Matthews on Marketing

Matthews on Marketing

Bite-sizing Budget Requests: Three Steps to Justify What You Need and Prevent CFO Freak-out

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If you're a CMO, you've probably experienced what I call the CFO freak-out. "You want how much money? For what? Are you insane?" The freak-out tripwire varies by company size, but it’s always safe to exercise caution north of twenty-five thousand dollars. That kind of money isn't pocket change for any organization. Many marketing leaders lack sensitivity to the concerns of their financial counterpart seated across the boardroom table. They stumble right onto the budget land mine. Sticker … [Read more...]

Three Classic Books for Email Marketers

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Anyone who practices email marketing knows that there are days when you just can't quite think of what to write. Or can’t bring yourself to write yet another variation on the same subject line. Days when you wonder why, after all the effort, your emails are just not converting. I'd like to recommend three great books that I am sure will help. Don't be dissuaded by the titles, two of which deal with advertising, and one of which doesn't seem to have anything to do with marketing. And don't … [Read more...]

The Six Worst SDR Emails I’ve Seen This Year

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As a head of marketing, I get a lot of unsolicited emails. Because of the exploding marketing stack, and Gartner’s now well known prediction that CMOs will soon have more IT budget than CIOs, I sit in the crosshairs of thousands of eager software sellers. Many of the emails I get are really bad, and have about a zero percent chance of converting. Every day, I get more and more of them, the best of which are punchless, and the worst of which are downright annoying. I'm not here to shame the … [Read more...]

Working Forwards and Backwards: The Two Important Mindsets for Marketers

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Really effective marketers have mastered two modes of thinking – forwards and backwards. Following in the footsteps of your buyer is thinking forwards. Deriving your overall marketing goals from your revenue targets is thinking backwards. I’ve found that most marketers are not especially good at either because they spend their days spinning their wheels slogging through piles of marketing tasks. Decent marketers may have a forwards or backwards mindset. Great marketers do both. As I sat … [Read more...]

A Step by Step Guide to Building an LDR or SDR Team – Part 2 – Managing and Measuring

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If you followed the checklist from part one of this post, you now have a clear strategy for your sales and lead development efforts. You have decided on either SDRs or LDRs, or both; and you know what the objective of each is. You should have a clear understanding and agreement on who does what, and have determined what kind of people you are seeking to fill the roles. That’s a good start, but don’t let your efforts stall due to inattention. A common mistake is not actively managing these … [Read more...]