Saas Breakthrough

We're taking a summer hiatus for the podcast and feeling excited to come back in the fall with new guests, new ideas, and new ways for you to execute your marketing campaigns.Until then, check out Banzai.io for more content like blog posts, webinars, and resources (assessments, checklists, and templates).Have a safe, happy, and healthy summer!

Meet Bridget Poetker, the Director of Content & Brand at Postal, an offline marketing automation platform and marketplace that personalizes, automates, and scales direct mail, events, branded company swag, and customized gifts. Bridget is passionate about authentic brand building and reintroducing creative campaigns into B2B marketing.In this episode, you'll learn why marketers are feeling uninspired these days, and about the intersection between attribution and creativity. You'll discover how gifting can stimulate creativity, as well as unique ways for marketing, sales, and customer success teams to use gifting as part of their relationship building. Finally, we'll reveal how the emotional buyer's journey we use at Banzai compares to the traditional sales and marketing funnel. Enjoy!Notes:- 02:05 The Intersection Between Attribution and Creativity- 06:05 Tagging People's Emotions in the Emotional Buyer's Journey- 10:55 The Secret Sauce of Creativity- 12:05 The Aloe Plant Gen Play Campaign That Started as

Meet Melissa Hummelt, licensed psychotherapist and Clinical Operations Manager at BetterHelp, the world's largest online therapy platform.In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, this episode will teach you four mental health tips you've never heard before, as well as why mental health needs to be attended to daily. Great insights in this episode — enjoy!Notes:- 02:45 A Platform That Empowers Everyone To Take Care of Their Mental Health- 03:35 How To Navigate Hard Conversations While Staying True to Your Values- 11:05 Know Your Attachment Style and What It Can Teach You- 20:35 The Traps for Women in Leadership and How To Avoid Them- 28:05 How To Choose Your Battles- 31:40 Why Taking Care of Yourself Should Be a Daily Practice 

Meet Corey Haines, creator of Swipe Files and cofounder of SwipeWell. Previously, he was the Head of Growth at Baremetrics and the first marketing hire at Cordial.In this episode, you'll hear why Corey created Swipe Files and how it differs from other marketing communities. You'll learn what it means to market like a media company in a B2B SaaS setting, how you can implement it within your budget and team size, and, finally, how to find a long-term balance between brand and performance marketing.Notes:- 02:15 A Unique Membership Community for Marketers- 08:15 The Specific Needs of Non-marketers vs. Hardcore Professional Marketers- 11:00 The Three Most Common Themes Marketers Need Help With- 13:20 What "marketing like a media company" Looks Like in a B2B SaaS Setting- 17:55 The Two Types of Relationships Marketers Have With Performance Marketing- 20:50 A "crawl - walk - run" Approach to Marketing Like a Media Company

Meet Jenna Pipchuk, EVP & CSO of SMART Technologies, responsible for global sales, and her colleague, Jeff Lowe, EVP, CMO & CHRO, responsible for external brand strategy, marketing, communications, human resources, and facilities.In this episode, you'll hear how Jenna and Jeff created a new commercial organization at SMART Technologies: a "unified commercial engine" with employees responsible for the entire customer life cycle all working together. You'll learn about the catalyst for this organizational restructure, how they implemented it, and critical pieces like the pod structure and "uber metrics." Lastly, we'll reveal the results they're seeing so far in employee engagement & retention, company culture, and revenue.Notes:- 04:00 A Tech Company That Provides Educational Solutions Globally- 04:35 The Catalyst Behind an Organizational Restructure and Mind Shift- 06:30 Identifying Misalignment Signs Between How They Were Selling and How Buyers Were Buying- 08:00 Creating a "unified commercial eng

Meet Maeva Cifuentes, founder of Flying Cat Marketing, a women-led, full-service SEO agency for B2B martech, salestech, and proptech SaaS companies in hypergrowth.In this episode, you'll hear how Flying Cat Marketing quadrupled a SaaS client's revenue in one year entirely through search. You'll learn how to run an SEO audit and create an SEO plan, what revenue-generating content looks like, and the key metrics to follow during implementation. What's more, you'll uncover the exact mindset you'll need to get results like this. Enjoy!Notes:- 02:05 A Content-Focused, Full-Service SEO Agency and a Special Cat- 07:00 First Thing: Rewriting the Website To Ensure Clear Messaging- 08:10 Looking for Untapped SEO Potentials and Opportunities- 09:40 Building an SEO Plan While Staying Agile- 14:00 The Key KPIs To Use When Implementing an SEO Project- 16:15 Optimizing Conversion Points Across the Website- 18:15 The Benchmarks for Website Traffic Growth- 19:50 Creating New Content Based on Interviews With Subject Matter Exp

Meet Brendan Hufford, the founder of Growth Sprints, which helps SaaS companies scale from $10M to $100M ARR. Brendan is also a growth marketer at Active Campaign.In this episode, a conversation about leadership gets real. You'll hear about hiring A-players, what it means to be a manager versus an individual contributor, why we're so quick to promote contributors to managers (and if we should be), and the difference between leaders and managers. Finally, you'll learn how to deal with all of this in a remote work setting while the rest of the world is (sort of) on fire. Lots of great insights wherever you are in your marketing career. Enjoy!Notes:- 02:05 You Need To Market Differently When Hiring A-Players- 04:30 Finding the Non-traditional Career Mix as a Marketer- 06:05 Don't Stifle Your A-Player Marketers or They'll Leave- 07:05 To Promote or Not Promote A-Players to Managers- 09:00 Developing an Advancement Structure That Doesn't Require Managing People- 11:10 Being Promoted, But Still Having To Operate at

Meet Mandy Thompson, co-founder and CEO of Digital Reach Online Solutions, a full-service digital agency offering holistic solutions that focus on integrations and automations.In this episode, the emphasis is on marketing leadership. You'll hear Mandy and Ashley's fun conversation as they discuss everything from overwhelm, panic, and toxic productivity to the downside of doing rather than being. They also cover the risk of over-accessibility of leaders as marketers. As Mandy says at one point in the chat, "There's nothing good about waking up and feeling like the day is chasing you." It's a shorter episode, but it's down, dirty, and super fun!Notes:- 02.25 Start Your Day Without Feeling Like It's Chasing You- 04:40 Leveraging the "Do Not Disturb" Mode- 05:35 Keeping a Set of Sprint Lists for Reference- 06:40 Managing Slack Communications the Smart Way- 09:20 The Importance of Offboarding Your Day- 10:15 Long-Term Consequences of Being Scattered- 12:00 How Panic Can Push You To Operate at a Lower Level- 14:10

Meet Kristen Bryant Smith, the Director of Content Marketing at Help Scout, a certified B-corps whose software helps growing businesses better support their customers. Prior to Help Scout, Kristen spent three years at Wistia.In this episode, you'll hear about a powerful brand marketing initiative called "In the Works." You'll learn what it takes to put together a new online publication, the role creativity can play in brand differentiation and engagement, how to take an evolutionary approach to audience development, and the ROI in creating timeless content. Enjoy!Notes:- 01:45 Helping Growing Businesses Better Support Their Customers  - 02:05 A Brand Marketing Initiative: "In the Works"    - 05:20 Expanding the ICP With Creative Branded Content    - 08:10 Connecting on a Broader Array of Types of Content and Media    - 09:46 Creativity as a Brand Differentiator and a Real Way To Drive Engagement and Value Long Term    - 12:25 How To Put Together a New Digital Publication  - 17:50 Creating a New Brand Rooted i

Meet Mandy Thompson, co-founder and CEO of Digital Reach Online Solutions, a full-service digital agency offering holistic solutions focusing on integrations and automations.In this episode, you'll hear about a SaaS case study where they combined ABM with intent data and a HubSpot integration to boost demo bookings by 1,800% and SQLs by 500%. Lots of gems about demand generation await. Enjoy!Notes- 01:40 Helping Clients Succeed at Scale With Holistic Integrations- 02:35 Building Demand With Three Wildly Different Use Cases- 05:45 Shifting the Audiences and the Intent- 07:00 Building Three Funnels- 12:35 Bombora's Surge Audiences- 14:45 Companies' Intent and Buying Committees- 16:35 Deconstructing the Funnel- 19:20 Lightning Questions 

Meet Natalie Marcotullio, the Head of Growth and Operations at Navattic, an interactive product tour platform that allows anyone to create an immersive demo.In this episode, you'll learn how to niche down to your true ICP, execute it effectively on a website redesign, and understand why it's vital in 2022 to improve the buying experience. Enjoy!Notes:- 01:45 The Power of No-Code Interactive Demos- 02:30 How Re-shifting the ICP Led to a Website Redesign- 04:00 Website Redesign: Planning and Execution- 06:20 Integrating the Product Inside the Website- 07:05 Pinpointing the Number-One Use Case- 08:40 The Cheat Code for a Marketer New to a Team- 10:05 Lead Gen on the Old Site vs. the New Site- 10:40 The Numbers Observed After the Website Redesign- 12:35 Advice for Marketers Wanting To Show the Product on the Website- 13:45 How the Website Redesign Affected Sales Calls- 14:30 What's Next for This Initiative- 15:50 The Challenges of Leading a Department of One- 19:45 Lightning Questions 

Welcome to this special SaaS Breakthrough episode with our host, Ashley Levesque, covering six ways to keep your marketing team engaged in 2022. We all kick off the new year building OKRs, strategies, and designing tactics, but we may not spend enough time thinking about how to prepare our teams, or how to keep them engaged and motivated through the year. This episode solves that problem. Enjoy!Notes:- 01:40 Align Company Objectives to the Marketing Team- 03:50 Set Clear Expectations With Your Marketing Team- 05:00 Create a Knowledge Hub for Your Marketing Team- 06:30 Have Hard Conversations With Your Marketing Team Members- 07:30 Create an Efficient Feedback Loop for Your Marketing Team- 09:50 Set Aside a Budget for Professional Growth and Development

Welcome to this special SaaS Breakthrough episode with our host, Ashley Levesque, covering the 7 Best Marketing Campaigns we observed in 2021.From LinkedIn to email marketing, you’ll learn how to replicate these results-driven campaigns. Enjoy!Notes:- 01:45 Paul Cowan at FreshBooks- 05:15 Thomas Peham at Storyblok- 09:40 Alan Silvestri at Growth Gorilla- 17:15 Camille Trent at Dooly- 24:10 Breezy Beaumont at Correlated- 31:15 Thomas Paris at Hoppier- 39:25 Christi Williams at HubSpot

Meet Alessandra Colaci, the VP of Marketing at Mailshake, an email automation and sales engagement platform that helps people make great first impressions with their prospects at scale through cold outreach. Alessandra's 15-year digital marketing career spans from B2B SaaS to B2C eCommerce.In this episode, you'll hear about a LinkedIn initiative Alessandra has led for the last six months that not only gets her employees involved, but also excited about posting valuable content for their audience. You'll learn what successful posting looks like, why it's important to have an internal advocate on every team you want to activate, and the tangible and intangible results obtained from this initiative. Enjoy!Notes- 01:40 Reaching People Who Haven't Opted In- 02:10 Engaging With the Sales Audience on LinkedIn- 03:05 Enabling Employees To Post on Their LinkedIn Profiles- 06:00 Activating and Encouraging New Sales Hires To Post- 06:45 What Successful Posting Looks Like- 07:55 LinkedIn Training and the Ideal Posting Fr

Meet Alex Meade, VP of Sales & Marketing at Beacons Point, a leader of HubSpot User Groups, and the host of the "B2B Growth Marketer" Podcast.In this episode, you'll discover how to empower and inspire marketers through marketing. You'll hear how Alex built a community — Campfire Mastermind — to shift conversations from solely marketing tactics to more personal challenges like: How do I pitch myself for a new leadership position? How do I manage conflict with a colleague? How do I avoid burnout? Finally, you'll learn about strategies businesses can implement to care for and retain employees. Enjoy!Notes:- 02:20 Creating a Community for Sales and Marketing Professionals- 03:35 It All Started With a Need for Personal Interactions- 05:10 From a Social Group to a Mastermind Community for People's Challenges- 09:30 The Best Format To Evoke Feelings That Lead to Deep Conversations- 16:05 Focusing the Content Marketing Agency on "People-First Inbound"- 20:15 The External and Internal Benefits of Creating Life-Ch

Meet Christi Williams, a Senior Marketing Manager on the Partner Enablement team at HubSpot. There, she empowers and supports HubSpot Solutions Partners with their go-to-market strategies, sales processes and initiatives, service delivery, and more, especially as it relates to the HubSpot CRM.In this episode, you'll hear how Christi decided to fix a website traffic dip with a "true" inbound strategy. You'll learn how she pitched that initiative to Sales, and then how she executed it step by step, with successful results. Be ready to take notes. Enjoy!Notes:- 02:15 Recognizing the Opportunity for a True Inbound Strategy  - 03:52 Fixing a Traffic Dip After a Brand Refresh  - 04:55 Starting With a Content Gap Analysis  - 06:40 Leveraging Outsourced Help as a True Team Member  - 08:25 Updating All Pages From a Technical SEO Perspective  - 09:40 Creating a Method To Keep Visitors Engaged and On-Site  - 10:00 Writing CTAs Into Content To Continue the Visitor's Journey  - 10:45 Getting More Marketing-Influenced Oppo

Meet Tiara Yracheta-Udziela, Marketing Coordinator at Banzai, where she helps marketers develop engaging and meaningful connections with their customers through all types of events.  She has five years of experience executing grassroots marketing strategies, and is always seeking out creative, scalable opportunities to add a human touch and a sense of community to the SaaS industry.  In this episode, you'll discover what personalization, networking, and engagement marketing look like during COVID for in-person conferences, what Tiara thinks the future of in-person marketing events will look like, and what leaders need to consider when making decisions about in-person vs. virtual events. Enjoy!Notes:- 02:00 Attending Content Marketing World in Person- 04:50 What Engagement and Networking Opportunities Looked Like- 08:30 A Closer Look at Hybrid Event Experiences- 11:00 People, Engagement, and Networking as the Drivers of Conferences- 13:20 The Move Towards Making Regional Events More Specialized- 15:00 The Futu

Welcome to a special SaaS Breakthrough Episode with our host and Banzai VP of Marketing, Ashley Levesque, covering Six Tactics To Create Memorable Virtual Experiences.As marketers, we have the responsibility not only to run events, but to craft memorable experiences that highlight our brand, our humanity, and our desire to connect with our attendees.  In this episode, Ashley will guide you on how to implement each tactic, using examples from her own experience running virtual events. Enjoy!Notes:- 00:55 A Reality Check on Virtual Events in the Marketplace  - 02:05 Hot Take: Boring Webinars Are Killing Your Brand  - 03:00 Modern Marketers Are Missing a Key Ability  - 05:00 Event Marketing: The Hard Work Beyond in-Person Experiences  - 09:05 Webinars: Crafting Virtual Events That Are Memorable  - 10:00 Play Music at the Start of Your Webinar  - 11:05 Be Intentional About the Brand Impression You Create  - 11:45 Decorate Your Virtual and Physical Space  - 13:20 Encourage Your Attendees To Be Contributors, Not Ju

Meet Breezy Beaumont, the Head of Growth at Correlated, a platform that helps sales teams understand how people use their product. Breezy has tons of hands-on marketing experience in multiple hyper-growth software companies.In this episode, you'll hear why Breezy decided to launch a LinkedIn advertising campaign to increase brand awareness. You'll then learn step-by-step how to achieve a high click-through rate with LinkedIn ads. Enjoy!Notes:- 02:15 A Platform That Helps Sales Teams Understand How People Use Their Product- 02:40 Deciding To Run an Advertising Campaign on LinkedIn- 04:05 Choosing Conversation Ads Over Other Types of LinkedIn Ads- 05:40 Launching a Campaign With a Small Advertising Budget- 06:35 Smart Ways To Narrow Down Your Target Audience on LinkedIn- 07:45 Measuring the Success of Your Ad Campaign- 09:45 Creating Ad Content That Breaks Through the Noise- 13:35 Seeing Exciting Results From the LinkedIn Ad Campaign- 15:30 Lightning Questions 

Meet Christopher Schreiber, Head of Marketing at Qwilr, a software that creates visually engaging sales proposals that stand out and win more business. He's a marketing executive with 15 years of experience in leadership roles at high-growth tech companies.In this episode, you'll learn how Christopher crafted research-based content by running a survey of 100+ software buyers; what it takes to produce real insights that have lasting power for marketing and sales; and finally, what's changing in the SaaS buying process. Enjoy!Notes:02:15 Creating Visually Engaging Sales Proposals that Stand Out and Win More Business03:30 Deciding To Run a Survey of 100+ Software Buyers05:45 Using the Survey's Results for Marketing and Sales Enablement06:55 The Full Process of Executing a Survey08:55 Results: New Benchmarks and Surprising Insights10:40 Buyer Enablement: Merging of Self-Serve and Sales-Led Processes12:25 Sharing the Results and Showcasing the Product Simultaneously16:00 How To Produce Real Insights Successfully v