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BlogsOctober 7, 2024April 11, 2025

The Ultimate Guide to Podcast Advertising

With advertisers keen to follow the trends, are podcast ads the ideal strategy to attract positive attention toward your brand?

Today, we can perform a single task in multiple ways due to the onset of AI and other technological advancements.

Remember newspaper advertisements? Feels like ancient history.

In this fast-paced digital era, we have conveniently moved to screens (at the cost of our eyesight!).

And if screens were not enough, humans have found another way to consume content – listening. As much as we run towards convenience and comfort in this modern age, our senses are at maximum capacity.

Making us believe that listening and not watching is more comfortable is a marketing tactic. Today, there are over 546.7 million podcast listeners worldwide in 2024.

Why have podcast become so common?

Podcasts mix education with audio entertainment to elevate your mindfulness while you continue with your daily tasks, propelling a significant transformation in the advertising landscape.

Yes, we do commonly associate advertisements with visuals. But how do you elevate your storytelling? By utilizing multiple formats to drive a niche and unfamiliar audience base.

How does advertising strategy work itself into podcasts? We will help you understand this.

Podcast Ads are an underrated but rapidly growing advertising front. They allow you to boost your brand awareness and establish trust when speaking to potential buyers.

In 2024, over $4.02 billion was spent on podcast ads.

These sponsored ads communicate through or during a podcast episode, an uncommon form of paid marketing.

You might wonder whether podcast advertising works the same as radio advertising. Yes, both advertising channels use digital audio ads delivered by the host and some personal experience with that product or service. Also, check Programmatic Advertising Strategies.

But podcast advertising is undeniably different from radio.

Radio ads reach a broad audience, are irrelevant to the content of the radio show, and may seem vaguely random. However, podcast ads centralize targeting. They are placed cautiously within an episode to reach a targeted audience for deeper engagement. The advertisement aligns with the contents of the podcast episode such that its placement seems natural.

In podcast advertising, the target is an interested audience. The only objective is to create purchasing intent.

According to Spotify 2024 Podcast Trends, over 45% of Gen-Z and millennials and 62% of total study respondents stated that they trust the promoted brand during a podcast due to the easy-going relationship the host shares with them. This resulted in talking and searching.

Podcasts take engagement one step further. They offer interactivity features such as polls, real-time Q/As, comment sections, anonymous stories and questions of the week sessions, video podcasts, etc., underscoring a personal and one-to-one relationship with the host.

Podcast advertising takes advantage of this easy-going mode of communication between the host and his audience.

Consider the most popular podcast platforms – Apple, YouTube, or Spotify. To listen to a podcast, users log into their accounts. Hence, advertisers gain in-depth insight into who is watching and listening to their content, guiding them toward curating more targeted ads.

Podcast Ad Types

Podcast ads are placed at an episode’s beginning, middle, or end.

As an advertiser, you have to consider where to place your ad. Placement is a significant component of advertising. The main objective of advertising is to boost your brand visibility and to help you how to market your brand.

How do you catch the attention of your audience? By providing them with a distraction-free environment.

The approaches you use – how – to place or insert an ad into a podcast episode decides the where. You can occupy the spot in an episode in two ways:

Baked-in Ads

This ad placement is permanent, added to the podcast audio file beforehand, appears anywhere within an episode, and is available as long as the episode is on the chosen platform.

Every unique listener hears the same ad. And, even when a new listener goes back to listen to an old episode, they can still hear the ad embedded within.

Dynamic Ads

This form of ad insertion is an ad placed in a chosen spot to reach a targeted audience.

Through dynamic ad insertion strategy, you can offer a better listening experience by personalizing the ad and ensuring that you help maximize the effectiveness of the client campaign.

Here, the ads stay updated because the older podcasts are embedded into new ads. When a listener reverts to an old podcast episode, they listen to the ads, monetizing the back catalogs.

Dynamic ads are inserted by matching the brand with the relevant episode across the category collections – inserting ads with the relevant podcast discussion topics.

Types of ads according to the placement

Following the ad insertion into a podcast, there are three types of ads according to the placement:

Pre-roll Ads

These are ads placed at the very beginning of a podcast episode.

While reading a novel, we rarely drop it in the beginning. We often DNF it as we cannot read beyond the middle mark.

Are placing ads at the beginning of a podcast effective? Most listeners hit play and linger near the device to listen to the episode, boosting the chances they hear the ad. Consequently, if the podcast listener is listening to one of their favorite podcast series, they might be inclined to let the ad play as it eventually leads them to the podcast audio.

Initially, listeners are more patient, so they remain concentrated on the ad content showcasing minimal interest in the services.

Mid-roll Ads

If the ads are banded together one after another at the beginning of the episode itself, your listeners could suffer from ad fatigue. As an advertiser, you place them strategically throughout the podcast episode, figuring out the perfect placement where the listener pays the maximum attention.

Mid-roll ads are placed in the middle of 10-minute or longer podcasts. Is this a lucrative spot?

When podcast listeners reach the middle mark of an episode, they are already engaged in a side activity like cooking or exercising. The strategy is that by being engrossed in a physical activity, they are less likely to pause the ad, allowing them to play through.

What a way to monetize our distractions!

Post-roll Ads

Post-roll ads witness the lowest possible audience.

Readers likely DNF a novel before they reach the second half. This also applies to podcasts.

Most listeners directly skip to the next episode before the current one ends. If this is the last episode of the podcast, they are also most likely to close the app before they have heard the last few words.

An ad placement may seem effective at the end of a podcast when the listeners are busy with another task, so they let the ending play. This is beneficial when the episode is the last one in the series or the next episode is yet to be published.

A risk you have to take!

We explore the three distinct ad formats after how to insert podcast ads in the different placements or spots.

One-size-fits-all is not the right approach here. You need to focus on ad delivery at this junction.

Podcast AD Formats

Which podcast ad format would generate the most interest and create a lasting impact on the audience?

Pre-Recorded Ads

These ads are also pre-produced or announcer-read, targeting a specific audience demographic.

They are commercial messages relayed to the audience by, generally, a voice-over artist and not the host themselves. These are pre-recorded audio ads by the advertiser beforehand and then offered to the podcast host to play during an episode.

They run for over 15 to 30 seconds and are insertable across different slots.

Pre-recorded ads are dynamically inserted into the podcast to target a specific audience.

A targeting campaign helps the advertisers decide which audience should hear the ad based on demographics, geographic location, campaign dates, podcast categories, etc.

Host-Read Sponsorships

Have you ever heard of a live-read during live podcast episodes? Let me break it down for you.

A brand offers the podcast host a messaging brief and also provides sponsorship for the specific episode. After this, the podcast host puts this brief into their own words, changing its tone and fine-tuning it into more native, authentic, and creative content.

They blend it into the contents seamlessly to make it seem more natural. A connected shift in the ad entails more engaged listening from the audience, lasting over 60 seconds to a couple of minutes. It makes the audience think the ad is just another part of the episode.

Host-read ads are commercialized, edited into editorial messages, and recorded by the host. The benefit of host-read ad sponsorships is an improved listening experience resulting in deeper engagement.

In sponsor ads, the priority is driving engagement by blending relevant ads with native podcast content.

Long-Form Branded Episodes or Series

What does branded mean? It entails a sense of loyalty and responsibility.

A brand that wants to advertise on your platform sends a promotional message curated themselves. This could be a branded segment, episode, or entire podcast series.

The focus here is to be non-intrusive and centralize the tonality and voice of the message. The promotional message blends into the editorial content – a middle ground between the advertisers and the podcast host.

One content should not overpower the other, so the curated organic content that resonates with listeners should align with the ad message.

It has to utilize the loyalty and trust built between the podcast host and their listeners. It feels like a personal recommendation from a close friend.

Podcast Ads tap into the parasocial relationship the audience builds with the host.

By engaging and being invested in specific content, the audience sometimes develops an on-sided emotional connection with influencers, celebrities, athletes, etc.

This is what podcast ads take advantage of. And this is something that they monetize on.

It has become commonplace for brands to deliver their products or services to the host so that their talk regarding the experiences is more sincere.

According to a survey by the Guardian, 51% of respondents had a positive ad experience while hearing it on a podcast and even intended to purchase it.

In podcast advertising, listeners learn something new about a brand. Its appealing and informative content attracts attention from prospects, boosting purchasing intent and improving your performance across the overall marketing board.

It is not only helpful in lead generation but also in expanding your audience demographics. Podcast ads target a unique audience pool that is younger and has moved away from consuming traditional broadcast media channels.

By targeting younger audiences through podcasts, advertisers can target other audience pools through TV and radio advertisements without worrying about duplicate content.

Another benefit of podcast ads is their ability to have a multiplier effect on different ad formats, increasing the effectiveness of an ad campaign by offering new information about the brand and improving the authenticity of the brand experience.

And when combined, visual cues make podcast ads more memorable, i.e., boost memory retention.

Due to its diverse benefits and creative freedom, podcast ads have become one of the most trusted mediums for advertisers.

YouGov Research backs this by stating that the majority of their research participants felt more deeply connected when they heard a voice, a crucial element in personalized communication.

Podcast ads combined with sponsorships are the ultimate gateway for businesses of all sizes to boost their brand awareness. The diverse targeting methods, such as interest targeting and first-party integration, help advertisers reach the right audience at the optimal time.

Every business has an ideal audience pool, and podcast advertising has made it possible for advertisers to reach them.

But now that you are aware of the benefits that podcast advertising holds, how can you advertise ads on a podcast, and what are the relevant pricing to do the same?

You can implement measures as an advertiser to advertise your ad on a podcast.

Decide the contents of your ad. What is your ad regarding, and what is its theme?
Curate your audio ads and offer the main talking points to the podcast team.
Look for the appropriate podcast. The relevant ad should blend with the native podcast. You may find the contact information of podcasters on social media and websites or reach out to the parent company.
Finalize the ad placement. Decide ad placement and insertion beforehand, and finalize the pricing structure for podcast advertising.

The cost of placing an ad depends on different factors, such as the audience reading your ad, the number of spots booked, podcast popularity, the ad length, placement, and overall campaign duration.

Podcasts levy a fixed fee or place a charge per 1000 listeners – the cost per mile (CPM). The industry benchmark for podcast advertising is $8 CPM for 30-second ads and $25 CPM for 60-second ads.

The period/duration for which the ad will remain in the podcast.
How do you know you have chosen the right podcast? Track your ROI through vanity URLs, surveys, promo codes, and pixel-based attribution.

Podcast Advertising Effectiveness

Podcast advertising can serve as a unique and underrated marketing platform. But how do we gauge its effectiveness?

Particular podcast ad metrics help outline whether your campaigns drive your business growth. Podcasts are a cookie-less audio medium measured through listens rather than clicks or scrolls.

First, for basics, you may track the number of unique listeners who listened to your podcast at least once, comprising streams and downloads.

Second, there are specific attribution requirements mentioned beforehand that you can effectively measure depending on the ad content and funnel structure:

Discount or promo codes: A unique redeemable promo code provided by the podcast host used during the checkout stage of the purchase. It helps track the number of purchases and the number of new buyers.
Pixel-based attribution: How do marketing channels that use content marketing measure the success of their strategies? Through downloads.

Track ad exposure and overall website activity, i.e., every user action. However, how do you track user activity and web traffic once the user activity is taking place offline? The ways to track post-download engagement are complicated and limited.

While the RSS feed makes podcast distribution, i.e., downloading, streaming, and subscription easier, it complicates tracking. The user activity (listening) takes place offline once the podcast is downloaded onto the listener’s device.

How do we track the web traffic then? Pixel-based attribution.

This podcast measurement technique uses the available user data point to match the listener’s unique identifier with the purchaser’s unique identifier even when online cookies are absent.

Surveys: In marketing and advertising, it is crucial to assess whether the channels are effective. It is not easy to analyze or anticipate the exposure, response, and effectiveness, hence, post-conversion surveys help outline the elements influencing the customer‘s decisions.
Vanity URLs: Vanity URLs are unique, easy to remember, and shorter versions of longer podcast links. It mentions where the link will guide the listeners.

It is as easy to assess podcast traffic as other digital media.

Podcast advertisers, to accurately and reliably, analyze the traffic depend on insights illustrating the delivery and outcome of the podcast such as impression, frequency, and reach.

Research states that podcast listeners show favorable consumer behavior due to the positivity exuded by podcast advertising.

Margaret Moe in “Podvertising: Podcast Listeners’ Advertising Attitudes, Consumer Actions, and Preference for Host-Read Ads” published in the Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies outlines how listeners engage, interact, and react to podcast ads, especially host-read ads.

The research outlines the correlation between podcast advertising attitudes, the authenticity of the host, and the preference for host-read ads. They prefer ads from regular contributors due to the authenticity and trust between them and their favorite podcast(er) host.

With a staggering increase in podcast listeners, advertisers can build more opportunities to nurture engaged listeners interested in listening to host-read ads and purchasing the services discussed.

BlogsOctober 4, 2024April 21, 2025

Thought Leadership with A Demand Gen Program

Authoritative and transparent content can instill trust in B2B audiences. Is integrating thought leadership with demand gen the best way to ensure this?

96% of executives assert that thought leadership helps them make insightful and informed business decisions, inspiring them to take action.

Previously, this type of content was generally flagged as a biased opinion rather than an informative insight.

But, with more and more business leaders consuming thought leadership content, organizations have taken further steps to integrate it into their content marketing strategies.

Over 75% of C-suite executives and decision-makers assert that thought leadership led them to learn more about a specific product or service, they were not even considering before.

Thought leadership content is original and valuable. It builds relevance and credibility between different executives, allowing them to collaborate and build recognition with each other.

This shows how important thought leadership is for demand generation. There are barely any requirements for references and citations, this content is evidence-based, making it reliable and authentic. It conveys what the thought leader stands for – who is the face of their brand. Similarly, thought leadership instills other thought leaders’ trust in your brand, establishing it as one of the most advantageous demand-gen strategies.

Demand generation strategy is driving your B2B conversion rates.

It is a marketing tactic that builds brand awareness for your business and generates interest to acquire a maximum number of high-quality leads. Demand gen helps you find, learn more about, and nurture leads by making them realize your services can solve their problem. This is how marketers generate interest and demand.

Most often, your business taps into a niche market and offers solutions to prospective clients. For this to work, the brand awareness strategy should be reliable and optimistic. If the awareness strategy is effective, it helps educate potential clients regarding your business, persuading them that your solutions and offers are genuine.

How can your clients trust you while increasing their reliability on your solutions? By crafting a compelling demand-generation strategy.

It should be authoritative. Your content should establish your industry expertise, i.e., highlight your authority in the chosen field or the subject matter.

This is where thought leadership steps in.

The thought leadership goal is to sound like an expert and establish yourself as one to prospective clients. It is a common but advantageous tactic used by content marketers to prove their credibility and themselves as leaders across the industry. Through thought leadership content that is educational and helpful, your brand shows that it’s an active participant across the chosen industrial domain.

In simpler terms, you have to illustrate that your brand is helpful, i.e., one that a customer turns towards for solutions or expertise in a distinct subject matter. Hence, educating and guiding the customers are the necessary functionalities of thought leadership. You generate new leads, initiate proof of your expertise, and boost engagement across socials through this content type.

Thought leadership content has helped drive demand and revenue – the two asks of the competitive and fast-paced marketing world.

It has assisted in bridging the gap between the expectations of the audiences and those creating the content. Something that traditional marketing tactics have failed to do.

When marketing teams allocate resources to implement their strategies, they should allocate time for mapping approaches that build trust and loyalty. When personal brands of thought leaders overlap with their professional experience, the value of the business also strengthens.

Here are the different ways in which integrating thought leadership with demand gen can prove effective for your brand –

Call-To-Actions (CTAs)

Call-to-actions guide prospects or users in taking the next step across the demand gen funnel, constituting awareness (TOFU), consideration (MOFU), and conversion (BOFU).

Your brand has already established itself as the thought leader. But through carefully placed call-to-actions (in blogs, podcasts, and emails), you urge the prospects towards the problem-solving step by implementing a smart demand gen strategy.

This could include asking them to sign up for weekly newsletters, downloading whitepapers & resources, and registering for webinars.

A strong CTA in a strategic and well-thought-out position convinces the leads to take action by telling them what to do next and guiding them through the decision-making process. When the prospects undergo a less exhaustive and complicated process (by hand holding them through the demand gen funnel), they are more likely to purchase, boosting the conversion rate. The trip through the funnel – from awareness to purchase – becomes hassle-free.

By providing their contact information, the clients have already moved to the next step of the tunnel, meanwhile, for marketers, acquiring leads becomes straightforward.

Lead Magnets

Marketing teams use lead magnets to create SQLs. They offer free resources or trial periods to collect the leads’ contact information.

This is how gated contents also work. Controlled access has become the new axiom of businesses. Remember that this type of content doesn’t contribute towards brand awareness or visibility because hidden content doesn’t drive traffic. It serves a different purpose.

The gated content should be valuable and informative, enabling users to provide their contact information in exchange. These should include topics that specifically resonate with the target audience and address their pain points.

When a prospect clicks on a CTA to avail of gated content, they are redirected to a landing page that has to be strong and provide value, like an eBook or a whitepaper. Meanwhile, the landing page includes a form before you access the content. This form should have clear instructions and be straightforward and user-friendly, allowing a simple user experience.

It is easier to receive the user’s email addresses and contact information, helping segment the accounts for effective email marketing campaigns.

This marketing method eventually helps marketing-qualified leads convert to sales-qualified leads efficiently, boosting the lead nurturing process.

Nurture Campaigns

Content has become one of the most sought-after tools in this fast-paced digital marketing era. It has helped generate demand, nurture leads, and convert them efficiently.

Following this, your brand can offer expertise and valuable insights, boosting engagement and increasing conversion rates through high-quality thought leadership content. The goal is to turn the cold leads into hot ones who will eventually make a purchase.

Thought leadership content can help your brand build this credibility and make it the go-to resource across a niche market. When prospective clients face a marketing challenge, you should be their primary solution provider.

Miscellaneous Content Formats

One of the top goals of integrating a demand gen strategy with thought leadership is to drive engagement. And diversifying your content formats is one way to achieve this. It may range from blogs, landing pages, podcasts, infographics to eBooks, whitepapers, and interviews.

This includes valuable, insightful, informative, and relevant content that taps into a niche market, helping situate your brand as the authority. On a broader scale, it should address complex issues in a specific domain.

Take marketing as an example. The iterated content should establish a correlation between the marketing challenges and your branding solutions. Ensuring subtlety in this regard will emphasize the professionalism that industry experts often exude.

Market your brand instead of selling it!

Take podcasts for example. This form of content has a longer shelf-life. They are easily accessible to visitors and offer an expansive library of valuable content that educates. When you target a niche market, thought leadership through a podcast can offer a deeper insight into complex topics, turning it into memorable and shareable content in solutions.

Sharing snippets from a podcast episode works as an interesting demand-gen strategy. They instill interest and drive the traffic towards the podcast or the associated landing page.

Content such as podcast series makes the target audience receptive to offers, establishing authenticity through expert opinions. This discussion type provides a humanistic tone, making the listeners believe that the speakers speak from years of experience rather than following a script.

Quality thought leadership content is an effective way to attract high-quality leads.

So, thought leadership pieces should focus less on the organization itself and more on the audience meeting their preferences.

Omnichannel Promotions and Campaigns

Promoting through different marketing platforms boosts visibility and drives traffic. When the content is published on these platforms, including social media, new audiences might gravitate towards it, depending on how much it resonates with them.

This strategy is one of the crucial ways the marketing team can use to reach the prospects effectively. It assists in generating leads, allowing you to track the performance of each channel individually.

However, different channels lack consistent and cohesive brand experience. Here, you may pair the thought leadership pieces with the right channel, depending on its format, size, and length.

For example, when you post a small LinkedIn caption interlinking other content published by your brand, those interested might tap on ‘learn more’, taking them to the podcast or the landing page. This boosts your website traffic along with your brand awareness.

However, the bottom line is that regardless of the platform you post your content on, it should carry a consistent expert tone and voice. It should seem like an extension of a brand and not sound like an altogether different brand.

Uniformity remains the key to successful marketing campaigns.

Thought leadership can help market your knowledge to the audience, interest invested prospects, and establish brand value.

Demand gen is educational and informative, benefitting your brand for the long term. It offers you the bigger picture – instituting you as the thought leader and amplifying your brand reach to a bigger audience. Collaborating with other industry experts will allow your brand to create a network driving demand generation.

This unique collaboration between thought leadership and demand gen aims to magnify your impact, broaden your reach, and amplify your brand voice. Lead generation remains crucial, but we often forget the significance of demand generation.

Integrating demand gen with thought leadership has only propelled its importance further. Through compelling content, such as podcast appearances and guest blogs, thought leadership puts forth a unique perspective available on an established platform.

Today, thought leadership makes efficient use of digital marketing platforms to reach fresh audiences, build a loyal following, and drive demand gen while serving the main purpose, i.e., establishing authority.

In the fast-paced digital scape, marketers use thought leadership as a strategic tool to generate revenue, demand, and lead. Therefore, none can argue that thought leadership has elevated demand gen.

Thought leadership with a demand gen program has a transformative impact on your brand and your audience. By embracing this marketing strategy, you allow trust, innovation, and credibility to seep in.

Every content educates your readers but thought leadership content transforms your brand into an indispensable resource.

If, as a developing business, you wish to cultivate a loyal following, aligning thought leadership with demand-gen goals will help solidify trust in your expertise.

BlogsSeptember 26, 2024January 3, 2025

Trending B2B SaaS Contract Management Software for 2025

Gone are the days of manually managing contracts. Global businesses are digitizing and it’s time for your contract management system to revolutionize too.

The practice of storing documents in shared folders, employee inboxes, and email threads is traditional and seemingly backdated. Manual contract management is not only tedious but also prone to a series of errors and delays. What’s worse— important documents like these may get lost among the piled-up files. Such chaos is a shout-out for change.

With the world soaking in emerging technologies, it’s time to resort to software solutions. SaaS contract management software not only safeguards essential materials, but also prevents an important file from getting lost in the clutter. The software is designed to enhance the efficacy of your brand’s contract management system. With this technology in place, managing business contracts is far simplified. From negotiating contracts to signing and renewal, all phases are systemized and available in a single centralized location

Why Integrate B2B SaaS Contract Management Software

There are several pros of leaving behind the traditional practices of manual contract management and choosing a SaaS tool instead. Let’s walk through the list.

Cost-efficient

Besides convenience, SaaS software solutions offer a comprehensive overview of pricing, terms, and usage data. Analyze usage patterns to identify underutilized features or redundant licenses and use this data to renegotiate contract terms with vendors and optimize costs.

Centralized management

As and when business expands, so does the list of contracts. And if you don’t organize them, retrieving the data during audits or renewals would get chaotic. Utilizing SaaS contract management allows you to keep all data in one location and categorize them, promoting seamless data access. Moreover, they also have built-in automated reminders that do not let you miss any renewal or assigned tasks.

Contract review

Irrespective of a growing contract databank, reviewing every document is crucial for adhering to quality standards. It becomes easier to mitigate risks associated with manual processes, keep errors to a bare minimum, and comply with legal requirements while monitoring access controls.

Prevent auto-renewals

Some auto-renewals are unnecessary and could be quite frustrating. SaaS software promotes renewal tracking and alerts you well before the renewal date. This gives you enough time to decide whether you continue the contract or stop the renewal.

How B2B SAAS Contract Management Operates

B2B SaaS contract management system plays the role of your behind-the-scenes assistant. You can let it handle the series of complex components involved in managing these files. They get automated and hardly consume your time. Here’s what’s behind the seamless functioning of the software:

Contract creation: Choose from various templates to swiftly create your unique contract. The contract creation stage is fun and ensures consistency throughout. You don’t have to go through any manual hassle in the initial drafting stage.

Negotiation: Exchange contracts for a smooth collaboration with vendors and stakeholders. Track changes and ensure all parties are updated, saving you from back-and-forth follow-ups.

Approval: Automate the entire approval cycle by adding contracts to hand-picked workflows. The stakeholders receive prompt notifications, and approvals are tracked within the system.

Execution: Receive electronic signatures from all parties and store them securely in the cloud. The contracts are organized by categories or tags, allowing quick retrieval. There is no need to print, scan, or mail contracts. All data is available in the software.

Monitoring and compliance: Receive automated reminders for tracking deadlines or expirations. It eliminates the trouble of manual record-keeping to track when the next renewal is due.

Audit and reporting: View the audit trail of every action associated with a contract. From the edits to the approvals phase, utilize advanced analytics to evaluate contract performance, cycle times, and bottlenecks, and stay tuned to all essential data.

Top B2B SAAS Contract Automation Softwares for 2025

Now that we have covered how a SaaS tool will benefit you, let’s dive into the best software solutions to choose from.

Pandodac

(Source: Pandodac)

This solution provides all data in a single document, helping you digitally create, approve, and sign contracts.

Key features

Drag and drop editor, simplifying proposal and contract writing.
Centralized, cloud-based contracts
Series of contract templates and pre-approved conditions

ContractWorks

(Source: ContractWorks)

The highlight of this software is its AI-powered OCR and search capabilities allowing you to locate particular words. Its cloud-backed security features safeguard your data and make it accessible.

Key features

User-friendly interface simplifying onboarding of new employees
Personalized reporting provides important insight
Creates tag-based reports to share with your stakeholders

Gatekeeper

(Source: Gatekeeper)

Besides offering a centralized information center, the AI-powered software provides an auditable record of operations.

Key features

One of the most reliable, quick, and efficient systems in the market
Optimizes contracts
Integrated electronic signature compliant with regulatory standards

Trackado

(Source: Trackado)

Trackado is another cloud-based SaaS to assist you with streamlining the entire contract lifecycle. It simplifies finding and collecting contracts based on category, sector, or business partner. The best part is— it doesn’t require any extensive training.

Key features

Organizes contacts, stores emails in one location
Tracks all activities
Sends real-time notifications

Concord

(Source: Concord)

You can access various tools for automating and integrating the contract lifecycle with this software. Its pre-approved templates offer smooth contract drafting.

Key features

Custom approval workflows for contract distribution
Version control to allow users access to the recent versions
Overview of the status of all contracts

Contractbook

(Source: Contractbook)

If you want to write a contract directly, then this is the perfect software. It is integrated with a machine-friendly format and allows you to work with multiple teams to get a glimpse of your legal standing.

Key features

Invite outside guests
Build contracts from scratch, record, store, and send
Smart task management for staying on top of all contact updates

Signeasy

(Source: Signeasy)

Its eSignature API makes it super easy to sign contracts and manage documentation. If any signatures are pending, you immediately receive an auto-reminder.

Key features

Integration with multiple business tools like Google Drive and Microsoft SharePoint
Reusable templates
Contract categorization and secure storage

CloudEagle

(Source: CloudEagle)

This comprehensive SaaS contract management tool offers a user-friendly interface and robust features.

Key features

Customizable templates, automated reminders, and advanced data analytics
Tracking of contract negotiation and approvals
AI-driven contract insights, vendor management, and spend optimization

Best Practices to choose cloud-based contract management software:

There are so many options available for a SaaS platform, that choosing the right one could seem overwhelming. Here are some key factors to consider while picking the software for your brand:

Alignment with your needs: List out the features you are looking for in your brand. Is it a robust e-signature a customizable template or something else? Identify your key requirements and filter out those that fit the criteria.

Scalability: Determine the software that grows with your expanding business and the evolving contract requirements. Verify whether the solution can handle a high volume of contracts, users, and workflows without facing performance hiccups.

User-friendly: Complex functionality can reduce the pace of the integration process and hinder overall productivity. The software you select must have an interface that is easy to navigate.

Integration with other tools: Check if it is compatible with existing tools like CRM systems and financial platforms. Smooth integration will prevent data silos and save you time.

Security and compliance: Contractual agreements contain sensitive and confidential data, which makes security a top priority. While narrowing down on SaaS software, find features like encryption and regulatory compliance to ensure top-notch data security.

Automation and AI features: Repetitive tasks like reminders, approvals, and contract renewals can seem mundane and if not automated, they can go amiss. AI-powered features are embedded with insights that carve out the route for the best decision-making.

Customer support and reviews: Reliable customer support is a surefire way to improve customer satisfaction. Figure out software offering a robust framework for customer support by checking user reviews and getting an idea of the responsiveness in real-time.

Summing up

A consolidated platform is a must-have tool for tracking the approved workflows, keeping up with renewal dates, and streamlining contract negotiations. Don’t think twice before integrating an effective B2B SaaS contact management software. It offers insights into all this essential data in a single tab. While there is an array of software services in the market, our comprehensive list will guide you to incorporate the best platform.

BlogsSeptember 23, 2024April 4, 2025

Why Align Your Sales & Marketing Strategies

Aligning your sales and marketing teams is a crucial propellor for generating high-quality leads. But how do you attain this?

Syncing sales and marketing is an ideal scenario that maintains your growth trajectory. The alignment also delivers a cohesive experience for the target customer base while generating high revenue returns. Although most businesses are aware of this, achieving the unison is easier said than done. Studies indicate that only 8% of brands have successfully aligned their sales and marketing divisions.

Content Marketing Institute found that in cases of misalignment between sales and marketing domains, around 70% of content generated by marketers goes unused because it lacks relevance to the buyer persona. Whereas, HubSpot believes that sales teams struggle to convert around 79% of leads due to a shortcoming to nurture leads. Getting sales and marketing on the same page involves establishing shared goals, strategies, systems, and processes to work unified as a brand. As a result, you can attain better outcomes from marketing activities, such as more closed deals, a higher ROI, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

What happens when Sales & Marketing are misaligned

It is a known fact that sales and marketing diligently work towards the same goal of driving growth and adding to the client network. However, they work in separate silos with different data sets, dealing with metrics, analytics, and so on. When they work as independent streams., it creates a monolithic environment having less capacity to leverage each other’s core competencies. Let’s look at some of the common problems that arise when both sides are working in synergy:

Siloed customer data

The absence of data unification can cause each team to be misinformed about their leads and customers and what they are seeking. For instance, if a sales team is unaware of the marketing strategy being implemented, it may be clueless about client interactions. Alternatively, the marketing team may not receive insights from the sales calls and end up launching campaigns for the wrong audience. This confusion can be avoided by fostering a strong alignment among these two domains.

Under-utilized sales content

Marketing teams strive to create relevant content designed for the target audience, specific to the platforms they frequent. However, if the sales reps do not provide input, all these efforts become futile. When marketers create various forms of content, be it infographics, industry reports, white papers, or some other materials, they need to communicate to the sales team the use of these resources. An alliance among these two sections can help address the sales rep’s needs and deliver result-oriented effective content.

Lead quality

Identifying the target audience is a catalyst to enhance your overall lead quality. Your sales team may focus on adding information-qualified leads, only to be disappointed when the prospects don’t convert into paying accounts. If sales and marketing together identify the lead categories and agree on lead scoring, they can operate more effectively. In this way, the sales team remains updated on the buyer’s journey and the data exchanged during the interactions. It also enables them to prioritize the prospects likely to convert into paying accounts.

The Benefits of Aligning Sales & Marketing

Simply put, misalignment of sales and marketing can hinder customer experience to a large extent. On the contrary, aligning these teams creates a synergistic cross-functional team that can drive your sales pipeline. The partnership between these two teams creates shared objectives and synchronized processes. The marketing branch can help sales generate, qualify, and nurture leads in the sales pipeline. Whereas, sales can promote marketing to bridge any gaps in the funnel. This alignment draws more high-quality leads while shortening the sales cycle. Let’s dive into why it is beneficial to align sales and marketing.

Effective Databank

The current B2B sales and marketing have geared towards a more fragmented solution generating large volumes of data but few insights. Aligning sales and marketing under a common plan results in an integrated tech stack that creates a high-quality data set for both teams.

Highly Motivated Teams

Sales and marketing alignment makes both teams work towards a common goal rather than competing with each other. The outcome is— better performance efficiency and higher revenue growth. Foster better cross-functional collaboration that also contributes to revenue growth. Moreover, aligned teams may be more inclined to stay, contributing to less employee churn.

Improved Resource Utilization

Sales are not involved in content creation. When there is better alignment between these teams, it allows you to deliver more customer-oriented and data-driven messages with input from sales.

Quick and Sustained Growth

Sales and marketing alignment brings them together to collaborate towards a common end goal— higher sales and growth. When everyone heads in the same direction, the friction between the two teams is greatly reduced and the resource utilization goes up. Additionally, the data can become more systematic and lead to streamlined organizational efficiency.

How to establish sales and marketing alignment

These best practices can be your go-to for bringing sales and marketing on the same page.

establish sales and marketing alignment 1

Set goals

If you may face misalignment, begin by defining objectives and allow both teams to recognize that they are working towards shared goals. This can be anything, from a company’s initiative to a new campaign to adding more clients, both teams must agree on business goals. A stepping stone to uniting sales and marketing is to bring their perspectives on the same page.

Decide a strategy

The next step is for both teams to avoid building independent go-to-market programs. Sales and marketing leaders need to meet regularly to map the buyer’s journey and discuss lead generation, conversion rates, inbound sales tactics, and more. Initiatives such as leadership offsite or regular standing bring clarity and ensure that these divisions work towards the shared goals you discussed previously.

Agree on processes

While executing business objectives, the sales and marketing managers will inevitably interact. If you have a model for promoting cross-functional collaboration, it makes it easy to instill clear communication and eliminate confusion surrounding responsibilities and expectations. Establish the sales and marketing elements upfront to streamline collaborative engagements and amp up the sales funnel.

Create better communications

Poor communication can trigger misalignment of sales and marketing. The best thing to do in such cases is to encourage centralized communication, which ensures that important conversations never go amiss. And transparency in the chain of communication is maintained. You can achieve centralized communication through tools or email campaigns.

Focus on sales enablement

A robust sales enablement framework improves the alignment between these teams. This forms a natural conduit between marketing and sales. For example, there is a sales enablement team to ensure that assets are not presented to sellers without training and guidance on effective application. Investing in a sales enablement team allows you to create reliable information between organizations.

Lead by example

When top leaders in your brand work hard to create the alignments, it works like a ripple effect across the team. Scheduling meetings between the leads of both teams to communicate the explore growth opportunities, offer feedback, and celebrate cross-functional wins can go a long way.

Streamline internal processes

You may be surprised to determine the influence of implementing organizational changes when aligning sales and marketing domains. In this step, introduce niche roles focusing on a specific aspect of the business, like strategy and development, demand generation, and nurturing prospects, for instance. You can also get content marketers on board to develop compelling messages aligned with each stage of the buyer’s journey. This stage is about building a solid framework for each phase of the customer journey, leading to a stronger collaboration between sales and marketing and driving business growth.

For every business that wants to survive the competition and thrive, aligning sales and marketing is no longer a choice. It is necessary to generate B2B leads and grow your brand. Evaluate the current state of these two teams in terms of alignment. The best practices listed here will guide you to build a cohesive relationship between these domains, enabling your teams to achieve the targets and create your mark in the industry.

BlogsSeptember 20, 2024March 27, 2025

Marketing and the organizational buy-in

Marketing leaders need the C-suite buy-in. But is it doable if you present a bill instead of an investment proposal to your CFO? It’s time to reevaluate.

Marketing teams have been losing their budgets for a while now. Even though businesses have understood the value of digital transformations and reaching relevant customers through marketing channels, budgets have been down.

That is the total budget allocated from company revenue in 2024. Marketing teams are asked to do more with less. They face the brunt of low-quality leads. Marketing is blamed for a weak sales pipeline.

And what is expected of them? The message should reach the right audience. It should resonate with them. The message should be creative. It should reach and influence many people. The team has a long list of requirements.

A creative endeavor with chains wrapped around it. Marketing leaders must now speak the language of the financial department.

Marketing isn’t a cost. We have all known that. It is an investment to grow market share, build trust, and pioneer creative thought. But these strategies must see the light of day. The only way to achieve this is by acquiring organizational buy-in.

Marketing is about pioneering communications. It is talking the language the core customer and stakeholders understands. That includes your C-suites.

Organizations cannot exist disconnected from their customers. There is a reason B2B marketing is talked about.

Yet budgets are still slashed. Do companies not trust in creativity? Marketing is supposed to be synonymous with creativity.

Catchy subject lines, advertisements that stir emotions, blogs that stimulate curiosity and knowledge, and social posts that entertain. Marketing is thought of as an artistic expression that is good to have.

Let us change this perspective. Marketing is pioneering communications.

Through strategy, marketing enables an organization to form a relationship with its core customer en masse, makingmarketing a must-have for organizations investing in the long term.

But how do you convey this value to your Stakeholders?

C-Suite communication

Stakeholders understand one language: Growth. Every business needs to focus on short-term and long-term growth. And the top management is hungry for it.

Yet, there is a disconnect between long and short-term planning. Some business leaders chase short terms aggressively, which hampers their long-term bottom line.

And this trend has affected marketing the most. The top brass thinks it’s a cost. The perception must be altered to align better with reality. Marketing is an investment; it is far from a cost.

And that applies to B2B marketing. Marketing leaders need to convey their proposition w.r.t time and the financial benefits of their strategies in a given time. Most marketing teams present a bill to their CFOs and not a proposal of investment. This is a lost opportunity for marketing leaders to help the CEO and CFO understand the value of their strategies.

Business and Marketing goal alignment

CEOs and CFOs have business outcomes and objectives planned for the next 3-5-10 years. That is the optimist in them.

A marketing leader must make them realize the potential of marketing for the success of the plans.

What is crucial for a business to survive? Low CAC, high Customer LTV, and increased rates of retention.

Marketing leaders have to create an annual proposal that highlights the role of marketing in the process of acquisition and retention. Google refers to this as outcome-based marketing.

It is sending your CFO an investment plan rather than an invoice. For example, if your company is planning on increasing 12% profits in the next two years. You can effectively show how your budget can contribute to the success of that percentage.

You could outline a strategy that enables the C-suite to understand the impact of marketing on that number. If you must acquire 20 customers in those two years and retain at least 8 to hit that goal, then outline your marketing team’s role in achieving it.

From customer marketing to product-led marketing strategies, there is a host of game plans proven to work in favor of businesses.

Although, it requires you to align long-term business goals with marketing. That requires you to go further than generic top-funnel lead generation. It requires a growth mindset. It is the marketing leader’s job to communicate the role of marketing in increasing market share through brand awareness and reputation.

Quantify marketing impact on sales.

Brand awareness has become a metric of growth. It builds trust between the buyer and the provider. As the B2B buyer buys to mitigate and avoid the risks in their industry, this trust is crucial in boosting sales.

As Adobe’s survey finds, 70% of the buyers purchase from brands they trust. And top management must understand that acquiring the buyer’s trust is marketing’s job.

90% of SaaS companies fail in the first year. What a grim statistic.

One of the reasons a company fails is because they miss out on product-fit markets. Identifying the buyer is marketing’s job. If they are under budget, the cost of failure could very well be a disaster. Stakeholders must understand the role marketing plays in the long-term success of an organization. Marketing drives sales by enhancing the reputation of a brand.

The message delivery, communication channels, cultural sensitivities, capturing attention. There is a reason for doing all of it. Brand awareness drives growth.

An intangible metric provides tangible results.

It isn’t just sales and marketing alignment. It is an organizational effort to grow.

Budget cuts with the same workloads provide a challenge for the modern CMO.

Their creativity and problem-solving are pushed to the brink.

However, marketing leaders must learn to present growth statistics and convey them as an investment proposal, not a cost. As marketing becomes data-backed and the success of retaining a customer becomes apparent to the finance departments, they will align themselves with marketing. Please Check Data-Powered Marketing.

Marketing isn’t just a message, an ad, or a blog. It is a strategy of communicating with potential buyers and creating a bridge of trust. It is a driver of financial and reputational success.

And Ciente.io understands this. We provide unmatched experiences for your core customers and stakeholders. From brand awareness to amplification, our database provides B2B organizations by connecting them with relevant audiences and orchestrating marketing experiences for them.

BlogsSeptember 19, 2024June 5, 2025

Turnkey Solutions for Revolutionizing Your Business

Adopting digitization is the need of the hour in the ever-evolving global business landscape. How can turnkey solutions help modernize your brand?

The digital wave is here, speedily transforming all industrial sectors. Traditional practices might have worked for you in the past. However, digital transformation requires you to stay in tune with and adopt the latest technologies. Gartner’s research stated that 91% of businesses are engaged in a digital initiative. Digitization is a priority, but if you are concerned about the nitty-gritty of the transition, consider turnkey solutions. They will not only make it possible for you to integrate digital technologies but also help accomplish this smoothly.

What Is a Turnkey Solution?

A turnkey solution is an end-to-end system that can be integrated into a business process. It’s designed to fulfill needs, such as web design, training, or content management. The main objective is to build end-to-end solutions that allow your brand to address a requirement. You can purchase software from third-party vendors relevant to your business.

These could be products or services crafted for several types of businesses but are ideal if you have just launched your digital transformation journeys. For small and medium enterprises, it is crucial to clearly understand the digital tools available and their application to meet the company’s needs. The turnkey solution helps launch a new business or sector within a brand without stressing about building your software. They do not require huge amounts of financial investment, so they work perfectly for companies with limited resources.

Key Benefits of Turnkey Software

The highlighting feature of turnkey solutions is the simplicity of their application and smooth implementation. With these services in place, you don’t need to integrate components from different vendors. Turnkey solutions make it easier to address the requirements and get the process started. Let’s delve into the highlighting features:

Reliability

Turnkey software solutions eliminate the concerns of unexpected outcomes. The results are goal-oriented and specific to the challenge encountered. This feature makes it worthwhile to integrate the technology into your marketing strategy.

Improved resource utilization

Time is a precious resource, especially for marketers. The selling point of turnkey solutions is the ability to solve complex issues promptly. This not only saves you money invested on multiple systems, but you also end up saving your valuable time. They eliminate the need to build an entire system from scratch while retaining the necessary features. With turnkey services, you can focus on core competencies instead of software development.

Smooth integration

Deploying turnkey solutions is a great stepping-stone because you can opt for ready-to-use software rather than building it from scratch.

Quick Deployment

Setting up a turnkey solution is super easy, and since it is built on a pre-configured architecture, getting it up and running can happen in a matter of minutes. You can prioritize device compatibility to cover a broad user base. This feature allows you to apply turnkey across iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.

User-Friendly Tools

The user-friendly aspect of a turnkey solution is appealing to a wide customer base to generate more revenue. A large network allows the solution to build a collective user experience across various industry requirements and practices. All this together promotes fine-tuning the features.

Key components

These elements build the foundation of a successful turnkey solution-

Ready-made Products or Services:

Turnkey solutions comprise products or services that are pre-built and pre-configured to address your specific needs.

End-to-end Coverage:

You can achieve the necessary components to address a specific problem with a single turnkey solution.

Single Point of Contact:

Clients usually have a single point of contact, typically the vendor or provider. This simplifies communication and streamlines the implementation process.

Turnkey Software Solutions: Best Practices

We have compiled these steps to ensure that you select the best solution for your brand:

Identify your strengths and weaknesses

Conduct in-depth research on your strengths and gaps. This gives you a clear picture of the challenges and how a turnkey solution can help overcome the hurdle.

Determine the processes that it could impact

This step helps you prepare for what’s coming. Analyze the potential consequences of the turnkey software on your brand. Weigh the impacts for short-term and long-term scales. Additionally, you need to make sure that the software you select can cope with your requirements in the long haul, and select a suitable scalable solution.

Narrow down on the Users

Identify the team members who would mainly be working with the turnkey solution. Also, determine the impact on their work and operating style. If training is required, decide early on the process and the members in charge.

Plan your expense

To avoid budget constraints, estimate the long-term financial repercussions of a turnkey model. There may be hidden charges involved, which you should find out before investing. For instance, the rate may be low at the time of purchase. However, it is crucial to consider the costs associated with events when you upgrade the plan or expand your organization.

Examples of use cases

A fine example of a turnkey solution is an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) tool. When you look at going digital with your brand, some core functions need to be incorporated. This includes— a robust system comprising finance, marketing, sales, human customer service, and cloud into a single tech solution. ERPs are ready-to-use solutions incorporating most of these functions in one service.

Another example is a firm that offers a fully functional website to clients. Moreover, it provides necessary features such as hosting, domain registration, web design, and web development. This allows the website to be available and ready to use.

Summing up

With businesses going digital, it is essential to integrate the right components to remain ahead of the competition. Turnkey solutions are ready-to-deploy services designed to address specific business needs. They are great resources when setting your foot in the digital world. You don’t need to get worry about the hassle of developing a solution from scratch. These solutions create a seamless and efficient route for your brand to address specific challenges. Since they are available as ready-made, they perform a significant role in driving innovation and productivity in your business. Their engrained features: end-to-end coverage, quick deployment, and minimal client effort make it worthwhile. Integration with a suitable turnkey solution is a great way to align your brand with the changing business landscape.