As we wrap up our first year of Demand Gen U, we thought it’d be fitting to look back at everything that’s happened at Metadata over the past year.

Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing, and Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata, give their rapid fire takes about marketing Metadata in 2022: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Find out what they think about:

• Their favorite marketing successes in 2022
• Stepping away from incentivized LinkedIn demos
• How they dealt with 30%-35% marketing budget cuts

Three top takeaways: 

Takeaway 1: You’re sitting on a TON of content when you host a virtual event

The real (and usually hidden) value of virtual events is the content. 

Most marketers share a link with the post-event recordings and call it a day. And that’s a huge miss.

Repurposing content from virtual events is a big-time cheat code for small marketing teams expected to do more with less in 2023. 

Every recorded session can be cut into short YouTube videos, social clips for LinkedIn, a long form blog post, graphics for social posts , and more social post copy than you’re probably thinking of right now. I promise you.

We all know events aren’t cheap. Repurposing content stretches your investment further and helps you keep the buzz going – long after your event has ended.

Takeaway 2: The best leaders find their blind spots and turn them into strengths

Leaders can be oblivious to the way their peers and teams view their weaknesses. They’re called blind spots for a reason.

Not knowing where your blind spots are has consequences too. Leaders’ blind spots can limit their opportunities, impede their performance, and ultimately drag down their career.

Jason opens up about missteps he had earlier last year, tough conversations he had with Gil (our CEO), and the big steps he took to work on his blind spots.

Using the help of his coach, counselor and feedback 360-assessment, Jason put some serious work in this year. It’s been quite the journey and he has a ton of positive results to show for it. Inspirational stuff.

Takeaway 3: You have to play the analyst game (at some point)

Ever since I started at Metadata, Jason and I haven’t wanted to play the analyst game. 

It’s an old, outdated way of marketing. It’s not how most people buy software these days. Everyone knows it’s pay to play, the evaluation criteria rarely makes any sense, and you’re giving up control of your own narrative to analysts who don’t know your product as well as you do.

We realized we had to take a different approach with industry analysts as Metadata has moved up-market. 

We have no plans to sell our souls to the Forrester’s and Gartner’s of the world. But we, unfortunately, know how much industry reports and placements matter in the eyes of enterprise buyers.