When I started working with Zerve last year, they had refreshed their logo and look and feel, and since then we’ve updated the company’s messaging. In early 2025, Zerve described itself as “the OS for Data and AI,” and today they are “the Agentic Data Workspace.”

They had updated all the “musts” – the web site, LinkedIn and X profiles. But after I joined, I still kept encountering the old yellow flower logo and outdated message from time to time. I would update it ad hoc as I encountered it, but when we decided to get serious about SEO and GEO, we did a full inventory of external sites where Zerve is mentioned with a logo and/or company description.

We found nineteen sites. Then we started updating them, and found a few more. The lesson: brand changes create distributed technical debt, the debt just doesn’t always appear right away.

Updating the logo and messaging is an operational rollout across a fragmented ecosystem. And if you don’t allocate real time and ownership to it, you’ll be finding “the old you” in unexpected places for years.

I’ve been part of full rebrands, for example with the global, publicly traded ADAMA when they transformed from Makhteshim Agan; new name, new mission, multi-year planning process, global coordination. That level of change is obviously complex. This post is about something much more common: brand and message changes at startups.

Why Companies Update Their Logo and Messaging

Here’s a pattern I’ve seen across dozens of startup clients:

Early stage: You need a logo fast. Maybe you did it on Fiverr or by yourself on Nano Banana. Maybe a friend designed it. It works, and you might even get really attached to it.

Growth stage: The company matures. The logo doesn’t scale; it doesn’t reflect what the company has become.

Decision time: Refresh the look. Update the messaging to match your evolved positioning.

The design process may take weeks. The rollout…a lot longer.

The Refresh Iceberg

What typically gets updated immediately:

• Website
• App stores
• Email signatures
• Primary social profiles

Then you realize all the third-party sites where your company is listed, such as:

• Review platforms: e.g. G2, Capterra, Gartner Peer Insights
• Business directories: e.g. Crunchbase, AngelList, Product Hunt
• Marketplaces: e.g. AWS, Azure, GCP, Atlassian
• Industry sites: e.g. Github, Glassdoor 
• SEO aggregator sites you didn’t know existed

For Zerve, we eventually found 21 outdated sites during our inventory. Most required some combination of:

• The new logo (correct format and size)
• Updated company description
• New tagline 
• Sometimes new screenshots or videos

Each site is a small task. Twenty-one small tasks add up.

Years ago at Orckit Communications, we simplified the logo by removing a line of text – “Communications Ltd. /  Inc.” that appeared in a very thin font under the big bold “Orckit”. The change was subtle – so subtle in fact that even internally people would get mixed up, and the new and old logos coexisted for years. So the obvious difference between the bright yellow flower of the old logo and the new, sleek cube is a blessing. Lesson: if you’re going to change your logo, make it count. Small tweaks get overlooked for years. 

The Admin Access Reality

So how did Zerve go about updating all the external sites? This is where things get operational, and persistence matters. First take a deep breath, because each platform has its quirks. 

Some make it difficult to identify the correct admin access. For example, unlike on sites like G2, logging into Capterra as a user rather than a vendor won’t give you access to edit your company profile. 

Other platforms require support tickets for changes that seem straightforward, such as updating categories or modifying certain company details. 

Glassdoor took the cake; we went through the “claim your profile” process and received access. When setting it up, we inadvertently set up a second profile. To merge the two, we’ve reached out to support and I’m happy to report that they’ve been super helpful and responsive. 

Then there’s the Gartner ecosystem. Gartner owns Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp, which all share a single login. A fourth site, Gartner Peer Insights, has a separate login and is particularly important for enterprise-focused companies, as it feeds into the Magic Quadrant. 

Where AI Helped, Where It Didn’t

Since I’m trying to become an AI-first marketer, I thought about how we could use AI to help automate this process. AI was genuinely helpful in drafting descriptions of different lengths, adapting to character limits, and even identifying additional listings we hadn’t found through Google. 

What AI couldn’t do, at least not yet, was navigate admin permissions, resolve duplicate profiles, interpret unclear platform rules, or manage support tickets. I’m waiting for the day agents can take care of all that. 

How to Approach It Systematically

Since humans are still primarily handling the third-party site updates, here’s where being organized makes a difference. Some recommendations: 

1. Do a full inventory
   Do searches – I found Google and Perplexity most helpful – and also look at referrals in your site analytics. Build a list of every owned and third-party property where your logo and description appear.
2. Centralize your assets
   Prepare logo files in multiple formats, especially square. Draft company descriptions in multiple lengths (50, 100, 200, 500 characters). Align on a clear positioning statement.
3. Assign ownership
   One person should own the checklist and track progress across platforms.
4. Plan phases
   Critical: website and primary channels
   Important: major review and marketplace sites
   Ongoing: long-tail directories and as-you-find-them updates
5. Be patient
   You may not get all the sites updated in one swoop, and that’s OK. 

After the initial rollout, accept the long tail. You will continue discovering legacy references. That’s normal. Because once a brand is published across the internet, it becomes distributed infrastructure. And changing infrastructure takes time.

The End, Nearly

After some time and effort, we’re nearly done updating every aspect of the 21 external sites where Zerve’s listing was outdated. Like most companies, we accumulated more surface area than we realized, and it took time to reconcile it. In retrospect, it’s something we could have (probably should have) done earlier, but it only became a priority recently; there are always tradeoffs when you’re trying to scale fast. 

Will I be surprised when the old Zerve logo or tagline resurfaces years from now? Not at all. I’m expecting it, and looking forward to the burst of nostalgia. 

At the recent Content Israel conference in Tel Aviv, I shared a framework designed to help businesses create or refine their brand messaging. Drawing on my experience across various tech and other companies, I walked through a structured, six-step process that can be tailored to your company’s unique needs. My session covered everything from audience research to gaining internal alignment.

The goal is to make messaging development approachable, even without large budgets or external agencies. 

Watch the full video below to learn how to craft brand messages that resonate deeply with your target audience, whether you’re refreshing your brand or building it from the ground up.

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But making news isn’t why a company rebrands; public relations and media coverage are tools to share the news about the rebrand, but they are not the end in itself. I’ve led rebrands and worked with numerous companies to support their rebrands, and I’d like to share some of the reasons companies rebrand, and then how to make sure your rebrand is a success. And then I’ll talk a bit more about X’s rebrand if you feel like reading all the way to the end :).  

4 Reasons Your Company May Want to Rebrand Itself

1. Your Brand is Outdated

Sometimes a company’s brand image appears outdated or no longer reflects its values, products, or services as well as it should. This may be due to a strategy change, focus on a new market, introducing a new product line, or simply the natural evolution of how people relate to your brand. An example of this is British Petroleum, which rebranded itself as BP in 2000, with the slogan “Beyond Petroleum” and a cheerful green and yellow sun as its logo, all designed to emphasize that the company had gone beyond its oil and gas roots to a more sustainable outlook in tune with the 21st century.  

2. New Strategy, New Leadership, New Brand

It’s practically a cliche by now that new CEO brings in their people, their ideas, and often their new brand. This has happened with many companies I’ve worked with. It’s pretty common even when the company gets a new Chief Marketing Officer- often the first thing they want to do is put their stamp on the company, especially if it’s a startup. Is it right thing to do? Not always. Sometimes if your company is well-known for its brand, and the brand stands for something positive that reflects what you do, it may make sense to stay within your existing brand, and just refresh it, without revolutionizing it.

3. Your Company Has Merged with or Acquired Another One

When a company merges with or acquires another business, it might opt to rebrand to present a unified image that combines elements of both original brands. One of the biggest rebrands I ever worked on was when the global agrochemical company Makhteshim Agan rebranded itself as ADAMA Agricultural Solutions. The reason behind this rebrand was that its 40+ subsidiaries spread throughout the world all had different variations of the name Makhteshim Agan, and some had completely different names, due to historic reasons (for example, when a regional distributor was acquired). And lets face it, most people have no idea how to pronounce “Makhteshim”.

4. Your Company Needs to Improve its Reputation

If your company needs to distance itself from negative publicity or a crisis, a rebrand could help you start fresh. An example of this is Phillip Morris, the tobacco company, that rebranded the parent company as Altria, keeping the Phillip Morris name just for the cigarette subsidiary. But bear in mind that a mere name and logo change is not enough to change the entire trajectory of a company for the “company formerly known as…” 

6 Key Steps to Ensure Your Rebrand is a Success

Now that we know some of the reasons a company may choose to rebrand (and trust me, there are more reasons than those I’ve listed above), let’s explore how to make that rebrand a success. 

1. Clarify Your Reasons for Rebranding

If a company, and its people, doesn’t have a clear understanding of WHY it’s rebranding, the effort can lack focus and fail to resonate with customers. You need to establish a clear vision of what you want to achieve with the rebrand and how to communicate that effectively. Whenever I help companies with their brand messaging, we always do an exercise called “Why – What – How,” inspired by Simon Sinek’s classic “Start With Why.”  

2. Gather Stakeholder Input

Your employees, customers, and other stakeholders will have valuable insights that can contribute to understanding your current brand, and where it needs to go. They will also be key in communicating the brand outward once it’s defined, so it’s important to get them on board early, listen to what they have to say, and incorporate them into your process. I recall that ADAMA had multiple committees and meetings throughout its global team over the course of more than a year in order to really understand where it was coming from and to clearly determine its new brand direction. 

3. Research the Market, Trademarks, Domains

Make sure you have a good understanding of your market, the competition, and target audience, so you’ll be sure your selected brand name and logo will differentiate you, and be understandable for your audience.

You will want to make sure that your selected brand name won’t encounter trademark issues in your target markets – this has been an issue for Whole Foods which is trying to enter the Israeli market, and has experienced a trademark clash with the local department store Hamashbir, since they both use 365 in their logo and guess what, Hamashbir was here first.

You should also check that your selected name has a domain and social handles available, even if it’s “get[name]”; in the early years the social media scheduling company Buffer used the domain “getbuffer.com” since (I guess) buffer.com was unavailable or too expensive for them to buy. As they grew and became more successful, they were able to acquire the sleek buffer.com domain. 

4. Give Yourself Enough Time

Rebranding takes a lot of time, money and people-power. How much? Well, that depends on how big the company is, how well-known your current brand is, how many customers and stakeholders need to be involved in the process and then informed of the change, how big of a change this new rebrand will be, and so on. I’ve seen startups rebrand in a matter of weeks, later stage companies in months, and big, multi-national companies like ADAMA can take much more than a year.

Whatever size your company is, build a plan, get internal feedback on the plan and leave time for unexpected things to happen along the way. You really don’t want to rush this, and there are so many elements involved that you may not even realize when you first get started. 

5. Update EVERYTHING Quickly and Consistently

Rebranding is much more than just swapping in a new logo and color scheme – it touches everything a company does and communicates, both internally and externally. This is one of my pet peeves, and Twitter, or shall I say X, has already been called out for it by marketers around the world. You can see from the screenshot below – taken today – that even though the logo has been replaced, the domain is still twitter.com, and the call-to-action button still says “tweet” (click the image to enlarge). 

When I explicitly type x.com into Google, I do get the “correct” result, but the meta title and description still say Twitter. This could be a Google indexing issue but honestly, with the haphazard way this was rolled out, I kind of doubt it. I’m guessing it will be fixed in the coming days or weeks, but typically updating the meta tags, calls to action, basically everything, would be on a giant to-do list of stuff that’s got to get done before the new brand goes live. And then, in a big reveal, usually handled during the company’s slowest time – a weekend for most enterprise companies – magically (ok, it’s a ton of work that just looks like magic) everything gets transferred over to the new brand, even the sign on the building, while you weren’t looking.

The inconsistent application of X undermines this rebrand and can confuse customers. Although it’s definitely giving people stuff to talk about, so there’s that. 

6. Consult Rebrand Experts!

There are lots of people out there who have done rebrands before, marketers like myself, amazing design companies, your peers in other companies. Lean on them, consult with them, hire them. 

I have a postcard propped up on my desk that says “it’s OK not to know everything,” and most companies and their executives need to acknowledge this when it comes to a rebrand: there are very few people inside your company that will have this expertise. And it’s a big deal, not something you want to leave to trial and error. So I encourage you to reach out to the people who can help you, and if you’re not sure who those are, ping me and I’ll do my best to help. 

So is X’s Rebrand Going to be a Success? 

If you’re good at reading between the lines you’ve probably noticed that most of the things I’ve mentioned here as part of a good rebranding process are things that Elon Musk didn’t do. The Twitter/X rebrand has the feeling of something done on whim, even though Musk has said he’s wanted to do this forever and was able to buy back his original x.com domain, the question is, how much planning did he and his team do for the day of the switchover? From the look of things, not much – even removing the Twitter sign from the building got them into a spot of trouble with the police. 

Can you toss out the standard rebranding playbook and still be a success? Absolutely, unequivocally yes. Anyone who has worked in a startup knows that you will never have enough resources – especially time, our most limited resource – to do most things “right,” and you still have to get stuff done. So the fact that the rollout of X has had its hiccups does NOT mean it won’t succeed. 

The name and logo are clear and recognizable – maybe not my taste but since when has the entire world agreed when it comes to taste? Musk has put an unambiguous stake in the ground that the new, bold X is not the old Twitter, and the X concept is vague enough that he can basically define whatever he wants and take the company into whatever direction he wants. 

The Name

The name “X” has been criticized, but I have no problem with the idea of a company called X. Anyone who tells me that “Apple” is a better name is forgetting the decades of brand equity that has been poured into that name. Try to forget all that, and your obsession with your iPhone, and remember that an apple is just a fruit. If the company had been named after any other fruit, then that fruit name would have been the genius name.

The Logo

I’ve seen criticisms that the logo is uninspired, but honestly, I think it’s fine. It definitely falls under the “good enough” category. X could have spent months with a design firm, hours and hours of meetings and deliberations, and come up with something only marginally better than what they chose. This way they saved all that time (remember – time is a finite resource & we never have enough of it) and have something they can use. The company will give the logo meaning and not the other way around. In case you’re wondering what the process was to select this logo, here’s a nice summary. For anyone who has been through a more traditional logo design process, you know that they saved probably hundreds of hours of executive time by selecting the X logo in this seemingly random way, and that’s time that could be spent on other, productive things. 

Should You Do What Elon Musk Did? Probably Not

I’m sure if any of my designer friends have read this far, they are ready to kill me for what I’ve said about the X logo, but let me clarify. Design, logo, colors, a company’s overall look and feel are a crucial part of communicating the company’s brand. Twitter can get away with this because it’s Twitter (er, X), most companies that don’t have that kind of brand equity will just look inexperienced and unreliable if they tried to do what X is doing this week. 

Keep the Playbook in Mind for Your Next Rebrand

Which brings me back to my main point, the key steps to doing a successful rebrand. If X’s rebrand is amazingly successful – and only time will tell – it still doesn’t demonstrate that the steps I outlined above can be ignored. When you throw out the standard playbook, it’s useful to at least know the playbook you’re throwing out. I’d hate to see a less experienced CEO decide to follow Musk’s example simply because Musk did it; my recommendation for the steps above still stand – and trust me, I’ve left out a bunch of steps, because you can write books about this stuff, not just blog posts. 

Startups will always cut corners and won’t go through every aspect the way a multinational will, but start by knowing the right steps to take for your rebrand, and then you can decide which ones are relevant for your company, and which you can throw away. And if you need help figuring it all out, feel free to be in touch!

Fractional CMOs have made it to the

So what exactly is a fractional CMO? 

Let’s start with the CMO part of the phrase. Chief Marketing Officer is itself an amorphous term, with each company and CMO themselves defining it slightly differently. Depending on if your company is Business-to-Business (B2B) or Business-to-Consumer (B2C), and the size and stage of the company, your CMO will have slightly different responsibilities. 

Generally, the CMO leads the marketing strategy and execution for the company. This can include hiring and supervising the marketing team, overseeing marketing planning and budgets, generating brand awareness and leads, overseeing the marketing tech stack, and every other aspect that would traditionally go under marketing. The CMO is the marketing team member that represents the marketing group in management meetings, and usually before the board. 

And now for the fractional part  

If you remember from elementary school math, a fraction is a part of a whole. So basically what it means is that a fractional CMO works part time for the company. This can be as an employee, or, more typically, in a consulting or freelance arrangement. 

How companies benefit from fractional CMOs

Quicker hiring and onboarding

Hiring key personnel can be challenging, especially for early-stage companies, and hiring a CMO especially so. Even if you know the exact profile of the candidate you want to hire, it can take weeks or even months to find that perfect candidate, convince them to join your company (since they will definitely have other offers), and then wait through their notice period until the magical day they can start working for you. And this is a best case scenario.

However, many early-stage companies don’t know exactly what they need; a lot of questions come up during the process that they are probably not equipped to answer  – should you limit yourself to someone with experience in your specific industry? Someone who is located in your target market or closer to R&D? Do you need someone who is amazing at demand generation? Someone who can take your brand to the next level? A fantastic hirer and manager of other marketers? 

All of these questions – many of which have no ONE right answer – can make it difficult for a newish company to even know where to start looking, let alone how to interview the people they’ve found. For early stage companies, this learning process often happens in parallel to the hiring process, which makes the hiring process take even more time, and can turn off your top candidates since they’ll see your company as wishy washy or inexperienced. 

This is where a fractional CMO can be a huge help! Not only are they typically available to start right away (they either have availability or they don’t, in which case move on to the next fractional CMO), but over time, they can help you answer all those questions about what your company needs to look for. The fractional CMO can shoulder the burden of setting up the company’s marketing (or growing it, depending on the stage of your company), and help you better define the CMO role moving forward. 

So when you are both ready to move on to the full-time in-house CMO, the company will be much better prepared to search and select the right candidate for the job. And the company feels less pressure to choose quickly because the fractional CMO will often stay on until the full-time CMO is hired. I’ve done this several times, and it’s gratifying to pass the baton to a great marketer I like and trust, and often helped hire. 

More experience for less cost

Most fractional CMOs are experienced executives who have been-there-done-that for decades. In my case, I’ve led marketing at dozens of startups, gone through IPOs, secondary offerings, expanded into new markets, launched innovative products, achieved recognition from industry analysts, you name it, I’ve done it marketing-wise. 

Most of the fractional CMOs I know – and there is a pretty substantial community of these lovely people – are similar in terms of having been around the block a few times. The company that hires one of us for the equivalent of a few days a week, will not be paying a full time salary plus benefits, rather a fraction of that. 

And let me tell you a secret – our brains don’t turn off on the days we’re not supposed to be working for you. Some of my best ideas come in the shower or while washing dishes :).  

Unlike hiring a senior executive which typically involves a board decision to give them options, and adding them to your comp plan, hiring a consultant or freelancer is much less of a commitment. Of course, if it doesn’t work out with a fractional CMO, you’ve still lost valuable time, but it’s much less painful than going through a lengthy hiring process and then finding out that it’s not a good fit. 

You hire someone who truly loves what they do

Personally, I love the variety of being a fractional CMO since I get exposed to so many cool and different companies. Having to reinvent all the time, and finding what works for each company keeps me current about today’s marketing trends, and the things I learn about marketing at one company can often help me be a better marketer at another company. 

I also love the fact that as a fractional CMO I am mostly insulated from office politics. And I manage my own time, meaning I keep a close eye on work-life balance. These advantages work together to keep me happier, which positively affects the work I do with my clients.

Are there any disadvantages to working with a fractional CMO?  

Of course it’s not all rainbows and unicorns when bringing in a fractional CMO. Here are some of the disadvantages:

Fractional CMOs are outsiders

Even though most fractional CMOs will roll up their sleeves and dig in deep, they are still not officially part of your team, no matter how you look at it. They may have a company email address, be on your Slack, even participate in Whatsapp groups, but the sheer fact of their part-time hours, together with the fact that they work mostly remotely, and (shh…) they also have other clients, means they are not as fully involved in the day-to-day of the company. They may have more difficulty getting access to that specific person they need to approve something, or miss a quick update about a new customer or feature that happens over lunch. Luckily, now that more people are working remotely this is less of an issue. 

Most fractional CMOs will still go the extra mile when needed since we’ve been in the in-house hotseat before and know when it’s time to make the push. As an in-house CMO, there were times I had to be on zoom calls at 11 pm three days a week for weeks at a time while working on a project with people 10 time zones away; as a fractional CMO that’s not going to happen – I love my work-life balance too much to go back to that craziness. That said, if something has to get done urgently and we’re on a deadline, I’ll of course step up – I tend to, shall we say, overdedicate myself :).

Fractional CMOs are temporary 

The outsider-ness of the fractional CMO tends to go hand-in-hand with the fact that the relationship is assumed to be temporary. Of course, sometimes people forget that any job is temporary – according to research by Spencer Stuart the average tenure for in-house CMOs is 40 months, the lowest it’s been in decades. Often companies need to hire a fractional CMO because of a particular stage they are in – just establishing their presence, entering hypergrowth, strategy shift, etc. And these stages do come to an end eventually – or blow up beyond the capacity of your part-time resource – and it’s time to hire that full-time resource to take over. 

While according to the Wall Street Journal article, the average tenure of a fractional CMO is six to nine months, in my case I’ve had the pleasure of fractional CMO-ing at various companies for several years, and when it’s time to say goodbye I am thrilled, since it means that – with my help – the company has outgrown my services. In some cases, I’ve stayed on in an advisory capacity, which helps lessen the sting of goodbye on both sides. 

If you want to learn more about our fractional CMO services, feel free to reach out!

So how do we do it? We typically start with a questionnaire or briefing session. We ask our clients to really think about what sets them apart. Many times, though, we find that clients confuse “features” and “benefits.”

What IS the difference?

Well, it’s difficult, sometimes, for folks who are so deeply involved in a process, product or service to be able to actually communicate what their amazingfantasticfabulouswonderful “thing” actually provides for the user. It’s easy to explain why the “thing” is amazingfantasticfabulouswonderful…because, you know, it has this bell and this whistle. But just listing off a bunch of bells and whistles (features) doesn’t really tell users… WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM (benefits)!

Let’s be honest…your users? Yeah…the folks you kinda need to woo here? They really only want to hear what’s in it for them. They’re human, after all. So while it’s ok to point out some of the things that make your product or service so great…it’s even more important to explain how those things make your users’ lives easier or better or more fun or SOMEthing.

Let’s take a toothbrush, for example. Toothbrushes come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are battery operated. Some glow in the dark. Some come with a lid. Some have small brushes. These are all features. But none of those things really say why someone should buy this toothbrush over another one.

So what are the benefits here? Well…battery operated toothbrushes claim to provide a more superior clean because you get more brush strokes without more effort. Whoa! Really!? That’s amazing! Less effort and more cleaning!? Sign me up!

Glow in the dark toothbrushes can be more fun for kids. Or can make it easier for folks who have a hard time remembering where they leave things. Can’t find your toothbrush? Oh look! There it is…behind the bottle, under the cup in the very back of the VERY dark cabinet. Good thing it’s GLOWING so you can find it more easily!

Travel a lot? Or just like to brush your teeth after (literally) every meal? A toothbrush with a lid slips right into your briefcase, purse, man pouch or toiletry kit. No need to wrap it up in toilet paper or waste a sandwich bag. Just close up the lid and you’re good to go!

You see where we’re going with this? Even something as simple as a toothbrush can have many different features that offer many different benefits for users. If toothbrushes can be this complex, imagine how many features and benefits can be found for the latest technological gadget or software package.

What’s the bottom line?

The bottom line is that features and benefits are two different – but related – things. For you, the provider, it’s exciting to list off all the awesome features you’ve thought of for your new product or service. It’s exciting to think of all the cool things your product or service does. But for potential users? They want to know…WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM! So don’t make them guess. Just tell them!

Need help communicating your features and benefits? Drop us a line…

Together, the Lean Marketer’s CEO Rebecca Herson and NetDemand’s CEO Ariel Geifman, have joined forces to share with you five key criteria for whether to build an Account Based Marketing strategy.

With collectively over 30 years of experience helping dozens of tech companies grow, Rebecca and Ariel possess the knowledge to provide you with the necessary information to decide if ABM is the right strategy for your company.

Here are the 5 aspects to consider if your company should be implementing ABM – or watch the video at the bottom of this post.

1. Total Addressable Market

How many potential targets do you actually have? If your target market is around 500-1000 accounts, ABM would be the appropriate strategy. If your target market includes millions of customers, lead generation would be best.

2. Average Deal Size

What are your average deal sizes? If the average size is $50,000 and above, ABM would be relevant. If you’re selling something for 50$/month then ABM would not be beneficial

3. Multiple Decision Makers

Are there multiple decision makers in the mix? Then ABM would be the appropriate strategy, as it targets the all the major players of the account team.

4. Senior Decision Makers

Is the decision maker someone senior? ABM would be a good fit, because it targets multiple influencers in the organization, as most senior executives are too busy to review marketing networks often.

5. Budget

Do you have a limited and very focused budget? ABM can work with low budgets as opposed to lead generation strategies and reach the relevant people you are targeting.

Learn more by watching this short video!

I just received an otherwise lovely email this week that started with “Use this area to offer a short preview of your email’s content.” And this is not the first time I have seen this gaffe. If I hadn’t seen it happen often, I wouldn’t bother to write this blog post about it. I’ve seen experienced marketers and inexperienced alike do the same thing.

In case you’re not sure what I’m talking about, here is a sample template from MailChimp, a great mass emailing service. I’ve circled the part that sometimes people forget to edit. In other programs, this section may be less obvious than it is in MailChimp, which might explain why people tend to overlook it.

One way to ensure you never make this mistake is to test your emails in multiple platforms. For example, that preview text always shows up when I view emails on my tablet. I’d have to look more carefully for it when I read email in a Web browser. Before your big email sends, it is recommended to test how emails display in Gmail and other Web email programs (for example if you have a lot of subscribers using Yahoo mail) and multiple versions of Outlook, as well as on large and small monitors, and mobile devices.

Happy emailing!

Industry analysts can be very helpful for your company since they often strongly influence industry trends and key buyers. We would like to share where, why, who, what, and how industry analysts can support and boost your business in the complex and data-dense world we live in today.

The first question we need to ask ourselves is, why do we need to even engage these analysts in the first place? Especially for an enterprise software company, but equally valid for companies in other industries, it is important that the relevant analysts understand what you do and how your product or service improves the lives of your customers.
The two major reasons we believe you should engage analysts are one: to learn about the industry and understand who the leaders are; as analysts are in touch with many of your potential customers and can give you valuable feedback on the market and other competing vendors. Secondly, they can be quite influential for buyers, especially in complex technology fields like IT or cyber security. If you are not in touch with analysts, you cannot expect them to include you in their reports or to recommend you to end customers.

The second question you should ask is, where do the most trusted, respected, and informed analysts publish research on your field or area of expertise? Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and Frost & Sullivan are some of the major players in the high-tech industry and to name a few. We suggest doing research in your particular field to understand where the most appropriate analysts in your field publish their work.

The next question to answer is, who are the most influential and experienced analysts that cover the field your business is in? Get to know what their background and expertise is in so that you can feel confident in their analysis of your product or service based on their experience and strong understanding of your industry. You can get this information by reviewing the analyst bios – usually available on the Web — and any research they have published to understand if the analyst covers your field.

There are thousands of analysts out there. What is the most relevant research these professionals have covered? Have a look at articles they have been quoted in and blog posts they have written, especially since you may not have permission to view their entire pieces published by the analyst firm if you don’t have a subscription.

Finally, you must ask how can we contact the analysts and hook their interest in what we do and how we are helping to change our industries for the better? You should begin by briefing them-which are usually one-way and a chance for the vendor to update the analyst. The process is typically explained on the website, and be sure to follow the instructions carefully.

Once you do get a chance to speak to them, the analyst will occasionally offer some information about the industry, but usually in a briefing call, their role is to listen. For analysts who are active on social media or blog regularly, sometimes simply commenting on one of their blog posts or social postings can help you get their attention as well.

To gain deeper access to the analyst’s insights, you often need to become a client of the analyst firm, and then you can schedule inquiries or other more in- depth sessions to learn about the industry, polish your product strategy, or better understand the competition.

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image source: Information Builders

And today I work with dozens of companies on their marketing as an external strategist. In the podcast I share tips I’ve gathered over the years about how to hire the right marketing leader for the organization, and then how to recruit and grow the marketing team.

Companies are looking for long-term success, but you may not have the budget to hire the experts you need from day one, so you use a staged approach. 

The podcast covers:

• What to look for in a marketer
• Common mistakes to avoid when looking for marketers for your team
• How to screen candidates effectively
• The various parts of the marketing puzzle and how to make sure they are all covered by your team
• When it makes sense to hire a highly experienced (or “big shot”) marketer.
• How to properly qualify a writer and test them ethically

You can listen to the podcast here.

Almost every software marketer at some point needs to include screenshots in digital materials, whether its a web site, a blog post, or even social media postings. To be blunt, screenshots are BORING. So one way to liven them up is to use animated GIFs. GIFs are a type of image file that can contain multiple images, thus rendering it into a type of very short video that typically runs in a loop. 

Several of my clients have asked how to create animated GIFs by themselves, so I wrote this quick guide. It’s easy to create animated GIFs yourself with an office PC, you don’t need any special tools. I’m sure it’s even easier with a Mac, but since I don’t work on a Mac I can’t offer any instructions. 

1. Record the Raw Video

Windows 10 includes a screen recording app called “Game Bar,” and you don’t have to be a gamer to use it. To start the app, simply hold the Windows key and then click G , and this opens up the Game Bar. Click record, and it will record your entire screen and save it as an MP4 in your “videos/captures” folder.

It’s a pretty basic tool, so if you want to limit the recording area to a specific part of the screen, or perhaps you don’t have Windows 10, you will need to purchase another tool. Two tools that I recommend are Camtasia and Snagit. Both are paid tools, and both have free trials so you could use them for free if you just need to create just a couple animated GIFs and plan to do it within the time frame of the trials. The nice thing about Snagit is that you can select exactly what part of the screen you want to record, in case you prefer not to record your entire screen. I use Snagit for screen captures, screen videos, and even to record online sessions that I want to come back to later, so it’s a valuable tool to have on hand. And yet I still prefer to use the Game Bar for quickie recordings just because it’s easier. The animated GIFs in this post were recorded using the Game Bar. But for some clients where they insist that the GIF only include part of the screen, Snagit has been my go-to tool. 

2. Shorten the video

Animated GIFs should be short and sweet. Your Windows 10 computer has a built in tool for trimming down your videos, and you’d never find it on your own, trust me. And that is because it’s called “Microsoft Photos.” Strange name? Yes. But you can use Microsoft Photos to edit your videos down to size.

You can also use Microsoft Photos to create all kinds of other videos, blend clips together, add music and special effects, but that’s not what this post is about.

Trim the video you shot down to just a few seconds. You almost certainly will need to trim the beginning and end, and maybe even parts of the middle. Try to keep it to just the important parts, bearing in mind that you’ll probably want the GIF to run in a cycle, and you should include some visual movement, ideally more than just the mouse, since that’s hard to see. 

Once you’re done trimming the video, export it to an MP4 file. In Microsoft Photos, there is no way to export directly to GIF. Snagit, however, allows you to convert your MP4 into a GIF directly from the Editor screen, and you can customize its size, add looping, and more (another reason why some people prefer to do this in Snagit).  

3. Convert MP4 to GIF

Now you need to take your MP4 file and turn it into a GIF, and the best site I’ve found for this is Cloudconvert, which can convert just about any type of file into any other type of file. 

And that’s it! Easy peasy!

Here’s a nice example of a client site, BrandTotal, that used animated GIFs to display some of its new features.  If you use these instructions to create your own animated gifs, let me know in the comments – I’d love to take a look.