Charanyan Venkataraghavan 🦸

Why every B2B tech company is scaling GTM team in India 🇮🇳 350,000 That's the B2B GTM pool one can tap in Why India is a great place to build a GTM team for global tech / SaaS companies? 1990s IT service companies hired and nurtured the talent 2000s big tech brands - IBM, Adobe setup the GTM teams in India (focused on India) 2010s thousands of SaaS companies nurtured and leveled up the talent ecosystem (focused on global) Now we have world-class Digital Marketers BDRs Sales reps Inside sales experts Marketing automation folks Visual Design and Developers ABM experts PLG folks Content and Product Marketers based in India doing GTM for top global companies The big reason for building in India is not COST ANYMORE The talent is analytical and can solve hard problems is hardworking can speak/write great English can hustle and move fast is 3-4X economical There is no better time for global tech brands to build and scale "GLOBAL GTM teams" in India If you want any help in building world class GTM team in India Happy to get on a call and share my insights The golden time for India is here Let's get to work AND work super hard and show outcomes #b2bmarketing #hiring #strategy #SaaS

77

4 Comments

Amit Bendov's 🦄 recipe👨‍🍳 👇 🍪 Product: So good that even a weak GTM team can sell it. 🍳 Marketing: So good that it can sell a weak product. Who here can say that they have both? Building a list of future unicorns 💜 Will Allred and the Lavender 💜 team confirmed they have both. List (in progress): 1. Lavender 💜 2. Clay 3. Instantly.ai 4. Chili Piper 5. 6. 7. Who else?

65

7 Comments

Handle objections with data-driven value! Valuezen Copilot empowers your sales team to address concerns and showcase real ROI.  Turn "not sure" into "I see" with powerful insights! Know more: https://valuezen.ai/ #B2BSaaS #PostSales #ValueRealization #CustomerSuccess #SaaS

5

📈 The fastest growing startup I've worked on tested landing pages relentlessly. Here’s my 8-part checklist we used to improve conversion & max profitable growth -   1. Start with device:   Responsive design is table stakes for improving conversion. But you can't stop there. Knowing scroll patterns, traffic distribution, and full-funnel performance (E.g. visit, scrolls, clicks, add to carts, etc.) by desktop vs. mobile dictates priorities.   2. Go with a two-fold approach:   Assuming some scale, do a) big swing, multi-variable tests and b) incremental, single-variable tests.   With “a,” you have a higher probability of moving CVR, but you won’t have full clarity why. That’s okay, go book the win.   With “b,” wins are smaller, but you’ll know exactly what boosted CVR (to fold into future testing).   3. Focus on above-the-fold:   For low consideration, low-cost offerings, spend 80% of your energy above the fold. Make sure you also have a CTA without scrolling--most never scroll.   For high consideration, high-cost offerings, still spend 60%+ above fold. While you can’t sleep on full page UX, nothing matters if you can’t get them to scroll.   4. Lose the nav links:   If you want an LP to convert, give people “less outs.” The lowest hanging fruit is removing header and footer links.   5. Hammer the key elements:   Top elements to move CVR: headlines, subheads, hero images, social proof, and CTA copy.   6. Build a great stack: Most CVR wins happen during iteration. Worry less about having the perfect page. Obsess more about having a tech stack that allows you to start/finish tests weekly.   7. Don’t sleep on page speed:   Good teams obsess over testing the right elements. Great teams know speed and "technical growth" are just as important.   8. Prepare for failure:   Booking conversion wins is hard - -The tracking is hard. -The tech stack is hard. -Moving the needle is hard.   There’s a reason most startups do Paid Ads, but few do CRO regularly. BUT if you keep at it, it might be the single best lever for growth & profits. #startups

17

10 Comments

I disagree, one such example that comes to my mind after reading this is Byju's where they built distribution and never focused on product. While on the other hand PW had an amazing product and distribution got solved over a period of time. As a founder I am not deeply in love with the product but with the problem we are solving and to solve we need to focus on just one metric - Customer Delight. #product #startups

6

Purpose of reviews that marketing seeks from customers is very different from ones that Product seeks. Marketing wants 5 star review rating everytime, so they can showcase and pull more customers. That does no good to Product other than some ego massage (a death pit). Products wants reviews from pissed off customers as there’s product gold hidden in there. All is tolerable till marketing starts giving incentives to customers for giving positive reviews, that’s where Product is pissed. Eventually that’ll create more pissed off customers too. #ProductMindset

5

B2B SaaS products are like an onion. They have layers upon layers. (they also make you cry, but that's a different story.) Product teams working from the inside out tend to create a stable footing on which to build. Even if they pivot their product at a later point, their strong understanding of the core customer problem helps them make an informed decision. Sadly, many teams skip a layer and have to pay the price, e.g. → Constant rework due to incoherent product strategy. → Poor product-market fit due to lack of clarity on customer problems. → Missed growth opportunities because of misaligned messaging and positioning. As a result, the onion tends to crumble. So, what layers make up the onion? At the very core is a set of customer problems and pain points. Not every pain is equally important. Typically, issues with significant scale, repeatability, and business viability are excellent bedrocks on which to build. Understanding the pain points is only half the problem. The gold usually lies in validating those assumptions with research and feedback. Moving on with the layers, Vision & Strategy → This layer deals with imagining what a better version of the world would look like → That vision is then translated into some business model and strategic choices. → Those choices are often informed by market insights others aren't seeing. Growth & Engagement Engine → This is the product architecture that expresses the roadmap. → This includes activation, retention, growth, and monetization models. → Involves the choice of opting for product-led or sales-led growth (or both). User Journeys → These are common constructs in SaaS that enable users to extract value. → Includes things like onboarding, lifecycle emails, business workflows, etc. → This layer also allows for personalization and recommendations. User Interface & Technology → All the user journeys are wrapped around a layer of UX and tech. → The user interface, wizards, configs, etc., are vessels that deliver the user journeys. → Non-functional aspects like performance and security are addressed here as well. The layers covered till now were more product-focused. The outer layers deal more with go-to-market and product marketing. The product marketing layer contains strategic activities related to messaging, brand positioning, and content strategy. These are then fed into product launches, marketing tactics, and sales enablement to serve as the distribution fuel. Finally, the outer marketing and sales layer is the first touchpoint that the customer experiences in their journey - from reading demand-gen content to receiving email campaigns to participating in a community. Notes: ↳ You don't need all the tactics in every layer on Day 1. ↳The external layers can be added on once the core strengthens. ↳PMs lead the inner layers. PMM takes the lead on the outer ones. But both collaborate throughout.

1,125

32 Comments

Are you utilizing HubSpot's lead scoring system? It's a game-changer for prioritizing and focusing on high-potential leads. 🎯 https://arissaindia.com/ #arissaindia #HubSpotLeadScoring #LeadScoringSystem #LeadPrioritization #LeadManagement #potentialleads #prioritizing #hubspotleads #HubSpot #HubSpotCRM #hubspotmanagement

4

This flywheel mechanism will feed your SaaS new customers till time stops. It might be boring but it works. YouTube is by far one of the best channels for B2B SaaS companies to market their solutions. "But David, YouTube is only for B2C" WRONG! B2B decision-makers use YouTube as an alternative means to find B2B solutions to solve their problems. Here's a couple of interesting stats. 46% of B2B technology buyers will purchase a product or service after viewing video content, which includes YouTube videos. 5 in every 10 B2B decision-makers use YouTube when researching new products and services. Every SaaS founder and marketer should be investing their time in producing content on YouTube at least 2-3 times per week. It's digital real estate that can feed your business forever. Check out the video below to see how to turn YouTube into a customer acquisition engine for your SaaS business.

5

2 Comments

Unlock the Power of Personalization in your messages. As the CEO of emBlue, a #CustomerEngagement platform, I often see companies missing out on the potential of proper segmentation in their campaigns. It's shocking how many accounts have little to no #segmentation and relies instead on batch and #blast methods. And I'm not talking just about sales; it happens with loyalty programs, collecting invoices, or Happy Birthday messages. Audience management is the foundation of engagement and success. You can use your #FirstPartyData, customer behavior, or analyze the log of the last conversation. Is it rocket 🚀 science? Let me say NO, and using #AI is easier than ever. But today, I don't want to delve deeper into segmentation issues—I’m sure you have the tools; just take the time to learn and use them.  Instead, I want to talk about another very important topic: 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. This week, I encouraged my team 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 with prospects. Humanizing communication means making interactions more personal, empathetic, and relatable, even within automated processes. While automating the #CustomerJourney is crucial, special attention must be given to content and personalization. Choosing the right data to craft the right message ensures our communications feel genuine and tailored, enhancing the overall customer experience. It involves ensuring that the content and messaging resonate on a human level, creating a sense of connection and understanding. As I mentioned, while automating the customer journey is crucial for efficiency, it's vital to focus on content and personalization, carefully selecting the right #data to craft #messages that address each customer's specific needs, #preferences, and #behaviors. By doing so, you can deliver the right message at the right time, making the interaction feel more genuine and tailored. This will ultimately enhance the customer experience and foster stronger relationships. Finally, you are improving the trust and connection between the customer and the brand, creating advocates, and increasing the customer's lifetime value (#CLV) #CustomerEngagement #EmailMarketing #SMSMarketing #MarketingStrategy #Personalization #emBlue #CustomerExperience #DigitalMarketing #HumanizeCommunication

17

7 Comments

𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗣𝗠𝗠𝘀 Yes this is very true specially in early startups. I often see product marketing mangers going all in formulating a long term strategy. However when you are working at a early startup, a PMM has to balance between long term and short term growth. 𝗟𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝘆 1. 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗽𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁𝘀. This might sound harsh but as a PMM you should be willing to drop a set of users if you pivot Building a short term strategy on the foundation of such early adopters is rational decision then investing in long term engagement. 2. 𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀. Short term goals allows for more flexibility and nimbleness while taking early product to market. It helps to qualify the long term viability of the users and the size of the market for achieving PMF. Else you are stuck with an audience which might be best fit but not enough scale to achieve PMF 3. 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 and PMMs needs to be mindful of this while formulating their early GTM strategy. 10 % of product marketing investment in achieving rapid early growth while pivoting may helps in 80% of future growth while moving away from early adopters.

7

If you run Facebook leads ads - be aware In the past 10 days meta has a bug were leads to do not appear in the lead center and all the fancy automations you set up do not work (zapier, make etc..) The only way to get the leads is manually go one ad at a time and download the CSV directly form the ad manager. Meta reps say they are familiar the issue and engineers are working on it. Judging by my previous Meta experience this will be probably be resolved in another week or two.

3

Most ecom & startup ad dashboards are totally wrecked. There’s only 10 Ad KPIs for Profitable Growth:   The Basics 1. Spend & Rev: to check basic ad boxes 2. Customers, AOV, & Freq: to explain rev 3. Regressions: to understand ads’ impact on rev 4. LTV/CAC or Payback: for more sophisticated spend strategy   Ad Profitability 5. ROAS: for timely in-platform optimizations 6. MER: to honestly assess spend effectiveness 7. CM (lite): to ensure ads drive incremental profit ➡️ Calc: Gross Profit – Ad Costs   Goals (for ecom) 8. GM: 50%+ 9. CM: 30%+ 10. Net Income Margin: 15%+   Throw out the rest, you don’t need ‘em.   Measure less. But measure better.

12

4 Comments

Double your cold email reply rate by using industry podcasts + AI to find your prospect's pain points. Intent data is the most powerful way to send relevant and timely emails to the receiver's pain points and challenges. One of the most data-rich ways to find intent data is by analysing podcast episodes from industry thought leaders. You can scrape these podcasts at scale with a simple workflow and identify the guest's contact details. With the podcast transcript, AI can analyse timestamps and seek mentions of pain points that your solution can solve. Decision-makers are often candid in podcasts about sharing their business challenges. Here's the 10-step process: 1. Identify the names of the top 5 industry podcasts in the same format (speaker + guest). Make sure your ICP is the guest. 2. Find the YouTube playlist URLs of the podcasts you want to use 3. Use a YouTube playlist scaper to return a list of all the videos 4. Enrich the videos with the description, duration and the full transcript of the video using a video > transcription tool 5. Import the enriched CSV to Clay 5. Use AI to find the guest's LinkedIn profile by identifying the link in the video description or searching for their name. 6. Enrich the LinkedIn profile with their company name and business email 7. Use AI to identify the timestamps of the pain points in the transcript in relation to problems your solution solves. Write a prompt to provide a description of your solution and typical pain points you solve for accuracy. 8. Write an ice-breaker line with the pain points, relevancy and the fact you've seen them on podcast X 9. Refine the ice-breaker line in the format "I noticed you were on Joe Rogan's recent podcast, and mentioned you were facing challenges around hitting your £10m revenue target this year." 10. Export the final CSV and import it to your email-sending tool

18

1 Comment

Often, we see great products going nowhere – not because of the product but because of wrong positioning. Customers dictate the journey of a early stage SaaS company: If you onboard wrong ICPs initially, you will not be able to offer the value they need, you end up beating your product, marketing and sales teams instead, and the cart goes nowhere. When you onboard right ICPs - you will be delivering the value they seek. Resulting in superior customer experience which then drives customer led growth. Wrong ICPs are detrimental to early stage SaaS companies. It’s a crawl, walk and then run - you’re going to fall hard if you try to run before you learn to walk. Know your ICP one at a time, cater to them to the best you can, and only then scale. As a SaaS founder, you must understand that it takes a solid product coupled with a strong brand and right positioning to scale. Your brand must complement your product: That’s your positioning. In your brand communication, be clear about what you can and cannot do. It’s not always about presenting yourself as better than the competition; the truth eventually prevails. No company can claim 100% market share, so focus on what you can solve and for whom, be transparent about it. Building a brand is like writing your CV, it’s essential to speak the truth. A smart interviewer will know how to spot the lies. You might get the job with an untrue CV, but you won’t be able to keep it. Similarly, you might win some early customers by faking your brand story, but you won’t be able to retain and grow them. When you date someone and want to marry them, you must be honest about your likes, dislikes, strengths, and weaknesses. Lies will eventually be caught, and you won’t have a happy marriage otherwise. The same applies to your brand. You’d rather communicate the truth and win customers you can keep and grow. Branding isn’t just about lead generation or GTM: it’s the positioning. It embodies the persona of your company and reflects your values A strong brand experience can compensate for certain product shortcomings by creating positive interactions and emotional connections with your customers. This experience includes every touchpoint your customers have with your company, from your website and customer service to your marketing communication and the product itself. Your brand tells the story of who you are, what you stand for, and why customers should trust and engage with you. Build a genuine, honest brand: your customers will drive the growth for you. In your SaaS journey, first focus on helping your customer win - really win, eventually they will drive the growth for you. It takes a good product coupled with a strong brand and right positioning to scale your SaaS company. Most brands achieve Sales Led Growth. Good brands achieve Product Led Growth. Great brands achieve Customer Led Growth. #SaaSStory #SaaSTalks #GrowthStory

46

4 Comments

You can now schedule and publish Threads on Zoho Social. Easily plan, post, or schedule your threads and see how they’re performing with post insights. Start threading today! 🧵🙌 #ZohoSocial #ChannelIntegration #NewUpdate #ProductFeature #NewIntegration #Threads #SocialMediaUpdate

31

I recently analyzed 50+ B2B SaaS blogs and noticed a common theme among the strugglers: Diluted expertise. These blogs covered 10+ different topics, desperately casting too wide a net. The result? They caught no fish. No authority. No leads. No differentiation. But how do you narrow your focus? Instead of trying to appeal to everyone, find your content value proposition. What’s that? It’s the primary benefit or solution your content offers to your target audience. Your content MVP lies at the intersection of three key areas: 💥 Your strengths: What unique expertise, knowledge, or resources does your company possess? 💥 Audience needs: What pressing pain points, challenges, and desires do your ideal customers have? 💥 Market opportunities: What content gaps or unmet needs exist in your industry that you can capitalize on? Let's use Semrush as an example: 1. Semrush's strengths: ✨ Tools for marketing ✨ Firsthand knowledge of product usage ✨ Massive databases for market research 2. Their audience's needs: ✨ Actionable marketing insights ✨ Strategies to outperform competitors ✨ Guidance on optimizing online visibility 3. Relevant market opportunities: ✨ Interest in seeing products in action through use cases ✨ Desire for tools that simplify complex marketing tasks Here's Semrush's MVP: Becoming the go-to resource for actionable marketing strategies by showcasing their toolset through product-led content that simplifies digital marketing. Trying to appeal to everyone attracts no one. Counterintuitive, but true.

46

3 Comments

Feel like your Klaviyo account could perform better? Here's 10 things you might be missing. 🔘 Core revenue driving flows Below are the 6 flows that drive the most revenue: → Welcome → Abandoned Cart → Customer Winback → Abandoned Browse → 1st to 2nd Purchaser → Abandoned Checkout 🔘 Multiple subscriber lists It's important to keep all of your main subscribers in one list. There will be occasions where you need to use multiple lists, such as when your collecting subscribers for a competition. But, ideally, they should all go into one 'master list'. 🔘 Low popup submission rates Popup submission rates should ideally be around 3/4%+. If they're any lower than that, then there's a good chance you either need to tweak the design or revise the conditions that have been set. 🔘 Not utilising segmentation I'd recommend splitting your database by engagement. The 'highly engaged' segment would be anyone in your master list and has engaged in the last 30/45 days. The 'unengaged' segment would be anyone in your master list, but has not engaged in the last 30/45 days. 🔘 Limited testing / analysis While it may seem that all flows and campaigns are performing well, there's likely still room for improvement. You should test things such as: → Different types of segments (engagement / VIP's) → Send times / flow time delays → Email templates → Subject lines 🔘 Branded sending domain not setup We're seeing this less and less since the 1st February, but it still appears. Branded sending domains play an important role in the health of the domain you send emails on. If you haven't set your business up with a branded sending domain, you're likely sending from a shared domain, which can affect deliverability. 🔘 Not enough emails in existing flows Here's what I'd recommend for the core flows. → Welcome: 3-5 emails → Abandoned Cart: 2-4 emails → Customer Winback: 2-4 emails → Abandoned Browse: 2-3 emails → 1st to 2nd Purchaser: 3-5 emails → Abandoned Checkout: 2-4 emails 🔘 Inconsistent campaign sending schedule Something I see often is email campaigns being sent very sporadically. Ensuring that you stick to consistent days/times is important to keep up your engagement levels. 🔘 Email template not following best practice All templates need to be fully optimised for both mobile and desktop. They also need to meet email best practices. 🔘 Highly un-engaged data not being removed There's often a lot of highly unengaged data that gets forgotten about and it's important these records are suppressed. The best way to approach this is by setting up a 'Sunset' flow that will automatically tag anyone who is deemed 'highly unengaged'. ——— If you need any support with Klaviyo, or advice on how you can boost attributed revenue to 30-40%, please get in touch: 👋 Send me a LinkedIn message 📞 Book a FREE email audit - https://lnkd.in/eeZxETvg #emailmarketingtips #emailmarketing #emailautomation #emailcampaigns #klaviyo

10

5 Comments