Andrew Parker

There's a critical distinction between positioning early-stage and growth-stage B2B tech products that I worry people don't understand. In the early days, positioning a product on capabilities alone is enough. You align your product to what buyers want, dig in, and get your business off the ground. But once you hit scale, the rules change. Having differentiated capabilities is great, but capabilities alone rarely lift a company to the top of its category. Here's what I think does: -Differentiated product capabilities ...plus a combination of some or all of these: -Differentiated credibility -Differentiated convenience -Differentiated cost A product that is easier to trust, easier to buy, and delivers more value for the dollar is far better positioned than a product that only has differentiated capabilities. Category leaders know this. It's how they build formidable moats. But I absolutely think challengers can win this way, too. I witness it daily.

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I attended a great panel this morning at Denver Startup Week called "How Hiring Fractional Talent Can Drive Quick Wins for Small and Medium Size Businesses." I'm about to hit my one year anniversary of becoming a fractional SEO Director, and a lot of what the panel discussed really resonated with what I see as the value I bring to my clients every day. Some of the key advantages of working with fractional talent include: - You are able to hire higher caliber talent than you may be able to afford if you were to hire a full-time employee. - You get a brutally honest voice in the room. We aren't politicking or angling for a promotion. Your success is our success too. - You get quicker execution from fractional talent. Onboarding is shorter, meetings are fewer, and there is more intentionality around our goals and work because our time is more limited. - Your organization benefits from us working with other clients. We will get you out of the "we've always done it this way" mindset and provider fresh perspectives on how others have approached your challenges. If you're looking for fractional SEO or content strategy help, or you are interested in getting into the fractional world, my DMs are open! #denverstartupweek #fractionalleader #fractionalhiring #fractionaladvantage

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People often ask me how much an appointment with a qualified lead costs. Well, here's your answer based on different pricing models

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What I used to do vs. What I do now... How I used to tackle marketing: - Focused on broad strategies - Neglected niche platforms - Underestimated content value How I do it now: - Craft tailored strategies for utilities and infrastructure - Leverage niche platforms for my target industry - Create valuable content for industry-specific audiences Real value comes from understanding your unique market. Let's chat about crafting marketing that resonates with your core audience. Share your thoughts or visit balsom.co #UtilityMarketing #InfrastructureGrowth #water #infrastructure #wastewater #marketing #digitalmarketing

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I’m typically very skeptical of the ‘free audit’ lead gen strategy for consultants or agencies. You often get very little value and then you’re immediately slapped with a sales pitch. But not everyone does it this way. I recently partnered with the folks at MoEngage and Fueled who are giving away a free martech stack audit AND a Nintendo Switch. The audit has tons of value even if in the end you decide not to work with Fueled or MoEngage, and worse case you get a new Switch right in time for the new Zelda game! I got a behind the scenes look at the audit process from A-Z and even went through the client deliverables and I was super impressed. Here’s why I think it’s legit and worth your time 👇   Most martech audits I’ve seen are done independently of the people and the process and focus solely on building an inventory of the tech. Fueled does a great job of focusing on your org and people resources as well as your campaign process, not just the tools.  Their assessment framework has the goal of giving you an understanding of your maturity level and helping you visualize a roadmap to filling your gaps. They’ll start by asking you a bunch of questions to get a sense of 4 key areas: 𝟏 - 𝐎𝐫𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬: What’s your team size and specializations, what type of training programs do you have in place for martech users, how aligned are other teams and systems when it comes to working together. 𝟐 - 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬: How do you currently engage with your customers and how are you tracking and collecting that 1st party data. Every business is different, e-comm companies will care a lot about product detail pages, SaaS companies might care more about mobile apps and push notifications. 𝟑 - 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠: How does marketing ops work with growth marketing, what does your experimentation program look like, what attempts are you making to create personalized messaging and are you focused on every part of the funnel. 𝟒 - 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡: This is usually where most audits start and end, but this is just the tip of the iceberg here, albeit very important. How is your CRM talking to your automation platform, is data flowing into a central data warehouse or do you leverage a platform CDP, do you have any machine learning capabilities and how does reporting and analytics come together. So yes, full transparency, this is a sponsored post but if you manage a tech stack, I think you’d be silly not to give this a shot. At the very least you’ll come out of the process with two things: a better understanding of where you stand and where you should think about going and how, oh and you'll have a fresh new Nintendo to play 𝑍𝑒𝑙𝑑𝑎: 𝐸𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑊𝑖𝑠𝑑𝑜𝑚 ⚔️ https://hubs.ly/Q02R63kM0

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Here's a fun little quick tip for marketing ops folks. When you create a field in SFDC to indicate which stage in the Lifecycle a person currently occupies, number it. So, instead of having stages like, "Inquiry, MEL, MQL, SAL, etc.", number it like, "1.Inquiry, 2.MEL, 3.MQL, 4.SAL, etc.". What's the reason? Well, when you put this field into a SFDC report, and you group by the field, you want SFDC to put them in the correct order. Especially, if you want to use that funnel chart that they have available.

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Thanks to Joseph Nyahay for having me on your podcast! Loved hearing about your marketing niche as well - great to focus on conversions! Being an "active listener" and asking smart questions was not just what made me a good reporter, it's what is making me a good marketer today as well. Here's to traveling more in 2024 and beyond! #marketing #fCMO #podcasts

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“Go see what the competitor is doing.” I’ve heard it too many times in my career. We’re pressed for time, need new copy, have a website update, building emails—anything. And then the shortcut appears: copy what’s already out there. Sounds smart, right? ...not really Sometimes you should reinvent the wheel. → Your competitor’s audience is not your audience. → Copying skips learning what really works for you. → You miss out on true originality. → Your brand loses its unique voice. → You become second-best, not first. Sure, the top-down request to “just copy” seems easy. But long-term success? That takes fresh thinking. New ideas. Risk. Next time someone says, “do what they’re doing,” remember: Your brand can’t be #1 by duplicating #1. Build your marketing foundations around your customers and what you do best → not what somebody else does best. #metoomarketing

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Erik Jensen dropped some rock-solid awesome insights about why CRM and marketing should work together on the Sell With Authority podcast. He explains that many digital tools were built to solve very specific problems — like CRM or email marketing — and later integrated more features to bring the two together.  Here's the reality — while both systems are essential, knowing where your agency struggles the most can help you choose the right tool. Erik also breaks down how these tools should be integrated similarly to how you manage sales and marketing in your agency — they must work together harmoniously, but still be rock-solid in their specific roles. Now’s the time to double down. Check the first comment for a link to the full episode. Onward with gusto!

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From "No Thanks" to "I Need This!" Imagine this: a customer leaves a 3-star review with feedback like “It’s great, but I wish it had better durability.” Great sellers? They take notes. At RankBell, we’ve seen how addressing customer objections can transform product development. Here’s how: Listen Closely-- Negative reviews and returns aren’t failures—they’re free research. Act Strategically-- If multiple customers want a feature, integrate it into your next batch. Iterate Continuously-- Product development isn’t one-and-done; it’s a cycle of improvement. Progress over perfection……

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"We don't know our customers, have massive digital data gaps, and are most likely wasting a large chunk of our marketing dollars...but we think we can just switch from one Marketing Cloud to another and our problems will be solved." This is the wildest thought process I see happen that drives me bonkers, and it happens way too often. How does it end? With people losing their jobs and heading off to make the same bad decision somewhere else. Don't be like these brands, folks. Question everything, think pragmatically, and fix the root cause, not the symptom. #marketing #advertising #datascience #digital #analyticsneat #pleasefortheloveofgodstopmakingbaddecisions

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What is your best AI prompt? For personal use, it is recipes. "Can you give me a recipe for this?" is a simple way to get what you need without hearing about the SEO bait smell at Grandma's house. For professional use, I use it for 3 Enrollment Marketing, Inc. partners. Tell me about [institution]. Tell me about student life at [institution]. What are some of your best prompts?

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What type of video content is performing best in 2024? HubSpot did the research for us all. How Video Consumption Is Changing in 2024 [New Research] https://hubs.li/Q02Jmk4W0 #VideoContent #VideoMarketing #LongFormVideo #ShortFormVideo

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3 ways to become a CMO: The last one is mind blowing 🤯 #3. Work across agencies and brands, to earn your Stars and Stripes #2. Start your own business and call yourself whatever you like incl. CMO #1. Change profile description on LinkedIn to ‘fractional CMO’ #CMO #Marketing

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Crissy Saunders at CS2 posted on LinkedIn: Not all agencies are a good fit or cannot provide what an org really needs. This is especially true when it comes to #ABM. Davis Potter (CEO at ForgeX) even posted a couple of months ago: Seeing “ABM Services” on an Agency’s Website Does Not Mean They Can *Actually* Support Your Needs and Drive Revenue Growth. He mentioned that the smoke and mirrors show of newly formed “ABM agencies” and large conglomerate firms slapping on “ABM services” is increasing at an alarming rate…And even the agencies that are well poised to support ABM have unique niches, strengths, and capabilities. At Personal ABM: An Account-Based GTM Firm, we categorized ABM firms into 5 buckets: 1. Bolt-on ABM Agency Firms 2. Managed ABM Tech Providers 3. Account-Based Demand Gen Firms 4. Marketing Focused ABM Firms 5. Account-Based GTM firms like Personal ABM: An Account-Based GTM Firm In the video linked below, we discuss the 5 ABM agency categories in detail including the strengths, weaknesses and when you should use the different types. https://lnkd.in/eHcd8Px6

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We’re simplifying. Consolidating. And redefining what it means to build a People-first GTM strategy. Today’s newsletter is more than just another edition—it’s the first look at the future of TACK Insider. Here’s why simplicity wins in GTM and how we’re putting this into action for you. We’re merging Beehiiv and AudiencePlus into HubSpot—one unified platform to power our media network and community. Been a fun run with both, but for what we want to do this makes more sense. HubSpot will now be our all-in-one destination: part media network and part community, and all focused on helping you become a GTM leader. This change isn’t just about reducing tools—it’s about clarity, focus, and creating a space where everything you need is in one place. TACK Insider now features two clear tiers: Subscribers (free) and Pro Members (premium), giving you access to exactly what you need without the noise. Get actionable GTM strategies and tools every Sunday morning, designed to inspire and equip you for the week ahead. Each email will deliver tactical insights, curated resources, and exclusive tools—focused and valuable. By consolidating and simplifying, we’re not just reducing complexity—we’re building a platform designed to help you become a GTM leader. Everything we create now lives under one roof, from actionable advice to tools, templates, and a thriving community. Launching in December. :) Sneak peek at some of our figma. Sometimes, you just need to build it yourself! Check out today's edition for the new format. I dig it for sure.

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💯 agree with Rand that there is no way to attribute marketing fully to say without a doubt, Google or LinkedIn, etc generated sales. We often take one topic and run that for a couple of months on social media,email, etc. What we notice is an increase in website traffic for pages with that topic. Even when we are providing in platform no click content. This is one small piece of measurement that tells us what we are doing is working. Seeing high quality in-market requests for our products designed for that topic is another. I also wholeheartedly agree with stopping ads completely and seeing the impact. You want to make sure your budget is being used effectively and save costs where you can.

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🔥Hot Take by Rand Fishkin"I am not against measurement, but I am against believing that attribution measures everything and that it can be perfectly attributed or even estimated attributed when it comes to organic." 🟪 My Take - We've been doing organic social before Instagram existed. Some things are worth doing even when they can't be attributed to a sale. Take the example of UX. You buy project management software to help you manage your work better. You can't precisely measure the ROI, but you know that being organized contributes to client and employee retention, saves you time, etc. 💜You can't accurately measure human connection.💜 There are plenty of social media lurkers who are seeing your social content. We do social media for addiction treatment centers. A person suffering from substance misuse may periodically look at an addiction treatment center's Facebook posts multiple times before they find the courage to call for help. They aren't going to like or engage with posts publicly, but seeing a Facebook post on their phone at the time when they needed to see it, may have helped them imagine getting treatment and ask how to get started. You will never fully know the connection people build with your brand in their own minds from the organic content you create. Even an engagement metric like a like, comment, or link click won't reveal the depth of connection in an individual's mind. That's immeasurable and always will be unless we all end up with chips in our brains. 🧠

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