We will periodically feature a new B2B marketer answering questions about their job, their best tips, their B2B skill set, and showcase their marketing and career advice.
This month we are excited to feature Marcio Moerbeck, the Director of Channel Marketing at Citrix. Marcio is one of the most energetic and gregarious marketers you’ll ever meet. He’s a natural at building meaningful relationships, and recognizes that his success is only possible if his team and his channel partners are successful.
He’s a strong believer in staying updated on marketing trends through formal and self-driven education, and loves (and expects) to be challenged and educated by his team and his vendor partners. We’ve had the pleasure of working with Marcio at Citrix for almost a year now and quickly bonded on our shared belief of creating content that align to the buyer’s journey, but is created in a format that best enables the channel partners to be the hero.
Marcio’s definitely a ‘giver’, and we appreciate him taking the time to share his insights in this month’s B2B Marketer Spotlight.
Your Job
- How would you explain to your grandmother what your company does?
Citrix keeps people productive allowing them to do their jobs inside or outside of their offices.
- How would you explain to your grandmother what you do for work?
I help companies that sell our products be successful with our products.
- How has your job changed over the last five years?
From coffee mug and tchotchke department (early 2000’s) to a revenue driver that’s much more focused on measurement (a wonderful thing!) and driving long lasting customer relationships.
Best Tips
- Which element of your marketing tech stack would you recommend to others? Why?
Since we are part of the global organization, we don’t “own” our technology stack beyond partner marketing automation. For that we have started to use Zift Solutions and are very happy with early results from the implementation. I am a marketing automation geek and love Marketo (for enterprise marketing automation) and Infusionsoft (great for SMB)
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What’s the best piece of content that you or your team produced recently? What makes it so good?
We have started building campaign activation guides that are very useful in helping our partners understand how to run our campaigns. We want to continue improving on them, with a focus on simplifying and making the language plain and simple to use. It’s not about Citrix. It’s about the partner and the customer.
- What’s your best tip for establishing a productive relationship with your sales team?
First and foremost, collect the right data to show them an initial view of their funnel as it is now, and share some industry standards for conversion across the different stages of the buyer’s journey. They will immediately identify areas they, or you, can improve on. Second, understand that sales is your customer and you play by their rules, so don’t fight that relationship and deliver on their priorities first always inserting your priorities in these conversations.
Also, I’d like to share the following hard truth: If you work for a company that won’t work with you to build best practices around lead acquisition and funnel management, you may need to get a new job. You won’t be successful if the sales team isn’t willing to do their own homework in supporting your marketing programs.
- What daily or weekly habit is the most important thing you do to help you be productive and successful at work?
Pick one productivity methodology and learn how to use it. I like bullet journaling and use it to keep me sane.
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If you manage a team of marketers, please share a tip that has served you well in getting the most out of your team?
Be open and transparent around your goals for the team and what you expect from each team member. Foster a culture of absolute transparency on providing feedback to the team on the work they are producing. Recognize and aggressively promote your team with other organizations in the business, and have a plan for their professional development beyond their current job.
Career Advice
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What did you study in college? How has it helped you in your career?
Bachelor of Business Administration – Marketing and MBA. I am a Marketing geek. Bachelor was a bit too generic for me, but it provided great skills in areas I didn’t particularly care for like Accounting, etc. However, my MBA was excellent and I worked through great classes in Product Development, B2B Marketing, Marketing Research, etc. It really helped me feel like a true professional. Sometimes, there are side effects of attending school that impact your self-esteem and who you are as a person. My college career helped shaped me as a professional and I am a great supporter of formal education at all levels.
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What’s the best interview question to evaluate a B2B marketer?
Explain to me the process you would follow to deliver a prospect to sales that they will care to close.
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What advice would you give to your 25 year-old self?
Listen more before you speak.
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What’s the biggest intangible that you look for in a job candidate?
Are they passionate about their work? I believe passion is the first step toward excellence.
Marketing Advice
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How will marketing for your business or industry evolve over the next three years?
Big data will transform what we know about our prospects. A prospect’s digital footprint is extensive and will be even easier to follow in the future. Also, such data will improve targeting and the personalization of offers according to one’s behavior online.
- What underrated skills should every marketer have to succeed today? In three years?
I always believed marketers should understand numbers and finance because it is an essential element for career development. I continue to firmly believe that.
- What are some of the challenges that you see marketers having over the next couple of years?
Continuing proving their worth to sales organizations without measurement. Many marketers are still afraid of the numbers. Marketers should embrace measurement and metrics in general.
B2B Skillset
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How do you keep your B2B skillset up-to-date?
I constantly attend B2B marketing conferences (at least 2 per year). Also, I am voracious consumer of information online from blogs and sites like inbound.org
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Which conference is a can’t-miss for you? Why?
I like Content Marketing World and B2B Marketing Conference by MarketingProfs. However, I try to attend a completely new conference every year to see what’s out there beyond what I already know. Content Marketing World because it has an extensive program around content marketing, from getting started to taking your content program to the next level. I also like B2B Marketing Conference by MarketingProfs because many of the sessions there are very practical on how they teach you. I learned a lot from it in the past and look forward to attending every year.
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Which blogs or newsletters are a must-read for you? Why?
Moz Friday on YouTube. Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik (my marketing hero) and inbound.org
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How do you stay up-to-date on your industry? What do you recommend for others?
Talking to our partners regularly. They’re a rich source of information about where the industry is going and what customers care about today and tomorrow.
Last Question
- If you weren’t a B2B marketer, what would you choose as a career?
Always dreamed of being a lawyer as a child, so definitely a lawyer.
(Editor’s note: I’d feel terrible for any opposing counsel stuck in the unenviable position of matching up with Marcio’s doggedness, logic and intense eloquence){{cta(‘df5c0613-77b4-4fae-acc6-345633212029’)}}