Loretta leads strategic marketing for the B2B division of Blue Diamond Growers, bringing together marketing, sales, manufacturing and R&D to ensure the organisation continues to lead the almond and premium ingredients industries. She has over 20 years of experience in strategic marketing, product management and business development at companies such as Ingredion, Celanese and Novozymes, focusing on developing those companies’ growth.
Mark heads up strategy, brand and planning for all clients at Colman, Brohan & Davis (CBD Marketing). Like Loretta, he is growth-focused and helps clients develop strategies that address changing market conditions and allow them to reach their goals more quickly. He also has more than 20 years in marketing, brand and sales strategy development, execution and optimisation.
About our session
The pandemic threw a lot of companies’ marketing and sales plans into chaos. But it also gave us the opportunity to rethink assumptions, especially around how we were connecting with customers and prospects and generating and nurturing leads. We ultimately arrived at a strategy that is even more effective than pre-pandemic efforts.
For B2B marketers, events have always been a key tentpole of their marketing strategy. What the pandemic brought into focus was the idea of what actually constitutes an effective ‘event.’ We spent a lot of time dissecting the value of events to Blue Diamond Growers and what the organisation wanted and was getting from them. The pause in in-person events forced us out of the trade show trajectory that a lot of companies have been on and gave us permission to think about what we were really trying to replace when it came to alternatives to the in-person meetings.
In our session, you’ll learn how to:
- Translate in-person event goals to digital channels and metrics.
- Integrate strategies that result in more MQLs.
- Deepen customer and prospect relationships – virtually.
- Align subject matter expert content to a buyer’s journey.
- Show direct benefit of marketing initiatives to sales team’s goals.
Wider issues around our sessions
One of the cornerstones of our new strategy and the session is developing and maximising the use of content. In B2B, especially, content has become an incredibly effective way to engage with target audiences and position yourself as a company that offers differentiated value from your competition.
Goal setting is another thing we touch on. Being really specific and ‘quant’ about goals was an important part of the program we came up with. And within that, embracing a ‘test and learn’ mindset when it came to achieving those goals. We weren’t afraid to try new things and gave ourselves permission to say: “Let’s see what happens and iterate” rather than just sticking to something safe. This attitude created a stronger sense of collaboration and trust between Blue Diamond and CBD Marketing.
Why you need Ignite USA
At Ignite USA 2020, the CEO of CBD Marketing presented with another client. Several of us from the agency attended and were energised by all of the presentations and sessions that focused on the areas that we are thinking about every day – and also sessions that inspired new thinking at the agency.
We’re looking forward to speaking at Ignite USA this year. It’s rare to be able to get together with other B2B marketers at something of this scale and quality. The breadth of ideas and insights from people facing the same challenges as you are is great to be exposed to.
What are we most excited by? Obviously, we’re excited to present. But it will also be great to talk with other B2B marketers and hear from them what they’re excited about for the rest of 2022 and beyond. It’s a really interesting time to be a marketer between the technological advancements and the economic challenges.
For anyone on the fence about attending, aside from meeting with and learning from your B2B peers… Mark is a native Chicagoan and Loretta has spent a lot of time in and also lived in the city. We can assure you that early June might be the absolute best time to visit Chicago. We’ll see you there.
