Brewing Success with Howard Sewell: Insights from Lead Gen to Hazy IPAs

In this episode of The Pipeline Brew, host Matt Hummel sits down with Howard Sewell, President and Founder of Spear Marketing Group, to discuss the foundational principles that drive successful marketing strategies.

Howard brings 25 years of B2B marketing experience to the table to discuss topics spanning content, account-based marketing (ABM), demand gen, AI, and more. Throughout the interview, you’ll hear an emphasis on the importance of providing value to your customer. Whether you're creating surveys, white papers, promoting analyst reports, or even podcasts, your goal should always be to address the consumer's pain points and offer insightful solutions.

Matt also leverages Howard’s knowledge from Spear to discuss what enables the most powerful client-agency relationships. To any teams out there looking to supercharge the work they create with their agency, Howard suggests rethinking the relationship to be akin to a true partnership. It's not all about churning out content; it’s about crafting innovative, solution-driven ideas that resonate. Successful marketing hinges on these symbiotic partnerships that encourage creativity and strategic thinking.

Lastly, Matt and Howard share their thoughts on the blending of demand generation and account-based marketing. By combining broad outreach with targeted, personalized tactics, you can better engage and convert leads.

The takeaway? Your marketing can only benefit from being versatile and adaptable. Clear, value-driven content will not only capture attention but also build lasting connections with your audience.

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Guest Bio

Howard J. Sewell is a 25-year B2B marketing veteran and president of Spear Marketing Group, a leading B2B demand generation agency. Named a “Top 50 Influencer in B2B Marketing,” Howard is a respected blogger, speaker, and marketing practitioner, and writes frequently on topics including email marketing, marketing creative, and marketing technology.

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Guest Quotes

“AI has created this torrent of very ordinary content. The opportunity for marketers is to develop content that creates information of value that is going to appeal to people facing the problem you can solve.”

“AI has only accelerated a kind do it yourself trend in marketing.”

“Lead generation is important and it's always important to be filling that top end of the lead lifecycle. But just as important is what happens after someone downloads that white paper, registers for the webinar.”

“Demand gen is finding people that have the pain that you can solve, whether or not they know they have that pain.”

“One of the primary reasons to hire an agency is because you're looking for that fresh set of eyes.”

“An analyst report is a great tool for a potential buyer to get a sense of who the players are in the market, what the different advantages, pluses, minuses, et cetera. That's how I would market an analyst report, not find out why Gartner thinks we're so great.”

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Time Stamps

00:00 - Episode Start

00:46 - Icebreaker

02:50 - Howard's Background

04:32 - Are leads as valuable as they once were?

08:49 - ABM vs. Demand Gen

12:00 - You can't create demand where it doesn't exist

17:12 - How true partnership is a value-add

21:52 - Is DIY marketing here to stay?

25:48 - What makes effective content?

32:05 - What's On Tap?

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Links

• Connect with Howard Sewell on LinkedIn
• Check out Spear Marketing Group
• Connect with Matt Hummel on LinkedIn
• Check out Pipeline 360