Revenue Rehab: Septemeber Recap 2022

Considering Being a Fractional CMO? Tips to Get You Started

In this episode, Brandi is joined by Angus Robertson, fractional CMO with Chief Outsiders.

Angus highlights the pros and cons that come with a Fractional CMO role. Autonomy, freedom, and flexibility are among Angus’s top pros, and he also emphasizes how interesting the role can be; with diverse clients and companies, evolving pay rates, and a large pipeline for growth and opportunity. On the other hand, Angus lists lack of security, higher risks than a traditional permanent role, and lack of consistent paycheck security as some of notable cons.

Next, Angus and Brandi discuss the misconception around the tenure of a fractional CMO, which differs depending on the company and its needs. Based on Angus’s experience, the CMO role can be broken down into three core components: insights, strategy, and execution. From a 2-4-month timeframe, Angus implements a strategy phase, and within 3-6 months he focuses on improving ‘’low hanging fruit’’.

Angus opens up to discuss what he misses about being a full-time CMO; particularly the hiring and development of teams. However, as full-time CMO, Angus also had to deal with a lot of office politics and bureaucracy. While Angus certainly doesn’t miss this element of his job, he does miss the energy of working with teams. Luckily, as a Fractional CMO, he has been fortunate to work with international marketing teams that consistently bring him inspiration and energy.

Considering becoming a Fractional CMO? If so, Angus discusses the importance of achieving autonomy, mastery, purpose and community. He emphasizes how your motivation will always come back to your ‘’why’’, and if you have a clear answer and path, you’re likely to succeed in a Fractional CMO role.

Secret Sauce of Data: Leveraging Product Data for SaaS Marketing Leaders

On the couch, Mona Akmal, CEO and co-founder at Falkon, discusses how marketing teams in SaaS companies can effectively leverage product usage data. Mona opens up to talk about how product data should be a top priority rather than being used for indexing on intent, data, and dark social.

Mona discusses how the predominant usage of product data by marketing teams today is ad hoc analysis and aggregate dashboards. Within an ad hoc analysis, the team reviews the most engaged customers to identify ideal customer profile traits. For aggregate dashboards, insights are gathered on how customers are using the product. According to Mona, these actions do not drive meaningful action, leaving product usage data obsolete in the context of practical applications in marketing workflows.

Mona emphasizes how product data should be used throughout the entire product life cycle. She discusses the importance of implementing product usage data to influence long term planning. This includes understanding ideal customers and their most loved features to drive product marketing, content, and sales enablement.

Next, Brandi and Mona discuss the importance of product usage data as a C-suite sponsored or approved initiative. Mona emphasizes optimizing customer value for long-term success, even if revenue numbers initially look slim. Building a simple ROI analysis on your data stack is a useful place to start, which communicates net benefits to the c-suite on their data collection investments.

For marketers in SaaS based companies, Mona recommends getting started with an inspirational one-pager. This one-pager can include all the possible capabilities with available resources, and the impact these would have on your business and your personal career. The results? Inspiration to progress your product usage data efforts.

Growth is a Holistic Objective: Measuring Success Across the Revenue Cycle

In this episode, we were joined by Duane Dufault, Head of Revenue at SellingSaas & 1build.

First, Duane and Brandi dig into the entirety of the sales cycle; from beginning to end, to structure and resale, to incentivizing.

Duane emphasizes how understanding your customer cycle and the buying process needs to be top-of-mind as you design multifunctional revenue teams. As Duane points out, ongoing friction between sales and marketing departments can have detrimental effects. This friction can have a waterfall effect, negatively impacting your customer journey, and therefore, your sales.

Duane challenges leadership to consider if they are incentivizing marketing to encourage desired behavior. He asks leadership to consider two key questions: (1) What is beneficial for the customer? (2) t What is going to grow your business?

Duane and Brandi discuss the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that marketing should be held to. To establish this, Duane contends, you must examine your product and customer journey.

If you are a marketing or sales leader, or are responsible for revenue at any level, you need to speak with your customer. Duane recommends, “listen for action not for validation”.

Growth & Scaling: Achieving a Successful Exit as CMO

Meagen Eisenberg, CMO of TripActions, joins Brandi for a discussion about Growth & Scaling. They discuss the importance of a good market fit and a solid base of customers in choosing companies. Once you’re in the CMO role, building out the first 100 days is key to success, according to Meagan. She recommends incorporating structures such as thirty-day audits to keep the balance for action and strategy in place. Additionally, finding a technologist in marketing is critical to success. According to Meagen, CMOs should look at their role in IPO or Merger & Acquisition as an opportunity for acquiring new talent, reiterating (or renewing) branding, and solidifying the company’s story.

Meagan shares a key factor to success – build your network! Get out there, go to conferences, and meet with your network.