Hugh Macfarlane, Founder & CEO of align.me, writes…
B2B marketing is my passion, and one of the biggest challenges for B2B marketers is alignment. While we’re all busy trying to get Sales and Marketing on the same page, the goals often go and shift on us. And this can be even before most of us have reached the half-way mark! The crucial thing is that the need for alignment has broadened. It’s now about getting the whole business and your partners pointing in the same direction. Sounds logical. So how do you do it?
If you’ve been reading this blog, you will know that I’m excited about joining no fewer than 60 other top-notch speakers at DemandCon this May, where B2B marketing lessons will abound! And I’ll be sharing a few thoughts of my own about alignment – something that has been a top 3 priority in any of my B2B marketing endeavours for the last 20-odd years.
Whether your growth story is about:
- Kick-starting a stalled sales and marketing engine;
- ‘Kicking the curve’ of a mature business; or
- Kicking your first goal.
Real growth needs visibility. The further you look, the faster you go. And when you can’t see, you hesitate. Because you need the whole business to move quickly, you also need the whole business to be looking multiple steps ahead.
I have come to think this way about B2B marketing after much research into alignment, and practical experience building growth plans for hundreds of businesses across 5 continents (including one lucky company in the DemandCon audience). The results all point to alignment being an essential factor to B2B marketing success. And because I’ve got the round-up spot at the end of day 1, I’m going to be attending all the presentations I can during the day and incorporating some of the essential factors other presenters talk about into my presentation (so this isn’t the one to miss).
Then, in our B2B Marketing Training Workshop on day 3 of DemandCon, Chuck Besondy and I will lead you through the process of building an end-to-end sales and marketing plan that helps you select tactics for every stage in the buyer’s journey, and to task each tactic with a clear and measurable role.
Haven’t yet registered for the B2B Marketing Training Workshop? You can do so (and get a 15% discount!) by scrolling to the bottom of our DemandCon event information page.
