EDITORIAL HOW TO GET YOUR COMPANY TO TURN R1-BILLION+
If your marketing programs don’t align with your sales strategy and goals, much of your effort will go to waste.
My job is to make sure that every day,
our marketing team is 100% partnered with our sales team and that we
execute at the same pace all the time. In the early days at Snowflake, I spent every Monday morning with our eight
sales development representatives to
plan our marketing programs alongside their efforts. Today, we have more than
a thousand people in our marketing and sales organisations, and we still have the same alignment.
Some people believe that it’s good to BE BOLD
Our messages on the billboards were
market and compete with large, well-
we always made sure to come back to
To break through in today’s competitive known brands, you have to get noticed. The challenge is that building brand
awareness takes time and money— which most startups don’t have.
So, what are your options? I think that
being bold is the best chance you have
often reflections of current events, but the data to reinforce our positioning. Most people really enjoyed them. Some didn’t. But they were bold,
Silicon Valley recognised us for our
billboards on Highway 101—and they
turned out to be critical for hiring. As a
The last pillar is the most important
to work as one team. This is essential for both marketing efficiency and
revenue growth. If your marketing
programs don’t align with your sales
strategy and goals, much of your effort will go to waste.
small startup, you are fighting for talent
A big reason for our fast growth at
new-hire onboarding session, at least
across our entire company from the
and you have to stand out. At every
half of the people said they first learned about Snowflake from our billboards.
80
marketer, you need a deep understanding and respect for the craft of sales.
early years, these five pillars had a
one: Sales and marketing teams need
In the early years, a lot of people in
negative tension. To succeed as a
beginning.
had a big vision, and we created a bold culture.
lead to misunderstandings and create
A STRUCTURE FOR FAST GROWTH
the attention that we needed in the
ALIGN WITH SALES
brand that fit well with our values and
marketing, but I think that can quickly
they were different, and they got us
of getting noticed. Being bold is clearly not without risk. But at Snowflake, we
have healthy tension between sales and
Snowflake is the strong alignment beginning. Our alignment point is around the sales pipeline.
TOP PERFORMING COMPANIES | 18TH EDITION
If I look back at Snowflake in the
tremendous impact on our speed and our growth. I think they’re relevant
to most startups. Make sure that you
invest in your positioning early on, and be consistent. Put customers at the
forefront of all your marketing and find a
way to get constant feedback. Build your
marketing stack and processes for scale. Be as bold as you dare to be. And most
importantly, align not just marketing and
sales teams but your entire organisation behind one mission, so that everyone is sharing the same objectives. Executing on these pillars will create a strong
marketing foundation for your startup to get to US$100 million – and beyond.
