Before it was a stream, it was a bloke with a bucket
Monday morning, and Andy has fourteen tabs open in Apollo. Somewhere in there is a shortlist of the right people at the right companies, if he can ...
Read more →All posts
Demand generation, content and pipeline thinking
from The Demand Stream.
Embracing Groundhog Day in B2B marketing
There’s a hard truth about B2B marketing many businesses struggle to accept – most people aren’t thinking about your brand or business.
Read more →Look for signals, not leads
For years, leads have been the holy grail of B2B growth. Whether MQLs, SQLs or some other form, B2B marketing and sales activity revolved around the ...
Read more →Fame beats features
Fame gets a bad rap these days. Talk of fame conjures up images of vacuous and vain celebrities who are famous for being famous. Or desperate C-list ...
Read more →Who are your 1,000 true fans?
One of the biggest misconceptions in B2B growth is the idea that more attention automatically drives better results. If only you can get more reach, ...
Read more →I know what you did last summer
If your business is growing right now, I can take a pretty good guess as to what you did last summer. As well as the spring, winter and autumn ...
Read more →Email isn’t dead. You’re just doing it wrong.
I’m sure you’ve heard someone somewhere declare that email marketing is dead.
Read more →Two horses, one arse
I heard this saying recently and it really grabbed me: “You can’t ride two horses with one arse”.
Read more →Flip the script on time
Bill Gates once famously said: “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year, and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
Read more →AI: You’re doing it wrong
AI is everywhere right now. Many people are using it. And even more are talking about it.
Read more →Not the Insane Clown Posse!
Talking to a client recently and they looked blank when the term “ICP” came up. They then blurted out “The Insane Clown Posse?”.
Read more →The real reason your CRM isn’t delivering pipeline
CRMs don’t create pipeline. They manage it.
Read more →Why fast time-to-value matters in B2B
In B2B, time can be a huge momentum killer.
Read more →The hidden work that gets great sales meetings
Great sales meetings are not the result of luck. They come from focused preparation and the discipline of consistent effort. The cause-and-effect ...
Read more →Are you addicted to “hopium”?
Most businesses want growth. But very few have a system to deliver it. Instead, they rely on hope.
Read more →You don’t need more leads. You need better leads.
“We need more leads” is a familiar refrain heard in B2B meetings all over the world. What they really mean is we need growth, and “more leads” is ...
Read more →Why your pipeline feels spiky (and how to fix it)
If you’re in B2B, you know the drill. Some months are strong, some are quiet and some are so desolate you are left feeling like no one even knows you ...
Read more →Meet your secret SDR
When sales and marketing work hand-in-hand, great things happen. Prospects are informed and engaged, so sales team can spend their time on warm, ...
Read more →The two-hour content strategy that works
Good customers are like good wine; they get better with age. And that’s how we feel about long-standing client iViis, who have transformed their ...
Read more →Is content creation keeping you up at night?
If you’re a typical B2B marketer, sadly, the answer is likely yes. And it’s not so much that you’re up all night creating engaging marketing content, ...
Read more →Do your prospects have AI fatigue?
Let me start by saying that I think AI is great. But, yes, there is a but. Too much of a good thing can end up being a bad thing. The slippery slope ...
Read more →Stop emailing like a clingy ex
Timing is everything. And when it comes to B2B email nurtures, timing is as important as any other aspect of your email sequence planning and ...
Read more →All the gear, but no idea
We love martech tools. The ability to streamline, automate, manage and optimise B2B marketing workflows and email nurture sequences is a beautiful ...
Read more →Are you sitting on a goldmine?
If you’re a diligent B2B marketer, you should have a valuable asset at your fingertips.
Read more →10X your content marketing results
We’re big fans of ‘set and forget’ content marketing. This is where the effort to plan and create social posts is leveraged at the production and ...
Read more →Don’t take content marketing advice from George Costanza
I’m a massive Seinfeld fan, and in particular I love the antics of Jerry’s sidekick and oldest friend George Costanza. Other than in one memorable ...
Read more →Less mental clutter, more marketing content
As a busy marketer, you’ve undoubtedly experienced the mental weight caused by a long list of unfinished tasks. Turns out, these incomplete tasks are ...
Read more →You saw my posts where?!
We often discount the reach and effectiveness of our content, be it articles or LinkedIn posts or anything else. A previous article about LinkedIn ...
Read more →Why 7 is the scariest number in B2B marketing
Before a B2B buyer reaches out to a sales rep or completes a form on your website, they spend seven hours consuming your content. Seven hours!
Read more →The reality (and cost) of time discounting
Have you ever made a commitment for next week or next month, thought nothing of it, then when the allotted day rolls around you ask yourself “What ...
Read more →The secret life of LinkedIn lurkers
LinkedIn lurkers are the biggest opportunity you don’t know you have. They don’t 'like' your posts, share them, or engage with you online in any way. ...
Read more →Why good content marketing is like compound interest
Compound interest is an amazing phenomenon. Albert Einstein is credited with the oft repeated saying, “compound interest is the eighth wonder of the ...
Read more →Word by word, or bird by bird
It can be overwhelming when you map out a marketing content plan. You know it’s important for your business and brand to be front and centre in the ...
Read more →Are you ticking boxes or kicking goals?
It can be tempting to focus on completing tasks on your never-ending marketing to-do list, keeping your head above water as wave after wave of ...
Read more →The value of implementation
We love creating impactful content for our clients and coming up with insightful ideas that engage their prospects using a mix of long and short form ...
Read more →Lessons from the AI gold rush
There’s an old saying I’m reminded of in the current stampede to AI – “the only people who are guaranteed to make money in a gold rush are the ones ...
Read more →Watch out for that bus
Many years ago I took a defensive driving course. While it was a lot of fun and taught me plenty about staying safe on the road, you might be ...
Read more →Ignore the rule of three at your peril
We know that B2B buying cycles are long, which makes the job of marketers that much harder when it comes to remaining top of mind with prospects who ...
Read more →Stop playing marketing Whack-a-Mole
You might have enjoyed the game of Whack-a-Mole as a kid. You might even enjoy it now when you take the kids to Timezone. But it’s not fun to play as ...
Read more →Can you post too much on LinkedIn?
The short answer is yes, you can. But how much is enough, without it being too much? For company pages, you need to take a strategic approach that ...
Read more →Loving the enemy that is LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the go-to platform for B2B sales and marketing. Your customers and prospects are there, and they are receptive to your messaging when it ...
Read more →There’s no “6 Minute Abs” in marketing
It’s easy these days, especially if you spend any time on LinkedIn, to think that there is a quick fix or easy solution to every business and ...
Read more →What do you do behind closed doors?
Tony Robbins tells a fantastic story about legendary basketball star Steph Curry. As the story goes, Curry takes 500 3-point practice shots a day, or ...
Read more →Most B2B buyers are not in the market right now
That’s not a half-hearted excuse from an unmotivated salesperson – it’s an important principle that B2B marketers need to understand and embrace. ...
Read more →Are you marketing fit?
It’s good to be physically fit. We all understand the importance of fitness, and we know how hard it is to physically exert yourself (or even fully ...
Read more →The long and short of content marketing
If you’re in B2B marketing, you’ve no doubt heard variations of the statement “nobody reads anything anymore”. The thinking being that everyone is ...
Read more →The strategy of showing up
Today’s business world is dominated by the pursuit of perfection, polished presentations, carefully crafted communications and grand strategies. But ...
Read more →Bringing sales and marketing together
In a perfect world, sales and marketing teams are aligned and working towards a common goal of maximising organisational growth, revenue and profits.
Read more →Shotgun or rifle marketing?
There’s a popular dichotomy in marketing between using a shotgun or rifle approach to target your customers. At a basic level, you use shotgun ...
Read more →Choosing cheap can be costly
Modern B2B marketing organisations have to do a lot with a little. A never-ending list of must-do tasks means that scarce resources and tight budgets ...
Read more →The discipline of content marketing
I love this quote from Jocko Willink – “discipline equals freedom”. Jocko is a retired US Navy SEAL who has become an international bestselling ...
Read more →How to build a lead buffer
B2B marketing and sales can be boom and bust. It’s a natural cycle, but also one that you should try to avoid for the sake of your business health, ...
Read more →Don’t settle for sugar hits
Sugar hits provide temporary energy and satisfaction, but the benefits quickly fade, leaving you feeling flat. In marketing, the equivalent of a ...
Read more →Create better marketing habits
Good habits create long-lasting success. Healthy eating habits promote longevity and prevent chronic diseases. Regular exercise promotes physical ...
Read more →An ode to the silent salesperson
Day in and day out
Read more →Take your holiday vibe into next year
As you read this, ideally as you relax by a beach or a pool while you take a well-earned break, discover how you can make the holiday vibe last a ...
Read more →How to make content marketing easier
They say nothing worth doing is easy, and you probably agree that this statement is especially true when it comes to content marketing. This ‘always ...
Read more →Are you overthinking it?
You’ve heard the saying that perfect is the enemy of progress. And nowhere in marketing is that saying more relevant than content marketing.
Read more →It’s all about time in the market
There’s an old saying in finance and investing, “It’s not about timing the market, it’s all about time in the market”.
Read more →What’s the frequency, Kenneth?
Back in the day when everyone read physical newspapers, print ads were big business. One of the favourite sayings of creative teams in those days was ...
Read more →Artificial intelligence is for suckers
It’s strange that something called “artificial intelligence” has become so revered. What’s great about being “artificial”?! Granted, machine learning ...
Read more →You’re a publisher, time to embrace it
Most people who are running businesses don’t think of themselves as publishers. But if you run a B2B business in any industry, you are in fact a ...
Read more →Your business is invisible
It’s not entirely your fault. It’s a noisy world, and it’s hard to keep your name in front of the people who matter day in and day out. Basically, ...
Read more →