Mark Donnigan

Mark Donnigan builds disruptive innovative startups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market strategies and marketing movements that drive real organization results for technical and product-centric founders. Mark's growth and market advancement experience spans twenty years as a transformative B2B marketing and magnate, driving need, brand name advancement, and method for startup and growth-stage business.

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

FIND OUT MORE: https://growthstage.marketing

Mark Donnigan has handled groups as large as 25, making up SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark carried budget commitments to $3mm/year for operations and $400k/year for marketing. Deal sizes differing from mid-five figures to mid-six figures every year.

As a start-up marketing specialist, Mark Donnigan's inbound and outgoing marketing experience include structure and mentoring high-performance groups that execute on need generation, brand and item marketing, PR, digital, and events where he develops and carries out high-impact programs that drive income, produce ROI, trigger the marketplace, and delivers organization outcomes.

Mark Donnigan thinks that the finest marketing consultants and marketing leaders are doers. Mark's marketing experience includes all elements of need generation, ABM, SEO, email marketing, paid marketing, occasions, PR (internal & company), and item marketing.

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

Mark has found that constructing a classification should be the leading objective for each marketing leader and it is the foundation of his approach and approach. Mark Donnigan has extensive B2B marketing experience that includes structure and mentoring high-performance groups.

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he puts a high value on teamwork. Mark has substantial experience working alongside sales, item, operations, and finance to ensure that business and income objectives of the company are constantly exceeded.

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

Architecting the marketplace classification that is finest matched to the distinct value proposal of your innovation.
High impact marketing assistance so that you can reach your revenue goals and scale sustainably.
Attaining go-to-market positioning across the sales and marketing organizations.
Drawing out the greatest 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 advancement to making the first hires.

Thoughts on what it requires 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 President are not happy with the work their top Marketing leader is doing. Examining what the present business truth indicates 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 concept in an article where he composed that the Peacetime CEO "focuses on the big 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 interfered with the prime directive."

The Peacetime CEO "understands what to do with a huge advantage," while the Wartime CEO "is paranoid." Peacetime CEO "works to minimize disagreement," and Wartime CEO "heightens the contradictions."

Peacetime in service is when a service has the capability to grow in its core market due to a considerable benefit vs. the competitors. In times of peace, the service concentrates on widening the market and improving the service's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are completely complimentary to be creative with our brand name building by attending each exhibit with an even bigger cubicle than last year's and investing exorbitantly on sponsorships, all under the guise of constructing the brand name.

Wartime is a different thing totally because, in Wartime, the life and death of our business may be on the line.
As I compose this post, the entire world is battling an unnoticeable enemy called COVID-19, which has let loose an aggravating dosage of service uncertainty internationally. For CMO's, the COVID-19 pandemic is business 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 stroll tepidly, continuing in the same directions understanding 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 massive crater in our path that was not there previous to, and lacking light in the space, can not be seen. However we must prevent at all expenditures falling into the crater.

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

How to act as a Wartime CMO.

Throughout Wartime, everyone remains in uncharted waters, but this is where the chance is for numerous companies who formerly had a tough time to contend versus larger rivals and dominant market forces. Now, for the very very first time, you may be on equivalent footing as your more effective rivals. It's the perfect possibility to specify your future.

In an international reduction like what COVID-19 has set off, definitely nothing makes sense. And yet, a few of your competitors will continue to perform their typical "attempted and genuine" marketing playback, assuming that constructing the brand with business interactions messages from the CEO is going to contribute to their business objectives. Now is the perfect 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 vital assumptions. As the around the world service environment has actually changed, and the stability of the core business cast doubt on, CMO's should be ready to reassess their initial plan.
Think of that less customers will equate to minimized need. And reduced need suggests markets will not respond as they did prior to the crisis.

Think about it in this manner, when people purchase less, marketers invest less. Nevertheless prior to you follow a slash and burn the marketing invest playbook, here are a number of things to be educated about:

Investment bank Cowen and Company analyzed the last 6 financial slumps offered that 1950 and discovered that spending on direct marketing grew throughout the previous economic slumps. Significance, you will wish to consider your mix of trademark name marketing thoroughly 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 advertising and marketing invests. Press marketing and branding drops in a slowdown, however sales activation marketing constantly increases.

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

Recessions develop a chance for companies that are more effective at turning marketing financial investments into profits. In the middle of a slow down when marketers are cutting their spending is a fun time to benefit from low CPMs and Certified public accounting professionals.

The Institute of Practitioners in Marketing finished a study in 2008 that discovered, "Following a budget plan cut, a brand will continue to get from the marketing financial investment made over the previous couple of years. This will lower any short-term business impacts, and will result in a dangerously deceptive boost in short-term success. The longer-term organization damage will be more significant, however will not be noticed in the beginning."

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

Take full advantage of the worth of each lead produced.

In a downturn, risk-averse purchasers take even longer to research study purchases, and this applies equally to B2B and B2C purchasers. When you first recognize a prospect, 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 needs to make sure not to move a prospect through the funnel too quickly. Keep in mind, the possibility's professional life has actually been turned on its head. What was a concern just a couple of weeks or months ago, is most likely not top of mind today.

It's tempting in a slow down to tighten your grip on leads considering that the reasoning is that now more than ever, all leads are necessary. 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 Online marketers to hold on to MQL's for an extended duration so that you can groom the prospect to the maximum possible level prior to handing them off to sales as a SQL.

Without lead scoring and an ideal possibility tracking system throughout your digital channels, as lots of as 9 out of ten MQL's who are not yet sales-ready may be lost. They will buy, just not now. You do not wish to miss INFO out on the future sale because you didn't keep in contact and include worth though the journey. In a "Wartime" economy, you must do whatever possible to enhance the worth of your MQL's.

CMO's that do a far better task of managing leads and developing early-stage prospects into sales-ready leads will stay in the finest position to win throughout the crisis and most absolutely once it has passed.

Concentrate on your present clients.

It's less expensive to grow earnings with your existing clients. Consider whether now is the time to scale back your mass list building programs and focus on structure much deeper relationships with those who already know your service. This does not suggest to stop your need gen efforts, however it does imply that you may want to check out with product and sales how you can offer more to your existing consumers.

In Peacetime, marketing groups are running on autopilot in pursuit of driving MQL's to satisfy sales reps. For an organization that has acquired traction on their way to becoming a classification king or queen, this method, though pricey feels excellent considering that of the exceptional 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 believing that their need generation engine is finely tuned when, in truth, it's producing huge contamination, i.e. exceedingly high CAC, higher than average churn for the category, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing must align with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader worries business with an amazing education and pedigree, having in fact held considerable titles with big companies. There was a time when the marketing group may manage all business and product information and messaging with the market. If a buyer preferred to discover out about a new product or check out whether an option might satisfy their requirement, they had no alternative however to call the company.

Reactions 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 appropriate forum or LinkedIn group. As an outcome, the power moved to the buyer.

We understand that online marketers are no longer in control of the buyer's journey. It is essential to define a funnel that describes expulsions a prospect should hand down the method to doing service with business. Purchasers can link with us on the platform of their choosing. As the purchasing group has actually expanded to as lots of as two lots individuals, the notion that they will follow our procedure as we have really recommended is rarely genuine.

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

A revenue-focused CMO will manage the engine behind a CEO's advancement plan. The shift from business being physical product developers or service companies, to digital development business where the item is dispersed as software application or software as a service through the Internet, has reduced the function of marketing. And GET MORE INFO is the factor a revenue-focused CMO who is a value designer is what all start-ups and disruptive development business require today.

Today, marketing requires greater levels of technical capability as a result of the explosion of digital media and the marketing technologies that are associated with online marketing. This transformation has been highlighted by Forrester, discussing a 20-year-old shift to digital as the driving force behind CMOs moving from being brand-builders to revenue drivers. Forrester goes on to report that a value developer, revenue-driven Online online marketer, need to be a story maker and not simply a writer.

The CMO today need to be an expert at creating and leading imaginative engagement and company technique to establish a classification for business to dominate.

Here are a couple of techniques that a revenue-driven CMO requirement to run:

They will work carefully with the sales group to find 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 close to where the sale occurs.

A revenue-focused CMO develops content targeted at each stage of the purchaser's journey. Think about the buyer's journey as a set of gates where the content reacts to the main issues a purchaser has at each action so that they can finish the buying 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 prompt and qualified result in their sellers. A value designer CMO sees marketing as close allies to the sales group.

The revenue-centered CMO is always discovering from and tweak the process so that they can enhance the amount and quality of leads that added to the pipeline and closed service.
Profits attribution and marketing ROI styles will reflect real outcomes, not extrapolated or "presumed" requirements. This information is important for the revenue-focused CMO to fix considering that they care about marketing's impact on company.

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

What to look for in your next CMO.

In the dynamic state of service today, dealing with an efficient CMO is among the most hard things to do. Every market, company, and market section is numerous. Even where you can recognize prospects from the exact same organization community or environment, it's inadequate to simply have a look at years of experience or education. You need to take a look at the motivations and believed patterns of the person. Ask:
Is the CMO an issue solver?

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

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

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest method to make sure that you bring in a CMO who is earnings and not brand-driven is to employ someone who has actually shown up through product, sales, and corporate approach. Having direct exposure to the inner workings of item and sales is especially advantageous as service method is ending up being a more substantial part of the CMO's series of obligations.

Do they believe in systems or approach service in a structured manner?

As digital has actually exploded the number of marketing user interface points, allowing purchasers to disaggregate business from the buying journey, a CMO must have the ability to think about systems and structures instead of firmly defined marketing lanes. It is no longer adequate to plan in concerns to the social project, material marketing job, events, and PR, all as separate activities. The effective CMO will begin with business goal they are serving and be ready to question everything.

Can they interact outside the walls of the organization to the market?

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

As the CMO will need to work cross-functionally to ensure that they have positioning with product and sales, the marketing head should be an incentive. To develop a category needs discussion, negotiation, and the capability to search for and reach an arrangement.

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

A CMO who tries to lead with ultimate authority will struggle to achieve company objectives of the organization. Marketing groups today need to work as engineering groups operate in an agile fashion. Rather of nicely organized 90-day project cadences, a nimble marketing group carries out a consistent blood circulation of initiatives while maintaining the flexibility to alter as the market or service requirements determine.

Does the CMO comprehend category design?

I have actually made up about category design and why every service needs to own a classification to accomplish its optimum capacity. There is a framework for carrying out category design. Still, whether an Online marketer follows the summary or approaches category style another way, a CMO must be putting regular thought and preparation into how they specify the classification they imply to control. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no method to finish an appropriate classification style.

The Wartime CMO will need to increase the accountability of marketing by showing the effect of each marketing activity on the pipeline as figured out by revenue contribution.
In a sluggish down, marketing ought to 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 overall opportunity worth for each lead source is an excellent way to represent the function marketing is playing to drive the economic goals of company.

Studies have actually revealed that a correctly developed landing page can double your conversion rate over sending out traffic to the house page, which tends to do not have the correct 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 strategies can supply a 2.5 X boost for every single single dollar you invest in marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a distinction.

Throughout Wartime, every marketing dollar is valuable, and a Wartime CMO comprehends that winning will not boil down to a single strategy or "silver bullet" method. Instead, lots of small things executed well. The CMO, who can not understand the interaction of copy, messaging, imaginative style, and innovation, will have a hard time to discover and acknowledge rapidly where small adjustments can provide much better conversions.

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

Now, the material that we develop needs to interest someone attempting to discover our service, and it should include buyer intent triggers like keywords and expressions that a buyer would utilize as they get near acquiring decision. A Havas Group research study exposed that 84% of individuals anticipate trademark name to produce content, yet 60% of the content produced is of bad quality or unimportant, failing to satisfy the needs of the audience. No matter a 71% correlation in between content effectiveness GET MORE INFO and a brand's impact on individual wellness, simply 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand name names produce material that meets this requirement. Trademark name's are failing to produce considerable material.

Stop producing assembly line content that is simply indicated to develop the brand or present the product. Rather, material needs to target specific personalities to fix any holdups preventing the possibility from proceeding. This content will take longer to produce and need a greater community and item understanding level.

CMO's in Wartime should have an excellent understanding of the purchaser mind and their mental requirements so that they can produce content that alleviates worry and addresses the sincere 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 choice, putting them in the excellent position to take as much as 76% of the economics from the whole category.

Read more about Category Design.

The B2B sales process today is fragmented and complicated, with great deals of stakeholders needing to confirm a purchase decision. This renders basic marketing ROI and attribution strategies less advantageous for anything besides scholastic research study.

The marketing function today breaks down into 3 practical pillars making up Product, Requirement Generation, and Category Design. Due to the fact that many marketing leaders have really not totally welcomed classification style, it's a surprisingly simple way to beat an incumbent during a crisis. As quickly as the sector begins to go over the category as you have in fact defined it, your service will end up being the classification and the obvious choice.

To do Category Design needs a various working cadence. Wartime is the perfect time to start Category Design considered that absolutely nothing is "regular" during a crisis.
To handle the challenge of building a Category King organization requires a lots of grit, decision, and an unfaltering drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who takes on the obstacle, there can be no larger pot-o-gold if effective.

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