Q&A with Mark Emond, Founder, President at Demand Spring

Q&A with Mark Emond, Founder, President at Demand Spring

July 20, 2021

Mark Emond , Founder and President at Demand Spring , founded and leads Demand Spring, an organization of dynamic, experienced individuals with a passion for working with B2B Marketers in building the marketing strategies, content, and technology stacks that drive transformation and top-line results. They work with organizations ranging from early-stage to many Fortune 500 organizations.

Content is at the heart of great marketing today. It needs to educate, inspire, and convert. It must be tied to the unique rational and emotional needs of each target persona

MEDIA 7: What was your inspiration behind starting Demand Spring?
MARK EMOND: In the early days of my career, I worked in marketing for several larger organizations, including IBM, Cognos, and Corel. But throughout that time, I always had an entrepreneurial drive and a belief that I could create a firm focused on the demand side of marketing. While there are many brand agencies, I always struggled to find a great demand-focused one when I was on the client-side. I thought I could help address that gap and help marketers operate from a more strategic position in their organization. And so, 9 years ago, I took the leap and founded Demand Spring.

M7: How does Demand Spring's Leap Advisory help your clients strengthen their marketing teams?
ME: We studied the market deeply for about a year to really understand that there is a pragmatic advisory gap that exists between CMOs and their executive teams today. Leap addresses that by enabling our clients with access to over 25 CMOs, thought leaders, authors, and subject matter experts across all marketing disciplines. Our Leap customers engage with these advisors as a sounding board, to drive education throughout their teams, for custom strategy sessions, and for external-facing presentations to help connect with their stakeholders.
The key is to use data and technology to serve up highly targeted content across channels, tuned to the stage of the buyer journey a prospect is in, and what their behavior shows they are most apt to engage in.

M7: What marketing channels do you use and which ones do you see as the most promising, given your target customers?
ME: We are big believers in an integrated multi-channel model— in both, our own marketing and the work we do with our clients. In today's long B2B buying journey, buyers are in control and they are interacting across multiple channels. The key is to use data and technology to serve up highly targeted content across channels, tuned to the stage of the buyer journey a prospect is in, and what their behavior shows they are most apt to engage in.

M7: How does Demand Spring's integrated revenue marketing services help marketing organizations outperform?
ME: Our team delivers advanced yet pragmatic marketing strategy and activation services to our clients. Most of our consultants have spent much of their careers on the client-side, so we understand the need for quick wins and long-term transformation. We use a methodology called the Revenue Marketing System that has five dimensions that marketers should seek to optimize in order to drive great client experiences and revenue. They need to deeply understand their buyer personas and the buyer journey. They need to align marketing and sales and break down silos within marketing. They need to develop their talent and their business practices and processes. They need to deliver exceptional and highly personalized engagement through content and digital practices. And they need to do it at scale by automating and analyzing it with technology. We deliver services that line up with all five of these dimensions.
Great content engenders a two-way dialogue. It's about telling stories but also sparking conversations with your prospects and customers. M7: What role does content marketing play for product marketers? Which content format performs best for your product?
ME: Content is at the heart of great marketing today. It needs to educate, inspire, and convert. It must be tied to the unique rational and emotional needs of each target persona. Great content engenders a two-way dialogue. It's about telling stories but also sparking conversations with your prospects and customers. The format really depends on the persona and the stage of the buyer journey they are in. That is why it's essential that a great content strategy goes hand in hand with a deep buyer persona and buyer journey research. M7: When you are not working, what are you seen doing? Would you like to share your hobbies with us?
ME: Our family is really active. Our typical day involves an early morning dog walk, swimming in our pool, and usually going to a sport, such as soccer or horseback riding for my daughter. I have a huge passion for coaching youth basketball. In addition to being a competitive basketball coach, I serve as the Director of Player and Coach Development for my local youth basketball association. So, I spend lots of time at the gym and love developing young people and basketball players.

ABOUT DEMAND SPRING

Demand Spring helps marketers deliver pipeline and revenue through integrated B2B Revenue Marketing advisory and implementation services. We're a boutique firm with over 20 full-time employees throughout the US and Canada. We serve high growth technology organizations right up to Fortune 1000 brands such as BNY Mellon, Dun & Bradstreet, Canon, Fidelity Investments, Putnam Investments, Staples, and Waters Corporation.

Barry Richards is the VP Global Strategist at Transmission, London. With over 25 years' experience in the B2B Marketing industry, Barry is a seasoned strategist with a specialism in Account Based Marketing programmes. As part of the leadership team Barry has helped establish and develop the ABM planning, research and insight functions at the agency (including an Insight's Centre of Excellence). He has worked across all accounts and regions helping clients create the right ABM strategy and programmes to meet their goals....

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Laura Goldstone, Director, Communications and Branding Strategy at AdDaptive Intelligence, and an MBA graduate is an accomplished, creative, and strategic marketing leader with a proven ability to develop and implement integrated marketing and communication strategies. We had the opportunity to explore her expertise in elevating brand identities through correct messaging that addresses the customers' pain points. Read on to find out how she leverages analytics and sales communication when creating marketing campaigns that work for AdDaptive Intelligence....

Collibra receives multiple MarCom Awards, including two Platinum and three Gold Awards, recognizing achievements in design, publications, and podcast production.Highlighted among Collibra's successful projects is 'The Data Download' podcast, which is focused on the data community, AI/ML, and data governance education.The MarCom Awards, sponsored by the AMCP, celebrate creative excellence in marketing and communications, emphasizing the importance of creativity and branding in a competitive market.Collibra, a renowned data intelligence company, has recently announced its remarkable success at the MarCom Awards, where it garnered numerous prestigious accolades for marketing and communications. The company's outstanding achievements were acknowledged with two Platinum Awards, three Gold Awards, and one Honorable Mention, spanning categories such as creative design, publications, and podcast production. One of the highlighted endeavors among these accolades was 'The Data Download,' a podcast dedicated to the data community, AI/ML, and data governance education.The MarCom Awards are a prestigious platform that celebrates the exceptional achievements of creative professionals involved in the conception, direction, design, and production of marketing and communications materials and programs. The judges, who are seasoned industry experts, seek out companies and individuals whose talents transcend the conventional standards of excellence and serve as exemplars for the entire industry.Collibra received the following awards:Platinum AwardsCollibra Impact ReportCategory: Creativity - Design | Annual Report / CSRCollibra Impact ReportCategory: Publications | Annual Report | CSRGold AwardsThe Data Download Podcast by CollibraCategory: Web Based | Web Element | PodcastCollibra Partner Program Brand GuideCategory: Creativity - Design | Identity SuiteCollibra Partner Program Brand GuideCategory: Creativity - Design | Program GuideHonorable MentionThe Data Download Podcast by CollibraCategory: Creativity - Design | Identity SuiteMarCom stands as one of the most renowned and longstanding creative competitions globally. These awards are sponsored and evaluated by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), a leading organization with a 28-year history comprising thousands of creative professionals.Denise Vu Broady, the Chief Marketing Officer for Collibra, remarked that in today's highly competitive market landscape, strong creativity, branding, design, and content have become more important than ever for brand differentiation. She expressed her enthusiasm in observing Collibra's efforts being acknowledged with multiple MarCom honors. She further conveyed her excitement in sharing this recognition with their broader team and extended her gratitude to them for their diligent efforts in earning these awards.

Seeding and harvesting the sales pipeline — the process of acquiring, capturing, qualifying and converting business opportunities — are essential to the growth and profitability of B2B marketers across every industry and geographic sector. Marketing is largely responsible for driving this business process, yet nearly two-thirds of lead gen and engagement strategies are underperforming.A new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council report, produced in collaboration with WM America, entitled "Fire Up Your Revenue Generation Engine," covers critical aspects of lead generation and engagement. This includes models and metrics for tracking and measuring performance, best practice demand-gen execution, ways to score effectiveness, and more.The latest CMO Council research finds scores of marketers falling behind in lead scoring, account-based marketing, accelerated pipeline, and intention-based marketing. Key findings from a Q4 survey of over 170 B2B marketing, sales, revenue, growth, demand gen and campaign execution leaders include:63% say marketing must own and optimize a company's revenue-generation engine64% say their lead gen and engagement strategy underperforms78% of highly evolved marketers are satisfied with their accelerated pipeline, compared to only 15% of lesser evolved marketers"In today's competitive data-driven environment, marketers should no longer be satisfied with paltry returns on their sizable lead-gen and ABM investments," the report notes. "It's time to turn the tables on inefficient, ineffective, and outdated practices for anticipating, adapting, and responding to customer needs and opportunities.""Marketers must climb the evolutionary ladder and leave behind outmoded and dated practices," notes CMO Council executive director, Donovan Neale-May. "Using AI-derived, intention-based buyer data and advanced sales intelligence are among the ways growth marketers bring more precision, predictability, and performance to B2B account marketing investments."The CMO Council's research revealed the top five skill sets contributing to improved ABM-driven business outcomes:Better segmentation and precision targeting of buyers and influencersOn-demand customer business intelligence and personal buyer insightsTighter integration of demand gen, channel, direct sales, and support teamsGreater utilization of tools and data sources for richer prospect profilingProactive and timely pre-sales follow up and cultivation strategiesThe CMO Council has uncovered widening gaps in performance between highly evolved marketers and lesser evolved marketers. Gaps are occurring in four core capabilities: lead scoring, account-based marketing, accelerated pipeline, and intention-based marketing.This report tiers factors that make up a model for better identification, engagement and conversion. The model coincides with the CMO Council and WM America's thought leadership initiative to advance lead revenue science practices through a certified Lead Evaluation and Assurance Process, or LEAP model. "Marketers will need to take a few LEAPs of faith in the coming months, because sticking to the status quo is just not practical or possible anymore. As data becomes more critical than ever before, CMOs need to extend their visions for innovation and forward-thinking strategies," according to Lee Salem, WM America's Vice President of Sales.MethodologyThe report is based on a survey of over 170 heads of B2B marketing, sales, revenue, growth, demand gen and campaign execution in Q It also included content from in-depth interviews with executives from Netline, Autodesk, T-Mobile, NTT, ABM Consortium, TechTarget, IBM, B2B Marketing, Reachdesk, Momentum ITSMA, and Xometry.About the CMO CouncilThe Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council's 16,000+ members control more than $1 trillion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include over 65,000 global marketing and sales executives in over 110 countries covering multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Council's strategic interest groups include the Customer Experience Board, Digital Marketing Performance Center, Brand Inspiration Center, Marketing Supply Chain Institute, GeoBranding Center, and the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE). To learn more, visit WM AmericaWM America is a leading B2B marketing company specializing in targeted in-market demand generation. The intent database at WMA tracks the intent behavior of over 75 million business professionals globally, 24X7. The database is segmented into 3,300 categories. WMA keeps around-the-clock track of buying signals from each category in this database. Based on this extremely strong foundation of data points, the company delivers precisely targeted prospects for focused marketing. Accurate keyword search enables deriving of active content consumption and opt-in content downloads. WMA's deep search ensures accurate and targeted information delivery that helps craft successful, cutting-edge marketing strategies. For more information, visit

Demandbase, an AI-driven account-based go-to-market (GTM) leader, has been named a leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Platforms.The recognition is based on Demandbase's completeness of vision and ability to execute and follows being named a Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice for ABM earlier this year.Demandbase's CEO, Gabe Rogol, attributes the recognition to product innovations and positive customer reviews.Demandbase, a pioneer in AI-driven account-based go-to-market (GTM), announces its recognition as a leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Platforms. This honor, which follows a comprehensive evaluation of nine vendors, is a testament to Demandbase's comprehensive vision and its ability to execute effectively. Earlier this year, the company also received the Gartner Peer Insight Customers' Choice for ABM.Gartner defines ABM platforms as software that empowers B2B marketing and sales teams to implement ABM programs at scale, including account selection, planning, engagement, and reporting. These platforms facilitate the creation of target account lists by integrating first- and third-party data. Additionally, they may engage audiences by activating channels such as display advertising, social advertising, email, and sales engagement, using a combination of native capabilities and integrations.Gabe Rogol, CEO of Demandbase, expressed his praise for the innovations the team had worked on by exclaiming,We are honored to be recognized as a leader in the Gartner ABM Magic Quadrant once again this year. We believe this recognition is a reflection of the dedication and effort we've invested in our product over the past year, including innovations in connected TV advertising, non-English intent, new integrations, continuous improvement of our account intelligence, the release of workspaces for enterprises, simplified dashboards, UI improvements, and more. We also believe this recognition mirrors the consistently positive reviews we receive from customers through Gartner Peer Insights and on G2. We extend our gratitude to Gartner, our customers, and our entire team.[Source – Cision PR Newswire]According to the Magic Quadrant report, the essential capabilities of ABM platforms include:Account-level intent data (proprietary and/or licensed) to understand customer behavior and buyer interest.Multi-channel campaign orchestration and activation drive engagement and progression in the buyer's journey.Monitoring accounts and measuring analytics to quantify progress and performance across channels, campaigns, and programsOn the downside, Demandbase may face stiff competition from other vendors in the ABM market, such as 6sense, Terminus, and Roll Works. It may need to invest more in product development, marketing, and customer support to maintain its leadership position and customer satisfaction. Additionally, it may encounter challenges in integrating its platform with other systems and data sources, such as CRM, marketing automation, and analytics tools. On the upside, Demandbase can leverage its recognition as a leader and a customer's choice to attract new customers and retain existing ones. It can also showcase its product innovations and customer reviews as proof of its value proposition and differentiation in the market.

Demand Spring helps marketers deliver pipeline and revenue through integrated B2B Revenue Marketing advisory and implementation services. We are a boutique firm with over 20 full-time employees throughout the U.S. and Canada. We serve high-growth technology organizations right up to Fortune 1000 bra...

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