Anna Furmanov’s Post

Most founders prefer "Spaghetti Throwing vs. GTM Clarity". Most early-stage B2B leaders struggle with strategic focus: • Trying tactics without understanding the audience. • Wasting resources on untargeted marketing efforts. • Relying on gut feelings rather than data-driven decisions. • Chasing short-term wins over sustainable growth. They often focus on quick fixes, not realizing the core issues that hinder stable pipeline development. • "Change strategies; it's not working fast enough!" • "Let’s try every new tool on the market!" • "We need more ads, more content!" They're scrambling in different directions while missing the target. Common pitfalls include: • Overconfidence in product-centric views → "𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳!" • Ignoring market trends → "𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀." • Resisting change due to sunk costs → "𝗪𝗲'𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄." This results in missed opportunities and stagnant growth. Here’s how to move forward: 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿: "I'm ready to listen. What's our next step?" 𝗠𝗲: "Let's dissect your GTM approach.": 1. 𝗜𝗖𝗣 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆    Clearly define who your ideal customer is. Focus your efforts on those who benefit the most from your solution.     2. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲    Create content that speaks to your audience's needs and challenges, not just what's trending.     3. 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁-𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴    Shift from feature-focused to benefit-driven messaging. Highlight how your product solves real problems.     4. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻    Map out your customer's journey and optimize each touchpoint for a seamless experience. --- I'm Moshe Pesach 🙋🏽♂️ Click my name + follow + 🔔 I help B2B founders and marketers 𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗵𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹 to build a clear GTM strategy so they can grow and scale with confidence. #b2bmarketing #b2b #gtmstrategy

The bar has fallen through the floor in B2B. 👆 Every marketer should remind themselves of this when imposter syndrome kicks in. Despite all the VC money, more data than we know what to do with, more resources than we can consume, more marketing talent than we’ve ever had access to, more tech, more AI, and everything else. …the bar remains low. Most brands choose to: – Reply with AI. – Hide their pricing. – Copy their competition. – Claim to be the “number one”. – Pitch slap at every opportunity. – Pretend marketing = advertising. – Take cheap shortcuts with design. – Obsess over the ROI of everything. – Interrupt people & invade their privacy. – Talk about new ideas instead of executing. – Kill channels because the first pilot didn’t work. – Kid themselves that everything is direct marketing. – Choose keywords based on volume instead of intent. Yep. It’s a low bar alright. Truth is, I don’t know who wrote this broken playbook. But it sucks. And there lies your opportunity as a marketer today. To not beat yourself up. But to lead. To try and change the culture. To lift the bar 5%. To do some of those things a little better than most. And to: – Make sales easier. – Obsess over building trust. – Figure out the right strategy (research, segmentation, targeting, and positioning). That’s great marketing. #saas #marketing PS. The real imposters of the business are those that insist on running the same broken playbook every year.

Fresh perspective from Jon Miller, and a great catchphrase that should resonate with any B2B marketer: "Marketing is not a gumball machine." He shared this view and more in a recent CMO Huddles session which I highly recommend. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gqRBmYe9

Jon Miller, I love the vending machine analogy and agree that marketers need to break the addiction of over-focusing on MQLs. In terms of branding, I think it’s important to distinguish between merely raising brand visibility and focusing on strengthening brand reputation. Just because you’re aware of a brand does not mean you view it favorably or trust that the brand is the best option to solve your problem. #branding #B2Bmarketing #brandreputation

Love this. The constant obsession to produce MQL's and top of funnel leads miss the mark in full funnel strategies and driving efficiencies in Demand Gen. Effective CMO's do indeed "elevate marketing from a Tactical lead gen function to a Strategic driver of company growth." #CMO #MarketingLeadership

Totally Jon Miller PMF, Positioning and Brand - the fundamentals of meaningful leads. “Spray and Pray” days are behind us “Connect and Engage” days are here. Content isn’t the king, meaningful content is. Email, LinkedIn or Cold Calls won’t help generate leads. Understanding your audience and engaging them with meaningful content does. Wether it’s calls, emails or InMails - if you don’t make sense to your audience, you just don’t make sense. Period. It’s not the channel that works or doesn’t, it’s how you leverage the channel to engage with your audience in a meaningful way that does. Between Product Market Fit, Positioning and Brand - most companies miss the positioning part. If your content is irrelevant, your offers become irrelevant too.

The bar has fallen through the floor in B2B.   👆 Every marketer should remind themselves of this when imposter syndrome kicks in.   Despite all the VC money, more data than we know what to do with, more resources than we can consume, more marketing talent than we’ve ever had access to, more tech, more AI, and everything else.   …the bar remains low.   Most brands choose to:   – Reply with AI. – Hide their pricing. – Copy their competition. – Claim to be the “number one”. – Pitch slap at every opportunity. – Pretend marketing = advertising. – Take cheap shortcuts with design. – Obsess over the ROI of everything. – Interrupt people & invade their privacy. – Talk about new ideas instead of executing. – Kill channels because the first pilot didn’t work. – Kid themselves that everything is direct marketing. – Choose keywords based on volume instead of intent.   Yep. It’s a low bar alright.   Truth is, I don’t know who wrote this broken playbook. But it sucks.   And there lies your opportunity as a marketer today.   To not beat yourself up. But to lead.   To try and change the culture. To lift the bar 5%. To do some of those things a little better than most. And to: – Make sales easier. – Obsess over building trust. – Figure out the right strategy (research, segmentation, targeting, and positioning).   That’s great marketing.   #marketing #saas   PS. The real imposters of the business are those that insist on running the same broken playbook every year.

Super smart. The over-indexing on marketing automation, MQL and "right-hand-side" of the marketing value chain is as astonishing as it is ill-advised. B2B is NOT high-volume B2C.

I talk to a lot of early stage founders who are trying to figure out their go to market messaging. GTM messaging is built on a few foundational pieces, and I'll describe them below. First, what are you selling. It could be a single product, or it could be multiple, but document that first- these are our products and here's what they do. Next, it's who you're selling to- both buyer personas, user personas, and company profiles (which is known as your ICP or ideal customer profile.) This will eventually turn into cold outbound contact lists and account based marketing campaigns, basically who you want to see your messaging. Then you figure out use cases and value propositions. Your buyer is probably in some sort of pain, whether they're aware of that or not, so you want to be able to speak to that pain in your messaging. Then you figure out what the alternatives to your solution are, your competition. Why do you outshine them? Why have you earned the right to defeat them in a head to head sale? This has historically taken a lot of time- companies spend years on this. Octave is using AI to condense this process into a couple of minutes, and the results are pretty crazy. Zach Vidibor & Julian Tempelsman just shipped a Clay integration that floored me when I saw it- you can document your messaging elements in Octave, and then push the elements described above to Clay so that every single email or campaign makes a read on the fly as to the best messaging for a given prospect, based on your specific GTM lexicon. Check it out if you're trying to figure out your GTM messaging and are curious about Clay, I think this is the future of cold outbound.

When growth stalls, it's often not about sales—it's a GTM misalignment! When it comes to achieving consistent growth, few areas are as crucial as getting your go-to-market (GTM) strategy right. This isn’t just about "selling more"; it's about creating a clear roadmap that aligns every facet of the business—product development, marketing, operations, and customer success—with a cohesive vision for growth. In my own experience, implementing GTM strategies across B2B and B2C markets has been a journey of constant learning. Initially, my work in different environments presented unique GTM challenges around targeting early adopters, maximizing digital channels, and refining messaging for high-value, buyers. As I transitioned further into digitalized tech fields, the need for adaptable, nuanced GTM frameworks became even more pronounced. Different industries bring unique requirements for customer acquisition, brand-building, and market positioning. However, many companies and startups face challenges with GTM strategies that can limit growth. Here are four common issues: - Lack of Alignment Across Departments: Disjointed efforts between sales, product, marketing, and operations can stall growth initiatives.    - Misunderstanding Product-Market Fit: Without clarity on how their product fits the market, companies struggle to effectively reach their target audiences, leading to high customer acquisition costs. - Poor Market Segmentation and Targeting: Neglecting market nuances can result in missing key early adopters and misallocating resources. - Underestimating Local Cultural Behaviors: Ignoring local customs can lead to ineffective messaging and diminished customer engagement. - Misalignment with National Economic Vision: Not aligning strategies with broader economic goals can result in missed growth opportunities on a larger scale. Recently, I’ve been deep in GTM discussions with unique startups and companies to refine approaches and expand GTM impact across both new and established markets. True growth needs every team – product, marketing, ops, customer success, and sales – working in lockstep within a solid GTM framework. Even the best sales efforts can’t make up for misaligned strategies elsewhere. In my experience, GTM gaps are often invisible until revenue suffers. That’s why it’s so critical to regularly check alignment across departments and ensure everyone is rowing in the same direction. Plus, when GTM is aligned, it doesn’t just boost revenue – it creates a stronger, more collaborative company culture...