Get ready as we take a trip down memory lane…  We’ve got a bit of a different episode for you this time. We’re sad to say that Jason, our VP of Marketing, will be leaving Metadata. So we thought this would be a great opportunity to look back at Metadata’s marketing highlights, challenges, mistakes, and fun stories from behind the scenes of DGU.   Join us for a bittersweet farewell as we swap stories and sum up all the lessons we’ve learned over the past few years of Jason’s reign over the...

We’d all love customers to have zero objections to buying from us, but overcoming sales objections is a key part of any sale.   How we handle those objections makes all the difference between gaining a new customer and losing one.   The truth is that sales objections are nothing to be afraid of. In fact, they’re a window into potential customers’ thoughts – and those thoughts can inspire great marketing content. In this episode of DGU, we talk about our own experiences with sales objections...

The number one goal for demand gen marketers has always been generating pipeline and revenue.  However, times are changing and more of us are now required to focus on staff retention. Given the economic climate, it’s understandable but, for many, it’s unfamiliar territory.  So, where do we start?  In this episode of DGU, Mark and Jason discuss how they’re prioritizing customer retention as a marketing team, what they do to try and improve retention and what they’ve learned along the...

Every B2B marketing team is currently asking themselves the same thing... how do you adjust your marketing plan according to what's going on in the world right now?  It's a chaotic time and having a plan is a great start. But what happens when you have to adjust that plan and then a few months later, have to adjust it again? It’s no easy feat, which is why in this episode of DGU, Mark and Jason cover one of Jason’s not-so-favorite topics… planning!   Tune in to find out how the team at...

A laser-focused approach to audience targeting is a must in today’s market. And with all the different tools out there that can collect data, we can really dig into the numbers to improve our targeting.  In this episode of DGU, Mark and Jason revisit a topic they’ve covered before – how to target effectively and define your ICP with data. But we’ve made a whole bunch of changes at Metadata since that episode, and arguably, targeting is more important than it’s ever been.  Tune in to hear...

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, times are tough for B2B marketers. Every buying decision, whether it’s a new purchase or renewal, is under serious scrutiny right now.  The best place to start for B2B marketers is to recession-proof your messaging. You need to make sure whatever your company sells is positioned as a must-have product or service in any type of economy. On DGU this week, get an inside look at we’re adjusting our messaging in a down economy at Metadata. Listen to the full...

Every demand-gen marketer knows what it’s like to get stuck on the MQL hamster wheel. You get into a cycle of churning out more leads and demos – while pipeline and revenue are left out of the party. Moving away from MQLs to revenue involves a big overhaul of sales and marketing processes, and sadly B2B marketers on LinkedIn aren’t really explaining how to do it. In this week’s DGU, you’ll get an inside look at how we moved away from being solely focused on MQLs to working across the whole...

How do you get customers hooked on your product? Not just signing up, but hooked in a can’t-imagine-life-without-it way. We can’t all be Starbucks, after all.   That’s the idea behind PLG or product-led growth – get your customers hooked on your product and telling everyone about it. It’s something we’ve been trying out at Metadata, and as usual, we’re here to tell you about the stuff we’ve got right along the way, and the things we’ve got wrong, so you don’t have to do the same.  Mark Huber,...

Are you standing out on LinkedIn for all the right reasons? Or is your page gathering dust and tumbleweeds?  We’ve seen our fair share of LinkedIn blunders over the years, from radio-silent accounts to outdated memes to leave-it-to-the-intern strategies and cringey self-promotional posts.  …And we’ve been guilty of a couple of them ourselves. Admittedly, our LinkedIn game wasn’t great in the early days. But thanks to the help of some LinkedIn masters, we’ve turned that around.   In this...

Are you hitting the nail on the head when it comes to internal marketing? …you are doing internal marketing, right? Don’t worry if you’re not. We’ve got your back with this episode of Demand Gen U. Metadata duo Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing, and Jason Widup, VP of Marketing, break down exactly why internal marketing should be a priority. You’ll hear about the challenges, mistakes, and experiments the Metadata marketing team has explored while doing internal marketing – so...

Budget cuts, layoffs and everything in between – it’s tough to be a B2B marketer right now.   Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing, and Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata are feeling it too, which is why they figured the best place to start is with something you can control.   So right now, they’re slap bang in the middle of a ‘no meeting’ experiment and it’s having all sorts of effects on the productivity of the team.   Tune in to find out:  The lowdown on the experiment...

If you want to learn how to audit your ad accounts and make sure you’re set up for success in 2023, then guess what? You’re in the right place!  On this episode of Demand Gen U, Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing, is joined by Silvio Perez, former Head of Product Innovation, to discuss all things ad audits.  Silvio’s an expert on this, so Mark asks him what to bear in mind when looking for a new ad account in 2023.  Plus, Silvio explains the biggest ways people mess up with ad...

What does good demand gen look like in 2023? We scrolled through our archives and analytics to discover that episode 5, ‘What Good Demand Gen Will Look Like in 2022’ is one of our best-performing episodes. So, here we are. Doing it all over again for 2023. On this episode, Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing and Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata, discuss the demand gen landscape for the year 2023. They explore doing more with less after budget cuts, giving buyers total...

As we wrap up our first year of Demand Gen U, we thought it would be fitting to look back at everything that’s happened at Metadata over the past year. We’re taking a trip down memory lane to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly at Metadata in 2022! Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing and Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata, reminisce over Demand events, comparison pages, LinkedIn demos and damning budget cuts. It’s not one for the faint-hearted! Find out: Our successes...

The disconnect between marketers and creative teams – it’s a tale as old as time!  But it doesn’t have to be that way, right? When these two teams have a solid and productive relationship…BOOM…great things happen.  On this guest episode of Demand Gen U, Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing at Metadata, sits down with Algert Sula, founder and CEO of creative branding agency. Algert reveals all about his route into the industry, why he believes marketers and creatives sometimes...

It’s no secret…being a marketing leader can be hard. No matter what study you’re looking at, it feels like the average job tenure for marketing leaders gets shorter and shorter by the month. Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing and Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata, get vulnerable on this episode of Demand Gen U, as Mark asks Jason about everything that comes with being a marketing leader and invites him to share the challenges he has faced through his career. Find...

No matter what industry you’re in, one thing is certain. You have direct competitors. And with so many options on the market, it can be difficult for buyers to see if you’re the option for them.  Especially when they have to battle through buzzwords and empty promises!  In this episode of Demand Gen U, Jason Widup, VP of Marketing and Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing at Metadata, discuss the humble comparison page.  They discuss how you should use them, how much time to spend...

At Metadata, this year has gone super fast. It feels like just last week we were finalizing our planning for 2022. But now the focus is very much on 2023. In this episode of Demand Gen U, Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing, is joined by Silvio Perez, Head of Product Innovation, and DGU newcomer Bryttney Blanken, Senior Demand Generation Manager at Metadata. They discuss a range of topics surrounding campaign planning, including how to get started, whether you need campaign...

Buying B2B software can be such a pain. Many companies require you to book a demo and speak to multiple people, only to be asked the same questions you’ve already answered! To put it simply, buying B2B software is broken. In this episode of Demand Gen U, Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing at Metadata, is joined by special guest Sam Senior, co-founder and CEO of TestBox, to discuss how to fix buying B2B software. Sam explains why he started TestBox, how and why B2B companies...

It’s that time of year again! Time to put a finger in the air and make an educated guess at what you need to do across the next 12 months to drive your business forward.  Planning is a colossal challenge. When you throw limited resources and an ever-changing business landscape into the mix, it can look like a pretty scary prospect.    In this episode of Demand Gen U, Mark Huber, Head of Brand and Product Marketing joins Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata to discuss how you can build...

So much of sales is about solving existing problems. But category creation is about something new entirely. Joining this episode of Demand Gen U is a panel of experts, including Sydney Sloan, Executive in Residence at Scale Venture Partners, Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight, and Mike Volpe, Senior Advisor at Silversmith Capital Partners. Together with Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata, they break down exactly what category creation is, the different phases of it, and when it’s necessary,...

How do you make the leap from lead gen to demand gen? It can be a tough sell to leadership, but this episode of Demand Gen U looks at how Kaylee Edmondson, Advisor at Chili Piper, steered her team toward demand gen success. We discuss what Kaylee did when she first joined the team, how she sold the idea of demand gen to leadership, and how the team measured progress. We also hear how Kaylee’s team learned to “crawl, walk, and run” with demand gen and what the result has been like for the...

Have you been toying with the idea of building a B2B community?   Before you jump in, there are a few things you’ll want to plan out first. In this episode of Demand Gen U, we share a little about how Metadata launched its community. Jason Widup, VP of Marketing, is joined by Katie Ray, Head of Community at Metadata, who shares some great takeaways for any business looking to build a community.   Katie and Jason share some insights into the initial planning process, how they decided what type...

If you’re in B2B marketing or you’ve simply opened LinkedIn recently, it’s no secret that category creation is all the rage.  But many B2B marketers are working in companies that have never ventured into category creation.  Neither Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing or Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata, had created a category before.   So, in this episode of Demand Gen U, Mark and Jason outline Metadata’s quest to create a category, what they’ve learned so far, and their...