Miscellaneous

The challenges represented by ‘Second hand content’ relate to; 

• Heads of Sales and Marketing required to extend function support to emerging partners and channels models 
• Relationship managers challenged with supporting valuable partners but restricted by available content provided by product and corporate marketing 
• Channel leads balancing corporate budget and channel programme performance

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Aligning it with parallel sales motions and plays is unarguable too. But, the risks run with a 100% marketing focus on ABM initiatives are the loss of serendipity, peripheral vision and broader exploration that drives innovation. 

Check out the meme, ‘The ABM bandwagon’.  Have you seen too many people, projects and platforms jump on the bandwagon? 

The challenges represented by ‘The ABM bandwagon’ relate to; 

• Heads of sales, marketing and channels recognising the need to consider ABM, but not quite knowing where to start 
• ABM managers starting to mobilise the conversation and motions within the business 
• Heads of Marketing who have over-committed their resource and investment to ABM 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

The investment: emotional, time, creative, client distraction can be quite considerable. It often heads towards the $20-30k range as you overthink and overdeliver to prove your agency has the right critical skills for their challenge. It can be a tough call to take when the client cancels the very project you’ve been awarded after 2 months of bidding. 

Check out the meme, ‘The pitch U turn’.  Feeling slight guilty that you’ve been a player or on the side-lines of this?

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

It’s role in convincing customers is not as singular as it used to be, but competitive difference is still key to achieving an edge. So why is it that so many sales and marketing teams lack the ability to explain the difference clearly. 

Too often they revert to replaying a (louder, slower and more emphatic) summary of the benefits. BUT THAT’S NOT THE DIFFERENCE!  

Check out the meme, ‘Dunno’.  Is this something you can relate to in sales and marketing teams?

The challenges represented by ‘Dunno’ relate to; 

• Sales and enablement leads driving teams with key corporate initiatives  
• Marketing leaders managing teams with a close and influential role with sellers 
• Leaders inheriting sellers from aquired or merged organisations 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Perhaps it’s not too surprising when it’s for a relatively new agenda of ‘customer experience’. But when that agenda influences 100% of revenues then perhaps it’s less excusable. 

Check out the meme, ‘Open ownership‘ – which side is your business? open or identified ownership?

The challenges represented by ‘Open ownership’ relate to; 

• Marketing, customer and success leadership in technology vendors whose customers experience a number of direct touch points with the business throughout their lifecycle 
• CMOs of tech businesses who recognise the need for a modern, high-perfomance marketing function and the extended value of their contribution to CX 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Whilst their opinion has influence and equity for your proposition, the impact is often to restrict other crucial marketing activities. 

Check out the meme, ‘Analyst paralysis‘ – have your felt the effect of sizeable analyst payments?

The challenges represented by ‘Analyst paralysis’ relate to; 

• Heads of Marketing Communications trying to balance budget across all marketing disciplines  
• CMOs of fast-growth tech businesses who recognise the value of the independent viewpoints and influencers but struggle to mobilise sufficient budgets for all tactics and channels 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

So why are they SO hard to get mobilised and over the line? Aligning the motivations and timing of sellers, relationship owners, end-customers and approvers is a complex task that takes skill and perseverance. 

How often does a case study fail because of internal inertia? Worse, how many have hours and months of crafting only to fall at the approvals stage?       

Check out the meme, ‘Case study tumbleweed’ – have you or your colleagues been on this road?

The challenges represented by ‘Case study tumbleweed’ relate to; 

• Heads of marketing or sales recognising the need to increase commitment to voice-of-the-customer marketing 
• Customer marketing, success or advocacy managers managing case study programmes

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

This is no truer than planning for display campaigns running across multiple platforms and formats. So, it’s not surprising there’s a collective ‘aggggghhh’ for tangential messages to be infused into the 15 word ad.  

Check out the meme, ‘Really – it’s 970×250!‘ Sound familiar?

The challenges represented by ‘Really – it’s 970×250!’ relate to; 

• Campaign managers collaborating with internal colleagues managing important, but tangential corporate initiatives 
• On-line managers with an imperative to collaborate with cross-marketing stakeholders 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

These are the 3 top answers to the question posed in the meme above… supposedly the most important tool to get ahead of competitive plays. The age-old battlecard can be an extremely powerful tool for agency, marketing and sales teams alike. What better way to understand the very best, industry-tested, crafted messages to land ‘killer blows’ in campaigns and conversations. How can let this happen? Poor show.

Check out the meme, ‘Gone missing‘ How do you plead – guilty, not guilty, or not my fault?

The challenges represented by ‘Gone missing’ relate to; 

• Heads of sales or enablement charged with improving performance of sellers 
• Heads of marketing teams with a close relationship and/or influential role with sellers 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

The ‘art roots’ of marketing and advertising are still crucial for creating emotional success. But they now need the counterbalance of data, analytics, and AI to prove performance and inform decision-making.

Pursuing emotional engagement through creative cannot now live in isolation. Similarly, insights won’t fly without the right vehicle for doing the job.

Check out the meme, ‘It won’t fly!’. Have you been guilty of not getting the right balance?

The challenges represented by ‘It won’t fly’ relate to; 

• Campaign managers and planners looking to mobilise the right resources and experts 
• Heads of marketing planning team resources and skill-sets 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Most marketers recognise the role of the various data protection standards in achieving the right balance of value and privacy, but responsibility for the final decision is often passed around the team and stakeholders like the ticking bomb in this clip.

How often has the campaign launch been delayed because this question lacked a definitive answer? And how often has the ‘legitimate interest’ card been played in place of it?

Check out the meme, ‘The C Bomb‘. Recognise these marketing team behaviours?

The challenges represented by ‘The C Bomb’ relate to; 

• Marketing and programme managers planning and mobilising campaigns  
• ABM strategists planning GTM channels and activities 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Whatever the reason, ‘over-blending’ is a pet hate of agencies and creative teams. You spend all your time crafting an approach that addresses a singular message or assertion, and the client wants it all mixed together.

Now that’s not to say that all ‘fusion’ is bad – but there’s sometimes a fine line between asserting multiple messages and creating a ‘$#^! Soup’ 

Check out the meme, ‘Over-blending‘. Is this something that makes you or colleagues cringe?

The challenges represented by ‘Over-blending’ relate to; 

• Campaign managers consolidating feedback from product, brand and sales teams 
• Content managers developing assets with too many perspectives and viewpoints 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

We’ve all been there, colleagues or clients trying to shoehorn far too much into a particular marketing asset – especially explainers.

While content and creative pro’s do a great of job at distillation and reduction, sometimes there’s just too much crammed into that kitchen sink of an explainer video.

Check out the meme, ‘Squeeeeze it in‘. How often have you suffered this in producing assets?

The challenges represented by ‘Squeeeeze it in’ relate to; 

• Content marketers and their associate writers and agencies charged with production 
• Product marketers who may be under pressure to over-expand the explainer video mandate to cover too many agendas and messages 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

It’s the very reason that you’re in business doing what you do, and the impact you bring to those around you.

So, why is it that so many marketing, sales and other customer-facing professionals don’t know their company purpose or brand promise? 

Check out the meme, ‘WTF is our purpose???‘. Sound familiar?

The challenges represented by ‘WTF is our purpose?’ relate to; 

• Sales and enablement leads driving teams with key corporate initiatives  
• Marketing leaders managing teams with a close and influential role with sellers 
• Corporate brand strategists and internal communicators charged with internal adoption 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

But this focus on continually feeding the pipeline brings some issues. Too frequently, poorly formed, low-quality and value-misleading content is offered at ‘top-of-funnel’. It’s time to say ‘Enough!’

Why offer a piece of gated content that’s going to underwhelm or even set expectations too high? It damages goodwill, brand perception, and any supporting efforts that will try and progress that lead through the system.  

Check out the meme, ‘Duck tape won’t do’. Sound familiar?

The challenges represented by ‘Duck tape won’t do’ relate to; 

• Marketing managers and their marketing agencies developing campaigns with brown-field collateral and assets 
• Marketing, content and campaign managers auditing the value of existing assets 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!