Last year was a big one for M&A activity (a “record high”, according to The Economist*). Many of these deals made perfect sense. Some left people scratching their heads. In either case, a merger can often wreak havoc on a neatly buttoned up marketing message. If you’re running marketing or sales for one of the thousands of newly combined companies, how do you make sure your message doesn’t get lost in a whirlwind of post-merger … [Continue reading]
What to do when your competitors are all screaming for attention
I’m sitting here on the plane about to take off from Vancouver, BC where we just presented messaging and positioning ideas to a great technology client in a very hot space. As always, we took a look at their competitors’ messaging. It turns out, almost all their competitors are positioning as the leader. No surprises there. We see this pattern across a lot of industries. What was surprising were the grandiose superlatives rampant in the … [Continue reading]
LEADERVIEW: A CMO’s advice to young marketers
In this PitchMaps Leaderview, Rachel Spasser, previously CMO of Ariba and now CMO and Operating Principal at Accel-KKR, discusses how B2B marketing has changed in recent years – and what it takes to win in today’s world. Below is an edited transcript of our conversation with Rachel. PitchMaps: Could you tell us a little bit about your background, and what you’re doing now? Rachel Spasser: Sure. I’ve been in business development, marketing, and sales now … [Continue reading]