The Inquisitor Podcast - The Cure to Marketing (+ Sales) Malpractice
In an upmarket, where opportunities abound, and capital is readily available, unhealthy Marketing and Sales practices can repeat unobstructed. But that is not the case in a down market. Today, capital is tight, and startups are failing at record numbers.
On his show, The Inquisitor Podcast, Marcus Cauchi and I discuss the dangers of continuing to commit marketing (and sales) malpractice and what can be done to correct it.
Topics covered in this podcast include:
0:45 - Why traditional marketing is no longer working.
2:22 - Aaron's background and transition from a military analyst to a founder and marketer.
4:00 - Common marketing pitfalls and the importance of strategy.
6:05 - Marketing Like and Owner, focusing on strategy over tactics.
7:11 - Introduction to Andy Cunningham's six C's approach: Core, Customer, Community, Competitor, Category, and Criteria.
9:11 - Strategic marketing, category creation, and building brand equity.
10:13 - Current challenges faced by scaleup organizations and the need for alignment.
13:47 - Aaron's approach to gaining investor trust and building partnerships.
15:07 - Addressing economic uncertainty, long sales cycles, and the role of marketing in the current context.
20:00 - The importance of clear communication and alignment between sales, marketing, and leadership.
22:00 - Aaron's experience leading both sales and marketing efforts in a startup.
23:45 - Challenges of communication in larger companies and the need for marketing leaders to provide consistent messaging.
25:04 - Creating an environment of consistency in the era of community, AI, and the internet.
26:03: Trust-centered marketing and the shift away from biased channels.
26:43: The challenge of reaching decision-makers through traditional methods.
31:04: Building relationships, affinity, and trust in marketing.
32:04: Challenges for CMOs in a quarterly valuation-driven environment.
37:47: Importance of tracking how well different departments work together.
38:12: Creating clarity, avoiding negative unintended consequences in compensation and measurement.
40:47: Marketing as both an art and a science; applying the principles internally.
46:02: Enlisting frontline employees (customer success, field engineers) in the marketing process.
47:28: Using emotional, meaningful language to connect with the market.
Podcast mentions include: Trust in marketing, Andy Cunningham’s 6 C’s Framework, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Dark Social, Marketing Like an Owner, Sales and Marketing alignment, Community, and Personal Branding.
