The Revenue Growth Architects
CS2
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Welcome to the Revenue Growth Architects podcast, formerly fwd:thinking. The ultimate podcast series for marketing and revenue leaders seeking to drive revenue growth for B2B companies.
Our podcast dives into every facet of Revenue Growth Architecture, covering GTM Design, Revenue Analytics, and Operational Infrastructure, to equip you with the tools to win.
Our episodes feature discussions on strategy, interviews with industry experts, real-life case studies, and actionable advice to guide you through the process of architecting your company's revenue growth.
Whether you're an experienced professional or just starting out, our practical step-by-step guidance will help you unlock the full potential of your company's revenue growth.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
2 hours ago
163 - A New Hope: Your Marketing Automation Platform's Fresh Start
CS2 is taking you on an epic journey in a galaxy not too far away. This is a new mini-series, where we walk you through the many phases of a brand-new Marketing Automation platform. In this episode, we're joined by industry veterans Gany and Brian as we tackle the intimidating yet exhilarating task of establishing a fresh start in your Marketing Automation platform.
In this episode, we'll be navigating:
* The Prep-work: To rebuild or not to rebuild? We'll weigh the pros and cons of each approach. Gany and Brian will guide you through the need for stakeholder alignment, dealing with constraints like contract negotiations and balancing daily tasks, and who you should rope in for this mission.
* The Implementation: Here's where we roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty. We'll walk you through the down and dirty of the tech setup, laying down the foundation with templates, campaign management, GDPR programs, and more. And then we'll leap into the optimization phase where we discuss deprecating old processes, data hygiene, and nurturing campaigns.
* Testing, Enablement, and Launch: We'll demonstrate how to thoroughly test every lead scenario, enable users based on their comfort level with the new tool, and finally, prepare for the grand launch. But the journey doesn't end here. We'll also talk about monitoring and further optimization once you're in a live state.
Join us as we embark on this thrilling journey, blasting off into the world of Marketing Automation platforms. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to explore new territories in their Marketing Automation journey or those seeking to optimize their current platform. May the force of good data and efficient processes be with you!
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May 22, 2023
162 - In the Trenches: Automating Data Normalization with Scalable Solutions in Salesforce and Marketo
Welcome to another insightful episode of the Revenue Growth Architects podcast, where we untangle the complex world of marketing operations. Today, we're joined by Grant Booth, a seasoned Salesforce admin with a passion for clean data. Buckle up for an intriguing ride into the depths of Data Normalization, and learn how you can save yourself hours and headaches down the road.
In this episode, we're demystifying:
* The Basics: What is Data Normalization, really? Often referred to as data cleaning, we'll discuss its role in simplifying complex data and eliminating redundancy, ensuring you're not slowing down your processes with countless redundant values.
* The Why: Why should you care about Data Normalization? We highlight its importance in facilitating easy and reliable reporting, fostering standardized data, and contributing to simplified automation downstream. We'll discuss why minimalism is key in retrieving and grouping particular datasets.
* The How: How can you do Data Normalization efficiently? We'll explore strategies for future-proofing your data structure, determining the 'correct values', and how to categorize for simplicity. Most importantly, we will share detailed steps you can do to leverage CSV supported automation out of both Salesforce or Marketo to make this scalable and easy to maintain.
We're not about blocking data - we're here to transform it. We want to flip the script on the old adage, "Garbage In, Garbage Out" and make your marketing ops work smarter, not harder. And at the end of the day, it all comes down to your ABC's - Always Be CSV-ing.
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May 15, 2023
161 - Mastering HubSpot: Best Practices for Strategy and Execution
Are you ready to take your HubSpot game to the next level? This week on the Revenue Growth Architects Podcast, Gany Rodriguez joins to dive into how to maximise your use of HubSpot.
Get ready for a whirlwind tour of HubSpot best practices as we break down:
* Strategy: Learn how to approach your go-to-market process, whether or not to adopt HubSpot's built-in features or customize them to fit your own, and the ins and outs of opt-in/opt-out strategies and global forms
* Operations: Discover the secrets of operationalizing global forms, templatizing workflows, and managing marketing vs. non-marketing contacts
* Analytics: Uncover the power of HubSpot's campaign tracking and reporting features, including form submissions, workflow details and audits, and the versatile journey report builder
Whether you're a HubSpot novice or a seasoned pro, this episode is packed with tips and tricks to help you optimize your enterprise experience with this powerful marketing tool.
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May 8, 2023
160 - Maximizing Your SFDC Campaign Performance: Solving the "Where/What" Challenge
Are you struggling to measure the impact of your marketing channels and track the origin of your leads? You're not alone! This week on The Revenue Growth Architects Podcast, Nina Valtcheva, Director of Solutions Architecture at CS2, comes back to chat about how to unravel the mystery of SFDC Campaign/Channel Tracking and help you master the art of attribution.
In this information-packed episode, we'll cover:
* The Where/What Challenge: Discover how to track how someone got to your content and what they converted on, and learn about the different methods to set up your SFDC Campaigns for better attribution
* Setting Up SFDC Campaign Tracking: Dive into the process of creating SFDC Campaign Types, defining UTM values, and setting up automation to streamline your tracking and reporting
* Reporting and Utilizing Data: Explore various reporting techniques and learn how to use the data to optimize your marketing campaigns and boost your ROI, and finally,
* Common pitfalls to be aware of, key monitoring strategies, and the importance of not setting and forgetting your tracking process
This episode is sure to help you take your campaign tracking skills to the next level!
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May 3, 2023
159 - When Will AI Replace Technical RevOps Jobs?
AI has gone from 0-60 in the past three months. The speed of development is both exciting and unnerving. In this week's episode, we're diving deep into AI and exploring its potential impact on how we interface with our marketing/revenue ops tech stack.
From SFDC's AI flow builder, Zapier's AI automation builder, Chatspot.ai by Hubspot, AutoGPT, and dozens more examples of marketing and sales tech embedding advanced AI into their products, we'll examine the wild developments in AI-driven chat interfaces and their potential to revolutionize the way we interact with technology.
Join us as we explore:
• The current state of AI in Rev Ops tools and the move towards a more prompt-driven interface
• The possibilities and potential stages of AI evolution, from building complex automation to fully autonomous AI doing our jobs
• The pros and cons of AI-driven tool development, including the good (increased efficiency) and the bad (tech debt)
• The future of AI in sales and marketing, and the potential for a centralized AI that could change the fabric of our economy
Will AI eventually replace the need for marketers and salespeople or even reshape the entire tech industry? We are not sure, but we're going to discuss it nonetheless.
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May 1, 2023
158 - Best in Class Campaign Operations Process
Is your campaign operations process a little chaotic? Do you want to scale up your campaigns without adding stress? In this week's episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, Jerel Allen and Ruben Rangel, two of CS2's top Campaign Ops experts, sit down to discuss the do's and don'ts of campaign operations that will help you scale your campaigns like never before.
In this episode, we dive into the key components of a best-in-class Campaign Ops process, covering aspects like:
• The importance of having a project management tool and a well-defined request process, and the necessity of training, enablement, documentation, and optimized MAP assets
• The necessity to have clear roles and responsibilities, reporting, and regular meetings or check-ins
• The essential technical and soft skills you need to own and manage your COps processes, and
• Some of the most common challenges faced in developing and maintaining a robust Campaign Ops process.
Don't miss this opportunity to learn from the pros and discover how you can avoid common pitfalls to revolutionize your campaign operations.
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Apr 24, 2023
157 - The Power of Nurture: How to Build Lasting Relationships with Your Customers
Are you looking to build a top-notch nurture strategy that effectively engages your audience and drives results? Dive into this insightful episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, where CS2's Joy Martinez joins Xander to explore the ins and outs of creating a successful nurture campaign.
We broke down some essential aspects to consider when building a nurture strategy:
• Establishing clear goals and reporting needs
• Understanding entry and exit points for a seamless sales funnel experience
• Crafting content that speaks to your audience at every stage of the buyer's journey (ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu) and,
• Finding the perfect cadence and frequency to keep your prospects engaged
We've got some great tips for setting up a nurture campaign that drives real results, so stick around while we break it down.
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Apr 17, 2023
156 - How AI tools like ChatGPT will shape Rev Ops (plus 3 powerful use cases)
"AI isn't going to steal your job, but someone using AI might."
Welcome to the newly branded Revenue Growth Architects Podcast (formerly fwd:thinking podcast). In this episode, Charlie joins us to discuss his take on the quickly-evolving developments of ChatGPT, AI, and how that's going to change the way we work in marketing and revenue operations.
Specifically, we'll dive into these topics:
• Why you need to care about AI now, and what you can do to keep up with this technology
• How to make AI work for you,
• And practical ways you can integrate AI and ChatGPT into your workflow, including use cases surrounding using AI to optimize lead scoring, how to write an effective ChatGPT prompt, and using AI to improve your company's documentation processes.
This topic has the business world buzzing, so you won't want to miss out. Charlie and Xander break it all down for you. PLUS - we've got some exciting news to share with you!
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Apr 10, 2023
155 - Scaling Your Nurture Programs in Marketo
Get ready to get technical with us, because in today's episode of fwd:thinking, we dive into the art of building a successful nurture program within Marketo.
Colton Slauson, Senior Manager of Marketing Operations at CS2, joins us to share some valuable insights on how to approach this project.
Specifically, we'll be talking about how to:
* Start with a solid plan and identify your nurture audiences.
* Overcome common hurdles by creating a repeatable process with set guidelines.
* Prioritize effective reporting to evaluate and optimize your nurture programs.
We’re getting detailed today, so grab a pen and some paper and be prepared to take some notes.
For more information on Nurture Handling, check out Colton's step-by-step Nurture Handler Guide.
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Apr 3, 2023
154 - Stop Struggling With Data Enrichment
In this episode, Xander is joined by CS2's Director of Solutions Architecture, Nina Valtcheva to talk about an essential need for your business, data enrichment.
If you can optimize your enrichment process, you'll improve your database's health, completeness, and accuracy - a win for both marketing AND sales teams!
Join us as we break down:
* What is data enrichment and why is it useful
* How to build a business case if you don't already have a data enrichment tool
* What to do (and not do) when setting up a data enrichment tool, and
* How to measure the impact data enrichment has on your business
At CS2, we're all about working smarter, not harder. Enrichment is one way you can improve the quality of your data and make it easier on your sales and marketing teams to connect with your target market.
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Mar 27, 2023
153 - How to Level Up Your Operations Using the CS2 PRODUCT Method
How To Level Up Your Operations Using the CS2 PRODUCT Method
Too often, we see clients approaching their roles with a project mindset. A project mindset is a temporary endeavor, with timelines, budgets, endpoints, and deliverables. Project mindsets can make MOps teams feel like they are seen just as order takers who only process incoming tickets.
Today, we're going to introduce you to CS2's PRODUCT method. This method focuses on ongoing concerns, and is positioned for strategic conversations that influence business decisions. A product team is never done as long as the product remains on the market, which means there are continual opportunities for learning, feedback, improvements, enhancements, and expansions. The focus here is on outcomes.
The PRODUCT method is actually an acronym. It stands for:
P - Prioritization
R - Roadmap
O - Outcomes Measured
D - Documentation
U - User Experience
C - Continuous Improvement
T - Team Structure and Alignment
Join us as we break this all down for you with Joy Martinez, CS2's Senior Director of Marketing Operations. Joy is an expert in shifting clients from the project mindset to the PRODUCT mindset.
This method will be a game changer for you and your teams - trust us.
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Mar 20, 2023
152 - Lead Scoring Done Right
It's 2023, so why on this forward thinking episode are we still talking about lead scoring? Is using “lead scoring” still relevant?
In this episode, CS2's Director of Marketing Operations, Matt Cronk, talks us through how to do lead scoring right. And, disclaimer, we use the term “lead scoring” here, but really it’s setting a priority to prospects so you can optimize where and how sales spends their time - even if you are just sending hand-raisers over to them.
So join Matt and Xander as they take a deep dive into why lead scoring is still useful especially when done right, how we at CS2 suggest approaching your model, and lastly, how to set it up to be successful and have sales singing your praises!
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Mar 13, 2023
151 - Technical Debt to Technical Equity: Part 2
If you missed last week's episode - Technical Debt to Technical Equity Part 1 - you're going to want to give that a listen first.
This week we're bringing you part two, featuring CS2's Senior Salesforce Consultant, Grant Booth, for the second week in a row. We're covering topics including:
* Apex CPU Limits - what it is and why it matters
* Why you should move to flows
* How to build and run a tech debt project
Disclosure: we recommend checking this episode out on our YouTube channel or our website, cs2marketing.com, because Grant shares his screen as he walks through some great examples of salesforce automation, workflow rules, process builders, and running tests and analyses.
If you're deep in technical debt, and are desperate to reach technical equity, this episode will help.
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Mar 7, 2023
150 - Technical Debt to Technical Equity Part 1
We all talk about technical debt, but talking about it doesn't make it go away. One of our predictions at the start of 2023 was that technical debt was going to skyrocket this year, and companies would struggle to dig themselves out of that hole come 2024. That's one prediction we hope doesn't come true, but it's going to take more than wishful thinking to make that happen.
On this week's episode of fwd:thinking, CS2's Sr. SFDC Consultant, Grant Booth, joins us to discuss technical debt: why you need to prioritize fixing it and how to get executive buy-in for this critical project.We didn't stop there though.
This episode is a two-parter, and Grant will be back with us next week to dive more into the weeds of what CPU limits are, the types of Salesforce automations and flows and their impact on processing, and what a successful SDFC tech debt project looks like.
After hearing this episode, you'll definitely want to mark your calendar for part two next week.
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Feb 27, 2023
149 - CS2's Tips for Optimizing an Inherited Technology Instance or Marketing Automation Instance
Inheriting a new instance can be tricky. You need to understand the context around how things were built, align with the marketing strategy, and identify the business goals related to your marketing automation platform.
Once you've uncovered the why, you need to focus on uncovering the "who". Who are your key stakeholders? Who's in charge of using the system, and what are team expectations? And then finally, focus on the "how". How do you get the information you need out of a new instance? What's the first thing you tackle?
On this week's episode of the fwd:thinking podcast, CS2's Senior Manager of Marketing Operations, Chelsea Byron, breaks down the do's and don'ts of inheriting a new instance, and provides several key takeaways.
If you or your company is in the middle of this process, you'll definitely want to tune in.
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Feb 20, 2023
148 - CS2's Guide to Account Based Marketing, and How to Make it Work for You
Most marketers have used Account Based Marketing (ABM) strategies before. It's not a new concept by any means. In a sea of multi-colored rubber duckies, you pinpoint the blue ones and focus your marketing there. (Don't know what we mean? Give the episode a listen)What many teams get wrong is that ABM is not just a for large enterprise accounts requiring white glove marketing tactics. You should be using an ABM strategy for all of your accounts.You have to ask yourself:
* Which buyers should we be targeting?
* Which buyers should we not be targeting? (Not doing something is a great strategy)
* Which of those buyers are in market... now
Once you've got those three questions roughly answered, you can start operationalizing your ABM strategy.On this week's episode, Xander and Crissy break down all the ins and outs of an ABM strategy and how you can use it to get the maximum return on your marketing investments. If this seems right up your alley, you'll definitely want to give t…
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Feb 13, 2023
147 - CS2's Guide to Customer and Prospect Communication Orchestration
CS2's Guide to Customer and Prospect Communication Orchestration
On this week's episode, Xander sits down with Crissy to talk through CS2's Guide to Customer and Prospect Communication Orchestration.
In the last several years, companies have brought on more and more technology and adopted more channels to communicate with their prospects and customers. From marketing automation, sales engagement platforms, to social messaging and their product itself, companies are creating disjointed customer experiences with duplicative messages and lack of cohesive efforts across the whole revenue team who work in silos.
How we communicate to prospects and buyers is a HUGE part of that customer experience alone so we need to care!
During the episode we will share our tips for creating great communications orchestration within your org, how to get buy-in and alignment toward this effort, and also what outcomes you will see as a result of it.
Get your notepads ready. Trust us.
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Feb 6, 2023
146 - Introducing Revenue Growth Architecture and CS2's GROW Framework
We've seen a huge growth gap within organizations over the last several years: the executive team wants to grow faster than the operations team has capacity to keep up with. MOps teams want to make impact aligned with the executive priorities, but often times get bogged down in day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. This makes it difficult for their teams to prove their value to the C-Suite.If you relate to this, have no fear. During this week's episode, host Xander Broeffle, and CS2's CEO and CRO, Crissy and Charlie Saunders, introduce a framework that's been in the works for the last several years at CS2. Enter: Revenue Growth Architecture and the GROW Framework.First, let us break it down for you:
* G - Go-to-Market Design
* R - Revenue Analytics
* O - Operational Infrastructure
* W - Wins
Use this GROW Framework to align your teams on the most impactful projects and objectives. Align with core marketing strategy, execute the processes efficiently, and leave every…
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Jan 30, 2023
145 - Tips for Effective Marketing Ops Documentation, Training, and Enablement
Change - some of us love it, some of us hate it. But no matter which side of the fence you fall on, change is inevitable, especially in business.
What's the best way to get buy-in from your team and make the change stick?
CS2's Senior Director of Marketing Operations, Joy Martinez, joins us on the fwd:thinking podcast again this week. She breaks down the do's and don'ts of introducing change in your organization, through these three key steps:
* Building great documentation
* Empowering your team through training
* And enabling them to be successful through open lines of communication
Whether you're a C-level exec, or just starting out in your marketing career, Joy's advice applies to you to get the most out of your next process improvement.
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Jan 23, 2023
144 - Top Listener MOps and RevOps Career Questions Answered
CS2's founder and CEO, Crissy Saunders, knows a thing or two about building a career in operations, starting an agency, and consulting in general! And over the past few months, she has received dozens of questions on LinkedIn from others looking to do the same. So this week, Xander sat down with Crissy to get her answers to a few of the top ones.
Whether you are looking to make a career change to an operator supporting the revenue team, looking to get into independent consulting or building a small agency, or thinking about how a create a path to ops leadership and beyond - this podcast is filled with great career advice you can take yourself or share with your team.
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Jan 16, 2023
143 - Pipeline Source is Wrong But It Can Be Useful
"All Models Are Wrong, But Some Are Useful" - British statistician George E. P. Box
We have quoted our good man George so many times on this podcast, and today's episode title is even inspired by it as we talk all about Pipeline Source.
Right now when jobs are on the line or teams are looking to show their impact, it can be very tempting to want to try to use pipeline source to give "credit" as to which team or channel (marketing, sales, partner) drove the opportunity.
Or, even if the intention is to not use pipeline source for credit, some teams are just identifying it in the wrong way.
So on today's podcast we will give you or take in under 30 minutes on:
* All the reasons why pipeline source can be wrong
* How to do it right if you still plan to use it
* And how, even though it can be "wrong", it still can be useful
Take a listen and let us know -- are we wrong or was our advice useful? 😄
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Jan 9, 2023
142 - Team CS2'S Predictions for 2023
2022 was another unexpected year that we couldn't predict in the B2B SaaS and tech space. During the summer, companies were all in the thick of a talent war and now heading in 2023, many companies have had to do layoffs and are on hiring freezes.
But even though this space feels unpredictable, we wanted to come to the podcast like we have done over the years with our team's predictions for 2023 in marketing, sales and operations and B2B SaaS in general.
Join Xander Broeffle as he sits down with Crissy and Charlie to talk through predictions provided by the team and give our commentary on whether they agree or not.
This episode is always a fun one so listen in and see if any of our predictions match up to yours!
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Dec 19, 2022
141 - CS2'S Guide to Revenue Planning with Alison Rouse
CS2'S Guide to Revenue Planning
It's the end of year and many revenue teams are looking to do their revenue planning and tapping operators to help work with finance to do so.
However, from our experience, companies are often missing the proper data or practices in order to revenue plan with success.
So want to be the hero and lead this important project successfully? We got you!
On the podcast this week, new host Xander Broeffle interviews Alison Rouse, CS2's VP of Solution Architecture and Analytics as she walks through CS2's guide to revenue planning.
They both dive into:
* Tops-down versus Bottoms-up data modeling
* The risks when only utilizing one of these models
* Foundational data points needed for both models
* How goals should be communicated and revisited by the revenue team
* And how to approach next year's planning if you already do have a strong data foundation
Get ready to take some serious notes!
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Dec 12, 2022
140 - What Sales-Led Companies Must Avoid when Launching a Product-Led Growth Strategy
Product-Led Growth is all the rage right now and has infiltrated it's way into B2B SaaS and many sales-led first companies are dipping their toes on the PLG waters and deciding to launch this new strategy.
The only problem?
Companies are underestimating all the changes and things you need to do strategically and operationally in order to make it work. And you can't just apply your same sales-led processes, team, or data structure to it and assume it will work.
So what are the most common mistakes we see sales-led first companies do?
Listen in to hear from Xander, Crissy, and Charlie all the things to avoid so we can't tell you we told you so ; )
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Dec 5, 2022
139 - Advice for Elevating Your Marketing QBRs
It's that time of the year. Time to prep for end of quarter business reviews and annual reviews.
Whether you're attending sales QBR's or prepping your own, there are key insights that you should be preparing to show what marketing is doing well and also highlight areas that can improve.
This week, Crissy, Charlie, and Xander discuss key metrics to highlight, and how to tell stories from your data. They also share insights into which teams you should align with prior to the QBR to make sure that your review is aligned with other revenue teams.
This is a must listen for anyone looking to be a strategic partner with their marketing and sales leadership teams!
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Nov 28, 2022
138 - Making the Case for RevOp/MOps Resources and Budget to Execs
Making the case for budget and resources for RevOps or MOps is..... tough. Especially when you are trying to get the buy-in from execs like your CMO or CEO.
But why is it so difficult?
What are the negatives impacts that they care most about that are tied to being under-resourced?
What can you do to make it so you can get enough resources?
What types of resources or support should you be looking for?
Well, we cover all over that and more in today's episode.
Join Xander, Director of MOps from CS2 as he takes over as host for the first time and see what him and Crissy and Charlie have to say on the topic.
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Nov 21, 2022
137 - Tips for Building a Strong Team Culture - Claire Pockell Wilson, Sr Manager of People Operations at CS2
Building a strong team culture is hard.
Especially while remote. And especially as your team grows.
But how do you maintain the same level of connection for the team while also ensuring they feel supported and are growing as you add on more people?
Well, on this week's podcast our very own Sr. Manager of People Operations, Claire Pockell-Wilson, takes us through why culture is so important and dives deep into some of the many programs and tactics she has rolled out or refined here at CS2 to maintain our strong culture based on our values even while doubling our team size.
This is a great listen for any leader - even if it is just of a small team, to gives you ideas on how to make sure your team is happy and healthy and ready to take on their job!
To connect with Claire and keep the conversation going, find her on LinkedIn!
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Nov 14, 2022
136 - CS2's Guide to Handling Common MAP Security Risks
Do you know that your marketing automation system can easily be attacked or threatened?
And these attacks, when not handled properly or prepared for, can really impact not only your reputation, but your customer experience and trust with your whole revenue team, especially sales?
It's better to be prepared than surprised, so this episode is a must listen if you manage the marketing automation platform for your org.
This week, we introduce our new cohost Xander Broeffle, Director of MOps at CS2, and he joins Crissy and Charlie to dive into two very common security threats to any marketing automation platform that happen a lot.
During the episode we will cover:
* What the two (kind of 3) threats are
* How to identify or tell you have been attacked or at risk
* What proactive steps you can do to be prepared for one
* What to do in the event you are attacked
* And how you can minimize the impact of a potential attack on your reputation, your systems, your customer experience…
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Nov 7, 2022
135 - So you want to switch MAPs?
You or your team is discussing switching marketing automation platforms.
But wait! Are you about to make the right decision?
After listening to this podcast episode you will find out!
Join me and CS2’s very own Xander Broeffle, Director of MOps, as we dive deep into all the things to consider and plan for before you switch MAPs.
We cover:
* The right reasons to switch
* The wrong reasons to switch
* The requirements you need to gather and assess before selecting a new MAP
* How to plan appropriately for the switch
* And, how to really ensure your process of switching is successful
This podcast will be your savior - trust us.
If you have any more questions for Xander or just want to network, connect with him here on LinkedIn!
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Oct 31, 2022
134 - The Big Benefits of Identifying You and Your Team's "Strengths"
So many times we position and measure people on our ops teams based on their technical skills. But how do we actually understand what someone’s true strengths are?
These aren’t skills they learn or train themselves, but really the traits they just naturally have that can help them be successful and energized.
So this week, we have our very own Sr. Director of MOps, Joy Martinez, on the podcast to talk all about one her favorite topics, strengths, and how mangers and individuals can identify their own and their team’s strengths and use that knowledge to make them and their team more effective.
Joy will also cover how she led our CS2 team through a workshop on strengths at our team offsite this summer and how it can maybe inspire you and your team to do the same!
To learn more from Joy, connect with her on LinkedIn and check out some of the strengths resources we talked about on the podcast below.
Find out more about CliftonStrengths
Find about more about 16 Personalitie…
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Oct 24, 2022
133 - A Deep Dive into Marketing ROI with Alison Rouse, VP of Solutions Architecture and Analytics @ CS2
Measuring ROI on marketing is probably one of the trickiest things to do for operators and analysts.
There are so many things to consider from your campaign structure, how you track cost, and even what tools to use.
But this week, our very own VP of Solutions Architecture and Analytics Alison Rouse will dive into another meaty topic for analytics - and that is yup, marketing ROI!
On the podcast we will dive into:
* The definition of ROI and the different types you can measure for marketing
* What pitfalls or issues you can face when trying to track ROI
* What methods we see work best across clients and an overview on a few tools to use
* And, what you really to also track first before even trying to measure marketing ROI to tell the full story
If you loved our attribution episodes on the pod - you will love this one! Whether you are a CMO trying to understand marketing ROI, or an analyst tackling it yourself, it will be super helpful.
To connect with Alison and ask any fo…
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Oct 17, 2022
132 - Tips for Creating an Effective Lead Scoring Model - A CS2 Case Study
Lead scoring is getting a lot of hate recently. You know, the same hate MQLs get. But like MQLs, is it warranted or are people just doing it wrong or using it for the wrong purpose?
On this week's episode, Charlie sits back down with Crissy again to dive deep into a lead scoring project they have done for a client and repeatedly iterated on over the 10 months. In the episode, Crissy will give her tips on:
* What you need to do ahead of creating a lead scoring model to make it effective
* What analysis and modeling you can do before launching a model to ensure it's effective
* Why having a goal conversion rate of MQL to SQL to model to is effective in your modeling
* Why having the right data is so important
* And why it's not a "one and done" project
So sit back and learn how you can take CS2s same approach to your own organization to see success with a lead scoring model.
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Oct 10, 2022
131 - Tips for Managing a Tight Marketing Budget with Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata.io
Your budget just got cut and you are on a hiring freeze, but your marketing team's goals stayed the same. How do you deal? Where should you make the sacrifices and what should you stay invested in? And how can you articulate to finance why you actually need more to deliver on those goals?
On this week's episode, we have a MarTech veteran and now VP of Marketing at Metadata.io, Jason Widup on to discuss all about what to do when your budget is cut and all the ways he handled it himself in his current role during this "slow down" and in past roles.
We answer all of those burning questions above and more so this is a great one not only for MOps but anyone in marketing.
To learn more about Metadata.io go to their website here or follow them on LinkedIn. And to continue the conversation with him, connect with Jason on LinkedIn here.
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Oct 3, 2022
130 - Revenue Ops Is A Team Sport with Mary Blanks, Chief Growth Officer @ Klearly
When your company is focused on revenue growth, one of the most impactful things the whole team can do is approach working together like a unified team.
Not just separate teams aligned to each other, but one team that is unified on goals, strategy, and thinking about the experience for the prospect and customer through their whole journey.
On this week's episode, we have Chief Growth Officer at Klearly, Mary Blanks on to talk about why revenue growth is team sport, how approaching it that way can have some amazing beneficial impacts on customer journey and pipeline creation, and what it takes to move the revenue team to this way of working by managing organizational change effectively.
To connect with Mary, check her out on LinkedIn and make sure to follow Klearly, as they are about to also launch their very first podcast all around revenue growth best practices.
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Sep 26, 2022
129 - Is a Decentralized Campaign Ops Model Right for Your Org? with Amy Goldfine and Geraldine Gudiño Garcia @ Iterable
If you have a small marketing operations team supporting a marketing team creating a lot of campaigns, you might be interested or even have a decentralized campaign operations model where marketers can create campaigns and send emails themselves.
This can be great for giving your team more time to be strategic on other projects. But how do you do it well? What processes and documentation need to be put in place? And what happens when your marketing scales so fast, the decentralized model starts to show some signs that it is not working anymore?
On this week's podcast we will dive into all of that with two incredible women marketing operators, Amy Goldfine, Head of Marketing Ops and Geraldine Gudino Garcia, Marketing Operations Manager at Iterable.
Both Amy and Geraldine have had experience with adding processes and enabling the decentralized model at their organization and share their experience and tips with us all. And, (SPOILER ALERT) they also go into why they are planning a t…
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Sep 19, 2022
128 - The Mops and Sops Power Partnership
Alignment across sales operations and marketing operations is crucial to company growth and efficiency. They are the life line to supporting the revenue function. And whether you are under one team in RevOps or not, you really can have strong alignment and have a "power partnership."
Case in point: Veronica Lazarovici, Marketing Ops Lead and Doris Hu, Director of Sales Ops at Alma who were our guest speakers this week. Once you take a listen you will be so inspired by the incredible alignment and relationship they have between their teams - and even with a 6-hour time different between them!
Both Veronica and Doris dive into the benefits of their partnership, what impacts on the business there can be without the strong partnership in place, how they both manage their requests processes and stay aligned on their roadmap, their approach to aligning teams to "tech" and not "processes" and then how they support the whole revenue team with reporting and training and enablement.
Get your…
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Sep 12, 2022
127 - The State of Mops Talent in 2022 with Toby Murdock, CEO and Cofounder of Highway Education
In May 2022, Demandbase and Highway Education teamed up to survey MOps pros and uncover what the MOPs industry is up against through its State of Marketing Operations Talent Study.
I was happy and lucky to also be interviewed for the report, so it was my pleasure to have Toby Murdock, CEO and Cofounder of Highway Education back to the pod for a second time to discuss the findings and both of our takes on the State of Mops and how it has changed but mostly stayed the same since the report was published.
If you are interested in learning about how we got to the state we are in and how companies can help combat the issues, then give it a listen!
Also if you want to check out the report you can find it here and also learn more about Highway Education here.
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Sep 5, 2022
126 - Architecting for Operational Excellence with Kimmah Shah, Senior Director, Demand Marketing and Operational Excellence at Actian
You may have heard about a center of excellence or operational excellence but do you know what it is? And do you know the value or how to architect for operational excellence at your org?
On this week's episode we sit down with Senior Director of Demand Marketing and Operational Excellence at Actian who takes us through what operational excellence is to her and how she has architected and positioned their people, process, and technology in a way that supports the marketing and sales teams to be aligned and reach their goals.
This is a must listen and I think you will have some laughs as well!
To connect with Kimmah, please connect with her on LinkedIn.
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Aug 29, 2022
125 - Scaling Up a Small But Mighty Mops Team with Chloe Pott, Senior Marketing Ops Manager at Lokalise
Unless you are at a big enterprise, the reality is that you are on a small ops team. Even with an ops team bigger than one person, it's very rare to have a team that fits proportionally to the size of the revenue team you are supporting or the amount of work you need to do.
So - how can you still be small but be mighty and get a lot great strategic work done?
Well, this week we have past Marketo Champion, marketing ops extraordinaire, Paris resident, and Mom to two, Chloe Pott, Senior Mops Manager at Lokalise who shares her advice from leading small but mighty Mops teams.
Chloe walks us through common challenges small teams overcome, what challenges you cannot face without getting more headcount, how a small team can stay focused and prioritized, and also shares her essential tips for "how to survive" and also "how to scale" with a small team.
This is a great listen for all you small but mighty team leaders! And, if you are interested in connecting with Chloe and learning more, you…
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Aug 22, 2022
124 - A Discussion on Mental Health in B2B Marketing with Courtney Chatteron, Content Marketing Specialist at Hyperproof
Our mental health plays a huge role in how we show up for work. Work is a big part of our lives, so with the wrong environment, heightened expectations, or lack of boundaries we set for ourselves, we can find ourselves dealing with mental health problems or triggering a mental health issue we already have. Add on the heightened expectations, fear, and anxiety that comes from the outside world today - it is no wonder that many folks are struggling.
But how do we know if ourselves or others we work with need help? What are the places we can go to for help? And how does self advocacy play into getting us back to a mental state that makes us productive and healthy? Our special guest, Courtney Chatteron, Content Marketing Specialist at Hyperproof is here to talk about all of that and more. Courtney is a big mental health advocate and also has dealt with mental health issues that would resonate with many of us, so hearing her story and tips are sure to inspire you or open your eyes on how t…
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Aug 15, 2022
123 - Coaching Advice for Marketers to Feel Empowered and Productive in their Job with Hana Jacover, Chief Hype Officer at Hype House Consulting
Coaching is a tool that typically is only available for executive and on top of that is usually only used as a tool to help someone who is underperforming or a situation that needs remediation. But it shouldn't be this way and coaching can actually be an amazing tool for executors and managers in their roles so they can be productive and happy.
On today's episode we sit down with Hana Jacover, who is the owner and Chief Hyper Officer at Hype House Consulting. Hana has a long history of working at B2B tech agencies or in house in demand gen so not only does she empathize with all of us marketers, because she was us, but she is now coaching high performers in our space who are looking for the tools and advice to be happier and more fulfilled in their jobs.
During the episode, Hana gives us some amazing tips and exercises we can all do to better at self advocacy, setting boundaries, prioritizing, and being more productive. She also shares some of her top applications and books to help y…
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Aug 8, 2022
122 - How MOps Can Help During an Economic Slowdown
Times have swiftly changed in B2B tech, and instead of companies burning cash and growing at all costs, many have now been pushed to cut costs and do more with less during this economic slowdown.
With budget cuts, hiring freezes, and layoffs many marketing teams are feeling the pain of how they can maintain momentum and make it out on the other side even stronger. Who do we think can help? Yup - marketing ops!
With the ability to cut costs through evaluating tech, give valuable insights to help them make decisions, and put in automation where we can replace a human or team ( just to name a few), MOPs can help companies scale "back" effectively during this time.
So tune in this week to hear more and see how you and your team can help and provide a big impact during this economic slowdown.
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Aug 1, 2022
121 - Technical Debt is Hindering Your Marketing Team with Lindsay Rothlisberger Head of Marketing Operations and Email at Zapier
Do you know what technical debt is? Though the term has been widely used across product engineering teams, technical debt describes what results when development teams take actions to expedite the delivery of a piece of functionality or a project which later needs to be refactored. Does this sound familiar to you?
Now that marketers are dealing with systems that are getting more dated and with more hands and tech touching them, we are seeing tech debt on the rise. And on top of it, timelines and expectations to deliver projects are not changing, so many teams are just adding to the problem.
We were lucky to have Lindsay Rothlisberger, Head of MOps and Email at Zapier join us on this episode to discuss all things tech debt and why it's hindering your marketing. We cover signs that show you may have a lot of tech debt, reasons why operators and marketers need to care, ways to prevent or combat tech debt, and what some folks are doing wrong when trying to eliminate it.
If you enjoyed h…
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Jul 25, 2022
116 - How Mops Can Successfully Support a Merge or Acquisition I Jessica Meyers, Director of Marketing Ops and Technology at PatientPop
In some ways, helping a company go through a merger or acquisition is like a right of passage for a marketing ops professional. We know many folks or consultants who have helped support this large undertaking. But how do you do it well? How do you start the process? What challenges might you run into?
This week, Jessica Meyers, Director of Marketing Ops and Technology at Tebra (previously PatientPop) takes us through her strategies and experience she had had while tackling a merger at her current org.
Whether you are going through a merger or acquisition or not, there is some great advice on how to tackle the project, but also how to maintain a tech stack and database that is ready if a merger or acquisition does present itself.
To learn more from Jessica, feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn.
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Jul 18, 2022
[REWIND] Dealing with MOps Stress
This week we have a new REWIND episode where Crissy and Charlie (CS2) will give their thoughts and comments on a past episode including things that have maybe changed or adding on to advice they gave that they have learned since. After the 10 minutes of going down memory lane, you can listen to the full original recording of “Dealing With MOps Stress”. Enjoy!
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Jul 11, 2022
[REWIND] 7 Essential Steps To Elevate Your Career in Marketing Ops
This week we have a new REWIND episode where Crissy and Charlie (CS2) will give their thoughts and comments on a past episode including things that have maybe changed or adding on to advice they gave that they have learned since. After the 10 minutes of going down memory lane, you can listen to the full original recording of “7 Essential Steps To Elevate Your Career In Marketing Ops”. Enjoy!
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Jul 4, 2022
[REWIND] 5 Ways To Win Over Sales
This week we have another REWIND episode where hosts Crissy and Charlie will give their thoughts and comments on a past episode including things that have maybe changed or adding on new advice they have learned since. After the 10 minutes of going down memory lane and hearing their take on what was missed, you can listen to the full original recording of “5 Ways To Win Over Your Sales." Enjoy!
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Jun 27, 2022
[REWIND] 5 Ways to Win Over the CMO
This week we are launching the first episode in a new series we're calling REWIND. In this episode, hosts Crissy and Charlie will give their thoughts and comments on a past episode including things that have maybe changed or adding on to advice they gave that they have learned since. After the 10 minutes of going down memory lane, you can listen to the full original recording. On this week's rewind we are going back to “5 Ways to Win Over the CMO” and not a surprise to us but all 5 still remain valid and true but we do have some extra advice to add that we have learned a few years later. We hope you enjoy this oldie but goodie from the archives!
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Jun 20, 2022
119 - Designing a Customer Experience with End User Privacy in Mind I Xander Broeffle, Director of Marketing Operations at CS2
So many times we create process with our internal users in mind without really thinking about the impact on our end users. And now more than ever when our prospects are taking on the buyer journey on their own and really value their privacy, it is time we took a difference look at how we create and operationalize that customer experience with that in mind.
On this week's episode, our very own Director of MOps, Xander Broeffle takes us through why this is important and how you and your marketing team can really change their mindset when operationalizing projects like an opt-in strategy or preference center to name a few and all while thinking about how to respect the end user's privacy and match your marketing to their expectations.
After listening to this, you will want to hear more tips from Xander, so follow him here on LinkedIn!
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Jun 13, 2022
118 - How to Mature Your MOps Function with Company Growth I Rick Collins, Senior Director of Marketing Operations at ConnectWise
If you listen to this podcast, you are well aware of the importance of marketing operations and why it is important for companies to invest in building the function from an early stage of the company. Of course this isn't always the case and some functions get built out or invested at different stages but one fact remains true. As a company and the revenue team grows and matures, so does your marketing operations team and process. So on this episode we have our guest Rick Collins, Senior Director of Marketing Operations at ConnectWise on the podcast to give his tips and experience as he has started to scale and address common growth pains in his role over the last 5 and half years.
In this episode we cover everything from when to hire mops, how to build out the team, what responsibilities the team members should have, common pain points with hiring and scaling as the marketing and sales functions grow, and what projects will likely arise as you see the company grow that MOps should ta…
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Jun 6, 2022
117 - The Case for Mops Pros Getting Comfortable Reading and Writing Basic Code I Jordan Bergeson, Senior Director of Marketing @ Coalesce.io
As the landscape has evolved for marketing ops teams with what tools we use, the problems we solve, and technical solutions we are building, it feels like MOps is starting to closely resemble data engineering, software engineering, web dev, IT, and DevOps.
Because of this, it is becoming increasingly important for MOps folks to understand what is possible and how you can leverage code to develop solutions that are not only innovative but also can help your marketing scale - instead of creating even more technical debt. And our guest Jordan Bergeson, Senior Director of Marketing at Coalesce.io explains on this episode why it matters, shows off some cool uses cases for how it can be used, and talks through ways to get started no matter what comfort level you have with coding now.
This is a great listen for those interested in learning code or who want to spark ideas on what is possible and hire or bring in resources who can code, so I highly recommend giving it a listen, or better yet…
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May 31, 2022
116 - What it's Like to Search for a MOps Job in 2022 | Garrett Erny, Owner, Poppy's Tech Aid
We are back and talking about MOPs hiring and job searching again. But this time we are chatting with Garrett Erny, Owner and Independent Marketing Ops Consultant of Poppy's Tech Aid who just went through a long job search process after having a history of working in-house and agency.
As you can see, Garrett is now independent, but before going that route Garrett went through a few months process of trying to find a job. So, he shares with us the good, the bad, the ugly, and the surprising things he saw across his search so you hiring managers can take note and you job searchers can be aware.
Garrett also shared his extensive journey into the MOps space with us to where he is now, so if you are looking just for tips and his experience, feel free to fast forward to about 12 minutes in.
If you want to learn more about Garrett feel free to follow him on Linkedin and check out Poppy's Tech Aid.
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May 23, 2022
115 - The Do's and Don'ts of Attribution (and your top questions answered!)
Are you still struggling to understand how to make attribution successful at your organization? Or are you just gearing up thinking about using attribution at your org? Then this week's podcast is a MUST. On this episode independent consultant and long-time MOPs expert Carey Picklesimer of Condurrio shares her Do's and Don't for attribution that she has learned after executing MANY attribution projects for her clients. We cover this complex topic in a very actionable and insightful way so you feel empowered to revamp your company's thinking of attribution or ready to take on an attribution project the right way.
On this episode we also answered questions from some of Carey's fans from LinkedIn which we know are likely to be some of your top questions too!
Make sure to subscribe to Carey's newsletter for more tips here and follow her on LinkedIn.
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May 16, 2022
114 - #MOpin10 What People Are getting Wrong With Attribution
In this week's #MOpsin10 were digging into our favorite polarizing topic, attribution. In this episode, we're specifically going to be talking about what we see a lot of marketers doing wrong with it comes to attribution.
We'll briefly dive into why the hate on attribution is misplaced, a topic we've covered thoroughly in a past episode. We also cover why attribution shouldn't be used to prove your worth and why you may not be getting the full picture from your attribution model. So tune into the quick episode to get the low down on what you may (or may not) be getting wrong with attribution!
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May 9, 2022
113 - #MOpsin10 How to Make Documentation a Part of Your Workflow
We know that you MOps professionals already have a TON on your plate and making time for documentation seems like just another task on your list that keeps getting pushed down the priority list. So in this week's super quick and informative #MOpsin10, we're giving you tactical strategies to help you make documenting your awesome efforts a part of your workflow. So tune in to this episode to get ahead of the "Oh no, I didn't document that" problem we see more often than we'd like!
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May 2, 2022
112 - Improving Your Inbound Lead Velocity & Experience | Arthur Castillo, Sr. Manager of Field Marketing & Community, Chili Piper
When you have a potential customer perform a handraiser event, you want to make sure that lead gets to sales as soon as possible, right? In a perfect world, we'd see that lead with a sales rep almost immediately. Unfortunately, we don't live in a sales Utopia and many high-intent leads never even make it to a first meeting. In fact, the number of "ghosted" or no response leads is around 30% according to a new report from Chili Piper.
So in this week's episode, we're joined by Chili Piper's Senior Manager of Field Marketing and Community, Arthur Castillo, who helps us understand why speed to lead times have gone up and how you can help your org improve your lead velocity and overall customer experience. Arthur takes us through why your inbound lead experience can be a make-or-break differentiator against your competition and why traditional qualification and sales handoff needs a facelift. So tune in to this jam-packed episode for more info on why your speed to lead process might be ne…
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Apr 25, 2022
111 - What It's Like To Work At CS2
In this week's episode, CEO, Crissy, and COO, Charlie take us behind the scenes at CS2 and talk about our culture, values, and teamwork tactics that make our dreams (and our client's dreams) work! We're answering questions about what a client relationship looks like with CS2 as well as the dynamics within our team.
We all know marketing operations is a fast-moving field and has grown dramatically within the past few years so we'll share our favorite tips on how we are elevating the MOps practice and the people in it. So be sure to tune into this ep if you've ever wondered what MOps can look like at an agency or if you've ever been interested in working with us! Be sure to check out cs2marketing.com for more information.
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Apr 18, 2022
110 - Building an Effective Tech Stack Centered on People and Process | Mollie Bodensteiner Dir. of RevOps, Syncari
When it comes to building or adding to a tech stack, the "less is more" approach is typically our go-to response for clients but, of course, what is more important than size is how the tech is actually used and if it really supports the process and objectives for the teams. However, due to some great marketing and overly excited team members, sometimes the original need for that new addition gets lost along the way. In this week's episode, Mollie Bodensteiner, Director of RevOps at Syncari, takes us through how operations teams can really build efficient tech stacks focused on their organization's people and processes and how to avoid the "Shiny Objects" that can lead them astray.
Mollie's years of experience in RevOps have helped her understand that technology is never the solution by itself, it is only as good as the processes it supports and the people who execute them. So be sure to tune in to this episode to learn why focusing on people and process first can help your tech stack…
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Apr 11, 2022
109 - How to Approach Your First 90 Days in a New MOps Job | Justin Norris, Dir. of MOps, 360Learning
Last week we talked about how crazy the job market is right now, especially when it comes to marketing operations roles. So this week we sat down with MOps master and returning fwd:thinker, Justin Norris, to chat through what those first few days, weeks, and months look like in a new MOps role. After working within marketing ops both in-house and on the agency side, Justin was just about to surpass his first 90 days in a new role as Director of MOps at 360Learning when he joined us.
From his recent transition to an in-house team, Justin shares his experience and insights with us on what it's like to get started in a new MOps role and what activities he needed to prioritize to familiarize himself with the organization, the tech stack, and the key stakeholders. While Justin gives us his first-person perspective from a more senior position, he still provides great insight into what junior positions should expect when starting a new MOps job and what red flags to look out for. So whether…
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Apr 4, 2022
108 - Tips for Hiring and Job Searching in the Hot MOps Job Market | Sara McNamara, Sr. Manager of MOps, Slack
This week's guest needs no introduction to MOps professionals! Long-time marketing ops guru, Sara McNamara, joins us to talk about THE hot topic of the moment; hiring and job hunting in marketing operations. In this episode, Sara gives us her best advice on both sides of the hiring spectrum. We cover what the best methods and strategies are for companies trying to build out their MOps teams but we also talk about how you as a MOps professional can find the best jobs out there, whether you're just starting in your career or making a shift.
Marketing operations is still a growing field and there are still a lot of scenarios that come into play when hiring that people aren't fully thinking through. So Sara walks us through what people are doing wrong when it comes to hiring in MOps and how you can change your perspective to create a foundation for success for your MOps hire and organization as a whole. Sara also gives some great advice on red flags you should stay away from when looking…
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Mar 28, 2022
107 - Supporting Your CMO With The Reports and Analytics They Need | Camela Thompson, VP of Marketing, CaliberMind
The average tenure of a CMO in B2B tech today is less than 2 years! But one way the CMO can really hold on to their job is by having analytics and reporting they can understand that will help them improve their marketing, make better decisions with their budget, and also articulate their impact on revenue to the business.
One quick way for operators to be valuable and become your CMO's best friend is delivering that reporting to them. So to discuss how to do it, I have asked the amazing Camela Thompson, VP of Marketing at CaliberMind, who helped us understand why it is important, how to build an analytics framework that works and how to really educate your marketing leaders on how they can use the analytics and reports and what maybe might be missing. We dive into so many key points from quantitative data to qualitative data and how you can start at any size so this one is not to be missed!
Camela shares insider secrets from 15+ years of RevOps experience including; why you should ac…
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Mar 21, 2022
106 - Thinking Outside the Box with Your Marketing & Sales Processes | Chelsea Katich, Director of MOps, McGraw Hill
In this week's episode, we're joined by the Director of Marketing Operations at McGraw Hill and 5x Marketo champion, Chelsea Katich. McGraw Hill isn't using your typical lead lifecycle or traditional lead scoring strategies so Chelsea walks us through their unconventional handoff off and internal procedures and how those techniques are not only driving revenue growth but also enhancing the customer experience overall.
Chelsea explains why it's important to keep an open mind when it comes to how you're structuring your sales and marketing teams because there may be some gaps in your process that may be easily fixed with an unconventional approach. She also explains why being flexible in your mindset can help team alignment which in turn strengthens the customer experience. Be sure to follow Chelsea on LinkedIn for more MOps content: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-kiko/
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Mar 14, 2022
105 - The State of B2B Events and Where We're Going | Julius Solaris, VP of Marketing Strategy, Hopin
Event-based marketing has drastically changed in the past couple of years, but it may have been the wake-up call that B2B marketers needed. Event expert, Julius Solaris from Hopin, an all-in-one hybrid event platform, joins us to chat through everything a B2B marketer needs to know about operationalizing successful events in 2022.
Julius takes us through the current landscape of B2B marketing events as well as where he sees the industry going. We cover a lot of topics in this episode around events including accessibility and sustainability challenges and solutions, creating value for your attendees in a remote setting where they may feel like their "losing out" on the face to face experience and how marketers can use event data to not only improve engagement but also the content strategy overall. This episode is jam-packed with so many helpful insights so be to take a listen and follow Julius on LinkedIn for more information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliussolaris/
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Mar 7, 2022
104 - What It Takes To Create & Host A Successful Podcast | Brandon Redlinger & Jordan Henderson, Revenue.io
This week we are talking about podcasts on the podcast. So Meta, right?! If you are a marketer or individual and have thought about starting a podcast, you will want to grab your notebook and press play. On this episode we're joined by the hosts of the RevOps Podcast by Revenue.io, Jordan Henderson, and Brandon Redlinger to pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to ideate, produce, and host a podcast that makes it past the first few episodes.
In addition to hosting the podcast, both Jordan and Brandon have full-time jobs at the company as Sr. Directors of Revenue Operations and Product Marketing, respectively, and use the podcast as a platform to give tactical and strategic advice they have learned to other RevOps pros.
On the episode, they take us through how they manage the work-podcast balance as well as helpful tips and tricks to help you execute or even decide if a podcast would be a good fit for you or your company. So tune in to this week's ep for all of your podcast…
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Feb 28, 2022
103 - How to Control Your MOps Order of Operations | Brad Couture, Sr. Marketing Operations Manager, CS2
In this week's episode we are joined by one of our new team members Brad Couture who is our Sr. Manager of Marketing Ops but at the time was working for a Boston start-up Tulip as their Marketing Operations Manager. Brad joined us to discuss why order of operations is important for marketing ops, how it can impact your systems, and then dives into how Marketo users can leverage the executable campaigns feature in order to take back control. While we dive into Marketo-specific tactics in this episode, you should still listen in even if you aren't a Marketo user for helpful ways to think through how to structure your order of operations.
PS. Definitely make sure to follow Brad on LinkedIn where he posts #relatable memes and mops commentary and useful tips and tricks for MOps pros. You can find his profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradcouture/
Marketo executable campaigns article mentioned in this episode: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/eliminate-wait-steps-from-your-marketo-in…
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Feb 21, 2022
102 - How To Be More Strategic in MOps At Any Level | Chiara Riga, MOps Manager, Digital Shadows
This week we have a very special guest and 2021's Marketo Champion of the Year, Chiara Riga! Chiara joins us to talk about how to be more strategic in marketing ops at your organization. She takes us through her journey as a BDR to MOps pro and how those insights have helped her have a better understanding of roles throughout the company and how having empathy for other teammates' problems can help make the wider team function more strategically. Whether you are a manager or a VP, there are ways in which you approach your work and focus on the impact on the business that can really set you apart and Chiara takes an example of a project to show tangible ways how to do this.
Tune into this episode for a stimulating conversation on MOps, RevOps, and more! And be sure to follow Chiara on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiarariga/
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Feb 14, 2022
101 - Building Your Brand Value & How To Measure It | Brianna Valleskey, Head of Content, Inscribe
This week we're joined by long-time storyteller and content marketer, Brianna Valleskey! In this episode, Brianna takes us on a journey to help us understand why an organization's brand recognition is so important especially right now in B2B marketing.
She goes over the benefits of brand awareness, what you can do to build up your brand, and how to measure the impact your content and brand are having on your revenue. Be sure to follow along in this episode for insider tips & tricks for creating and tracking the value of your org's brand and follow Brianna on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannavalleskey/
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Feb 7, 2022
100 - CS2's Top MOps Tips for 2022 (100th Episode Celebration!)
Don't just survive 2022, thrive! In this week's episode, we decided to celebrate our 100th episode milestone and invite the entire CS2 team to share their best MOps advice as we start to dive into 2022. Hear from each one of our consultants as they divulge their tricks of the trade and best-kept secrets for all areas of MOps.
The CS2 team has years of combined knowledge and experience inside and out of SaaS, B2B, and agency life. So be sure to tune in to this episode to hear our thoughts on how to have the most productive year yet and get to know the other amazing minds behind CS2.
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Jan 31, 2022
99 - Advice on Building a Strategic and Productive Ops Team | Sean Lane, VP of Field Operations, Drift
It's 2022 and we know that Operations is a critical part of your organization that works cross-functionally to support revenue, marketing, and sales teams. We also know that ops can no longer be a team of one for growing companies. So how can we be sure that we are creating a foundation to grow and support these dynamic operations roles?
In this week's episode, we're joined by the Vice President of Field Operations at Drift and host of the Operations Podcast, Sean Lane, who takes us through everything from planning, structuring, and operationalizing an operations team. Sean condenses his years of experience in and around the customer funnel and how he built his field operations team at Drift into 40 minutes of tried and true insights to help your organization build a tactical operations team that is aligned to your business goals. Be sure to follow Sean on LinkedIn too!
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Jan 24, 2022
98 - Creating Human-Centric Experiences to Elevate Your Marketing | Amelia Roberts, CEO Solutions by Amelia
In this week's episode, we're diving deep into the world of human-focused experiences; what they are, why they matter, and most importantly, how to make them happen and work for your organization. To lead us through this journey, we're joined by long-time marketing specialist, Amelia Roberts.
Over the years, Amelia has helped multiple organizations run human-centric marketing campaigns that have proven to have had a valuable impact on the company. So tune in to this episode, Amelia walks us through how you can leverage micro-influencers and other types of human-based experiences to your advantage in B2B marketing. Be sure to follow Amelia on LinkedIn for more marketing insights: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliaroberts/
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Jan 17, 2022
96 - #Rethinking Marketing
In this week's episode, we're expanding the fwd: thinking umbrella to include another subset of the podcast; re: thinking! In this spin-off series, Charlie our COO and Co-founder takes his years of experience and challenges the status quo of some fundamental topics in marketing (and more) to help us rethink how we look at this field as a whole.
If you're in MOps you know the tech, platforms, strategies, etc. are always changing, so isn't it about time we start re: thinking how we look at the most basic aspects of our work? Tune into this episode to see in a new light how marketing should be operationalizing its teams and strategies.
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Jan 10, 2022
95 - #MOpsin10 Marketing Ops Has an Outcome Problem
Does your operations team have a business outcome problem? We think so. In this week's #MOpsin10, we discuss why we think ops teams, specifically MOps, have a hard time having an outcome-driven mindset instead of a project-driven mindset.
We shine some light on why it's really important to prove your value to the business by having an outcome-driven mindset. Doing this will help you not only increase your usefulness in the overall business objectives but will also help substantiate your asks for more resources down the road. Be sure to listen up to this super important (and quick) #MOpsin10!
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Jan 3, 2022
94 - The Product MOps Method in Action | Jessica Kao, Sr. Director of Demand Operations, F5
If you have been following our content lately, you've probably heard us talk about our product MOps method. We even talked about it a few weeks ago in this episode. So in this week's episode, we're joined by Jessica Kao, Senior Director of Demand Operations at F5 who has been implementing this type of thinking for her organization recently and was happy to share her advice and success with us.
Jessica takes us through how she is operationalizing the product MOps method within her company and the tools and strategies she uses with her teams to be more productive, efficient, and strategic. Tune in to this episode to learn how to start thinking to a product team and be sure to follow Jessica on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesskao/
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Dec 13, 2021
93 - #MOpsin10 How to Create Team Coalitions for MOps
When trying to deliver features or projects that deliver on your business objectives, it can be hard to do this in a SILO. One way to tackle this is with team coalitions. This week on #Mopsin10 we're diving into team coalitions; what they are, why they're important, and how to start them to deliver on your key outcomes for the revenue team. So listen in to this episode to learn our secret sauce to getting measurable results from your MOps work.
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Dec 6, 2021
92 - How to Put Data Governance Into Action | Asia Corbett, Head of Revenue & Community Ops, RevGenius
In this week's fwd:thinking episode we're joined once again by Asia Corbett who took us through the fundamentals of data governance a few months back. This time we're diving deeper into data governance and how to actually operationalize it at your organization.
Asia walks us through her best practices for good data health and framework that she's learned over her years of experience. She also explains just how important data is for your company overall and how it directly affects your revenue won. Be sure to follow Asia on LinkedIn for the latest content on data governance: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asiacorbett/
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Nov 29, 2021
91 - #MOpsin10 Why the Hate for MQLs is Misplaced
In this week's #MOpsin10, we're digging into a highly debated topic- the MQL. In this ep, we're contesting the popular opinion that "the MQL is dead" and showing you why they're not pointless, just misunderstood and utilized wrong. We want you to stop the hate for MQLs and instead get back to the true roots of a "Marketing Qualified Lead" and why it was developed in the first place.
By definition, an MQL is a metric showing a lead who has indicated interest through marketing activities so how can that be wrong if you're setting the right standards? Tune into this quick #MOpsin10 to get back to the basics and understand why your MQL hate is misplaced and where you should maybe be putting in the work to make it great again!
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Nov 15, 2021
90 - How to Create a Sales and Marketing Orchestration That Wins | Sydney Sloan, Chief Marketing Officer - SalesLoft
In this week's episode, we're joined by a long-time colleague, client, and friend, Sydney Sloan who is the CMO at SalesLoft. Sydney is well-versed in the language of Account-based Marketing, Sales Enablement, and Revenue Operations. So in our discussion today, we're going over how you can bring all of those factors together to create the most efficient and effective tech stack for your sales and marketing team and how to orchestrate their efforts.
We're covering how to roles of marketing ops and sales have changed in the past couple of years, where those roles have overlapped, and which teams should own certain types of tools. We'll also discuss everything surrounding your Sales Enablement Platform; what teams should own the strategy, who manages the platform, and what types of data you should be reporting on. Tune in to this jam-packed episode if you're ready to take your tech stack to the next level and be sure to follow Sydney on LinkedIn for more awesome tips and best practices: h…
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Nov 8, 2021
89 - #MOpsin10 Our Top 4 Tips to Improve Your Speed to Lead Process
Welcome back to another episode of our series, #MOpsin10! This week, we're breaking down our best tips to help you improve your Speed to Lead - the process of an inbound lead getting followed up with and connected to a salesperson.
In this mini-episode, we'll give you action items you can take back to your own organization that will help you gain an edge over your competitors. This is a super important topic for MOps pros, so be sure to take notes as we cover enrichment, lead routing, automation, and more in just 10 minutes!
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Nov 1, 2021
88 - How to Build an Analytics Framework | Alison Rouse, VP of Solutions Architecture, CS2
In this week's episode, we're joined (again) by a very special guest and our VP of Solutions Architecture, Alison Rouse! In a previous episode, we chatted with Alison about attribution and you all loved it. So in this episode, we're diving deep into building an Analytics Framework.
If you've been following our content, you may notice that this is a topic we discussed in our OpsStars workshop. However, we were only able to give a quick introduction to the analytics framework so in this episode we're really digging into why you should build, where to start, and how to successfully execute an analytics framework in your organization.
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Oct 25, 2021
87 - #MOpsin10 Questions to Ask Before Building an Analytics Framework
In this week's #MOpsin10 we're diving deep into one specific area of a topic we think is very important to marketing operations; the analytics framework for your revenue team. In our quick 10 minute episode, we're specifically going to cover what questions you should be asking to help you plan how you are going to build your framework.
Building a framework that suits the needs of the C-suite and individual departments and provides them with the valuable data and feedback they truly need will ensure you have more time for strategic projects because you'll no longer receive one-off reporting requests.
So tune into this quick episode for what we believe are the most important questions to ask yourself and your executive before building the analytics framework.
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Oct 18, 2021
86 - Operationalizing Buyer Communities in B2B Marketing | Chantelle Marcelle, Marketing Consultant
In this week's podcast, long-time marketer Chantelle Marcelle joins us to chat about content marketing and strategies. We also take a deep dive into why you should be building buyer communities in B2B marketing and how you can do it right.
Chantelle's marketing background started in journalism so she walks us through the importance of storytelling in your content marketing and how you can use that as an advantage across your brand. We also discuss strategies to operationalize buyer communities and then how to take data from those cohorts and show its impact as a marketing tactic to executives.
Tune into this episode to help elevate your brand through your content and communities and be sure to follow Chantelle on LinkedIn and check out her website for more tips and advice.
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Oct 11, 2021
85 - #MOpsin10 Why MOps Should Own Speed to Lead
In our newest #MOpsin10, we're giving you our top tips for why marketing operations should own "Speed to Lead" at your company. As one of the most important functions in B2B, Speed to Lead, or how quickly and efficiently you can connect an inbound lead to sales, can help determine just how well your customer experience is and potentially prevent revenue lost.
In the 10 minutes we have today, we'll cover Speed to Lead documentation tools and strategies, testing do's and don'ts, and our general best practices for SLAs and touchpoints.
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Oct 4, 2021
84 - How MOps Can Build The Business Case for Resources | Liz Medlicott, Director of Marketing Operations, ModelN
In this week's episode, we're joined by our long-time client, friend, and marketing ops leader, Liz Medlicott. Liz is the Director of Marketing Operations at Model N, a revenue growth platform, where she leads a cross-functional team that is always thinking about how their work ladders up the overall business objectives.
Liz takes us through her journey as a MOps professional and how her challenges and successes have helped her understand and grow marketing operations' role and value in the business. She also takes us through her tips to help MOps people build their own business cases and get the resources they need to be successful. Follow Liz on LinkedIn.
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Sep 27, 2021
83 - #MOpsin10 Building an Analytics Framework
In our second installment of #MOpsin10, we're covering how to build an analytics framework. We'll take you through what exactly it is, why it is so important and how you can start to build one yourself.
So if you're in MOps and run into issues with out-of-control report requests, spending too much time at the end of the quarter pulling data, or team members skewing data because they're looking at the wrong fields, then you probably need an analytics framework and to listen to this episode.
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Sep 20, 2021
82 - #MOpsin10 Adopting a Product Team Approach in MOps
We have a surprise for you in this week's episode! drumroll, please... It's #MOpsin10! We're kicking off a new mini-series where we dive deeper into MOps subjects and hot topics all within 10 minutes - perfect for a quick break or commute.
In our first #MOpsin10 episode we're walking you through why you should treat your approach to running your marketing operations team like a product team would. So tune in to find out how this way of thinking can help elevate your team and streamline your efforts for more efficient work.
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Sep 13, 2021
81 - Tips & Tricks for MOPs to Support the SDR Team | Melissa Meinert, Director of Demand Gen, SalesLoft
In this week's episode, we're joined by Melissa Meinert, the Director of Demand Generation at SalesLoft! She's helping us unpack the complexities of supporting the SDR team operationally and shares her advice she has learned along the way with the SDR reporting under her in marketing.
Melissa takes us through actionable tips and tricks she's found over the years including what team structure she finds the most helpful, tools that help communication flow easily, and what processes are the most impactful to the company as a whole.
So tune in to this episode to learn the ins and outs of SDR operations and be sure to connect with Melissa on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-meinert-26440613/
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Sep 6, 2021
80 - 3 Things MOps Leaders Should Do To Stand Out
This week we're back to dive into the MOps content you all know and love. In this episode, we're going to give you our top three tips to help you stand out as a forward-thinking MOps leader. Go from good to great in your role with these topics and you will not only elevate your career but you will also learn how to level up your strategic value in the business.
If you're interested in diving into this topic (and many more) then you definitely should check out the OpsStars conference and check out our workshop: Good to Great: Top Three Differentiators for Forward-Thinking MOPs Leaders. Register here: https://events.ops-stars.com/events/details/opsstars-opsstars-presents-opsstars-powering-the-modern-revenue-engine/?code=MAINSITE
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Aug 23, 2021
79 - Why Has Marketing Ops Become So Hard?
Ask anyone who has been in marketing operations more than a few years and they will likely tell you how much harder it has become. But why is it?
In this week's episode, we're discussing the changes we've seen in marketing and revenue operations in the last 11 years we have been in the space and we believe that the reason things are harder all comes down to one thing.
Tune in to find out what that reason is and also what you can do to make things, well, easier!
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Aug 16, 2021
78 - Leadership & Hiring Advice From A Marketing VP | Kirti Dewan, VP of Marketing, Bugsnag
In this week's episode, we're joined by Kirti Dewan, VP of Marketing at Bugsnag (a SmartBear Company), who has had a career as a marketing leader at different technology companies for almost a decade.
Kirti takes us through her journey as a marketing leader transitioning from large, in-house work to fast-paced start-ups, a few years consulting, and back to tech start-ups. She also talks about her roles leading marketing teams and how she has taken all of her cumulative experience to build strong value-based teams that do amazing work- without burnout.
So, if you're in a leadership position (or hope to be one day) and are looking to learn more about hiring practices, this is definitely the episode for you! And be sure to sync up with Kirti on LinkedIn.
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Aug 9, 2021
77 - How to Create and Host Successful Field Marketing Events | Sruthi Kumar, TripActions
Fwd:thinking is back! And in this week's episode, we're joined by seasoned start-up marketer, Sruthi Kumar who is currently the Director of Demand Generation at TripActions. Sruthi has been immersed in marketing her whole career and has worn dozens of hats. This has helped her develop a wide-ranging skillset and become a marketer with a wide range helping her get closer to her goal of becoming a CMO one day.
In this episode, Sruthi takes us through her field & content marketer journey and deep dives into her best strategies for integrated event campaigns, pre, and post-Covid. She walks us through planning, hosting, and extracting data from the events to best inform business decisions. So listen up for a great jump back into fwd:thinking and be sure to follow Sruthi on LinkedIn.
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Jun 28, 2021
76 - How AI Can Transform Your Marketing | Francis Brero, Co-founder & CPO, MadKudu
In this week's episode we're joined by Francis Brero who is the Co-founder and CPO at MadKudu, where they are working to help B2B companies use predictive modeling and AI to improve their operations and drive more revenue.
Francis takes us through all of the facets on today's AI in marketing. We chat about how to get your team onboard and comfortable with AI, where it can be the most (and least) useful in your business and how it can even help improve your customer experience.
So if you've ever been interested in learning more about artificial intelligence and data science in B2B marketing, this is definitely the episode for you! And be sure to sync up with Francis on LinkedIn or check out MadKudu here.
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Jun 21, 2021
75 - Solving the MOps Talent Crisis | Toby Murdock, CEO & Co-Founder of Highway Education
In this week's episode, we're joined by Toby Murdock, co-founder and CEO of Highway Education. If you are looking for MOps talent and haven't heard of this company yet, or you are new to the field and wanting to learn more about opportunities in MOps, then be sure to listen along to this episode!
Finding young MOps talent is hard work. So on this week's ep we're discussing how Highway Education is helping to close the gap in the digital marketing and MOps field by providing aspiring marketing professionals with the skills they need to thrive. Their platform also helps connect employers to the new talent as well! Be sure to connect with Toby on LinkedIn and check out www.highwayed.com/
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Jun 14, 2021
74 - 5 Tips For Implementing Your Sales Engagement Platform
This week's episode is a great level-set for anyone who owns, inherited or may be implementing a new sales engagement platform (ie SalesLoft or Outreach) in their business. We're going to walk you through 5 best practices we've learned over the years about what to do when adding this type of solution to your tech stack.
We're covering a lot of great info including, platform ownership, email deliverability/opt-in protocol and lead stage mapping tips. So if you want to make sure you don't make some commonly made mistakes with your sales engagement platform, then be sure to check out this episode!
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Jun 7, 2021
73 - Lessons on Leadership and SDRs Reporting to Marketing | Be'Anka Ashaolu VP of Marketing, Propel
What happens when you are propelled into a leadership position and then handed over managing the SDR team right when a pandemic starts? In this week's episode with Be'Anka Ashaolu (VP of Marketing at Propel) she shows that your leadership skills really stand out!
On this week's episode, Be'Anka walks us through her history in various roles leading up to running marketing at a Silicon Valley based start up, where she quickly built out a strong operational foundation and secured tight alignment between the SDR team and marketing when she took over as their manager just under a year ago. If you are in marketing or demand gen and want to be inspired to take on more leadership at your company, then this podcast is for you! And after you are done, be sure to follow Be'Anka on LinkedIn so you can add her to your growing network: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bashaolu/
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May 31, 2021
72 - How To Make Conversational Marketing a Leading Role in Your ABM Strategy | Sarah McConnell (Head of Demand Gen, Qualified)
In this week's episode, we're joined by the Head of Demand Gen at Qualified, Sarah McConnell. Sarah's path has not been linear by any means, from competitive volleyball to PR to B2C at a small beer company, her past experiences have helped shape her into the rockstar marketer she is today.
In the chat, we're tackling the hot topic of conversational marketing- how you can implement it into your ABM strategy and how it can improve your pipeline! Sarah takes us through the basics of ABM and conversational marketing but also how to operationalize your strategy leading to revenue growth.
Be sure to follow Sarah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahscott5/ or on Qualified.com in the chat!
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May 24, 2021
71 - The Fundamentals of Data Governance | Asia Corbett (Director of Revenue Operations, Postal.io)
In this week's episode, we're talking about a topic that every MOps person should care about... data governance! And we're joined by someone who knows all of the ins and outs of data, Asia Corbett, the Director of Revenue Operations at Postal.io.
With a background in economics and finance, Asia gives us her insights on data governance based on years of experience working in the field. Now in revenue operations, she takes us through her best practices for starting a good data foundation, monitoring, and maintaining a healthy database. Most importantly, she talks about why data governance is so important and why you and your company should invest time and resources in it.
So listen in to this week's episode and get ready to feel empowered to take your business's data governance head-on! And don't forget to follow Asia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asia-corbett-02433b84/
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May 17, 2021
70 - Create A Nurture Strategy That Converts | Brooke Bartos (Dir, Marketing Ops/Analytics, Invoice Cloud)
In this week's episode, we have a very special guest, Brooke Bartos, who is the Director of Marketing Operations & Analytics at Invoice Cloud! With years of marketing experience both in-house and at an agency, Brooke takes us through her journey in MOps and some of the advantages and challenges she's faced in these roles along the way.
Brooke also goes into depth on how her career has helped her develop a foolproof nurture strategy leveraging your content to engage and educate your audience that, most importantly, leads to conversions! She talks us through where to start planning your nurture strategy and goals, personalization to drive revenue, and the best content tips & tricks she's learned over the years!
So take out your pens and notepads because this episode is super insightful for all marketing professionals! And be sure to follow Brooke on LinkedIn for more insights from her: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brookembartos/
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May 10, 2021
69 - Why It Pays Off To Be A T-Shaped Marketer With Bartek Woroniecki
The journey to a marketing career doesn't have a specifically laid out path. And this week's guest Bartek Woroniecki is a great example of that. From BDR to now running demand gen programs and marketing operations at a fast-paced startup, Bartek has grown his career by taking on different roles that helped him hone a broad skill set across marketing and even operations. Bartek is a rare unicorn demand gen lead who really understands how to execute all parts of marketing from developing a campaign idea to creating paid campaigns, developing content, and then reporting on its success.
In this week's episode, follow Bartek along his journey and find out how he was able to develop these skills and why it has really paid off for his career in a B2B SaaS startup.
Follow Bartek on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bartekworoniecki/
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May 3, 2021
68 - Is Operations The Key To Not Being Left Behind?
2020 proved that having a strong operational foundation was the key to success for the move to relying on all things digital. Companies that had the most strategic advantage to stay agile during an uncertain time were the ones who had their sh*t together operationally.
In this week's episode, we're talking about how having strong operations can be a key differentiator in make your marketing and your company successful and truly be a competitive advantage. Topics we cover include;
-Scaling online programs
- Easily adding tools to a tech stack for supporting digital events and activities
- Implementing reporting structures to determine where to spend money when your budget gets slashed
- How to use (not abuse) email as a channel of communication and as a PART of a marketing strategy
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Apr 26, 2021
67 - Are Industry Funnel Benchmarks Pointless?
Are you struggling to keep up with 'industry' benchmarks? Do you even know what yours are? Do you think they're useful? Well, we think they're a bit pointless and in this week's episode, we're discussing why we think so.
We get asked this question A LOT- specifically, anything around funnel reporting. So in this podcast, we'll go over why we don't find industry funnel benchmarks helpful and why you should actually be focusing on improving your marketing overall.
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Apr 19, 2021
66 - Your Guide to Sending Database Email Blasts - The RIGHT Way
In this week's episode, we're joined by one of our MOps consultants, Christie Montague-Fusco, to go over the do's and don'ts of sending mass emails to your database. This is an especially tricky topic because if you want to do a mass send without getting a ton of backlash, there are very specific things to consider. But don't worry, we've created a handy decision tree to help you out!
Our tips and best practices on email deliverability will not only improve your email's performance but will also help keep your database healthy and customers happy. So tune in to this episode for your step-by-step guide to mass email blasts.
You can view and download the decision tree here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/blog/should-i-send-a-mass-promotional-email-to-my-database-decision-tree
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Apr 12, 2021
65 - Rethinking Data & Reporting With Alex Krawchick, Founder & CEO At Klearly
In this week's episode we're hitting the ground running and taking a deep dive into data & reporting. We're joined by Klearly's Founder & CEO, Alex Krawchick who conceived the platform based on the lack of proactive analytics tools for marketing teams.
We cover predictive analytics, 'invisible' touch points, how much data you should be saving and so much more. So if you feel like you're stuck in a data standstill, sit back and let us unpack some key challenges marketers have been facing and hopefully this episode will help you move your reporting in the right direction.
Be sure to follow Alex on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krawchick/
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Apr 5, 2021
64 - 3 Easy Ways To Get Your Marketing Team To Perform Better (That Have Nothing To Do With Marketing)
In this week's episode we're taking a step back to focus on one of the most important parts of marketing ops... the people! We're taking a break from our typical tech-heavy topics to help you and your team reset, recharge and revamp your work environment.
We're covering how to boost morale, drive adoption of your tools and programs with gamification in the workplace and why you should invest in your team and yourself!
These quick tips are not marketing related but crucial for a good team dynamic and can improve your marketing efforts in the long run. So tune in to find out what simple things you can do to better your marketing that have nothing to do with marketing!
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Mar 29, 2021
63 - How To Do Attribution The RIGHT Way
Attribution seems to be a very hot topic right now. But do you know what it really is and, more importantly, how to do it the right way?
This week we have our measurement and analytics expert, Alison Rouse, back to talk all things attribution. We're diving into where things might be going wrong for you (hint: using attribution to prove your pipeline contribution to the C-suite is NOT the way to go about it). We also are going over how to fix these common misconceptions so you don't start "hating" attribution for the wrong reasons.
So listen in to this week's episode and join the attribution conversation!
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Mar 22, 2021
62 - Stop Your Customer Experience From Descending Into Chaos
Does your team have a clear insight into the customer journey, especially when it comes to email? Is your customer (potential and current) experience aligned to what their expectations are? Do you have clear definitions for when each department in the revenue team interacts with them?
If you answered no to any of these questions, you might want to check out this week's episode!
This week we are discussing customer journey ownership, mapping and documenting your customer journey, how to audit/implement necessary changes, and everything in between! So listen in to get a head start on improving your customer's experience before it turns into chaos.
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Mar 15, 2021
61 - 4 Things Marketing Ops People NEED To Tell The Revenue Team
In this week's episode we're helping you, the MOps extraordinaires, communicate with your teams better! We're going through the top four things you should be relaying to the revenue team to make your (and their) life easier.
We dive into topics like project timeline expectation, technical debt, tool efficiency, and attribution misunderstandings.
These are some great topics to start educating your revenue team on to prevent some common misconceptions and frustrations.
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Mar 8, 2021
60 - Beware Of The Frankenstack
Has your tech stack grown out of your control? Or did you inherit one that was already a mess? Then this week's episode is for you!
We're heading to the fwd:thinking laboratory to dissect the ominous Frankenstack. We'll cover how to identify if you have one (spoiler: you probably do), how to take back control, and prevent it from ever happening again!
So tune in to this week to get your stack back on track!
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Mar 1, 2021
59 - ABM Analytics: How to start
Wondering where to start when it comes to ABM Analytics? Well, you're in luck!
In this week's episode, we're talkin' all about ABM analytics- specifically how to operationalize and set up your data and reporting. We're covering target account tracking, engagement, MQAs, and everything in between.
So get your checklist out and take some notes on how to get your ABM analytics off the ground!
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Feb 22, 2021
58 - The Magic-al Operations Quadrant - Are you a Wanderer, Prepper, Pretender or Market Winner?
In this week's episode, we've created a visual aid to help you understand how well your business' marketing/revenue strategy aligns with your ability to execute it through operations.
The Magic-al Operations Quadrant is a great tool to help you determine where your team may need to make changes in strategy, technology, or staff in order to be what we call a "Market Winner."
This episode is pretty visual so be sure to check it out on our site here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/fwd-video-podcast/the-magical-operations-quadrant
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Feb 16, 2021
57 - How To Do Opt-In Right
In this week's episode, we're going to show you how to develop your opt-in process the RIGHT way.
It may seem simple from the outside but there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. So we've developed a great visual guide to help you stay out of trouble* and streamline the process to best suit your needs.
Listen along this week to build your opt-in process from the ground up or just brush up on your knowledge.
*Disclaimer: This is our personal take from years of experience but please consult your legal team for expert advice.
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Feb 10, 2021
56 - So You’ve Decided To Ungate - Now What?
Got your whole marketing team on board with creating a frictionless experience and using fewer forms? Great! Or are you still in the process of swaying them? Keep fighting!
Either way, this week's episode is for you because we talk all about what you need to do and keep in mind when deciding to let down those gates.
We discuss the basics like when you should gate and when you shouldn't and some of our tried and true practices like alternatives to form fills. But we also dig into a few things you may forget about like how to modify your reporting for this new change, and what changes you need to inform the whole revenue team about to set expectations correctly.
So, if you're about to make the leap, make sure you are prepared!
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Feb 3, 2021
55 - Making the Switch from SOps to MOps and other Career Path Advice with Jessenia Francisco
In this week's episode we're joined by Asana's Marketing Technology Program Lead, Jessenia Francisco!
Jessenia takes us on her roller-coaster of a career path. From finance to sales ops and now in marketing ops, Jessenia gives us a look at how and why she made the changes she did. She also talks about the similarities and differences she's seen in her experience between marketing and sales operations for those who are interested in making the switch.
Follow Jessenia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesseniafrancisco/
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Jan 27, 2021
54 - Our Top 10 Fundamentals for an Effective Marketing & Sales Strategy
In this week's episode, we're taking an even closer look at the Golden Rule of Marketing; market to others how you would like to be marketed to.
Crissy leads us through the fundamentals of building a great marketing and sales strategy by, you guessed it, looking inwards and understanding how and why we market the way that we do. These 10 tactics can be implemented by companies of all sizes. She also gives us her opinion on how to improve current processes to make the most of your customer engagements.
So get ready to take some notes and listen to this episode for Crissy's go-to tactics for great strategy.
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Jan 20, 2021
53 - A Deeper Dive Into The Mops Roadmap With Justin Norris
In this week's episode, we take a further dive into the MOps roadmap and we get to hear first-hand from Perkuto's Director of Solutions Architecture, Justin Norris!
Justin gives us a behind the scenes look at the steps of building, implementing, and maintaining a roadmap and why we should even care about this. He also gives us some great anecdotes and advice from his years of experience in the world of MOps.
So tune-in to this episode of fwd:thinking to find out more about the ever-important MOps roadmap!
Follow Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinnorris/
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Jan 13, 2021
52 - Developing Empathy to Improve Your Marketing and Sales Strategy
Happy New Year! In this week's episode, we discuss the Golden Rule of Marketing: Market to others as you would market to yourself and how developing empathy for your prospect can be the key to better strategic selling and marketing.
We walk you through a simple, yet effective exercise to get you and your team to start thinking in this way.
So sit down, grab a pencil & paper, and tune into fwd:thinking to improve your 2021 marketing strategy and really start connecting with your customers!
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Jan 6, 2021
51 - Should You Build a Rev Ops Team? Pros & Cons
In this week's episode we dive into a topic we've been wanting to go a little deeper into with one of our own, Alison Rouse!
We take RevOps head-on and discuss the wins and setbacks these teams have going on right now and if you should build (or expand) a team of your own.
Interested? Tune in to find out more!
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Dec 16, 2020
50 - An Email Strategy That Gets Results And Doesn't Piss People Off
Is refining your email strategy on your 2021 roadmap? It probably should be.
A successful strategy requires thorough planning and cross-team collaboration.
This week, we discuss email protocols, best practices and the do's and don'ts of automation.
Tune in to find out how to refine your strategy so you don't leave your readers searching for that unsubscribe button!
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Dec 9, 2020
49 - Did Our 2020 Predictions Come True?
On this week’s episode, we take a look back from the beginning of 2020 and confirm which predictions we got right, which ones we got wrong, and what we learned through a wild year.
We also dive into which predictions will carry on into 2021. Tune in!
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Dec 2, 2020
48 - Should You Become A Marketing Ops Consultant? | Courtney McAra & Grant Grigorian (The Society of Marketing Technology Consultants)
On this week’s episode, we have not one, but two guests! Joining us are Courtney McAra and Grant Grigorian from The Society of Marketing Technology Consultants. We dive into some surprising things they've learned from interviewing MOps consultants on their podcast, the pros and cons of being a consultant, and some worthwhile advice on growing in MOps. Tune in!
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Nov 18, 2020
47 - How To Build A Roadmap Like A Product Team | Nick Bonfiglio (CEO Syncari, Former EVP Product Marketo)
On this week’s episode, we are delighted to have the CEO of Syncari, Nick Bonfiglio, joining us. We dive into the importance of a roadmap for both product and marketing teams, a deep look into prioritization, and his experiences owning the roadmap at Marketo vs. his new company, Syncari.
This will give you a lot to think about. Tune in.
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Nov 11, 2020
46 - Managing One of the Largest Marketo Instances in the World | Darrell Alfonso (Marketing Operations at Amazon)
On this week’s episode, we are excited to have Darrell Alfonso joining us. We dive into Darrell’s transition from small-scale companies to working for Amazon, the importance of prioritizing, and tons of valuable advice for the MOps community. Tune in!
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Nov 4, 2020
fwd #45 - The Man Behind The #MOpsmemes, Jason Raisleger
On this week’s episode, we are thrilled to have Jason Raisleger, the king of MOps memes, joining us. We reveal where it all started, the technical and creative side of MOps, and we even go through some of our favorite memes!
If you’re in MOps and want something to lighten up your week, while also getting some real actionable MOps lessons, don’t miss this one.
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Oct 28, 2020
fwd #44 - CS2 Team Debrief: OpsStars Workshop & The State of MOps
On this week’s episode of fwd:thinking, we have the CS2 squad! We have a casual team chat discussing reactions to our "Elevate Your MOps" workshop at OpsStars.
And we discuss the state of marketing ops, issues a lot of small MOps teams are facing, and how we can continue to elevate the role.
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Oct 21, 2020
fwd #43 - Develop Your Roadmap With A Marketing Ops Health Check
On this week’s episode on fwd:thinking, we talk about how to develop your marketing operations roadmap.
We use a doctor’s office analogy to explain the steps needed to run a health check on your entire marketing ops function. We also dive into how to diagnose issues, prioritize the most important projects, and the best way to work on delivering the items in your plan.
Tune in as we go further in depth on where you should focus your health check.
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Oct 14, 2020
fwd #42 - Analyzing The Best Marketing Ops Advice We Crowdsourced From LinkedIn
On this week’s episode of fwd:thinking, we dive into some of the best advice for people in marketing ops (that we crowdsourced from LinkedIn) and share our reactions to the comments.
If you have great advice for someone in MOps or if you are just looking for some, tune in!
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Oct 7, 2020
fwd #41 - Dealing With Marketing Ops Stress
On this week’s episode of fwd:thinking, we talk about the uniqueness of MOps stress, tips on how to deal with it, and share real-life examples.
So many in MOps are tired and burnt out but it doesn't have to be that way. Tune in, reduce your stress, and do your best MOps work.
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Sep 30, 2020
fwd #40 - "Lumpy" Attribution + reviewing your Linkedin comments
On this week’s episode of fwd:thinking, we discuss “lumpy” attribution models, like the w-shape model, and we react to some of your Linkedin comments on this topic.
Tune in to join the conversation and be part of our #marketingopsdebate
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Sep 23, 2020
fwd #39 - Why We Don't Hate MQLs Anymore
On this week’s episode of fwd:thinking, we discuss our love/hate relationship with MQLs through the years and why our opinion has evolved over time.
We argue the case for MQLs still having a place in b2b marketing, if they are used in the correct way, and if you have a mature approach to marketing metrics.
If you’re interested in reporting and tracking your lifecycle this one is for you.
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Sep 16, 2020
fwd #38 - Metrics That Matter w/ Leah Allen, VP Marketing @ ModelN
On this week’s episode of fwd:thinking, we are delighted to have a very special guest, Leah Allen, VP of Marketing at ModelN. We dive into the world of reporting and the metrics that you should (really) care about. Tune in!
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Sep 9, 2020
fwd #37 - What Kind of Marketing Ops Person Are You?
On this week’s episode of fwd:thinking, we talked about how complicated marketing ops is getting, why you can’t focus on everything, marketing ops anxiety, and ways to audit your skill-set in order to achieve longevity in your career.
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Sep 2, 2020
fwd #36 - The Sunk Cost Fallacy And How It Can Kill Your Marketing
The sunk cost fallacy is dragging down marketing. It's defined as continuing a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources (time, money or effort). Think: shelf-ware tools, poor marketing channels etc.
How many marketing channels do you know are not performing but you keep them anyway? How much tech do you have that isn’t producing the results you had hoped for, but you are continuing to use it anyway because of the large investment?
In B2B marketing, sunk costs are bound to happen. But don’t fall into the trap of letting them continue and get worse.
Tune in to see how common it is and the questions you can ask yourself to understand when to kill something in marketing before falling for this fallacy.
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Aug 26, 2020
fwd #35 - How MOps can Partner with Demand Gen to Drive Revenue w/ Shonal, Senior Director Marketing at Everstring
On this week’s episode, we are delighted to have a very special guest, Shonal Narayan, Sr. Director of Marketing at Everstring.“Marketing ops is the Scottie Pippen of marketing.” - Shonal Narayan
Well said. Marketing operations won’t get the credit they deserve and seem to be often undervalued. Michael Jordan will get all the praise, but without Pippen, there is no championship.
That’s why it’s critical not to undermine the importance of alignment, especially with demand gen and marketing ops.
Having both teams on the same page moving towards the same goals of the business is so important to drive the results you need.
Some great takeaways from our conversation includes:
* How marketing ops and demand gen can support each other
* Marketing ops as strategic partners for demand gen
* Getting into the details of an ABM Play Everstring is running now
* And much more!
Tune in for a great listen and see how marketing ops can deliver a championship to you.
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Aug 19, 2020
fwd #34 - Is MOps the Secret Weapon to Win at ABM? w/ Shari Johnston, Partner & ABM Lead at Winning By Design
On this week’s episode, we are delighted to have a very special guest, Shari Johnston, Account-Based Practice Lead, Winning by Design, previous marketing leader at Demandbase, OpenDNS, & Radius
"Operations folks hold the keys to the kingdom" - Shari Johnston
It's true. Marketing ops and B2B marketing are indistinguishable these days. I mean, how would your company’s marketing work if your marketing ops team didn’t do the work. It would be a disaster.
And this is especially true for ABM.
With ABM, we are getting actionable data to the people who need it, getting it to them quickly, and enabling them to take action on it to help drive revenue.
Sounds like MOps could be pretty important, right?
And it's even more important during "these times" when deal volume could be down. Sales NEEDS to know who is in the market NOW.
This is where operationalizing buyer intent data from platforms like G2 takes your ABM to the next-level.
Tune in for a great listen and see where MOps…
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Aug 12, 2020
fwd #33 - Mastering Soft Skills to Stand Out in MOps w/ Kristen Alexander, Co-Founder Ox
We must stop neglecting soft skills. It is holding us and the entire marketing ops function back.
Soft skills help us navigate work more effectively and in MOps they are just as important to our professional growth as tech skills.
This is why we were really stoked to have an awesome guest on fwd:thinking this week. Our friend, previous client, and Crissy's old boss Kristen Alexander.
Kristin was the global brand marketing leader for Disney, led marketing at Agari and the marketing platform Certain. And now she is the co-founder of Ox, a SaaS platform for training soft skills.
We dive into the world of soft skill development and touch on:
* The three most important soft skills for people in b2b marketing/ops
* Where the biggest gaps are in soft skills
* Why you need to treat soft skills training like working out and other positive habits
If you want to move up in our career this one's for you.
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Aug 5, 2020
fwd #32 - A CMO’s Take on Exceptional MOps Leaders w/ Dan Frohnen, CMO Sendoso
On this week’s episode we are honored to have a very special guest, Dan Frohnen, CMO of Sendoso join our podcast.
Dan has been a repeat client of ours at 3 companies where he led marketing at Apttus, Skedulo and now Sendoso.
Dan shares some amazing insights and experiences into what a CMO looks for from their MOps team and how someone in MOps can elevate themselves all the way to CMO. Like he did.
Some great takeaways from our conversation includes:
* Career path from MOps to CMO
* MOps leader traits and how to separate yourself
* What a CMO looks for in MOps professionals
* ABM strategy and tech stack
* And much more!
Tune in for a fun listen (you won’t be disappointed) and let us know what you think!
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Jul 28, 2020
fwd #31 - Let’s Stop MOps Hacking Once And For All
What is MOps hacking? Is that even a thing? Sadly, it is.
As MOps pros, we get caught up in all of the tools at our disposal that can do a variety of cool things. We often build overly complex processes or build too quickly without thinking about the downstream effects and limiting technical debt.
MOps hacking is a real thing, causing real issues, and it needs to stop.
Tune into this episode of fwd: thinking where we go in depth on MOps hacking and what you can do to put an end to it.
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Jul 21, 2020
fwd #30 - 7 Essential Steps To Elevate Your Career In Marketing Ops
Are you ready to move onto something bigger? Are you a MOPs manager looking to become the next CMO?
Marketing operations can be a tough career path to take because many get stuck at IC/manager level (especially at start-ups). Often we are seen as tech admins and not strategic partners that have to be in the leadership conversations.
But, it is not impossible to breakthrough. And we have to try.
How you prove yourself and stand out is based on:
• Working cohesively with directors, VP’s, and the CMO
• Demonstrating the value of your team towards the business
• Owning the vision and roadmap of MOP’s
• Being proactive and building a good reputation
• And more
Tune into this episode of fwd: thinking where we go in depth on taking your MOPs career to the next level.
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Jul 15, 2020
fwd #29 - Why Your Marketing Operations "Core" Needs Attention
In the human body, the core is the foundation where all movement begins. Just like any structure, your marketing operations team depends on a strong foundation, or else the organization collapses.
Establishing a foundation is not an easy task, but taking a step back and reassessing the basic functions can prove to be beneficial. For many, this would seem to be a set-back, but the reward is a major comeback. Your MOP’s team will be able to pinpoint flaws in your core, such as:
• Sync errors
• SFDC CPU limits hit
• Lack of campaign structure
• Slow system performance and disorganization
• And much more
Marketing ops, just like the human body, need fine tuning and care over time. Elevate your team by focusing on the foundations and fixing the areas that cause friction.
Tune into this episode of fwd: thinking where we go in depth on why your marketing operations “core” really matters.
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Jul 7, 2020
fwd #28 - How To Improve Email Conversion Rates Instantly
We get this question a lot: “why are my emails getting low conversion rates?”
Well, it could be your copy is bad or the offer is bad but a lot of times it is more simple than that. Low conversion rates are likely being caused by your bloated recipient list, something marketing operations has full control over.
Your list may include:
- Bad and old data
- Cold prospects
- Inaccurate segmentations
All things that bloat the list size and destroy your conversion metrics.
So do yourself a favor, be more critical of who you are sending to and throw away the idea that bigger lists equals bigger results.
AND tune into this episode of fwd: thinking where we go in depth on impactful ways you can improve email conversion rates and implement them right away.
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Jul 1, 2020
fwd #27 - 5 Ways Marketing Operations Can Win Over Field Marketing
More than ever, field marketing is working closely with marketing operations since there are no in-person events. Their shift more to digital programs comes with more reliance on marketing operations for them to be successful. So it's important MOps knows how to support them in 5 key areas:
- Providing data and insight to help with regional decision making
- Training and templates in your marketing automation platform to help them scale their programs
- Developing segmentations specific for each region
- Setting up your online event channel and processes to work seamlessly
- And making sure your tools and processes are implemented properly for direct mail
Just keep in mind - a stronger field marketing team supported by marketing ops will result in a stronger pipeline.
In this third installment of our “5 Ways Marketing Ops Can Win Over…” series, we dive into these areas and explain how you work in alignment with field marketing to maximize effectiveness.
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Jun 24, 2020
fwd #26 - 5 Ways Marketing Operations Can Win Over The CMO
Impressing the CMO is no easy task. As a marketing ops professional much of how to get the CMO on your side is based on:
- How much you understand data and can draw out insights
- How you can develop a story focused on ways marketing is delivering value to the business
- How you intelligently develop your tech stack
- And how you build the MOps function to support a high volume of activity
Once you master these things, you’ll capture the CMO’s attention and prove your worth.
In this second installment of our “5 Ways Marketing Ops Can Win Over…” series, we dive into these areas and explain how you can show your value to the CMO and elevate the business moving forward.
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Jun 18, 2020
fwd #25 - 5 Ways Marketing Operations Can Win Over The Sales Team
Having trouble proving your value to sales? Marketing ops and sales can sometimes view each other as the scapegoats for their shortcomings. Whether it's missing leads, lack of data, sync errors, or no direction on follow-ups, sales can lose faith in the marketing ops team which can hurt your reputation.
In this first installment of our “5 Ways Marketing Ops Can Win Over…” series, we share 5 areas you can focus on to earn the trust of sales and to champion the relationship that will drive positive results.
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Jun 10, 2020
fwd #24 - The Secret To Revenue Ops Documentation You'll Actually Create
Documentation? What documentation?
If you have worked in marketing or sales operations you know that documentation is lacking - in a big way. We often have to move onto the next thing so quickly that we just do not have the time. However, it doesn't have to be that way. Documentation can actually be easy and actually enjoyable for the person creating the documentation and the person receiving it.
So check out this fwd: thinking episode and learn the easiest and arguably most impactful way to document your work that can fit into your workflow and actually get done.
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May 28, 2020
fwd #22 - Should You Hire An Agency / Consultant?
We know the burning question on everyone's mind is what CS2 (an agency) thinks of hiring agencies. sarcasm
Well, if you've been searching for this information look no further, here are 11 minutes of unadulterated and (hopefully) unbiased thoughts on the argument for and against hiring an agency. We also have some shiny new podcast equipment for those audiophiles out there.
Some of the things we discuss:
Pros:
✔️ They Will Never Leave You (Probably)
✔️ They can be less expensive than you think
✔️ You get a specialized and deep skill set
✔️ They are low maintenance
Cons:
❌ Non-marketing project managers
❌ They can be expensive
❌ They can be too focused and not as invested in your company's mission
❌ Communication can be difficult
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May 21, 2020
fwd #21 - 3 Marketing Strategies (with Examples) That Help You Break Through The Noise
B2b marketing is hard right now.
But who are we kidding -- it's always been pretty difficult.
We sell complex things, with complex tools, to complex buying groups, using complex marketing strategies. It's can get very, errrr, complex.
In light of some conversations that have frequently come up with clients and peers, we thought we would talk about three specific examples of forward-thinking marketing we have witnessed out in the wild that have cut through the noise and left an impression on us. They're not just email campaigns (yep, you don't need more of those) and they don't require much heavy lifting or budget.
We talk about:
Gong.io's social presence on Linkedin with entertaining and enlightening content
Sendoso's CMO partnering on other brands' content and shows
Everstring's weekly "A Drink With..."
These are all great companies that do a ton of great marketing, but these specific initiatives really stood out to us as examples that many companies could learn from. So check…
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May 13, 2020
fwd #20 - Why Using An Unconventional Content Marketing Strategy Pays Off (Especially Now!)
This week we have another awesome guest, Luke Starbuck from Campfire Labs. Campfire is a content marketing agency that has worked with some of the b2b tech greats (Drift, Asana, Stripe), and Luke has a particular passion for unconventional content that tells stories and engages audiences in more meaningful ways.
We really enjoyed having Luke on as he shared his insight on all things content, specific examples of unconventional content, how to measure success, and a ton more. We found this especially relevant in this time where engaging content is really top of mind for b2b marketers as they persevere and fight through the noise.
It's a long discussion (we really could have gone on for hours!) but it's worth the listen!
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May 6, 2020
fwd #19 - Laura Kendall of Madkudu on Building A Marketing Function & Ramping Up During Lockdown
On this week's episode of fwd we have a very special guest, Laura Kendall, the new VP of Marketing at MadKudu.
Laura is both a friend and a repeat client of ours so it was a real pleasure to have her on. She had the interesting experience of starting a new role during shelter-in-place, and had some amazing wisdom to share around how to ramp up successfully during this crazy time.
We also dove into her experience leading marketing teams specifically around:
How to successfully build a marketing function from the ground up
Why a strong marketing operations foundation is so important
Her approach to goals and measurement
There were TONS of great takeaways in this one and we really enjoyed the conversation - so check it out and fwd it on. 📧
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Apr 29, 2020
fwd #18 - Casual CS2 chat on the state of b2b campaigns and content today
fwd #18 - Casual CS2 chat on the state of b2b campaigns and content today by CS2 Marketing
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Apr 22, 2020
fwd #17 - 6 Ways To Track Campaign Attribution Explained (+solutions To The Where/What Problem)
So it's just me (Charlie) flying solo on this week's episode of fwd, following on from part one on attribution.
With everything going on in the world and the impact on the economy and business, it's more important than ever to know where to put your marketing dollars to get the best bang for your buck. That's where campaign attribution comes in.
In the complex world of b2b this can get complicated, and if you ask 100 marketers how they do campaign attribution you'll likely get 100 slightly different responses. Often with different ways to tackle the issue with online touchpoints known as the "where/what multi-touch problem".
WHERE they came from (paid social, organic search, etc.) WHAT they did (trial, ebook, etc.)
Traditional MAP and CRM are just not that great at handling this in a way that's helpful for reporting, but no method is inherently better than another, it is all based on your needs. In this episode I focus on 6 methods that result in reports being built in SFDC or Mark…
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Apr 15, 2020
fwd #16 - Naomi Liu on Career Growth & Building A Marketing Ops Team
For this week's episode of fwd, we have a very special guest, Naomi Liu, Director, Global Marketing Operations, at EFI (Electronics For Imaging), a billion-dollar company developing breakthrough tech for the printing industry.
Naomi has been in marketing ops since the early MOps days back in the mid-to-late 2000s, and has successfully built high-performing teams from the ground up. We were lucky enough to sit down with her virtually and discuss her perspectives on career growth, and what it takes to build a strong marketing ops team.
We really enjoyed this conversation and will be bringing more interviews to our fwd video series. So, if you'd like to chat MOps with us (or know anyone), please let us know.
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Apr 8, 2020
fwd #15 - What To Do Before A Marketing Attribution Project To Help Guarantee Success
We've noticed there's been quite a bit of excitement over time around marketing campaign attribution and lead source reporting, but many b2b companies still face challenges getting it right.
So, this week we bring to you part 1 of our two-part video series on what marketing teams can do in preparation for starting an attribution or lead source project, and guarantee successful results.
Check it out as we share some quick tips to add to your list to help the project run smoothly.
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Apr 1, 2020
fwd #14 - Prioritizing Physical And Mental Wellness During A Crisis To Boost Performance At Work
I am pretty excited for this week’s eposide because our special guest is my twin sister Gabriella!👯
Gabriella Vetere-Davis is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Health and Wellness Coach who currently coaches at one of the biggest tech companies here in the Bay Area. She also contributes to her blog www.macrobalanced.com, where you can find other helpful tips to overall wellness.
Every month, Gabriella coaches hundreds of tech professionals on overall wellness so they can do better at their jobs and live more happier and fuller lives.
I thought right now we might all be prioritizing physical and mental health so we can stay focused, productive, and healthy during this pandemic. That led me to think about my sister, who I have always wanted to have on our video podcast.
During our discussion, we go through what wellness strategies you can implement throughout your whole day (morning, middle of the day, and evening) so you can boost your performance at work. Some of the topics…
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Mar 25, 2020
fwd #13 - 5 Ways To Boost Professional Development Digitally
Conferences are cancelled. Events are being postponed. You can’t be closer than 6ft away from someone.
If conferences and in-person networking is normally your way of working on your professional development during the year, Crissy has 5 alternatives that you can do instead that are all digital!
Right now feels like a great time to invest in our careers and professional development. Some of you might have some extra time on the weekends or evenings without a commute, so its a great time to incorporate some of these tips to fill that time.
However, others might be just coping with your new full-time job of homeschool teacher on top of your every day responsibilities. If you find yourself in that boat, save this video for another day when you're in the right headspace and/or have the time.
A few examples are" Joining a Slack channel community like MOPros Doing online training like on Trailblazer And, participating in an online mentorship program
Hopefully you get inspired to spend…
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Mar 18, 2020
fwd #12 - How MOps pros can help their team during this time of uncertainty
Given the current situation unraveling around the world and after speaking to a lot of our clients dealing with their unique set of challenges, we debated whether we should even do a fwd video this week. Our thought was that everyone has bigger problems to deal with.
However, we decided in the end that we should do it. Mainly because even though marketing ops isn't going to solve the world's problems, we truly believe all you MOps pros out there can really help your marketing teams and companies navigate this unprecedented and uncertain time.
We hope to not stoke the anxiety we're all feeling, but instead share some thoughts on several things we can all control that may add a tiny amount of clarity and positivity into an otherwise deeply confusing and challenging situation.
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Mar 11, 2020
fwd #11 - The MOps Life Working In - House Vs. Agency Consultant
Having worked in-house for several years and now coming up to 5 years of agency life with CS2 we have a lot of opinions on the pros and cons of agency v.s. in-house. Of course, like everything in MOps, what works for you will depend on your goals and your unique situation. That being said, we try to discuss our experience and give an honest take for anyone considering their options.
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Mar 3, 2020
fwd #10 - The 7 Traits Of A Great Marketing Ops Leader
We've worked with a ton of great marketing ops leaders, and have seen the traits they have in common. Crissy and Charlie explain the 7 things they see in great leaders.
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Feb 26, 2020
fwd #9 - Form Spambot Attacks Are Getting Worse What You Should Know And How To Prepare
We are starting to see more and more forms attacked with spam with increasing intensity. It is troubling because there are a ton of very serious downstream effects that can cause some pretty big problems. Things like malicious links sent from your instance, taking your corporate email down, performance issues in SFDC, and more. We discuss all the issues we have seen and potential solutions. Expect more on this topic as we dive deeper.
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Feb 19, 2020
fwd #8 - 5 Ways To Hold Onto Your Best Marketing Ops Talent
High turnover is crazy in b2b marketing and even crazier in marketing ops. With high demand and a low number of MOps pros who have all the desired skills, many marketing ops professionals are getting several requests from other companies and recruiters each week.
At the same time, the life of a MOps pro is often thankless and stressful, further pushing them to consider changing jobs because the grass looks greener on the other side.
BUT it doesn't have to be this way, it is totally possible to retain your best talent by keeping your MOps team engaged and happy in their role.
In this latest episode of fwd we discuss 5 important things you can do to make sure your marketing ops team sticks around long enough to really make a difference.
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Feb 12, 2020
fwd #7 - Why This Popular Linkedin Post On Order Of Operations Enrichment Is So Important
An image we created a while ago on order of operations and enrichment got shared by one of the big names in MOps, Sara McNamara. It got a lot of interest and 50+ comments so we decided to revisit the topic and discuss why we think this topic is so important.
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Feb 4, 2020
fwd #6 - 5 Reasons You Should Stay In Your Current Marketing Ops Role
High turnover is rampant in marketing ops and there are many reasons to jump ship. However, there are also reasons to stick it out a while longer which we discuss with a couple of guests from the CS2 team, Christie and Jerel.
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Jan 28, 2020
fwd #5 - B2b marketers, are we too metric obsessed?
The developments in marketing data have been pretty awesome over the last 10 years. We can actually make decisions based on cold hard data and not just a hunch. It's truly great and can be really effective when done well. However, as b2b marketers, we are getting a little carried away with metrics. Not everything has to be justified with a metric and not all useful information is quantitative and can live on a dashboard. You can learn so much by just speaking to people and operationalizing a process to gather qualitative data from the people who matter, your customers and prospects. Just ask them.
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Jan 22, 2020
fwd #4 - The Argument Against MQLs Being Used As A Metric Of Success
Should MQLs be killed? Well yes and no, it depends on the context. As a prioritization tool they are great but putting too much emphasis on them is deadly and can severely limit your marketing team's effectiveness and decision making.
Why? - They are a guess - They can be manipulated - Your MQL>Pipeline % is probably very low - Marketing should be a revenue driver and be able to prove it.
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Jan 13, 2020
fwd #3 - Our Predictions for 2020 and Beyond (Part 2)
Charlie and Crissy discuss their (sometimes controversial) predictions for 2020 and the next decade. They talk removing tools from your stack, data quality, misusing contact data, and shifting away from being overly data-driven. Check it out and see what the next few years have in store for us according to CS2. Watch the video at www.cs2marketing.com/fwd
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Jan 7, 2020
CS2’S 2020 B2B Tech Marketing Predictions (Part 1)
Since we’re now in the futuristic-sounding year of 2020, we wanted to make some predictions of what we expect to happen in the world of B2B marketing. In working with B2B tech companies of varying sizes, we have seen certain trends in how marketing is evolving. Here’s part 1, discussing the first half of 8 predictions we think will happen in the new year. Watch the video version here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/fwd
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Jul 29, 2019
Episode 9: Inside the 3 P's of Marketing Ops
The 3 P's of Marketing Ops: People, Process, Performance. Listen in to hear why these 3 P's are in the DNA of everything we do at CS2.
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Jul 16, 2019
Episode 8: The Results of our B2B Marketing Turnover Survey
We put out a survey posing questions about workplace happiness to B2B tech marketers, and the results are in! We weren't surprised to hear that the majority of respondents are feeling stressed by the chaos at work. Crissy, Charlie, Christie and Jerel discuss the results and offer some solutions to combat the chaos that working in marketing can bring.
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Jul 2, 2019
The "Why" behind our B2B Marketing Turnover Survey
Crissy and Charlie discuss the reasoning behind our survey on B2B Marketing Turnover. To be a part of the survey, visit this link [closes on 7/7/2019]: https://www.cs2marketing.com/learn/happy-b2b-tech-marketer-survey
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Apr 30, 2019
Episode 6 - Remodeling Your Marketo Instance
Have you ever started at a new company only to find out that their Marketo instance (aka your work home) is a mess? Since Crissy and Charlie are going through a house remodel right now, they realized that there are a lot of parallels between remodeling a house and remodeling a Marketo instance. Listen in to hear about things to think about when taking on a DIY of your Marketo instance!
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Mar 27, 2019
Episode 5 - The Agile Framework for Marketing
Charlie and Crissy discuss Charlie's new idea to use the agile software development framework, typically used by developers, for marketing operations. They discuss how the process would work when applied to marketing ops, and how marketing teams might benefit from adopting the framework.
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Mar 23, 2019
Episode 4 - Making Habits Work For You
Charlie has been reading a new book called The Power of Habit by Charlies Duhigg, which inspired our latest conversation. We discuss how to break bad habits at work and how to incorporate new habits to help you work smarter, not harder.
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Feb 27, 2019
Episode 3 - Applying The Swiss Cheese Model to your marketing
In this episode, we discuss the quality assurance process and how using The Swiss Cheese Model may save you from some big mishaps.
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Feb 13, 2019
Episode 2 - Training & hiring for your marketing ops team
The team at CS2 marketing discusses how you can train your wider team to work with your marketing ops team with some key steps. They also discuss some common hiring mistakes when hiring for a marketing ops role.
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Jan 29, 2019
Intro to The Logic Lab podcast by CS2 Marketing
We're excited to bring you the first episode of The Logic Lab podcast. This podcast for B2B marketers will cover different areas of marketing technology, from strategy to execution. In our first podcast we discuss some MarTech resolutions for the new year.
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