Matija Martek is Marketing Team Lead at Mediatoolkit and B2B SaaS aficionado with over 7 years of experience in the industry.
We wanted to learn more about his background and his take on current & future marketing trends. His thoughts on these topics are below, and you can also find him on LinkedIn here.
Why did you choose a career in marketing, how did you start?
Almost by accident. My background was completely unrelated, as I actually graduated Philosophy. But during college, through various student jobs in customer support and similar roles, I ended up in the e-commerce sector. There, I developed an interest in CRO and analytics, which brought me to my first product marketing internship.
Tell us a bit about your professional path until now.
My first product marketing internship role very quickly progressed towards a more general marketing and communications role in Mediatoolkit.
At Mediatoolkit, I had a fantastic opportunity to pretty much test out any communications or marketing tactics I could think of, so I pretty much dabbled in everything from content, PPC, and PR to community building, SEO, and customer engagement. Any relevant progress in any of the activities would bring us to a team expansion and further specialization, which led me to a leadership role, where I am now.
What advice do you wish you got when you started your career in marketing?
Test fast and often. Sometimes, the cost of certain tests may seem frightening – especially if used to working with low budgets. But the cost of missed opportunities is usually way higher than that of any of the unsuccessful tactics.
Top 3 learnings in your marketing career that brought the most value?
1. Already mentioned, test as much as possible. Every idea can easily be theoretically disproved as it’s always easy to find a reason why something would not work. If it doesn’t endanger the whole business, just do it, write down the results and carry on.
2. Even if something didn’t work once or twice, periodically test again. Times change, industries change, customer behavior changes. Don’t get too wrapped up in previous experiences, but focus on generating new ones.
3. Never stop learning. Books, podcasts, webinars, conferences, blogs, mentorship programs, peer communities, etc. Find the mediums that fit you and try to draw as much inspiration as possible from them. It’s not just about finding someone smarter than you, but more about seeing different points of view.
One result you are really proud of as a marketeer
I’m actually the proudest of my team. We all started as juniors, and today, those juniors deliver some truly fantastic results, like creating communities of thousand of communicators in a couple of months, multiplying organic traffic, or bringing MQLs at an unprecedented low cost (think <1/3 of industry-standard).
What’s one important B2B marketing trend that will gain popularity in 2021, in your opinion?
All the trends ever reported serve the same purpose – driving brands reputation, which further increases traffic, revenue, etc. I’m sure various new mediums will come out, and most will probably die out after a month of hype. The main marketers’ job will still remain the same, keeping track of reputation and testing as fast as possible how to improve it.
Which is the strongest social media channel in 2021, and why?
Different channels work for different companies/industries. The key is just identifying the potential behind each one and stop wasting time on the others.
What would you recommend to businesses that want to grow in 2021? What about the tactics they should avoid?
Reevaluate your basics. Just like products often suffer from technical debt, marketing suffers from “quick-roundabout” debt. Clean your email lists, check if your messaging is on-spot and consistent, purge your content and pretty much make sure your work is something you can be proud of. Those actions influence all of the marketing tactics you might choose to use, so make sure the basics are spot-on, before deciding any of the tactics just doesn’t work for you.
Can you name one digital marketing tactic that you find overrated?
Any black-hat tactic should be avoided if you want your business to last. Other than that, I firmly believe any tactic can have its right audience. It’s just about learning where your own audience gathers, meaning that it’s more about doing the proper research prior to executing a tactic.
