Recently, DemandArc Co-Founder Ed Grossman spoke with marketing thought leader Matt Heinz for a conversation that covered everything from technology buying, attribution and demand generation, and the realities of building a company in the age of AI.
The discussion ranged through several topics, but a common theme emerged throughout: trust creates confidence.
Whether you're a technology buyer evaluating solutions, a marketer deciding where to invest budget, or a business leader navigating constant change, confidence comes from working with people and partners you trust.
Below is an edited Q&A from their conversation.
Matt: You started your career in publishing and content before becoming an entrepreneur. How has that experience shaped how you think about today's buyers?
Ed: Totally by accident. So, I got a job as an editor, and all of a sudden I was the editor who could build your website or the editor you need to speak to about getting your stuff online. And it just kind of spiraled out of control from there.
So, I still think about those things, about how do we communicate and how do we do that efficiently online? It used to be very difficult to get information. You really needed the newspaper. You were dying to hear what was happening elsewhere.
Now, we're the opposite. We’ve got too much information.
And so, I still think about those things. And I think tech buyers think about those things. I think marketers think about those things. So, there’s a through line.
Biggest takeaway: Technology buyers are surrounded by more content, more vendors, and more opinions than ever before. Confidence comes from finding trustworthy partners that help them solve real pain points.
Matt: You've spent years helping marketers think about attribution. How do we help organizations culturally and politically have a more fact-based conversation that can help marketers move forward with more ease?
Ed: Attribution has become such a collaborative discussion, mostly turning into a game of who gets the credit. And you can get stuck in that continuous loop.
But one of the things we've decided to do a little bit differently is say, can we help you answer some of those questions about what's working or where should I optimize in a way that doesn't require you to get 15 people into a meeting and get a bunch of additional approvals. We want to get rid of that.
So, what we're saying is, look, if we're doing demand gen for you and we've got let’s say, a thousand leads a quarter going in through multiple campaigns, multiple geos, multiple assets, we can actually apply some of what we learned through NavigateIQ.
As we're giving you demand, we can show you which leads are populating at the accounts you care about, the accounts that are becoming qualified based on buying signals, and any other questions being thrown your way.
We’re removing the political obstacles of having to get permissions and buy-ins while also making a marketer’s life easier.
Biggest Takeaway: Attribution isn’t the goal. We want to give marketers the confidence to prove what is working and where they should invest more in, rather than, make things more difficult with complexity.
Matt: You spent years speaking with CIOs and technology leaders. What did you learn about how buyers make decisions?
Ed: I love technology. I have bought a lot of technology. I'm a technology user in many of my roles. And then I've also spent a lot of time with other technology buyers.
The things that they tell us over and over again is, first of all, they really don't care about any vendors. What they really care about is getting some problem solved, getting some objective met, whether it's staying off the front page of a security breach, saving budget, or whatever it might be.
We’ve learned over the years that a marketer needs to help a technology buyer understand not how to use their technology, not what features are great, not how you're different, but how you're going to help them with the problem they have.
So, we think about that when building all of the programs that we run. Some things will remain hard, but one thing that's going to remain true for technology buyers is they're going to have needs that they're going to need to have met, whether they are saving costs or making more money.
Biggest Takeaway: Technology buyers don’t buy technology. They buy outcomes from vendors that can demonstrate a clear understanding of their pain points and how they can help them achieve their goals.
Matt: When starting a new company, what are some of the keys to breaking through the clutter and getting noticed and recognized in what will always be a crowded revenue ops landscape?
Ed: I think for us, the differential, the way to stand out is to make sure we're very clear on how we're trying to help.
Just like how we think about tech buyers having problems and marketers want to help solve them, marketers also have problems. If I can't explain to them how I'm going to help with their problem or make something in their lives easier, my company is going to fail.
And so, we start there. What problem are you facing, marketer? Can we help you?
Biggest Takeaway: Companies that can clearly talk about how they can help a marketer solve their problem will build confidence much faster.
Matt: As AI becomes more and more prevalent, what role does trust play in buying decisions?
Ed: There're people doing things that you've never heard of and all sorts of tools for marketers to use. However, you have to remain accountable as a marketer to produce whatever your goals are.
So, we’re seeing marketers crave tools that are trustworthy, that are credible, and that have a history of success. Having a great track record of success is also very important.
Marketers care about their jobs and they don't want to get in trouble, and/or lose their jobs. You want them to know they are working with trustworthy providers and trustworthy partners, that they can trust the data and won’t get scammed. All those things, they still matter.
Biggest Takeaway: AI has changed how buyers can discover information, but the trust and credibility piece isn’t there. Because of the abundance of information, trusted sources have become even more valuable.
Matt: What have you learned about long-term growth and customer relationships?
Ed: Some of your best customers are the people you work with six years ago who changed jobs. They're at a new place and they bring you in because they had that good trusting experience and that builds.
That's a virtuous circle that we all want to build.
In fact, I remember many years ago, we were meeting with some potential collaborators, investors, and competitors. And I remember meeting somebody who said, look, we are able to get on marketing buys all the time, but we never get renewals. Essentially, it was because they were not delivering, and not helping marketers be successful.
That was a warning flag for me of, don't be that company. I'd rather get on half the number of new buys, but renew all of them, then get lots and lots of tests and have a great outreach and get no renewals.
You'll burn through all the potential customers eventually.
Biggest Takeaway: Sometimes, the strongest growth engines are built on relationships built through consistently delivering value.
Technology will continue to evolve. New platforms will emerge. AI will reshape how buyers discover and evaluate solutions.
But one thing isn't changing. People still need confidence to make decisions.
For technology buyers, that confidence comes from understanding how to solve a problem. For marketers, it comes from knowing where to invest and how to demonstrate impact. And for both, confidence is built on trust.
That's why, regardless of how much the market changes, trust remains one of the most powerful drivers of demand.