MarTech360 Interview With Kelly Patterson, EMEA Marketing Director at Integrate

“This may not be innovative, but it’s simple and something I think a lot of B2B brands and marketers forget when crafting messaging and design – remember that you are your target audience, so if the message you’ve created doesn’t resonate with you, why do you think it will resonate with your target audience?”

Kelly, can you tell us about your professional background and your current role at Integrate.

My current role at Integrate is EMEA Marketing Director – within that I am responsible for our go-to-market strategy including brand awareness, field and demand as well as market entry strategies across Europe and the Middle East. I have been doing this type of role for more than 12 years. My career has predominantly been in the adtech space focusing on native contextual advertising, video advertising, and location based mobile advertising prior to joining Integrate. I also previously worked for a SaaS affiliate marketing platform called CAKE heading up their EMEA marketing efforts.

What does Integrate do, and how does it differentiate itself from other companies in the same space?

Integrate centralises and connects demand data, channels, and campaigns in one unified platform allowing marketers to build and execute a cross-channel strategy against their ICP and target account lists with compliant, validated and accurate data.

Integrate is different to other companies in the B2B marketing space as there really isn’t any other company that can do exactly what we do.

What role does social media play in acquiring high-quality leads, and what strategies can businesses employ?

Social media is a great tool for nurturing buyers and influencing pipeline for us at Integrate. We find the reach of audience available on social platforms assists well in building awareness. I think businesses should think about social channels as more of an opportunity to influence pipeline as opposed to drive net-new. With buyers needing up to 27 touch points in a buying cycle, social media plays a key part in being one of those top-to-middle funnel touch points and should absolutely be a part of any marketers’ strategy.

Also Read: MarTech360 Interview With Rishi Mallik, SVP of Growth and Marketing at Workato

What innovative approaches can brands take to elevate their creativity in crafting compelling messages and brand representation?

This may not be innovative, but it’s simple and something I think a lot of B2B brands and marketers forget when crafting messaging and design – remember that you are your target audience, so if the message you’ve created doesn’t resonate with you, why do you think it will resonate with your target audience? Create a focus group amongst you and your peers, friends within the industry and stress test that message. If you don’t get 100% buy-in internally, it won’t land externally.

Another new approach to experiment with is in using generative AI to spark ideas, develop a first draft, and help iterate. While we can all admit that generative AI like ChatGPT is simultaneously terrifying and exciting, AI is here to stay and B2B marketers must learn how to navigate and leverage it. It’s important to remember that like most technologies, generative AI is only as good as the information you feed it and the guidance you give it.

Can you tell us more about how Integrate’s marketing operations solution improves lead generation and management?

The Integrate Demand Acceleration Platform when used with Integrate’s Marketplace is a very sophisticated way of generating leads that are actually marketable. Integrate’s Marketplace allows marketers to build out buying groups from key accounts within their ICP. It does this through content syndication efforts across our huge network of publishers, only capturing leads from companies and job titles that you care about. Once those leads have been captured, the Demand Acceleration Platform ensures that those leads are accurate, valid and compliant with GDPR laws and automatically routes them to your CRM and MAPs automating the standardisation process and saving your MOPs team a whole lot of time. Not only this, but the Demand Acceleration Platform then allows you to activate campaigns against those collected and now validated and compliant leads across all the channels you are using, such as social, display and even events.

How do you collaborate with other departments or teams within Integrate, such as sales or product development, to align marketing objectives and drive business growth?

Integrate is a very collaborative business. I work very closely with the sales team and we make sure we’re always aligned on anything we do – because we don’t want to be sending contradicting messages to our customers. Sales are also closer to our target audience whether that be prospects or clients, so they are a good sounding board and collaborative partner for moving things along. We have regular weekly catch ups on sales and marketing activity, cadenced GTM calls where we discuss performance and any challenges around targets and goals and marketing send regular bi-weekly updates to sales on marketing activities that we need their help with, whether that be sharing a social post, or sending out event invites! I think it’s very important to keep all stake holders involved in what is happening and to build those relationships with your colleagues so that you can easily brainstorm together, partner up on moving things forward or even give direct but constructive feedback eg radical candor – one of Integrate’s cultural pillars.

Could you discuss a situation where you faced a challenge or setback in achieving your marketing targets and how you overcame it?

One quarter we were low on our oppty goal so were looking to increase our MQL number to be able to have more conversations that could turn to sales opportunities. As a result, I worked closely with our marketing operations team to pull a list of contacts that were on the verge of becoming an MQL, and implemented a program to give them the additional touchpoint that they needed in order to raise their hand for sales to start the conversation. We called this the ‘Almost MQL program’. Not only has this helped generate more MQLs for sales, but it’s been a great opportunity for us to A/B test specific content and subject lines!

What advice would you give to other Marketing Leaders which helped you personally? A key piece of advice shared with me by a former line manager when dealing with issues and conflicts was to approach the situation with solutions, not problems. If you’re looking for support in overcoming an issue, think of a possible solution before raising the problem. It sets a collaborative approach from the outset, ruffles less feathers internally and can often be a great first step in brainstorming an easy work-around or solution.

What is the biggest problem you or your team solving this year?

The biggest problem we are solving for this year is maintaining momentum and hitting targets in a very turbulent market. We’re seeing a lot of businesses facing the same challenges as one another, which makes it a tricky problem to solve for. In fact, in our recent State of B2B Marketing Budgets survey, we found that 38% of B2B marketers report budget cuts, 40% report headcount reductions, and 65% are experiencing burnout. Doing fewer things but better is a good starting point and becoming even more precise and targeted with our efforts is starting to reap the results we need for a successful year.

Is there anything that you’re currently reading, or any favorite books, that you’d Recommend?

Although very late to the hype party, I’ve just finished reading A Little Life. A truly heartbreaking but beautifully written story about sorrow, loss and perseverance. It was a long and heavy read, so I’m taking some time to process that before I move on to my next book, which will definitely be more light-hearted!

Thanks, Kelly!