Mark Donnigan



Mark Donnigan constructs disruptive ingenious start-ups. Mark's superpower is architecting go-to-market strategies and marketing movements that drive genuine company outcomes for technical and product-centric founders. Mark's development and market advancement experience covers 20 years as a transformative B2B marketing and magnate, driving need, brand development, and strategy for start-up and growth-stage business.

As a professional and virtual marketing leader (fractional-CMO), Mark Donnigan deals with startup developers and CEOs from B2B disruptive development technology companies to assist 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 big as 25, comprising SDRs, AEs, and marketing, producing $29mm/year. Mark carried budget 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 startup marketing specialist, Mark Donnigan's inbound and outgoing marketing experience include structure and mentoring high-performance teams that execute on need generation, brand name and product marketing, PR, digital, and occasions where he develops and implements high-impact programs that drive revenue, produce ROI, trigger the market, and delivers organization results.

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, e-mail 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, structure, leading, and mentoring marketing, sales, and company advancement groups that have actually produced more than $500mm in revenue/shareholder value.

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

Mark Donnigan is a systems thinker, and he puts a high value on team effort. Mark has substantial experience working together with sales, product, operations, and finance to ensure that the service and profits objectives of the business are constantly surpassed.

Development Phase Marketing exists to supply entrepreneurs and creators services for:

Architecting the marketplace classification that is finest suited to the distinct worth proposal of your innovation.
High effect marketing assistance so that you can reach your earnings objectives and scale sustainably.
Achieving go-to-market alignment across the sales and marketing organizations.
Extracting the highest value from every marketing dollar.
Insider knowledge and insights about the B2B buying journey and how to navigate a significantly fragmented customer choice hierarchy.
Operationalizing marketing, from system and process advancement to making the very first hires.

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

If you are a CEO who feels your B2B marketing does not have a clear connection to business, you are not alone. A research study completed by the marketing consultancy Fournaise discovered that 80% of President are not pleased with the work their top Marketing leader is doing. Examining what the present business truth means for marketing leaders, I kept in mind the concept of a Peacetime leader and a Wartime leader from Ben Horowitz's book "The Hard Aspect Of Hard Things."

Horowitz explained the principle in a post where he made up that the Peacetime CEO "concentrates on the big image and empowers her individuals to make detailed decisions." The Wartime CEO, on the other hand, "appreciates a speck of dust on a gnat's ass if it disrupted the prime directive."

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

Peacetime in service is when a business has the ability to grow in its core market due to a considerable advantage vs. the competitors. In times of peace, the organization concentrates on broadening the market and enhancing the business's strengths. For CMO's, Peacetime is when we are totally complimentary to be creative with our brand name building 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.

Wartime is a different thing entirely because, in Wartime, the life and death of our company may be on the line.
As I compose this post, the entire world is battling an invisible enemy called COVID-19, which has let loose an aggravating dose of business uncertainty globally. For CMO's, the COVID-19 pandemic is organization equivalent of war. No longer do our 2020 marketing strategies make great 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 instructions knowing that you were heading towards the door prior to the lights got switched off. No, not simply has the pandemic turned the lights out, its blown a huge crater in our path that was not there prior to, and devoid of light in the space, can not be seen. However we must prevent at all expenditures falling under the crater.

No one longs for war, but a Wartime leader does not diminish from the battle, rather, they acknowledge that Wartime is the single finest possibility to leapfrog sidetracked rivals and take ground away. What follows is a set of tips and concepts to help you find your "Wartime CMO combat plan."

How to function as a Wartime CMO.

Throughout Wartime, everybody is in uncharted waters, however this is where the opportunity is for many business who previously had a tough time to complete versus bigger competitors and dominant market forces. Now, for the extremely first time, you might be on equivalent footing as your more effective competitors. It's the best opportunity to specify 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 "tried and genuine" marketing playback, presuming that constructing the brand name with business interactions messages from the CEO is going to contribute to their organization objectives. Now is the perfect opportunity 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 essential presumptions. As the around the world company environment has actually changed, and the stability of the core company called into question, CMO's ought to be all set to reassess their preliminary strategy.
Think about that less customers will equate to lowered 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. However 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 Business examined the last 6 economic declines considered that 1950 and found that costs on direct marketing grew during the previous financial downturns. Significance, you will wish to consider your mix of trademark name marketing carefully 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 advertising and marketing invests. Push marketing and branding drops in a slowdown, however sales activation marketing always increases.

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

Declines create an opportunity for companies that are more efficient at turning marketing financial investments into earnings. In the middle of a decrease when marketers are cutting their costs is a fun time to take advantage of low CPMs and Qualified public accounting professionals.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising finished a study in 2008 that found, "Following a budget plan cut, a brand name 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 an alarmingly deceptive boost in short-term success. The longer-term company harm will be more considerable, but will not be discovered 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 an economic recession by cutting their TELEVISION marketing invest for 6 months experienced a decrease in Trademark name Use by 24% with a 28% decrease in Brand name Image. Brand names that cut their advertisement spending plan at a greater rate relative to their competitors were at an even higher threat of share loss.
There are an extraordinary variety of marketing studies that confirm in a decrease, brand that continue advertising and marketing efforts recuperate much faster. It takes strong action to invest when the information suggests that ROI is not possible. A Wartime CMO fights to keep the spending plan needed to continue marketing.

Take full advantage of the worth of each lead produced.

In a downturn, risk-averse purchasers take even longer to research purchases, and this uses equally to B2B and B2C purchasers. When you initially acknowledge a prospect, 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 force this interaction. Marketing needs to make sure not to move a prospect through the funnel too rapidly. Remember, the prospect's expert life has been turned on its head. What was a concern simply a couple of weeks or months earlier, is likely not top of mind today.

It's appealing in a decrease to tighten your grip on leads since the reasoning is that now more than ever, all leads are vital. Here is where lead scoring can be an important tool to recognize highly engaged potential customers from those who are not most likely to become your customers. Now is the time for Online marketers to hold on to MQL's for a prolonged period so that you can groom the prospect to the optimum 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 many as 9 out of 10 MQL's who are not yet sales-ready might be lost. They will buy, simply not now. You don't want to lose out on the future sale considering that you didn't keep in contact and include worth though the journey. In a "Wartime" economy, you must do everything possible to optimize the worth of your MQL's.

CMO's that do a far better job of dealing with leads and establishing early-stage prospects into sales-ready leads will remain in the finest position to win during the crisis and most absolutely once it has actually passed.

Focus on your present consumers.

It's more affordable to grow earnings with your existing customers. Believe about whether now is the time to downsize your mass list building programs and focus on building much deeper relationships with those who already know your service. This does not indicate 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 customers.

In Peacetime, marketing groups are working on autopilot in pursuit of driving MQL's to satisfy sales reps. For a company that has obtained traction on their way to becoming a category king or queen, this technique, though costly feels excellent considering that of the amazing 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 carefully tuned when, in truth, it's giving off enormous contamination, i.e. exceedingly high CAC, greater than typical churn for the category, low CLTV, and so on.

Marketing must line up with sales.

A brand-focused Marketing leader concerns business with an impressive education and pedigree, having actually held significant titles with huge business. There was a time when the marketing group may manage all business and item details and messaging with the market. If a buyer preferred to find out about a new item or check out whether an option may satisfy their requirement, they had no alternative however to call the service.

Responses to issues 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 an outcome, the power moved 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 describes expulsions a possibility must pass on the method to doing business with the company. Buyers can connect with us on the platform of their picking. As the buying group has expanded to as many as 2 lots people, the notion that they will follow our procedure as we have really prescribed is hardly ever genuine.

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

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

Today, marketing needs greater levels of technical capability as a result of the surge of digital media and the marketing technologies that are related to internet marketing. This transformation 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 profits motorists. 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 professional at producing and leading creative engagement and company approach to establish a category for business to control.

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

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

A revenue-focused CMO creates content targeted at each phase of the purchaser's journey. Think of the purchaser's journey as a set of gates where the material reacts to the main issues a buyer has at each action so that they can finish the purchasing journey.
The new generation CMO will collect engagement metrics for each gate while examining the success of the end-to-end marketing cycle to provide the most prompt and qualified leads to their sellers. A value designer CMO sees marketing as close allies to the sales group.

The revenue-centered CMO is constantly discovering from and fine-tuning the process so that they can enhance the quantity and quality of leads that contributed to the pipeline and closed company.
Profits attribution and marketing ROI styles will show genuine results, not theorized or "presumed" requirements. This details is important for the revenue-focused CMO to resolve 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 earnings 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 try to find in your next CMO.

In the vibrant state of business today, dealing with a reliable CMO is amongst the most difficult things to do. Every market, service, and market section is numerous. Even where you can acknowledge prospects from the same business neighborhood or environment, it's inadequate to merely have a look at years of experience or education. You need to analyze the motivations and thought patterns of the individual. Ask:
Is the CMO a problem solver?

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

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

Has the CMO held cross-functional positions?

The finest way to make sure that you draw in a CMO who is income and not brand-driven is to work with somebody who has actually come up through item, sales, and business method. Having direct exposure to the inner operations of product and sales is specifically helpful as service technique is ending up being a more significant part of the CMO's series of commitments.

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

As digital has blown up the number of marketing user interface points, enabling buyers to disaggregate the company from the purchasing journey, a CMO needs to have the ability to consider systems and structures rather of securely defined marketing lanes. It is no longer adequate to prepare in regards to the social job, content marketing task, occasions, and PR, all as different activities. The successful CMO will begin with company goal they are serving and be prepared to question whatever.

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

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 highly 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 should be a motivator. To establish a classification requires conversation, settlement, and the ability to search for and reach a contract.

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

A CMO who tries to lead with ultimate authority will have a hard time to achieve service goals of business. Marketing groups today need to work as engineering groups operate in an agile fashion. Instead of perfectly arranged 90-day job cadences, an agile marketing group performs a constant blood circulation of initiatives while maintaining the versatility to alter as the marketplace or company needs identify.

Does the CMO comprehend category design?

I have actually composed about category design and why every service requires to own a category to accomplish its optimal potential. There is a structure for executing category style. Still, whether a Marketer follows the summary or approaches classification style another method, a CMO should be putting routine thought and preparation into how they specify the category they imply to dominate. Without input from the CEO and other members of the executive group, there is no other way to complete a proper classification design.

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

Studies have actually revealed that a properly designed landing page can double your conversion rate over sending traffic to your home page, Mark Donnigan Startup Marketing Consultant which tends to do not have the proper call to action that matches the advertisement. Due to the fact that of this, examining landing pages can increase conversions as much as 50% or more. Together, these techniques can provide a 2.5 X increase for every single dollar you buy marketing. Yes, conversion rate optimization makes a difference.

During Wartime, every marketing dollar is important, and a Wartime CMO understands that winning will not come down to a single method or "silver bullet" approach. Instead, numerous small things performed well. The CMO, who can not comprehend the interplay of copy, messaging, imaginative design, and development, will struggle to find and recognize quickly where little adjustments can use much better conversions.

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

Now, the material that we produce needs to interest somebody searching for our solution, and it should include buyer intent activates like keywords and expressions that a purchaser would utilize as they get close to acquiring choice. A Havas Group research study exposed that 84% of individuals prepare for brand name names to produce material, yet 60% of the content produced is of bad quality or unimportant, failing to fulfill the needs of the audience. Regardless of a 71% connection in between content effectiveness and a brand's impact on individual wellness, just 40% of the world's leading 1,500 brand produce material that meets this requirement. Brand name's are stopping working to produce considerable content.

Stop producing assembly line material that is just meant to establish the brand or introduce the product. Instead, material should target specific personalities to deal with any troubles preventing the possibility from carrying on. This content will take longer to produce and need a greater neighborhood and product understanding level.

CMO's in Wartime should have an exceptional understanding of the buyer mind and their mental needs so that they can create content that relieves worry and addresses the sincere issues 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 category.

Learn more about Category Style.

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

The marketing function today breaks down into 3 functional pillars comprising Item, Requirement Generation, and Classification Style. Due to the fact that numerous marketing leaders have actually not totally welcomed classification design, it's a surprisingly easy way to beat an incumbent throughout a crisis. As quickly as the sector begins to go over the classification as you have really specified it, your company will wind up being the category and the obvious option.

To do Classification Style needs a different working cadence. Wartime is the best time to embark on Classification Design considered that absolutely nothing is "regular" throughout a crisis.
To manage the obstacle of building a Classification King organization requires a lots of grit, decision, and a steadfast drive to win. For the Wartime CMO, who takes on the challenge, there can be no larger pot-o-gold if effective.

Read the book Play Bigger to learn everything about category design.

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