It’s a privilege and honor to be named CEO of Demand Spring – it feels like a dream come true. I remember meeting Mark Emond when I was working for the Staples B2B division. We were tasked with leading the transformation of a predominantly outbound physical selling model to a digital-first model. Realizing this was a huge task for our team, and it was obvious we needed world-class support. I asked Dave Wanalaski, our Marketo sales representative at the time, “Do you know of any revenue marketing consultants that get results quickly?” Dave’s response was, “All my clients love Demand Spring, and you will get along really well with Mark.” He wasn’t wrong! I was so impressed with the quality of the work and have the distinct memory of thinking that I would like to someday work for Mark.
Fast forward eight years. I consider myself lucky to have witnessed all of the incredible achievements of Demand Spring, where I have served both as a member of the board and as leader of our Consulting Services group. I’m continuously amazed by the work of this team. The feelings I had eight years ago remain stronger than ever. Demand Spring has an incredibly talented and dedicated team, and I realize this every time I talk with a client who has benefited from working with our experts. I couldn’t be happier to be part of the company where I am surrounded by the best talent in the business, and clients that love the work we do.
Revenue Marketing has come a long way over the last ten years, with a drastic acceleration in the pace of change and innovation in the last two years as we have dealt with the dynamics and pressures of the pandemic. The future is very bright for B2B marketers, and it’s going to be quite the ride as the pace of innovation and change continues to accelerate.
Given these realities, here are five dynamics that should be on the mind of every revenue-centric CMO:
1. Navigating any economic uncertainty is now going to be different. Marketers have proven their role in generating revenue. Savvy CMOs will be thinking about how to scale their operations and ensure that if sales teams experience cuts, marketing teams are ready to drive the pipeline and ensure the company meets their growth goals.
2. It’s about revenue orchestration, not marketing and sales alignment. I have never been a fan of the phrase “marketing and sales alignment”. It’s now especially critical that marketing teams align themselves with the financial goals of the organization, and play a key role in orchestrating the buying experience across all departments.
3. Mass transformation is dead; it’s now about surgical optimization. CMOs need to shift their thinking from mass transformation programs to building marketing strategies that focus on both their short-term and long-term revenue goals. They need a clear plan of the precise changes that need to happen to ensure the company meets quarterly revenue goals, while building the infrastructure for long-term growth.
4. AI and tech will release the pressure of the war on talent. Winning, retaining, and the overall cost of talent is on every business leader’s mind. Marketing leaders will look to AI to maximize the efficiency of their organizations, improve revenue, and optimize the customer experience rather than continuously adding heads.
5. There will be no more excuses for lack of data-driven decision making and measurement. Marketers have the tools and the talent. As the marketing role in the revenue journey moves from self promotion to revenue accountability, marketing teams will need to build measurement environments that accurately report and predict revenue results, while enabling the team to optimize the revenue performance of their marketing programs and campaigns.
It is our responsibility at Demand Spring to help our clients navigate these new dynamics and I’m committed to doing so without compromising our founding principles— that Demand Spring remains a great place to work and a great place to work with. We have best-in-class NPS scores and best-in-class EPS scores. I will have failed at my job if we don’t maintain this level of employee and customer satisfaction.
One last thought – we haven’t always publicized our company vision, which is to become the most respected B2B marketing consultancy in North America. Surrounded by a fantastic leadership team – the strongest team we have ever had which keeps on growing – and continued support from a wealth of knowledge within our Board of Advisors and our Executive Chair (Mark), I have no doubt we will get there!
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