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Balancing Short-Term vs. Long-Term Marketing Strategies

Hey, Dave here in your inbox again

One of the biggest challenges we hear from marketing leaders is balancing short term projects vs. long term projects.

The work that will pay off immediately and help you hit the number this month (direct response), this quarter vs. the foundational work that might take not make an impact until later (things like SEO or brand building).

But this is one of those "the obstacle is the way" scenarios.

The only way to achieve sustainable, long term growth is to - at some point - start investing in long term projects.

What if we never decided to start a podcast (Seeking Wisdom) at Drift, because we weren't sure how it would impact sales?

How does a podcast about personal development help sell marketing software? Well, it turns it: the podcast built a connection with our audience, it helped people get to know us, it built affinity for our brand. It put us on the map. It got people paying attention to us. And we earned the right to then sell something to that audience later.

The only way to balance short term vs. long term goals is to have a clear strategy and a vision for where your business is going. If you know what you'll need to do in the future then you can make smart bets now and start to lay the right foundation - even if they do not pay off immediately.

At Drift we knew we needed to build a brand and build affinity to standout in a sea of 10,000 martech vendors. So building a podcast that had nothing to do with marketing actually fit perfectly into that strategy.

If you're building a high volume PLG business and traffic will be a key factor to your growth (ex: you have a freemium video recording tool that you want to be adopted by individuals inside companies) then you'll need to start building a foundation for SEO and investing in website content now -- even though that work might not help you hit your goal this month.

To hit this month's goal you'll have to do targeted outreach and focus more on short term, direct response channels -- but you still need to build that foundation for SEO for long term so 12 months from now when you need 1,000 new signups instead of 100, you'll be able to get there.

I've found that most often when marketing teams struggle with short term vs. long term priorities it's because there is no clear strategy, and there's no clear strategy because the company lacks vision, a clear roadmap, and there's either a disconnect or the team is not bought in.

When everyone knows the long term vision then figuring out how to balance short term and long term growth is no problem.

At Drift year one we saw how "live chat" on the website with one case (sales) could eventually become "conversational marketing" and a new way to do marketing in year 2-3-4-5, etc. and you build and deliver on that vision over time.

P.S. How do you balance short and long term strategies? Is it an issue in your company? Reply back and let me know :)

🎧 Podcast #133: How Edgy Can B2B Social Content Be? Advice For First-Time Marketing Leaders and Product Launches

In this episode of Inside Exit Five, Matt (Marketing Manager at Exit Five) and I share this week's most popular topics, lessons, and learnings across the community.

We cover:

• How 'edgy' B2B brands can get with their social media pages (and if they should)
• Advice for first-time marketing leaders
• Dave's advice for product launches
• Why marketing fundamentals are key to your marketing strategy
  

PS. We’d love to get your questions and feature you on this podcast. Have a hot topic, a burning question, or just want to say hi? Send us a voicenote at hi@exitfive.com, and we will feature you on the show. Emails are fine too, but a voice note might get you on the pod :)

Listen to the Episode Now on Spotify

Or find it everywhere you listen by searching "Exit Five" podcast.

🎧 Podcast #134: How This B2B Brand is Building Community

• How to use LinkedIn to build community
• The difference between building community vs. building ‘a’ community
• Using internal team members LinkedIn profiles to lift the companies brand
• Community building and how to measure the impact on the bottom line 

Listen to the Episode Now on Spotify

Or find it everywhere you listen by searching "Exit Five" podcast.

📺 UPCOMING EVENTS

Today at 1pm EDT, Brian Kotlyar, VP of Marketing and Growth at Hightouch, will be inside the community to answer questions related to:

• Being a VP of Marketing
• The path to Marketing leadership
• Working with the CEO
• How to become a true partner to sales
• The role of Demand Gen

Drop your questions in the comments whenever you’re free, and Brian will answer them within a couple of days of the event.

Brian previously led Demand Gen, Marketing, and Growth at Sprinklr, Intercom, and New Relic and is the VP of Marketing and Growth at Hightouch. If you want to lead marketing at companies like this one day, this is a great opportunity to pick someone’s brain that is currently living it.

RSVP HERE

🏢 OPEN ROLES

Who's Hiring Right Now

HOT JOB OF THE WEEK: Freshpaint is looking for a Senior Product Marketing Manager who will be the first product marketing hire at a fast growing startup. This role will be responsible for further developing Freshpaint's ICP segments, working with product on the roadmap, and building out value propositions and messaging. 

If you're interested you can apply here. 

Other open roles on the Exit Five job board this week:

• Spot AI is hiring a Director of Demand Generation. $185-200k salary.
• RethinkFirst is hiring a Social Media Manager. Remote Role 
• RethinkFirst is hiring a Growth Marketing Director. Remote Role. 
• Tribunus Health is hiring a Growth Marketing Manager. Remote Role. $80-120k salary.
• Meter is hiring a Field Marketing Manager. Remote Role. $85-143k salary.
• Auror is hiring a Director of Field Marketing. $150-168k salary.
• Aimtal is hiring a Marketing Account Manager. Remote Role.
• Tiugo Technologies is hiring a Director, Content Marketing. Remote Role.
• OlyBet Group is hiring a Group Director, Customer Marketing. 96-144k€.
• ContactMonkey is hiring a Senior Website Growth Lead. Remote Role.
• MightyScout is hiring a Growth Marketing Manager. $90-$110k salary. Remote Role.
• Flowhub is hiring a Demand Generation Manager. $95-$125k salary. Remote Role.

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