• Twitter
  • LinkedIn
(503) 212-0687 | hello@cascadeinsights.com
Cascade Insights
  • Market Research Services
    • B2B Customer Experience Research
      • Buyer Personas
      • Buyer’s Journey Research
      • Key Buying Criteria Research
      • Jobs-To-Be-Done Research
      • User Personas
      • Customer Satisfaction Research
    • B2B Product/Service Research
      • Market Opportunity Research
      • Concept Testing
      • Go-To-Market Research
    • B2B Marketing Enablement Research
      • Data-Driven Marketing Research
      • Message Testing
      • Brand Research
      • Thought Leadership Services
      • Partner Enablement
    • B2B Sales Enablement Research
      • Competitive Landscape Analysis
      • Win-Loss Research
      • Churn Analysis
      • Channel Research
  • Marketing Services
    • Marketing Strategy
    • Messaging
    • Content Marketing
    • Sales Enablement
  • Insights and Perspectives
    • B2B Market Research Blog
    • B2B Marketing Blog
    • B2B Resources
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Clients
    • Client Testimonials
    • Careers
    • Ethics Policy
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
Boardroom Diplomacy: Marketing Needs Allies

Boardroom Diplomacy: Marketing Needs Allies

May 16, 2018/in Blog Posts /by Trevor Gilbert
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

Apple PodcastsSubscribe to B2B Revealed on Google PlaySubscribe to B2B Revealed on StitcherSubscribe to B2B Revealed on Soundcloud

Myopic marketing executives focus solely on messaging to external audiences. Lack of attention to internal communications costs marketers influence on business decisions … and allies.

Savvy marketing leaders have an internal messaging strategy at the ready. This helps them achieve their creative goals while balancing business benefits.

In our latest episode of the B2B Revealed Podcast, Sean Campbell interviewed Darcy Kurtz, drawing on her experience leading global product marketing at Sage.

Partnership vs. Solo Artist

Darcy Kurtz

According to Kurtz, marketing teams often communicate poorly with other departments in their own companies. This inevitably leads to problems. Kurtz pointed out that sales and marketing executives at many companies fail to be “100 percent aligned”, and many fail, “to have the same goals.”

The tension begins when marketing teams act alone. They come up with great plans, messaging strategies, and value propositions without input from the sales team. Then, marketing qualified leads (MQLs) are thrown over the fence, with the sales team is left holding the bag.

Aligning the funnel requires better cross-department communication. Sales needs to be involved in the goal-setting process so that marketing can bring in higher-quality leads.

“[Ideally,] marketing is being held accountable for more than just, ‘Did you bring in a certain quantity of leads or certain quantities of MQLs?’” said Kurtz. “I really look at quality as much as quantity, so how many of those are converting into true sales qualified leads and closed deals?”

Boardroom Fluency

Stunted collaboration between marketing and sales is only the beginning. Kurtz also urged marketers to rethink their approach to boardroom meetings.

“I’m a big believer that marketing needs a seat at the table when it comes to business discussions,” Kurtz said. “When I’m mentoring marketing folks about this, I tell them, ‘You need to learn as much about business management as you do about marketing management,’ to be successful long-term.”

Kurtz explained that marketers often expect to sell ideas to the boardroom based on creativity alone. Marketers should take more care in explaining how their creative work furthers the company’s business goals.

Get Diplomatic

For Kurtz, marketing leaders can only expect success when they change their behavior. That means collaborating with sales, learning how to speak at the leadership table, and reevaluating how to present work internally. As a result, when those changes start to happen, everything runs more smoothly.

Messaging For The Masses

Finally, listen to the full episode for more insight into effective marketing, with topics such as:

  • 02:31 – Non-traditional techniques that work with small and medium businesses (SMB)
  • 04:50 – Overcoming resistance to closer collaboration between sales and marketing
  • 09:36 – Launching a SaaS product and developing a Go-to-Market strategy
  • 16:46 – Linking integrated marketing with business strategy and goals
  • 21:20 – Customer-led marketing vs. product benefits marketing

The B2B Revealed Podcast is brought to you by Cascade Insights, a market research firm specializing in B2B technology. Need more B2B brilliance? There are many ways to follow us.

Get in touch

"*" indicates required fields

Name
Cascade Insights will never share your information with third parties. View our privacy policy.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Bio
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Latest Posts
Trevor Gilbert

Trevor Gilbert

Podcast Producer
Trevor Gilbert

@trevoragilbert

Trevor Gilbert
Trevor Gilbert

Latest posts by Trevor Gilbert (see all)

  • Voice-Centric Marketing - March 8, 2019
  • The Rebel’s Role - February 20, 2019
  • Podcasts and the Trouble with Conversion Optimization - February 19, 2019
  • Bio
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Latest Posts
Sean Campbell

Sean Campbell

CEO
Sean Campbell is the CEO of Cascade Insights, a competitive intelligence and market research firm for B2B technology companies. A 20-year technology veteran, Sean oversees the health of the firm, drives the company’s thought leadership efforts and maintains relationships with key clients.
Sean Campbell

@sean_campbell

Sean Campbell
Sean Campbell

Latest posts by Sean Campbell (see all)

  • B2B Market Research: Exposing the Truth - August 23, 2022
  • B2B Focus Groups: Virtual for the Win - June 7, 2022
  • B2B Buyer’s Journey: Buyers and Marketers in the Blender - March 8, 2022
Tags: B2B Revealed, B2B Revealed Podcast, B2B sales, boardroom strategy, business leaders, darcy kurtz, integrated marketing, internal communications, leadership, marketing, marketing leaders, messaging, product launch, sales-marketing alignment, SMBs
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
You might also like
Don't Fear The Churn: Inside Sales ManagementDon’t Fear The Churn: Inside Sales Management
Podcasts and the Trouble with Conversion OptimizationPodcasts and the Trouble with Conversion Optimization
marketing dataLeft Brain + Right Brain = Marketing Success
Your Favorite B2B Posts of 2017
Creating The Category - An Interview With Matt Ipri | Mid-market marketingCreating The Category – An Interview With Matt Ipri
professional services firmAvoid an Identity Crisis: Make These Tough Calls For Your Firm
How Partners Are Adapting to the CloudHow Partners Are Adapting to the Cloud
Data's Cold EmbraceData’s Cold Embrace

GET IN TOUCH

hello@cascadeinsights.com

(503) 898-0004

WHAT WE DO

Market Research Services
Marketing Services
Subscribeto RSS Feed

Blog Categories

  • B2B Buyer Persona Research
  • B2B Channel Market Research
  • B2B Churn Analysis
  • B2B Competitive Landscape Analysis
  • B2B Customer Experience Research
  • B2B Customer Journey Mapping
  • B2B Go-To-Market Research
  • B2B Market Opportunity Research
  • B2B Market Research Blog
  • B2B Market Segmentation Research
  • B2B Marketing Blog
    • Uncategorized
  • B2B Messaging
  • B2B New Product Launch Research
  • B2B Thought Leadership
  • B2B Usability Testing
  • Brand Research
  • Concept Testing
  • Content Marketing
  • Customer Satisfaction Research
  • Data-Driven Marketing Research
  • Jobs-To-Be-Done
  • Key Buying Criteria
  • Marketing Enablement
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Message Testing Research
  • Partner Enablement
  • Product/Service Research
  • Sales Enablement Marketing
  • Sales Enablement Research
  • User Personas
  • Videos
  • Win/Loss Analysis

Written by

Trevor Gilbert
Trevor Gilbert
Sean Campbell
Sean Campbell

RECENT POSTS

  1. Sell Like The Avengers: Learning From Nic Read
  2. Ready to Book It? Probably Not
  3. Creative Teams Need a Reliable Protector
  4. Hero’s Quest: The B2B Buyer’s Journey

Connect With Us

503.212.0687

hello@cascadeinsights.com

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

B2B Market Research

  • Customer Experience Research
  • — Buyer Persona Research
  • — Buyer's Journey Research
  • — Key Buying Criteria Research
  • — Jobs-To-Be-Done Research
  • — User Personas
  • — Customer Satisfaction Research

  • B2B Product/Service Research
  • — Market Opportunity Research
  • — Concept Testing
  • — Go-To-Market Research

  • Marketing Enablement Research
  • — B2B Data-Driven Marketing Research
  • — Message Testing
  • — Brand Research
  • — Thought Leadership
  • — Partner Enablement

  • Sales Enablement Research
  • — Competitive Landscape Analysis
  • — Win Loss Analysis
  • — Churn Analysis
  • — Channel Research

B2B Marketing

  • — B2B Marketing Strategy
  • — B2B Messaging Services
  • — B2B Content Marketing
  • — B2B Sales Enablement

About Us

  • — Our Story
  • — Our Clients
  • — Client Testimonials
  • — Careers
  • — Ethics Policy
  • — Privacy Policy

Blogs

  • — B2B Market Research Blog
  • — B2B Marketing Blog
  • — Cascade Insights Blog
Cascade Insights is proud to be a member of the Inc. 5000.
Don’t Fear The Churn: Inside Sales ManagementDon't Fear The Churn: Inside Sales ManagementHire Better: Know Your Team's Core ValuesHire Better: Know Your Team’s Core Values
Scroll to top