B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict is joined by Efi Naskou to discuss how misconceptions about D&I are holding B2B brands back.Efi challenges the sentiment behind the finding that B2B leaders don't think D&I is an important part of brand's narrative, making the case for a more nuanced and progressive approach. Listen to find out how B2B marketers have both a responsibility and opportunity to drive the D&I agenda within their brand communications.Efi specialises in developing and implementing commercial strategies for businesses that view marketing as a strategic lever. She is a firm believer that smart marketing investment gives companies a clear edge, helps them grow faster, and secures their market position.You can find Efi on Linkedin.You can watch full video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel.Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at alan-agency.com.

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict is joined by Kate Cox to discuss how B2B sales models need to be reimagined as the purchase decision evolves.Kate provides a detailed analysis of the changing buying dynamics and convincingly makes the case for marketing to have jurisdiction over critical early sales activities. Listen to find out how B2B marketers can fine-tune their tech stack and take a progressive approach to business development.Kate is a proven CMO with experience driving strong growth for recurring revenue businesses in the B2B, B2B2C and B2C sectors especially companies with high value expectations requiring rapid growth. Worked in 3 businesses under private equity ownership across multiple marketing disciplines with a particular expertise in developing the right marketing mix and investment levels across brand and digital performance channels to increase business value within a specific timeframe such as driving to an exit date. Part of the senior leadership leading the HEG exit to GoDaddy; the second largest UK tech exit in 2016. HEG was Europe's largest privately owned domain registration and web hosting business with strong presence in the UK and Germany focusing on Start-ups, SMBs, web designers and developers.You can find Kate on Linkedin.You can watch full video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel.Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at alan-agency.com.

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Haralds Gabrans Zukovs to discuss how complex B2B products require sophisticated strategies and solutions.B2B products and services are oftentimes much more complex than many of our B2C counterparts. And even within B2B, some offerings are particularly complicated. This distinction puts the pressure on B2B marketers to effectively reach their target audience. Their main goal becomes making it easy to understand who their business is and what they offer. Often this may include building out an entirely new marketing function, category creation, or even more involved activities. So where should a B2B marketer start?Haralds Gabrans Zukovs is Head of Growth at Mindgard, and he has quickly climbed the ranks into senior marketing leadership. His expertise is in creating high-impact digital marketing strategies for global markets and driving business growth through demand generation. Prior to joining Mindgard, Haralds has also served as Head of Marketing at credolab, Head of Marketing at the Hyve Group plc, Head of marketing for Nordigen, and other marketing roles at SAF Tehnika JSC, AranetloT, and more.You can find Haralds Gabrans Zukovs on Linkedin.You can watch full video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel.Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at alan-agency.com.

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict is joined by Will Sturgeon to discuss how marketing needs to adapt to make better use of specialists.In a B2B marketing team, it’s crucial to have a well-rounded group that can tackle a variety of challenges that may come. Each individual needs to bring a unique skill set in order to make this happen. Many may say that specialising too much may not prepare the next generation of marketing leaders. Many more might suggest that specialising becomes less important with the growth of generative AI. But how can a range of specialists create an effective team? What are best practices when utilising such a group of individuals on a marketing team?Will Sturgeon is the Head of Content and Thought Leadership and PwC UK. While Will has held this role for five years, he has a 20+ year career as an effective marketing leader. At PwC, Will is instrumental in shaping overall marketing strategy and leading a 100+ team. Prior to joining PwC UK, he has served as Executive Director for Golin, Director of Strategy and Planning at Harvard Public Relations, Director, Head of Media Strategy at Lewis PR, and more.You can find Will Sturgeon on Linkedin.You can watch full video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel.Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at alan-agency.com.

In this first episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth in 2024, Benedict speaks to Chris Wade about how maturing B2B organisations need to adapt.As a company grows and establishes itself firmly in the market, it can be easy for it to fall into an all too comfortable pattern. Once business settles into a groove, it can become hard to make changes that ultimately are better for progress. Companies become risk averse and hesitant to adapt when ultimately, a business needs to do all that they can to help their customers. But knowing how to refocus a business’s direction takes careful consideration. Being adaptable doesn’t always mean starting from scratch. So what does a mature business need to do to stay relevant?Chris Wade is the Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Gamma Communications, and he has held that role since late 2020. As an established senior marketer, Chris has used his proven creative and innovative skills to find new strategic opportunities and drive businesses forward. Prior to joining Gamma, Chris has previously served as Chief Product and Marketing Officer for Aptitude Software and several positions at Sage including VP of Product,  Director of Strategic Operations, and more. Chris has also previously been Board Member for Dynamo North East, and he currently serves as Trustee at Valour MAT.You can find Chris Wade on Linkedin.You can watch full video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel.Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at alan-agency.com.

Benedict Buckland of alan. agency moderates PANEL: Marketing + Sales A Winning Combination? Thank you to everyone who attended the session!Benedict was joined by our lovely panel:- Tom Boston, Brand Awareness Manager at Salesloft- Julia Pikes, Senior Marketing Director, EMEA at Hubspot- Thomas Van der Staaij, Senior Marketing Manager at AWS- Freya Ward, Global Sales Director at Headley MediaYou can watch full video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel.Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at https://www.alan-agency.com/.

We brought the podcast to you LIVE from the B2B Marketing Expo at the ExCeL London! Thank you to everyone who attended the session!Benedict is joined by our distinguished panel:- Áine Bryn, Partner & CMO at Marsh McLennan UK- Craig Welch, SVP, Head of Research Marketing at Elsevier- Gonzalo Garcia Villanueva, Global CMO at NielsenIQYou can find our panelists, Áine, Craig, and Gonzalo on Linkedin.You can watch full video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel.Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at https://www.alan-agency.com/.

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Paul Afshar to discuss the practicalities of using AI in B2B marketing.AI has been at the forefront of everyone’s minds in the B2B marketing space. Even on this podcast, there has been much discussion about how AI has the potential to completely reinvent the industry. However, there’s only so much hypothesising one can do before taking action and start implementing. But does the theoretical discussion thus far actually contribute to how we should utilise AI? What are the considerations that still need to be addressed?Paul Afshar is a seasoned senior marketer with experience in both B2B and B2C. With 10 years in B2B specifically, he has led world-class campaigns with the most sophisticated martech stacks. Prior to joining Unlimit, Paul has held several senior roles including Acting CMO of OSOME, Marketing Director of Dext, and more. He has also previously been a Board Member for Circl and a Partner for FleishmanHillard Fishburn. You can find Paul Afshar on Linkedin.You can watch full video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel.Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at alan-agency.com.

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict speaks to Matthew Harper about redefining the role of the CMO.Not only is the role of the CMO not understood by the rest of the business, the CMOs themselves sometimes hardly know how to be effective leaders for their company. This has led to the CMO having the shortest tenure of any role in the C-suite. But it doesn’t have to be like this. What it means to be an effective CMO has changed, and it’s within reach of CMOs to excel at their role, but this does require reevaluating what are the priorities and what relationships with the rest of the business need to look like.Matthew Harper is a dynamic, results-driven senior marketing professional with 20 years of experience across the international technology industry. Primarily, Matt has worked in enterprise SaaS, developer tools, AI platforms, and more. Matt is CMO of LinearB, and his previous experience includes VP of Marketing at Mattermost, VP of Marketing at Nylas, VP of Marketing at Moogsoft, and more.You can find Matthew Harper on Linkedin.You can watch full video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel.Ready to provoke the truth? Get in touch at alan-agency.com.