Agility in B2B Marketing With Ashley Widener

About Guest

Ashley Widener is the Director of Marketing at GoCo, a company that specializes in HRIS solutions encompassing employee onboarding, document management, payroll, and benefits administration. Under her leadership, the marketing team has significantly contributed to GoCo's growth, building the marketing function from scratch and enhancing brand recognition despite fierce competition in the HR tech space. Ashley’s unique background in cultural anthropology and her experience in diverse marketing roles, including event planning and customer marketing, fuel her passion for experiential marketing.

In this episode

With the constant rise of new technologies and ever-changing customer expectations, marketing leaders are under immense pressure to adapt quickly and make an impact. What’s the key to navigating this complex landscape while ensuring long-term success?

According to Ashley Widener, a marketing leader with years of experience in the tech space, the answer lies in agility. She highlights that staying responsive to market trends and customer feedback is critical to maintaining relevance and driving results. By continuously testing strategies and aligning closely with sales and customer success teams, companies can pivot quickly and seize opportunities before their competitors. The impact is clear: brands that embrace adaptability can thrive in even the most crowded industries.

In this episode of the Revenue Engine Podcast, host Alex Gluz speaks with Ashley Widener, Director of Marketing at GoCo, to discuss how agility fuels success in B2B marketing. Ashley explains how building a marketing team from scratch allowed her to create a nimble, responsive approach. She shares how creative event marketing and balancing content value with conversion drive GoCo's growth. Ashley also gives advice on leveraging internal culture to enhance both employee engagement and brand image.

A glimpse of what you will learn

• [01:43] Ashley Widener discusses her unique career path from anthropology to marketing
• [03:52] The importance of brand recognition and the challenge of competing against companies with large marketing budgets
• [05:47] GoCo's content strategy and how they balance providing value with driving conversions
• [09:39] Employee engagement strategies and cultural practices adopted by GoCo's marketing team
• [12:23] How GoCo stands out at industry events
• [15:01] GoCo's approach to adaptive account-based marketing
• [19:50] The biggest pain points for B2B SaaS marketing leaders in 2024
• [21:36] Maintaining quality amidst a saturated content market

Resources Mentioned in this episode

• T.A. Monroe Digital Agency
• Alex Gluz on LinkedIn
• Ashley Widener on LinkedIn
• GoCo

Quotable Moments

• "I often joke that I use my social science degree more than I use my MBA."
• "Selling into HR is very compliance-heavy. People aren't very prone to trust companies that they haven't heard of."
• "You can produce great content all day. But if they're just coming to you to learn stuff, you're not really spending your marketing budget wisely."
• "Your internal brand, your employee culture is part of your external brand."
• "Marketing attribution is the dark arts. It is nearly impossible to perfect."

Action Steps

1. Embrace agility in marketing strategies: Staying responsive to trends and quickly adapting to changing market conditions grants a competitive edge.
2. Develop a strong content strategy focused on problem-solving: Targeting specific problem areas for clients increases engagement and conversion rates.
3. Foster collaboration between marketing and sales teams: Collaboration and communication of aligned objectives ensures a healthier team, higher conversion rates, and customer satisfaction.
4. Leverage experiential marketing for memorable engagement: Creating unique and memorable experiences can leave a lasting impression, enhancing brand recall and engagement.
5. Utilize customer feedback for continuous improvement: Regularly engaging with customers and prospects to gather feedback helps identify areas for innovation and improvement.

Sponsor for this episode

This episode is brought to you by T.A.Monroe Digital.At T.A.Monroe, we build world class revenue engines for B2B SaaS companies. What that means is we do everything behind the scenes to generate you tons of qualified leads, opportunities and customers.

1. We build highly effective marketing systems and scale their profitably through our demand generation strategies.
2. We think scientifically on how to scale your demand and revenue.
3. We bring decades of experience.

Email us at alex@tamonroe.com or visit www.tamonroe.com today to schedule a strategy session or learn more about our mission.