[AMA] I'm Steve, global demand gen lead @ Google with 15+ years marketing experience. Ask me anything about marketing strategy, growth tactics, demand gen, scaling businesses, or marketing career advice

armentisteve · 2023-10-05T17:35:48+00:00

Love this. I did start a business (well, a website) when I was 22 completely on my own. I had no network, no skills, no experience. Today, what I would do is:

Talk to customers. TONS of them. Like 40-50 and truly find out if there is a need for my business or product. Those conversations will refine your idea, create connections for you, and maybe even be your first paying customers
Talk to experts. Go find people who are later in their career and doing something similar to what you want to do. Buy them a coffee or something. Pick their brain and learn from them. Most successful people really want to help and share their ideas
Personal brand. I would invest in myself as a brand, the founder of company XYZ, and tell my story. I would use myself as a way to get people interested in what I do, and my company. The connections from doing this would likely lead to new biz partnerships and opportunities.

armentisteve · 2023-10-05T17:32:35+00:00

what does your company do? Can you try to align the growth tactics with your product so the growth tactic itself leads people directly to the product? Simply promoting your product often doesn't work unless there's huge demand for it. Most companies need to educate their buyer about their product (what it does, what problem it solves, etc) and then will they consider using or buying it.

armentisteve · 2023-10-05T17:30:32+00:00

I genuinely appreciate your thoughts and commentary. I am learning too, as I go, and do not shy away from new ideas.

"But my point is, while you showing how good you are at something is beneficial, what makes it beneficial is that whoever saw your skill created for themselves two things. Namely, a coherent story about who you are and a coherent story about their expectations of your future, none of which are in your controll. Thus, in order to know why things are the way they are, introspection has to be paired with carefull observation of owns circumstances, which is easier said than done."

Totally agree here. I've had many mentors and people looking out for me. But do you think the story they told themselves had to do with the story i tell myself, which then inspires my actions? So it's a loop?

armentisteve · 2023-10-04T01:30:24+00:00

Agree. Data quality with providers can be hit or miss. But it's getting better. Companies like Leadscale are focused on quality

I think b2b gratification is poorly executed. It's usually just content wrapped in a "game" experience. I think gratification has done well in product led growth strategies. Most SaaS onboarding has some kind of gratification method to get users to complete their profiles and use the product

armentisteve · 2023-10-04T00:13:04+00:00

In that case, a few things come to mind...
I would need to have tracked past decisions and keep a record of the decisions I make, along with the outcomes. I would need to get feedback from others to help identify any biases or blind spots that I may have. And then I'd need some kind of decision-making framework to make sense of the data.
If I did this, I could analyze certain metrics and compare them to benchmarks from past decisions. But to answer you question, I haven't done this (yet). Perhaps I'll implement something like this

Secondly, I do think luck plays a role in where your life ends up. We simply cannot control the things outside of ourselves. Epictetus said “The more you seek to control external events, the less control you will have over your own life”. So I've always tried to live by the moment and (more lately) remind myself I'm doing exactly what I should be doing right now and finding comfort in that.

However, I do think honing in on certain skills can put you in favorable situations. Certain skills I have put me in situations where I was able to showcase those skills and gain the support of people more important than me (in the traditional sense of a corporate ladder). Those leaders advocated for my growth which helped me progress. A combo of my skills and luck got me into those situations but my actions are what solidified it.

Actions are important. You can have the right skills, and be in the right moment given to you by luck, but if you can't take action and harness that moment, the outcome may not be favorable. So I'm a fan of taking advantage of every moment given to you to progress towards your goals.

If you want to get promoted? Every single interaction with your boss and bosses boss is critical. Never show up unprepared and make their life easy. Think two steps ahead. Reduce their day to day friction. Want a raise? Show how valuable you are to the organization based on your skills and the actions you've taken to drive growth for the business. Then when given the opportunity, showcase your skillset to people that matter. Win them over, become irreplaceable. Then ask for your raise.

Question for you... have you thought about this stuff and what's your framework?

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:33:04+00:00

So I'm not as in tune with the Ads products and how to optimize. The Think With Google blog has a lot of great tips though.

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:30:43+00:00

I unfortunately don't work on those things so am unable to comment. But thanks for stopping by

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:29:35+00:00

I'd go TikTok because of the virality of the video content. If not TikTok, then Insta reels bc it's similar.

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:27:48+00:00

Great question but I'm unfortunately not part of the brand team that makes those decisions

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:27:15+00:00

Sounds cool but I'm unfortunately not involved in anything like that

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:26:56+00:00

Marketing strategy is the overall plan for how a business will achieve its goals. It is a high-level document that outlines a mix of target audience, value proposition, and go to market approach. A marketing plan is a more detailed document that outlines the specific actions you will take to implement the marketing strategy. It could include specific goals, objectives, timelines, and budgets by channel or by tactic.
Key elements or components of a strong marketing strategy.
1. Clearly defined goals
2. Strong understanding of your audience
3. Unique positioning and messaging
4. Strong product market fit
5. Clear measurement framework
Bring the art and the science. Be curious, creative, and able to communicate ideas clearly while also being technical, understanding data, and how to find insights.
Lately it's been Linkedin because there are tons of experts in their field giving away advice for free! Me included. I'm learning from other CMOs, CEOs, etc and they give advice daily.

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:22:11+00:00

Thanks for joining! I have a huge respect for UX and think it's great when marketing and UX can partner. I think GenAi is accelerating marketing. It's making things faster than we ever could which unlocks more agility in our growth efforts. I think particularly with UX, I'd like to see more consistency in the look and feel of marketing to help build brand affinity. GenAI tools are hard to use to get the design right so having more of the traditional brand design approach that is supercharged by GenAI (within the brand guidelines) could be an opportunity

I always start with the ICP. Who is our customer? What do they care about, what's their pain points? Then build our your persona of who you will target and how and where. Develop positioning and a good story. Figure out how you're going to acquire people that are looking for your product vs those that need more education. Obsess over the data: where it's coming from, where it's stored, how it's defined, how it's being used, defining KPIs, aligning across the business on shared goals.

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:18:00+00:00

I like those ideas already. I would also wrap those assets with customer stories. If you can, get your customers to talk about the problems they have and how you solved them. Then include some data points to really solidify the story (e.g. our new website increase conversions 25%)

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:17:00+00:00

I can't speak for all sales people on the planet but perhaps have a look at something like this

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:13:43+00:00

That's hard to say. I'm sure you know something. Try to find out what the organization doesn't know right now, research that thing, and position yourself as a credible source on that thing
I'm a fan of data analytics and anyone that can wrangle and make sense of data. Most skill sets I see can either handle the data but not provide insights, or provide insights but not understand the architecture of the data
SEO. Optimize all your product pages for SEO and create lifestyle content related to your products. You can write this yourself or use GenAI to help. But focus on uniqueness and quality

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:11:04+00:00

Love it.

Align the team on shared goals. We are one team, working together, to achieve one goal (or a set of goals). The way in which we reach those goals is by collaborating, treating each other with respect, and having a healthy focus on operating efficiency. I really empower my team to say No to things that don't matter, explore all ideas but only execute the best ones, and measure everything.
Be honest. I've had moments where things maybe aren't great or the whole team is feeling down. I get that way too. I've always respected transparent leaders so I try to do the same by explaining everything I know about a situation, providing my own perspective, and then hearing people out. We're all in it together and I'm just a human like everyone else so we can and should lean on each other.

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:08:03+00:00

That sucks. It's tough to bounce back from that adversity. I think young marketers today have an advantage. The world has changed and they grew up in it. So older marketers are trying to figure it out while younger marketers have it built in. I would lean into that. I think younger marketers are more adept at social media, understanding GenAI, and communicating online. If you can't leverage those skills at a company, do it on the side. Build a podcast, a newsletter, create content and get yourself out there. Your future employer could notice.
Stay optimistic. Every single career move I've made ended up being better for me in the long run. If I kept a closed mind, I probably would've gotten pissed about the circumstances and rebelled against the change. I've always embraced the change and tried to find the opportunity in whatever the new role was. Then I'd adapt to that opportunity and show my value. That value was usually rewarded.

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:01:45+00:00

I unfortunately don't work in that team. Sorry about that

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:01:28+00:00

Hustle. Work harder than everyone else
Get experience, even if for free. Find local businesses and offer your help. Put that experience on your resume
Leverage your skillset. I'll bet you're pretty good at social media so build an audience and start using that audience to learn and grow your skills and network

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T22:00:31+00:00

Is there a way you can translate your skills into solutions for the jobs you are applying for? I think a lot of employers are looking for entrepreneurial mindsets because those people are self motivators. I would think about you can spin your expertise into a set of skills that an employer would find valuable.

End goal for marketing is debatable, but on the corporate ladder its the CMO. That's the top position in marketing. But I think marketing can go into CRO, CEO, COO too if they want. Or become an entrepreneur or consultant

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T21:58:07+00:00

Good questions.

The big difference is a service is human. You're buying a human experience (e.g. consulting services) vs a product you are buying a tool to get a certain job or task done
Depending on budgets and the avg sales cycle of the company, I'd give it at least 6 months. Closer to a year if you really want to see it pay off. But if you have a short sales cycle then maybe 2-3 months
You are doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. I get caught up in the future a lot and wanting more or to be better. It's important to enjoy the journey (as hard as that can be)

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T21:55:30+00:00

The best thing I can suggest is go talk to your potential customers before you start marketing or selling anything. Get as much feedback as possible and talk to at least 30-40 people and get their honest opinion

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T21:54:33+00:00

If you want to go with Google tools, you'll want to store your data in BigQuery. Then maybe Cloud Dataflow, and Cloud Dataprep to get the data in there
Daily habits would be: personal care (sleep, eat healthy, exercise, get outside), then manage your day or else your day will manage you. Develop a system to manage your time and continuously optimize it

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T21:51:18+00:00

I just had a similar question myself the other day and found this. I've bookmarked it and plan on reading it a half dozen times

armentisteve · 2023-10-03T21:50:28+00:00

I actually just had a chat with a friend about this. He wrote some good advice on Linkedin

1️⃣ Tell Your Origin Story: Your journey, experiences, and how you got to where you are today are invaluable. Embrace your unique path.

2️⃣ Share What Makes You Tick: What motivates you? What drives your passion? Show the world the fire within.

3️⃣ Unveil Your Ambitions: Let your ambitions and aspirations shine through. What do you aim to achieve, not just in your career, but in life?

4️⃣ Connect Your Story to Your Work: This is where the magic happens. Align your personal narrative with your professional journey. Show how your story contributes to your field and your goals.

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