900: DEMAND GENERATION and growth marketing mastery w/ Sabina Iyengar

WEBVTT

00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:01.102
Hey, what is up?

00:00:01.102 --> 00:00:04.331
Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:00:04.331 --> 00:00:10.913
As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and this is a very special episode for us Episode 900.

00:00:10.913 --> 00:00:23.666
I cannot believe that we are here and to celebrate the occasion, we're bringing on an incredible entrepreneur to talk about one of my favorite topics, which is marketing, and today's entrepreneur is amazing at what she does from a marketing perspective.

00:00:23.666 --> 00:00:42.252
But even more than that, I love how her own entrepreneurial story and path so far illustrates that maybe a job isn't always the most secure route, so I love how she's turned her professional career into entrepreneurial opportunity to positively impact even more businesses and clients under her own umbrella.

00:00:42.252 --> 00:00:44.280
So let me tell you all about today's guest.

00:00:44.380 --> 00:00:46.164
Her name is Sabina Iyengar.

00:00:46.164 --> 00:00:51.421
Sabina is a marketing strategist with over 25 years of experience in the tech industry.

00:00:51.421 --> 00:00:56.012
She started out at Intel, where she spent 13 years honing her marketing skills.

00:00:56.012 --> 00:01:07.605
Then she transitioned to the SaaS sector, where she got the chance to master demand generation and strategic marketing and how to track all the important business and marketing analytics that come along with that.

00:01:07.605 --> 00:01:15.091
After experiencing a layoff in 2023, sabina launched her business, integrated Growth Marketing Services, and developed.

00:01:15.091 --> 00:01:20.832
This is a framework that I'm excited to dive into the Grow Tailor Mature Strategy Framework.

00:01:20.832 --> 00:01:25.712
She now helps clients achieve impactful growth with her expertise and outside of work.

00:01:25.831 --> 00:01:30.391
I love that Sabina also complements her business with a real lifestyle that lights her up.

00:01:30.391 --> 00:01:34.087
She enjoys time with her husband, her two teenage kids and her friends.

00:01:34.087 --> 00:01:35.230
She loves music.

00:01:35.230 --> 00:01:37.305
She's actually a Bali ex instructor.

00:01:37.305 --> 00:01:42.763
Sabina's probably the first one in our podcast history to do that sharing her passion for dance and rhythm.

00:01:42.763 --> 00:01:44.225
I'm excited about this one.

00:01:44.225 --> 00:01:45.649
I'm not going to say anything else.

00:01:45.649 --> 00:01:48.894
Let's dive straight into my interview with Sabina Iyengar.

00:01:48.894 --> 00:01:55.328
All right, sabina, I'm so excited that you're here with us.

00:01:55.328 --> 00:01:57.442
First things first, welcome to the show.

00:01:57.924 --> 00:01:59.087
Thank you so much.

00:01:59.087 --> 00:02:02.382
I'm excited to be here and I can't believe it's episode 900.

00:02:02.382 --> 00:02:03.305
So that's amazing.

00:02:03.686 --> 00:02:07.046
Yes, it's crazy, and what a great occasion to celebrate it with you.

00:02:07.046 --> 00:02:15.407
We're so excited that you're here because you obviously have an amazing entrepreneurial story, a lot of professional background that set you up for success to help so many others.

00:02:15.407 --> 00:02:16.852
So take us beyond the bio.

00:02:16.852 --> 00:02:18.217
First, who's Sabina?

00:02:18.217 --> 00:02:19.961
How'd you start doing all these awesome things?

00:02:21.144 --> 00:02:21.664
Yeah.

00:02:21.664 --> 00:02:30.924
So you know it's funny because I actually started my undergrad as a molecular genetics major, believe it or not.

00:02:30.924 --> 00:02:42.111
And you know I realized that being in a lab and not talking to anybody and not really interacting with anyone on a day-to-day was just not going to be for me.

00:02:42.111 --> 00:02:51.830
So I actually transitioned into management information systems, which back in the day, was a brand new discipline.

00:02:51.830 --> 00:03:10.889
It was a brand new kind of coursework that really combined business strategy and computer science and that's kind of how I got started in this whole endeavor and I came out here to California, grew up in the Midwest, I'm a Buckeye, heart to heart.

00:03:11.049 --> 00:03:45.704
So you know, when I came out here, I came out to work for Intel and I did that for 13 years, realized I was not going to be a lifetime Intelite, if you want to say, and I, you know, dabbled into the SaaS market and that's when I realized there's so much more to marketing than you know, just working with agencies, and I really learned how to do demand generation and work with the sales teams to really bring in that pipeline.

00:03:45.704 --> 00:03:47.500
So that's who I am.

00:03:47.500 --> 00:04:08.002
I've been doing this, like you mentioned, like for 25 plus years and I've loved every minute and now I've started to do this on my own, in the sense that I would like to help more than just one company at a time, and I would like to help multiple SaaS startups to get to that growth marketing goals that they might have, and so that's where I'm at.

00:04:08.604 --> 00:04:29.009
Yes, I love that overview for so many reasons, sabina, but especially because I've noticed this is a little bit of an evolution in the world of marketing is we're starting to hear that term more demand generation, and I just feel like that speaks to the power and the impacts that marketing can have on a business, more so than just that traditional term of lead generation.

00:04:29.009 --> 00:04:32.872
Obviously, that's long been in our lexicon, but talk to us about demand generation.

00:04:32.872 --> 00:04:38.290
It's something that, as much as we've talked about marketing in this show's history, we've never really confronted demand generation.

00:04:38.290 --> 00:04:41.244
Why that term and how it's evolved over the years?

00:04:42.326 --> 00:04:55.048
Yeah, so you know, I truly believe there's a difference between lead generation, demand generation and growth marketing, and I've actually gone and started to focus more on the growth marketing side.

00:04:55.048 --> 00:04:58.961
But demand generation is a component of growth marketing.

00:04:58.961 --> 00:05:12.588
Lead generation is only really bringing in interest from the top of the funnel and it's very much focused on okay, how many leads can we possibly get in.

00:05:12.588 --> 00:05:14.593
And that's really easy to do, right?

00:05:14.593 --> 00:05:30.942
I can actually go to any company and say I'm going to give out a free Lamborghini, put in your name, put in your email, and you know you'll be entered into this sweepstakes to enter the or to win this brand new Lamborghini.

00:05:30.942 --> 00:05:34.048
That's not demand right.

00:05:34.129 --> 00:05:40.326
Demand is really the intent of what it is a company is selling.

00:05:40.326 --> 00:05:54.447
So you know, whatever the SaaS product is, whatever the solution is, if you're interested in that solution and then you fill out a form, that's demand right solution can provide.

00:05:54.447 --> 00:05:57.629
What can it do for me and how can I be a better business?

00:05:57.629 --> 00:06:15.333
Because I'm going to implement this SaaS product whatever it could be, and so that's where the demand comes in.

00:06:15.333 --> 00:06:31.857
So it's really building that interest for that solution versus just filling your funnel with all these names that may or may not actually turn into a viable contract at the end of the day.

00:06:31.857 --> 00:06:35.129
So that's kind of where I take that.

00:06:35.129 --> 00:06:46.242
And then, of course, growth marketing goes even further, because then growth marketing takes not just the top of the funnel to build the pipeline, but it's a full funnel strategy.

00:06:46.242 --> 00:07:07.653
So it goes all the way from creating the demand, collecting the demand, actually going through the sales process and the sales retention and then the customer retention and actually building those relationships beyond just making the initial sale, and so that's what I really enjoy.

00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:16.451
Yeah, I love that overview, Sabina, because I do feel like we oversimplify things when we talk about marketing.

00:07:16.451 --> 00:07:17.797
Is that we just say you know you want to grow your email list?

00:07:17.797 --> 00:07:22.800
That's a phrase we hear it all the time Grow your list, and it's a marketing objective that everyone is tricked into.

00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:23.925
But you just illustrated for us.

00:07:23.925 --> 00:07:26.473
Not every lead is created equally.

00:07:26.473 --> 00:07:29.302
I love that you picked that example of the Lamborghini sweepstakes.

00:07:29.302 --> 00:07:31.367
We see it every time we walk into the mall.

00:07:31.367 --> 00:07:39.762
I feel like there's a Jaguar in every mall and those people when I enter my name, I'm not interested in any services, but it's vanity metrics.

00:07:39.762 --> 00:07:43.348
Someone, somewhere, an agency, is bragging that they generated all these leads.

00:07:43.348 --> 00:07:48.196
So let's talk about that demand, because you also use the verb create demand.

00:07:48.196 --> 00:07:49.886
What are we talking about here?

00:07:49.886 --> 00:07:53.891
Are we, as marketers or business owners, able to create demand?

00:07:53.891 --> 00:07:56.970
Are we tapping into demand that's already there?

00:07:56.970 --> 00:07:58.403
Walk us down that path.

00:07:59.367 --> 00:07:59.668
Yeah.

00:07:59.668 --> 00:08:29.824
So you know, whatever solution a company comes up with, there's a reason why they brought that into the market Now, whether it's a pain point that wasn't in the market before, or it's a pain point that can be solved in a better way, in a more efficient way, a more effective way, easier way, a more effective way, easier.

00:08:29.824 --> 00:08:36.182
Now with AI, everything is getting a little bit more streamlined in the sense that, okay, it's not just one, I would say one solution that can actually get to that point.

00:08:36.182 --> 00:08:46.116
So you really have to find what is that differentiating factor between your product and others, along with what is it?

00:08:46.116 --> 00:08:50.828
What's the value you bring to your customers?

00:08:51.169 --> 00:09:04.932
And so when you get it from that perspective, when you're creating demand, it's really creating that need of oh my God, this company gets it or this product gets it.

00:09:04.932 --> 00:09:13.370
They understand me, they understand what my pain point and my challenges are, and I don't see that anywhere else.

00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:19.668
Where else can I get that kind of solution where it will make my life easier?

00:09:19.668 --> 00:09:22.659
And so that's kind of where we go with this.

00:09:22.659 --> 00:09:29.065
So when you're creating demand, you're really saying, yes, I get it, you know, and come to us.

00:09:29.065 --> 00:09:35.389
We understand you, we understand your pain points specifically, and this is how we can help you.

00:09:35.389 --> 00:09:39.393
It's not so much about selling the product as it is to say.

00:09:39.393 --> 00:09:48.609
We want to be in partnership with you to make you the better business than you can be, and that's what creating demand for me is.

00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:54.131
Yeah, sabina, especially hearing you say that for you it sounds easy, and I know it's not.

00:09:54.131 --> 00:10:01.072
You have a wealth of experience that got you to this point, so I'm excited to tap into that, but I feel like a lot of people when they hear that word.

00:10:01.072 --> 00:10:08.409
I'll throw another word under the bus of unique selling position, and so that's something that we always talk about in the world of business and marketing.

00:10:08.409 --> 00:10:13.320
But here you are saying we need to be unique, we need to have differentiators in the marketplace.

00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:17.937
Well, maybe a WordPress web development shop or a social media agency?

00:10:17.937 --> 00:10:21.027
Maybe they're sitting there saying, sabina, how am I different?

00:10:21.027 --> 00:10:28.871
I mean, a lot of people offer these services and I all too often I see way too many entrepreneurs think that I'm going to compete on price.

00:10:28.871 --> 00:10:30.722
It just seems like such an easy way to compete.

00:10:30.722 --> 00:10:38.961
Clarify that for us, because there's so many different ways for us to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace that don't revolve around a race to the bottom price wise.

00:10:39.461 --> 00:10:39.841
Correct.

00:10:39.841 --> 00:10:48.720
Well, I mean, if you look at anywhere I mean all the sales teams that I always work with they always say we're never going to lose on price Right.

00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:57.995
You can always bring the price to a compromisable solution where you're happy and your customers are happy.

00:10:57.995 --> 00:11:00.879
So price is not a unique differentiator.

00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:23.028
What is unique is exactly what your product can provide that nobody else can provide, whether it is a unique feature, it's a very unique technology behind your product, whether it is just the audience that you need to go after.

00:11:23.149 --> 00:11:32.755
So sometimes your product will be better marked for certain organizations or certain audiences that it's not for others.

00:11:32.755 --> 00:11:48.107
Whether it's enterprise level or it's small business or midsize, there's always one or two differentiating factors that I can always come up with to say this is how I'm better than my competitor.

00:11:48.107 --> 00:12:06.697
Not because of price, not because I came up with it first or because I came up with it last, but because my solution does something that no other solution can, and that's when you are working with your full go to market team.

00:12:06.697 --> 00:12:08.703
That includes your product marketing team.

00:12:08.703 --> 00:12:15.246
That includes customer retention, in the sense that you know your customer success teams work with customers on a day to day.

00:12:15.246 --> 00:12:24.914
They are hearing all of the challenges or all of the solutions that have been solved because of your product.

00:12:24.914 --> 00:12:32.513
So you have to kind of leverage all of it in order to really get that message out, if that makes sense.

00:12:33.019 --> 00:12:34.948
Yeah for sure, and it leads me to believe.

00:12:34.948 --> 00:12:42.913
Obviously you have the ability to go inside of other businesses and uncover these answers, because we all live inside of our own businesses.

00:12:42.913 --> 00:12:51.708
I've always loved that concept of you can't read the label from inside the jar, so sometimes it takes someone like you, sabina, to walk in and be like do you guys even see how brilliant you are in this regard?

00:12:51.708 --> 00:12:54.083
Do you even see that this is your differentiator?

00:12:54.083 --> 00:13:02.967
Talk to us about some of the questions that you ask of your clients to really get inside of this stuff to uncover what they probably take for granted, I would imagine.

00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:08.895
So it's funny you ask that because sometimes they don't know.

00:13:08.895 --> 00:13:43.147
Sometimes you have to really ask the hard questions for especially my clients to say, oh my God, yeah, you're right, we do need to come up with a better positioning statement or a more solution based campaign strategy, versus just a feature campaign strategy, and I think that's where those are the questions that I like to ask and that that's the direction that I always take.

00:13:43.147 --> 00:13:51.788
My campaigns and my marketing strategy is that I go based on what is it that my customers need?

00:13:51.788 --> 00:13:54.673
What is it that they are searching for?

00:13:54.673 --> 00:13:58.563
What is it that they need value from?

00:13:58.563 --> 00:14:01.347
And then, how do I fit into that?

00:14:01.927 --> 00:14:16.393
So, instead of saying, oh well, now we had this new AI engine that is going to help our customers get to their solution even faster, that's not it.

00:14:16.393 --> 00:14:26.014
What is it that you actually solve and what is it that our customers are actually searching for that we can fill that gap.

00:14:26.014 --> 00:14:50.315
And that's the question that a lot of companies, a lot of, I would say, even sales teams, have a trouble to define, if you want to say, and having those conversations over and over again, really having those conversations with your over again, really having those conversations with your current customers understanding what value you bring to them.

00:14:50.315 --> 00:14:54.464
That is what gets you to that point of understanding.

00:14:55.225 --> 00:15:19.962
Yeah, sabina, hearing you talk about this, you're using words like campaign and strategy, and I feel like we have to go there in today's conversation, because a strategy, ultimately that's what we all need in business and life and literally anything that we do, but too many people lack a strategy, and so hearing that campaigns fit within a strategy is that when you personally approach a campaign, you're doing it under the umbrella of the strategy Makes me want to ask you what does a strategy look like?

00:15:19.962 --> 00:15:25.234
If that's an umbrella, what's everything that's underneath the umbrella of an actual marketing strategy?

00:15:26.419 --> 00:15:52.475
So you know, I think this is, in my opinion, very simple when it comes to Marketing 101, right, like all of us go to business school, all of us take our very basic marketing courses, and it is truly understanding what your value is, understanding how you bring that value to your customers and what you can do with that.

00:15:52.475 --> 00:16:01.254
And so your campaigns I only run maybe one or two campaigns within a year, or even 18 months.

00:16:01.254 --> 00:16:07.894
It is the programs that support those campaigns that really drive the demand.

00:16:07.894 --> 00:16:12.831
It drives pipeline, it actually builds the revenue and it builds the growth in the company.

00:16:12.831 --> 00:16:25.373
What I mean by that is programs are the channels that you use to go find your ideal customer profile or your ICPs and bringing them in, and that's actually the building of the demand.

00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:33.620
So your strategy includes not just what is it that I'm going to do from a tactical perspective.

00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:36.184
It's actually a lot more than that.

00:16:36.184 --> 00:16:45.033
It's more of what are the solutions that I'm going to be, or the challenges that I'm going to be answering with my product.

00:16:45.033 --> 00:16:47.761
What is that message look like?

00:16:47.761 --> 00:16:52.335
Where am I going to get that content to support that message?

00:16:52.335 --> 00:16:59.190
Where are the channels that I'm, or what are the channels I'm going to use to get that message out.

00:16:59.190 --> 00:17:02.302
And then, who am I actually going after?

00:17:02.302 --> 00:17:10.749
So it's that very who, what, where, when, why kind of questions that you answer, and how and the how is the channels that you're going to use.

00:17:10.749 --> 00:17:19.332
So I use a very basic framework when it comes to that, but that is what my strategy actually entails.

00:17:19.859 --> 00:17:28.393
So I put together this I call it GTM, the Grow Tailor Mature strategy kind of framework.

00:17:28.393 --> 00:17:30.214
That really helps me.

00:17:30.214 --> 00:17:34.109
I grow my marketing teams and I grow my teams.

00:17:34.109 --> 00:17:45.734
I actually try to get the full go-to-market team on one page before you can actually put together a robust marketing strategy.

00:17:45.734 --> 00:17:46.536
What does that mean?

00:17:46.536 --> 00:17:48.523
You get your marketing in place.

00:17:48.523 --> 00:17:56.846
Your marketing includes your content marketing, your ops, your product marketing, your PR.

00:17:56.846 --> 00:17:59.132
All of that needs to come together.

00:17:59.132 --> 00:18:13.103
You then need to get your sales teams bought into what marketing is doing and then you need your customer success teams to be working with both marketing and sales to be able to bring that everything together.

00:18:13.203 --> 00:18:19.261
So that's the growth part of it, or the grow growing your your teams part of that framework.

00:18:19.261 --> 00:18:29.675
And what this enables you to do is you have common goals between all of the go-to-market teams and organizations.

00:18:29.675 --> 00:18:32.282
So you're all working towards one goal.

00:18:32.282 --> 00:18:44.229
Whether that's a revenue goal, whether that's a pipeline goal, whether that is an account new logo, account goal, whatever you want to call it, everybody is working off of that same goal.

00:18:44.229 --> 00:18:48.442
Whatever you want to call it, everybody is working off of that same goal.

00:18:48.462 --> 00:18:53.070
You then tailor your campaigns to work with whatever your messages, whatever your solutions are.

00:18:53.070 --> 00:19:16.171
So I tailor all of my campaigns very individually and specifically for whatever the solution is that we're going after, whether it's ICP specific, whether it's industry specific, whether it's mid-size to enterprise or the size of your actual target, those kinds of things.

00:19:16.171 --> 00:19:19.548
So that's the tailoring of your campaigns.

00:19:19.548 --> 00:19:21.532
And then mature.

00:19:21.532 --> 00:19:41.404
And I truly believe everything builds on relationships and so you have to keep your relationships going with your current customers and your new customers and that's part of the customer success area, then that you're really trying to mature those relationships beyond just the initial sale.

00:19:41.404 --> 00:19:47.394
So that's where the GTM comes in, or the growth tailor and mature framework comes in.

00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:52.941
Yes, I love the fact that you just gave us such a clear and transparent overview here in today's session.

00:19:52.941 --> 00:20:03.222
It's what I was really excited to hear from you, because framework is one of my favorite words in all of business, because it's a foundation for us to build things on and there's so many things we could focus on.

00:20:03.222 --> 00:20:14.148
But leaning on these frameworks allows us to take that 30,000 foot view and say, okay, what are the right questions, what are the right things to focus on, and then actually hone in on the stuff that moves the needle.

00:20:14.148 --> 00:20:21.704
And when we talk about moving the needle, one thing about your own past that I love is how much you've worked in the SaaS world Software as a service.

00:20:21.765 --> 00:20:27.404
People who may not have seen the backend of SaaS, these are companies that are obsessed with metrics.

00:20:27.404 --> 00:20:30.613
From my experiences there, they're obsessed with conversion rates.

00:20:30.613 --> 00:20:32.084
They're obsessed with A-B testing.

00:20:32.084 --> 00:20:34.028
They're obsessed with so many different things.

00:20:34.028 --> 00:20:38.969
So, sabina, I know that that has shaped your view of how to measure marketing success.

00:20:38.969 --> 00:20:42.023
Talk to us about some of those metrics that you pay attention to.

00:20:43.248 --> 00:20:43.669
Yeah.

00:20:43.669 --> 00:20:44.852
So I think there's.

00:20:44.852 --> 00:20:49.025
It goes into tiers, I would say right.

00:20:49.025 --> 00:20:55.164
So, being a growth marketing leader, you know there's metrics that you have to take from the very high end.

00:20:55.164 --> 00:21:03.467
You know what is your pipeline goal for the quarter or for the year and how are you going to actually achieve those pipeline numbers.

00:21:03.467 --> 00:21:10.505
Pipeline meaning I need in order for me to bring in a revenue of and I'm going very simple.

00:21:10.505 --> 00:21:12.868
You know $20 million a year.

00:21:12.868 --> 00:21:17.381
I need X number of pipeline to be able to get to that.

00:21:17.381 --> 00:21:20.044
So I would say 3X or 4X.

00:21:20.044 --> 00:21:23.266
You know I need to have a healthy pipeline of.

00:21:23.266 --> 00:21:24.768
You know 80 million.

00:21:24.768 --> 00:21:26.848
So how do I do that?

00:21:26.848 --> 00:21:32.193
So my metrics at the very high end are my goal is 80 million.

00:21:32.193 --> 00:21:33.855
How much am I going?

00:21:33.855 --> 00:21:36.596
Or how can I get to that 80 million through the year?

00:21:36.596 --> 00:21:47.828
Is it going to be whether you know if you divide that by four, right, is it an even distribution, quarter over quarter?

00:21:47.828 --> 00:21:53.308
Or a lot of industries and a lot of markets are very seasonal, so you have to do it from that perspective.

00:21:53.308 --> 00:21:57.759
I go based on that and then you dive in from that right.

00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:04.848
So you go from okay, this is my pipeline goal, this is my revenue goal and then how do I get there?

00:22:04.848 --> 00:22:08.763
Goal this is my revenue goal and then how do I get there?

00:22:08.784 --> 00:22:17.772
When you are working with the executive staff, they don't care how you get there, they just want you to get there and they want to know where you are from a status perspective of are you going to meet your goal for the quarter?

00:22:17.772 --> 00:22:22.863
Are you going to meet your goal for our six-month milestone?

00:22:22.863 --> 00:22:28.487
Do we need to adjust or can we keep it the way it is or do we need to?

00:22:28.487 --> 00:22:37.712
You know, that's the communication that you need to have with the executive staff when I'm working with my own teams and my own program managers and my own campaign managers.

00:22:37.712 --> 00:22:41.695
That's when I get into the nitty-gritty, which is always fun for me.

00:22:41.695 --> 00:22:42.416
Is that okay?

00:22:42.416 --> 00:22:44.018
How are we going to do this?

00:22:44.018 --> 00:22:46.362
What are the channels we're going to use?

00:22:46.362 --> 00:22:47.523
Are they effective or not?

00:22:47.523 --> 00:22:50.411
What does the effectiveness KPI look like?

00:22:50.411 --> 00:23:01.041
Does that mean I am getting 20% of my leads or 20% of my conversations for my sales teams through that channel?

00:23:01.041 --> 00:23:07.333
Or is it a brand awareness campaign where I'm not really based on leads?

00:23:07.333 --> 00:23:11.748
It's just the intent that's coming or the traffic that's coming to my website?

00:23:13.109 --> 00:23:21.260
Success is always measured in different ways, based on channel, based on intention, based on what the goal of that program is.

00:23:21.260 --> 00:23:31.740
And so sometimes it's a number, sometimes it is just a feel of yeah, we've increased our traffic because of this podcast.

00:23:31.740 --> 00:23:37.144
My website has now grown by 20% in the last week.

00:23:37.144 --> 00:23:54.107
Wow, there's something to this right now, whether it was the advertising that came with it or whether it was just the overall message behind that particular podcast, who knows right, that's where those kinds of metrics come in.

00:23:54.248 --> 00:24:12.401
So I've always said that marketing, especially growth marketing, is a little bit of science and a little bit of art, and I love it, because the science part is what brings that analytics and all of those kind of data analysis behind the science.

00:24:12.401 --> 00:24:28.615
And then you've got the creative part, because that's trying to figure out and actually be innovative on how you can get above the noise from your competitors and really show what your product can do and where you are as a company or as a culture.

00:24:28.615 --> 00:24:36.875
So that's how I do it, or those are the kinds of ways that I use my analytics behind the success for my programs.

00:24:37.436 --> 00:24:49.548
Yeah, sabina, hearing you talk about growth, marketing and that's such a big word we say growth so frequently without actually thinking about what goes into it I can't help but think about Peter Thiel, and when he talks about zero to one.

00:24:49.548 --> 00:24:55.309
Obviously, going from zero to one is a monumental step, and then it's not the final step, though.

00:24:55.309 --> 00:24:57.400
Then we got to go from one to two and to 10.

00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:04.415
And you gave that real life example of going from 20 million to 80 million and really laying out the strategy and the roadmap to get there.

00:25:04.415 --> 00:25:09.666
It makes me want to ask you about inflection points, because does this change over time?

00:25:09.666 --> 00:25:12.602
Are there certain milestones in your experience that you've seen?

00:25:12.602 --> 00:25:18.877
You know reaching your first million requires this, but then scaling to 10, 20, 80 million requires different parts.

00:25:18.877 --> 00:25:21.686
Are there inflection points that are part of this journey?

00:25:21.686 --> 00:25:22.047
Are there?

00:25:22.087 --> 00:25:23.409
inflection points that are part of this journey.

00:25:23.409 --> 00:25:23.608
There are.

00:25:23.608 --> 00:25:28.992
I would say that the inflection points really are individual and based on.

00:25:28.992 --> 00:25:36.960
You know, there's a lot of variables that go into that, and the reason I say that is because the market doesn't stay the same.

00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:40.362
What worked today is not going to work tomorrow.

00:25:46.825 --> 00:25:48.287
I could put a template together, and I do have templates, of course.

00:25:48.287 --> 00:26:07.534
You know, when I'm putting my programs and my campaigns together, I have to tweak those templates every single time, and the reason is is because there is no, there's nothing that can be set in stone to say this is, this is the formula, this is what's going to work, this is it.

00:26:07.534 --> 00:26:08.978
And that's where that art and creativity come into this.

00:26:08.978 --> 00:26:13.009
Where, in science, you have your formula, or in math, you have your formula, it works.

00:26:13.009 --> 00:26:17.528
You know it's going to work, whether you do it the first time or you do it your millionth time.

00:26:18.791 --> 00:26:22.048
In marketing, that doesn't work that way, because people are changing.

00:26:22.048 --> 00:26:26.712
You're working with people, you're working with the human element, and so that is always changing.

00:26:26.712 --> 00:26:35.138
So therefore, you always have to be very agile in how you present your information or your messaging, or the channels that you use.

00:26:35.138 --> 00:26:45.895
New channels keep coming out and, of course, a long time ago, social media and digital marketing wasn't even a thing.

00:26:45.895 --> 00:26:59.224
I had to learn digital marketing because that's where my audience was going and that's where I had to then figure out how do I utilize that channel if that's where my audience is going to be.

00:26:59.224 --> 00:27:02.035
It's constantly evolving, right.

00:27:02.224 --> 00:27:11.902
Just in the last year, you've got AI, so I'm doing whatever I possibly can to understand how do I use AI in my marketing campaign strategies.

00:27:11.902 --> 00:27:24.413
So, when you're talking about inflection, points there are, but I would say it's more that it's a constant kind of optimizing of what you're doing.

00:27:24.413 --> 00:27:40.315
So once you've built your if you do your framework and your foundation of your marketing strategy correctly the first time, then optimizing it makes it a lot easier and you have a lot more flexibility in actually experimenting with other things.

00:27:40.315 --> 00:28:00.351
If you're still trying to figure out how to build that foundation, or you're just doing ad hoc marketing or what they used to call more like guerrilla marketing, then you can't really say, you can't really put a stake in the ground, or you can't put a line in the sand to say, okay, this is my benchmark and this is where I'm going to grow from.

00:28:00.351 --> 00:28:04.306
If that makes sense, yeah, gosh, I love that benchmark and this is where I'm going to grow from, if that makes sense.

00:28:04.787 --> 00:28:06.190
Yeah, gosh, I love that.

00:28:06.190 --> 00:28:14.778
I want to echo that so hard for our listeners here today is that, sabina, you shared with us what worked yesterday, may not and probably won't work today or tomorrow.

00:28:14.778 --> 00:28:17.836
That is such an important takeaway from today's episode.

00:28:17.836 --> 00:28:18.359
Listeners.

00:28:18.359 --> 00:28:20.507
Here's the thing Sabina talked about templates.

00:28:20.507 --> 00:28:21.788
We all want templates.

00:28:21.788 --> 00:28:24.953
Gosh, how many times do I get asked, brian, can I see your copy?

00:28:24.953 --> 00:28:25.776
Can I see this?

00:28:25.776 --> 00:28:36.076
And yeah, I love sharing things with people, but the huge disclaimer is just because it works for me, with my market, with my audience, does not mean it will work for you, sabina.

00:28:36.076 --> 00:28:39.989
It's such a key takeaway from a really valuable vantage point and experiences that you have.

00:28:39.989 --> 00:28:46.943
So I appreciate that and I also love towards the end of these conversations, I always love transitioning to speak entrepreneur to entrepreneur.

00:28:47.003 --> 00:28:54.731
Obviously, we've talked about so many different marketing elements and important strategic decisions and questions that we have to face in our own businesses.

00:28:54.731 --> 00:29:09.505
But I want to ask you, because you are also a fellow entrepreneur and you are also someone who sees the changes firsthand you talk about the advent of social media and you brought up AI a few times here today Where's marketing going from your perspective?

00:29:09.505 --> 00:29:12.432
Because I see a lot of people wanting to talk strictly about.

00:29:12.432 --> 00:29:14.096
Here's how you can use AI.

00:29:14.096 --> 00:29:15.748
My head I keep thinking about.

00:29:15.748 --> 00:29:23.133
Ai is going to make the human element even more valuable, so I'm curious to hear your forward looking perspective on where marketing is going.

00:29:23.133 --> 00:29:25.538
What are the next changes and how is it going to evolve?

00:29:41.617 --> 00:29:51.316
Yeah, I think you know technology digital marketing has made it easier for us marketers to be able to get out there and actually implement what our strategies look like.

00:29:51.316 --> 00:30:03.459
What's never going to change is that human understanding of how do I reach my audience and what is it that they're looking for.

00:30:03.459 --> 00:30:09.973
And the challenges keep changing, so therefore my strategy has to keep changing.

00:30:09.973 --> 00:30:13.950
Where is marketing going?

00:30:13.950 --> 00:30:21.491
I think it's such an old discipline that I always feel you always come up with these new buzzwords.

00:30:21.491 --> 00:30:30.596
For a long time maybe five, six years ago, maybe even longer ABM was a huge acronym.

00:30:30.596 --> 00:30:32.672
Everybody was talking we got to do ABM.

00:30:32.672 --> 00:30:33.253
We got to do it.

00:30:33.644 --> 00:30:34.670
What is ABM?

00:30:34.670 --> 00:30:36.010
It's account-based selling.

00:30:36.010 --> 00:30:43.775
That is what people did way back in the day when they were going door to door and selling vacuum cleaners.

00:30:43.775 --> 00:30:46.755
They were literally doing account-based marketing.

00:30:46.755 --> 00:30:53.144
We know that this neighborhood has so many new homes or so many new buyers.

00:30:53.144 --> 00:30:57.196
They're looking for a new vacuum cleaner, or they just got carpet installed.

00:30:57.196 --> 00:30:59.272
They're going to probably need a vacuum cleaner.

00:30:59.272 --> 00:31:01.613
And they went and they targeted those folks.

00:31:01.613 --> 00:31:06.571
That's kind of where this goes, and so sorry about that.

00:31:06.571 --> 00:31:12.449
So we, you know, I don't think that marketing is going anywhere.

00:31:12.449 --> 00:31:36.473
It's just how we utilize the technology and how we are able to figure out more intelligently what is it that our customers really need and what are their challenges, and can we fix those or help them solve those challenges, either before they know that it becomes a challenge, or right when they realize it's a challenge.

00:31:36.473 --> 00:31:42.272
We're right there to show them the way to fix it or to get that pain point away from them.

00:31:42.272 --> 00:31:45.179
That's where I see this going, more or less.

00:31:45.644 --> 00:31:52.046
Yeah, listeners, look at how brilliantly Sabina took that question, because it is an ever evolving world.

00:31:52.046 --> 00:31:55.455
It's always changing because of technology and it's actually only going to get faster.

00:31:55.455 --> 00:32:02.010
Things are going to start changing more and more, but listeners, see how Sabina brought it back to how do we serve our people?

00:32:02.010 --> 00:32:04.646
How do we serve our audiences, our customers, our clients?

00:32:04.646 --> 00:32:07.817
Those are where the real business answers lie.

00:32:07.817 --> 00:32:11.028
Yes, technology can help us along the way, and it's really exciting.

00:32:11.067 --> 00:32:14.566
Sabine, I know that you and I both love technology and how it can help us.

00:32:14.566 --> 00:32:16.049
But it is exactly that.

00:32:16.049 --> 00:32:18.115
It is a compliment to the things that we're doing.

00:32:18.115 --> 00:32:24.095
And so much of today's conversation about strategy, about focusing on the right things and being really intentional about all of it.

00:32:24.095 --> 00:32:29.980
It's such a clear insight into why you've been so successful in your career and why your clients are so fortunate to work with you.

00:32:29.980 --> 00:32:34.454
And I have no idea how you're going to answer this last question, which is why I love asking such a broad question.

00:32:34.454 --> 00:32:39.029
And that is what's your takeaway for listeners, because they certainly have a lot of food for thought.

00:32:39.029 --> 00:32:57.066
They certainly have been pushed to be a heck of a lot more strategic when it comes to their marketing, but with all of that in mind, and also with your entrepreneurial hat on, what's that one thing that you hope every listener around the world walks away from today's session saying you know what I need to do this or I need to think about this, and thank you, sabina, for pushing me in that direction.

00:32:58.047 --> 00:33:36.989
Yeah, I think you know what I want people to really take away from at least this conversation, or what I feel, is that make sure, or understand your customer and make sure that you really understand what their pain points are and how your product it could be SaaS, it could be a technology, it could be hardware, it could be I'm more on B2B, but you know this, this even goes for B2C as well right, what is it that you can bring value to for your customer?

00:33:37.769 --> 00:33:51.662
And then how do you do that in a way that shows that you have integrity and you have the real feel of wanting to help your customer?

00:33:51.662 --> 00:34:02.772
It's about, if you help your customer, if you bring value to your customer, success will come, and that has been my experience.

00:34:02.772 --> 00:34:04.810
You know that is why I love doing.

00:34:04.810 --> 00:34:10.902
If I don't believe in the product, I don't believe in the solution, I cannot market that product.

00:34:10.902 --> 00:34:22.634
I cannot, in good conscience, go and say I can make your life better because my product is is superior to anything else if I don't believe it myself.

00:34:22.634 --> 00:34:32.278
And so really think about your customer before you can put your strategies together, and then you will be successful.

00:34:33.085 --> 00:34:37.335
Yes, one huge question that all of us must ask ourselves.

00:34:37.335 --> 00:34:48.967
I love that that's the direction that you took that question in, sabina, because I actually would argue it applies to all of us, no matter where you are in your growth journey, and we shouldn't just ask ourselves that question one time.

00:34:48.967 --> 00:34:57.666
We should continue to ask it because I think that, ultimately, is the question that will help us to reorient our sales, to make sure we're always going in that right direction.

00:34:57.666 --> 00:34:59.831
So really insightful from you, sabina.

00:34:59.831 --> 00:35:06.105
I so appreciate that, and at this point, I know that listeners are going to want to go deeper into all the brilliance that you offer for your clients.

00:35:06.105 --> 00:35:12.255
You've got your framework, grow, tailor, mature approach laid out on your website, as well as all the different ways that you help people.

00:35:12.255 --> 00:35:14.043
So drop those links on us.

00:35:14.043 --> 00:35:15.505
Where should listeners go from here?

00:35:16.447 --> 00:35:28.780
Yeah, so you can get a hold of me on integratedgrowthmarketingcom and I'm on LinkedIn, so I will definitely take those.

00:35:28.780 --> 00:35:41.117
You know, sabina Iyengar, there's really only one of me, to be honest, my name is very unique, so you can just look me up and I will help in any way I can.

00:35:41.965 --> 00:35:43.576
Yes, listeners, you know the drill.

00:35:43.576 --> 00:35:46.050
We are making it as easy as possible for you to find Sabina.

00:35:46.050 --> 00:35:47.230
Sabina, I relate to you.

00:35:47.230 --> 00:35:48.851
I'm the only Brian Lofermento out there.

00:35:48.851 --> 00:35:51.152
We are super easy to find Sabina.

00:35:51.152 --> 00:35:56.793
So, listeners, we're dropping those links down below in the show notes, wherever it is that you're tuning into today's episode.

00:35:56.793 --> 00:36:00.853
Sabina's business website is integratedgrowthmarketingcom.

00:36:00.853 --> 00:36:06.115
You can click right on through for that link down below in the show notes, as well as find Sabina's personal LinkedIn.

00:36:06.115 --> 00:36:11.996
Otherwise, sabina, on behalf of myself and all of our listeners worldwide, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

00:36:12.545 --> 00:36:13.449
Thanks for having me.

00:36:13.449 --> 00:36:14.552
I really appreciate it.

00:36:15.865 --> 00:36:21.429
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the entrepreneur to entrepreneur podcast.

00:36:21.429 --> 00:36:29.228
If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

00:36:29.228 --> 00:36:32.181
Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at the wantrepreneurshowcom.

00:36:32.181 --> 00:36:34.628
And I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests.

00:36:34.628 --> 00:36:43.411
There's a reason why we are ad free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

00:36:43.472 --> 00:36:45.474
These are not sponsored episodes.

00:36:45.474 --> 00:36:47.057
These are not infomercials.

00:36:47.057 --> 00:36:50.550
Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions.

00:36:50.550 --> 00:37:01.507
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

00:37:01.507 --> 00:37:10.012
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

00:37:10.012 --> 00:37:11.356
We also have live chat.

00:37:11.356 --> 00:37:15.952
If you want to interact directly with me, go to thewantrepreneurshowcom.

00:37:15.952 --> 00:37:17.375
Initiate a live chat.

00:37:17.375 --> 00:37:25.556
It's for real me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur.