Mark Donnigan Startup Marketing Consultant

Mark Donnigan develops disruptive innovative start-ups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market strategies and marketing motions that drive real company results for technical and product-centric creators. Mark's growth and market development experience spans 20 years as a transformative B2B marketing and service leader, driving need, brand name development, and technique for start-up and growth-stage business.

As a specialist and virtual marketing leader (fractional-CMO), Mark Donnigan handles start-up developers and CEOs from B2B disruptive development technology companies to assist them develop, bootstrap, and scale their marketing and go-to-market actions.

DISCOVER MORE: https://growthstage.marketing

Mark Donnigan has managed groups as big as 25, comprising SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark brought spending plan obligations to $3mm/year for operations and $400k/year for marketing. Deal sizes varying from mid-five figures to mid-six figures every year.

As a startup marketing consultant, Mark Donnigan's incoming and outgoing marketing experience include structure and mentoring high-performance teams that execute on demand generation, brand name and item marketing, PR, digital, and events where he develops and carries out high-impact programs that drive revenue, produce ROI, activate the market, and delivers organization outcomes.

Mark Donnigan believes that the very best marketing experts and marketing leaders are doers. Mark's marketing experience consists of all aspects of need generation, ABM, SEO, e-mail marketing, paid marketing, events, PR (internal & firm), and item marketing.

Mark is a problem solver and a first-principles thinker who is imaginative and analytical. Mark always works cross-functionally and has shown success, structure, leading, and mentoring marketing, sales, and service advancement groups that have really produced more than $500mm in revenue/shareholder value.

Mark has discovered that building a classification should be the top objective for each marketing leader and it is the structure of his method and approach. Mark Donnigan has extensive B2B marketing experience that includes building and mentoring high-performance groups.

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he puts a high value on team effort. Mark has comprehensive experience working along with sales, product, operations, and financing to guarantee that business and profits goals of the company are always gone beyond.

Development Stage Marketing exists to provide entrepreneurs and founders services for:

Architecting the market classification that is finest suited to the unique worth proposal of your technology.
High effect marketing assistance so that you can reach your income objectives and scale sustainably.
Achieving go-to-market alignment across the sales and marketing organizations.
Drawing out the highest worth from every marketing dollar.
Insider understanding and insights about the B2B purchasing journey and how to browse a progressively fragmented consumer choice hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and process development to making the first hires.

Thoughts on what it requires a successful marketer and CMO today.

If you are a CEO who feels your B2B marketing does not have a clear connection to business, you are not alone. A study completed by the marketing consultancy Fournaise found that 80% of Chief Executives are not pleased with the work their leading Marketing leader is doing. Examining what today organization reality suggests for marketing leaders, I kept in mind the principle of a Peacetime leader and a Wartime leader from Ben Horowitz's book "The Hard Feature Of Hard Things."

Horowitz explained the principle in a short article where he made up that the Peacetime CEO "focuses on the big image and empowers her individuals to make in-depth choices." The Wartime CEO, on the other hand, "appreciates a speck of dust on a gnat's ass if it disrupted the prime regulation."

The Peacetime CEO "understands what to do with a substantial benefit," while the Wartime CEO "is paranoid." Peacetime CEO "works to decrease dispute," and Wartime CEO "heightens the contradictions."

Peacetime in company is when a service has the ability to grow in its core market due to a considerable advantage vs. the competitors. In times of peace, the company concentrates on expanding the market and enhancing business's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are totally complimentary to be imaginative with our trademark name building by participating in each exhibition with an even larger cubicle than in 2015's and investing exorbitantly on sponsorships, all under the guise of building the brand.

Wartime is a various thing totally because, in Wartime, the life and death of our organization may be on the line.
As I write this post, the whole world is fighting an undetectable enemy called COVID-19, which has let loose a discouraging dose of service uncertainty globally. For CMO's, the COVID-19 pandemic is service equivalent of war. No longer do our 2020 marketing techniques make great sense.

This is more than being in a space with the light on, and all of a sudden you discover yourself in pitch-black darkness, so you stroll tepidly, continuing in the very same guidelines knowing that you were heading towards the door prior to the lights got turned off. No, not simply has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown a massive crater in our path that was not there prior to, and devoid of light in the room, can not be seen. Nevertheless we should avoid at all costs falling under the crater.

No one wish for war, but a Wartime leader does not diminish from the fight, rather, they acknowledge that Wartime is the single finest opportunity to leapfrog sidetracked competitors and take ground away. What follows is a set of suggestions and ideas to assist you find your "Wartime CMO combat plan."

How to serve as a Wartime CMO.

Throughout Wartime, everybody remains in uncharted waters, however this is where the opportunity is for many business who formerly had a difficult time to complete against bigger rivals and dominant market forces. Now, for the very very first time, you might be on comparable footing as your more effective rivals. It's the best chance to define your future.

In an international decrease like what COVID-19 has actually activated, definitely nothing makes sense. And yet, a few of your competitors will continue to perform their typical "tried and genuine" marketing playback, assuming that building the trademark name with corporate interactions messages from the CEO is going to contribute to their business objectives. Now is the ideal opportunity for the Wartime CMO to take ground in the market.

Take strong action.

Creative marketing is required in Wartime more than ever. Now is the time to examine your vital assumptions. As the around the world business environment has modified, and the stability of the core service brought into question, CMO's ought to be prepared to reassess their initial plan.
Think about that less customers will relate to decreased need. And lowered requirement implies markets will not react as they did prior to the crisis.

Believe about it in this way, when people purchase less, advertisers invest less. Nevertheless prior to you follow a slash and burn the marketing invest playbook, here are a couple of things to be well-informed about:

Investment bank Cowen and Business analyzed the last 6 financial declines offered that 1950 and found that costs on direct marketing grew during the previous financial recessions. Significance, you will want to consider your mix of trademark name marketing carefully compared to sales activation marketing. It's not time to stop marketing. Remember, there will be offers throughout the board as media outlets see companies cut their marketing and advertising spends. Press marketing and branding drops in a slowdown, however sales activation marketing always increases.

Shift costs to more measurable channels so that you can adjust quickly. Speed is whatever. Marketing initiatives able to be tracked with specificity will be a lot better than broad mass-market projects. Downturns accelerate the reduction of interruption-based mass marketing. In its location will be an increased concentrate on measurable and relationship-based techniques.

Slumps produce an opportunity for business that are more efficient at turning marketing financial investments into earnings. In the middle of a decrease when advertisers are cutting their spending is an enjoyable time to gain from low CPMs and Qualified public accountants.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising ended up a research study in 2008 that discovered, "Following a spending plan cut, a brand name will continue to get from the marketing financial investment made over the previous couple of years. This will minimize any short-term service impacts, and will lead to an alarmingly misleading increase in short-term success. The longer-term business harm will be more considerable, however will not be seen in the beginning."

Millward Brown reported in their research study "Marketing Throughout Economic Decline: To Invest or Not to Invest?" that 60% of trademark name that went 'dark' during an economic recession by cutting their TV marketing invest for 6 months experienced a decrease in Trademark name Usage by 24% with a 28% decrease in Brand name Image. Brand names that cut their advertisement spending plan at a higher rate relative to their competitors were at an even greater threat of share loss.
There are an unbelievable number of marketing research studies that confirm in a decrease, trademark name that continue marketing and marketing efforts recover quicker. It takes strong action to invest when the data suggests that ROI is not possible. A Wartime CMO fights to maintain the budget required to continue marketing.

Take full benefit of the worth of each lead produced.

In a downturn, risk-averse buyers take even longer to research purchases, and this applies similarly to B2B and B2C buyers. When you initially recognize a possibility, they will likely stay in the awareness phase of your funnel and will not be all set to engage with an SDR or BDR. Do not require this interaction. Marketing ought to make sure not to move a prospect through the funnel too quickly. Remember, the possibility's skilled life has actually been turned on its head. What was an issue just a couple of weeks or months ago, is likely not top of mind today.

It's appealing in a decrease to tighten your grip on leads since the reasoning is that now more than ever, all leads are important. Here is where lead scoring can be an important tool to recognize extremely engaged potential customers from those who are not likely to become your customers. Now is the time for Marketers to hold on to MQL's for an extended period so that you can groom the possibility to the optimum possible level prior to handing them off to sales as a SQL.

Without lead scoring and an ideal prospect tracking system throughout your digital channels, as many as 9 out of 10 MQL's who are not yet sales-ready may be lost. They will buy, simply not now. You don't want to lose out on the future sale given that you didn't keep in contact and consist of worth though the journey. In a "Wartime" economy, you should do whatever possible to optimize the worth of your MQL's.

CMO's that do a much better task of managing leads and developing early-stage potential customers into sales-ready leads will remain in the finest position to win during the crisis and most absolutely once it has actually passed.

Focus on your present customers.

It's cheaper to grow incomes with your existing consumers. Consider whether now is the time to downsize your mass lead generation programs and focus on structure deeper relationships with those who already understand your service. This does not imply to stop your requirement gen efforts, but it does indicate that you may want to explore with product and sales how you can offer more to your existing clients.

In Peacetime, marketing groups are running on auto-pilot in pursuit of driving MQL's to satisfy sales reps. For a service that has actually acquired traction on their way to ending up being a classification king or queen, this approach, though costly feels excellent given that of the exceptional volume of activity that is being produced. However, without mindful analysis, the high degree of activity fools many CMO's and management groups into thinking that their requirement generation engine is carefully tuned when, in reality, it's releasing huge contamination, i.e. exceedingly high CAC, greater than typical churn for the classification, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing needs to line up with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader concerns business with an impressive education and pedigree, having actually held considerable titles with big business. There was a time when the marketing group might handle all corporate and item information and messaging with the market. If a purchaser preferred to discover a new item or explore whether an option may fulfill their requirement, they had no alternative but to call the company.

Actions to concerns such as, Who's authentic and who isn't? - Who's product works, and whose does not? - What's coming? Now where readily available with a single post on the appropriate forum or LinkedIn group. As a result, the power moved to the buyer.

We understand that online marketers are no longer in control of the buyer's journey. It is very important to specify a funnel that outlines evictions a prospect should hand down the way to doing organization with the business. Buyers can get in touch with us on the platform of their picking. As the buying group has expanded to as numerous as 2 lots individuals, the concept that they will follow our process as we have in fact recommended is hardly ever real.

You need a value designer CMO who is revenue-focused.

A revenue-focused CMO will manage the engine behind a CEO's advancement strategy. The shift from companies being physical product designers or service business, to digital innovation business where the product is distributed as software application or software application as a service through the Web, has actually decreased the function of marketing. And is the factor a revenue-focused CMO who is a worth designer is what all start-ups and disruptive innovation companies need today.

Today, marketing needs higher levels of technical ability as a result of the surge of digital media and the marketing innovations that are associated with internet marketing. This transformation has actually been highlighted by Forrester, mentioning a 20-year-old transition to digital as the driving force behind CMOs moving from being brand-builders to income motorists. Forrester goes on to report that a worth developer, revenue-driven Online online marketer, need to be a story maker and not simply a storyteller.

The CMO today need to be an expert at creating and leading imaginative engagement and organization method to establish a classification for the organization to control.

Here are a couple of techniques that a revenue-driven CMO need to operate:

They will work thoroughly with the sales group to discover and map the purchaser's journey. Where presumptions do not match what is happening in the market, a value developer CMO will leave the workplace and hang out in the field. This leader comprehends that you can not drive revenue if you aren't near where the sale takes location.

A revenue-focused CMO produces content targeted at each phase of the purchaser's journey. Consider the purchaser's journey as a set of gates where the content reacts to the main concerns a buyer has at each action so that they can complete the purchasing journey.
The new generation CMO will gather engagement metrics for each gate while examining the success of the end-to-end marketing cycle to provide the most prompt and licensed cause their sellers. A worth designer CMO sees marketing as close allies to the sales group.

The revenue-centered CMO is constantly finding from and fine-tuning the process so that they can enhance the quantity and quality of leads that contributed to the pipeline and closed business.
Earnings attribution and marketing ROI styles will show real results, not theorized or "presumed" requirements. This information is crucial for the revenue-focused CMO to resolve because they care about marketing's influence on business.

A revenue-focused CMO will focus on how their marketing efforts map to closed/won deals that drive the revenue and organization objectives of business. Vanity metrics like traffic, click-thru rates, CPM, and CTA conversions tell simply a piece of the story.

What to search for in your next CMO.

In the vibrant state of service today, working with a reliable CMO is among the most tough things to do. Every market, organization, and market area is different. Even where you can recognize potential customers from the exact same business community or environment, it's insufficient to simply have a look at years of experience or education. You require to analyze the motivations and thought patterns of the individual. Ask:
Is the CMO an issue solver?

The most considerable threat today is on the market side and not development. A marketing leader who isn't a concern solver will struggle to manage the fast-changing nature of the marketplace and neighborhood structure.

Are they a doer?
In many marketing groups, there will specify professionals who can operate at the highest level throughout the series of capabilities required. It's incumbent for a marketing leader to command consider a doer. The CMO, who can demonstrate practical ability in the core areas that the group runs, will be more reliable than a manager just.

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest way to ensure that you bring in a CMO who is profits and not brand-driven is to hire someone who has come up through product, sales, and business approach. Having direct exposure to the inner operations of product and sales is especially helpful as service technique is becoming a more considerable part of the CMO's series of obligations.

Do they believe in systems or technique organization in a structured manner?

As digital has blown up the number of marketing user interface points, enabling purchasers to disaggregate the company from the purchasing journey, a CMO ought to have the ability to INFO consider systems and structures instead of safely specified marketing lanes. It is no longer appropriate to plan in regards to the social job, content marketing job, occasions, and PR, all as different activities. The effective CMO will begin with organization goal they are serving and be ready to question everything.

Can they engage outside the walls of the organization to the marketplace?

To end up being a story-maker, you must be worthy of listening to. A CMO remains in the ideal position to presume the evangelistic function for the service. The most effective CMO's in any market are extremely visible spokespeople for their company.
Are they an incentive?

As the CMO will require to work cross-functionally to guarantee that they have positioning with product and sales, the marketing head ought to be a motivator. To develop a category needs conversation, negotiation, and the ability to look for and reach a contract.

Do they enable their group, or run by command and control?

A CMO who tries to lead with ultimate authority will struggle to accomplish company objectives of the business. Marketing groups today should work as engineering groups work in an agile fashion. Instead of nicely arranged 90-day task cadences, a nimble marketing group carries out a constant blood circulation of efforts while keeping the adaptability to alter as the market or service requirements determine.

Does the CMO comprehend category design?

I have really composed about category design and why every service needs to own a category to accomplish its optimum capacity. There is a structure for performing category style. Still, whether an Online marketer follows the summary or methods category style another way, a CMO needs to be putting routine thought and preparation into how they specify the category they mean to control. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no chance to finish an appropriate classification style.

The Wartime CMO will require to increase the accountability of marketing by showing the effect of each marketing activity on the pipeline as figured out by profits contribution.
In a slow down, marketing should move the understanding of being an expenditure center to an earnings motorist. Reporting beyond the variety of marketing qualified leads produced to include the general chance worth for each lead source is an excellent method to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the financial goals of service.

Studies have in fact revealed that a correctly created landing page can double your conversion rate over sending traffic to your home page, which tends to do not have the proper call to action that matches the advertisement. Since of this, checking landing pages can increase conversions as much as 50% or more. Together, these techniques can provide a 2.5 X increase for every single dollar you purchase marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a distinction.

During Wartime, every marketing dollar is important, and a Wartime CMO comprehends that winning will not boil down to a single technique or "silver bullet" technique. Rather, many little things carried out well. The CMO, who can not comprehend the interaction of copy, messaging, imaginative style, and innovation, will have a hard time to find and recognize rapidly where little modifications can provide much better conversions.

This content technique worked, for a season, sort-of. Nevertheless with the increase of Google RankBrain, the method has actually not worked for many years. Without being in the middle of a crisis, you require to stop this ineffective activity. Now as budgets are under pressure and every marketing activity ought to count, the way that we do content marketing needs to be updated.

Now, the material that we develop needs to interest somebody searching for our service, and it needs to consist of purchaser intent triggers like keywords and expressions that a buyer would utilize as they get near acquiring choice. A Havas Group research study revealed that 84% of individuals prepare for trademark name to produce material, yet 60% of the material produced is of bad quality or unimportant, failing to satisfy the requirements of the audience. Despite a 71% connection in between content performance and a brand name's impact on individual health, simply 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand produce material that satisfies this requirement. Brand name's are failing to produce significant content.

Stop producing assembly line material that is simply meant to develop the brand name or introduce the product. Rather, material should target particular personas to solve any holdups preventing the possibility from proceeding. This material will take longer to produce and require a greater community and product understanding level.

CMO's in Wartime must have an exceptional understanding of the buyer psyche and their psychological requirements so that they can develop content that alleviates fear and addresses the genuine issues they have.

CMO's in Wartime double down on Classification Design so that their company will come out as the leader, making them the dominant option, putting them in the enviable position to take as much as 76% of the economics from the entire category.

Learn more about Category Style.

The B2B sales procedure today is fragmented and complicated, with lots of stakeholders requiring to validate a purchase choice. This renders standard marketing ROI and attribution techniques less beneficial for anything besides scholastic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into three practical pillars comprising Item, Requirement Generation, and Classification Design. Since many marketing leaders have in fact not totally welcomed classification style, it's a surprisingly easy method to beat an incumbent during a crisis. As quickly as the sector begins to discuss the classification as you have in fact specified it, your organization will end up being the category and the apparent choice.

To do Classification Design needs a various working cadence. Wartime is the perfect time to start Classification Style considered that absolutely nothing is "regular" during a crisis.
To deal with the challenge of constructing a Classification King service needs a lots of grit, decision, and a steadfast drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who handles the obstacle, there can be no bigger pot-o-gold if effective.

Check out the book Play Bigger to find out all about category design.