Hugh Macfarlane, Author at align.me

3 tips for reengaging with your customers after a disruption

Business disruption happens. We’ve all just experienced what is likely the biggest disruption of a generation (let’s hope). Because of COVID-19, a lot of businesses have dialled back their operations, or stopped completely. A lot of regular customers have stopped buying. It’s been a crazy time for everyone. But as we all emerge from our lockdown stupor, things are picking back up and businesses are getting back into the swing of things. And that means reaching out to their customers and wider audiences. Taking the right approach when reengaging with your audience is vital to warm them READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

Finding rhythm: When’s the right time to talk to your buyer?

When a buyer is ready to talk, we need to talk with them right away. And if they’re not, we need to follow up. But what is the right cadence? How quickly should I follow up? How quickly should my next and my next and my next correspondence be? How many should there be? Landing the right cadence - That's what we're going to explore in this month’s blog. Timing is everything When you say something is just as important as what you say. Imagine you've been used to receiving emails every month notifying you about a READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Evergreen, Velocity|

How to know when you should outsource marketing Pt 2

In Part 1 of this blog, we started small – focussing on businesses who are achieving less than $20 million annual revenue. Here, we’ll be going a little bigger and look at those turning over more than $20 million. While the numbers are different, the concept is the same – your marketing needs to evolve as your business does. When revenue exceeds $20 million Once you get to around $20 million, it’s time to look at bringing some, or all of that marketing in-house. So, you're going to hire one or two in-house marketers. If there's READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

How to know when you should outsource marketing Pt 1

When is outsourced marketing a good idea? When should you do it in-house? Here’s my experience... Evolve your approach to outsourced marketing I’ve managed outsourced marketing for hundreds of businesses – and operated as the outsourced group Chief Marketing Officer for many of them. So, I have got a pretty good handle on what works and what doesn’t. Let me give you a really short summary of what I’ve learned should be outsourced – and when. The answer’s not complicated, but it does need to evolve as your business evolves. Today, I’ll be talking about marketing approaches READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

6 steps to building a shared Sales and Marketing process (they both agree to) Part 2

In part 1 of his blog, we discussed the first three steps you need to take to start creating an aligned process and team. But that’s only half of it. From here, we’ll build on those steps to finish up and agree on a clearly aligned sales & marketing process that gets both teams on the same page. Remember, the net effect of building a single, optimised Sales and Marketing process is that the lead acceptance from Marketing to Sales doubles (by 108%) and Marketing’s contribution to revenue does better still (by 126%). How to build a 1-page READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

6 steps to building a shared Sales and Marketing process (they both agree to) Part 1

If you want Sales and Marketing to be on the same page, then there had better be only one page. Here's how to do it. Benefits of an aligned Sales and Marketing process Research shows that building a single process when it comes to Sales and Marketing has some very measurable and substantial benefits for your business, including: Increasing lead acceptance by 26% Increasing lead closure rate by 15% and Marketing's contribution to revenue by 59% Lifting lead acceptance by another 31%, and Improving lead acceptance by another 27% and marketing generated revenue by another 63% when READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Alignment|

Inbound marketing vs. outbound? A case for both.

The marketing world has been fascinated with inbound marketing for years. Is inbound always the right way to go? And are there parts of your market where inbound is the right approach, and others for which outbound is better? Three types of targets When considering who you wish to market your business to, there are generally three key targets you should focus your energy on: Target role and company — this is one or more key senior roles in the company you really want to sell to. They are the decision makers, or perhaps the right starting point. READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

6 steps to building a shared Sales and Marketing process (they both agree to)

If you want Sales and Marketing to be on the same page, then there had better be only one page: A single page that defines your sales and marketing process. Here's how to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1YYKEmy7K4 Benefits of an aligned Sales and Marketing process Our research into alignment (and 20 years and 500 projects) have shown that building an aligned Sales and Marketing process has some very measurable and substantial benefits for your business, including: Increasing lead acceptance by 26% Increasing lead closure rate by 15% and Marketing's contribution to revenue by 59% Lifting lead acceptance by READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Alignment, Evergreen|

The rules for sending an effective cold email

Cold emails are not necessarily spam — but if poorly done, they can be just as annoying. So, what do you have to do to get it right? Addressing the big S word: Spam Before we jump into how to send the most effective col emails, we need to address the elephant in the room. The biggest fear about sending cold emails is being 'spammy'. No one wants to bombard prospects with unwanted messages, frustrate the hell out of them, and end up hurting business reputation. But not all cold emails are considered - or received as READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Evergreen, Tactics|

5-min Marketing Brief? Funnel Plan Makes It Easy

What's in a marketing brief? At it's core, a marketing brief needs to describe what you want done and any constraints like timing and budget But there's more, right? In the very least, some helpful context like a description of your target market and the products / services you offer. And maybe why buyers even need a product like yours so the tactic can speak to this motivation. We'd argue that the context of the tactics also matters. What's happening before and after this tactic, and long side it. Also which stage of the buyer's journey READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

About Hugh Macfarlane