According to Gia and Claire of Forget The Funnel:
“The vast majority of early- and growth-stage tech companies undervalue marketing — that is, until marketing becomes an emergency.”
Sound familiar?! This episode is for you. Given that both Gia and Claire are seasoned veterans in the world of SaaS marketing, I’m inclined to listen.
Claire (@ClaireSuellen) served as Director of Marketing and employee #2 at Calendly, where she helped the product grow to over 400k monthly users and millions in revenue. Since leaving Calendly she helps high-growth SaaS companies get inside their customers’ heads and increase conversions along their sales, marketing, and onboarding funnels.
Gia (@ggiiaa) was an early employee and the VP of Marketing at Unbounce, where she helped grow revenue by 900% in her first 3 years, scale her team from 1 to 35, and go from under $1M to $15.6M in ARR without any major funding.
In the episode
“When a marketer is eventually hired, they’re often at a disadvantage: their goal is to increase revenue — the lifeblood of the company — but their projects are consistently at the mercy of / de-prioritized in favor of product development.”
This episode is a must-listen for SaaS marketing professionals, particularly those feeling a little lost or struggling to understand their role in the increasingly complex structure of the modern tech business.
Just a few of the topics we cover:
- Why startups’ approach to marketing is so often an afterthought, and how that impacts the first few marketing hires
- What “forget the funnel” really means, and why there’s a better approach to SaaS marketing
- What the high-performing marketers featured on their site have in common, and what makes them stand out
- How SaaS marketers can focus on what really matters in 2018 and beyond, in the face of constant industry changes
Claire and Gia’s recommended resources
Claire:
- When Coffee And Kale Compete – Alan Klement (free PDF, eBook and physical formats available). “For understanding how people make decisions, related to customer research.”
- CopyHackers – “Joanna Wiebe is the original conversion copywriter.”
Gia:
- Customer Experience Mapping – Adaptive Paths. “It was a really great jumping off point for me… it gives a really nice framework for thinking about how to start the development process in an organization.”
- GetUplift blog – Talia Wolf. “The optimization side of things often feels unattainable to an earlier stage marketer.”
- Nicole Elizabeth Demeré
- Val Geisler’s onboarding teardowns
- Ty Magnin at AppCues
Join a Forget The Funnel workshop
As discussed in this episode, you can now pre-register for the SaaS Marketer Essentials training.
You also can sign up for free SaaS marketing workshops over at forgetthefunnel.com. My personal recommendation is to check out the session with Brian Sun of Autopilot, during which I frantically scribbled notes and takeaways for my own strategy. It’s called How to Build a SaaS Content Strategy Your Boss Will Love.
Listen to the episode
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