Thoughts on building marketing & growth capabilities
The Role of CMOs in Earnings Calls
“Marketing’s job is to tell the story of growth. Investors just want to know how the next chapter drives the bottom line.” Having ‘a seat at the table’ is an often discussed topic. Only 66 % of Fortune 500 companies currently have an executive with a C‑suite marketing title, up from 63 % the year before [1]. “Only about half […]
Enriching Customer Data to Understand Customer Equity
Every marketer optimizes for CAC. But what about marginal CAC for your most valuable segment? Understanding who’s your most valuable customer is at the core of customer equity. In B2B, this is situated around understanding the ICP, the Ideal Customer Profile. For B2C, this is often different as there are more SKUs, and margins might […]
The SEO Maturity Curve: Where Does Your Strategy Stand?
The SEO maturity curve helps you assess where your organization stands. Whether you’re focused on basic optimizations or operating at a fully integrated, C-level-supported, data-driven level. Achieving SEO maturity requires dedicated resources and a relentless commitment to building programs that drive sustainable revenue growth for the long term. While tactical execution fuels success across the […]
What books am I reading in 2025?
“For 2024, I’m committing to reading 20 books again.” – Well, I didn’t make that; some passion projects (more on that later this year) came in the way, and I ended up at only 11. This year, I’m off to a slightly better start, aiming to hit this number. Why am I writing this blog […]
Marketing & Finance; Understanding the dynamics
The best marketing organizations have answers to the following questions: What is your efficiency/effectiveness in Marketing? What is your CAC/CLTV ratio? What is your payback period? What percentage of expenses is acceptable to spend on Sales & Marketing? Should Marketing answer these questions; it should. But can it? It can, when it is supported by Finance. As […]
What books am I reading in 2024?
16 books for 2023, but we also welcomed our son, Lukas, so in the latter half of the year, my pace declined a bit (having to decide between sleeping and reading is quite an easy choice with a newborn). For 2024, I’m committing to reading 20 books again. Why am I writing this blog post? For […]
Learnings from Sales & Marketing Spend of Public Consumer Companies
What percentage of expenses is acceptable to spend on Sales & Marketing: 4% or 52%. What if I told you that both are acceptable answers? Looking at a few dozen public companies (focusing on consumers, knowing that B2B/SaaS dynamics are even more different), I found interesting answers to these questions. The quarterly and yearly earnings […]
Developing Marketing skills & capabilities
Everyone in their career focuses on learning the latest tools or technologies. These rarely change the game as they’re “just” skills. TikTok or Prompt Engineering are platforms and skills but aren’t necessarily capabilities you can be competent in. In the example you just read, understanding TikTok as a platform and the content there helps build […]
Extending our Marketing Data Lake & Warehouse
Marketing Analytics has evolved; it is no longer just ‘web analytics.’ When more marketing budget is spent, you need additional insights that Google Analytics or similar tools can’t offer. That doesn’t mean they have no more reason for existence, but they just become part of a bigger marketing analytics stack instead of relying solely on […]
What books am I reading in 2023?
20 books in 2022 and hundreds of articles (via Pocket)! With me setting a goal last year of >15, I did pretty well. Especially in the first six months of the year, I had a good pace and averaged 2.5 books a month. In the second half, I slowed down and read some larger ones. Why […]