Read Paul's Blogs
Insights, learnings and stories from the world of B2B marketing and communications, direct from Velo’s B2B agency team
Paul Crabtree
An IDM-qualified senior sales and marketing professional who has held board positions in various marketing agencies since 2005. Although he claims not to look old enough, the emerging silver locks tell a different story. As MD, founder and owner of Velo, his role is to lead the agency maintaining our quality standards to be the level that means we continue to be built on recommendation. He has a particular focus on new business, overseeing all our client relationships and leading our strategy function to make sure that our team has the skills and capabilities that our clients need, so we continue always craft great work to be proud of. Find him on LinkedIn here.
B2B Marketing in Professional Services, B2B Marketing in Technology, B2B Marketing Leadership, B2B Research, B2B Strategy
How do you track market share without a big market study?
Formal market studies cost more than most challenger brands can justify, and revenue comparisons rarely help either. This piece sets out three practical proxies, brand search volume, competitor invoice patterns and tender win rates, that give a genuine read on competitive standing a board will recognise.
B2B Marketing Leadership, B2B Strategy
Received investment? How to make sure your marketing operation is ready to scale your activities and your company.
When private equity invests, marketing comes under immediate pressure to prove it can deliver growth fast. This piece sets out a seven-part readiness framework across market-facing and internal factors, potential, proposition, pipeline, perception, process, people and priorities, plus a 90-day roadmap for finding out what needs fixing first.
B2B Marketing Agency Selection
When is the right time to wrap an agency around your in-house team?
In many B2B organisations today, the question is no longer whether to use an agency. It’s if and followed by when. In-house teams are close to customers, more embedded in the business, and increasingly capable across strategy, execution and performance. In-house teams bring clear advantages, but they also come with trade-offs that are easy to miss when you’re in the middle of it. On the one hand, they’re more cost-effective, but […]
B2B Marketing Agency Selection
Why choosing a B2B agency should come with a guarantee
Choosing a B2B agency is still, in most cases, a leap of faith. You review credentials, assess chemistry and compare proposals, but ultimately you are making a decision based on limited information and a degree of trust. That would be fine if the stakes were low. But they are not. Marketing is expected to drive growth, influence revenue and stand up to […]
Why B2B Marketers need to reclaim the revenue conversation and how to do it.
Marketing has a credibility problem. And it’s one of our own making. Being a senior marketer in B2B has never been harder — or lonelier. Stress levels are high, scrutiny is constant, and the pace of change is relentless. Just keeping current with AI and martech developments demands a level of curiosity and energy that leaves little room to pause […]
B2B Marketing Agency Selection
When the heat is on, does your agency rise to the occasion? Are they there when it actually matters?
Choosing an agency is rarely a capability problem. Most can show impressive work, strong credentials and a confident pitch team. The real question is simpler: when the pressure is on, or when a larger client becomes demanding, will you matter? That’s where agency relationships are genuinely tested. And it’s worth finding out before you sign anything. The size paradox Agency size cuts […]
B2B Marketing Agency Selection
Why the recommended choice is never a shortcut. It is a quality standard.
When marketers describe how they select an agency, the process sounds structured. Long lists. Formal briefs. Credentials reviewed. Pitches compared. In practice, the journey usually begins somewhere much simpler – with the agencies people have already heard of. A recommendation from a peer. An agency someone used in a previous role. At first glance, this looks like a shortcut. It isn’t. It’s how complex purchasing […]
B2B Marketing Agency Selection
Future-proof or already obsolete? How to assess an agency’s shelf life
Appointing an agency is meant to make your life easier. You bring in expertise, fresh thinking and additional capacity. Someone who understands your market, challenges your assumptions and helps move things forward. Yet many agency relationships quietly drift into something else entirely. Instead of shaping strategy, they wait for instructions. Instead of anticipating change, they react to it. Instead of driving results, they produce assets. When […]
B2B Advocacy, B2B Marketing in Professional Services
Does your customer advocacy programme really pay back?
Customer advocacy shapes commercial performance in ways few other initiatives can. Get it right and you strengthen win rates, reduce acquisition cost and protect lifetime value. Get it wrong and margin quickly starts to slip. Buying and renewal decisions are no longer made on spreadsheets alone. They’re influenced by first-hand experience and credible proof of […]
Agentic AI: The new co-worker in your B2B team?
AI has been quietly reshaping how we work. But a new flavour of it is now making waves and headlines. It’s called agentic AI. And it’s not just something you ask for help from. It’s something that gets on with the job. Some headlines suggest the robots are taking over. We’ll let you decide. And […]
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