MarTech Interview with Michael Londgren, Chief Marketing Officer of RFPIO

Many businesses struggle to effectively market their products or services and face challenges in streamlining their Request for Proposal (RFP) processes. This often results in wasted time, missed opportunities, and potential revenue loss for these organizations. Marketing teams often find it difficult to coordinate and respond to RFPs efficiently, impacting their ability to showcase their value to potential clients.

However, RFPIO, a leading provider of RFP response software, offers a comprehensive solution to this problem. Their innovative platform streamlines the RFP response process, enabling marketing teams to create accurate and persuasive proposals in a fraction of the time. We at MarTech Cube had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Londgren, the Chief Marketing Officer of RFPIO, to gain valuable insights into their platform and the transformative impact it has had on businesses marketing efforts.

Scroll through to read the full interview.

Michael, please introduce yourself and tell us how you got started in the martech space.

I’ve been in tech marketing for more than 25 years (wow, that’s a long time)! I’ve been fortunate to have worked with some of tech’s biggest brands including Apple, Adobe, and Google, as well as some of the industry’s fastest-growing businesses including DocuSign, Seismic, and now RFPIO. I got my start in marketing at Apple leading marketing for Apple’s developer tools business. 

Tell us about RFPIO and its distinct set of offerings that make it stand out in the market.

RFPIO is the market leader in response management software, trusted by many of the world’s smartest companies to support RFP and security questionnaire response, create and manage sales proposals, and resolve inefficiencies rooted in decentralized and inaccessible content and knowledge. The software’s robust and bi-directional integrations, along with an open API, allow teams to digitally transform response management processes and harness the power of the knowledge and content across their teams. RFPIO supports response management for growing organizations of all sizes including Google, Adobe, Atlassian, Microsoft, Tenable, Zoom Video,  and others. 

What marketing technologies are you currently using at RFPIO, and how do they help you achieve your marketing goals?

We leverage a variety of marketing technologies including collaboration, content management, sales automation, marketing automation, sales engagement, revenue intelligence, analytics, and intent data as part of our martech stack. 

How do you measure the effectiveness of your marketing technologies, and what metrics do you track to ensure that they are delivering ROI?

The first and most important metric is technology utilization – are our teams using the solution? If not, we make changes and invest elsewhere. The second metric is employee satisfaction – both anecdotal and quantitative. If team members are getting value out of a given solution (or vice versa), they let us know. And finally, we evaluate whether solutions are helping us achieve originally planned objectives. If yes, great. If not, time to re-evaluate. 

Can you share an example of a particularly successful marketing campaign that you have led, and what made it so effective?

Some of the best campaigns I’ve led in the past highlight the best practices of visionaries. The campaigns were effective because most people are interested in understanding the strategies and actions of leaders. What also made these campaigns effective was that they were data-driven and emphasized the voice of customers.

How do you ensure that your marketing technologies are aligned with your target audience and customer needs, and how do you use data and insights to inform your marketing technology strategy?

We’re very customer journey-focused – all the way through from awareness to interest to consideration to purchase to advocacy. We try to leverage various technologies to ensure that prospective customers have compelling experiences at all points of the journey with us. This starts at the top of the funnel with intent data and all the way to the bottom of the funnel with our community solution. 

What advice would you give to other CMOs who are looking to adopt and implement new marketing technologies within their organizations?

Take a very hard look at your current martech stack. Chances are parts of it add value, but other parts do not. Don’t be afraid to move off solutions that are not helping your organization and reinvest elsewhere.  

How do you see marketing technologies evolving in the next few years, and what impact do you think they will have on the marketing industry as a whole?

The last I checked there are roughly 10,000 individual martech solutions out there. That’s a lot. I think we’re going to increasingly see standardization on market-leading platforms that deliver significant value themselves and also “play well” or in other words, integrate easily with other leading solutions. Increasingly, individual point solutions will get incorporated into broader platforms – those that don’t will struggle as stand-alone solutions. AI, intent data, GPT, and solution instrumentation are also going to become increasingly important.

In your opinion, what are some of the biggest challenges facing the marketing industry today, and how do you see them evolving in the coming years? 

Now, more than ever, marketing leaders need to be strategic partners in shaping company vision, mission, core value proposition, and differentiation. Winning in today’s hypercompetitive markets is a team sport and requires a very compelling strategy and alignment at the most senior levels as well as exceptional execution. 

Marketing needs to step up to this broader role and play an instrumental part in leading the overall company – not just marketing strategy and execution. Second, gone are the days when sale owns the number and marketing owned MQLs.

Marketing needs to jointly own the bookings and revenue targets with sales and, as a very close partner that’s in the trenches with sales, help the company achieve its numbers. This includes focusing more on opportunities, pipelines, and movement through the pipeline than MQLs. 

And finally, marketing needs to proactively get very smart with all its investments including people, systems, programs, and so on. Marketing’s got to be willing to take measured risks and then double down on the ones that are paying off and quickly cut the ones that are not.   

What advice would you give to other marketing professionals who are looking to advance their careers and make an impact in the industry?

Be very deliberate in choosing what companies you join over the course of your career. Whenever considering a transition, make sure to find a company that is the market leader or can become the market leader, has a solution you can become passionate about, has a team and culture you believe in, and where you can see how you can positively contribute. Pick roles that will give you the best career experiences and growth opportunities, rather than the most money. Have fun. 

How do you stay inspired and creative in your marketing work, and what strategies do you use to avoid burnout or stagnation?

I find companies and teams that I really care about and where I think I can help make a difference, and, as a result, tend to stay highly energized. I stay very actively involved in the company vision, mission, and strategy work, try to partner closely with cross-functional leaders as well as marketing team leaders and team members on key “needle mover” initiatives as well as initiatives that improve team effectiveness and efficiency. I read a lot and widely (e.g., Play Bigger), and stay involved in industry groups like Pavilion, Product Marketing Community, and others. I also try to work out regularly, spend time daily with family and friends, and get out on weekends to ski, hike, or do some other physical activity to recharge.

Tune in to MTC Podcast for visionary Martech Trends.