Twenty years as an operator

For two decades, Marc has run marketing on both the in-house and agency side like SAP, Hootsuite, Dialpad, and a long line of startups in between. He's owned growth, go-to-market, and product marketing, and he's spent enough paid media budget to feel every dollar that didn't earn its keep. The wins and the scar tissue taught him the same thing.

Companies rarely stall because a tactic is missing. They stall because three things underneath the marketing were never nailed down:

• Who the ideal customer actually is

• Why the company is the obvious choice for that customer

• How to say it in the language the customer understands

A company can hire a sharp paid team, strong content marketers, and capable leaders. When the fundamentals are muddy, all of it drags marketing and sales down.

The "So What?" Tax

Marc saw it often enough that he gave it a name: The "So What?" Tax.

It's the shrug from a buyer who can't tell why a company matters. Or worse, the silence of being skipped over entirely.

A few signs a company is paying it:

• Customer acquisition costs keep climbing.

• Lead quality is a running argument.

• Sales cycles stretch longer than they should.

• Prospects go quiet on the sales team.

• Deals that should be won slip away.

It shows up looking like a performance problem. Underneath, it's a clarity problem. The “So What?” Tax is the money marketing and sales burn when buyers can't tell what a company does or why it should matter to them.

Why he built Persuasive

Marc built Persuasive to fix that. He helps B2B tech companies sharpen their positioning: what they do, who it's for, and why they beat the alternatives in the buyer's mind.