Nov. 15, 2019

1162: How to Structure Your Marketing Team to Align with Go-To-Market Strategy w/ Sharon Thompson & Brendon Macaraeg

In this episode we talk to , VP of Marketing at  & , Senior Director of Product Marketing at . See why leading companies like Glint, Shopify, Spotify, Slack and more are using Guru for their knowledge management needs. Go...

In this episode we talk to Sharon Thompson, VP of Marketing at Signal Sciences & Brendon Macaraeg, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Signal Sciences.


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Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:04.759 Wouldn't it be nice to have several thought leaders in your industry know and Love 2 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.230 Your brand? Start a podcast, invite your industries thought leaders to be guests 3 00:00:10.310 --> 00:00:15.429 on your show and start reaping the benefits of having a network full of industry 4 00:00:15.429 --> 00:00:25.699 influencers? Learn more at sweet phish MEDIACOM. You're listening to be tob growth, 5 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:30.500 a daily podcast for B TOB leaders. We've interviewed names you've probably heard 6 00:00:30.539 --> 00:00:34.380 before, like Gary vanner truck and Simon Senek, but you've probably never heard 7 00:00:34.420 --> 00:00:38.729 from the majority of our guests. That's because the bulk of our interviews aren't 8 00:00:38.770 --> 00:00:43.289 with professional speakers and authors. Most of our guests are in the trenches leading 9 00:00:43.329 --> 00:00:48.170 sales and marketing teams. They're implementing strategy, they're experimenting with tactics, they're 10 00:00:48.250 --> 00:00:52.759 building the fastest growing BTB companies in the world. My name is James Carberry. 11 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:56.320 I'm the founder of sweet fish media, a podcast agency for BB brands, 12 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:59.640 and I'm also one of the cohosts of this show. When we're not 13 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:03.600 interviewing sales and marketing leaders, you'll hear stories from behind the scenes of our 14 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:07.510 own business. Will share the ups and downs of our journey as we attend 15 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:11.590 to take over the world. Just getting well? Maybe let's get into the 16 00:01:11.670 --> 00:01:21.260 show. Welcome back to be tob growth. I'm Logan lyles with sweet fish 17 00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:25.019 media. Today I'm joined by two special guests. I've got with me guys, 18 00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:29.180 Sharon Thompson. She's the VP of market over at Signal Sciences, and 19 00:01:29.299 --> 00:01:34.769 we've also got Brendan mackeregg, senior director of Product Marketing over at signal sciences 20 00:01:34.810 --> 00:01:38.329 as well. How's it going today, guys? Great. Thank you for 21 00:01:38.409 --> 00:01:42.329 having us. Well, we are going to be talking about developing an effective 22 00:01:42.370 --> 00:01:47.560 go to market strategy, including a number of things targeting, validation of your 23 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:51.920 target persona. But before we really get into all of that that you guys 24 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:53.640 are going to share today, Sharon and Brendan, I would love for you 25 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:57.359 guys to give us a little bit of background and a little bit on what 26 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.200 your team's been up to these days. Sharon, let's kick it off with 27 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:04.510 you. Yeah, you bet so, Sharon Thompson here. I have over 28 00:02:04.629 --> 00:02:08.509 thirty five years of marketing experience. I've worked at brands like in FORMAC software 29 00:02:08.710 --> 00:02:15.819 as the chief marketing officer IBM in the data management and information software area, 30 00:02:15.180 --> 00:02:21.300 as a senior executive. They're also recording into Sam Paulmazano doing special projects, 31 00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:24.180 and I was also early on in my career. The communications are too, 32 00:02:24.419 --> 00:02:29.620 Mrs Andy Grove and Craig Barrett at Intel, who are the founders, and 33 00:02:29.900 --> 00:02:34.009 it's just been a pleasure to be here at a signal sciences for to one 34 00:02:34.050 --> 00:02:37.969 year today, actually awesome. I was sharing. I love hearing a little 35 00:02:37.969 --> 00:02:39.770 bit about your background, Brandon. Why don't you take it away give us 36 00:02:39.770 --> 00:02:43.370 a little bit of intro on yourself and what you and the team have been 37 00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:45.919 up to over there. Sure, Brenda Mac right here. Thanks again, 38 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:49.599 Logan, for having us. So I've been in marketing for Gosh, over 39 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:54.400 one to two years and most of it has been product mark and I really 40 00:02:54.439 --> 00:03:00.270 what that's about is translating customer needs and it disolutions and then making sure that 41 00:03:00.349 --> 00:03:04.509 that informations into all the customer hunch points, obviously so you'd understand the product 42 00:03:04.509 --> 00:03:07.590 or houselves their problems. But as far as my personal background, but a 43 00:03:07.669 --> 00:03:12.669 security for about eight years. That's crowd strike, prior to this for about 44 00:03:12.669 --> 00:03:15.300 two and a half. You're supporting the professional services team there, private crosstike. 45 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:19.939 I was a semantic for about almost four years, where I launched both 46 00:03:19.979 --> 00:03:24.460 consumer and enterprise products and security, and then before semantic, I was at 47 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:30.969 a variety of different verticals from ticketing live nation to travel at by humor cruises, 48 00:03:30.050 --> 00:03:36.129 were basically I saw oversaw e commerce products and programs. Mantman John Him. 49 00:03:36.289 --> 00:03:39.250 Well, we're going to have to swing back to specifically your experience in 50 00:03:39.370 --> 00:03:44.639 marketing to security professionals and that sector and some lessons learned for other folks that 51 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:49.400 are also in that sector and lessons learned that you know can really be applied 52 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:53.039 no matter what persona you're going after. They are. Brendan Sharon, I'd 53 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:55.990 like to kick it back to you. You know your background. For anybody 54 00:03:57.069 --> 00:03:59.949 listening to this, they can tell you know you've got a good bit of 55 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:03.550 marketing chops and experience in a number of different roles in different size organizations. 56 00:04:03.909 --> 00:04:09.710 Curious what some of the the lessons learned for you have been in really organizing 57 00:04:09.830 --> 00:04:14.099 your team to support your go to market strategy as you start building an out 58 00:04:14.659 --> 00:04:18.779 sure. Yeah, love andswering this question. You know, before I talk 59 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:24.730 about how I've organized teams, I'd like to talk about how we create our 60 00:04:24.769 --> 00:04:29.569 go to market strategy and then how the team then affects the execution and success 61 00:04:29.649 --> 00:04:32.410 of that. So I like to take a three pronged approach, particularly with 62 00:04:32.850 --> 00:04:38.410 high growth companies, thought leadership, Rand Awareness, customer acquisition and, of 63 00:04:38.490 --> 00:04:44.240 course, customer advocacy. And with these three approaches you know what's most successful, 64 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:48.759 and execution is really the ruthless focus on executing. So we have to 65 00:04:48.839 --> 00:04:54.430 take a look at execution efficiency, make sure that we're going from A to 66 00:04:54.589 --> 00:04:57.509 B, to see to D in a very straight line and that we don't 67 00:04:57.550 --> 00:05:01.709 get disrupted and we don't get off path, because in high growth companies are 68 00:05:01.709 --> 00:05:05.829 always are things that are going to pull your attention away from the end result. 69 00:05:05.829 --> 00:05:10.579 Of course, the integrated approach would all get into a bit later. 70 00:05:11.060 --> 00:05:14.660 And then one of the most important things where I've learned over the years is 71 00:05:15.579 --> 00:05:19.939 the lead, lead to sales fundal alignment with our mqls or QSL's and of 72 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:28.009 course, ensuring that those qslves close for business and to end campaign reporting and 73 00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:33.329 ensuring that the team really understands what their mbos and solid corporate Kpis are so 74 00:05:33.449 --> 00:05:40.000 we could all march to that success, and then really creating a larger than 75 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:46.120 life image, ensuring that signal sciences is everywhere and that's using a whole host 76 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:50.389 of just different go to market channels and that our presence is known and that 77 00:05:50.509 --> 00:05:54.670 it's herd and that we've got a consistent voice in the market that we're unt 78 00:05:55.149 --> 00:05:57.509 I love what you're saying. They're sharing and one of the things that you 79 00:05:57.629 --> 00:06:01.069 mentioned that's core to your three pronged approach is brand awareness and thought leadership. 80 00:06:01.110 --> 00:06:05.459 It seems like on this show and offline as I'm talking to marketing leaders day 81 00:06:05.459 --> 00:06:10.620 in and day out, thought leadership is front of mine for so many. 82 00:06:10.779 --> 00:06:14.220 So I would love to kind of camp out on that for just a second. 83 00:06:14.220 --> 00:06:17.689 If you could maybe speak to the the changing role of brand awareness and 84 00:06:17.769 --> 00:06:21.930 thought leadership that have been effective for you guys specifically in that area, or 85 00:06:23.250 --> 00:06:26.930 you know what other marketing team should maybe be thinking about on on that one 86 00:06:27.050 --> 00:06:30.170 point of the the three prongs you mentioned? Sure, so. You know, 87 00:06:30.290 --> 00:06:35.240 particularly around thought leadership and awareness and building that brand, we have our 88 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:41.959 traditional activities, press relations and analyst relations and events. I think over the 89 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:46.519 last five or six years we're really starting to see a lot more around content 90 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.389 S, indication programs, speaker programs, and one of the most important is 91 00:06:50.509 --> 00:06:59.550 really social engagement. Here at Signal Sciences we've got a wonderful social program in 92 00:06:59.670 --> 00:07:03.980 place. So not only are we using twitter, facebook, instagram, etc. 93 00:07:04.779 --> 00:07:13.060 But we're also incorporating and will be executing customer advocacy platforms. So what 94 00:07:13.420 --> 00:07:16.129 does that mean? So this is something new over again the last three or 95 00:07:16.129 --> 00:07:23.490 four years. Social or cusper advocacy programs engage our customers, make them rating 96 00:07:23.610 --> 00:07:29.970 fans, create a platform that's gamification to get them interested, to keep them 97 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:33.920 coming back, reward them with the whole host of different things. Gift Card, 98 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:38.600 you could build your points, use them for, you know, whatever 99 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:42.839 it is that you want to dinner with the sea level here and the signal 100 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:49.430 sciences. So I think using PR and are content syndication programs and really full 101 00:07:49.509 --> 00:07:56.029 strain your social programs is most important. Yeah, absolutely, I think those 102 00:07:56.069 --> 00:08:00.620 are core areas you've got to be thinking about in that awareness and thought leadership 103 00:08:00.620 --> 00:08:03.540 point. As you approached that three pronged approach that you mentioned, Sharon, 104 00:08:03.860 --> 00:08:09.100 as we talk about, you know, the integrated marketing approach that you guys 105 00:08:09.259 --> 00:08:13.250 take sharing, can you speak to you know, really the structure of your 106 00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:16.290 team to be able to support that. I think, you know, so 107 00:08:16.410 --> 00:08:20.050 many marketing leaders I talked to, especially that content syndication you mentioned, they're 108 00:08:20.089 --> 00:08:24.649 trying to do more, oftentimes with less. Whether there are marketing team of 109 00:08:24.769 --> 00:08:30.319 five or fifty, it seems like they're trying to get more without doing you 110 00:08:30.439 --> 00:08:35.039 know, getting twice the results without twice the input, and so I would 111 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:39.440 love to hear your thoughts on, you know, organizing the team efficiently to 112 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:43.470 be able to get more in all of those efforts as you're trying to create 113 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:48.190 all these multiple touch points in really an integrated marketing go to market approach. 114 00:08:48.909 --> 00:08:54.870 Certainly, you bet well. Our marketing executive team is extremely experienced. We 115 00:08:54.990 --> 00:08:58.460 have, you know, collectively, hundreds of years under our belt, as 116 00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:01.139 you've heard from myself and also Brendon. So we've learned, you know, 117 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:05.100 lessons along the way. But how I've organized the team? You know, 118 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:09.850 first and foremost content. That's so important, and also messaging and positioning and 119 00:09:09.970 --> 00:09:18.409 ensuring that we're talking to our customers in the vein that they understand that we're 120 00:09:18.450 --> 00:09:24.399 addressing their issue. So product marketing. So what we've done with product marketing? 121 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:30.559 Brendon's team is responsible for content training, external as well as internal, 122 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:35.000 all of our case studies, etc. Also working with our digital team and 123 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:41.909 our demand generation team that is responsible for all things digital. That's Google add 124 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:50.230 words, as the SEM banners, also the content syndication execution. So product 125 00:09:50.309 --> 00:09:56.580 marketing again works extremely closely with our demanding team to ensure that the content is 126 00:09:56.659 --> 00:10:01.460 there. We also have events team that's under demand generation, so we've got 127 00:10:01.500 --> 00:10:05.659 a very robust events calendar. So again creating that larger than life image, 128 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:11.649 we're everywhere. And then we have a ARPR team along with World Class PR 129 00:10:11.730 --> 00:10:18.850 agency. And then we've got our website. So you know, we all 130 00:10:18.929 --> 00:10:22.840 of our activities, no matter what the channel is, whether it's digital PR, 131 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:31.480 AAR content syndication, placed content. Were driving all traffic back to our 132 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:39.669 website. So we also have a very senior director of West. Imagine it, 133 00:10:39.029 --> 00:10:43.549 a spreadsheet filled with rows and rows of your sales enablement assets. You've 134 00:10:43.590 --> 00:10:48.669 devoted two years organizing this masterpiece only for it to stop making sense. This 135 00:10:48.950 --> 00:10:54.059 was Chad trabuccos reality. As the head of sales enablement at glint, a 136 00:10:54.139 --> 00:10:58.899 linkedin company. He's responsible for instilling confidence in his sales reps and arming them 137 00:10:58.980 --> 00:11:03.139 with the information they need to do their jobs. However, when his glorious 138 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:07.009 spreadsheet became too complex, he realized he needed a new system. That's when 139 00:11:07.090 --> 00:11:11.529 Chad turned to guru. With Guru, the knowledge you need to do your 140 00:11:11.570 --> 00:11:16.009 job finds you. Between Guru's Web interface, slack integration, mobile APP and 141 00:11:16.169 --> 00:11:22.559 browser extension. Teams can easily search for verified knowledge without leaving their workflow. 142 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:26.639 No more siload or staled information. Guru acts as your single source of truth. 143 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:31.320 For Chad, this meant glent sales reps were left feeling more confident doing 144 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:37.710 their jobs. See why leading companies like glint, shopify, spotify, slack 145 00:11:37.870 --> 00:11:43.629 and more are using guru for their knowledge management needs. Visit BB growth dot 146 00:11:43.830 --> 00:11:48.980 get gurucom to start your thirty day free trial and discover how knowledge management can 147 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:56.539 empower your revenue teams. I love it. It's Sharon. Thank you so 148 00:11:56.659 --> 00:12:00.379 much for that breakdown, especially for early stage teams that are thinking, okay, 149 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:03.690 what all pieces to the puzzle do I need to start thinking about as 150 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:07.210 we develop a go to market strategy and a team that will be able to 151 00:12:07.409 --> 00:12:09.330 execute that, because I love what you're saying. We've talked about that a 152 00:12:09.529 --> 00:12:13.169 good bit on the show here. That really strategies nothing without execution. I 153 00:12:13.289 --> 00:12:18.879 love the way you put it. Roofless commitment to execution and paraphrasing a bit 154 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:20.240 there. But, Brendon, let's kick it over to you. As we've 155 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:26.360 started to talk about product marketing rolling up into the rest of the team working 156 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:31.029 concurrently with Demandin and the other functional roles within marketing. I would love to 157 00:12:31.190 --> 00:12:33.470 hear a little bit about, you know, what you guys have been working 158 00:12:33.509 --> 00:12:41.029 on from a targeting and validation of your persona perspective and how maybe that's differed 159 00:12:41.070 --> 00:12:46.539 from previous roles or some of the lessons you've been learning in several roles now 160 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:50.340 in the security space. Sure. So here's signal sciences. Obviously, product 161 00:12:50.340 --> 00:12:54.460 marketing is concerned with we we want. The way I look at it, 162 00:12:54.659 --> 00:12:56.139 every time you produce, you the content. You want something that opens up 163 00:12:56.220 --> 00:13:01.490 a sales conversation or helps the sales team pursue existing sales conversations with prospects. 164 00:13:03.090 --> 00:13:05.769 So, having said that, so that we're initiing spot here as a sciences 165 00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:09.409 because our three founders, nick, Andrew and saying they were the starting customers 166 00:13:09.450 --> 00:13:13.080 because they headed up the security program at D see, which is one of 167 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:18.519 the largest ECOMMERCE sites on the web, and they saw need for Web application 168 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:22.240 security would actually work in production and not be a black box so that customers 169 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:26.000 would understand this is why we want the bad way would run requestments, is 170 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:28.830 why we happens other ones through. So they saw the all need and they 171 00:13:28.870 --> 00:13:35.789 were the target audience. So basically, target developers, Operation Staff and security 172 00:13:35.830 --> 00:13:39.149 staff. Developers are the ones built designing the code and building the code. 173 00:13:39.470 --> 00:13:45.340 Operation Staffs are the ones that are responsible with the Sola and the rolling out 174 00:13:45.379 --> 00:13:48.899 of the code into production, and security staff obviously have the responsibility of securing 175 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:54.139 an organization's digital assets. So, having said that, on an ongoing basis, 176 00:13:54.139 --> 00:13:56.529 will we've been doing is, you know, we were closely with our 177 00:13:56.529 --> 00:14:00.649 sales team there in the trenches and they're talking to prospects and our current customers 178 00:14:00.690 --> 00:14:03.370 about what their cases are and what the pain points that they're having with their 179 00:14:03.370 --> 00:14:07.929 application securities, so we can know what are the real problems in the trenches 180 00:14:07.009 --> 00:14:13.480 and then we can basically help define content will address those needs and then distribute 181 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:16.440 that messaging throughout our website, in our case, studies and other places that's 182 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:20.759 relevant so again, from my point of view as a part market Raff, 183 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:22.679 if I want to be affective, I really have to not just make content 184 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:26.429 in volume, but make content that's going to create value. So it's really 185 00:14:26.470 --> 00:14:31.070 how I look at what we're doing here on ongoing basis with our persaunas and 186 00:14:31.110 --> 00:14:33.950 how we target the people out there in the trenches. As far as real 187 00:14:33.990 --> 00:14:37.549 world strategies, that's you know, your listeners can use to try to the 188 00:14:37.549 --> 00:14:41.179 right people for their services and products. I mean there's obviously linkedin is a 189 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:43.220 great way to see what people work on in terms of their job titles, 190 00:14:43.460 --> 00:14:48.620 what the responsibilities are, and then try to map your service to those responsibilities. 191 00:14:48.019 --> 00:14:50.860 There are other prospecting tools online that are available to folks so they can 192 00:14:50.899 --> 00:14:56.730 use to under perspective cuplomers that they can test messaging it. So that's those 193 00:14:56.730 --> 00:14:58.210 are some of the things that I look at. There's obviously new technologies that 194 00:14:58.250 --> 00:15:01.690 you can use to see what lizards are doing on your website to make sure 195 00:15:01.690 --> 00:15:03.889 you're serving up the right content as well. So we're looking at those things 196 00:15:03.929 --> 00:15:05.889 here, signal sciences as well. Yeah, what are some of the unique 197 00:15:05.929 --> 00:15:11.440 challenges for you guys in the security space? You mentioned having, you know, 198 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:16.600 a number of stops now in the security space in a product marketing role, 199 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:20.919 branding. Yeah, I think with this audience, in particular security folks, 200 00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:24.269 whether security development or operation, these are very smart people you're dealing with. 201 00:15:24.750 --> 00:15:28.269 You cannot try to fly something under the radar. That's not something that 202 00:15:28.309 --> 00:15:33.470 they can believe and they will smell out anything that's is hype. So from 203 00:15:33.509 --> 00:15:35.620 my point of views, you want to have a marketing message that can be 204 00:15:35.740 --> 00:15:39.700 buffered by validation from third parties, and so signal sciences has been in the 205 00:15:39.740 --> 00:15:43.299 great position that we were. Just name the visionary by Gartner in the magic 206 00:15:43.299 --> 00:15:46.340 quadrant for laughs, which is the categories crue you ran. You also have 207 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:52.330 a third party somethings move for flat one research. We also have articles that 208 00:15:52.409 --> 00:15:56.049 are written bout our technology that validates our approach to this problems that we're solving 209 00:15:56.090 --> 00:15:58.450 for our customers. So I think it's important for a marker, when you 210 00:15:58.529 --> 00:16:03.210 can get that their party validation and to validate your messaging when you can and 211 00:16:03.250 --> 00:16:07.559 if you look at your own data that your own product service will generate for 212 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:10.879 you. So, for example, we put out a indicators of web a 213 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:14.840 tax. Why paper. We service telemetry from our own customer data to show 214 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:18.950 people these are the five most problem attacks that are capping against people's see a 215 00:16:18.990 --> 00:16:19.710 leverage, you know, data when you can. If you can't get that 216 00:16:19.830 --> 00:16:23.429 their party evaluation. Those would be like my two major recommendations to your audience. 217 00:16:25.070 --> 00:16:27.549 Yeah, those are really great recommendations. Brendon that. Folks, whether 218 00:16:27.590 --> 00:16:33.299 they're serving security professionals, it professionals or, you know, a completely different 219 00:16:33.299 --> 00:16:37.100 functional area. I think that's still good advice. Another question I had for 220 00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:42.100 you that maybe for other folks serving a similar persona or you know where they 221 00:16:42.100 --> 00:16:45.059 could take this and apply it to the persona that they're trying to reach. 222 00:16:45.379 --> 00:16:49.769 You know, from what I see at having sold to it professionals for about 223 00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:55.769 ten years, very different than what you guys are doing. I definitely recognize 224 00:16:55.809 --> 00:16:59.330 what you guys are talking about in them just looking right past the hype and 225 00:16:59.409 --> 00:17:03.120 being very turned off by it. Saw I can relate to that. The 226 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:07.039 other thing I've been seeing is that, you know, the the role of 227 00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:11.039 security within it as a whole it is somewhat changing. So I imagine that 228 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:18.470 as the the dynamics within the technical departments are changing, you've got to validate 229 00:17:18.630 --> 00:17:22.829 those personas. You got to validate what are the dynamics that are happening within 230 00:17:22.910 --> 00:17:26.309 the organizations that we sell into in the functional role. Would have been some 231 00:17:26.430 --> 00:17:29.589 of the things that you guys have done to kind to keep your finger on 232 00:17:29.710 --> 00:17:33.140 that polic and not just okay, this is what this persona thought for years 233 00:17:33.140 --> 00:17:36.940 ago and this is, you know, how we message to them today and 234 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:40.500 not letting that get stale. You know. Yes, I think being a 235 00:17:40.539 --> 00:17:44.849 successful part maerker means you collaborate, any partner, with your product management team, 236 00:17:45.569 --> 00:17:48.210 because they're also talking to customers. They are working with sales as well 237 00:17:48.329 --> 00:17:52.170 to hear what the customers have to say. So one thing that I do 238 00:17:52.250 --> 00:17:56.769 is I collaborate pulse with product management. In fact, we're embarking on our 239 00:17:56.809 --> 00:18:00.920 new product offering now and I'm collaborating with them to validate what the customers are 240 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:03.079 telling them in terms of the problems in the specific area. And also we 241 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:08.119 have a customer advisory board that we leverage to get feedback from customers. If 242 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:11.160 you don't have that kind of organization, and you know, what you can 243 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:14.589 do is obviously online surveys. You can reach out to your customers digitally. 244 00:18:15.109 --> 00:18:17.349 We can do that here as well, but I think what we try to 245 00:18:17.390 --> 00:18:19.670 do is leverage the people that are having access to a customers in the front 246 00:18:19.710 --> 00:18:23.589 line and get the feedback from that as well. Yeah, I also want 247 00:18:23.589 --> 00:18:29.940 to echo the cross team, Cross Department collaboration. I think over the years 248 00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:33.819 that's something that I've learned that you just can't work in a Sylo of just 249 00:18:33.019 --> 00:18:37.339 marketing or just on your own team within marketing, that if you are not 250 00:18:37.779 --> 00:18:42.529 and lock step with your own team and cross team as well as the other 251 00:18:42.609 --> 00:18:47.849 departments, you will fail, and failure is not an option. And then 252 00:18:48.289 --> 00:18:51.930 customer advocacy. That's where you're going to get a lot of the feedback from. 253 00:18:51.970 --> 00:18:56.720 Right we're seeing that security used to be just an issue for security professionals, 254 00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:02.640 but now it's across the organization. It's everyone's responsibility, for sure. 255 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:06.720 I wanted to followup on that point. Early in my career as a marketer, 256 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:08.400 you know you always fall in love. All look at this beautiiece of 257 00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:11.910 Collateralis made. Isn't this awesome? Right, we have to realize what I've 258 00:19:11.910 --> 00:19:15.990 realized twenty years later. My career is the sales people have to go and 259 00:19:15.069 --> 00:19:18.950 make that stand up and walk and talk effectively. So if your still seems 260 00:19:18.990 --> 00:19:22.269 are bought in the way you're putting out terms of content or talking points or 261 00:19:22.470 --> 00:19:26.259 other public face material, you're not really doing your job very well. Yeah, 262 00:19:26.579 --> 00:19:30.019 so you really do have to collaborate with books, get your stakeholder input 263 00:19:30.619 --> 00:19:34.339 invalidation before you put something onto market. You know, I always tell the 264 00:19:34.460 --> 00:19:38.609 team we need to think out of the box instead of going down the freeway 265 00:19:38.690 --> 00:19:42.609 on four wheels. That's turned the bus on its side because it's so loud 266 00:19:42.650 --> 00:19:45.730 out there. One, two, we will break glass. We've got to 267 00:19:45.849 --> 00:19:49.650 try things. This way we will know what works. Let's do more of 268 00:19:49.730 --> 00:19:53.160 that. Will also learn very quickly what does not work. So again, 269 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:59.880 being ruthlessly focused on execution is key, and then also setting and Co continually 270 00:20:00.119 --> 00:20:04.079 looking at the success metrics right the mbos and the KPIS that are in place. 271 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:11.549 I track between eighty five and a hundred Kpis and the team reports each 272 00:20:11.670 --> 00:20:15.670 week on those, and this is only going to help us increase our success 273 00:20:15.789 --> 00:20:22.380 and be a better team player across the entire organization, because we're looking at 274 00:20:22.420 --> 00:20:25.819 the metrics. What's working, what's not? Let's don't do anything that's not 275 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:32.859 working anymore and also it makes us question our execution in the efficiency and effectiveness 276 00:20:32.900 --> 00:20:36.329 of it. Like, for instance, just last week we saw a little 277 00:20:36.329 --> 00:20:40.970 bit of dip in our web traffic and it's like why? Well, then 278 00:20:41.009 --> 00:20:44.329 we had to unpeel that one and we learned a couple of things from that. 279 00:20:44.849 --> 00:20:48.930 So we're always always improving. Yeah, I have, of all, 280 00:20:48.930 --> 00:20:52.400 quit on that as well. Logan, and that is especially now with all 281 00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:56.559 those ass tools of companies used to drive their marketing programs and their online data 282 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:00.480 driven decisions. If you don't have a KPI board, Dashboard that he'll shows 283 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:03.720 you the health of Your Business and how different pieces of the Pire fitting together 284 00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:06.950 to drive you really need to get that in place and there's obviously different sources 285 00:21:06.990 --> 00:21:10.670 out there to develop Kpis, and your listeners an other business very well, 286 00:21:10.710 --> 00:21:12.470 but that'll be one of my major recommendations. If you don't have a Kpis 287 00:21:12.589 --> 00:21:15.670 worth to measure your businesses, help get that in place. And then, 288 00:21:15.750 --> 00:21:18.980 once you do have it in place, as sure and said, you need 289 00:21:18.019 --> 00:21:21.660 to look into why are certain things going up and down, so you can 290 00:21:21.700 --> 00:21:25.460 understand the cycles of your business really better. Visit building higher business running. 291 00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:27.819 I love that. A all of this guy's share and I love your analogy 292 00:21:27.859 --> 00:21:32.099 of turning the bus on its side and going down the highway. That's just 293 00:21:32.220 --> 00:21:37.210 fantastic. And what you guys are echoing there about not only measuring those kpis 294 00:21:37.369 --> 00:21:42.609 but regularly reviewing them and having them easily visible is something I think we just 295 00:21:42.849 --> 00:21:48.119 can't say enough. You know, our team went through book clubs several months 296 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:52.759 back of the four disciplines of execution, and one of the things I've steadily 297 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:56.000 took from that book is you have to have a cadence of accountability, otherwise 298 00:21:56.119 --> 00:22:02.509 those measurements really don't don't mean anything. So always good reminders there. Sharon 299 00:22:02.670 --> 00:22:06.670 Brendan, I know that fellow be to be marketers are going to want to 300 00:22:06.910 --> 00:22:10.990 connect with you guys after curing this and maybe reach out as some follow up 301 00:22:11.029 --> 00:22:14.150 questions. What's the best way for them to reach out or stay connected with 302 00:22:14.269 --> 00:22:17.140 each of you sharing? I'll kick it to you as we wrap up first. 303 00:22:17.539 --> 00:22:19.539 Sure they can connect with me in two different ways. One on Linkedin 304 00:22:19.740 --> 00:22:26.180 Sharon Thompson Signal Sciences or here at Signal Sciences, at Sharon at signal SCIENCESCOM. 305 00:22:26.660 --> 00:22:30.130 Easy enough. Brendan, how about you? Man? Sure it's Brendan 306 00:22:30.250 --> 00:22:34.930 Bur and don at signal sciencescom. And then I'm on twitter as well, 307 00:22:36.490 --> 00:22:41.009 Brendon Mla, and also you can looking at on Linkedin Brendan macick and a 308 00:22:41.170 --> 00:22:45.079 Crag Sigal Sciences. All right, thank you, guys so much for a 309 00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:48.559 great conversation. Really appreciate you being on the show today. Thanks for having 310 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:52.279 us. Thanks forty much. Logo. We totally get it. We published 311 00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:56.799 a ton of content on this podcast and it can be a lot to keep 312 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:00.670 up with. That's why we've started the B tob growth big three, a 313 00:23:00.829 --> 00:23:04.230 no fluff email that boils down our three biggest takeaways from an entire week of 314 00:23:04.349 --> 00:23:11.069 episodes. Sign up today at Sweet Fish Mediacom big three. That sweet fish 315 00:23:11.150 --> 00:23:12.700 Mediacom Big Three