Ep. 95 - Stop Wasting Half Your Ad Budget - Steffen Hedebrandt
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In this episode, Steffen Hedebrandt, CMO and co-founder of Dreamdata, discusses how B2B companies can solve the complex challenge of marketing attribution. He explains how Dreamdata connects siloed data to reveal which campaigns actually drive revenue, offering marketers a clear picture of long, multi-touch customer journeys. Steffen also shares insights on audience targeting, real-time buying signals, and how AI is being integrated meaningfully into the platform.
Guest Bio
Steffen Hedebrandt is the Chief Marketing Officer at Dreamdata, a leading Revenue Attribution Platform that enables B2B marketing teams to optimize and automate their marketing efforts with confidence.
A seasoned marketing leader known for his no-nonsense, results-oriented approach, Steffen has a proven track record of scaling companies and building high-performing teams at Upwork and Airtame. With hands-on experience in tackling the challenges of rapid growth, he understands what it takes to drive success in today’s fast-paced marketing environment.
Takeaways
- B2B marketing requires a different approach than B2C.
- Understanding customer journeys is crucial for effective marketing.
- Data silos can complicate the analysis of customer journeys.
- AI can enhance marketing efforts but should not be a gimmick.
- Attribution is key to understanding campaign effectiveness.
- Marketers should focus on the buying committee in B2B sales.
- Optimizing ad spend based on actual sales data is essential.
- Dream Data provides tools for tracking and analyzing customer journeys.
- Success stories highlight the effectiveness of data-driven marketing.
- Proactive marketing is necessary to support sales teams.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Steffen Hedebrandt & Dreamdata
01:03 The origins of Dreamdata and solving B2B attribution
02:44 Founding team dynamics and early challenges
04:07 Complexities of B2B journeys vs B2C
05:01 Key problems Dreamdata solves for B2B marketers
06:55 Importance of ICP and tech integrations
08:18 Common CRM systems used and data quality challenges
09:33 Solving wasted budget and campaign ROI
10:31 Account-based timelines and stakeholder insights
11:20 Campaign-level ROI visibility and optimization
12:38 Deal size variation and applicability across companies
13:31 Real-time signals and proactive sales alerts
14:59 Tracking without gating using IP resolution
16:00 Engagement scoring vs lead scoring
17:24 AI integration and feature roadmap at Dreamdata
19:31 The value of AI as a means, not the end
21:04 Solving the attribution problem in B2B
22:48 First-touch attribution vs CRM default models
23:32 Dealing with non-trackable marketing activities
25:19 Tips for qualitative evidence and journey enrichment
26:11 Case study: Insight Software and optimizing ad spend
27:54 Audience Hub and hyper-targeted campaigns
28:45 Matched audiences vs lookalikes on LinkedIn
30:40 Free tools and benchmark reports from Dreamdata
32:27 Benchmark: 211-day average B2B customer journey
33:19 Understanding the B2B buying committee
35:14 Where to find Steffen and the benchmark report
36:13 Offline conversions and smarter ad training
37:28 Attribution loops and campaign optimization
38:47 20% CPA reduction through LinkedIn integration
39:31 Wrap-up
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