We are always ready to DRIVE here at Terminus. DRIVE represents our core set of values, which serve our team members, customers, and the B2B space.
- We are dedicated to showing up for our fellow marketers.
- Risk-taking allows us to share what works and what doesn’t.
- Being inventive has created growth for us, growth that you can tap into too.
- Making you feel valued is important as we want to see you succeed.
- Staying energized means prioritizing learning just as much as you.
With this core set of values comes a curiosity to learn from customers and other marketers every day. We LOVE hearing about campaign ideas, targeting strategies, and new channels to try. And we love returning the favor and sharing our own learnings and the trends we’re seeing from our point of view. Our team has spent many years in B2B marketing, trying new things, experimenting, noting what works, and learning from our mistakes.
That’s why we sat down with these six Terminus Nation members and asked for their Words of Wisdom.
Here’s who you are hearing from:
- A.F. (Audra Felten), Senior Director of Product Marketing
- C.A. (Chelsey Axline), Senior Customer Marketing Manager
- S.K. (Steph Kelly), Senior Director of Marketing
- J.K. (Justin Keller), Vice President of Brand Marketing
- T.D. (Tav Dattolo), Account Based Marketing Acquisition Manager
- J.W. (Josh Wolske), Account Development Representative
Biggest Marketing Trends Right Now
- Take the proactive approach vs. reactive approach. As a product marketer, it is important to anticipate what is needed for our releases and launches. Versus reacting to a product or person saying, “We need to launch this in a week, can you make that happen?”. That rushed approach doesn’t work. -A.F.
- Customer marketing is a trend itself right now. Our world has changed a lot in the last few years, and there has been a huge market shift focusing on customer retention/expansion versus new customer acquisition. With B2B being a digitally crowded space, buyers are craving those one to one experiences. That’s why we created Terminus Rock Stars. An advocacy community with a pool of customers who love you and support you make it easier to share stories and support other parts of the business. -C.A.
- If you want to break through the noise, you need to invest in things that are not measurable or scalable. The riskiest thing we have done this year is hold an event called Break Shit. We put a very bad word in the name of a B2B marketing conference. And I was scared to do that. But we launched it and it became the biggest event Terminus had ever done with regards to pipeline, revenue generation, and attendance. -J.K.
- The need to run a Full Funnel multi-channel ABM approach is absolutely necessary. With companies getting more sophisticated in their ABM approaches, buyers are becoming smarter. It is taking more touch points to reach them and delivering a VIP experience from the “Who Are You” stage to the “I’m Interested” to “Evaluation” to “Closed Won” and to “Post Sale/Expansion”. A VIP experience starts with display and LI advertising to give buyers a sense of who you are and what you do. Then you can layer in intent data and tailor the customer experience to a specific product you offer. -T.D.
Recipes for Success in B2B Marketing
- The best product marketers I know are good storytellers. They know how to take something very technical and make it super simple and compelling to buy into. I always think of this Steve Jobs quote, “You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it is worth it in the end because once you get there you can move mountains”. -A.F.
- Be genuine with your customers in an advocacy program. Listen and ask for continuous feedback. Make sure you are offering things that make them want to stay. Build it out from a “here’s what you’ll get from it” and “here is what we will ask for”. Set expectations early so they know what they are signing up for. And be flexible – not everyone wants to speak on stage or write a whole case study. Let them choose how they would like to participate. -C.A.
- Collaborate with your entire marketing team. If you need to, start small. Get a couple champions you can partner with. When others start to see the success from that collaboration they will want to get involved. Make sure you are solid in your collaboration efforts and earn the trust of your marketing colleagues. It goes a long way and presents a unified front to other business units across the organization. -S.K.
- One of the toughest things about being a brand marketer is the amount of feedback you get. It’s great to make people happy, but if you are making everyone happy you are probably doing something wrong. Stay focused and stay confident. Brand is not a short term investment. You plant those seeds now, and they will blossom wildly in the future. -J.K.
- Consistently communicate with your AEs, it’s a partnership. Do what they ask you to do. Their success is my success. And don’t be afraid to make mistakes or fail. I definitely have had calls where I’ve stumbled with my words. Recently I was stumbling with my words on a call and was pretty sure they would go with a competitor. At the end, I still got them to take a meeting. -J.W.
Across these trends, tips, and trick above, you’ll notice two main themes:
- Today’s world requires changing approaches and taking risks in order to stand out
- Find ways to value key stakeholders and move together as one unit, even when times get tough
We hope our team’s perspective might help with whatever is you’re working on, whether it be crafting an ideal customer profile, figuring out which accounts to target next, or executing your next big multi-channel campaign. We’re always here to help! And share, and learn, and listen, and provide any resources that can make your job easier. From one marketing team to another, you got this! We’ll be rooting for you.
