Mark Donnigan

Mark Donnigan constructs disruptive ingenious start-ups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market plans and marketing movements that drive real company results for technical and product-centric creators. Mark's growth and market advancement experience covers 20 years as a transformative B2B marketing and service leader, driving need, brand name advancement, and strategy for start-up and growth-stage companies.

As a specialist 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.

FIND OUT MORE: https://growthstage.marketing

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

As a startup marketing consultant, Mark Donnigan's incoming and outbound marketing experience include building and mentoring high-performance groups that carry out on need generation, brand name and item marketing, PR, digital, and occasions where he establishes and carries out high-impact programs that drive income, produce ROI, activate the market, and provides organization outcomes.

Mark Donnigan believes that the finest marketing consultants and marketing leaders are doers. Mark's marketing experience includes all aspects of need generation, ABM, SEO, email marketing, paid marketing, occasions, 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 proven success, building, leading, and mentoring marketing, sales, and company development groups that have actually produced more than $500mm in revenue/shareholder value.

Mark has actually found that constructing a category should be the leading goal for each marketing leader and it is the foundation of his approach and method. Mark Donnigan has substantial B2B marketing experience that consists of structure and mentoring high-performance groups.

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he positions a high worth on teamwork. Mark has extensive experience working alongside sales, item, operations, and finance to ensure that the business and profits objectives of the company are constantly surpassed.

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

Architecting the market classification that is best matched to the distinct value proposal of your innovation.
High effect marketing support so that you can reach your revenue objectives and scale sustainably.
Achieving go-to-market positioning across the sales and marketing companies.
Extracting the greatest worth from every marketing dollar.
Insider understanding and insights about the B2B buying journey and how to browse an increasingly fragmented consumer decision hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and procedure advancement to making the first hires.

Ideas 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 finished by the marketing consultancy Fournaise found that 80% of Chief Executives are not pleased with the work their leading Marketing leader is doing. Assessing what the present company truth indicates for marketing leaders, I remembered the concept of a Peacetime leader and a Wartime leader from Ben Horowitz's book "The Hard Aspect Of Hard Things."

Horowitz explained the concept in a post where he composed that the Peacetime CEO "concentrates 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 disrupted the prime regulation."

The Peacetime CEO "comprehends what to do with a substantial benefit," while the Wartime CEO "is paranoid." Peacetime CEO "works to decrease conflict," and Wartime CEO "increases the contradictions."

Peacetime in business is when a service has the capability to grow in its core market due to a considerable benefit vs. the competition. In times of peace, business concentrates on widening the market and enhancing the service's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are totally complimentary to be creative with our brand structure by participating in each exhibition with an even bigger cubicle than in 2015's and investing exorbitantly on sponsorships, all under the guise of building the brand name.

Wartime is a various thing totally because, in Wartime, the life and death of our service might be on the line.
As I write this post, the whole world is combating an undetectable enemy called COVID-19, which has actually let loose a frustrating dosage of organization uncertainty worldwide. For CMO's, the COVID-19 pandemic is organization equivalent of war. No longer do our 2020 marketing techniques make great 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 walk tepidly, continuing in the same guidelines knowing that you were heading toward the door prior to the lights got switched off. No, not just has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown a huge crater in our course that was not there prior to, and devoid of light in the space, can not be seen. However we should avoid at all expenditures falling into the crater.

Nobody longs for war, however a Wartime leader does not avoid the battle, rather, they recognize that Wartime is the single finest opportunity to leapfrog sidetracked competitors and take ground away. What follows is a set of suggestions and concepts to help you discover your "Wartime CMO fight plan."

How to serve as a Wartime CMO.

Throughout Wartime, everyone is in uncharted waters, but this is where the possibility is for many business who formerly had a difficult time to complete against larger competitors and dominant market forces. Now, for the extremely first time, you may be on comparable footing as your more powerful competitors. It's the best possibility to define your future.

In an international decrease like what COVID-19 has set off, definitely nothing makes sense. And yet, a few of your competitors will continue to perform their normal "attempted and real" marketing playback, presuming that constructing the brand name with corporate interactions messages from the CEO is going to add to their business goals. Now is the ideal opportunity for the Wartime CMO to take ground in the market.

Take strong action.

Creative marketing is needed in Wartime more than ever. Now is the time to check your important assumptions. As the worldwide service environment has actually modified, and the stability of the core organization brought into question, CMO's should be ready to reassess their initial strategy.
Believe about that less customers will relate 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 purchase less, marketers invest less. However prior to you follow a slash and burn the marketing invest playbook, here are a couple of things to be educated about:

Financial investment bank Cowen and Company examined the last 6 economic recessions provided that 1950 and found that spending on direct marketing grew during the previous economic declines. Significance, you will wish to consider your mix of brand name marketing carefully compared to sales activation marketing. It's not time to stop marketing. Remember, there will be deals throughout the board as media outlets see business cut their marketing and advertising invests. Press marketing and branding drops in a downturn, however sales activation marketing constantly increases.

Shift costs to more measurable channels so that you can adjust quickly. Speed is everything. Marketing initiatives able to be tracked with uniqueness will be a lot more important than broad mass-market jobs. Slowdowns accelerate the decline of interruption-based mass marketing. In its location will be an increased concentrate on quantifiable and relationship-based techniques.

Slumps create an opportunity for business that are more effective at turning marketing financial investments into earnings. In the middle of a decrease when advertisers are cutting their costs is an enjoyable time to benefit from low CPMs and Licensed public accounting professionals.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising ended up a study in 2008 that found, "Following a spending plan cut, a brand will continue to get from the marketing financial investment made over the previous few years. This will reduce any short-term business impacts, and will result in an alarmingly deceptive boost in short-term success. The longer-term business harm will be more substantial, but will not be seen in the beginning."

Millward Brown reported in their research study "Marketing Throughout Economic Recession: To Invest or Not to Invest?" that 60% of brand that went 'dark' throughout a financial recession by cutting their TV marketing invest for 6 months experienced a decrease in Brand Usage by 24% with a 28% reduction in Trademark name Image. Brand names that cut their ad budget plan at a greater rate relative to their competitors were at an even greater danger of share loss.
There are an amazing number of marketing research studies that validate in a decrease, brand that continue marketing and advertising efforts recover much faster. It takes strong action to invest when the information suggests that ROI is not possible. A Wartime CMO fights to maintain the budget plan required to continue marketing.

Take complete benefit of 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 buyers. When you first recognize a prospect, they will likely stay in the awareness stage of your funnel and will not be all set to engage with an SDR or BDR. Do not force this interaction. Marketing should take care not to move a possibility through the funnel too quickly. Keep in mind, the possibility's skilled life has been switched on its head. What was an issue simply a couple of weeks or months back, is likely not top of mind today.

It's tempting in a sluggish down to tighten your grip on leads because the rationale is that now more than ever, all leads are important. Here is where lead scoring can be an important tool to acknowledge highly engaged prospects from those who are not most likely to become your consumers. Now is the time for Online marketers to hang on to MQL's for an extended period so that you can groom the possibility to the maximum possible level prior to handing them off to sales as a SQL.

Without lead scoring and a perfect prospect tracking system throughout your digital channels, as numerous as 9 out of ten MQL's who are not yet sales-ready might be lost. They will purchase, just not now. You don't want to miss out on out on the future sale considering that you didn't keep in contact and include worth though the journey. In a "Wartime" economy, you need to do everything possible to enhance the worth of your MQL's.

CMO's that do a much better task of handling leads and developing early-stage prospects into sales-ready leads will stay in the finest position to win during the crisis and most definitely once it has actually passed.

Focus on your present consumers.

It's more affordable to grow incomes with your existing clients. Think about whether now is the time to downsize your mass lead generation programs and focus on structure deeper relationships with those who currently understand your service. This does not imply to stop your requirement gen efforts, however it does indicate that you may want to check out with product and sales how you can sell more to your existing clients.

In Peacetime, marketing groups are operating on auto-pilot in pursuit of driving MQL's to satisfy sales reps. For a service that has actually gotten traction on their method to ending up being a category king or queen, this method, though pricey feels excellent because of the impressive volume of activity that is being produced. However, without careful analysis, the high degree of activity fools lots of CMO's and management groups into thinking that their requirement generation engine is finely tuned when, in truth, it's discharging enormous contamination, i.e. exceptionally high CAC, greater than typical churn for the classification, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing needs to align with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader worries business with an impressive education and pedigree, having actually held substantial titles with big companies. There was a time when the marketing group may handle all corporate and product information and messaging with the market. If a buyer wanted to discover a new item or explore whether an option may meet their requirement, they had no alternative but to call business.

Responses to concerns such as, Who's real 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 shifted to the purchaser.

We understand that online marketers are no longer in control of the purchaser's journey. It is essential to specify a funnel that outlines expulsions a prospect need to hand down the method to doing company with business. Purchasers can connect with us on the platform of their picking. As the purchasing group has actually broadened to as lots of as two lots people, the notion that they will follow our process as we have in fact recommended is hardly ever real.

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

A revenue-focused CMO will handle the engine behind click here a CEO's development plan. The shift from companies being physical item designers or service companies, to digital innovation companies where the product is dispersed as software application or software application as a service through the Internet, has reduced 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 business need today.

Today, marketing needs greater levels of technical ability as an outcome of the surge of digital media and the marketing technologies that are related to internet marketing. This transformation has actually been highlighted by Forrester, pointing out a 20-year-old transition to digital as the driving force behind CMOs moving from being brand-builders to profits drivers. Forrester goes on to report that a value designer, revenue-driven Online online marketer, must be a story maker and not just a storyteller.

The CMO today should be a specialist at producing and leading creative engagement and business approach to establish a classification for business to dominate.

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

They will work carefully with the sales group to discover 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 income if you aren't near to where the sale takes location.

A revenue-focused CMO creates content targeted at each stage 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 brand-new generation CMO will collect engagement metrics for each gate while evaluating the success of the end-to-end marketing cycle to provide the most timely and qualified cause their sellers. A value designer CMO sees marketing as close allies to the sales group.

The revenue-centered CMO is always finding from and tweak the process so that they can enhance the quantity and quality of leads that included to the pipeline and closed business.
Incomes attribution and marketing ROI designs will reflect genuine outcomes, not extrapolated or "presumed" requirements. This details is essential for the revenue-focused CMO to solve since they care about marketing's impact on business.

A revenue-focused CMO will concentrate on how their marketing efforts map to closed/won deals that drive the revenue and service objectives of the organization. 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 dynamic state of business today, dealing with an effective CMO is amongst the most tough things to do. Every market, company, and market section is numerous. Even where you can recognize prospects from the same service community or environment, it's inadequate to merely take a look at years of experience or education. You require to examine the inspirations and believed patterns of the person. Ask:
Is the CMO an issue solver?

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

Are they a doer?
In lots of marketing groups, there will be specific specialists who can operate at the greatest level throughout the series of abilities required. It's incumbent for a marketing leader to command consider a doer. The CMO, who can demonstrate practical capability in the core locations that the group operates, will be more reputable than a supervisor simply.

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest method to guarantee that you draw in a CMO who is earnings and not brand-driven is to hire somebody who has turned up through product, sales, and business approach. Having direct exposure to the inner operations of product and sales is especially useful as organization method is becoming a more substantial part of the CMO's series of obligations.

Do they believe in systems or approach company in a structured way?

As digital has exploded the variety of marketing interface points, making it possible for purchasers to disaggregate the company from the purchasing journey, a CMO needs to have the capability to consider systems and structures instead of firmly specified marketing lanes. It is no longer appropriate to prepare in concerns to the social project, material marketing task, occasions, and PR, all as different activities. The effective CMO will begin with business goal they are serving and be ready to question everything.

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

To end up being a story-maker, you must be worthy of listening to. A CMO remains in the perfect position to presume the evangelistic function for business. The most effective CMO's in any market are extremely noticeable spokespeople for their organization.
Are they a motivator?

As the CMO will need 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 category needs conversation, settlement, and the ability to look for and reach a contract.

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

A CMO who tries to lead with supreme authority will have a hard time to achieve organization objectives of business. Marketing groups today ought to work as engineering groups work in a nimble style. Rather of well organized 90-day project cadences, a nimble marketing group carries out a constant circulation of initiatives while keeping the adaptability to change as the market or business requirements identify.

Does the CMO comprehend classification design?

I have really composed about classification design and why every organization requires to own a category to achieve its ideal potential. There is a structure for carrying out category style. Still, whether an Online marketer follows the summary or techniques classification design another way, a CMO needs to be putting regular idea and preparation into how they define the classification they suggest to dominate. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no chance to complete an appropriate category style.

The Wartime CMO will need to increase the accountability of marketing by revealing the impact of each marketing activity on the pipeline as determined by income contribution.
In a sluggish down, marketing ought to move the understanding of being an expenditure center to an income vehicle driver. Reporting beyond the number of marketing qualified leads produced to include the overall possibility worth for each lead source is an outstanding method to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the financial goals of service.

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

During Wartime, every marketing dollar is valuable, and a Wartime CMO understands that winning will not boil down to a single method or "silver bullet" technique. Instead, lots of little things carried out well. The CMO, who can not understand the interaction of copy, messaging, creative style, and innovation, will struggle to discover and acknowledge rapidly where little modifications can provide better conversions.

This content technique worked, for a season, sort-of. However with the increase of Google RankBrain, the technique has not worked for numerous years. Without being in the middle of a crisis, you require to stop this ineffective activity. Now as budget plans are under pressure and every marketing activity ought to count, the manner in which we do content marketing requires to be upgraded.

Now, the content that we develop needs to interest somebody looking for our solution, and it needs to consist of purchaser intent activates like keywords and expressions that a buyer would use as they get close to acquiring choice. A Havas Group research study exposed that 84% of people prepare for brand to produce material, yet 60% of the content produced is of bad quality or unimportant, failing to satisfy the needs of the audience. Despite a 71% connection in between content efficiency and a brand's influence on personal health, just 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand name names produce material that satisfies this requirement. Brand name's are stopping working to produce significant material.

Stop producing assembly line material that is simply suggested to establish the brand or introduce the product. Instead, content should target specific personalities to solve any holdups avoiding the prospect from moving on. This material will take longer to produce and need a higher neighborhood and item understanding level.

CMO's in Wartime must have an outstanding understanding of the buyer mind and their psychological requirements so that they can produce material that alleviates fear and addresses the genuine concerns they have.

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

Find out more about Category Design.

The B2B sales process today is fragmented and intricate, with great deals of stakeholders requiring to verify a purchase decision. This renders basic marketing ROI and attribution methods less helpful for anything besides academic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into three functional pillars comprising Product, Requirement Generation, and Classification Design. Due to the fact that many marketing leaders have really not entirely embraced classification design, it's a remarkably simple way to beat an incumbent during a crisis. As soon as the sector begins to discuss the classification as you have really defined it, your company will wind up being the classification and the obvious choice.

To do Category Design needs a different working cadence. Wartime is the perfect time to start Classification Design considered that definitely nothing is "normal" during a crisis.
To deal with the difficulty of building a Classification King company needs a lots of grit, determination, and an unfaltering drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who takes on the difficulty, there can be no larger pot-o-gold if successful.

Read the book Play Bigger to discover out all about category design.