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Christoph Schachner
Owner @ Demandgap | Building The Anti-Agency | LinkedIn & Google Ads for B2B
Professional Background
Christoph Schachner is a highly accomplished marketing professional with a wealth of experience in growth strategy and digital marketing. Currently serving as the Head of Growth at Demandgap, Christoph has dedicated his career to helping organizations and start-ups achieve their growth objectives. With a strong foundation in marketing, he has honed his expertise in various competencies, including team leadership, consulting, marketing strategy, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization), lead nurturing, and community building. His journey into the marketing landscape began with his passion for online games, which led him to explore affiliate marketing and the creation of websites, as well as building a thriving social media community.
Having had the privilege to collaborate with some of Austria's brightest minds in marketing, Christoph has built a global network that fosters knowledge sharing and innovation in the field. Throughout his impressive career, he has cultivated a passion for mentorship and education, inspiring many aspiring marketers. He believes in a no-nonsense approach to marketing, emphasizing values like equality and genuine passion in all endeavors.
Education and Achievements
Christoph Schachner's educational background is as notable as his career achievements. He earned a Master of Arts (MA) in Kommunikationsmanagement from FHWien der WKW, laying a robust foundation for his future in marketing. He also studied at Udacity, where he expanded his knowledge of digital communication and multimedia at Universität Klagenfurt.
His academic achievements reflect both a commitment to learning and an ongoing desire to stay at the forefront of marketing trends. This dedication to education is evident in his roles as a former lecturer in content marketing at both Digital Campus Vorarlberg and FHWien der WKW. By sharing his knowledge and expertise in these settings, Christoph not only enriches the curriculum but also fosters the next generation of marketing professionals.
Notable Contributions
Christoph has made significant contributions in various organizations and platforms, serving in numerous roles that demonstrate his versatility and depth of knowledge in marketing. Notable positions include:
- Formerly Mentor at MentorCruise and GrowthMentor: Christoph's mentorship roles underline his commitment to guiding others in their professional journeys by sharing valuable insights and experiences.
- Formerly Owner at Demandgap: His entrepreneurial spirit shone through in this venture where he utilized his marketing skills to help clients navigate the complexities of growth.
- Formerly Content Marketing Lecturer: His lectures at Digital Campus Vorarlberg and FHWien der WKW showcased his ability to impart knowledge effectively, influencing countless students.
- Formerly Head of Growth at WeAreDevelopers: In this leadership position, Christoph drove significant growth and development initiatives.
- Formerly Partner & Growth Head Trainer at GROWTH MASTERY: His involvement in training illustrated his passion for teaching and expanding the knowledge base in growth marketing.
- Formerly Head of Growth at Hackabu: Here, he played a crucial role in developing growth strategies that propelled the company forward in a competitive landscape.
- Formerly Marketing & SEO Manager at ready2order GmbH and Formerly Growth Hacker at xamoom GmbH: Christoph's strategic roles in these companies helped them achieve their marketing objectives and enhance their online presence significantly.
- Formerly Social Media-Berater at Austria.at: His expertise in social media marketing allowed organizations to engage and grow their audience effectively.
- Formerly Praktikant im PR-Bereich at Trapstyle: This early experience in PR contributed to his comprehensive understanding of marketing communication.
Throughout his career, Christoph has shown an unwavering commitment to fostering growth—both for the organizations he has worked with and the individuals he has mentored. His diverse experiences in various capacities have equipped him with a nuanced understanding of the marketing landscape, allowing him to be a valuable resource for any team.
Core Values and Beliefs
Christoph is deeply committed to creating an equitable marketing space, advocating against vague marketing practices and emphasizing the importance of passion in every project he undertakes. His belief in shared knowledge and collaboration drives his efforts in networking and mentoring, making him a respected figure in the marketing community.
Lastly, Christoph invites those who resonate with his journey to connect with him, showcasing his approachable personality and eagerness to engage with others in the marketing field. He is always open to new opportunities and connections that will allow him to continue sharing his knowledge and passion for market
Highlights
How we at Demandgap come up with the target audiences for LinkedIn ads for products with long sales cycles and large buying committees.
Here is the framework we use:
- Persona Analysis
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Qualitative analysis of call transcripts and emails from the fastest and best converting deals
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Clustering of job titles according to their role in the buying committee (note: sometimes people can have multiple roles)
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Current revenue metrics for different audience segments that are involved in the buying process (% of C/W revenue)
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Analysis of the audience segment's level of relevance (decision power + level of pain)
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Review of any anti-personas (detractors, no level of relevance)
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Set up your targeting in the LinkedIn Sales Navigator, then sanity check a sample of 10-50 existing contacts to see if they would show up in your targeting.
- Company Analysis:
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Clustering of industries according to your definition (e.g. sometimes you need to go deeper than "HR Software" and might differentiate between "HR Payroll Software" and "HR Recruiting Software")
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Current revenue metrics for different industry segments (% of C/W revenue, average deal size)
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Review of any anti-companies
PS: I know that many B2B companies have a CRM but don't use it correctly. If you work at one of those companies with 💩 data on contact and company level you can still do this.
Yes, you should tackle the problem at the root and improve your data basis.
But AI (I recently favor Claude > ChatGPT for this case) can help you A TON with clustering and reviewing conversations.
There are 2 extreme camps.
One camp evangelizes the idea that you should only target decision makers with your ads because they are the ones who actually sign the contract.
The other camp fiercely evangelizes that you should only target end users because they are the champions who will see the benefit of your product/service and then get the buy-in.
I don't believe in siloed targeting. Siloed targeting only influences a tiny part of the buying committee, not all the stakeholders.
At the end of the day, you have to get buy-in from both the decision makers and the end users.
You do that by understanding the role each audience segment plays and tailoring your message accordingly.
#b2bmarketing #linkedinads
Many B2B Google Ad Accounts (especially new ones) make the mistake of letting the "Google Ads tech" do all the heavy lifting. Here's why this is a problem:
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Lack of conversion volume: For smart bidding to work, you should have at least 15, but ideally 30 conversions in 30 days
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Long conversion window: A 90-day conversion window is often too short for many B2B companies. They miss out on conversion signals that happen after that
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Higher CPC prices: I consistently see 30% - 55% higher CPCs compared to manual bidding*
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No keyword control: Often your ads will trigger searches that have nothing to do with your actual product or service
I am not saying that smart bidding does not work. I have seen accounts successfully transition from manual bidding to smart bidding - but usually for accounts that have gathered enough knowledge about keywords, landing pages, bids and ad copy before making the switch.
We recently switched an account from smart bidding to manual bidding and saw a 300% increase in conversions and a 27% decrease in CPA.
Yes, it takes work and experience to manage an account manually, but it is often the only way to make B2B Google Ads accounts work.
💡 What is your experience with smart bidding and B2B Google Ads accounts?
*I agree that CPC is not a KPI, but if you have low conversions and a limited budget, you need to get enough clicks first and then make improvements based on that. Even though Google would like us to think that higher CPC = higher quality, this is not always the case.
#b2bmarketing #googleads
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.