Growing Unicorns

In this conversation with VP of Growth Marketing at Terminus, Auseh Britt, talks about demand gen marketing strategies. Today, you’ll hear about the marketing organization at Terminus, traditional demand gen versus ABM, how Terminus prioritizes budgeting, strategic accounts, and broad market coverage, ABM marketing campaigns, pulling intent data for campaigns, how to rally everyone behind a strategy, and some of the common mistakes and misconceptions about ABM. Starting her career in Civil Engineering, and working for the Department of Transportation, Auseh realized that she enjoyed the project management aspect of the industry. She soon pivoted to marketing roles at InterContinental Hotels, Teleflora, Business.com, Bloomberg, Questex, Logi Analytics, and Terminus. Auseh holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida and an MBA in Marketing from Carnegie Mellon University - Tepper School of Business. Episode Outline [00:30] Auseh’s career path [02:40] Marketing organization at Terminus [04:25] Traditional demand gen versus ABM [07:53] Splitting budgets between traditional demand gen and ABM [10:19] Tying budget to customer lifetime value [11:44] The split between strategic accounts versus broader market coverage [13:40] The target market personas [17:18] Campaign alignment between marketing and sales [22:08] The mechanics of pulling intent data for campaigns [23:39] Common mistakes and misconceptions about ABM [26:59] Rallying everyone behind a strategy [29:05] Auseh’s advice Connect with Auseh LinkedIn Website Connect with Korina and Holly LinkedIn - Korina Edwards, Matter Made Twitter - Korina Edwards Matter Made Website Matter Made Growing Unicorns YouTube Channel LinkedIn - Holly Chen, ExponentialX Twitter - Holly Chen ExponentialX Website

In this conversation with VP of Marketing at WorkRamp, Jack Foster, she talks about growth and marketing. Today, you’ll hear about Jack’s first 6 months at WorkRamp, finding the balance between quick wins and long-term strategy, what she looks for during the interview process, how she structures teams, time-management and prioritisation, marketing sources, establishing team relationships, and her thoughts on marketing ops, analytics, reporting, and attribution. Prior to joining WorkRamp, Jack spent her career leading B2B Marketing teams. She has served in roles in companies including Momentive, CATechnology, ARCserve, and Lever. Episode Outline [00:27] Jack’s background [02:11] The first 6 months [05:00] Larger teams vs hyper growth mode [06:48] The first 90 to 180 days [08:21] Balancing quick wins and long-term strategies [10:09] Jack’s interview process [12:50] Some more quick wins [15:00] Structuring the team [17:14] Building a marketing team mental model [18:28] Marketing ops and analytics [20:01] Brand design, reporting [21:18] Goal Setting [22:29] Attribution [23:41] A baseline percent source for marketing [25:01] Is direct traffic counted as part of marketing? [26:43] Establishing team relationships [29:18] How does Jack manage her time? [30:58] The role of marketing. Connect with Jack LinkedIn Website Connect with Korina and Holly LinkedIn - Korina Edwards, Matter Made Twitter - Korina Edwards Matter Made Website Matter Made Growing Unicorns YouTube Channel LinkedIn - Holly Chen, ExponentialX Twitter - Holly Chen ExponentialX Website

In this conversation with Adam Goyette, Marketing Leader at Help Scout, he talks about product, marketing, and growth. Today, you’ll hear about the key hires that Adam considers for a new team, how he structures his teams, his perspective as a growth leader versus as a marketing leader, advocating for something less measurable (such as content), choosing where to allocate resources, important lessons Adam has learned, and his thoughts on product growth versus marketing growth. For almost 20 years, Adam has served in various marketing roles, including as the VP of Demand Generation at G2. Currently, Adam serves as the VP of Marketing at Help Scout, as well as Marketing Advisor at both TestBox and Rocketium. Adam holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Maine. Episode Outline [00:23] About Adam [01:01] Adam’s perspective as a growth leader vs as a marketing leader [02:19] Key team hires [03:32] Advocating for something less measurable [06:50] Allocating and prioritizing resources [13:29] Lessons Adam has learned [17:37] Structuring the marketing team [20:45] Thinking about product growth vs marketing growth Connect with Adam LinkedIn Website TestBox Rocketium Connect with Korina and Holly LinkedIn - Korina Edwards, Matter Made Twitter - Korina Edwards Matter Made Website Matter Made Growing Unicorns YouTube Channel LinkedIn - Holly Chen, ExponentialX Twitter - Holly Chen ExponentialX Website

In this conversation with KC Chan, Digital Growth Transformer, he talks about digital growth. KC has extensive experience in digital marketing, with interests in growth hacking and Flywheel customer-centric strategies. His career experience in e-Commerce ventures, marketing ROI reporting, and lead generation insights has allowed him to excel at collaborating both vertically and horizontally. KC’s work as a digital growth transformer helps companies stand out both creatively and quantifiably. He is a speaker at the London Social Media Week, and is an expert user on Asana, HubSpot, and Salesforce. KC holds a BSc in Accounting and Finance from the University of Warwick Business School, an MA in Management from Durham University Business School, as well as numerous certificates in marketing. Today, you’ll hear about using video as a growth tool, the most effective ways to ensure videos are seen, defining the engagement rate, using email versus video message, and some best practices. Episode Outline [00:30] Introducing KC [01:26] Getting into growth [03:13] Video as a growth tool [05:27] Categorising video variations and usage [07:46] Effective ways to make sure someone sees a video [10:23] Email vs video message [12:48] Defining engagement rate [15:47] Best practices Connect with Kasey LinkedIn Twitter Connect with Korina and Holly LinkedIn - Korina Edwards, Matter Made Twitter - Korina Edwards Matter Made Website Matter Made Growing Unicorns YouTube Channel LinkedIn - Holly Chen, ExponentialX Twitter - Holly Chen ExponentialX Website

In this conversation, Korina Edwards and Holly Chen talk about brand, marketing, and growth. Hear about SEO and paid search, brand search, keyword bidding, the roles of different channels, and hiring growth and product marketers. Episode Outline [00:40] SEO and paid search [07:15] The channel mix [08:12] Brand search [12:28] Bidding on keywords [15:30] The role of a channel [17:08] Should companies hire growth marketers or product marketers first?

In this conversation with Bennet Bayer, CMO of CTD Solutions Group, he talks about marketing and growth. Hear about Bennet’s journey through his many roles, what the first 90 days look like for a CMO, the role of a CMO in a company, doing schmooze marketing, some of the challenges Bennet has faced, and get Bennet’s advice to aspiring CMO’s. Episode Outline [00:37] Introducing Bennet [01:57] Joining Huawei [04:17] Global CMO versus US CMO [06:36] CMO at Huawei [08:50] The first 90 days as a CMO [13:08] What should a CMO be? [15:24] What is a CMO’s job? [20:10] The changing role of the CMO [23:53] Schmooze marketing [28:12] The most common challenges at turnaround companies [30:08] Problems that you can’t solve [32:35] Learning to scale massive companies [36:04] Bennet’s advice to aspiring CMO’s [39:31] “Marketing doesn’t get involved.”

In this conversation with Julia Yan, Head of Growth at TikTok, she talks about growth and team building. Hear about Julia’s career leading to the growth industry, growing teams and herself, what she looks for when building a team, cross-team collaboration, and how she solves the challenges her team faces. Episode Outline [00:45] Introducing Julia [01:52] Getting into growth [08:03] Building a team [10:57] Thinking about hiring profiles [17:08] How the growth team works with other teams [21:20] How to keep growing yourself [24:07] The biggest challenges Julia’s team has faced in the growth space

In this conversation with Meagen Eisenberg, CMO at TripActions, she talks about teambuilding, growth, and marketing. Hear about teams at hypergrowth companies, the order in which to build a team, building a company narrative, aligning marketing values to executive teams, what the first marketing hire should be, and Meagen’s thoughts on taking chances on people. Episode Outline [00:41] Introducing Meagen [01:29] Growing teams at hypergrowth companies [04:34] Building a team in order [06:35] Mastering product-market fit [07:31] Integrating teams [10:44] How to build a narrative [15:06] Tailoring your comments [16:53] Keeping NPS in mind [17:26] Challenges in aligning teams [25:00] Forming your own opinion [27:18] Aligning long-term marketing values to C-Suite and boards [30:45] The first marketing hire [34:18] Growing, coaching, and taking a chance on people [38:05] The three H’s

In this conversation, the team talks about marketing and growth. Hear about typical hiring profiles, solving worries with communication, paying attention to the details, the best practices to convert from free trial to paid, marketing for horizontal products versus vertical products, and predictability in younger companies. Episode Outline [00:55] Coming up in the growth industry [07:45] Startup to Google [09:49] Google to Slack [13:07] The typical profile [21:50] Having a template [25:27] The devil is in the details [27:01] Horizontal vs vertical products [29:54] Focus and communication [32:35] Free trial to paid best practices

In this conversation with Palmer Houchins, VP of Brand Marketing and Communications at G2, he talks about brand, communications, and marketing. Hear about building a brand, using the brand dashboard, interpreting brand lift studies, how Covid has changed the landscape, what Palmer’s first 90 days looks like, and the importance of the end-user. Episode Outline [00:55] Introducing Palmer [03:03] How brand and comms changed during Covid [05:44] When to consider building a brand [07:20] Defining brand marketing [11:45] Palmer’s favorite metrics [13:54] Commissioning a brand study [17:07] The brand dashboard [21:37] The brand lift study [24:50] Recommended tools [27:42] Choosing the best creatives [34:06] Testing practically [38:47] The importance of the end-user [43:42] Palmer’s first 90 days

In this conversation, Robin Izsak-Tseng, VP of Revenue Marketing at G2, talks about growth and marketing. Hear about how to organize and grow a marketing team, different attribution models, when marketing teams should switch to outbound acquisitions, and best practices for influencer marketing and customer advocacy, and the team has some Real Talk about tactics.

In this conversation, Mike Brooks, SVP of Revenue at WeatherBug, talks about growth, advertising, and data. Hear about the relationship between media buying and growth, how iOS is changing the landscape, the impact on MTA, the prominence of community-led growth, and the idea of the Chief Growth Officer at companies. Episode Outline [01:08] Introducing Mike and WeatherBug [03:44] Media buying and growth trends [12:35] What’s happening with iOS? [21:10] Is MTA dead? [28:05] When to start considering MTA [30:14] The role of first-party data [31:46] Community-led growth [36:09] Influencer marketing and B2B [39:32] Customer advisory boards [45:12] iOS and PLG [48:24] Will Chief Growth Officer be a thing?

In this conversation, the team talks about sales and marketing. Hear about converting free apps to paid subscriptions, how to structure a data/analytics team, the first steps to take after building the PLG engine, using early engagement to determine long-term retention, and the main challenges when building a PLG-to-sales motion. Episode Outline [00:43] Introducing the team [02:01] Converting free apps to paid subscriptions [04:21] What to do first after building the PLG engine [09:35] PLG vs Sales-led motion tools [10:44] Building a sales-led motion in a historically PLG company [16:25] Determining long-term retention from early engagement [21:38] The biggest challenges in building up a PLG-to-sales motion [23:59] How to structure a data/analytics team [33:32] PLG and Account-Based Marketing

In this conversation with Chang Chen, Head of Growth and Marketing at Otter.ai, she talks about self-serve and growing marketing teams. Hear about structuring marketing and sales, ways to identify users, balancing automation and humans, which companies are suitable for the PLG model, customer success, how to avoid pitfalls when working with a sales team, and the role of marketing in product-led motions. Episode Outline [01:05] Introducing Chang Chen [02:32] Introducing the co-hosts [04:18] Structuring marketing and sales at Otter.ai [08:16] Contacting the salesperson after signing up for Otter.ai [10:03] Identifying users [12:12] The Tech Stack at Otter.ai [14:06] Lead scoring model signals [18:56] The self-serve marketing funnel [23:32] Automated email versus a real person [29:34] What type of companies are suitable for a PLG model? [32:49] Common pitfalls when working with a sales team [36:30] Where does customer success sit? [38:06] How to build growth teams [42:50] Product marketing and the product-led motion

In this conversation, the team talks about all things marketing, sales, and collaboration. Hear about how to align the end-user experience with the company’s value, the importance of cross-department communication, balancing product, marketing, and sales, what the ideal Fortune100 company looks like, focusing on the needs of team members, and the role of creativity in collaborations. Episode Outline [00:39] Introducing the co-hosts [04:59] The ups and downs of doing product sales marketing [07:10] Aligning the end-user experience with the company’s value [13:15] The balancing act: product, marketing, and sales [26:18] Designing a Fortune100 company from scratch [32:26] Holly’s radical proposal [34:32] Creating levels of security, control, and belonging for team members [41:36] Does collaboration stifle or encourage creativity?

In this conversation with Tiffany Tai, SVP of Enterprise, Education, and Partnerships at Canva, she talks about Canva’s growth, creating a customer-centric product, and some of the investment skillsets that have paid off over time. Hear about how to grow against entrenched incumbents, the education component for SaaS companies, solving for the needs of different generations of users, finding the highest ROI situations, the economics of what matters, and how to structure partnership teams. Episode Outline [00:55] Introducing Tiffany [02:56] Introducing the co-hosts [04:22] Tiffany’s work at Canva [09:17] Canva’s marketing [11:15] Getting into partnerships [13:20] Thinking about growth against an entrenched incumbent [16:54] Education for SaaS companies [18:36] Generational use of Canva [22:11] What is an ROI that matters? [25:47] Starting as individual products [29:51] Thinking about the economics [37:08] Investment skillsets that have paid off over time [42:45] What makes Canva special against the competition? [43:45] Converting from Freemium to Premium [47:10] Structuring partnership teams

In this conversation, the team talks about bottoms-up versus sales-led motions, and how to choose a motion. Hear about hiring for each of the motions, the importance of having the motions meet in the middle, examples of how the bottoms-up motion can help the top-down motion, how to approach growth marketing in a sales-led motion, and life cycle marketing. Episode Outline [00:58] Introducing the co-hosts [02:23] Can/should anyone do bottoms-up? [05:49] Hiring for each motion [06:39] When does sales touch the end users? [11:15] At what point does top-down and bottoms-up meet in the middle? [14:00] How the bottoms-up motion helps the top-down motion [16:13] Factors that influence which motion to choose [24:11] Determining what was sales qualified at Slack [26:20] Introducing Slack’s sales team [33:41] How to approach growth marketing in a sales-led motion [38:39] How closely should marketing be tied to analytics and roadmap prioritisation? [40:39] The silo mistakes [41:55] Looking at usage analytics

In this conversation with Paul D’Arcy, CMO at Miro, he talks about his passion for driving growth, some of the campaigning strategies at Miro, ad memory effects on sales, and how to approach a rebrand. Hear about some fundamental frameworks, the blending of performance and brand, the many top-of-mind strategic and tactical challenges, the future with shifting ad tech, and defining and creating a category. Episode Outline [01:36] Paul’s background [02:20] Introducing our co-hosts [04:32] Performance and brand marketing [06:07] Fundamental frameworks [12:14] Blending performance and brand [17:51] Top-of-mind strategic and tactical challenges [21:19] Technical audiences [26:08] How do we prepare for a future less reliant on shifting ad tech? [29:10] Miro’s ad campaigns [38:49] The memory effects on sales [42:53] The Dropbox story [46:52] Category definition and creation [49:08] Approaching a rebrand [51:40] Paul’s nominees