Mark Donnigan Consultant

Mark Donnigan constructs disruptive innovative start-ups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market strategies and marketing motions that drive genuine service outcomes for technical and product-centric creators. Mark's development and market development experience spans 20 years as a transformative B2B marketing and magnate, driving need, brand advancement, and method for startup and growth-stage companies.

As an expert and virtual marketing leader (fractional-CMO), Mark Donnigan deals with start-up creators and CEOs from B2B disruptive innovation technology companies to help them establish, bootstrap, and scale their marketing and go-to-market actions.

FIND OUT MORE: https://growthstage.marketing

Mark Donnigan has actually managed teams as large as 25, comprising SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark brought budget commitments to $3mm/year for operations and $400k/year for marketing. Offer sizes differing from mid-five figures to mid-six figures every year.

As a start-up marketing expert, Mark Donnigan's inbound and outgoing marketing experience include structure and mentoring high-performance groups that execute as needed generation, brand and product marketing, PR, digital, and occasions where he develops and carries out high-impact programs that drive income, produce ROI, trigger the market, and provides company results.

Mark Donnigan believes that the very best marketing consultants and marketing leaders are doers. Mark's marketing experience includes all aspects of need generation, ABM, SEO, email marketing, paid marketing, events, PR (internal & agency), 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 actually shown success, building, leading, and mentoring marketing, sales, and organization advancement groups that have in fact produced more than $500mm in revenue/shareholder worth.

Mark has actually found that constructing a category should be the top goal for every single marketing leader and it is the foundation of his technique and approach. Mark Donnigan has substantial B2B marketing experience that includes building and mentoring high-performance teams.

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he places a high value on team effort. Mark has substantial experience working together with sales, product, operations, and finance to ensure that the business and profits objectives of the company are always gone beyond.

Development Stage Marketing exists to provide business owners and creators services for:

Architecting the market category that is finest fit to the unique worth proposition of your innovation.
High impact marketing support so that you can reach your earnings objectives and scale sustainably.
Accomplishing go-to-market alignment across the sales and marketing organizations.
Drawing out the highest value from every marketing dollar.
Insider understanding and insights about the B2B buying journey and how to browse a significantly fragmented customer choice hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and procedure development to making the very first hires.

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

If you are a CEO who feels your B2B marketing does not have a clear connection to the business, you are not alone. A study completed by the marketing consultancy Fournaise found that 80% of Chief Executives are not delighted with the work their leading Marketing leader is doing. Assessing what the present company fact indicates for marketing leaders, I kept in mind the concept of a Peacetime leader and a Wartime leader from Ben Horowitz's book "The Hard Thing About Hard Things."

Horowitz explained the principle in a post where he composed that the Peacetime CEO "focuses on the big image and empowers her individuals to make comprehensive choices." The Wartime CEO, on the other hand, "appreciates a speck of dust on a gnat's ass if it interfered with the prime directive."

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

Peacetime in organization is when a business has the capability to grow in its core market due to a considerable advantage vs. the competition. In times of peace, the business concentrates on broadening the market and improving business's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are completely free to be creative with our trademark name building by participating in each exhibit with an even bigger cubicle than in 2015's and investing exorbitantly on sponsorships, all under the guise of building the trademark name.

Wartime is a various thing entirely because, in Wartime, the life and death of our business might be on the line.
As I write this post, the entire world is fighting an unnoticeable opponent called COVID-19, which has let loose a frustrating dose of business unpredictability globally. For CMO's, the COVID-19 pandemic is company equivalent of war. No longer do our 2020 marketing techniques make excellent sense.

This is more than remaining in a space with the light on, and suddenly you discover yourself in pitch-black darkness, so you walk tepidly, continuing in the very same guidelines understanding that you were heading toward the door prior to the lights got turned off. No, not just has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown an enormous crater in our course that was not there prior to, and without light in the space, can not be seen. However we should avoid at all expenditures falling under the crater.

Nobody wish for war, but a Wartime leader does not avoid the battle, instead, they acknowledge that Wartime is the single finest possibility to leapfrog sidetracked rivals and take ground away. What follows is a set of ideas and ideas to help you find your "Wartime CMO battle plan."

How to function as a Wartime CMO.

During Wartime, everybody is in uncharted waters, however this is where the chance is for lots of companies who formerly had a hard time to complete versus larger competitors and dominant market forces. Now, for the really first time, you may be on equivalent footing as your more powerful rivals. It's the perfect possibility to define your future.

In an international decrease like what COVID-19 has actually triggered, absolutely nothing makes sense. And yet, a few of your rivals will continue to perform their usual "attempted and genuine" marketing playback, presuming that constructing the brand name with business interactions messages from the CEO is going to add to their organization objectives. Now is the perfect chance for the Wartime CMO to take ground in the market.

Take strong action.

Imaginative marketing is needed in Wartime more than ever. Now is the time to examine your important presumptions. As the around the world organization environment has actually altered, and the stability of the core service brought into question, CMO's needs to be all set to reassess their preliminary plan.
Believe about that less consumers will equate to lowered requirement. And lowered requirement suggests markets will not react as they did prior to the crisis.

Believe about it in this manner, when people buy less, advertisers invest less. However prior to you follow a slash and burn the marketing invest playbook, here are a couple of things to be experienced about:

Investment bank Cowen and Business examined the last 6 economic recessions provided that 1950 and discovered that costs on direct marketing grew throughout the previous financial slumps. Significance, you will want to consider your mix of brand marketing thoroughly compared to sales activation marketing. It's not time to stop marketing. Remember, there will be deals throughout the board as media outlets see companies cut their marketing and advertising invests. Press marketing and branding drops in a slowdown, but sales activation marketing always increases.

Shift spending to more quantifiable channels so that you can adapt quickly. Speed is everything. Marketing initiatives able to be tracked with uniqueness will be a lot better than broad mass-market projects. Downturns accelerate the decrease of interruption-based mass marketing. In its location will be an increased focus on measurable and relationship-based methods.

Slumps develop an opportunity for companies that are more efficient at turning marketing financial investments into earnings. In the middle of a sluggish down when advertisers are cutting their costs is an enjoyable time to gain from low CPMs and Licensed public accountants.

The Institute of Practitioners in Marketing ended up a study in 2008 that discovered, "Following a budget plan cut, a brand name will continue to acquire from the marketing financial investment made over the previous few years. This will lower any short-term company impacts, and will lead to a dangerously misleading increase in short-term success. The longer-term company damage will be more substantial, but will not be observed in the start."

Millward Brown reported in their research study "Marketing During Economic Recession: To Invest or Not to Invest?" that 60% of brand that went 'dark' throughout an economic recession by cutting their TV marketing invest for 6 months experienced a decline in Trademark name Usage by 24% with a 28% reduction in Trademark name Image. Brands that cut their advertisement spending plan at a greater rate relative to their competitors were at an even higher danger of share loss.
There are an extraordinary variety of marketing studies that verify in a decrease, brand names that continue marketing and marketing efforts recover faster. It takes strong action to invest when the data suggests that ROI is not possible. A Wartime CMO fights to preserve the spending plan required to continue marketing.

Maximize the worth of each lead produced.

In a slowdown, risk-averse buyers take even longer to research purchases, and this applies equally to B2B and B2C purchasers. When you initially acknowledge a possibility, they will likely remain 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 should make sure not to move a prospect through the funnel too rapidly. Remember, the prospect's expert life has actually been switched on its head. What was an issue just a number of weeks or months earlier, is likely not top of mind today.

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

Without lead scoring and a perfect possibility tracking system throughout your digital channels, as numerous as 9 out of 10 MQL's who are not yet sales-ready might be lost. They will buy, simply not now. You do not 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 ought to do whatever possible to enhance the worth of your MQL's.

CMO's that do a better job of handling leads and establishing early-stage potential customers into sales-ready leads will stay in the finest position to win throughout the crisis and most absolutely once it has actually passed.

Focus on your present clients.

It's more affordable to grow earnings with your existing customers. Think about whether now is the time to scale back your mass lead generation programs and concentrate on building deeper relationships with those who already know your service. This does not indicate to stop your requirement gen efforts, however it does indicate that you may want to check out with item and sales how you can sell more to your existing consumers.

In Peacetime, marketing groups are running on autopilot in pursuit of driving MQL's to satisfy sales reps. For a business that has actually obtained traction on their way to ending up being a category king or queen, this approach, though expensive feels good given that of the amazing volume of activity that is being produced. Nevertheless, without careful analysis, the high degree of activity fools lots of CMO's and management groups into believing that their need generation engine is carefully tuned when, in reality, it's releasing massive contamination, i.e. extremely high CAC, greater than typical churn for the classification, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing should line up with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader worries the business with an amazing education and pedigree, having in fact held substantial titles with big companies. There was a time when the marketing group may handle all business and product details and messaging with the marketplace. If a purchaser wanted to learn about a brand-new product or explore whether an option may meet their requirement, they had no alternative but to call the company.

Actions to concerns such as, Who's real and who isn't? - Who's item works, and whose does not? - What's coming? Now where offered with a single post on the correct online forum or LinkedIn group. As an outcome, the power moved to the purchaser.

We understand that online marketers are no longer in control of the buyer's journey. It is crucial to define a funnel that describes expulsions a possibility need to pass on the method to doing business with the organization. Buyers can link with us on the platform of their choosing. As the buying group has broadened to as numerous as 2 lots people, the concept that they will follow our procedure as we have actually prescribed is seldom genuine.

You require a value developer CMO who is revenue-focused.

A revenue-focused CMO will manage the engine behind a CEO's advancement strategy. The shift from business being physical product developers or service companies, to digital development business where the product is dispersed as software application or software as a service through the Internet, has decreased the function of marketing. And is the element a revenue-focused CMO who is a value developer is what all start-ups and disruptive innovation companies need today.

Today, marketing needs higher levels of technical capability as a result of the explosion of digital media and the marketing technologies that are related to internet marketing. This transformation has 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 chauffeurs. Forrester goes on to report that a value developer, revenue-driven Online marketer, must be a story maker and not simply a storyteller.

The CMO today ought to be a professional at developing and leading creative engagement and company method to develop a classification for business to dominate.

Here are a number of approaches that a revenue-driven CMO requirement to operate:

They will work carefully with the sales group to discover and map the purchaser's journey. Where assumptions do not match what is taking location in the market, a worth developer CMO will leave the workplace and hang out in the field. This leader comprehends that you can not drive income if you aren't close to where the sale happens.

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

The revenue-centered CMO is always discovering from and tweak the procedure so that they can improve the amount and quality of leads that added to the pipeline and closed organization.
Incomes attribution and marketing ROI styles will reflect real outcomes, not theorized or "presumed" requirements. This details is crucial for the revenue-focused CMO to fix given that they care about marketing's influence on business.

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

What to search for in your next CMO.

In the vibrant state of organization today, working with an effective CMO is among the most tough things to do. Every market, organization, and market area is numerous. Even where you can acknowledge prospects from the exact same service neighborhood or environment, it's not adequate to simply take a look at years of experience or education. You need to examine the inspirations and believed patterns of the person. Ask:
Is the CMO an issue solver?

The most significant danger today is on the market side and not innovation. A marketing leader who isn't a problem solver will struggle to handle the fast-changing nature of the marketplace and neighborhood building.

Are they a doer?
In numerous marketing groups, there will be specific experts who can work at the greatest level throughout the series of capabilities needed. It's incumbent for a marketing leader to command regard as a doer. The CMO, who can demonstrate functional capability in the core areas that the group runs, will be more reliable than a supervisor just.

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest way to ensure that you bring in a CMO who is income and not brand-driven is to hire someone who has shown up through item, sales, and corporate approach. Having direct exposure to the inner functions of product and sales is specifically beneficial as business approach is becoming a more substantial part of the CMO's series of responsibilities.

Do they think in systems or approach organization in a structured manner?

As digital has actually blown up the variety of marketing interface points, making it possible for buyers to disaggregate business from the buying journey, a CMO needs to have the ability to consider systems and structures rather of securely specified marketing lanes. It is no longer appropriate to prepare in concerns to the social project, material marketing project, events, and PR, all as different activities. The successful CMO will start with business goal they are serving and be all set to question whatever.

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

To end up being a story-maker, you ought to deserve listening to. A CMO is in the ideal position to presume the evangelistic function for business. The most successful CMO's in any market are extremely visible spokespeople for their business.
Are they a motivator?

As the CMO will require to work cross-functionally to ensure that they have positioning with item and sales, the marketing head ought to be a motivator. To develop a classification needs conversation, settlement, and the ability to try to find and reach an arrangement.

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

A CMO who tries to lead with supreme authority will struggle to accomplish service goals of business. Marketing groups today ought to work as engineering groups operate in an agile style. Rather of nicely arranged 90-day task cadences, a nimble marketing group performs a constant circulation of initiatives while keeping the versatility to alter as the marketplace or company needs determine.

Does the CMO comprehend category design?

I have in fact composed about classification style and why every service needs to own a classification to accomplish its optimum potential. There is a structure for carrying out category design. Still, whether an Online marketer follows the summary or approaches classification style another method, a CMO should be putting regular idea and preparation into how they specify the classification they mean to control. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no other way to finish a right classification style.

The Wartime CMO will need to increase the responsibility of marketing by showing the impact of each marketing activity on the pipeline as determined by earnings contribution.
In a decrease, marketing must move the understanding of being an expense center to an earnings vehicle driver. Reporting beyond the number of marketing certified leads produced to consist of the general chance worth for each lead source is an exceptional way to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the economic objectives of business.

Studies have in fact exposed that an appropriately designed landing page can double your conversion rate over sending out traffic to your house page, which tends to do not have the correct call to action that matches the ad. Since of this, inspecting landing pages can increase conversions as much as 50% or more. Together, these methods can provide a 2.5 X increase for every single dollar you invest in marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a difference.

During Wartime, every marketing dollar is important, and a Wartime CMO understands that winning will not boil down to a single method or "silver bullet" approach. Rather, many small things executed well. The CMO, who can not comprehend the interplay of copy, messaging, creative design, and development, will have a hard time to find and recognize rapidly where little adjustments can provide better conversions.

This content method worked, for a season, sort-of. Nevertheless with the increase of Google RankBrain, the method has actually not worked for several years. Without remaining in the middle of a crisis, you need to stop this inefficient activity. Now as budgets are under pressure and every marketing activity should count, the method that we do content marketing needs to be updated.

Now, the material that we produce needs to interest someone looking for our service, and it must consist of buyer intent activates like keywords and expressions that a buyer would use as they get near to purchasing choice. A Havas Group research study exposed that 84% of individuals expect trademark name to produce content, yet 60% of the material produced is of bad quality or unimportant, stopping working to satisfy the needs of the audience. No matter a 71% correlation in between Growth Stage Marketing content efficiency and a brand name's impact on personal health, just 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand produce content that satisfies this requirement. Brand name's are failing to produce significant content.

Stop producing assembly line material that is just indicated to develop the trademark name or introduce the product. Rather, content should target specific personas to deal with any troubles preventing the prospect from moving on. This material will take longer to produce and need a higher community and product knowledge level.

CMO's in Wartime should have an excellent understanding of the buyer psyche and their mental requirements so that they can develop content that relieves worry and addresses the genuine issues they have.

CMO's in Wartime double down on Category Style so that their organization will come out as the leader, making them the dominant choice, putting them in the enviable position to take as much as 76% of the economics from the whole category.

Learn more about Category Design.

The B2B sales procedure today is fragmented and intricate, with great deals of stakeholders needing to confirm a purchase decision. This renders standard marketing ROI and attribution methods less helpful for anything besides scholastic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into three functional pillars making up Item, Requirement Generation, and Category Design. Since lots of marketing leaders have in fact not entirely welcomed category style, it's a remarkably simple way to beat an incumbent during a crisis. As soon as the sector starts to go over the category as you have actually specified it, your organization will end up being the category and the apparent choice.

To do Category Style needs a different working cadence. Wartime is the best time to embark on Category Style considered that absolutely nothing is "normal" during a crisis.
To handle the difficulty of building a Classification King organization needs a lots of grit, decision, and an unfaltering drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who takes on the difficulty, there can be no bigger pot-o-gold if successful.

Read the book Play Bigger to find out everything about category design.