Tag: marketing

Categories
Marketing Strategy

My Marketing Thesis (at Zingtree, a software startup)

My Marketing thesis for Zingtree in a nutshell boils down to this:

3 things will drive pipeline and revenue growth for us:

  1. Create & refine a compelling, differentiated story – carve out our unique PoV
  2. Grow our awareness – If we grow the awareness of our PoV, we’ll grow pipeline
  3. Convert interested & in-market ICPs – move them through the funnel quickly in a personalized way
Categories
Content Marketing

The Actual Content Creation Process We Use at a B2B SaaS Startup

Below is the actual content creation process we use in Marketing at Zingtree. Why do I share this?

Because most teams miss content deadlines frequently.

No planning & incorrect time estimations are common issues.

Copy our process flow below for creating content and backing into estimated due dates for content.

Think of each of these as sub-tasks for creating one piece of content. Also, put a due date and owner next to each sub-task.

Content Creation Process

  1. First draft created

  2. Review #1 by manager (and maybe others who have good domain expertise to give input)

  3. Incorporate feedback (if there is any)

  4. Potential: Review #2 by manager (and maybe others who have good domain expertise to give input)

  5. Incorporate feedback (if there is any) (add more cycles here if needed)

  6. Send to Design (if necessary) (note: ideally, design has already been aware and influenced the project)

  7. Content creator review design

  8. Design incorporate feedback (add more cycles here if needed)

  9. Post final files to Google Drive

  10. Publish (internally, externally on web, etc. depending on use case)

  11. Share with GTM team

Categories
Marketing Example Marketing Strategy

How I Reduced the Marketing Budget in my First 90 Days

I reduced the Marketing budget by 30% just 2 months after joining Zingtree without anyone asking me to do so.

Why? I try to think like a CEO. If this was my money, I wouldn’t spend it all yet, or I’d spend it differently.

How did I do this?

– Cutting budget from items that weren’t performing for Zingtree

– Delay investing heavily in new initiatives until we proved them out with a smaller budget (early positive signals, early revenue results)

– Reevaluating the agency, freelancer, and vendor list

I go into a bit more detail in this post about principles for cutting the Marketing budget.

——–
To all the Marketing leaders, don’t invest too heavily before you can prove results (or early positive signals) of new initiatives.

To all the CFOs and CEOs out there, send this to your Marketing leader so they can get some inspiration 😉

Categories
Marketing Strategy

How to Cut Marketing Budgets

Great Marketing leaders proactively evaluate the Marketing budget. They look for ways to reduce it and where to invest further. Here are my top 4 ways to cut your Marketing budget ✂

4 Steps to Cut a Marketing Budget

  1. Talk with your team and colleagues.

    They probably have ideas to reduce costs that you’re not aware of. And they’ll probably be very willing to share with you about how things can be improved.

  2. Analyze data and results to see what’s working and what isn’t

    If programs have been given enough of a chance, and they’re still showing no positive signals, end them. Especially in today’s economic climate, you can’t afford to have non-performing programs wasting money.

  3. Find duplicate functionality and consolidate the tools to have a lower TCO

    Getting rid of vendors that have overlapping functionality is such an easy win for money savings. For instance, why pay for two email automation tools?

  4. See if the value provided by a tool is greater than the cost

    If you’re not getting value, then is it really worth the money? Probably not…

Think about the step you need to focus on most and start with that. Then knock out the others after.