SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success Ken Lempit

There are few marketing leaders with the perspective, experience and insights of Jay Gaines. He's also one of the more generous people I've met; he truly enjoys sharing his expertise to help other marketers. In this episode, Jay talks about:
Covid and the resulting content tsunami - good content just isn't good enough anymoreThe value of context and empathy in marketing (you read that right)How to use a quarterly "lightning strike" to cut through the noise and drive revenueMaking the case for creative - it's not all about the numbers (but you need to manage your KPIs)How to use direct mail in today's world (yes, USPS direct mail)When and how SaaS founders need to invest in product marketingTalking the language of CFOs, a skillset that's as valuable as it is under-appreciatedAnd moreIt would be hard to imagine anyone not learning something they can use from this episode.

Enjoy... and please let me know what you think! Thanks!

Resources for SaaS Execs

Recently closed a funding round and need to ramp growth?
Check out our comprehensive "scale-a-saas" guide:

Think your website could generate more leads?
Get our inbound lead generation self-assessment

Want to be a guest on SaaS Backwards?
Click to meet with Ken Lempit to talk about an episode.

SaaS Backwards is a free service to the SaaS community.
 

Finding the right marketing leadership position is difficult (to say the least). You must have alignment with the CEO and executive team from the get-go. And it’s even better when you can follow them from one opportunity to the next.  
Now in her third opportunity with the same CEO, Helen Baptist from PathFactory discusses not only how to find the right leadership role, but also how to manage that change from within that so often required in a turnaround situation.
Whether you’re in the process of finding a new marketing leadership opportunity or putting out fires in your current one, Helen offers the following gems in this episode:
•Positioning yourself correctly for the opportunity
•What to do first in a turnaround situation
•Rooting out toxicity
• Buyer centricity to break down sales and marketing silos


Let me know what you think! Thanks!

Resources for SaaS Execs

Recently closed a funding round and need to ramp growth?
Check out our comprehensive "scale-a-saas" guide:

Think your website could generate more leads?
Get our inbound lead generation self-assessment

Want to be a guest on SaaS Backwards?
Click to meet with Ken Lempit to talk about an episode.

SaaS Backwards is a free service to the SaaS community.
 

It's a pattern we're seeing out there, and some agency friends experience in their careers when they make the mistake of putting themselves in this situation. CEOs at young companies hire a marketing leader, usually a woman with substantial experience, and expect her to singled-handedly transform the fate of the organization. 

And being the "one woman army" is a really difficult position from which to generate success.

In a meaningful discussion of recent experiences she's had as a marketing leader, Jenn Edwards takes us through the highs and lows of being the sole marketing pro at a young company, questions to ask and her point of view on whether or not it's a good idea to even take such a position.

If you're thinking about a new CMO / head of marketing job and you think you'll be a OWA or OMA, this is probably a great episode to listen to.

Let me know what you think! Thanks!

Resources for SaaS Execs

Recently closed a funding round and need to ramp growth?
Check out our comprehensive "scale-a-saas" guide:

Think your website could generate more leads?
Get our inbound lead generation self-assessment

Want to be a guest on SaaS Backwards?
Click to meet with Ken Lempit to talk about an episode.

SaaS Backwards is a free service to the SaaS community.
 

Success at Account Based Marketing is not (necessarily) about the tech stack, maybe not even at all about it. According to Kristina Jaramillo, president at Personal ABM, it's doing the fundamentals correctly from both a sales and marketing perspective.

Kristina makes a strong case for doing the strategy ahead of the implementation (I know, I know) and then dives deep on how she helps clients to make significant progress in strategic accounts with a highly personalized approach.

If you think ABM is right for your organization, or you are struggling to show ROI from the ABM program in place at your firm, this is the episode for you.

Let me know what you think!

Resources for SaaS Execs

Recently closed a funding round and need to ramp growth?
Check out our comprehensive "scale-a-saas" guide:

Think your website could generate more leads?
Get our inbound lead generation self-assessment

Want to be a guest on SaaS Backwards?
Click to meet with Ken Lempit to talk about an episode.

SaaS Backwards is a free service to the SaaS community.
 

Craig Fuller and his early-stage firm FreightWaves are living proof that media as a business is not dead. In fact, he's created a powerful new media company and with it a SaaS-like data subscription business to monetize the information coming out of the shipping industry.

Moving physical goods is an enormous business that most Americans haven't thought much about until recent headlines about logistics issues breaking supply chains. But Craig's company has been helping shippers and investors to take advantage of its unique aggregation of data to increase timeliness and reduce costs, and also to trade effectively on the data.

Craig likens his strategy to that of Bloomberg, LP, but in reverse. His media company is driving the revenues that fuel is data business.

Like me, you might be skeptical that anyone else can follow in Michael Bloomberg's footsteps... that he was singular phenomenon. But after listening to this episode, I think you'll want to dig deeper into this company, founder and business model.

We've long promoted the idea that owned media is important to help SaaS firms control the narrative and bring their stories to prospects and customers. FreightWaves does this as well as anything we've seen...since Bloomberg itself.

Let me know what you think!

Resources for SaaS Execs

Recently closed a funding round and need to ramp growth?
Check out our comprehensive "scale-a-saas" guide:

Think your website could generate more leads?
Get our inbound lead generation self-assessment

Want to be a guest on SaaS Backwards?
Click to meet with Ken Lempit to talk about an episode.

SaaS Backwards is a free service to the SaaS community.

Every once in a while you have a conversation that truly changes how you think about the world. This episode was that kind of experience for me. Latane Conant is a thoughtful and thought-provoking proponent of a new way to think about marketing for B2B marketing leaders.

In one of the densest 30 minutes you'll invest in your marketing career, Latane covers these topics and more:
Calling for CMO title to mean Chief Market Officer, in recognition of the larger role CMOs should play vs the questionable KPIs they are often forced to report onAbandoning the MQL in favor of a more holistic view of how organizations buy and qualifying them vs individualsTargeting people and companies that fit your ideal customer profile AND who are in-market now, relying upon intent data to help reach your "dark funnel" CMOs must be maniacally focused on predictable pipeline, sales velocity formula and net retention, the foundations of the SaaS business modelThis episode and #16 with Casey Carey are really must-listens for CMOs that see the writing on the wall but don't have the blueprint for how they are going to move their SaaS companies forward. You've realized that stuff you've been doing is declining in effectiveness, but what next?
Let's discuss after you've had a listen! 

Resources for SaaS Execs

Recently closed a funding round and need to ramp growth?
Check out our comprehensive "scale-a-saas" guide:

Think your website could generate more leads?
Get our inbound lead generation self-assessment

Want to be a guest on SaaS Backwards?
Click to meet with Ken Lempit to talk about an episode.

SaaS Backwards is a free service to the SaaS community.