BESTMIX Software, Trystar, Kibo Commerce, and Digital Science on Marketing Planning in B2B
In a recent episode of the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast, Olga Bondareva, Founder of ModumUp, talks about marketing planning in B2B with experts from enterprise companies:
How Planning Works Across Companies
The conversation opened with a candid look at how differently B2B marketing planning works by company size and structure. Doug Kimball described Digital Science as the complex end of the spectrum: five business segments, each with their own marketing leadership, planning independently and feeding down to shared product marketing resources. Natalija Pavic described Kibo Commerce as the opposite - a tight-knit team where senior leadership aligns on company goals and every activity maps to a clear owner.
Olga Bakanova described BESTMIX Software as lean and marketing-led - the team translates business goals into marketing strategy together with product owners and sales. Rahul Agarwal shared that at Trystar, leadership sets the annual direction based on macro trends and competitive moves, then each functional head owns their execution - product shapes positioning, sales surfaces customer pain points.
Flexibility Over Rigid Plans
Annual planning is the baseline, but the standout teams built flexibility in from the start. Natalija Pavic's team at Kibo Commerce uses half-year planning with quarterly checkpoints and agile/scrum methodology. Last year Kibo Commerce rebuilt their website twice because the first version wasn't good enough. Olga Bakanova described the same at BESTMIX Software - a full rebuild in four weeks. She also noted that planning horizons vary by activity: media partnerships need year-ahead commitments; most others run quarterly.
Goals: Why One Metric Is Never Enough
Revenue and pipeline came first for everyone, but the group pushed back on reducing success to a single number. Natalija Pavic tracks full-funnel metrics - awareness, engagement, conversion, sales velocity - and made a sharp point: a 25% close rate looks good until you realize the team may only pursue deals they know they can win. Doug Kimball: when top-line numbers are under pressure, the real question is whether the team is doing the right work. Olga Bakanova uses marketing-influenced revenue as the external metric for leadership, while tracking a fuller internal set. At BESTMIX Software, awareness activities consistently outperform direct lead generation in conversion quality - so 60% of the budget goes to brand and thought leadership, 40% to lead gen.
AI in the Planning Process
AI has changed the speed and depth of analysis available to marketing teams. Olga Bakanova's team ran a competitive analysis and found that BESTMIX Software was being perceived as the most expensive solution in the market - despite never publishing pricing anywhere. Doug Kimball's company Digital Science launched "AI Tuesdays" - a recurring block where the entire company explores AI with no deliverables attached; one team member built a full market plan in a day by pulling GitHub data into Claude. Rahul Agarwal runs an AI council - one rep per function meeting weekly to standardize prompts - and uses a custom GPT to produce campaign briefs in an hour instead of a week.
When the Plan Breaks
Doug Kimball shared a recent example: a sharp drop in public sector spending forced Digital Science to pivot its entire North America government plan to European and Asia Pacific markets. Olga Bakanova described a harder disruption from her time at Microsoft: the company stopped using Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube due to policy conflicts, and the social media strategy built on those platforms became unusable overnight. The team rebuilt on Twitter and Telegram and shifted budget into paid media.
Where to Start
Natalija Pavic recommended bottom-up budgeting: start from zero, build from this year's goals, and avoid being boxed in by last year's numbers. Olga Bakanova: marketing planning only works when it connects to a clear business goal - without that chain, execution becomes activity for its own sake. Rahul Agarwal advocated for genuine cross-functional collaboration with engineering, sales, and product. Olga Bondareva added: some initiatives - a community, a podcast - won't show pipeline results in year one, but systematic investment over two or three years compounds. The challenge is protecting those bets under short-term pressure.
You can check out the full episode on the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast:
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Gwp7JKgjzq8
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6093YOmly6Cnwbi5dxdZ6Z
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-planning-in-b2b-insights-from-experts-at/id1852582740?i=1000761309588
- Olga Bakanova, Head of Marketing at BESTMIX Software
- Rahul Agarwal, Strategic Marketing Manager at Trystar
- Natalija Pavic, Sr. Director of Product Marketing at Kibo Commerce
- Doug Kimball, Sr. Director Product Marketing at Digital Science
How Planning Works Across Companies
The conversation opened with a candid look at how differently B2B marketing planning works by company size and structure. Doug Kimball described Digital Science as the complex end of the spectrum: five business segments, each with their own marketing leadership, planning independently and feeding down to shared product marketing resources. Natalija Pavic described Kibo Commerce as the opposite - a tight-knit team where senior leadership aligns on company goals and every activity maps to a clear owner.
Olga Bakanova described BESTMIX Software as lean and marketing-led - the team translates business goals into marketing strategy together with product owners and sales. Rahul Agarwal shared that at Trystar, leadership sets the annual direction based on macro trends and competitive moves, then each functional head owns their execution - product shapes positioning, sales surfaces customer pain points.
Flexibility Over Rigid Plans
Annual planning is the baseline, but the standout teams built flexibility in from the start. Natalija Pavic's team at Kibo Commerce uses half-year planning with quarterly checkpoints and agile/scrum methodology. Last year Kibo Commerce rebuilt their website twice because the first version wasn't good enough. Olga Bakanova described the same at BESTMIX Software - a full rebuild in four weeks. She also noted that planning horizons vary by activity: media partnerships need year-ahead commitments; most others run quarterly.
Goals: Why One Metric Is Never Enough
Revenue and pipeline came first for everyone, but the group pushed back on reducing success to a single number. Natalija Pavic tracks full-funnel metrics - awareness, engagement, conversion, sales velocity - and made a sharp point: a 25% close rate looks good until you realize the team may only pursue deals they know they can win. Doug Kimball: when top-line numbers are under pressure, the real question is whether the team is doing the right work. Olga Bakanova uses marketing-influenced revenue as the external metric for leadership, while tracking a fuller internal set. At BESTMIX Software, awareness activities consistently outperform direct lead generation in conversion quality - so 60% of the budget goes to brand and thought leadership, 40% to lead gen.
AI in the Planning Process
AI has changed the speed and depth of analysis available to marketing teams. Olga Bakanova's team ran a competitive analysis and found that BESTMIX Software was being perceived as the most expensive solution in the market - despite never publishing pricing anywhere. Doug Kimball's company Digital Science launched "AI Tuesdays" - a recurring block where the entire company explores AI with no deliverables attached; one team member built a full market plan in a day by pulling GitHub data into Claude. Rahul Agarwal runs an AI council - one rep per function meeting weekly to standardize prompts - and uses a custom GPT to produce campaign briefs in an hour instead of a week.
When the Plan Breaks
Doug Kimball shared a recent example: a sharp drop in public sector spending forced Digital Science to pivot its entire North America government plan to European and Asia Pacific markets. Olga Bakanova described a harder disruption from her time at Microsoft: the company stopped using Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube due to policy conflicts, and the social media strategy built on those platforms became unusable overnight. The team rebuilt on Twitter and Telegram and shifted budget into paid media.
Where to Start
Natalija Pavic recommended bottom-up budgeting: start from zero, build from this year's goals, and avoid being boxed in by last year's numbers. Olga Bakanova: marketing planning only works when it connects to a clear business goal - without that chain, execution becomes activity for its own sake. Rahul Agarwal advocated for genuine cross-functional collaboration with engineering, sales, and product. Olga Bondareva added: some initiatives - a community, a podcast - won't show pipeline results in year one, but systematic investment over two or three years compounds. The challenge is protecting those bets under short-term pressure.
You can check out the full episode on the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast:
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Gwp7JKgjzq8
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6093YOmly6Cnwbi5dxdZ6Z
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-planning-in-b2b-insights-from-experts-at/id1852582740?i=1000761309588