In July, we hosted our Summer ’23 Pipeline Summit and sat down with experts from across all areas of pipeline generation, including Gong’s Chief Evangelist (and B2B marketing legend) Udi Ledergor.

Udi sat down with our CEO, Kraig Swensrud, to identify the key areas B2B marketers need to be laser-focused on in the second half of 2023.

Watch the session below 👇

Resources are tight, focusing on the essentials is key to success

We’re continuing to see budgets get tighter and tough resource constraints at play within the tech space. Teams aren’t growing the way they were in previous years and in some cases, teams are shrinking, so it’s important to get back to the basics.

In order to overcome these challenges and still create and maintain a healthy pipeline, Udi shared his priorities as a marketing leader—focusing on the essentials and keeping existing customers happy.

Everyone’s tight on resources. What everyone is being forced to do right now is focus on the essential things they have to do to create pipeline to support the sales team and do them better than we did before.”

—Udi Ledergor, Chief Evangelist, Gong

Now is the time to tighten up that sales + marketing alignment

Meeting pipeline targets in this market calls for a strategic game plan for both the quantity of pipeline and quality. You want to maximize your pipeline coverage but you have to be aligned with sales to keep a close eye on conversion rates and deal cycles.

5x pipeline coverage is only great if it’s converting—now is the time to monitor the health of your pipeline closely and ensure that your leads are translating into deals.

You always want to focus on both the quantity and quality because you only need one good lead to close one good deal, but we all know that it’s going to take more than that.”

—Udi Ledergor, Chief Evangelist, Gong

The AI revolution is here, and it’s not slowing down

AI isn’t going anywhere, and Udi and the team at Gong are leading the charge with their latest launch.

It’s important to take the time now to understand the ways in which AI is changing how B2B revenue teams work so you aren’t left behind. The automation tools AI is capable of is rapidly changing how we work, freeing us up for bigger, better things.

Udi made sure to highlight that AI is additive to the human workforce, not a replacement. Automating low-level tasks and reports allows for more creativity and bigger thinking for our marketing teams, something Udi is excited about.

AI is going to change how marketing and sales and many other professions work. There are going to be some low-level tasks that can be fully automated and we’re seeing that right now with sales teams.”

—Udi Ledergor, Chief Evangelist, Gong

Content is the foundation for your demand gen strategies

Gong has built their brand on incredible and memorable content marketing. For their latest launch, Udi emphasized the importance of crafting a newsworthy story and producing content that adds value to your customers’ lives.

When you focus on creating content that resonates, people want to share it, leading to an organic movement that gets your product in front of your target audiences without breaking your budget.

Content marketing is the base of Gong’s demand gen strategy and has been for the last seven years. We rely on doing things smarter in organic ways that don’t cost a fortune. When marketing teams plan and create newsworthy stories, you can get hundreds and thousands of people to share it without spending a dime on media.”

—Udi Ledergor, Chief Evangelist, Gong

Brand awareness plays don’t have to break the bank

Gong creates brand awareness without a major hit to their budget by activating their employee base and industry influencers. By arming them with customer-centric content that adds real, meaningful value to their lives, they were able to create major moments of organic growth and brand visibility.

Udi points out that most companies are so product focused they have to work hard to create news around their brands, but when you flip that around and focus on the customer first, they create the news for you.

Focus on what your customer would get excited about and what would add value to their day. You don’t need to spend so much money shoving the news in their face because they’ll pull it from you. If you focus on that, instead of what most companies do who are product-focused, you will always win, even with no budget.”

—Udi Ledergor, Chief Evangelist, Gong

Udi’s insights showcase the importance of building a meaningful content marketing strategy, prioritizing sales and marketing alignment, and keeping the customer at the center of what you do. Gong’s success comes from building a movement within their customers and employees, leading to organic brand awareness and growth, even in a tough market.

Watch the rest of our Summer ’23 Pipeline Summit here →