Why I joined HockeyStack
For over 15 years, I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with great marketers, including those in product marketing, operations, content, demand gen, brand, and more.
One thing remains constant: B2B marketing is always changing, usually through gradual iteration, but occasionally we witness a relative sea change where new technologies, strategies, and tactics are required. In my opinion, examples of such sea changes since 2000 include e-commerce, marketing automation, mobile-first, data/analytics, millennials, and COVID.
Right now, we’re seeing another sea change in marketing.
According to The Wall Street Journal, more organizations are looking for CMOs with experience in performance marketing (digital), because boards and leadership demand to see the outcomes of marketing activities tied to revenue. No role has more visibility into marketing data than performance marketing, and with the current downturn, these boards and leadership are demanding marketing attribution, not just static first or last touch, but real dollar impact applied to each activity as they get from their performance marketing team.
All of this is compounded by AI and PLG, which will both shift more importance to marketing from sales. So, what does this have to do with HockeyStack, and why did I join?
- HockeyStack is a new solution built on modern technologies. Just this month, the team announced a new ChatGPT integration. This cool technology enables HockeyStack to provide dynamic, agile, and accurate attribution across all channels. Marketers no longer need to be coders to create full-cycle attribution because of HockeyStack.
- Third-party cookies and Dark Social. While we wait for Google to pick a date, for all intent and purposes, third-party cookies are currently gone. It doesn’t make sense for companies that do global business because penalties from GDPR are too much of a risk. At the same time, we continue to see Dark Social influence the buyers’ journey. Legacy solutions aren’t ready for this, but HockeyStack is, with its cookie-less attribution and Dark Social tech.
- Customers and data. HockeyStack hit the ground running. Currently, the team counts over 500 customers brought on through innovative GTM and marketing. As the company grows and more customers are added, it will open volumes of data that can be used to help marketers with everything from marketing data to playbooks to benchmarking. B2B’s hunger for good data is insatiable and recession-proof.
- Gong. When I think of sales AI, Gong is the only name that comes to mind. Sales is bombarded with the promise of AI, but Gong was the first company to activate AI in ways that make sales better, with suggestions, metrics, and gamification that work. HockeyStack has the opportunity to be the Gong for marketers, delivering data-driven suggestions to them.
- Agencies. There are so many fantastic agencies, yet each one struggles with showing work. Recently, global agency PMG out of Texas released new attribution software to clients, but it didn’t work, and clients dropped it. This is a problem for agencies, especially with leadership looking for attribution. HockeyStack’s pervasive and agile nature makes it a great fit for agencies.
- Most importantly, the team. The leadership at HockeyStack has a deep entrepreneurial drive. It’s their dream to build a successful business, and they’ve worked day and night since starting HockeyStack. They also know how to code well and quickly – a winning combination.
HockeyStack’s next steps involve continuing to develop their product and acquiring new customers. The team is dedicated to meeting the needs of marketers, and my goal in the near-term is to ensure that marketers are aware of HockeyStack’s ability to help them both currently and in preparation for future changes in the industry.
