Tag: B2B strategy

Don’t Charge It, Brex It

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Renegade Thinkers Unite recently moved to renegade.com! As a subscriber, you should have received an email with the subject line ‘Activate your Email Subscription to: Renegade Thinkers Unite’. It may be buried in your inbox, or even the spam folder, but if you click the link in that email, you’ll continue getting notifications when each week’s new episode is published, only now it’ll be to renegade.com.

Don’t Charge It, Brex It

Silicon Valley is home to thousands of B2B startups—and one of the the newest B2B  unicorns. Brex offers a corporate credit card more built around the ever-changing needs of a startup, and they’ve been valued at over $1 billion. One of the secrets? Champagne and chocolate.

Brex’s overall success has tied heavily into their bold marketing, and on this episode of RTU, Chief Sales Officer Sam Blond, and CFO/CMO Michael Tannenbaum, discuss it in detail. From identifying your targets, to orchestrating outdoor campaigns, to in-depth attribution models, Brex has been firing on all cylinders. Listen in to learn more.

What You’ll Learn

How Brex found its current market

Brex is located in Silicon Valley, where there are thousands of B2B startups. Brex’s founders stumbled upon the painfulness of managing corporate credit cards when they could not get a credit card for one of their own new businesses. Their experience demonstrated a business opportunity and a marketplace in the niche of corporate cards for startups. Typically, founders of startups have to personally guarantee a corporate card. Even with millions of dollars in the bank, these businesses would have 20k-30k spending limits placed on them that were nowhere high enough to support the spending of a company. Brex instead uses a business’s bank accounts and bank activity to determine the spending limits on corporate cards. Michael and Sam point out that startups move and grow too quickly to have spending limits determined on a yearly basis, so Brex is constantly evaluating what a business needs and what limits will be. Their business model has resonated especially with tech startups and B2B businesses in Silicon Valley.

For the whole article: http://bit.ly/2D1VN9w

Connect With Michael Tannenbaum & Sam Blond:

Resources & People Mentioned

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How Emerson’s Long-Time CMO Reduces Complexity

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Renegade Thinkers Unite recently moved to renegade.com! As a subscriber, you should have received an email with the subject line ‘Activate your Email Subscription to: Renegade Thinkers Unite’. It may be buried in your inbox, or even the spam folder, but if you click the link in that email, you’ll continue getting notifications when each week’s new episode is published, only now it’ll be to renegade.com.

How Emerson’s Long-Time CMO Reduces Complexity

Perhaps Kathy Button Bell’s title should change from “Chief Marketing Officer” to “Chief Complexity Reduction Officer”—after all, she’s been simplifying things at Emerson Electric for over 20 years. Over that time, marketing has become complex due to the advent of new tools and the increased precision of targeting, among other things, but sometimes marketers need to shift their priorities towards making things easy to understand.

On this episode of RTU, Kathy and Drew discuss unnecessary complexity, employee engagement, the importance of—and keys to—longevity in marketing, and perhaps most importantly, how to keep your marketing brave, human, and uncluttered.

You won’t want to miss Kathy’s insights!

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts – Stitcher – or Podsearch

For the whole article: http://bit.ly/2UaPf32

Timeline

    • [2:01] Who is Kathy Button Bell
    • [3:47] How she dug in and stayed at one place as a CMO
    • [11:24] Living out her moto: Be Brave and Have Fun!
    • [18:48] How to stay fresh when you’ve been in the same job
    • [22:12] Emerson Electric’s new iteration of a campaign
    • [28:21] Kathy Button Bell’s guiding principles
    • [31:30] Measuring the success of the “We See” campaign
  • [34:16] Two dos and a don’t for other CMOs

Connect With Guest:

    • Kathy Button Bell’s Bio on Emerson’s Website
    • Connect with Kathy Button Bell on LinkedIn
    • Follow Kathy Button Bell on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect with Drew

The Keys to Effective, Purpose-Driven Marketing

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Renegade Thinkers Unite recently moved to renegade.com! As a subscriber, you should have received an email with the subject line ‘Activate your Email Subscription to: Renegade Thinkers Unite’. It may be buried in your inbox, or even the spam folder, but if you click the link in that email, you’ll continue getting notifications when each week’s new episode is published, only now it’ll be to renegade.com.

The Keys to Effective, Purpose-Driven Marketing

A true, purpose-driven brand doesn’t happen overnight. What it really takes is a goal, specific actions, and at times, a bit of sacrifice. For Bank of the West, their mission meant, in the short-term, potentially leaving money on the table in the name of responsible investment of customers’ money, and transparency as to what that money was doing. That initial cost was worth it, as the long-term benefits, like new customers, talent attraction, and differentiation, outweighed any money lost. Now, when high-profile job candidates ask, “Why should I join you? How are you helping the world?” Bank of the West has a great an answer—they’re one of very few banks that has restrictive financing policies on things like coal, fracking, and arctic drilling.

On this episode of RTU, learn how CMO Ben Stuart and his team helped shape this relatively small financial institution to become a competitive, purpose-driven company with marketing that doesn’t feel like an uninvited guest. The discussion touches on crafting a tight strategy, gaining internal buy-in, data analytics, the keys to differentiation, and more on how to craft brilliant marketing.

For the whole article: http://bit.ly/2PkB4m1

Connect with Ben

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Buying is Broken — Here’s What We Can Do

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Renegade Thinkers Unite recently moved to renegade.com! As a subscriber, you should have received an email with the subject line ‘Activate your Email Subscription to: Renegade Thinkers Unite’. It may be buried in your inbox, or even the spam folder, but if you click the link in that email, you’ll continue getting notifications when each week’s new episode is published, only now it’ll be to renegade.com.

Buying is Broken — Here’s What We Can Do

Nothing like a live audience to keep you on your toes! Third-time guest Brent Adamson, Distinguished Vice President, Gartner, joins Drew for a live conversation in front of an elite collection of B2B CMOs to chat about smarketing—and no, that’s not a typo. Brent dives into why sales and marketing—“smarketing”— must work together and fully align to connect with customers.

Beyond that, Brent explains why buying is broken, the pitfalls of working with a large buyer committee, and why companies need to make customers reevaluate themselves rather than products. Don’t miss that and more on this week’s Renegade Thinkers Unite!

You’ll enjoy this episode, so be sure to listen!

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts – Stitcher – or Podsearch

What You’ll Learn

Smarketing: sales and marketing collaboration

Marketing has long been coupled with the digital while sales has been dominantly in person. In this mindset, marketing is early on in the process of working with a customer while sales is later. However, Brent suggests that this linear view on sales and marketing does not have to be, and in fact, may not even be the best. He introduces the term – smarketing: the combination of sales and marketing. He suggests a workaround on the functional divide of sales and marketing. When looking at how buying happens, you are looking for information needed by the client, so the solution is to put this information together for clients and deliver them through multiple channels with sales and marketing supporting this.

Why buying is broken, and how to put B2B sales back together!

For B2B sales, there used to be approximately 5.4 people involved in the buying process. Over the past number of years, this number of people involved has jumped up to 9-10. The more people involved, the more difficult buying has become. There are more opinions and prerogatives, so this slows the process of B2B sales down. Brent shares that in studies done, it is not optimal to personalized message for each of these 10 stakeholders. Instead, to market to all of these buying persons, you must find a common denominator. Creating content around this common ground can help buyers reach a decision. Be sure to listen to hear Brent share an example of this!

Commercial insight tools

Brent further explains 3 commercial insight tools that can be used to help motivate buyers:

  1. Connector: A connector is a set of information or tools to identify who needs to be involved
  2. Advisor: An advisor is a buying guide or a set of steps to be followed
  3. Diagnostic: A diagnostic is a framework that is created for a segment of customers that allows them to diagnose their performance to help identify where they are on a continuum of performance (where they are and where they want to be!)

Timeline

  • [2:13] What is new with Brent Adamson
  • [3:34] Prepping for a recession as a CFO or CMO
  • [8:16] Smarketing! Sales and marketing working together
  • [12:04] Buying is broken – why and how to help as a marketer
  • [22:55] A good example of commercial insight
  • [28:00] Audience questions: Connie O’Brien and Denise Broady
  • [40:56] Commercial insight tools: connector, advisor, and diagnostic

Connect With Brent Adamson:

  • Brent Adamson’s Bio on Gartner’s Conference Website
  • Connect with Brent Adamson on LinkedIn
  • Follow Brent Adamson on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect with Drew

The 2019 CES Preview – Everything B2B Businesses Need to Know

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Every January, over 180,000 people converge on Las Vegas to place their bets on the coolest and potentially coveted gadgets the world has yet to see. The 2019 CES promises to be “the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies.” It’s a can’t-miss conference for marketers and business professionals from all industries — even those in the B2B space.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew talks with Shelly Palmer, CEO of The Palmer Group, about what attendees can expect and look for at the 2019 conference. You’ll hear about why B2B professionals owe it to themselves and their clients to learn what is up-and-coming, as well as why attendance ROIs are so individualized. Be sure to listen to catch Shelly’s expert insights on new sub-conferences at the 2019 CES and how you can make the most out of this major networking experience.

Get up to speed on the upcoming 2019 CES – listen now.

                 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts – Stitcher – or Podsearch

What You’ll Learn

Here’s what you can expect at the 2019 CES

Shelly explains that CES has been a proving ground for new technologies for the past 50 years. Not only will attendees catch inside glimpses into brand-new technologies already on the market, but they’ll be able to understand what’s coming in 18, 24, and even 36 months. He says it’s a “unique crystal ball into the future,” and allows you and your team to begin building new technological opportunities into your own business plans.

Networking opportunities and big-picture dreaming will be abundant in January


Virtually all aspects of modern businesses are influenced by technology. Shelly tells Drew that even giant corporations have individuals on the receiving ends of B2B sales calls, and those individuals use everyday technologies that are featured at CES. That’s why even B2B professionals have countless opportunities to add value to their companies and careers by attending the 2019 CES.

Simply reading about CES after the fact won’t give you the full scope. To truly understand the importance of this event, you have to experience it for yourself. No longer just an “electronics show,” Shelly believes that the 2019 CES is truly a “business show.” Drew, Shelly, and hundreds of other industry leaders will be at 2019 CES – will you?

“Resiliency” will be a new focus at the 2019 CES, and it’s an area of innovation that deserves your attention

One business and marketing trend you need to be aware of is “resiliency,” explained by the Consumer Technology Association (owner and producer of the CES) as the ability to “keep the world healthy, safe, warm, powered, fed and secure, even in the face of adversity.” Innovations that will help restore power and cell service to disaster-riddles areas, for example, will be featured at this sub-conference event. “The Resilience Conference will deliver world-class conference programming, insights, and solutions,” says a recent CTA press release. In order to be informed and responsible global citizens, marketers can’t afford to miss this event.

B2B and B2C marketers alike will have dozens of opportunities at the 2019 CES to expand their network, brainstorm with like-minded professionals, and plan for the future. For more information on 2019 CES and to register, visit the conference website.

Timeline

  • [0:28] This year’s CES conference is not you can’t afford to miss
  • [7:27] B2B people need to attend the CES event too!
  • [13:34] Here’s what you need to look for specifically at this year’s CES event – and what not to believe
  • [21:44] “Retargeting is evil, but it works beautifully!”
  • [26:14] Shelly transformed his family-owned consulting business into a global entity that does “engineering for engineers”
  • [33:00] “Resilience” will be a new focus at the 2019 CES
  • [32:28] The ROI on CES is very individualized, but 100% worth it

Connect With Shelly:

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect with Drew

Creating the Category — Affectiva and Emotional AI

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Gabi Zijderveld is no stranger to pioneering new tech industries. As the CMO of Affectiva, she has helped to create an entirely new category in the tech industry: #EmotionAI. While emotional intelligence is not always fully understood, Gabi and her team at Affectiva have found a way to craft a narrative around emotional AI that the tech world could not ignore. From educational summits to simple handwritten notes to supporters, Gabi has found the keys in paving a new frontier for smart technology.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Gabi shares her nonlinear journey to the CMO seat at Affectiva. Her courageous drive to do something that had never been done before led to an innovative breakthrough for emotional intelligence. With the right strategies and priorities, Gabi proves that CMOs don’t have to follow the leader — they can create whole new markets for their product.

Listen here to learn the steps to becoming an innovative marketer.

                 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts – Stitcher – or Podsearch

What You’ll Learn

#1 – Gabi developed terms and marketing language that was easily understood

“Emotional AI” is an artificial intelligence that can detect human emotion in the form of non-verbal facial cues, body language, gestures, etc. While it is now a well-known category in the AI space, that hasn’t always been the case. When Affectiva and Gabi were developing the technology, they had to overcome the challenge of not being recognized or understood. They combatted these issues by crafting their messages in common language that everyone could easily understand. Everything from expanding the company’s vision to drafting press releases used language that was engaging, yet not too technical.

#2 – The ecosystem of support for emotional AI was critical

Developing the emotional AI industry wasn’t done in a silo. The entire Affectiva team had a support system of brand ambassadors, technology advocates, and media contacts that supported the vision and the product. Gabi tells Drew on this episode that collecting creative, innovative, and loyal people was essential to the industry’s developmental success.

#3 – Measurement of the new industry’s reach and impact continues to be a top priority

Gabi also shares the importance of having concrete measurement and evaluation tools in place while working in a new company with new ideas. This measurement isn’t solely about collecting more leads and sending them down the pipeline – it’s about tracking the overall exposure and awareness of the company and technology. Gabi and her team accomplish this by measuring press activity and coverage, identifying key industry influencers, tracking diversity in live event attendees, and ensuring marketing dollars are allocated appropriately. These 3 keys have been critical to Affectiva’s success, and you can implement these same ideas in your own company. For the full story, be sure to give this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite your full attention.

Timeline

  • [0:28] All about Gabi and how she transitioned from art history to technology
  • [4:14] Having a foundation in marketing isn’t the end-all-be-all factor
  • [7:35] Describing emotional AI in a way people understood was critical
  • [13:57] The “Aha!” moment behind the term “emotion AI”
  • [18:45] Implementing a new technology frontier isn’t always easy
  • [24:40] Here’s how you can get over 40 speakers to come to speak at your event – for free!
  • [28:40] Fostering and personalizing relationships through thoughtful gestures
  • [31:34] Measuring the impact of emotional AI is a top priority at Affectiva
  • [36:46] 2 do’s and 1 don’t for CMOs creating new markets

Connect With Gabi:

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect with Drew