Mark Evans
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Fractional CMO for B2B SaaS Companies | Brand Positioning & Marketing Strategy | Host, Marketing Spark Podcast
Articles by Mark Evans
PURDUE EXTENSION: Fuel lawn/garden small engines through winter
These fall days won’t last forever but the nights are so cool. … That seems like a song of the season, but what won’t be singing next spring are small engines that are not stored properly for over winter. It is time to be working to make ready lawn and garden equipment with small engines for winter storage. There are also those items used year around like backpack blowers and items used only in winter like snowblowers that would need this consideration in the late winter and spring.
PURDUE EXTENSION: Fuel lawn/garden small engines through winter
These fall days won’t last forever but the nights are so cool. … That seems like a song of the season, but what won’t be singing next spring are small engines that are not stored properly for over winter. It is time to be working to make ready lawn and garden equipment with small engines for winter storage. There are also those items used year around like backpack blowers and items used only in winter like snowblowers that would need this consideration in the late winter and spring.
Enhancing creativity with domain-specific design heuristics for digital product innovation
Abstract A key challenge for product designers is the generation of creative ideas that meet the functional and usability requirements of clients and users. This challenge has been further compounded by the opportunities arising from the integration of digital technologies. To enhance creativity in design practice, we proposed a domain-specific DHS, supported by a novel framework, to specifically aid the concept generation phase.
August 2025, #1469 - Vol 167
You will be signed in for 6 hours upon logging in New to The Burlington Magazine? August 2025 Vol. 167 | No. 1469 Decorative arts Pioneering in her enthusiasm for the achievements of the Pre-Raphaelites, Mary Gardner Bennett organised taste-changing exhibitions and published significant catalogues, establishing a scholarly basis for Liverpool’s great collections of British art. Obituary read more Paris figures prominently in the art-historical imagination.
The Tooth, the Tale, and the Takeaway: The Power of Storytelling in Marketing
About a month ago, I lost a tooth. How? That depends on which version of the story you’d like to hear. Version one: I’m in a bar with my buddies, talking sports, minding my own business, when a beer is knocked over by someone who had too much to drink. Words are exchanged, shoves are traded, and fists fly. If you think I looked bad, you should’ve seen the other guy! Version two: I’m playing hockey (ice, not field!), my life-long passion.
My B2B Marketing Wish-List for 2025
As we look toward 2025, it’s clear that marketing must evolve to stay relevant and impactful. Businesses face a rapidly changing landscape where generic approaches no longer cut it. Here’s my marketing wish list (some of it is wishful thinking!) that addresses key areas where companies can do better to engage audiences, differentiate their brands, and drive meaningful results.
7 Ways to Ensure Prospects Show Up for Demos
A “Book a demo” notification excites every SaaS team—it’s a signal of potential sales amid fierce competition. But what happens when too many of these demos requests turn into no-shows? Maybe your calendar is filled with tire kickers—people who sign up but with no intention of committing—or leads who ghost you last minute. Whatever the reason, low attendance rates can be frustrating. The good news?
Fractional CMO vs. Strategic Advisor: What’s the Difference?
As a CEO or entrepreneur, you know that strong marketing leadership is key to driving growth. But what happens when your business isn’t quite ready to hire a full-time Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)? You might find yourself deciding between two popular alternatives: a fractional CMO or a strategic advisor. But what’s the real difference, and how do you choose which one is right for your business? I hear this question all the time, especially from B2B SaaS leaders.
Has Intercom Gone Too Far With AI?
For many companies, AI is viewed as an irresistible force—a shiny, mysterious, and seductive technology that promises to revolutionize industries. But with this growing allure comes an important question: how far should companies lean into AI as a core element of their branding and differentiation strategy? One example comes from Intercom, a well-known customer service platform. Intercom has aggressively repositioned itself with a new AI-first narrative. But is this the right approach?
The Dog-Powered Content Creation Hack: How Walking My Dog Generate Content Ideas
Sometimes the best ideas come when you’re not sitting at your desk, staring at a blank screen. As marketers, we spend so much time thinking about strategies, keywords, and content calendars that it can feel like a grind. But what if I told you that some of my best content ideas come from… walking my dog? Yes, you read that right. Let me introduce you to a concept I’ve embraced — dog-powered content (or more specifically, dog walking-powered content).
How Barefoot Wine Mastered Brand Positioning and Customer Research to Capture a Market Gap
Every great entrepreneurial story has a moment when everything just clicks—a realization that you're on to something bigger than you ever imagined. For Barefoot Wine founders Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, this came from two key insights: brand positioning and customer research.
How Barefoot Wine Mastered Brand Positioning and Customer Research to Capture a Market Gap
Every great entrepreneurial story has a moment when everything just clicks—a realization that you’re on to something bigger than you ever imagined. For Barefoot Wine founders Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, this came from two key insights: brand positioning and customer research.
Authentic Marketing Lessons from Teddy Swims
Have you ever stumbled upon something that unexpectedly inspires you? That’s exactly what happened to me with Teddy Swims on TikTok. Until recently, I had never heard of Teddy Swims or listened to his music. But after stumbling upon one of his videos, it’s safe to say I’m hooked. His videos have become a quasi-obsession for me—and if you haven’t seen them yet, I highly recommend checking them out. So, what makes Teddy Swims so captivating? It’s not the glitz and glam of a high-budget production.
How to do Marketing Without a Budget
If you had no marketing budget, how would you drive brand awareness and leads? Create a ton of content? Look for speaking opportunities? How about guerrilla marketing at conferences? It’s a conundrum that I encounter with prospects and clients. They’re excited about marketing but have little or no money to actually do it. It’s like wanting to throw a party, but not having the money to buy drinks and food.
The Best Salesperson That I’ve Ever Met
It’s amazing when an old dog teaches you new (sales) tricks. Here’s the story: My wife and I are travelling through Guatemala and Mexico. While wandering the cobblestones of Antigua, we were charmed by Marco, an 80-year-old guide/hustler, who offered us a tour of a local coffee plantation. Marco told us the tour was $5, but he wasn’t clear on whether the price of the plantation ticket was his fee.
How to Get B2B SaaS Prospects to Embrace Change
I’m a sucker for shiny, new online services. Even when I’m happy with what I’m using, it is tempting to try something else. For example, I participated in a conference call with someone using Sessions.us, an AI-powered platform. A friend who raved about it (and the sweet deal he purchased on AppSumo) piqued my interest. But I didn’t leave Zoom for the Sessions bandwagon for several reasons. Zoom integrates with many of my other tools, so switching to Sessions would have meant a lot of manual work.
Why Brand is Key for B2B SaaS Success
Sadly, brand building isn’t a priority for most B2B SaaS companies. But it’s a missed opportunity and a strategic mistake. Instead, B2B SaaS companies are focused on non-brand-building activities up and down the sales funnel. There’s a lot of brute force being deployed to drive leads and sales. Let’s spend a bunch of money on Google ads and retargeting! But here’s the thing: 90% of people aren’t looking to buy right now.
Why Hiring a Fractional CMO is Getting Harder
Hiring a fractional CMO is tougher than ever. The problem: the number of people jumping on the FCMO bandwagon. It’s a sexy title (a heck of lot better than calling yourself a “marketing consultant). But for companies, it’s more challenging to determine the right option for a key hire. Here are some thoughts from somone who has been doing it since 2021: • Fractional CMOs are not magicians. Just because they have experience and expertise doesn’t mean they can make results happen overnight.
How Do You Really Know if You’re B2B Marketing is Working?
B2B SaaS CEOs often struggle to know whether marketing is working. With zero-click marketing, people consume your content but don’t visit your Website. Meanwhile, gated content has less appeal so collecting email addresses is more difficult. And it’s difficult to correllate marketing activity to specific outcomes — aka if we do X, why will happen. Marketing leaders are under pressure because it’s harder to quantify success.
An Engaged and Collaborative CEO Drives Better, Faster SaaS Marketing
"How can I help my marketing team as a CEO?" is a question we should hear more. It's not uncommon for CEOs to take a hands-off approach to their marketing. They delegate marketing efforts to a CMO or agency and then excitedly wait for leads and sales to roll in. Here's the hard truth: it's a mistake for a CEO to sit on the marketing sidelines. Why is it so important for your CEO to be involved? The CEO knows the business inside out. The CEO is an in-house industry expert.
Who Are the Best SaaS Customers?
By Mark Evans That's an easy question to answer. It's people and companies who want, need AND are willing to pay for marketing. These are wise words from Vince Moreau. Listen to the podcast with Vince Moreau.
Your Blueprint for Landing B2B Podcast Spots
It's a "throw spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks" approach. A case in point (and I get many of these emails) is someone a pitch from a guest with farming and commercial real estate expertise. Now, I would guess that this guest is knowledgeable, but it's nowhere close to a fit for my podcast, which is focused on marketing and technology entrepreneurs. From the outside looking in, this agency is doing its client a disservice.
Challenging Traditional Thinking - EBP in Policing
EVENT SPOTLIGHT Global Collaboration of Evidence Based Policing Save to watch laterYou need to be SIGNED IN to use this feature. Evidence-Based Policing (EBP) is growing globally, ensuring that policing strategy, operations and tactics are based on what works, according to evidence and research.
Insights and Strategies for B2B and SaaS Entrepreneurs: Nima Olumi
"From strategy and ideation to media placements in weeks." It's an audacious promise made by Lightyear Strategies. But CEO Nima Olumi says his PR agency delivers due to strong relationships with reporters and bloggers. When you hire a PR agency, what you're doing is leveraging their Roledexes. You pay a PR agency to connect you with the people who matter to you.
Why Content Marketing Isn't Always the Answer
Content marketing was a no-brainer for B2B and SaaS companies not long ago. Now, I'm not so sure. The content marketing landscape is overwhelming, and ChatGPT and AI will create a tsunami of blog posts, eBooks, guides, social media updates and videos. The challenge isn't creating content; it's creating content that attracts an audience. For all the talk by the marketing gurus about repurposing content, the new game is distribution and consumption (D&C).
Mastering the Art of Being a One-Person Marketing Department
It's tough to be a one-person band. Can you imagine what it's like to be a one-person marketing department? You're the go-to resource. Well, the only resource. Talk about pressure to perform! As the "lone wolf" marketer at a few companies, Dock's Eric Doty has great insight into what's involved and the key to success.
Dunville's Irish Whiskey
When a brand dies, it usually disappears and never sees the light of day again. But some old and neglected brands still have value that can be leveraged with a new and different approach. People remember these brands nostalgically or rally around brands with retro appeal. It allows some brands to not only come back from the dead but be revived, refreshed, and reinvented.
How to Improve your Security Posture and ROI
By Mark Evans, VP Marketing and Packet Capture Evangelist at Endace Let’s assume your security team has completed all the “low-hanging fruit” security essentials. They’ve made sure all the basic hygiene factors have been addressed – efficient patch management is in place, network and endpoint security and log collection solutions have been deployed, and alerting and security incident triage processes are working too.
Identification of molecularly unique tumor-associated mesenchymal stromal cells in breast cancer patients
PLOS ONE, Mar 2023 This is a preview of a remote PDF: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0282473&type=printable Jonathan A. R. Gordon, Mark F. Evans, Prachi N. Ghule, Kyra Lee, Pamela Vacek, Brian L. Sprague, Donald L. Weaver, Gary S. Stein, Janet L. Stein. , PLOS ONE, 2023, Volume 18, Issue 3, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282473
Identification of molecularly unique tumor-associated mesenchymal stromal cells in breast cancer patients
Loading metrics Open Access Peer-reviewed Research Article Abstract The tumor microenvironment is a complex mixture of cell types that bi-directionally interact and influence tumor initiation, progression, recurrence, and patient survival. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) of the tumor microenvironment engage in crosstalk with cancer cells to mediate epigenetic control of gene expression.
Is the Mega-Tech Conference DOA?
Pre-COVID, many B2B SaaS companies took a FOMO approach to conferences. They attended and sponsored to avoid being outflanked by rivals. The last thing they wanted to see was to miss out on a prospect. It was even though most conferences didn’t generate an ROI. If companies did the math, they would discover the 80–20 rule; most prospects likely came from a small handful of conferences.
NetFlow’s Dirty Little Secret
By Mark Evans, VP Marketing, Endace Many organizations assume their security tools can see everything that happens across the network to detect potential threats. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, for two reasons. Firstly, if security tools are only analyzing network flow data (NetFlow) then they can’t analyze the actual content of network transactions.
Customer Newsletters Are Great Engagement & Loyalty Engines
It’s time for the lowly newsletter to shine amid tough economic times. They can be valuable retention tools if done right. A customer newsletter can engage, enlighten, and motivate. It conveys that a company cares about its customers and their success.
Happy customers is the best marketing
This is important when getting customers is hard. They talk about you with friends and become digital evangelists. They drive referrals and become powerful marketing and sales agents. I bought a box of chocolate mint bars that were really salty. They were so salty that they were inedible. Rather than dismissing it, I sent a note to Clif’s customer service. In less than 24 hours, Clif’s customer care department responded, apologized, and asked for my address to send a replacement box.
Five Ways to Maximize Success on LinkedIn
Want to be more successful on LinkedIn? Here are the five C’s for success. – Content: Sharing ideas, guidance and advice is a no-brainer to drive brand awareness and thought leadership. – Comments: As important and valuable as content. Content creators and LinkedIn’s algorithm love comments. Mix up your content using text posts, carousels, curated content, videos, short posts, and long posts. My advice: comment with purpose rather than one or two-word answers, or hit the “like” button.
Positioning and messaging are fluid and always evolving
Positioning and messaging are not set-it-and-forget-it concepts. They evolve as the economic, industry and competitive landscape changes. Messaging that worked a year ago doesn’t resonate today. Take Bravado, which saw its 2022 revenue projections plummet by 75% as customers, particularly high-growth tech companies, stopped spending on sales hiring services.
Good marketing and branding makes perception a reality
I recently received a call from someone interested in buying my business. It quickly became apparent that Marketing Spark was too small. When I asked about his interest, he said my LinkedIn activity looked “imposing”, which suggests that I look bigger than I am. This is the power of marketing. Perception can become reality. You can look big, even if you’re small. • A Website using a customized WordPress or Webflow template that creates a good first impression.
The unsung marketing workhorse: the one-pager
Here’s to an unsung marketing hero: the one-pager. While small in stature, the one-pager packs a punch. It highlights what a company does, the key benefits, and how its product is unique, different, or better. A one-pager delivers marketing and sales ammunition for corporate influencers to win over their bosses and decision-makers.
When Should You Hire a Chief Marketing Officer?
When is the right time to hire a CMO? When is the right time to hire a fractional CMO? At some point, you need marketing leadership to speed up growth and seize opportunities. You need someone who has been there and done that. You want someone you can trust and have confidence that they’ll show you to the promised land. But here’s the thing: CMOs and fractional CMOs are expensive and unnecessary for many companies.
Sales lessons from Bob the Hustler
I’m taking tennis lessons and seeing a super-salesperson in action. While Bob works on improving my strokes, he’s also hustling for business. When players walk past our court after playing, Bob makes friendly small talk and….pitches his services. Bob is doggedly relentless. He doesn’t get discouraged when people say “no, thanks.” He may be unable to convince them to accept his offer but he builds a relationship that could pay off down the road.
Let's improve your positioning and messaging
As loyal (hopefully!) newsletter readers, you know that clear and powerful positioning and messaging underpins a company’s operations. But what happens when you have uninspiring and confusing positioning and messaging? You see: • High bounce rates and low conversions on your Website. • Sales decks that fail to intrigue or enlighten. • Employees who tell different stories about what you do.
In tough times, show the love to your customers
Amid the obvious desperation for leads, here’s a way for B2B SaaS to drive revenue. Proactively and creatively market to your existing customers. I’m not talking about a lame monthly newsletter featuring product updates and conference appearances. It’s marketing that educates, inspires, and emphasizes the value and benefits of your products. It’s a webinar showing people how to become more efficient or reduce costs.
How to Really Measure the ROI of a Podcast
Question: “How many subscribers does your podcast get?” Answer: “I don’t know.” Question: “How can you measure its success?” Answer: Well, it’s complicated (but not really). A podcast is a mysterious creature for data-driven marketers. Having many listeners is great, but other benefits are more valuable. For one, a podcast provides permission to ask anyone to be a guest. It could be a prospect, customer, partner, blogger, or influencer. Podcasts are digital catnip.
Words aren't sexy but they power Website conversions
So why are so many Websites confusing and uninspiring? Why do words get in the way rather than sparking opportunities? I interviewed Ekaterina (Sam) Howard, a conversion copywriter and strategist for B2B SaaS startups, to answer these questions. The struggles with Website copy boil down to: – Copy overload; the need to tell everything to everybody as soon as possible – Fluffy copy, especially within home page hero images. Don’t get Sam started about two-word headlines.
The marketing basics may boring but they're critical
When times get tough, it’s time to focus on the basics. It’s being clear about your positioning, messaging, and target audiences. There’s no ambiguity about what you do, whom you serve, how you help, and how you’re better, unique, or different. Boring? Maybe. Critical? Absolutely. With every B2B SaaS client, I start with positioning, messaging, and customers. If you don’t nail the fundamentals, your marketing and sales are unfocused and unsuccessful.
The ups and downs of learning a two-handed backhand
There are times when I hit the ball amazingly well. And times when it goes directly into the net. But the key is committing to the process and recognizing that success emerges from the ups and downs. Learning is challenging and often uncomfortable. It’s hard to accept failure and make mistakes, particularly if you’re skilled at other things. But embracing new experiences and seeking knowledge makes life a lot more interesting. If you’re not learning, you’re not moving forward.
Dark social and Dark Web are just old-fashioned marketing
“Dark Web and Dark Social are like old-fashioned marketing.” It was an intriguing response from an upcoming podcast guest to intriguing phenomena. In simple terms, Dark Web and Dark Social are marketing activities that are hard to track. It’s invisible conversations, information and link-sharing happening behind the curtains. But here’s the thing: it’s NOT a new business challenge.
Hello. Would you like a glass of wine?
“Would you like a glass of wine?” That’s a savvy way to turn a visitor into a prospect. It’s a marketing/sales tactic that turned a quick retail visit by my wife into a long conversation….with a glass of wine. And then it got more interesting: – The person, Diego, who offered us the wine, lived in Toronto (where we live) before moving to Porto. – I learned he’s looking to import wine into Canada, so I plan to connect him with a friend.
The importance of creating internal marketing partnerships
The best marketing takes place when the marketing head and CEO form a solid partnership. They agree that success comes from experimenting, learning, optimizing and sometimes failing. Marketing struggles when the CEO expects instant gratification and sees unsuccessful campaigns as mistakes or bad marketing. As economic conditions become more challenging, it’s important that CEOs and marketing leaders are on the same page strategic and tactical pages.
The importance of positioning amid tougher economic times
When the going gets tough, the tough double down on positioning. As economic growth slows, it means stiffer competition for sales. Brands with strong positioning will ride out the storm while brands with unclear positioning will sadly struggle. You can no longer rely on the rising tide lifting all ships. Amid softer demand and fierce competition, it’s more important than ever to stand out from the crowd.
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