As co-founder and COO of Aventi Group, an on-demand product marketing agency serving high-tech B2B clients, Sridhar Ramanathan has always enjoyed helping marketers take their game to the next level. Priorities have shifted with the pandemic and the economy may have stalled, but he still judges success by whether clients ask Aventi to expand its initial commitment and take on more work.
“We are successful when clients feel they are getting the results they need to deliver internally,” says Ramanathan. “It’s rewarding when they come to count on us and see us as a strategic extension of their team.”
A 25-year veteran of enterprise technology companies, Ramanathan joined ITWC CMO Fawn Annan in October 2022 for an installment of CMO Talks, a podcast series designed by ITWC to showcase strategies for gaining competitive advantage through of the intersection of marketing and technology. Their discussion shed light on the reasons behind Aventi’s recent recognition as one of the fastest growing private companies in America.
A new appreciation
“Product marketing has been around for a long time, but there is a new understanding of its strategic importance,” Ramanathan said. “It’s a bit like the public relations world where companies are now going out to hire a product marketing agency.”
Aventi sits in the strategic marketing cube, with responsibility for key elements including messaging, positioning, search engine optimization, web design and media. “We’re really here to support the go-to-market movement of a CMO or VP of Marketing,” Ramanathan said. “It’s up to them to bring the product to market, drive demand and ultimately convert that into sales and revenue, so our mission is to develop and execute the go-to-market plan.”
As for what sets Aventi apart from other marketing agencies, Ramanathan first pointed to the fact that they have about 150 people across the U.S. and Canada, which provides deep technological expertise in supply chain management and cyber security He also credited the product marketing function’s expertise with setting Aventi apart.
The customer journey
A typical customer journey begins with customers approaching Aventi because they need a product marketing leader in action. “There’s a real shortage of product marketing talent right now, so we’re able to bring that in and play a role of acting senior director of product marketing, as well as a role of acting campaign leader,” he explained Ramanathan. “The other approach is that we provide a very specific discrete set of deliverables, such as a personalized messaging brief or a go-to-market plan.”
Aventi typically works with the product marketing executive as well as downstream marketing functions, including event teams, campaign teams, and web teams. The company’s senior product researchers and marketers conduct “voice of the customer research”—in-depth interviews and surveys conducted with hundreds or thousands of participants. In addition to this, they onboard new customers as part of the research and discovery process.
Happy Consultant – Happy Client
Ramanathan attributes Aventi’s 25% year-over-year growth to the company’s experienced consultants: the 150 writers, designers, product marketers, campaign leaders and sales enablement specialists who do what he describes as fantastic work. “Happy consultant, happy client, in that order,” he said, drawing a laugh from Annan for his riff on the saying: happy wife, happy life.
When researching what is considered top in terms of spend from a CMO perspective, Aventi interviewed CMOs in the customer spend and marketing industry and found that sales enablement was at the top of the list. Another finding was that 90% of respondents used external agencies much more often for product marketing. Ramanathan attributed this to employee turnover within marketing, in part because some people are leaving organizations that will no longer support remote work.
The importance of generating income
Responding to a question on the importance of demonstrating return on investment, Ramanathan said that marketing exists in businesses to create demand that eventually turns into revenue. “If you’re a C-level person or a VP, you really should be talking about business results and not just lifting your team. That’s very important and very nice, but that’s not where the buck stops. S ‘halt in revenue growth and profitability’.
The podcast concluded with Ramanathan’s final thoughts and timely advice for marketers. “If you haven’t heard much about product marketing, or if it’s not at the top of your radar, please know that your peers are absolutely and positively looking at product marketing through a new lens for that makes your sales grow and be more competitive. . Product marketing will be your key secret weapon.”
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