Spending Levels, Paid Channels, and Growth

Surprise: Doing ‘more with less’, doesn’t actually work in B2B marketing, and today’s guest has the data to show it.

Omar Akhtar is the Founder and Principal Analyst of Benchmarker and the Director of Content at UserTesting. Omar joins co-hosts Matt Amundson & Craig Rosenberg to dive into the B2B marketing data from Benchmarker’s latest survey, why the most successful companies are spending more on brand than demand, and how events have emerged as one of the top growth channels in go-to-market.

Plus, Omar digs into when to prioritize paid versus organic channels in your marketing mix.

Also, Craig outlines the plans for his kid’s booze-fueled birthday party, Matt laughs at an inopportune moment, and Producer Sam says ‘raccoon’. 

Critical Takeaways

• Doing more with less is dead. You can’t cut your way to growth. Marketing leaders need to choose between efficient growth or exponential growth and spend accordingly. 
• The companies that are actually hitting or exceeding their targets are spending at least the same, if not more, on brand as they are on demand. The companies that are performing the worst are overspending on demand over brand marketing.
• When new account growth is the priority, marketing teams should lean into paid search and paid social even though they’re expensive, because these paid channels can deliver faster growth and can outperform organic channels for reach.
• Dinners and small events can be great, but you can easily ruin them by being overly pushy and sales-y. If someone is talking product before anyone’s had a drink, you need to nip that in the bud. Also, some consultants can be pitchy, so invite them selectively.
• SaaS marketers are great at deploying amazing new tactics; however, on the whole, they lack a strong foundation in the marketing basics. Before you learn about the next bleeding-edge tool, take a minute to brush up on the building blocks, like positioning, targeting, and messaging.

Chapters

00:00 - Episode Preview

01:23 - Introducing Omar Akhtar, The Founder of Benchmarker

03:54 - A Perilously Precipitous Sales Call

06:01 - How Omar Moved From Rockstar to B2B Marketing Analyst

12:26 - Craig’s Dog Crashes the Party in Multiple Ways

13:32 - What Benchmarker’s Data has Revealed about Successful B2B Marketing Teams

21:26 - Why the Best Marketing Teams are Spending More on Brand Marketing

23:56 - Where Content Marketing Fits in the Modern B2B Marketing Mix

30:34 - Events & Small Dinners are Converting Like Crazy, but Please Don’t Overdo Them

37:24 - No Amount of Great Marketing Can Overcome a Crap Product, Have a Good Product & Execute the Basics of Marketing Well

44:11 - What Makes Clay’s Marketing So Special

50:21 - How Gong Survived the Latest SalesTech Revolution & is Now Thriving

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Epic Quotes

• “ This idea that we used to have for a long time, where you have to do more with less doesn't hold true anymore, because you can't cut your way to growth anymore.” - Omar Akhtar
• “We’re really in a B2B SaaS recession.” - Omar Akhtar

Connect with Omar

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarbilalakhtar/ 
• Benchmarker Website: https://www.benchmarkerdata.com/ 
• UserTesting Website: https://www.usertesting.com/ 

Shoutouts

• Amy Holtzman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aholtzman/ 
• Amy’s Episode: https://open.substack.com/pub/thetransaction/p/crafting-an-exceptional-event-marketing?r=3iae7z&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web 
• Udi Ledergor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/udiledergor/ 
• Chris Orlob: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisorlob/ 
• Chris’s Episode:  https://open.substack.com/pub/thetransaction/p/solving-the-go-to-market-skills-crisis?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web 
• Jon Miller: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmiller2/ 
• Jon’s Episode: https://open.substack.com/pub/thetransaction/p/building-trust-and-reputation-in?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web 

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