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"Mark is a unicorn amongst marketers. I cannot recommend him enough for any business that…
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Mark Choueke shared thisThis chat with Luan Wise was like having someone waking me from a nap by pouring a bucket of ice cold water over my head. How can I have been so casual and, well, unsophisticated with how I use my social media channels? It took just minutes of our conversation for me to realise that I treat social so differently from all the other marketing channels. Luan talks like your best mate in the playground which is partially why she’s always been one of my favourite humans in the B2B marketing space. And here she talked clearly about how much more you can do with a proper plan around your social activity to make it an ‘impact channel’…like, an actual driver of sales. Do you remember that 2011 Bradley Cooper movie Limitless? Where he starts taking a pill that unlocks the ‘90% of the brain most humans don’t use’? This podcast episode is a bit like that. Honestly. As a tribe, we probably only exploit 10 or 20 per cent of social’s true potential. Have a listen over the Easter long weekend. Would love to know what you think. But I won’t be measuring the success of this post (or subsequent ones) in likes, shares or comments any more. It’ll be the conversations that come from it that I count. Thanks to OrbitalX for the entire and amazing universe of Do More With Less. in https://lnkd.in/gdQk52sMDo More With Less with Luan Wise: Stretching Social To Be An Impact ChannelDo More With Less with Luan Wise: Stretching Social To Be An Impact Channel
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Mark Choueke shared thisAn updated version of a long-held and firm belief, originally appearing as a chapter in my 2021 book Boring2Brave. The Beatles as exemplars of B2B marketing. I'm not even joking. They deployed all the latest tech but didn't let it supercede their talent. They were dogged about creating original content. When they did steal others' ideas though, they made it count. They obsessively studied and respected their competitors. They understood multi-channel. They were supreme storytellers. They iterated at speed and innovated like crazy... ...yet their brand remained constant, distinct and instantly recognisable. They were great at both briefing and selling in ideas. They didn't look for short cuts; they worked hard to be that good. They got results. https://lnkd.in/e7aqSrNh Grateful thanks to the extraordinary Rich Fitzmaurice who took time out from being one of our industry's hardest working and most visionary entrepreneurs to fix my typos.Blog - B2Beatles: Why John, Paul, George and Ringo are perfect B2B role modelsBlog - B2Beatles: Why John, Paul, George and Ringo are perfect B2B role models
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Mark Choueke shared thisIs this the most valuable link you could click on in Q2? A year's worth of conversations with B2B Marketing's top thinkers, planners and 'do-ers' on how they're achieving more with less. There's treasure to be found in every episode of the Do More With Less podcast, brought to you by the incredible team at OrbitalX. That 'Willy Wonka Golden Ticket' of a link? Right here: https://lnkd.in/eq9-VarE Full episodes and snippets galore. Fill your boots. Stuart Dale, James Ford, Josh Arnold 🌏🚀, Joe Lazer, Claire (Billenness) Ward, Peter Field, Stan Garber, Shane Redding, Rich Fitzmaurice, Lindsay Robertson, Steve Kemish, Sarah Terrelonge, Isobel Sita-Lumsden, Nick Eades, Siobhan Wallace, Sahana Fearne, Jennifer Shaw-Sweet, George B., Lin Duan, Abigail Labaton, Graham Smith FCIM, Melanie Mills, Michelle Meehan, MBA, Michaela Dempsey, Callum Henderson, Ola Szaran, Kristýna Efferoth, Matthew Robinson, Jessica Leyshon, Jay Myers, Rowan Fisk, Adrien Cipel, Tara Rogers, Rory Sutherland, Mark Ritson, Steve Phillips, Eric Herzog, Joel Harrison, Daniella (Gregory) Dale
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Mark Choueke shared thisOne of the best moves I learned as a B2B marketer was to forecast ROI for every marketing activity. 'Accurate' forecasting was a mere bonus; the simple act of sharing campaign targets with the CFO won me agency and influence. From the moment I added a column to my marketing plan spreadsheet showing best estimates for incremental revenue delivered per campaign, I moved closer to the centre of the business. Frustrating conversations with the CFO became less common; instead they felt more interactive and reciprocal - like two people on the same team collaborating in pursuit of the same goals. New budget requests still required a business case but were easier to negotiate. I was invited to sales, commercial and strategy meetings that previously had no seat for marketing. Meetings where, with a few well-thought out contributions, I could still further marketing's clout and get our hands on a few more growth levers. When I started forecasting for every marketing cough and sneeze it felt risky. But when I felt the benefits it felt mad I'd not done it earlier. And it IS mad. It's mad that B2B marketing functions - teams that feel aggrieved at not being taken seriously - exist without hard, specific and shared revenue targets on their backs. We want sales to understand and respect our worth? We need to be seen to win them deals. We want leadership to grant us more room to manoeuvre - the chance to pull on ALL the marketing ropes and not just one or two? We have to make growing the business our personal and very visible concern. So take on some risk; make yourself a quota-carrier. Forecast for everything. Don't worry about getting it wrong. Sales leaders get it wrong all the time. I've been in businesses that reset revenue targets four times in the same financial year. You won't always get it right but you'll get better at what will often feel like guessing. And once you do it - once you go public with your targets - you'll harness a determined focus in your marketing teams to gun hard for the numbers while enjoying a new standing among colleagues. If, as I suspect, you come to love how this simple 'lean in' makes you feel as a leader in your business and you crave more, go a step further. When the next annual budget-setting season arrives, insist your team be given specific revenue targets for new both net new business and existing customer upsell. See what that does to focus your marketing strategy, how you spend your time and what you choose to say 'no' to. If you're interested, I've got a simple 5-step playbook for B2B marketing first-time forecasters. It's one of the takeaways in the 'Persuasion and Profitability' module of my Boring2Brave B2B marketing leadership course. The course is six short online modules plus reading materials, practical exercises and some optional homework. Right now it will cost you just £397. Visit B2Bmarketing.com and click the 'Academy' button to check it out.
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Mark Choueke shared thisThis was one of those jaw-dropping moments; when you hear something that's immediately so obvious you wonder why it hadn't occurred to you before. AI isn't the democratic equaliser we imagine it is. Not yet. We've got work to do.Mark Choueke shared thisOne of the more important conversations around AI and innovation is often the one that gets missed. A new Do More With Less episode is out now with Claire (Billenness) Ward, and it tackles a problem most organisations overlook. Innovation doesn’t reach everyone equally. AI and transformation can easily leave people behind, especially women and more junior team members, unless it’s designed differently from the start. With experience across The Financial Times, Associated Newspapers, and SPS, she shares with Mark Choueke how to make innovation land across the whole business, not just parts of it. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/guuvAZivDo More With Less with Claire Ward: Manage ‘innovation equality’ carefullyDo More With Less with Claire Ward: Manage ‘innovation equality’ carefully
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Mark Choueke shared thisSome of the best and fastest-growing B2B organisations out there are trialling a new approach to marketing. Rather than succumb to the hard decisions and impossible choices that come with the instruction to Do More With Less; they're choosing to outsource to a new breed of specialist vendors. Not agencies as you'd recognise from the 'old world'. These are more full-service, custom-built, B2B marketing operating systems, designed to serve lean, stripped back or even 'solo' marketing teams. OrbitalX acts as the marketing team for many of our leading clients around the world, offering 18 marketing skill-sets, often for the price of a mid-level to senior marketing hire. One business we love, EngageTech - the leading outsourced and managed SDR service in the market - doesn't have a single in-house marketer. OrbitalX is EngageTech's marketing function: managing its data and CRM strategy, its positioning and brand awareness, its outbound contact engagement and a full content strategy programme. We manage the leads we deliver and ensure that they're communicated to the team members for follow up. We work with EngageTech AEs in the UK, the US, Europe and APAC and speak with their customers regularly. With an outsider's perspective, it feels counter-intuitive to say the least; a crazy way to go to market. Not a single in-house marketer. How does that even work? Does good marketing not require some 'north star', in-house, cultural knowledge at the very least? You'd think so, right? Well, we and others like us are currently re-writing how best-in-class B2B marketing works for the Do More With Less era. EngageTech's VP Sales Paul McCarthy says: "We trust OrbitalX with our positioning, our customers, our account directors and our brand." Simple as that. Agencies still offering roughly what they did when I was last a marketing director: catering for a model where four or five different agency partners offer separate specialisms in detached workflows that make for a disjointed, often ineffective marketing plan; will start to feel the struggle in 2026. See the EngageTech case study below, or really any of the content on the OrbitalX.com website, to see how new partners like us are helping shrunken, often decimated marketing teams Do More With Less. https://lnkd.in/etRvDsZ2How EngageTech drove net-new pipeline and closed-won revenue with OrbitalXHow EngageTech drove net-new pipeline and closed-won revenue with OrbitalX
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Mark Choueke shared thisDuring a dinner with an extraordinary group of CMOs last week I sat with the amazing Siobhan Wallace, vice president of marketing at The Access Group. She asked about the B2B marketing leadership course I recently launched at B2B Marketing United. Siobhan and I are from the same generation of marketers; one now being sought out for its experience in rallying and inspiring leadership teams; building and growing proper partnerships with CEOs and other functional leaders. For years, in a world that wanted young, digitally-native talent with a heavy bias towards performance marketing, many of us had to work hard to articulate our value as highly-skilled, horizontal, go-to-market generalists with big strategic chops. AI turned that world upside down. I'd gotten lucky - even before LLMs became mainstream day-to-day business tools, my partners at OrbitalX had understood my skill set and given me an opportunity to help build a business unit around strategic growth and storytelling. But when OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic and Meta accelerated development of their AI offers, tactical campaign execution, management and evaluation immediately ceased to be priorities for hirers. Hiring managers switched their attention to what recruiter Rowan Fisk described last week as 'the ability to walk into any conversation, challenge the strategy, and have it received as contribution rather than threat'. Bosses want "systems thinking over channel depth," wrote Fisk, "orchestration over execution; [they want] critical thinking and judgment. The ability to see the whole board and make decisions that hold up across time." This, of course, is great news for my cohort who can once again be proud of our accumulated experience; our resilience across years of perpetual change and our commercial clout. It's worrying though for those coming up behind us: a generation of highly skilled, specialist B2B marketers; long encouraged to achieve deep expertise in a specific channel or discipline as a route to functional leadership. This was the conversation Siobhan and I had: the responsibility we felt to equip younger B2B marketers now; those at risk of being cut out of newer, AI-shaped marketing functions. They need support and training in stuff we learned by stumbling and falling our way up the seniority ladder: how to 'win' budget discussions with CFOs; how to talk about, plan and deliver pipeline and revenue impact rather than arguing over the definition of an 'MQL'; how to say 'no' and make it sound like a 'yes'; how to smash Q1's numbers while building the brand marketing play to prepare the ground for Q4 and beyond. That's why I launched the Boring2Brave marketing leadership course. Six online modules plus homework. Hopefully at an affordable price. If we're to avoid losing this middle generation of B2B marketers, they need a short-cut access to leadership and go-to-market thinking. Visit B2Bmarketing.com and click the 'Academy' button to check it out.
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Mark Choueke shared thisB2B marketing leaders around the world; I spoke to the guy currently preaching the most convincing case for the potential of your best stories as powerful levers with which to enhance and sustain the value of your business. It was amazing - and gave me an idea for a five step career advancement plan which you're free to steal or tailor to your own needs. Step 1: Watch my interview with Joe Lazer on the latest episode of Do More With Less https://lnkd.in/e-S9Tqyb Step 2: Give in to the excitement and intrigue and buy Joe's new book: 'Super Skill: Why Storytelling Is the Superpower of the AI Age' Step 3: Apply the contents of the book to elevate your strategic influence, increase your impact and make yourself the darling of your boardroom / shareholders / investors Step 4: Become one of the key figures heralding a new era for storytelling marketers in B2B; one where we're promoted, paid and worshipped beyond all reasonable expectations Step 5: Close the loop by guesting on a future episode of Do More With Less and inspiring future versions of you to follow in your gilded path That's probably a 12-18 month journey. Start today. Click below.Do More With Less with Joe Lazer: Why Storytelling Is the Superpower of the AI AgeDo More With Less with Joe Lazer: Why Storytelling Is the Superpower of the AI Age
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Mark Choueke shared thisNo graphic designers were injured in the making of this slide. Because it was me. I made it. For the record, I'm also shit at DIY. And fixing cars. All that stuff. I know storytelling though. And I can link better stories directly back to increased profit. That's why I was so chuffed to get Joe Lazer booked in for tomorrow's episode of Do More With Less which marks the first birthday of our podcast. Quite apart from the fact that I'd already pre-ordered my copy of his new book 'Super Skill: Why Storytelling Is the Superpower of the AI Age' which has sent our US marketing counterparts into a frenzy, but which doesn't comes out in the UK until April 9th; I was delighted to get one of the world's genuine authorities on storytelling onto the Do More With Less roster. Type OrbitalX into the search bar on YouTube tomorrow to access our channel to view the conversation if you want to hear: * Why AI will continue to drive up the value of storytelling * What global brands are now prepared to pay for people with the ability to conjur up and communicate ideas, inspire teams and shape perception across leadership, marketing and sales...what Joe calls a 'business super skill' * How to use AI as your amplifier of stories, rather than as their replacement View the whole episode for the opportunity to get a discount on your copy of 'Super Skill...'; and to hear Joe's view of the battle between OpenAI and Anthropic - a telling involving the 'US Department of War', President Trump and a bunch of killer robots. Unmissable.
Mark Choueke replied to a comment
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Mark Joy the only way I’ve ever seen it really work is when you can align everyone around the understanding that closed won belongs to everyone; that everyone played a part in every won deal. When you close a £350k deal and marketing can show the new client downloading, attending and engaging with your campaigns 10 times in the previous 18 months or two years. That’s the stuff you show the CFO when budgeting for the coming year.
Mark Choueke commented on a post
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Likewise Luan, loved getting time to sit down and chat with you properly. Thank you for your time and for being a brilliant DMWL guest.
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Mark Choueke liked thisMark Choueke liked thisYesterday, we attended FTT Lending by FTT Fintech and what stood out most wasn’t just the conversations themselves, but how aligned many teams are around the same challenges. There’s a clear shift towards more flexible, connected approaches, making better use of existing systems while improving how teams and data come together. Great to hear how different organisations are thinking about this and where priorities are heading. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to connect, looking forward to continuing those conversations.
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Mark Choueke liked thisMark Choueke liked thisSupercharge your B2B social strategy with top tips from our Social Excellence Lead, Roisin Gray. #ogilvy #B2B
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Mark Choueke liked thisMark Choueke liked thisNice bit of copy from Thames Clippers! Uber Boat by Thames Clippers
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Mark Choueke reacted on thisMark Choueke reacted on thisCelebrating 21 years of working with the legend Justin Pearse . We’ve been through long stints at New Media Age, The Drum and now nine years together at our business Bluestripe Group ( where Lydia Oakes has done all of the hard work obviously) He’s really annoyed me by keeping all of his hair but other than that I’m so lucky to have spent the majority of my career alongside this fella. We’ve supported each other though all kinds of issues through the years and I cannot imagine not having him sat next to me. Never made me a coffee though… And yeah, it appears we have the same glasses now….
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Mark Choueke reacted on thisThe best partner it is possible to have.Mark Choueke reacted on thisCelebrating 21 years of working with the legend Justin Pearse . We’ve been through long stints at New Media Age, The Drum and now nine years together at our business Bluestripe Group ( where Lydia Oakes has done all of the hard work obviously) He’s really annoyed me by keeping all of his hair but other than that I’m so lucky to have spent the majority of my career alongside this fella. We’ve supported each other though all kinds of issues through the years and I cannot imagine not having him sat next to me. Never made me a coffee though… And yeah, it appears we have the same glasses now….
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Mark Choueke liked thisMark Choueke liked thisYour content has a new audience. It didn't ask permission. Would you be comfortable with an AI assistant quoting ANY page from your site directly to a senior prospect? If not, that page isn't healthy. And AI may use it anyway. Our new how-to article breaks down what content health actually means when machines are doing the discovering, and what you need to do about it. Link in comments.
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Mark Choueke liked thisMark Choueke liked thisFavourite new Challenger sub-genre? Creative agencies having too much fun with boring categories. SLATHER SPF in sunscreen, EAT DIRT in laundry (any others, send them my way!)- brilliant design, great copy, simple proposition, Challenger thinking. Lovely stuff. Read our latest Challenger Project interview with the excellent James Orr from Slather over on eatbigfish: https://lnkd.in/exaaab-uBreaking conventions: How Slather took on sunscreen | eatbigfishBreaking conventions: How Slather took on sunscreen | eatbigfish
Experience & Education
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B2B Marketing United
View Mark’s full experience
See their title, tenure and more.
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Volunteer Experience
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Trustee
Anne Frank Trust UK
- 3 years
Civil Rights and Social Action
Work with fellow trustees and the executive team of this superb charitable organisation that aims to educate and empower young people to help create a world without prejudice or fear.
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Board Director
The Marketing Academy
- 5 years 2 months
Education
Provided strategic and communications counsel to the Marketing Academy from pre-launch stage. Sat on the board of directors and delivered content to the programme.
Honors & Awards
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20 Best B2B Marketing Books Of All Time
Book Authority
https://bookauthority.org/award/Boring2Brave/1788602218/best-b2b-books
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Best New B2B Marketing Books
Book Authority
https://bookauthority.org/books/new-b2b-marketing-books
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