Ep. 211: How to Achieve Outsized Outcomes with a Small B2B Marketing Team

How to Achieve Outsized Outcomes with a Small B2B Marketing Team With the rapid advancement of AI, machine learning, shifting market dynamics, and more competition entering the ecosystem all the time, B2B marketers are confronted with more challenges than ever before. Teams are constantly facing the challenges of tightened budgets and even tighter deadlines. With this in mind, how can small B2B marketing teams achieve more with less and still deliver exceptional outcomes? That’s why we’re talking to Jordan Buning (Principal and Senior Account Executive, ddm marketing + communications), who shares insights and practical strategies on how to achieve outsized outcomes with a small B2B marketing team. During our conversation, Jordan discussed how teams can navigate market uncertainty and how AI has impacted efficiency. He emphasized the importance of revenue and pipeline metrics to demonstrate the financial contribution that marketing makes to the bottom line. Jordan also stressed the need for small B2B marketing teams to optimize campaigns, avoiding pitfalls like chasing immediate results at the expense of long-term success, and maintain continuous alignment with sales. He advocated for a platform approach over fragmented campaigns, regular metrics evaluation, and a focus on precision over volume. https://youtu.be/31Qts7vadLI Topics discussed in episode: [03:15] Why leadership often views marketing as an expendable variable rather than a core driver of the bottom line. [14:36] Jordan explains how to avoid “strategy whiplash” and over-reliance on performance tactics. [21:20] Discover why right-place, right-time messaging is non-negotiable, especially when it comes to appealing to the buying committee. [28:08] Instead of quarterly campaigns, build a core messaging “soundboard” that provides consistency and longevity. [33:36] Jordan walks through a 3-phase (90-day roadmap) approach consisting of diagnosing, activating, and doubling down to show ROI within one business quarter. [37:14] Why you must lead with pipeline contribution and opportunity creation rate when presenting to the board. [41:32] Why marketing belongs in every part of the organization, from customer experience and billing to employee engagement, not just lead generation. Companies and links mentioned: Jordan Buning on LinkedIn  ddm marketing + communications  Transcript Christian Klepp, Jordan Buning Jordan Buning  00:00 I think you know, the things that probably made this conversation happen in the first place are probably the first metrics you got to have. So it’s probably has something to do with revenue, and probably secondly, has to do with how quality they think the pipeline is filled with opportunities. Your initial metrics that would say this is working or not working. Really have to start there. And it may be two or three steps removed from some of the, you know, inside marketing measurements that that might be there, but at the end of the day, that’s what will kind of matter to them. And so what is, you know, the pipeline contribution looking like? What kind of opportunity creation rate is happening, revenue influence, those, those kinds of things, I think are components that that matter when we talk about revenue and pipeline is, are we actually contributing to the financial success of the organization. Christian Klepp  00:57 With the rapid advancement of AI (Artificial Intelligence) machine learning, changing market dynamics, market uncertainty and more competition entering the ecosystem all the time. B2B Marketers are confronted with more challenges than ever before. Another one of those challenges includes tightened budgets and even tighter deadlines. With this in mind, how can B2B Marketing teams achieve more with less and still deliver exceptional outcomes. Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers on the mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp, today I’ll be talking to Jordan Buning, who will be answering this question. He’s the principal and Senior Account Executive at DDM Marketing and Communications who’s committed to doing great things with incredible people inside and outside the company. Tune in to find out more about what this B2B Marketers Mission is. Okay? Mr. Jordan Buning, welcome to the show, sir. Jordan Buning  01:48 Thank you. Appreciate you having me. Christian Klepp  01:50 Really looking for this conversation, Jordan. Not like man, I should have recorded the last couple of conversations that we had that, in itself, should have been the episode already, right? But I’m, I’m really looking forward to this conversation. You know, I had a great chat with your colleague, Joanne. And you know, we’re going to talk about a topic today that you and I both know it. It keeps coming up, and you ask 50 people out there, and they’ll give you 50 different answers to this question, right? So let’s, let’s just dive right in. I’m going to say you’re on a mission to help B2B companies deliver high impact marketing campaigns that drive measurable results. But I’d like to focus on this following topic for today’s conversation, and we’ve got plenty to unpack from this one, how small marketing teams can optimize campaigns to reduce waste and achieve outsized outcomes, probably I should highlight bold italic, underline that outsized outcomes, because that one’s going to be the interesting one. Let’s kick off the conversation with the following question, so I’m happy to repeat so why do you think many B2B organizations are spending less on their marketing efforts and shortening the timelines in which teams need to deliver results? And based on those constraints in your experience, where have you seen many marketing teams struggle? Jordan Buning  03:15 But you’re right. There’s a there’s a lot there, and trying to consolidate all of my thoughts down is a unique challenge. But, you know, I think part of it is not that marketing is losing importance sometimes in various circumstances, be it budgetary otherwise, but it’s more about the pressure of reshaping how it gets evaluated. There is a lag, I think in terms of how a lot of individuals perceive the importance in the in the contribution that marketing makes to the organization’s goals and ultimately to its bottom line. So if it’s disconnected, it becomes a variable, and a variable that, while maybe nobody is really wishing for, it sometimes becomes minimized or expendable, and therefore it’s really kind of a big push. And there’s certainly a variety of things that may be driving that. It could be their own, economic uncertainties, their market has changed. Therefore they’re making their adjustments. They’re managing risk. When they’re doing some of those kinds of things they may not necessarily see again that relationship between what they’re attributing to the bottom line. They may have measurements that are not aligned to show performance and not that it isn’t but they don’t have the data that’s that’s doing that and or they may even have a lag. They may have a lot of information, but it’s historical data, and present realities may be slightly different, and they don’t really have a way to connect to it. And then y...