Avoiding the Porthole Problem: Why Hiring a Marketing Agency First is a Mistake
A marketing agency can only fix what it can see. Before you hire one, work out whether marketing is even the problem.
A marketing agency can only fix what it can see. Before you hire one, work out whether marketing is even the problem.
A fractional product manager and a fractional CPO are not the same job at different seniority levels. They are different jobs with different mandates, and hiring one when you need the other can break a company.
Here are a few scenarios (not an exhaustive list) to ask yourself “Does this sound like my business?”
If you’ve recruited partners but they’re not selling there is almost certainly a channel enablement gap, and in our experience working with B2B technology vendors across the UK and Europe, it’s one of the most consistently underestimated challenges in channel development.
You’ve got a product. You’ve got a few early customers – maybe from your network, maybe from a lucky inbound lead. But now you need to build something repeatable. Something that doesn’t depend on who you happen to know or whether someone stumbles across your website. Building a B2B sales pipeline from scratch is one…
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Are Content Syndication platforms like NetLine, LeadSpot, TechTarget and their cousins still worth your budget, or are they relics of a pre-AI era now dressed up in new clothes? The pitch is seductive. Pay a fixed cost-per-lead, hand over your whitepaper, and watch qualified prospects land in your CRM. Content syndication platforms like NetLine, LeadSpot,…
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If you’re leading a startup or medium sized organisation right now, it can feel like you’re behind. Someone on LinkedIn just vibe-coded a full outbound engine in a weekend.Another founder built a lead scoring model with three prompts and a Zapier flow.Someone else claims their AI SDR is booking 40% more meetings than their human…
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As we look toward the latter half of the decade, the AI tools at our disposal to deliver ABM campaigns will only get more powerful.
But let us never forget the golden rule of B2B, a rule that has survived the dot-com bubble, the mobile revolution, and now the AI age: People buy from people.
Here at KickDrum Partners, we’ve always believed that the right backbeat is crucial for any successful business. For us, that’s our fractional approach to marketing and business development. But what if we told you there’s a new rhythm emerging, one that can make that backbeat even more powerful? The buzz around Agentic AI is everywhere,…
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The rapid rise of LLM Search and AI-driven technologies challenges traditional notions of SEO. Questions emerge: Does SEO matter with the rapid rise of LLM Search? How do businesses adapt their marketing strategies in this shifting landscape? SEO remains a critical component in ensuring visibility and relevance amid AI-powered search evolution. It no longer focuses…
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