March 6, 2020

#DemandGen 10: How To Make Your B2B Marketing Feel Like B2C w/ Tara Ryan

There’s no reason why your B2B marketing strategy can’t feel like B2C to the customer. Today, intuitive user experience trumps all else. In this #DemandGen episode of B2B Growth, Sheila catches up with one of the 100 Most Influential B2B Tech...

There’s no reason why your B2B marketing strategy can’t feel like B2C to the customer.

Today, intuitive user experience trumps all else.

In this #DemandGen episode of B2B Growth, Sheila catches up with one of the 100 Most Influential B2B Tech Marketers in North America and the CMO at SwrveTara Ryan.

The two marketing pros talk:

  1. Integrating hyper-personalized messaging
  2. Choosing the best tech stack for your company’s sales cycle
  3. How marketing and sales can partner up in order to cultivate growth

This series is co-hosted by Sheila Kloefkorn, CEO of KEO Marketing.

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You can find this interview, and many more, by subscribing to the B2B Growth Show on Apple Podcasts, on our website, or on Spotify.

Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:11.109 Learn how to turbo charge your marketing results by building repeatable, scalable demand JEN 2 00:00:11.269 --> 00:00:17.429 systems from Sheila Cleftcorn, CEO of Keo Marketing and founder of the Business Owners 3 00:00:17.510 --> 00:00:22.379 Marketing Academy. See if you qualify for a complementary Marketing Road Map for your 4 00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:33.700 business at Keo Marketingcom Slash Audit. You're listening to BB growth, a daily 5 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:38.130 podcast for B TOB leaders. We've interviewed names you've probably heard before, like 6 00:00:38.250 --> 00:00:42.369 Gary vanner truck and Simon Senek, but you've probably never heard from the majority 7 00:00:42.450 --> 00:00:47.090 of our guests. That's because the bulk of our interviews aren't with professional speakers 8 00:00:47.130 --> 00:00:51.240 and authors. Most of our guests are in the trenches leading sales and marketing 9 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:56.320 teams. They're implementing strategy, they're experimenting with tactics, they're building the fastest 10 00:00:56.359 --> 00:01:00.119 growing BDB companies in the world. My name is James Carberry. I'm the 11 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:03.159 founder of sweetish media, a podcast agency for BB brands, and I'm also 12 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:07.629 one of the CO hosts of this show. When we're not interviewing sales and 13 00:01:07.709 --> 00:01:11.349 marketing leaders, you'll hear stories from behind the scenes of our own business. 14 00:01:11.750 --> 00:01:15.150 Will share the ups and downs of our journey as we attempt to take over 15 00:01:15.189 --> 00:01:25.700 the world. Just getting well? Maybe let's get into the show. Welcome 16 00:01:25.739 --> 00:01:29.420 back to be tob growth. I'm your host for today's episode. I'm Sheila 17 00:01:29.459 --> 00:01:34.290 cleft corn, CEO of Ko Marketing, and this is the ten episode in 18 00:01:34.329 --> 00:01:38.689 the Hashtag Demand Jin series. I am thrilled to be joined today by Tara 19 00:01:38.769 --> 00:01:42.689 Ryan, Chief Marketing Officer at swerve. So, Tara, you're an expert 20 00:01:42.810 --> 00:01:47.319 in driving big growth with sales and marketing, and you've been named one of 21 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:52.319 the hundred most influential be tob tech marketers in North America, which is pretty 22 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:56.159 exciting. Would you tell our listeners a little bit more about your background and 23 00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:00.159 what you're up to it swerve? Sure, Sheila. I've been the head 24 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:05.109 of marketing for twenty plus years now, mostly here in California, but around 25 00:02:05.109 --> 00:02:12.830 the globe, mostly enterprise software marketing and swerve, where I am currently. 26 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:20.139 The CMO is a great product or solution real time relevant customer engagement over multi 27 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:25.620 channels, namely mobile. So swerve became very well known in the past few 28 00:02:25.699 --> 00:02:30.490 years because of online mobile, mobile gaining and, as we know today, 29 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:36.969 as consumers with banking and airlines and travel. There really isn't even healthcare and 30 00:02:37.090 --> 00:02:40.330 fitness. There really isn't a minute where we all aren't on our mobile device. 31 00:02:42.009 --> 00:02:49.080 So very relevant customer engagements. So leveraging machine learning in AI to deliver 32 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:55.599 millisecond communications that are hyper personalized for consumers today. So it's exciting and something 33 00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:00.110 not a lot of marketers are taken an advantage of right now. Can you 34 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:05.550 give us an example of one of the situations that you pardon me, yeah, 35 00:03:05.629 --> 00:03:09.389 sure, a good example would be, you know, leveraging geolocation and 36 00:03:09.710 --> 00:03:13.740 not just, you know, for airlines, letting you know when, what 37 00:03:13.900 --> 00:03:17.340 gate to arrive at or when your flight might be delayed, but really recognizing 38 00:03:17.460 --> 00:03:20.780 Okase, Sheila, I see you're on the one hundred and one and you're 39 00:03:20.939 --> 00:03:23.580 you know, you're running a bit late. Here's where parking is, or 40 00:03:23.620 --> 00:03:28.050 here's where you can click and get a fast pass through security and, you 41 00:03:28.129 --> 00:03:31.289 know, looking at the entire customer journey and, you know, again, 42 00:03:31.650 --> 00:03:38.250 delivering that relevant experience to each person one on one. I mean today we 43 00:03:38.409 --> 00:03:43.599 can capture up to three years of behavioral data and turn that around into a 44 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:50.120 very relevant customer experience. So it's fascinating for be TOC marketing and I've learned 45 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:53.919 a lot because being in beat to be marketing and the way we automate and 46 00:03:54.280 --> 00:04:00.590 drive personalized experiences across the sale cycle, it's been neat to be the parallel. 47 00:04:00.590 --> 00:04:03.189 I can imagine. Yes, well, and that's where the whole world 48 00:04:03.229 --> 00:04:08.590 is moving, where everything is much more personalized and in real time. So, 49 00:04:08.750 --> 00:04:11.340 given that, let me ask you this question. I work with a 50 00:04:11.379 --> 00:04:15.579 lot of marketers who just feel overwhelmed. They fill overwhelmed with technology, they 51 00:04:15.660 --> 00:04:20.860 feel overwhelmed with the pressure to provide more personalized experiences. How do you recommend 52 00:04:21.139 --> 00:04:28.170 that they keep focus in a software as a service stack world with limitless possibilities 53 00:04:28.490 --> 00:04:33.769 for automation, ABM, analytics and all kinds of things? Sure, again, 54 00:04:34.649 --> 00:04:39.720 I think we're all facing this challenge. I know that at least in 55 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:44.279 the last ten years, the growth of the marketing stass stack has you know, 56 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:48.399 I think we have thousands of options now, especially everything that adds value 57 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:54.910 to your investment in your main marketing cloud, and so how to choose and 58 00:04:54.990 --> 00:04:59.310 how to prioritize? I have meetings. One I I like to meet with 59 00:04:59.509 --> 00:05:04.269 and stay informed on everything that is new and I'm continually amazed at some of 60 00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:09.819 the automation and the tools that we have at our disposal. That being said, 61 00:05:10.220 --> 00:05:15.060 limit budgets are limited and being in companies I've been at the last few 62 00:05:15.060 --> 00:05:18.459 companies have been pre IPO, so a lot of pressure on budgets and growth 63 00:05:18.500 --> 00:05:24.649 at the same time. So my advice and my experience is to really understand 64 00:05:25.290 --> 00:05:30.410 what is your product. Is it a long term consultative sales cycle? Is 65 00:05:30.490 --> 00:05:34.720 it try INS actional? Are you leveraging Tele Sales and tell a marketing and 66 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:41.920 really recognizing that no, to be to be sales cycles are alike and as 67 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:46.920 well as the marketing automation. So how does marketing fuse with sales and really 68 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:51.189 understand the tools that are necessary, and example would be right now, Bambara 69 00:05:51.310 --> 00:05:57.670 is a wonderful vendor that I found out about four months ago. Our sales 70 00:05:57.709 --> 00:06:01.189 cycle is probably two weeks in purchasing and getting that up in live. You 71 00:06:01.269 --> 00:06:05.019 know, there's a lot of chatbots that are amazing right now and those are 72 00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:11.220 tools that have helped me bridge the gap with my sales organization and shortened sales 73 00:06:11.300 --> 00:06:15.740 cycles in the early stages of pipeline, and so those become at the top 74 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:21.209 of my list and they become a priority versus the hundreds of opportunities that I 75 00:06:21.329 --> 00:06:28.970 have with ass applications. Sure, so you prioritize technology that helps you better 76 00:06:29.170 --> 00:06:32.279 partner with sales. It sounds like it does. Yes, so, so 77 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:40.879 intendeda from Bombora working with a list partner like zoom info or ever strapsolutely. 78 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:46.389 I work with marketing operations and sales operations and marketing and and also tell a 79 00:06:46.470 --> 00:06:50.589 marketing I asked that we all meet together. We meet weekly. Yeah, 80 00:06:50.750 --> 00:06:55.550 that's important. Review what tools we're working, what is in our SASS stack, 81 00:06:55.629 --> 00:06:58.430 and then I also like to make sure that it's just not too many. 82 00:06:59.149 --> 00:07:03.019 When I walked into Kupa, for example, we had over twenty SASS 83 00:07:03.060 --> 00:07:08.019 APPS in marketing automation and we sat down at the table and said, you 84 00:07:08.060 --> 00:07:11.339 know, what do we really need and what's making a difference and we put 85 00:07:11.420 --> 00:07:15.569 some objectives around them and a month later met again and made some decisions to 86 00:07:15.810 --> 00:07:21.449 delete a few and further invest with others. And what was the impact of 87 00:07:21.529 --> 00:07:28.410 that, of those decisions? Well, reduced cost per lead, because I 88 00:07:28.529 --> 00:07:31.680 think when we look at marketing operations and really looking at you know, I 89 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:36.600 think today I'm looking at thirteen different marketing channels I can leverage between, you 90 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:43.600 know, social marketing, contents, indication again, chatbots, webinars, podcast 91 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:46.430 etc. So, you know, looking at that cost per lead and making 92 00:07:46.509 --> 00:07:51.269 sure that your SASS stack is is part of that equation. When I'm spending 93 00:07:51.870 --> 00:07:57.069 all this time automating and analyzing the lead, you know, if it's a 94 00:07:57.110 --> 00:08:03.620 fifty dollar lead and I'm spending all this technology surrounding that lead, sometimes sometimes 95 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:07.259 it's slowing me down. When I look at the nurturing and the tearing of 96 00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:13.410 some of the nurture streams. My biggest warrior what keeps me up at night 97 00:08:13.649 --> 00:08:18.850 is am I stalling my cycle? Actually be right and hating it? Yes, 98 00:08:18.170 --> 00:08:22.129 I could be getting in my own way. So maybe adding a lot 99 00:08:22.170 --> 00:08:28.560 more complexity than you need to. Absolutely and I yeah, I think there's 100 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:31.360 some wonderful ABM vendors, but for me, when I have, you know, 101 00:08:31.440 --> 00:08:37.159 right now I'm in enterprise, we sell to large brands and so it 102 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:41.710 isn't thousands and thousands of leads per month and so I can look at some 103 00:08:41.830 --> 00:08:46.789 ABM approaches and make sure that I have my ideal customer profile. I have 104 00:08:46.870 --> 00:08:50.710 a strong focus with sales and marketing and that we're not trying to capture, 105 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:56.659 you know, the interest of thousands. So again making sure that you're very 106 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:01.539 clear. Are you selling to SMB, mid market or enterprise audiences? And 107 00:09:01.700 --> 00:09:07.700 then what are those ideal customer profiles and the tools and the SASS stack that 108 00:09:07.899 --> 00:09:11.250 compliments that the most. What are some of your favorite platforms right now? 109 00:09:11.330 --> 00:09:16.009 For that? I love hub spot. So I think they have spots done 110 00:09:16.009 --> 00:09:22.169 a wonderful job of late. We just rebuilt our blog in hube spot and 111 00:09:22.529 --> 00:09:26.360 it took two weeks and it was seamless and we're thrilled and I'm looking at 112 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:31.480 that for my website. So again, nothing against part odd or Marquetto or 113 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:37.279 others, but cost effectiveness, easy Ui and, you know, ramp time. 114 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:39.950 I'm thrilled with that vendor. I think drifts are anger full as well. 115 00:09:41.509 --> 00:09:46.110 I'm just a great experience with them and again, it's just a great 116 00:09:46.110 --> 00:09:48.990 time to be a be to be marketer. It is we have so many 117 00:09:50.070 --> 00:09:54.100 options. I mean the innovation and I was just speaking at a B Toc 118 00:09:54.580 --> 00:10:00.539 CMO conference a couple months ago and I got on the plane to come home 119 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:03.620 and I thought, you know, B Toc marketers don't you know, just 120 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:11.210 have the same technology surrounding us and I think we're very fortunate right now to 121 00:10:11.289 --> 00:10:15.289 be be to be marketers. I think so too. You talked a little 122 00:10:15.289 --> 00:10:18.090 bit about how marketing should partner with sales in terms of the SASTACK, but 123 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:22.360 are there other things that you think are really important in terms of marketing partnering 124 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:28.320 with Sales for Growth? Sure, I think in the last few years, 125 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:31.799 my experience at proof point, which was a security company that I went into, 126 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:37.830 pre IPO and then Coupa as well. When you have the foresighter the 127 00:10:37.950 --> 00:10:43.029 futuring, of knowing that you will have earnings calls in a matter of quarters 128 00:10:43.350 --> 00:10:48.309 and that the pressure is on, you know how much revenue marketing can contribute 129 00:10:48.350 --> 00:10:54.940 to. So I've really judged my performance on closed new revenue at the last 130 00:10:54.940 --> 00:11:00.659 few growth companies and that requires an all bound approach. So instead of inbound 131 00:11:00.740 --> 00:11:05.169 and outbound, I've combined it to call it an all bound marketing and sales 132 00:11:05.210 --> 00:11:11.929 approach, where we look at conversion rates and stages of the sales cycle and 133 00:11:11.289 --> 00:11:18.679 what marketing programs, campaigns, mediums, offers fulfillment are contributing to the closed 134 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:24.879 deal. And and I think that partnership between sales and marketing has been, 135 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:31.639 or has become more fused than ever before. Absolutely, and you absolutely need 136 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:35.870 that in order to get growth fast. You need sales and marketing to be 137 00:11:35.990 --> 00:11:39.509 on the same page, the systems to be working together and the campaigns to 138 00:11:39.549 --> 00:11:46.389 be working together right. Absolutely so. I've been fortunate in the last couple 139 00:11:46.549 --> 00:11:54.019 companies to either have telemarketing in the marketing department more that's nice. Again a 140 00:11:54.259 --> 00:11:58.500 very close partnership. I think more and more CMOS are looking at that again 141 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:03.289 as a bridge between sales and the marketing organization. That can be shorter and 142 00:12:03.450 --> 00:12:07.250 shorter, shorter and shorter bridge. Yes, it really looking at that all 143 00:12:07.370 --> 00:12:11.250 bound approach and saying you know, what is converting from stage one to two, 144 00:12:11.370 --> 00:12:16.240 to three, to four and ultimately to closed revenue and making those tough 145 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:22.320 choices. Sometimes that means that you know a medium like a trade show may 146 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:26.480 not be may have diminished return year over year and you know you may have 147 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:31.629 to make that tough decision out in the field with sales that it's not something 148 00:12:31.669 --> 00:12:37.190 that you'll do a second or third time and instead digital marketing may be proving 149 00:12:37.669 --> 00:12:43.909 to convert stronger and some of our preconceived notions around marketing mediums. You know, 150 00:12:43.299 --> 00:12:48.539 we need to be flexible on that in both the marketing and sales roles. 151 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:50.860 It sounds like you've had some great success. If you were to give 152 00:12:52.059 --> 00:12:56.539 just one or two tips for be tob marketers today on the things they should 153 00:12:56.539 --> 00:13:00.049 be thinking about more than anything else, what would they be? Yeah, 154 00:13:00.129 --> 00:13:03.570 sure, I think, you know, keep it simple really, you know, 155 00:13:03.649 --> 00:13:07.289 keep your eye on the and the focus on revenue and growth, and 156 00:13:07.889 --> 00:13:13.320 that really comes from sales, that comes from contracts that get signed and put 157 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:16.879 back into sales force. And then, I also think the discipline of your 158 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:22.240 your main system of record, so not to get distracted, as we talked 159 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:26.080 about earlier, from you know, one SASS APP APP that may give you 160 00:13:26.149 --> 00:13:31.070 some wonderful analytics, but making sure that with sales force or Marquetto or your 161 00:13:31.110 --> 00:13:37.190 marketing cloud, that you're really looking at that main investment and making sure that 162 00:13:37.269 --> 00:13:41.100 that's the system of record that everyone judges your success in your performance by. 163 00:13:41.580 --> 00:13:45.899 Hm. Well, Tara, this has been a really great conversation. I 164 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:50.779 loved your in sites. I know our audience is going to be thrilled to 165 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:54.980 hear what you have to say and if anyone listening has any follow up questions 166 00:13:54.019 --> 00:13:58.330 or would just like to connect with you, what would be the best way 167 00:13:58.330 --> 00:14:03.850 for them to find you? Sure on linkedin connect with me and just love 168 00:14:03.970 --> 00:14:09.129 to have ongoing conversations with all be tob marketers, so I think linkedin is 169 00:14:09.169 --> 00:14:13.960 probably the easiest way and would look absolutely love that. That's great. Well. 170 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:18.440 Thank you, Tara, and for our listeners, this channel is sponsored 171 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:22.320 by Kaeo Marketing. If you're interested in a complementary marketing audit, you can 172 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:26.190 do that at Kaeo Marketing and we look forward to seeing you next time. 173 00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:30.629 Tara, thanks for again for being on the show. It's been great to 174 00:14:30.669 --> 00:14:31.789 spend the time with you and get to know you a little bit better. 175 00:14:33.070 --> 00:14:39.179 Fantastic. Thank you, Sheila. I hate it when podcasts incessantly ask their 176 00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:43.659 listeners for reviews, but I get why they do it, because reviews are 177 00:14:43.779 --> 00:14:46.460 enormously helpful when you're trying to grow a podcast audience. So here's what we 178 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:50.379 decided to do. If you leave a review for me to be growth and 179 00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:54.009 apple podcasts and email me a screenshot of the review to James at Sweet Fish 180 00:14:54.049 --> 00:14:58.889 Mediacom, I'll send you a signed copy of my new book. Content based 181 00:14:58.929 --> 00:15:01.570 networking, how to instantly connect with anyone you want to know. We get 182 00:15:01.570 --> 00:15:05.129 a review, you get a free book. We both win.