Mark Donnigan

Mark Donnigan develops disruptive ingenious start-ups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market strategies and marketing movements that drive real organization outcomes for technical and product-centric founders. Mark's growth and market development experience covers 20 years as a transformative B2B marketing and magnate, driving demand, brand name development, and method for start-up and growth-stage business.

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

DISCOVER MORE: https://growthstage.marketing

Mark Donnigan has actually handled groups as big as 25, making up SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark brought spending plan responsibilities 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 consultant, Mark Donnigan's inbound and outbound marketing experience consist of structure and mentoring high-performance groups that carry out as needed generation, brand and item marketing, PR, digital, and events where he establishes and executes high-impact programs that drive income, produce ROI, activate the marketplace, and provides organization outcomes.

Mark Donnigan believes that the finest marketing consultants and marketing leaders are doers. Mark's marketing experience consists of all elements of requirement generation, ABM, SEO, email marketing, paid marketing, events, PR (internal & agency), and product marketing.

Mark is an issue solver and a first-principles thinker who is imaginative and analytical. Mark constantly works cross-functionally and has proven success, building, leading, and mentoring marketing, sales, and company development groups that have really produced more than $500mm in revenue/shareholder worth.

Mark has discovered that constructing a classification must be the top objective for each marketing leader and it is the structure of his method and method. Mark Donnigan has substantial B2B marketing experience that includes building and mentoring high-performance teams.

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he puts a high worth on teamwork. Mark has extensive experience working along with sales, item, operations, and finance to make sure that the organization and income goals of the company are constantly gone beyond.

Growth Phase Marketing exists to offer entrepreneurs and creators services for:

Architecting the market classification that is best fit to the unique worth proposal of your innovation.
High effect marketing support so that you can reach your earnings objectives and scale sustainably.
Achieving go-to-market positioning throughout the sales and marketing organizations.
Drawing out the highest worth from every marketing dollar.
Insider knowledge and insights about the B2B purchasing journey and how to navigate a progressively fragmented consumer decision hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and procedure development to making the very first hires.

Ideas on what it takes to be an effective 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 research study completed by the marketing consultancy Fournaise found that 80% of Chief Executives are not delighted with the work their top Marketing leader is doing. Examining what the present organization reality suggests for marketing leaders, I remembered 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 huge image and empowers her individuals to make detailed choices." The Wartime CEO, on the other hand, "values a speck of dust on a gnat's ass if it interrupted the prime instruction."

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

Peacetime in organization is when a service has the capability to grow in its core market due to a significant advantage vs. the competition. In times of peace, the company concentrates on widening the marketplace and boosting business's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are completely complimentary to be imaginative with our brand 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 brand.

Wartime is a different thing totally because, in Wartime, the life and death of our organization might be on the line.
As I compose this post, the whole world is fighting an unnoticeable opponent called COVID-19, which has actually let loose a discouraging dosage of business uncertainty 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 an area with the light on, and all of a sudden you discover yourself in pitch-black darkness, so you stroll tepidly, continuing in the exact same directions knowing that you were heading toward the door prior to the lights got shut off. No, not just has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown an enormous crater in our path that was not there previous to, and without light in the space, can not be seen. Nevertheless we need to prevent at all costs falling into the crater.

Nobody wish for war, however a Wartime leader does not avoid the battle, rather, they acknowledge that Wartime is the single finest opportunity to leapfrog sidetracked rivals and take ground away. What follows is a set of pointers and ideas to help you discover your "Wartime CMO fight strategy."

How to function as a Wartime CMO.

During Wartime, everyone is in uncharted waters, but this is where the chance is for many companies who formerly had a tough time to contend against bigger rivals and dominant market forces. Now, for the very very first time, you may be on comparable footing as your more effective competitors. It's the ideal chance to specify your future.

In a global reduction like what COVID-19 has activated, definitely nothing makes sense. And yet, a few of your rivals will continue to perform their typical "attempted and genuine" marketing playback, assuming that constructing the trademark name with business interactions messages from the CEO is going to add to their business goals. Now is the ideal chance for the Wartime CMO to take ground in the market.

Take strong action.

Imaginative marketing is required in Wartime more than ever. Now is the time to inspect your essential presumptions. As the around the world organization environment has altered, and the stability of the core business called into question, CMO's must be all set to reassess their preliminary plan.
Consider that less customers will correspond to decreased need. And lowered need indicates markets will not react as they did prior to the crisis.

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

Financial investment bank Cowen and Business evaluated the last 6 economic slumps considered 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 name marketing thoroughly compared to sales activation marketing. It's not time to stop marketing. Keep in mind, there will be offers throughout the board as media outlets see companies cut their marketing and advertising spends. Push marketing and branding drops in a downturn, however sales activation marketing always increases.

Shift spending to more measurable channels so that you can adapt quickly. Speed is whatever. Marketing initiatives able to be tracked with uniqueness will be a lot more valuable than broad mass-market tasks. Slowdowns accelerate the decrease of interruption-based mass marketing. In its location will be an increased concentrate on quantifiable and relationship-based techniques.

Recessions create an opportunity for companies that are more effective at turning marketing financial investments into income. In the middle of a slow down when marketers are cutting their costs is an enjoyable time to take advantage of low CPMs and Certified public accounting professionals.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising ended up a study in 2008 that found, "Following a budget plan cut, a brand will continue to acquire from the marketing investment made over the previous few years. This will decrease any short-term service impacts, and will lead to a precariously misleading boost in short-term success. The longer-term company damage will be more significant, but will not be seen in the start."

Millward Brown reported in their research study "Marketing During Economic Recession: To Invest or Not to Invest?" that 60% of brand names that went 'dark' during an economic recession by cutting their TV marketing invest for 6 months experienced a decline in Brand name Use by 24% with a 28% decrease in Brand Image. Brands that cut their ad budget at a higher rate relative to their competitors were at an even higher risk of share loss.
There are an unbelievable variety of marketing research studies that validate in a decrease, brand name names that continue advertising and marketing efforts recover quicker. It takes strong action to invest when the information suggests that ROI is not possible. A Wartime CMO fights to keep the budget plan required to continue marketing.

Make the most of the worth of each lead produced.

In a downturn, risk-averse purchasers take even longer to research purchases, and this applies equally to B2B and B2C purchasers. When you initially recognize a possibility, they will likely remain in the awareness stage of your funnel and will not be all set to engage with an SDR or BDR. Do not require this interaction. Marketing needs to take care not to move a prospect through the funnel too rapidly. Remember, the prospect's expert life has been turned on its head. What was an issue just a couple of weeks or months back, is likely not top of mind today.

It's appealing in a decrease to tighten your grip on leads given that the reasoning is that now more than ever, all leads are vital. Here is where lead scoring can be a valuable tool to acknowledge extremely engaged prospects from those who are not likely to become your clients. Now is the time for Marketers to hang on to MQL's for an extended period so that you can groom the possibility to the maximum possible extent 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 ten MQL's who are not yet sales-ready may be lost. They will buy, simply not now. You don't wish to miss out on out on the future sale since you didn't keep in contact and include 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 handling leads and developing early-stage potential customers into sales-ready leads will remain in the finest position to win throughout the crisis and most absolutely once it has passed.

Focus on your present consumers.

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

In Peacetime, marketing groups are operating on autopilot in pursuit of driving MQL's to satisfy sales reps. For a company that has obtained traction on their way to ending up being a classification king or queen, this method, though expensive feels great considering that of the impressive volume of activity that is being produced. However, without mindful analysis, the high degree of activity fools numerous CMO's and management groups into thinking that their need generation engine is finely tuned when, in reality, it's releasing enormous contamination, i.e. extremely high CAC, higher than average churn for the category, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing should line up with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader worries the company with an exceptional education and pedigree, having actually held substantial titles with huge companies. There was a time when the marketing group may manage all business and product details and messaging with the market. If a purchaser wanted to discover a new item or check out whether an option might satisfy their requirement, they had no alternative however to call business.

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 offered with a single post on the proper online 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 necessary to define a funnel that describes expulsions a prospect need to pass on the method to doing business with the service. Purchasers can get in touch with us on the platform of their picking. 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 worth developer CMO who is revenue-focused.

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

Today, marketing requires higher levels of technical ability as a result of the explosion of digital media and the marketing technologies that are related to internet marketing. This change has actually been highlighted by Forrester, discussing a 20-year-old shift to digital as the driving force behind CMOs moving from being brand-builders to earnings chauffeurs. Forrester goes on to report that a worth developer, revenue-driven Online online marketer, should be a story maker and not simply a writer.

The CMO today need to be a specialist at creating and leading creative engagement and company method to establish a category for the company to control.

Here are a couple of methods that a revenue-driven CMO need to run:

They will work carefully with the sales group to find and map the buyer's journey. Where assumptions do not match what is taking place 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 earnings if you aren't close to where the sale occurs.

A revenue-focused CMO produces content targeted at each phase of the buyer's journey. Think of the purchaser's journey as a set of gates where the content responds 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 deliver the most timely and certified cause their sellers. A worth developer CMO sees marketing as close allies to the sales group.

The revenue-centered CMO is constantly finding from and tweak the process so that they can improve the quantity and quality of leads that contributed to the pipeline and closed business.
Incomes attribution and marketing ROI designs will show real results, not extrapolated or "presumed" requirements. This details is crucial for the revenue-focused CMO to resolve because they appreciate marketing's impact on service.

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

What to look for in your next CMO.

In the vibrant state of organization today, dealing with a reliable CMO is among the most tough things to do. Every market, organization, and market section is various. Even where you can acknowledge prospects from the exact same company community or environment, it's inadequate to simply take an appearance at years of experience or education. You require to examine the inspirations and believed patterns of the person. Ask:
Is the CMO a problem solver?

The most significant danger today is on the market side and not development. A marketing leader who isn't a problem solver will have a hard time to manage the fast-changing nature of the market and community structure.

Are they a doer?
In lots of marketing groups, there will specify specialists who can operate at the greatest level throughout the series of capabilities required. It's incumbent for a marketing leader to command regard as a doer. The CMO, who can show functional capability in the core areas that the group operates, will be more trustworthy than a supervisor just.

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest method to ensure that you attract a CMO who is revenue and not brand-driven is to hire someone who has actually shown up through item, sales, and business technique. Having direct exposure to the inner functions of product and sales is specifically useful as company technique is becoming a more significant part of the CMO's series of responsibilities.

Do they think in systems or method company in a structured way?

As digital has blown up the number of marketing user interface points, enabling purchasers to disaggregate business from the buying journey, a CMO ought to have the ability to think about systems and structures rather of firmly specified marketing lanes. It is no longer sufficient to prepare in concerns to the social project, material marketing task, events, and PR, all as different activities. The successful CMO will start with organization objective they are serving and be ready to question whatever.

Can they connect outside the walls of business to the market?

To wind up being a story-maker, you ought to be worthy of listening to. A CMO is in the perfect position to presume the evangelistic function for the service. The most successful CMO's in any market are extremely noticeable spokespeople for their company.
Are they a motivator?

As the CMO will require to work cross-functionally to guarantee that they have positioning with product and sales, the marketing head should be an incentive. To establish a classification requires conversation, negotiation, and the ability to try to find and reach a contract.

Do they allow their group, or operate by command and control?

A CMO who tries to lead with supreme authority will struggle to achieve service goals of business. Marketing groups today ought to work as engineering groups work in an agile fashion. Rather of nicely arranged 90-day task cadences, an agile marketing group performs a constant flow of initiatives while preserving the adaptability to alter as the market or company requirements identify.

Does the CMO comprehend category design?

I have in fact composed about classification style and why every company needs to own a classification to accomplish its ideal potential. There is a framework for carrying out category design. Still, whether an Online marketer follows the summary or methods classification design another method, a CMO must be putting regular idea and preparation into how they define the classification they imply to control. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no other way to complete an appropriate classification style.

The Wartime CMO will require to increase the responsibility of marketing by showing the effect of each marketing activity on the pipeline as determined by revenue contribution.
In a sluggish down, marketing ought to move the understanding of being an expense center to an income vehicle driver. Reporting beyond the number of marketing qualified leads produced to include the overall opportunity worth for each lead source is an exceptional method to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the financial objectives of business.

Research studies have actually revealed that a properly developed landing page can double your conversion rate over sending out traffic to your home page, which tends to do not have the appropriate call to action that matches the ad. Due to the fact that of this, checking landing pages can increase conversions as much as 50% or more. Together, these methods can provide a 2.5 X boost for each single dollar you buy marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a difference.

During Wartime, every marketing dollar is valuable, and a Wartime CMO comprehends that winning will not come down to a single technique or "silver bullet" technique. Rather, lots of small things performed well. The CMO, who can not comprehend the interplay of copy, messaging, imaginative style, and innovation, will struggle to discover and recognize rapidly where little modifications can offer better conversions.

This material method worked, for a season, sort-of. However with the increase of Google RankBrain, the method has not worked for several 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 must count, the manner in which we do content marketing needs to be updated.

Now, the material that we produce requirements to interest somebody attempting to find our solution, and it must consist of purchaser intent activates like keywords and expressions that a buyer would utilize as they get near to acquiring choice. A Havas Group research study exposed that 84% of individuals expect brand names to produce content, yet 60% of the material produced is of bad quality or unimportant, stopping working to satisfy the requirements of the audience. Regardless of a 71% correlation in between content performance and a brand name's influence on personal wellness, simply 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand produce content that meets this requirement. Trademark name's are failing to produce considerable content.

Stop producing assembly line content that is just meant to establish the brand name or introduce the item. Rather, content should target specific personalities to solve any holdups avoiding the possibility from carrying on. This content will take longer to produce and require a greater community and item understanding level.

CMO's in Wartime should have an exceptional understanding of the buyer psyche and info their mental needs so that they can produce material that alleviates fear and addresses the sincere concerns they have.

CMO's in Wartime double down on Category Design so that their organization 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 whole classification.

Learn more about Classification Style.

The B2B sales process today is fragmented and complicated, with lots of stakeholders requiring to confirm a purchase choice. This renders basic marketing ROI and attribution methods less advantageous for anything besides academic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into 3 practical pillars comprising Product, Need Generation, and Classification Design. Due to the fact that numerous marketing leaders have in fact not totally accepted classification style, it's a surprisingly easy method to beat an incumbent throughout a crisis. As soon as the sector begins to talk about the category as you have really defined it, your business will end up being the classification and the apparent option.

To do Category Design requires a various working cadence. Wartime is the ideal time to start Classification Design offered that definitely nothing is "regular" during a crisis.
To handle the challenge of building a Category King business requires a lots of grit, determination, and an unfaltering drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who takes on the difficulty, there can be no bigger pot-o-gold if effective.

Check out the book Play Larger to learn everything about category design.