How do Marketers Avoid Doing Things Higgledy-Piggledy? Have an Integrated Marketing Approach, Move Away from Random Acts of Marketing

Eric Eden:
0:59

Welcome to today's episode. Our guest today is Sue. She is a fractional CMO and has been working in marketing for over 30 years. Welcome to the show. Hey Eric. Thanks so much for having me. So, before we jump into the remarkable story you have to share with us today, why don't you just give us one to two minutes about who you are and what you do, so people have the context?

Sue Mysko:
1:26

Yeah, for sure is Sue Misko. I am a fractional CMO. I have spent my entire career in professional services marketing, working with some of the largest professional services firms out there the Deloitte's, the Accenture to KPM's Use of the World and a few years back I just said it was time for me to start helping smaller and mid-sized mentors and decided to become fractional CMO and apply all of those big company best practices to smaller organizations, and it's been wonderful. We've been able to see a lot of success with those organizations.

Eric Eden:
1:57

That's fantastic. So let's jump right in. Let's hear the story that you're most proud of the marketing you've done.

Sue Mysko:
2:06

Awesome, thank you. So one of our most successful marketing ventures, it was where we crafted this end-to-end marketing strategy. But what was so great was that it wasn't that it just drove lead gen, it wasn't that it just enhanced brand awareness with our tech clients, but it was jointly executed with our sales team. And we all know that sales and marketing can have a total love-hate relationship, and so this program is truly that testament that the two can really work synergistically together. So the marketing strategy it really was transformational. It was marketing and communications, because it was designed to resonate across both industries and functions. And so I'm going to talk at the big picture level here, but I could talk about any one of these projects at great length, but I think it's more important to see that this in its totality. So the foundation of our strategy was we started with messaging. It was we developed cross-industry functional growth narratives, and this really wasn't just a project. This truly was a strategic endeavor in rigorous deadlines, and so we did all of the usual. We built the detailed process map and we did all of those things we needed to do to get all of those strategic insights we needed from all of this meat. But I will save you all of the sausage making. I will skip right to the good part, because what we ended up developing was a series of compelling narratives that captured the core strengths and all of the unique value propositions that we offered across all of our tech consulting services, and this one really vital to us for several reasons. One, it was that foundational element of our broader marketing strategy right, they were able to guide and develop, help us guide and develop those targeted marketing campaigns and initiatives. Second, it was that they provided that cohesive and consistent message to the market. Right, and that really enhanced our brand's visibility and credibility. And lastly, I would say what it really helped do was it facilitated that deeper engagement with our clients and prospects. And what it did was it really enabled us to better understand their needs and tailor our solutions according. But in essence, it wasn't just about creating messages, but really about crafting that strategic narrative that could drive growth, foster industry alignment and really solidify our position as a thought leader in that tech consulting space.

Sue Mysko:
4:31

Once we had built that messaging, we wanted to gather those third party insights, so we partnered with IDC and we created original research focusing on the issue of tech maturity. And what this did was. It gave us two really key, important outputs. One, it was a comprehensive point of view that we were then able to take to market, and second was a benchmarking diagnostic tool. And what was really fantastic was that this benchmarking diagnostic tool. We then put together the sales campaign that allowed us to partner with key clients and targets to help shape those client strategies. So we partnered directly with sales to get in front of clients, to work with those clients, and then, on top of that, we put together the broader, both social and media campaign, and so we did submissions to key publications like Harvard Business Review and media outlets like CNBC. So now we have a foundation.

Sue Mysko:
5:26

What we then started looking at partner marketing. So it was not only just within tech, but tech and cyber. We also did some pretty fun stuff because we recognized the value of partnerships now that we had the data, and so we were able to develop trusted advisory relationships with a couple of the ISACs in the cyber world. So what did this do? This really gave us participation at their annual conferences. We were able to work collaboratively to put together member guides, and we also did a report, some annual research, with them as well. This gave us access to 1200 CISOs. So now, by using partner marketing, it gave us the direct access to our target market.

Sue Mysko:
6:11

We also leveraged other strategic partnerships with big industry giants like SAP, oracle, aws. With SAP we put some pretty important business development programs in place. We provided, as marketing, the content and the strategic guidance, ensuring that we had consistent messaging across programs. Our partnership with SAP played a critical role in our major events with them, like at Sapphire or SAP Insider, and what that did was then it just gave us that future round work for future client interactions. It allowed us to have that robust joint marketing program that not only fostered our relationship on a marketing level with SAP, but it gave us access to key clients with it and, as a result, it led to many go-to-market joint opportunities to pitch and win work. And it was the same thing we did with AWS.

Sue Mysko:
7:07

In that same vein, the re-invent conference. We were given the ability, because of our strong partnership with them, we were able to do sponsorship partner tracks. We were able to do industry roundtables, leadership breakouts, all client engagements, and then we were able to amplify all of this through our social channels and through our direct client outreach. So, again, significant brand exposure and lead generation. So I guess, if I was to have to sum it all up by putting together this end-to-end marketing strategy, we did more than just hit targets for lead generation and brand awareness. But really it was about how marketing and sales can truly come together and demonstrate that power of working strategically to get results for an organization.

Eric Eden:
7:56

That's great. What was the impact of this strategy?

Sue Mysko:
8:01

Yeah, so if we look at one of the cyber programs that we put together by doing this, we hit our annual revenue targets in five months.

Eric Eden:
8:11

Wow, that's great.

Sue Mysko:
8:12

Yeah, it was fantastic and again, it was bringing everyone together and let's just say it was hard, like it was really hard. Right, when you're trying to bring together not only marketing but sales and business development and even operations in some cases, trying to keep the message coherent, trying to keep the message consistent, making sure that when we're doing outreach, we're not doing it and UT is one of my favorite worlds, hingley-pingley right, we're doing it in a way that is not going to confuse the clients. Right, if you have five people from one organization reaching up to the same client, it's going to cause confusion. Confused buyers don't buy.

Eric Eden:
9:00

I like the elements that you brought together. Like having everybody on the same page about messaging is actually quite the colossal task, but once you have that's what drives the sales and marketing alignment. Once everybody is telling the same story, that's a pretty awesome foundational thing. And then I like how you got the third party validation from IDC. I liked how you got distribution from partners, including working with their events and getting in front of so many of the target buyers, the thousands of target buyers you got in front of by working with partners. That distribution aspect of it was really great. And I think, just overall, the teamwork like you said it requires. If you're doing a thought leadership initiative, you have to have really close teamwork with sales and marketing, otherwise it just falls apart right at the finish line.

Sue Mysko:
9:55

And so much of it is recognizing that everyone has a role to play and respecting those roles and by understanding your role in the process, then you're a lot less likely to step on totes. Our role in marketing was to do that back end stuff, to do everything we needed to do to set our sales teams up for success. It wouldn't have worked if marketing then said, oh, we're going to reach out. If we were going to reach out, it was in a concerted fashion where we said, okay, sales team, this is the outreach we're doing, this is who we're doing it to, this is who the message is. Do you want this message to go on?

Sue Mysko:
10:30

And they would review lists for us and say, yes, no, yes, no, because if we're reaching out with a message and they're reaching out with a message, it's not going to work. I don't know what they have been talking to their clients about. I don't have that level of insight. So I need to make sure that, from the back end, that we're facilitating and we're doing everything that we can to support sales, because at the end of the day, we're all one organization and I think that is such a key message that often gets lost Marketing and a silo and sales and a silo and at the end of the day we're the same company, we all want the same thing and so really working together to bridge the bridge, to break down those silos and bridge that gap. I always say one plus one equals three and in this case it absolutely did.

Eric Eden:
11:19

Well I'd say it doesn't matter if the holes in the other side of the boat. If you're all in the boat together, you're all in it together. I think that's the important thing for people to remember. So we're at a very interesting time in 2024. As a fractional CMO, let me just ask you broadly. You're helping a lot of different companies with their go to market and marketing strategy. It feels like we're at a very interesting moment in time. What is your best advice for companies and marketers who want to win in 2024?

Sue Mysko:
11:59

really under. It comes down to truly the fundamentals of marketing who is your audience and what is your objective? So you need to be super clear on who your target audience is and you need to be super clear on what you. Why are you reaching out to them? What is your offer? And make sure your offer is resonating with them.

Sue Mysko:
12:18

If your offer isn't going to resonate with them just going out to them saying, hey, I'm. If I was to use even my own self as an example, if I was to come out and say, yeah, I'm Sue and I will. Yeah, I'm fractional. So you all, help me with your marketing. I need to know, I need to be crystal clear on who I'm targeting. I need to be crystal clear on what their pain points are and I need to be crystal clear on the outcomes that I'm going to deliver for them.

Sue Mysko:
12:40

I would say if you're a fractional in this market, absolutely niche down, figure out who you're going after and you'll have a lot more success If you're in. If you're a small business looking to hire a fractional, I would absolutely ask those questions of them. I would say you know, tell us, tell us about some of the outcomes that you've got, tell us about the programs that you've put in place and how do you see that applying to us as an outsider? Before you get into an organization and you'll need to do an audit, to really do a deep dive to understand that organization, but a high level ask them for results, ask them to to see and, as that organization, looking to market. Here again it comes down to know your target audience and put together a clear message that will resonate with them, that will address their pain points 100% agree and, most importantly, like you said, have an offer.

Eric Eden:
13:35

at least have an offer. That's also important. So I think most of the market I get today has no offer at all. So not only do you have to know who you're going out to and what their pain points are and if they're the right people and how you can help them, but also have an offer.

Sue Mysko:
13:49

And that's the thing that I'm also noticing in today's market is that I really like to come in. So, for example, my offer is I want to come in and do an audit and then write a strategy for you, and what I find is, by coming in and doing that audit, it gives us that deep dives to be able to see what they've done very well, and a lot of organizations do a lot of things really well, but there's a lot of gaps and it's not integrated, and so I think the biggest flaw that I see with organizations when I'm doing audits, when I commit, is that it's not integrated, is that they'll be doing a disparate tactic here or here and they're not quitting it all into one packet and, as a result, what it means is an organization could probably do less and do it better by bringing it all together under one umbrella instead of leaving it as disparate tactics 100% agree.

Eric Eden:
14:41

Love that All right. I encourage everyone to share this episode with your friends. Sue has shared a great story.