How do you segment your massive global markets? How do you guys segment?

Yeah, sure. So we're focused primarily just the U.S. and basically how we do that is obviously, you know, there's a motion that we look at for the shippers and there's a motion that we look at for the carriers. Right. Because for a marketplace to work, you have to have enough on the supply side to benefit like the shippers that are coming onto the platform. And so essentially with the shippers, how we break it down and how a lot in our industry break it down is you have these large companies, which we call our like our enterprise segment. So we have a focused motion for the enterprise.

And then we have what we consider more of like a mid-market segment where we're focused on creating a unique offering that's going to really fit that segment. So we have a unique sales and marketing motion for that as well. So when we really think about it on the shipping side, it's really that enterprise versus mid-market. We use like different classifications to say this is enterprise versus mid-market. And then on the carrier side, we're a little bit less specific right now. Like we work with, you know, owner operators. We work with small companies there and some larger companies. But essentially that's how we segment it down. And that's like we start from the top, like let's get our segmentation right. And then we build our strategy after that segmentation.

OK, so those are the two easy questions. Let me start with the much harder questions. So 2023, which segments are more important:  your mid-marketor your enterprise? 

So I'm going to break the rules here and say both. But with that, right, so I think what it comes down to is on the enterprise side, we have some very unique goals. And on the mid-market side, we have some very unique goals. Right. So the enterprise side in this industry, how it works is a lot of it's done through a formal RFP process. So we have some very specific goals on how we're going to get into that process, how we're going to get our foot in the door, build relationships, how we're going to prove our service.

So that's like one bucket on the enterprise side. And then on the mid-market side, we've actually released a whole new product line that we are launching just specific. Well, not specifically for the mid-market, but focused on the mid-market. And so that's kind of like how we're prioritizing. Right. Like enterprise has today, we've had a lot of success with them in mid-market. We've had success, but we feel like there's a gap in the market of what's being offered to them. So we are creating a new product and pricing model that we're putting in front of them to try to deepen our impact in the mid-market segment. 

OK, we'll come back to enterprise because that's one of the segments that a lot of our attendees are more familiar with. Right. Especially seasoned tech marketers and the RFP process. Like, oh, my gosh, as soon as you say those three letters, everyone's like, oh, yeah, OK, right. We'll come back to that. And also sending to selling to enterprise. Right. Especially when you break into an account is is very much like you entered the building. Yay. You got up to the sixth floor. Yay. Then you got to the office. Yay. Now you got to the room. Yay. On this desk, the deal will happen. Like it's a process. Right.

So we'll come back to it. Let's focus for a moment on mid-market, which a lot of our SaaS marketers are seeing tremendous success with. There's the idea that you will find, you'll target, you'll find, you'll attract and ultimately you'll connect with a buyer in the mid-market, but they'll ultimately show that they're coming to you. Right. Right. Walk us through maybe from the top of the funnel, you know, working down. How does the sales motion work in your case for a mid-market buyer? 

Yeah, so I think this is something, you know, like I said, we've really focused historically on the enterprise segment. We've had a lot of success there. And so for the mid-market, you know, with that being one of our priorities for 2023, we've really kind of deconstructed like the our buyers journey. Right. Which I think is like 101 where a lot of marketers should start. Understand how are your buyers buying your product? Right. So in our case, they're buying, you know, they're utilizing a freight brokerage and they're trying to buy, you know, carriers to move their lanes from A to B or loads from A to B. So basically, like what we've done from the top is we said, OK, how are our buyers buying?

And then, you know, once we've kind of done some conversations with sales, conversations with customers, we've developed a couple of hypotheses and like my specialization is on the paid side. So basically, like at the top of the funnel, we're like thinking, OK, what channels do we think is going to work for the top of funnel for the mid-market segment? So on the paid side, you know, we've placed some bets, whether that's on Google search ads, whether that's on LinkedIn, single image feed ads. We've placed some bets on the placements and channels that we think are going to work. And then we've been iterating for the last half of 2022. And in 2023, we're going to continue to iterate.

But we've been continuing to iterate on what we're actually doing in the execution in those channels, because I think at the end of day, right, it starts with like we know we want to break into mid-market like a lot of the SaaS marketers might be looking to do. And so it's like understanding how are your buyers, how do they buy and then how do you align your marketing and sales process to that buying journey? And then like we just are developing hypotheses, shipping, iterating, getting feedback and ultimately just trying to, you know, crack the nut and build up a sustainable motion.

Perfect. And that all sounds good, right? I'm going to take us to where it gets tricky. OK, because there are certain customers with your experience with the product where you know that the customer product fit is tight. If they try it, the pilot will likely be successful. And from the pilot, they will scale because we've seen this 100 times before with this type of customer. Right. So so they fit in your ICP. But some of those customers have no urgency to switch. So so they have they have a good fit, but they're not showing a lot of intent.

On the flip side, you have people screaming, right? I need to get a pilot up and going. We need a solution. But you've never seen a company like theirs before. And you're sort of like, why do they want to buy? Right. So here's the tough question. You got your leads, did a good job or maybe not so good job. But you got your leads in from the advertising channels. They're coming in. Right. Right. They're declaring themselves, so to speak. How are you moving or what campaigns are you using to move those leads from the top to the middle of the funnel?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think, you know, from a marketing perspective, what we'll do at the top of the funnel, we're just trying to on the search side, be where companies are looking to move freight. So like in search, when somebody is looking to move a load, we're trying to get in front of them. And then on the flip side on LinkedIn, it's we're trying to generate awareness around transfixed so that when people need a solution, they convert. And so when they're actually there, we do a couple of different campaigns. Right. Like we have a couple of different case studies that we'll run and put in front of customers that, you know, when they're in, we still know the process isn't done yet. So we've had a couple of case studies that we've tried to run. We have different like proof points and social proof.

So we have a really, really high quality service team that has really outstanding statistics in the freight industry. And so, you know, we make sure that our prospects and customers know how great our service team is, not to like beat our chest and say, look how great we are, but to give them trust, to build trust and give them confidence that working with Transfix is going to be a successful venture for them. So I would say that's really what we lean on the most is that social proof under the buckets of like case studies, like the proof that we have on our customer service side. And then as well as like, you know, we're part of a couple of great initiatives around sustainability, around like just a couple of great ESG initiatives and diversity. So we really try to instill that confidence in both prospects and customers that working with Transfix, you know, is a great decision. And we do that, you know, through like campaigns that we use social email through our sales team and sales presentations. That's kind of like our entire mix there. 

I love this. So this doesn't get talked about enough, Blake. And I think this year next year will be is that when you get to the middle of the funnel before you get to winning on specific features from a product perspective, you've got to win psychologically the customer experience and customer outcome that they'll have. If they're your customer, they have to want it. Right. To your point, if you have recognized an award winning service, right, they probably don't from the current provider. Right. So before they make those final feature analysis, which is now we're getting to the bottom of the funnel. And a lot of folks get in different directions here. In your case, the Transfix at the bottom of the funnel, the sales just take over. Like we know enough or is there a continued sales enablement and marketing motion for, let's say, the mid market? We'll come back to enterprise where it could be.

Yeah, I mean, I would say that, you know, we're definitely a sales led organization, the way that like with how freight buyers buy. I think this is why it's so important for, you know, regardless of where you've been to map out your buyer's journey, because before I worked in this kind of like freight logistics supply chain space, I worked at, you know, refined labs, market agency, B2B SaaS. And so those are vastly different buying motions than what we work in now. Like a B2B SaaS company, like especially with product led growth, these interactive product demos, a lot of the sales process happens before they ever come to your site and talk to a salesperson if they do it all, depending on what your motion is.

And so with us specifically, it's definitely a high touch, you know, human element to it. So for the bottom of the funnel, we'll have our sales team like they are definitely leading the and then we support them with however best we can. Right. So we're still running some advertising motions around the social proof, even at the bottom of the funnel. Our product marketing team is fantastic and they really are great at, you know, enabling our sales team with our different presentations, with different stats, with pulling stuff together. And then we've really got a great like product team that also helps, you know, with like different pricing mechanisms and like, you know, putting that together for the customer.

So it's really like a whole team effort. I would say it's not just like they get to the bottom. It's like, OK, sales, it's all you. It really becomes a whole team effort. And then even after they become a customer, it's a whole team effort to retain them and give them, provide them a great experience. So that touches marketing, that touches account management, touches product, touches the entire company to really like convert a customer and then keep them long term. 

Perfect. Now, there's there's one piece we didn't touch on and then I'm going to switch gears to another segment. We said we'd cover multiple segments. So let's do that. Right. But before we do that, and this is a specialized role in marketing, but I'm curious what your take is. Right. I mean, you guys are about as B2B as it gets. Most people on the planet can't buy this unless they're specifically producing right or moving product. Right. So so from a B2B perspective, what's your perspective on events from a marketing perspective in twenty, twenty three, twenty, twenty four? Is that where you guys are going to meet your buyers? Where are salespeople eager to go to events this year? 

Yeah, that's a great question. I think for 2024, our view on events is it's all about building relationships. Right. So we're definitely we have a digital strategy and even a digital strategy that we're going to be rolling out around events, but also to like the in-person events. You can never replace a human to human connection, especially when it comes to a one like an industry like this, where so much of it is about like the relationships you have with your with your buyers and with your customers.

So for events, really how we view them is we view them as a way for people that don't know about Transfix and they haven't seen our digital efforts as a way to get to know about us. But it's also a great way where we get to meet with customers. We get to build and strengthen relationships and we get to really just kind of solidify the business partnerships that make both of us successful, because I think the biggest thing in B2B that people I won't say they don't recognize it, but I don't think they acknowledge it enough is that when you go forward with a vendor, whether you're buying CRM, whether you're going, you know, using us to move your freight on the logistics side, you're really like placing like your job on the line.

That's probably a little too dramatic, but you're placing some equity in your job on the line because you're saying, OK, I've vetted these guys. I think they're going to be successful for us. And when it doesn't work out, it reflects poorly on you. Right. So I think that's why people need to have strong relationships with the people they work with, whether it's a services provider or a technology provider, you have to build that relationship. So that's how we're looking at events. How can we build relationships? And also, if people aren't touched by digital efforts, how do we generate awareness about Transfix? 

I love that. It's one of the best answers I think I've heard about how relationships play into B2B marketing and sales. Thank you. So now let's switch over to the far more complicated and frankly longer, but highly lucrative segment enterprise. And we're kidding ourselves if we're saying this is one segment, because every enterprise has a preferred customer list as well, who will change our business with double digits if we land them. Right. So help us understand from your perspective the difference in bringing leads in or converting leads for these two within the enterprise segment, the sort of regular enterprise customer and your early stages of, say, an ABM or target list of customers. 

Yeah, I mean, I think so it goes back for our enterprise motion, just it goes back to like our business and what we're strong at. Right. So essentially, you know, if we go back to this idea that we're a marketplace where we have shippers that we are matching up with carriers, we have this vast network of over like four hundred thousand carriers. I think it's like four hundred twenty five last time we pulled it where, you know, these four hundred thousand plus carriers cover all these lanes, moving freight from A to B. And so basically what we do is we know, you know, who we work with well in the enterprise now.

And then for who we're identifying in the future, we say, OK, who is like that? And then basically what we do is we, you know, when we have these conversations with them, we see what lanes they need covered. So where do they need their freight moved from? We look at our carrier network and see where do we have great coverage, where we have really competitive rates, high quality service. And like that's how we go about identifying and matching up to who we want to target.

And so I think, you know, for that motion, a lot of people, when they think about enterprise marketing, they just think, OK, let's make a list of these big logos in this industry or the Fortune 500 and let's go after them. And they do that without a whole lot of a strategy outside of there's a lot of expansion room there. When in reality, I think it comes down to winning in the enterprise, comes down to smart segmentation, which our leadership team has done a great job of saying these are the people that we want to identify. And then we go out and execute on how we get in front of them. 

Now, this is a really, really good point. You have to know who the best customers are for your offering, even if they don't, because they don't work with you yet. Right. That's where I'm going to go to next. So you're doing the homework, which is very respectful. And I think it's very strategic. As you said, let's be clear about who would benefit most from using our product versus others who may not get such a tremendous return. You know that. How do you prove to them that you're the better fit? What's the positioning that is sort of work in the enterprise marketing motions that you've been using?

Yeah, that's a great question. So I think what it's come down to is probably like two or three core things. So the first is we definitely lean on our track record. We lean on that we have great customer service, that we've worked with all these great enterprise customers before. We have all these great ESG initiatives. So we can lean on our track record to say, hey, we're more than qualified and we could really help you out because we've helped out similar enterprise customers like you before. So I think that's number one. Number two, what we do is like we talked about, it's relationships, right?

So as much as people want the buying process, especially in the enterprise to be, I show you 10 different ads and then you see this, these three different blog posts, and then you read this guide and watch this video. Okay, now you're ready to buy in the enterprise. That definitely doesn't fly, at least in my experience. So it's about having a whole mix of digital, but it's also just really about establishing that relationship because it goes back down to what I talked about earlier, where when somebody, especially in the enterprise is trusting you with a new carrier bringing you on, they're going outside of their norm, right?

And so like they could probably get by with just doing what they were doing. So you have to provide enough access value to make it worth making the switch or trying something new. So we really lean on our track record. We lean on our relationships. And then from that, we just make sure we're aligned and always delivering a good product because at the end of the day, if you're just another commodity product or you're just like everybody else, they're going to have no reason to switch over to you or to test you out. So we focus on our track record, focus on our relationships, but also got to deliver on a great product, which is what we aim to do.

Awesome. And we're going to talk about pain points and what data hints at what the right customersare to make these investments. But just before that, you mentioned something a few times I wantto call out. There's a lot of touches. And I say this because we've seen a tremendous rise indemand for our tech clients that are doing multi-touch campaigns. They don't want thelead just at the beginning. Let's keep going. Let's keep going. Let's keep going because they'veshown intent, right? And then this lead when they're more ready to maybe talk to a salesperson,right? How are you guys managing or optimizing or even analyzing your touches right now to determinewho may be more or less ready from an enterprise perspective?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think one thing I could speak to from the marketing side is we actually recently onboarded a vendor called Hockey Stack. So they're an attribution software tool, great smart team. If you're on LinkedIn, you've probably seen some of their stuff. But we've recently brought that tool on and it's not just about the tools, right? It's about having a process and strategy in place. But the reason I want to call this out, so a lot of what we do around the enterprise side is we know that historically our enterprise buyers will buy through their sales relationship. So if we're trying to optimize them to ask us to submit for an RFP on our website, we're not aligned with their buying journey.

So one thing that we've done is we do a lot of top of funnel awareness content on LinkedIn. And what's great about helping tech evaluate what's working is that with Hockey Stack, what we can do is basically say, okay, we've run all of these ads that nobody has converted on necessarily. But what we can see is that when we get an opportunity opened up in Salesforce, we can see that they actually have 800 touch points across these different ads. And so that's one piece of the puzzle that honestly, we're still trying to really formalize, but that's kind of how we're thinking about it.

Because when it comes to the enterprise, if it's bought through these relationships, I think it's a challenge that a lot of enterprise marketers have. How do you correlate marketing's efforts to business results? Because in a lot of cases, you don't have that causation like direct touch point. So how do you correlate that? And so we're thinking about how do we view that whole picture and see what it's having the impact down funnel. So when we have those opportunities opened up, we're analyzing each one and seeing how many touch points did they have? What were the touch points that were most valuable to them? And that's kind of how we're thinking about that.

That's great. And the reality we have to be prepared for, and I'm saying this because we've pulled our audience and we pulled our customers multiple times is this year, it's going to take longer. Totally. Everyone's sales cycles are longer. So to see what paid off is going to take longer. And you need that alignment with both your management and sales. We are experimenting, we won't know as quickly as we might've known in 21 or 22 when digital was on fire. Now it's going to take longer.

So if there are things you really don't believe in, let me know now. And don't burn me at the stake for this six months from now to replace our bets in an aligned fashion. Now, a lot of what you've talked about, Blake, is dependent on the data that you're getting on these buyer motions and data on existing customers that you've succeeded with. What's your perspective and experience on zero party, your own customer data versus first party data through your marketing efforts and third party data going out and getting data on what could be qualified prospects? 

That's a great question. I think it's a mix of the three. I don't think it's just zero party, just first party, just third party. I think there's a tendency because third party is widely available for marketers to lean on that. And I've been guilty of that myself, but working more in the enterprise space over the past eight, nine months here, I really have come to respect the value of first party data. And as you've talked about zero party data, where just because we think somebody might be a good fit for us, when we actually dig in and understand our data and how it compares to their data, it might not be a great fit. Or alternatively, we might pull from a third party data source says, oh, no, these guys aren't in, they shouldn't be in your ICP.

But then we have a conversation with them and it says, oh, actually, no, there's a lot of overlap here and there might actually be a great fit. So I think it comes down to, as you talked about just a second ago, everybody's got to be aligned on what the business strategy is. And then you have to set out your hypotheses of what do we think is going to work. But then you have to be open with the hypotheses for it to be disproven. So we might go in saying, OK, we don't have a lot of customer data on this particular segment we're trying to break into. So we're going to start with third party data. And based on the third party data, our hypotheses is X like this is our type of customer. But then you get in there and you're like, actually, you know what, it's actually probably Y or Z is our target customer. And then you make a pivot based off the data that you get. So I think to answer your question directly, it's a mix of the three.

A lot of companies can start with third, but you don't need to end with third. You need to ultimately get to knowing your data, your customer data and adjusting as you get in more data. How many times did I say data there? Probably six or seven times. Probably right. I'll say one more time. The other part of this that I think as marketers, we often forget is sales looks at this in exactly the opposite order. Third party data in B2B sales is abundant. There's no shortage of it to the point where it's table stakes. What actually gets a voicemail returned or gets an email replied is zero priority data, insights from existing customers that will actually turn somebody on to, wait a second, you said something interesting there. I do want to know more, but I'm not ready for a pitch. This is normal in B2B sales. Yet in marketing, I think we're still catching up to that because like you said, the attractiveness, frankly, the marketing of third party data, which is very, very heavy. 

I want to remind the audience, we only have probably a couple minutes left. We're going to let you go here in probably three, four minutes. So we'll get in one more question maybe after this. If you haven't got it in, then let us know after the fact and I'll circle back with Blake. So going forward, right? There's been a huge change. Last question here on an area you love, which is around paid and specifically around using paid and social together. Okay. That mix. There's been drama ad nauseum about Twitter, right? And Facebook has changed. Like the platform, the company has changed. And now you've got this one sort of steady channel of LinkedIn for B2B buyers. Do you see fundamentally like, do you see that changing over the next 18, 24 months?

No, I don't think so. I mean, I think LinkedIn for the B2B is the no brainer platform. One thing I would caution. So before I worked in transportation logistics, I worked at agency and we worked with a lot of SaaS companies that quite frankly sold to a lot of different industries. And so a good example that comes to mind is I worked with the SaaS company that sold to nonprofits. And while there is a nonprofit presence on LinkedIn, you know, we found that there's probably a bigger nonprofit presence on like Facebook and Instagram with like Facebook groups.

So I think what it comes down to is LinkedIn will remain the dominant B2B platform that I have no doubt on that, you know, but what I do caution marketers to do is just understand where your buyers spend time and don't just assume that they're going to spend time on LinkedIn because it's B2B. So I think, you know, it's easy because LinkedIn has built up this great reputation and rightfully so. Right. It's a really powerful, great platform. But do that buyer research first. Understand where your buyers spend time because you don't want to just make an assumption like you can have hypotheses, but you don't want to make an assumption that this is going to work. And then six months down the line, it doesn't work. You don't have a plan B because you didn't do that research at the beginning, especially I'm going to piggyback off of what you said here, especially if you are on a tighter budget, it's going to be very hard to get the additional touches on LinkedIn because it's so expensive. 

Yeah, totally. So to Blake's point is, yes, you've got to be there. You might be getting people in, but you could be getting more touches in other areas if to what he said 10 minutes ago. Right. If you focus on what the buying journey is to begin with. Awesome. Thank you so much, Blake. I'm going to I'm going to let you go. If there are other questions, I'll circle back and send them across. Maybe we'll put them out on LinkedIn. Any word of advice for B2B marketers and especially given your experience in SaaS, any word of advice with all the stuff that's happening right now in the market, right? Layoffs, your consolidation. How how what's the best thing you can tell people to stay focused this year? 

I think, you know, I think a popular answer will be stay close to revenue as marketing teams, which I think is a good answer. Like you need to make sure that what you're doing, not that everything needs to be specifically tied to revenue, but overall, what marketing is doing has an impact on the business. But I would also say it's like staying close to the customer. So I know that's probably like a cliche answer. But if you know who you're selling to and you know what they're thinking, because I mean, 2023, I think is going to be an up and down year for a lot of people because we'll see where the economy goes, macroeconomic trends, all of that.

So if you know what your customer is thinking and have a good pulse on that, that's going to impact your strategy and your execution, which is ultimately going to impact how much you can affect the business impact that you have, because I think it really does start with when you know your customer that informs your strategy, when you have a good strategy, it informs your tactics, and then your tactics are going to inform your results. So I think that would be my advice. Stay close to revenue, but even stay close to the customer.

It's it's you. I have heard it before, but it's still good advice. Like so thank you. Appreciate it. And thank you again for everything you covered today. I hope to bring you back soon.

Awesome. Thanks. This is really great. Really appreciate it. Thanks. Bye, everybody.