My Approach

I like to build strong relationships and repeatable processes to execute on my goals.

To run a truly successful marketing program, every person on the team should understand what we’re doing, what’s expected of them, and how we’ll measure our collective success. That starts with building strong relationships across the org, with partners, sales channels, and with our customers.

Strong relationships make the hard goals possible.

Key insights only reveal themselves when marketers have built strong, authentic relationships with the people they support. That’s why building authentic relationships and taking the time to listen is so important.

It’s my job to understand what needs to be said, shown, demoed, and created to support each of my stakeholder groups.

Typical Stakeholder mix

This is how I get myself oriented in the first 30-60 days.

Learn the product

Besides getting a demo account, I make a point to sign up for the product or service and to go through the entire user flow a prospect or customer would see. It’s important to me to see the product/service through the eyes of our customers and when possible, to go through that same flow of our top competitors too.

Meet the key stakeholders

I like to meet the key stakeholders and their right hand men/women as part of my orientation. It’s important to understand what my key stakeholders expect and what their top priorities are so that I can work that into my development plans.

See the numbers

I like to understand what our baseline looks like by way of customer acquisition, LTV, churn, NPS scores, and any other metric that can help me see the wider view of where we stand and where we’re going.

Understand the brand/product story

Besides the product roadmap, I always like to take a look at previous marketing messages, the website, and any interviews or press coverage the product or company has garnered. It’s important to me to see how the brand/product story gets repeated and what’s resonating in the market.

Go on a listening tour

I find that the GTM team typically has great ideas on what is needed. I typically take 2-3 weeks to listen to key stakeholders so I can identify the GTM gaps and issues. If a problem well-stated is half solved, then add to that a fresh perspective and we can go far, fast.

Build a plan (& get buy in)

Nothing in marketing happens without buy in so once I understand my marching orders, the goals, and the constraints, I like to build a plan, present it, and get buy in. This is where I double check if I understand the situation right, and where I get feedback and commitments to help me move the ball forward.

Building repeatable processes is key

Every company out there talks about moving fast but few talk about creating the processes or environments to help their teams move fast confidently.

The process I build, adapt, and tweak the most is the GTM plan. Every company does things just a little bit differently but overall, a GTM plan should formalize how we plan on delivering something new to market. A very good GTM plan would include the items to the right. I’ve included some questions I normally ask to help flesh out these sections.

  • What are we doing?

    Why are we doing this now?

    What does success look like and how are we measuring it?

  • What’s happening in the market?

    Which competitors should sales be aware of?

    How are we pricing ourselves?

    What channel will we sell in?

    How will the market know to want this?

  • What dependencies do we have internally?

    What does Product, CX, Sales, etc.. need for us to sell this?

    Do we have the proper contracts, trademarks, and agreements signed?

  • How will we track what we’re doing?

    Where will we save our work products?

    Who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed along the way?

  • What does it mean to launch?

    What would success look like on launch day? 30 days after? etc..?

  • What went well?

    What didn’t go well?

    What can we do better next time?