What skills do you need in your team? How do you gain those skills? How do you measure the skills of your team?

How to brief an agency through the lens of the buyer’s journey

  align.me co-founder Hugh recently appeared on the Growth Colony podcast to share his insights into how to effectively brief agencies and freelancers. The Growth Colony podcast is where B2B founders, CMOs, marketing & sales leaders talk about their successes, failures, what is working for them today in the B2B marketing world and everything in between. Briefing agencies and freelancers is a complicated process, and if you’re not able to get it right it can lead to a loss in profits and time. On the podcast, Hugh shares his expertise on the importance of briefing correctly, READ MORE

Uplifting the uplifters: Australia’s top business executives discuss leadership during disruption

Being a business owner or leader can be challenging, even isolating - it's not a gig that allows for much time off. It can also get lonely; there's no guidebook or blueprint for being a business owner or leader. Combine that with the lack of time left to network or meet with like-minded people, and it can turn into a bit of a silo. So, a few times a year, we host a roundtable that brings together leaders and executives from our SME and Enterprise clients. The event acts as both an opportunity to say thank you READ MORE

First marketing job? Here’s how to stand out

Anyone's first few months in a new job will naturally be a little scary. There are new things to learn, people to befriend, and clients to impress! These factors are particularly important with graduate roles where there's the added layer of venturing into a full-time position for the first time. Landing a job can often feel like the hardest part for grads. This is especially true in a harsh and competitive job market, like the one we've been seeing for the last several years now. However, getting hired is only the first step. You then not only READ MORE

Five key skills every B2B digital marketer needs

Digital marketing is, by nature, a creative industry. And while people often come into the industry rearing to go with innovative ideas, but there's more to marketing than just a creative itch. Whether for those starting in B2B digital marketing, professionals who are deep in their career, or business leaders looking to hire the next best digital marketer, there are various skills and attitudes to the role that, if overlooked, may be leaving people at a disadvantage. Overlooked areas in B2B digital marketing Marketing is an industry that is constantly evolving as new tools and technology pop READ MORE

Avoid these 6 Common Errors in Marketing A/B Testing

If you're not testing, you're not improving. But, tests can not only fail, they can actually tell you lies. Here are 6 tips I’ve learned to avoid errors in A/B testing. 6 Tips To Avoid Errors In A/B Testing 1. Fail to test The first failure is easy: failing to test at all. You should be conducting A/B tests on the things you do most often, including: Email sends Home page and any other busy page Landing pages Ad groups Social media posts (sponsored) Retargeting ads and landing pages If you're not measuring those things, how are READ MORE

Ask pain funnel questions in the right order [video]

The best pain funnel questions, asked at the wrong time, will lose you a deal you might have won if you’d asked them in the right order. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-7mxhOkFgA Popular sales training company Sandler uses the term ‘pain funnel questions’ to describe the questions a sales person should ask. I’m going to show you today that their questions are good enough. If you master these good-enough questions, you'll go a long way to succeeding in sales. And if ‘good enough’ is good enough, then have a go at mastering pain funnel questions. But if you want to excel, READ MORE

5 Key Skills of a Marketing Manager

What skills does a B2B Marketing Manager need? Do a bit of research, and you'll discover this question is harder to answer than first thought. Everyone has an opinion - and it seems many of these are different. Cutting these skills down to just five really important traits? Even harder. A lot of the confusion stems from inability to differentiate between "Marketer" and "Marketing Manager". They're different roles and need different skills. Want to know what skills a great (digital) Marketer needs? We've outlined that here. This blog (and video) will focus specifically on the skills READ MORE

What is B2B Marketing? [video]

What is B2B Marketing? If you think the answer is obvious, and even too basic to discuss, why does everyone get it so wrong? Let's explore a few notable definitions and build a simple, clear answer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdH-YdIgsdo Here's my take. A definition of B2B Marketing B2B Marketing is the process of planning and executing strategies and campaigns that position your brand in the chosen category(ies) with the businesses most likely to buy, and then creates demand for a well-aligned sales force. To do that we need to: Agree with Sales what problem you are best-equipped to solve Agree READ MORE

Template for risk sharing [video]

Do you ever get involved in risk sharing conversations, either as the buyer or the seller, but don't quite know how to construct a reasonable risk sharing model? I’m going to provide you with a template for risk sharing, and I'll explain why it needs to be deconstructed from price and value. https://www.youtube.com/embed/cZEdcbYqPf0 How to build equitable risk sharing The following 6 steps outline a process for reaching an equitable arrangement on risk sharing between you and a client. Make sure that the value you are delivering is excellent. Make sure that your price for that READ MORE

The 42 B2B marketing tools we use, and many we should consider [video]

What are the best B2B marketing tools to use? I’ll show you from the research we found, and the tools we use ourselves. https://www.youtube.com/embed/WNwdHDVubno I'll share several lists I reviewed for B2B marketing including HubSpot and Mashable. At the end, I’ll show you 42 B2B marketing tools we use ourselves and why. The B2B marketing tools we’ll show you will be for: Planning Project management Web Landing pages Optimisation Interactivity Social posting SEO Advertising List generation Production (making things look pretty) Emails (with or without automation) CRM. Our five articles: Marketo Our first article from Marketo is disappointing READ MORE

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