Renegade Marketers Unite: Top Rated Podcast for CMOs

Be honest, when you think “CMO,” do you picture campaigns, brand work, or the de facto unifier of a siloed C-suite?

In this episode, guest host Narine Galstian (SADA) leads a conversation with Katie McAdams (Basis Technologies) and Julia Goebel (Komodo Health) on how the CMOs role has grown into a key driver of org-wide alignment. It’s part diplomat, part coach, translating strategy across departments and turning zigzags at the top into coordinated momentum.

In this episode:

Katie shares how early signals from marketing and sales can shape product strategy before it hits the roadmap
Julia explains why cohesive brand messaging only happens when product, marketing, and sales move as one
Narine explores how marketing becomes the connective tissue that keeps cross-functional teams in sync

Plus:

Why fragile alignment breaks when you skip the relationship-building
How “agree and commit” clears the clutter when teams clash
The case for marketers to stop owning just campaigns and start owning outcomes

Tune in for a blueprint on becoming the Chief Collaboration Officer your org needs!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Nothing scrambles a CMOs brain faster than parsing pipeline math with sales.

Alignment starts with one number, owned together, and a shared path from first touch to closed won. Miss that, and both sides will be pulling their hair out debating what happened to the pipeline.

In this episode, Drew Neisser is joined by Lisa Cole (2X), Dave Bornmann (Higher Logic), and Marshall Poindexter (yorCMO) to tackle the GTM strategy that frays the most nerves: sales and marketing alignment.

In this episode:

Lisa shares how GTM teams build trust through shared goals, clean data, and dashboards that leave no room for spin
Dave explains how strong sales relationships gave marketing influence across the full funnel
Marshall shows how marketers earn trust by speaking sales’ language and showing they’re in it for the same win

Plus:

Why sales questions your pipeline numbers and how to rebuild trust
How shared dashboards and definitions keep teams honest
How to speak sales without losing your marketing lens

Tune in to hear how sales and marketing alignment starts with shared goals and grows from there.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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The career mistake that haunts CMOs most? Waiting until they're out of a job to build their personal brand.

In this Huddles Quick Take, reputation management expert Marc Reichel from Qnary reveals the three critical mistakes B2B executives make when building their online presence. Plus, he shares practical advice on creating meaningful engagement that enhances both your personal brand AND your company's visibility.

What You'll Learn:

How to identify and focus on the right target audience
The optimal content strategy (4 blended posts per week)
Why 70-80% of your content should be thought leadership, not company promotion
How to build your reputation while supporting your organization

For the full conversation covering the right way to tag people in posts, how to get named a LinkedIn “Top Voice,” and recommendations for platforms beyond LinkedIn, visit our YouTube channel (CMO Huddles Hub) or click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T9Rfcs-2CY

Get more insights like these by joining our free Starter program at cmohuddles.com.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Drew worked on the team that launched the Panasonic Toughbook by driving a Hummer over it on live TV! 

That stunt turned heads, sure, but it also drilled the product’s promise into buyers’ brains: tough enough to survive anything. The best launches find that one thing that matters, makes it unforgettable, and builds everything else around it.

In this episode, Drew Neisser is joined by Guy Yalif (Webflow), Chris Pieper (ADP), and Ali McCarthy (Amplify Your Voice Studio) to talk about why great launches start with one magical thing: the product’s essence.

In this episode:

Guy shares how Webflow’s multi-product expansion demanded a rethink of what buyers really needed and why one-size-fits-all launches rarely succeed
Chris explains why the launch of ADP’s Lyric platform meant wrangling hundreds of voices into one clear story without losing focus on what matters
Ali breaks down why putting the customer’s pain first is key and why clarity always beats complexity

Plus:

Why understanding the customer’s pain points beats any feature checklist
Why selling everything at once kills momentum
How to keep the story tight so the team’s always on the same page
Why one person needs to own the launch story from start to finish

Tune in to hear how great launches find the product’s essence and turn it into a story buyers can’t ignore.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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B2B CMOs know positioning matters—but too often, it vanishes when sales starts talking.

In this episode, positioning guru April Dunford pulls back the curtain on the disconnect between marketing and sales and shares exactly how to build a sales pitch that wins.

Drawing from her book Sales Pitch and decades of experience, April shares a battle-tested framework for building pitches that set the context, overcome indecision, and spotlight your unique value—without overwhelming buyers or falling into feature hell.

Key Mistakes:

Mistake #1: Treating positioning as marketing-only
Mistake #2: Assuming sales will “get it” if you hand them positioning docs
Mistake #3: Building sales pitches without a clear, compelling structure

In this episode:

Why positioning is the starting point for every winning pitch
How marketing can frame the problem so sales doesn’t chase the wrong story
Why leading with your company history stalls momentum
What smart pitch sequencing sounds like in action

🐧 This Episode Is For: CMOs tired of great positioning dying in a sales deck—and want to arm their teams with pitch narratives that close.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Is your GenAI stack bloated, scattered, or underused? You're not alone.

In this Huddles Quick Take, GenAI advisor Nicole Leffer delivers a fast-paced, practical deep dive into what marketers are still getting wrong with GenAI—and how to fix it. You’ll also learn why Deep Research may be the most powerful feature you're not using.

Plus, Nicole shares how ChatGPT helped her build a full keynote deck (including visuals!) and how to stay on top of hallucination risks in strategic work.

What You’ll Learn

3 common GenAI mistakes marketers make—plus one just for CMOs
Why most teams only need one core tool (and which Nicole ranks highest)
How to use Deep Research to analyze competitors, build strategy, and repurpose content
Why great prompting starts with generous context and a clear goal

Want more? Catch the rest of the conversation on the CMO Huddles Hub YouTube channel or click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbdXnseUK-U

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Everyone wants to be in a category of one.

But until analysts acknowledge it, customers search for it, and competitors show up, it’s not quite a category—more a call you made before the market did. Creating one means walking a line between leading the story and waiting for the market to catch up.

In this episode, Drew Neisser is joined by Bernd Leger of Cornerstone OnDemand, Charles Groome of Biz2Credit, and Jakki Geiger to share their insights into building a category from scratch.

In this episode:

Bernd shares how Cornerstone moved beyond LMS into “workforce agility,” backed by acquisitions, analyst engagement, and full-team alignment.
Charles explains how Biz2Credit is carving out a new lane in FinTech by naming the problem and using familiar language to build demand.
Jakki outlines what separates true category creation from disruption, and why team-wide clarity is the hidden work that drives both.

Plus:

Why a real customer problem should shape your category narrative
How to bring analysts in without losing control of the story
What it takes to bring your team along when the category doesn’t exist yet

Tune in to learn how category creation starts, builds, and earns its place in the market!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Marketing org charts may look innocent, but they’re loaded with meaning. Split your team into “revenue” and “corporate” and you’re sending a message, whether you mean to or not. Structure reveals philosophy. And in B2B, that philosophy had better be built for trust, speed, and results.

In this episode, Drew Neisser is joined by Kelly Hopping (Demandbase), Lesley Davis (Waggoner Engineering), and Gary Sevounts (Simpplr) to discuss how they’re shaping marketing teams that reflect clearer priorities, move in sync with the business, and operate at the pace growth demands.

In this episode:

Kelly built her team around one goal: earning sales love. It reshaped her team’s structure, mindset, and KPIs.
Lesley explains how cultural clarity and cross-functional trust helped her team scale fast inside a complex org.
Gary shares how “Treasure Ops” became a full-funnel GTM engine, reviving stalled deals and tying ops directly to pipeline.

You’ll also learn:

Why your org structure should follow how your buyers engage
How AI is already shifting roles
How shared metrics and a single definition of success align marketing and sales

Tune in for a look at how marketing teams are being built to meet the moment!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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You can spend six figures on an event and still walk away with nothing but badge scans and a fuzzy sense of brand presence. But when you treat it as a full-funnel campaign, that’s when the impact starts early and lasts well beyond the event itself.

In this episode, Drew Neisser is joined by Ellina Shinnick (HUB International), Kevin Ruane (Precisely), and Isabelle Papoulias (EliteOps) to explore how teams show up with intention and turn B2B events into focused, cross-functional efforts that build brand, strengthen buyer confidence, and avoid the all-too-common post-event fade.

In this episode:

Ellina breaks down HUB’s three-part event framework: Sales alignment, rigorous ROI auditing, and one bold theme that ties it all together.
Kevin shares how a shift from demand gen to brand-first events, paired with sideline plays and airport branding, led to unexpected revenue wins.
Isabelle gives the play-by-play on how startups can show up strong with limited budgets and purposeful sequencing.

Plus:

Why pre-event planning is where ROI starts
How to audit your event calendar for strategic fit (not just attendance numbers)
What actually works for post-event follow-up, and what to skip
Why one big creative idea can carry you through a whole year of events

Tune in to steal what works and rethink how events drive brand and pipeline!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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🎉 Episode 450 is here—and the Drews are doubling up to help CMOs meet the moment.

With marketers everywhere facing a "do more with less" mandate, Drew interviews… penguin hat-Drew to unveil 10 innovative strategies to boost impact without burning out. From digital twins to synthetic research, from YouTube Shorts to GenAI-engine-optimization, this episode is packed with ideas that CMO Huddles members are already exploring—and you should be too.

🧠 Expect tactical inspiration. A little penguin talk. And a lot of alliteration.

🧰 Topics include:

How to build your “digital double”
Leveraging synthetic research and deep research tools
The new rules of trust-based buying
AI-powered content workflows and smarter chatbots
Why you should care about LLM visibility and video virality

💡 All ten ideas come with expert references—many of whom will be at Super Huddle 2025.

🎧 Tune in. Take notes. Then pick 2–3 ideas to test this quarter. You’ll thank yourself later.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Most companies launch a customer advisory board with good intentions. A few emails go out, a meeting gets booked, and then… not much happens. But when CABs are built with the right structure and support, they can drive some serious value for the business and the customer.

In this episode, Drew Neisser talks with Melanie Marcus (Surescripts), Marca Armstrong (Sensera Systems), and Marina Ilishaev (Boardstream AI) about what separates a one-off event from a CAB that earns ongoing attention, input, and trust. From executive alignment to post-meeting follow-through, this conversation is packed with real examples of CABs done right and lessons from the ones that nearly fell flat.

In this episode:

How Surescripts turned a CAB into a strategic driver over six years
How Sensera uses CAB insights to steer product and sales direction
Why structure, ownership, and trust matter more than slick agendas

Plus:

How to get buy-in from execs, internal teams, and customers
Ways to keep CABs active between meetings
Metrics that help track engagement and impact

Tune in to learn what it takes to build a CAB your customers want to be part of, and your team can actually learn from!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Think CMOs don’t belong in the boardroom? Think again. Today’s top marketers are stepping beyond the C-suite, bringing strategic insight, customer obsession, and data-driven decision-making to board-level conversations. But how do you actually make that leap?

In this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite, Drew Neisser sits down with three marketing leaders who’ve done just that: Denise Vu Broady (Collibra), Peter Finter (KX), and Katrina Klier (Sage Strategy Group). They share how they earned board seats—and how you can too.

In this episode:

How Denise mapped her board journey five years in advance
Why Peter leads with risk and strategy to earn trust at the top
What Katrina looks for in a board-ready résumé (hint: it’s not brand metrics)

Plus:

Why nonprofit and advisory roles are the best launchpads
When to invest in certifications like NACD and PDA
How to talk board ambitions with your CEO (without raising red flags)
Why CMOs are more board-ready than they realize

Whether you’re just curious or actively pursuing a seat, this episode is your inside track to the boardroom.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Inbound and outbound aren’t opposing forces—they’re two sides of the same motion. 

When marketing owns both, it opens the door for tighter execution, faster learning, and better performance. But that kind of momentum doesn’t come from chasing tactics. It comes from reworking how the work actually gets done.

In this episode, Drew Neisser talks with Christina Kyriazi of PhotoShelter about how she rebuilt the company’s go-to-market engine from the inside out. From bringing outbound under marketing, to embedding product marketing early, to using experiments to guide spend, Christina shares how structure and process—not just tactics—made all the difference.

What You’ll Learn:

✔ Why outbound now rolls up to marketing and how that changed execution

✔ How product marketing helped define segments, use cases, and “wow” moments

✔ What “speed to lead” actually looks like and why it’s working

✔ How underperforming tactics became high-converting plays

✔ Where AI is helping accelerate research, content, and workflows without replacing the human voice

If you're reworking how your team goes to market—structure, process, and all—tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Is your 'go play with AI' strategy actually sabotaging adoption across your marketing team?

In this Huddles Quick Take, AI consultant Tahnee Perry reveals the three critical mistakes CMOs make when trying to drive GenAI adoption and shares her proven 4-step formula for building a truly AI-savvy marketing organization.

What You'll Learn:

Why "go play with AI" is a recipe for failure and what to do instead
How to avoid implementing AI tools without clear strategic goals
The importance of addressing fear and uncertainty around AI
A 4-step framework for successful AI adoption

For the full conversation covering Tahnee’s favorite GenAI tools, real-world examples, and how to attribute ROI to AI, visit our YouTube channel (CMO Huddles Hub) or click here: [https://youtu.be/HRRqFTAuHl4?si=sR36YNiniy86-B3u].

Plus, surprise guest Liza Adams joins the conversation to share the biggest GenAI unlocks for CMOs and their teams today.

Coming Soon: Join Tahnee Perry and Lisa Adams for another Bonus Huddle in June where they'll share how a lean 25-person marketing team transformed into a 45-member human-AI powerhouse. Apply for membership at cmohuddles.com to participate.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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When marketing and comms teams aren’t aligned, it shows.

In this episode, Drew Neisser is joined by CMOs Cary Bainbridge (ABM Industries), Laura MacGregor (Center for Internet Security), and Grant Johnson (Chief Outsiders) for a candid look at what it really takes to get marketing and comms moving in sync. From co-owning messaging to embedding AI tools and crisis plans into the mix, these leaders share how to stay coordinated without stepping on each other’s toes.

Here’s what you’ll hear:

How Cary and her comms partner rolled out a brand relaunch to 100,000 employees
Why Laura brought marketing and comms under one roof, and what that made possible
How Grant built cross-functional accountability with the right metrics

Plus:

What to do when misinformation hits, and the playbooks you’ll want ready
How AI is speeding up localization, automation, and cross-team coordination
How to activate internal brand champions and cross-functional councils
What stakeholder engagement looks like when it’s done right
Why comms needs a direct line to the C-Suite, and what happens when it doesn’t

If you’re done playing telephone across departments, this episode offers a practical path to alignment so marketing and comms stay in sync. Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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GenAI has moved past the “what if” stage. Now it’s more like, “what else can we use this for?” And that change in mindset is reshaping the day-to-day—from big-picture strategy to the smallest tasks.

In this episode, Drew Neisser talks with Karen Feldman (Iron Mountain), Adriana Gil Miner (Iterable), and Jeff Morgan (Elements), three marketing leaders who’ve made GenAI part of their daily toolkit. They’re applying GenAI to content engines, campaign strategy, customer journeys—and they’re seeing results that are hard to ignore.

Here’s what you’ll hear:

How IBM used Adobe Firefly to produce 10x more content and beat campaign benchmarks by 26x.
The Iterable ad challenge that doubled demo requests and surfaced unexpected creative talent.
Why GenAI is showing up in customer journeys, sales enablement, and day-to-day ops.
How small teams are using tools like Descript, RAG, and custom GPTs to scale smartly.
What it looks like when AI becomes a creative partner, not just a shortcut.

Plus:

How to steer clear of the GenAI “sea of sameness”
Why personalization at scale is finally within reach
The shift from doing more to doing better

If you’re trying to move from GenAI curiosity to confident action, this one’s worth a listen.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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CMO job searches come with baggage—pressure to be perfect, high expectations from CEOs and investors, and a market where one misstep can cost you. Add in emotional residue from your last gig, and it’s no wonder the process feels heavy.

In this episode, executive recruiter Erica Seidel joins Drew Neisser for a grounded pep talk on how marketing leaders can take control of the job search. It’s about being intentional—knowing what you want, how to show up, and how to manage the emotional rollercoaster along the way.

What You’ll Learn:

How an Ideal Company Profile (ICP) can focus your search—and your energy.
The paradox-filled CMO role: changemaker, peacemaker, and how to keep it together.
Smart ways to stand out—think prep docs, dashboards, and well-placed hypotheses.
Why “ready to start tomorrow” might be your strongest asset.
What CEOs and investors really want from you in the first 100 days.

Whether you’re actively interviewing or just thinking ahead, this episode offers the mindset and tools to help you lead your search—with intention and impact. Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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The career mistake that haunts CMOs most? Waiting until they're laid off to build their personal brand. Career transition expert Catherine Altman Morgan reveals the three career management mistakes even seasoned CMOs make—and they might be sabotaging your future opportunities. In this quick-hitting conversation, Catherine delivers straight talk on building your personal brand, maintaining critical relationships, and positioning yourself for success whether you're job hunting or not.

From market disruptions to political shifts, CMOs are feeling the pressure. CFOs are tightening budgets, customers are hesitating, and entire industries are being forced to adapt. So, what’s a savvy marketing leader to do?

For the full conversation covering 'nose to the grindstone syndrome,' navigating toxic work environments, and how to product-ize yourself, visit our YouTube channel (CMO Huddles Hub) or click here: [https://youtu.be/f9_qZKSYDbM].

Get more insights like these by joining our free Starter program at cmohuddles.com. 

Until then, keep those renegade thinking caps on and strong.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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In a perfect world, every marketing dollar would be easy to track and justify. In reality, proving impact is a constant battle

In this episode, Drew Neisser brings together Julie Kaplan, Michael Callahan of Salt Security, and Bindu Chellappan of Corpay to explore the metrics that matter—and how to make sure they resonate in the boardroom.

In This Episode:

Julie Kaplan shares why marketing-driven pipeline is the metric that truly resonates with the C-suite—and how simplifying the conversation makes it easier to prove marketing’s value to the CFO.
Michael Callahan reveals why broad pipeline metrics don’t resonate with sales—and how shifting to territory-level goals helped drive alignment and better results.
Bindu Chellappan expands the conversation beyond pipeline, sharing how Corpay is tackling the challenge of measuring brand awareness, retention, and upsell impact—and why long-term marketing influence is just as important as net-new pipeline.

Key Takeaways:

The #1 metric that makes marketing’s impact undeniable.
Why marketing-influenced revenue deserves more credit—and how to make the case for it.
How to align marketing with sales—without the usual friction.
Why brand awareness is more measurable than you think—and how to track it.

Marketing’s value isn’t simple to prove—but the right numbers get the C-suite’s attention. Tune in to learn which ones matter most.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Every ten episodes, Drew Neisser turns the mic on himself to tackle the biggest challenges facing B2B CMOs. This time, it’s all about navigating uncertainty.

Key Takeaways:

Go Micro: Control the controllables—starting with yourself. Build personal resilience and create a strong microculture within your team.
Lead with Empathy: Uncertainty breeds anxiety. CMOs don’t need all the answers, but they do need to listen, reassure, and check in with employees, customers, and partners.
Protect the Brand: The political landscape is shifting fast. Word choices on your website could impact contracts and reputation. CMOs need to guide these conversations at the C-suite level.
Build a Marketing Engine That’s an Asset: In a downturn, marketing is often the first to be cut—but not if it’s seen as a growth driver that increases company valuation.

🎧 Listen now and keep your renegade thinking caps on—and strong! 

For more, read: “The Political Tightrope: A CMO’s Guide to Navigating DEI & ESG in Polarized Times”

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Buyers trust other buyers more than they trust you—that’s just reality.

A great video testimonial is proof, reassurance, and persuasion all rolled into one, but that only happens if people actually see it and act on it. So how do you keep testimonials from collecting digital dust and turn them into a true sales and marketing asset?

That’s exactly what Drew Neisser and Alexander Ferguson, Founder & CMO of TeraLeap, tackle in this episode. From getting customers to say “yes” to crafting stories that resonate, Alex shares the strategies that make testimonials impossible to ignore.

What You’ll Learn:

The biggest mistakes that keep video testimonials from delivering real results.
Ways to integrate testimonials across sales, marketing, and branding.
How to measure impact, track conversions, and prove value to leadership.
The right timing and approach to get more customers on camera.

Don’t let your best customer stories go to waste. Catch the full conversation now!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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If you haven’t read The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins, what are you waiting for?

This bestselling guide to leadership transitions is a must-read for any executive stepping into a new role, and it’s a staple in the CMO Huddles community.

A CMO’s first 90 days will set the course—either laying the groundwork for success or paving the way for an uphill battle. Drawing on more than two decades of research, Michael Watkins joins host Drew Neisser to share essential transition strategies and reveal the critical mistakes executives make in their early days—and exactly how to avoid them.

What You’ll Learn:

The biggest mistakes executives make in their first 90 days—and how to sidestep them.
How to address the real problems within an organization—not just the ones you're familiar with.
The importance of early wins and strategies to resist the "action imperative"
The critical role of shifting perspectives for achieving long-term success.
The power of process leadership and how to use it to accelerate your impact.

Michael also shares insights from his new book, The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking, and why strategy has never been more critical (stay tuned for that episode).

Tune in ASAP!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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"These are not the droids you’re looking for." Just like Obi-Wan Kenobi used a simple phrase to shift the stormtroopers’ perception, marketers need to pull off their own Jedi mind trick to capture mindshare for their brands. We call it "positioning."

In this episode, Drew Neisser is joined by Joe Cohen (AXIS), Sara Larsen (Wolters Kluwer), and Carlos Carvajal (Q2) to discuss the art and science of positioning—how to define, refine, and defend it in a crowded marketplace.

Key Discussion Points:

Joe Cohen explains how AXIS built credibility in energy transition by backing its positioning with real data.
Sara Larsen shares how Wolters Kluwer got internal teams on board with a major brand shift.
Carlos Carvajal reveals how Q2 overcame skepticism to expand beyond its core market.

What you’ll learn:

✔ How to use research to reinforce your brand’s authority. ✔ Why positioning is an internal challenge before it’s an external one. ✔ The role of analysts, customer feedback, and storytelling in shaping brand perception.

From using market research to create authority to ensuring internal teams embrace new positioning, this conversation is all about the strategies that make brands stand out—and stick!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Gen AI isn’t just a playground for creativity—it’s a tool for real business impact. But while some marketers are embracing the possibilities, others are stuck in experimentation mode without a clear strategy. So how do you go from dabbling to driving real business impact with AI?

In this episode, Lisa Gately, Principal Analyst at Forrester, joins Drew Neisser to break down how CMOs can lead the charge in AI adoption, avoid common missteps, and harness Gen AI to create real business value. Lisa also shares a sneak peek into her session at Forrester’s 2025 B2B Summit, exploring how AI is reshaping marketing, sales, and customer experiences.

What you’ll learn:

The top mistakes marketers make when adopting Gen AI—and how to avoid them.
Why Gen AI success requires change management, not just technology.
How CMOs can go beyond efficiency to drive real competitive advantage with AI.

Want to take your AI strategy to the next level? Tune in!

CMO Huddles members also get a 10% discount to Forrester’s 2025 B2B Summit—use code CMOHUDDLES25 to save!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Clicking is easy, converting is hard—let’s fix that. In this episode, Drew Neisser teams up with Sahil Patel, CEO of Spiralyze, to take a deep dive into what makes landing pages and home pages truly effective. But this isn't just theory-Sahil gets hands-on by breaking down the CMO Huddles home page and landing page, highlighting common pitfalls and sharing actionable fixes.

What you'll learn:

The biggest conversion killers on landing pages-and how to fix them fast.
Why home pages need both storytelling and structure to keep visitors engaged.
How small design tweaks-like better CTAs, cleaner forms, and smarter layouts-can drive big results.

Want to see the pages Sahil critiqued? Check the show notes on renegademarketing.com for links to the visual resources.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Would you rather get a root canal or run payroll? Most small business owners would have picked the root canal—until Gusto came along.

When Jason Ing joined Gusto in 2022, the company's reputation for making payroll easy rang loud and clear. The next logical step was to transform that reputation into brand gold. In this episode, we explore the campaign that reinforced customer love while driving demand.

In this episode, Jason breaks down:

✔ How Gusto turned a simple insight into a high-impact brand campaign.

✔ How brand and performance marketing work together to maximize awareness and conversions.

✔ How to drive alignment in the C-Suite to position brand as a revenue driver, not just a creative exercise.

✔ The metrics and testing strategies used to prove the business impact of brand investment.

✔ Dos and don’ts when allocating your media mix

It's a must-listen for any CMO looking to turn customer love into measurable growth. Don't miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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How do marketers bridge the gap between bold creative ambition and the hard-nosed expectations of the C-suite? In this episode, Drew Neisser chats with Kay Moffett of Amplify, Katrina Klier of Sage Strategy Group, and Lakshmi Randall to uncover how CMOs can align marketing initiatives with business priorities while proving their value to their CEOs and CFOs.

In this episode:

Kay Moffett reveals how Amplify’s podcast, Science of Reading, became a catalyst for a movement in education, driving product adoption and underscoring the power of long-term brand investments.
Katrina Klier shares her ART framework—Awareness, Recognition, Traction—a practical model for demonstrating marketing’s impact through both leading and lagging indicators.
Lakshmi Randall dives into strategies for aligning with CFO and CEO priorities, including focusing on shared goals, running strategic experiments, and balancing short-term wins with long-term initiatives.

You’ll also learn:

Why anecdotal insights—or “anecdata”—can be as persuasive as hard metrics when proving marketing’s value.
How consistent reporting can help CMOs build trust with the C-suite.
The balancing act between short-term demand gen and long-term brand-building strategies.

Tune in and discover how to turn the C-suite into marketing’s biggest advocates!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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B2B buying has never been more complicated—or more critical for marketers to master.

In this episode, Drew Neisser is joined by Dave Frankland, Forrester’s VP Research Director, for a sneak peek at Forrester’s 2025 B2B Summit and the theme of “Master Buying Mayhem.” Together, they explore the ever-evolving dynamics of buyer groups, self-service trends, and the growing influence of generative AI in the B2B landscape.

In this episode:

Navigating Buyer Complexity: Learn how to effectively engage the 20+ people who influence B2B buying decisions, including internal and external stakeholders.
Elevating customer success: Discover how aligning promise-makers (sales) with promise-keepers (customer success) can drive loyalty and advocacy, even for unhappy customers.
Transforming revenue processes: Discover how companies like Siemens and Reltio streamlined buying journeys and aligned teams for a customer-first approach.
Self-serve buying journeys: Explore how the rise of self-service is reshaping traditional sales and marketing strategies—and what you can do to stay ahead.

Tune in for actionable insights and frameworks that can help B2B marketers thrive amidst the chaos—and walk away ready to tame the buyer mayhem in your own organization.

And if you like what you hear, make sure you register for Forrester's 2025 B2B Summit in Phoenix (March 31-April 3, 2025)! If you're a Huddler, reach out to us for a special discount code.

Why you should go:

Best-in-class case studies: Showcasing Return on Integration and Program of the Year award winners on the main stage
Increased interactivity: Expect more roundtables and workshops than presentations, designed to foster collaboration, peer discussion, and actionable takeaways.
Hands-on planning: Leave with a Plan on a Page or an assessment to identify your strengths and where to focus for improvement.
Cross-functional focus: A unique opportunity to collaborate not just with marketing peers but also with sales, product, and customer success teams to align GTM strategies.
One-on-one analyst sessions: Personalized insights from Forrester experts, tailored to your organization’s challenges and opportunities.
Exclusive leadership exchange: Invite-only sessions for C-level executives, with opportunities to tackle strategic challenges in a private, focused environment.
Vision meets practicality: Gain forward-looking insights about where B2B is headed, paired with tangible next steps to implement immediately.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Playing it safe might feel smart, but it’s the riskiest move of all. In this episode, Drew Neisser sits down with Steve Dennis, author of Leaders Leap, to explore the critical moments when leaders must embrace risk, drive innovation, and challenge the status quo.

In this episode:

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: Why past successes might not guarantee future results, and how to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.
A Slightly Better Version of Mediocre Won’t Cut It: Why incremental improvements are no longer enough and how to aim for true remarkability.
Customer-Centric or Just Lip Service? The gap between saying that you’re customer-focused and actually delivering on it.

You’ll also learn:

How CMOs can position themselves as strategic leaders within their organizations.
Why being “special, not big” can be a winning strategy in a competitive market.
Practical steps for balancing long-term transformation with short-term results.

Whether you’re navigating strategic pivots, championing customer-centric initiatives, or striving to build a remarkable brand, this conversation is packed with insights to help you leap with confidence into 2025 and beyond.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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As we step into 2025, Drew Neisser takes the mic solo for a special Drew-on-Drew episode, sharing his eight resolutions for the year ahead. From personal growth to professional goals, our penguin-in-chief dives into the habits, mindset shifts, and priorities that will guide him—and hopefully inspire fellow marketers—through the year.

In this episode:

Resolution #1: Keep on learning – Embracing curiosity and connecting with experts to grow smarter every day.
Resolution #2: Think bigger and do better – Aiming higher, taking risks, and saying yes to bold opportunities.
Resolution #3: Manage time better – Prioritizing deep focus, smarter habits, and blocking time for what truly matters.
Resolution #4: Invest more in partnerships – Doubling down on meaningful collaborations that drive impact.
Resolution #5: Lighten up – Injecting humor and levity into everyday work and writing.
Resolution #6: Stay positive – Balancing realism with optimism, even in challenging times.
Resolution #7: Give back – Dedicating more time and energy to meaningful nonprofit causes.
Resolution #8: Express gratitude – Recognizing and celebrating the people who make a difference.

Tune in for an episode filled with thoughtful reflections, actionable takeaways, and a healthy dose of Drew’s signature wit. Here’s to a purposeful and impactful 2025! 

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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When it comes to marketing metrics, what you measure—and how you measure it—can make all the difference. In this episode, Drew Neisser is joined by six-time CMO Grant Johnson to explore how to create marketing dashboards that go beyond vanity metrics to tell a full story of marketing’s impact.

In this episode:

Grant walks through his "Marketing Performance Index," a dashboard designed to measure marketing’s broader influence on pipeline health, brand strength, and market presence.
Learn why too many marketers fall into the trap of tracking vanity metrics that don’t resonate with the C-suite—and how to avoid it.
Discover the importance of aligning metrics with CEO and board priorities while maintaining a broader lens to capture momentum.
Explore how setting baselines and tracking trends over time are critical for showing marketing’s true value.

This is a sneak peek into a dashboard that doesn’t just measure what’s easy, it captures what actually matters—and elevates marketing’s voice in the C-suite. Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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How do B2B leaders successfully navigate brand transformations? In this episode, Drew Neisser explores the art and science of rebranding with three exceptional marketers—Joy Neely, Heather Salerno, and Will Meier. From reclaiming past equity to aligning brands with new business goals, this conversation reveals the key strategies behind effective brand evolution.

In this episode:

Joy Neely shares the bold move to bring Medvantx back to its roots, the challenges of reintroducing an old name, and how she balanced sales and marketing priorities to support a successful rebrand.
Heather Salerno explains how Appcast’s rebrand evolved from a refresh to a strategic overhaul, aligning the company’s identity with its rapid growth and new offerings.
Will Meier discusses building a family of brands at FM, the decision-making process behind a house-of-brands approach, and the challenges of maintaining premium positioning across diverse markets.

You’ll also learn:

How to involve employees in the rebranding process and ensure alignment across teams.
Metrics and KPIs to track brand health and measure rebrand success.
Tips for overcoming resistance and fostering organizational buy-in.

Whether you’re embarking on a rebrand, refreshing your identity, or simply curious about what makes brand transformations succeed, this episode is packed with actionable insights for B2B marketers. 

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What does it mean to have a strategy? In this episode, Drew Neisser hosts Alex M. H. Smith, author of No Bullsht Strategy*, for a candid discussion on stripping away the jargon and getting to the heart of what makes a business thrive. Together, they dive into what it means to build a strategy that defines not just what your business does—but what makes it the only one of its kind.

In this episode, Alex M. H. Smith explains:

Why “only” is better than “best” when crafting a competitive strategy.
The pitfalls of focusing solely on communication while neglecting the operational and strategic foundations of the business.
The difference between strategy and positioning
How to align your strategy with true customer value, ensuring it resonates in the market while setting you apart from the competition.
How to identify the mistakes in your previous thinking to craft a strategy that truly moves the needle.

Whether you’re building a strategy from scratch or rethinking your current approach, this episode offers invaluable insights into creating a clear, actionable plan that delivers unique value to the market. 

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What’s on the horizon for B2B marketing in 2025? In this episode, guest host Jamie Gier steps in for Drew Neisser to explore where top CMOs are placing their bets for the future. Joined by Charles Groome of Biz2Credit, Tom Bianchi of Acquia, and Josh Leatherman of Service Express, this conversation dives deep into the strategies, tools, and tactics poised to drive success in the coming year.

In this episode:

Charles Groome shares his top three bets for 2025, including brand-led events, cross-channel marketing, and influencer strategies tailored to niche audiences.
Tom Bianchi reveals how Acquia is aligning new product launches with focused segmentation and ABM tactics to optimize marketing ROI.
Josh Leatherman explores how marketers can leverage AI to enhance analytics, drive predictability, and sharpen account-based sales and marketing strategies.

The group also explores the results from a 5-part poll series:

40% of marketers expect budget increases in 2025.
Events are regaining their place as a top investment area, beating out online marketing.
Demand generation continues to dominate, with 51% prioritizing it over brand building.
Clarity and collaboration emerged as the most critical skills for marketing teams in 2025.
Owned content and SEO are expected to deliver the highest ROI next year.

Tune in to hear how these marketing leaders are preparing for the challenges and opportunities of the year ahead—and take away actionable insights for your own 2025 planning.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Attribution is one of the toughest challenges for modern marketers—how do you measure what truly drives revenue in a complex, multi-touch journey? In this episode, Drew Neisser sits down with Taran Nandha, Founder and CEO of Growth Natives and DiGGrowth, to unpack the intricacies of marketing attribution and analytics.

In this episode:

Taran identifies the top mistakes marketers make with attribution, from relying on vanity metrics to overlooking offline touchpoints.
He explains the importance of aligning people, processes, and tools to build an effective attribution system that delivers insights aligned with business objectives.
Learn how to move beyond first-touch and last-touch models by embracing multi-touch attribution and account-based analytics for a more complete picture of customer journeys.

You’ll also discover:

How to connect and normalize data across platforms like CRMs, marketing automation tools, and ad channels.
Practical tips on using cohorts and journey mapping to track ROI for events and campaigns over time.
The role of AI in making sense of data and optimizing your marketing strategy.

Whether you’re new to attribution or looking to refine your approach, this episode is packed with actionable advice to help you prove the value of your marketing efforts and drive better business outcomes.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What does it take to turn marketing into a true driver of business success? In this episode, Drew dives deep into this question with three expert CMOs—Shirley Macbeth of Forrester, Dan Lowden of Blackbird.ai, and Ali McCarthy of Amplify Your Voice Studio—who reveal how they keep marketing aligned with business objectives while pushing the boundaries of creativity and strategy.

In this episode:

Shirley Macbeth explains how Forrester’s “Plan on a Page” framework keeps marketing focused on top business objectives and the importance of prioritization in achieving meaningful results.
Dan Lowden shares his proven “Marketing Playbook” that drives brand and revenue impact, detailing the role of compelling content in engaging target audiences and supporting sales.
Ali McCarthy discusses the importance of a clear growth plan to align marketing with financial goals and maintain focus across the entire team.

You’ll also learn:

How to prioritize effectively in a resource-constrained environment
Ways to foster creativity within the structure of a strategic plan
The role of AI in scaling personalized content and enhancing team productivity

Tune in to discover actionable insights on aligning marketing with business goals and making a measurable impact on revenue.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What does it take to create B2B research that journalists can’t resist?

In this episode, Drew Neisser sits down with research experts Becky Lawlor of Redpoint Content and Curtis Sparrer of Bospar PR to reveal the secrets of crafting and pitching impactful studies that capture media attention.

In this episode:

Becky Lawlor shares the top three mistakes to avoid in research design, emphasizing the importance of aligning with media trends, targeting the right audience, and writing effective survey questions.
Curtis Sparrer highlights how to create “killer stats” that drive media coverage, and explains why a successful study must tell a story that resonates beyond niche audiences.

You’ll also learn:

Why it’s essential to conduct quality checks on survey audiences and design
How to adapt your findings for multiple uses, from PR to lead generation
Practical tips on “news-jacking” and tapping into timely topics for maximum impact

Tune in to discover how to make your research stand out, earn top-tier coverage, and turn valuable insights into brand-boosting press.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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For CMOs, strategy is as much about what not to do as it is about what to focus on.

In this episode, we explore the transformative power of focus with three marketing leaders who have mastered the art of saying "no" to the nonessential.

Highlights include:

JD Dillon shares how Tigo Energy’s "Green Glove Service" transformed customer service into a brand differentiator and rallied the entire organization around a simple, powerful concept.
Laura Beaulieu discusses her approach at Holistiplan to amplify customer voices through webinars and referrals, focusing on building an influencer pipeline that converts loyal customers into brand advocates.
Kevin Briody explains how Edmentum consolidated multiple websites to simplify the customer experience, reduce internal complexity, and drive more impactful marketing through a streamlined digital presence. (He's now CMO of Meteor Education).

We also cover the challenges of prioritizing in a fast-paced environment, strategies for creating impactful marketing initiatives, and the delicate balance between agility and focus. Tune in to learn how to drive greater impact by doing fewer things exceptionally well—and find out how to keep both your team and your brand centered on what matters most.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Most businesses profess to love their customers. However, only a few have figured out how to transform brand love into advocacy on a consistent and scalable basis. Enter this episode's guests:

Tejal Parekh, previously of Upside
Rebecca Stone of Cisco
Suzanne Reed of LBMC

In this insightful conversation, these three powerhouse CMOs share their unique approaches to turning satisfied customers into vocal advocates. They dive into the essential elements of building a successful customer advocacy program, from structuring advocacy within the organization to funding and measuring its success.

Listen in as they explore the balance between short-term goals and long-term impact, and reveal real-world strategies to elevate customer voices. Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to scale your advocacy efforts, this episode offers invaluable insights for B2B marketers committed to fostering genuine customer loyalty and influence.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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In this special Drew-on-Drew episode of Renegade Marketers Unite, Drew Neisser sits down with... himself, to tackle the biggest marketing questions for 2025. From AI’s takeover to the comeback of in-person events, Drew wrestles with the trends that will shape the future of marketing.

Expect bold predictions, sharp insights, and a little friendly self-debate as Drew explores how CMOs can stay ahead of the curve.

Key Takeaways:

How AI will supercharge marketing (and what it won’t do).
The growing importance of the CMO+.
How to expand your impact beyond marketing.
Why in-person events are about to boom again.

This episode is packed with tips to future-proof your strategy.

By the way, we're diving MUCH deeper into these ideas at our CMO Super Huddle on November 8th in Palo Alto. It’s a one-day, action-packed event designed for B2B CMOs to share, learn, and build strategies for 2025 and beyond. Learn more at cmohuddles.com.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What if AI could do more than save time—what if it could engage employees, excite customers, and inspire creativity? In this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite, Drew Neisser chats with the inventive Jenny Nicholson to uncover how B2B marketers can transform their approach using generative AI.

From reimagining decision-making to turning everyday tasks into playful, monster-slaying missions, Jenny shares innovative ways AI can spark creativity and boost engagement. Tune in for real-world examples and insights on AI's true promise—to build more human experiences and transform the way we work.

Key Takeaways:

Unlock AI’s potential for creativity, not just efficiency
Explore fresh ideas for team engagement and customer interaction
Why every marketer should experiment with AI to push boundaries

Perfect for B2B marketers looking to take their AI strategies to the next level!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What does it take to move up market and start targeting the enterprise market? In this episode, host Drew Neisser is joined by Allyson Havener (SVP of Marketing at TrustRadius), Sheri Chin (CMO of Galileo Financial Technologies), and Jakki Geiger (most recently CMO of Hazelcast) to discuss how to navigate the strategic shift.

From aligning sales and marketing teams to crafting tailored messaging, these marketing leaders share real-world experiences on what works—and what doesn’t—when moving up market.

Key Discussion Points:

How to identify when it’s time to move up market.
The internal shifts needed to target enterprise customers successfully.
Leveraging account-based marketing and targeted content for larger deals.
The importance of partnerships in breaking into the enterprise market.
How to balance retaining SMB customers while scaling to serve enterprise clients.

Tune in to hear real-world strategies for taking your business to the next level by moving up market.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Does your marketing strategy rely on short-term fixes and MQL targets? This episode will show you why it’s time to return to a deeper, more sustainable approach. Drew Neisser sits down with Jon Miller to tackle the tough questions, like whether the traditional marketing playbook is broken—and how CMOs can fix it.

Jon shares actionable insights on:

Revisiting the Fundamentals: Why product-market fit, positioning, and reputation are more important than ever for marketing success.
Doing Right by the Customer: How focusing on short-term results can undermine the customer experience and damage long-term growth.
Embracing AI for the Long Haul: Why CMOs need to prepare for AI's lasting impact (beyond content creation) to stay competitive.

If you're ready to move beyond outdated tactics and rethink your approach to marketing, this episode offers practical strategies for success. Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What does it take to build a demand gen machine that not only delivers leads but drives real, measurable business impact? In this episode, host Drew Neisser is joined by Michael Callahan (Salt Security), James B. Stanton (CuraLinc Healthcare), and Jeff Morgan (Elements) to discuss how they've built scalable, high-performing demand gen engines.

From refining incentive strategies to focusing on ideal customer profiles (ICP), these seasoned marketers share practical tips on boosting conversion rates and maximizing ROI in B2B marketing. Learn how to align sales and marketing teams, leverage AI and automation tools, and avoid common pitfalls that can derail even the best demand gen strategies.

Key Discussion Points:

How to fine-tune incentives to attract the right prospects.
Why narrowing your ICP can boost conversions and drive more qualified leads.
The power of partnerships in driving down customer acquisition costs.
How AI tools are enhancing marketing efficiency and delivering better insights.
Real-world examples of successful (and not-so-successful) demand gen campaigns.

Tune in to learn the strategies that top B2B marketers use to build demand gen machines that deliver lasting results. 

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What do surfboards, The Grateful Dead, and the Savannah Bananas baseball team have in common? If you ask marketing expert David Meerman Scott, they all hold valuable lessons for creating a standout marketing strategy that connects deeply with your audience.

In this episode, David joins host Drew Neisser to discuss the latest (9th!) edition of his iconic book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, and how CMOs can navigate a rapidly changing landscape with AI, content creation, and fan-building strategies. From redefining traditional marketing to real-world examples with unconventional success, David offers practical advice for B2B CMOs aiming to stay ahead in 2025 and beyond.

A few key takeaways:

Why understanding your audience is still the bedrock of effective marketing.
How AI is impacting content creation—and where companies are getting it wrong.
The power of newsjacking: how to inject your brand into breaking news to capture attention and boost visibility.
The enduring value of building real-world experiences to connect with customers.
Marketing lessons from the Grateful Dead and how to apply them to your business.

Tune in for insights on the future of marketing, how to stand out, and how unconventional thinking can drive success in the B2B world.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What does it take to build a powerhouse B2B marketing team that can scale and succeed in today’s fast-paced world? In this episode, CMOs Marca Armstrong (Sensera Systems), Lesley Davis (Waggoner Engineering), and Isabelle Papoulias (BackBox) share their proven strategies for assembling and nurturing high-performing teams.

Key topics discussed include:

Hiring for complementary skills to strengthen your team’s capabilities.
Nurturing internal talent to unlock potential and promote from within.
Aligning marketing efforts with business goals to drive strategic growth.
Balancing creativity with AI to stay relevant in the evolving marketing landscape.

Tune in to learn how these marketing leaders are building teams that make a lasting impact.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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How can CMOs effectively coach their CEOs and cultivate a strong, productive relationship? In this episode, executive coach Susan Gurnik shares her expert strategies for CMOs looking to navigate the complex dynamics of working with CEOs, whether they're first-timers or seasoned leaders.

Learn how to actively listen and align with your CEO's vision, even when it's not fully formed.
Discover techniques for handling high-stress situations and managing all different flavors of executive leaders.
Explore real-world examples of successful CEO-CMO relationships and how subtle coaching can lead to transformational growth.
Understand the importance of setting boundaries, using common language, and being adaptable in the face of ever-changing business demands.

If you're a marketing leader looking to strengthen your relationship with your CEO and drive greater success for your organization, this episode is packed with practical advice and insights you won't want to miss! 

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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How can marketing truly lead transformational change in an organization? In this episode, top B2B CMOs Paige O'Neill of Seismic, Kevin Ruane of Precisely, and Amy Messano of Altair share their experiences and strategies for driving big change within their organizations.

Uncover the strategies behind successful brand consolidation and the impact it has on growth and employee engagement.
Explore how to position marketing at the center of your business strategy and why it’s crucial for driving long-term success.
Hear real-life stories of how these marketing leaders have navigated the challenges of shifting to ABM, embracing generative AI, and fostering a culture of innovation.
Gain insights into securing and maintaining executive and board-level buy-in for ambitious marketing initiatives.

If you're ready to take on the role of a change agent in your organization, this episode offers the insights and inspiration you need to lead with confidence. Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Standing out in the B2B world isn’t getting any easier. In this episode, we dive deep into the art of positioning with Allyson Letteri, author of Standout Startup.

Learn the top three mistakes brands make and how to avoid them
Discover how to create compelling messaging that sets you apart
Hear real-world success stories from companies like Handshake and Thumbtack
Understand the importance of alignment between marketing and sales
Get actionable tips on content strategy and customer journey optimization

If you're ready to transform your startup into a standout success, this episode is packed with practical advice you won't want to miss!

And to hear more from Allyson, she’ll be speaking at the upcoming CMO Super Huddle in Palo Alto (Nov 7th-8th, 2024).

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Struggling with your executive job search? Dive into this can't-miss episode featuring marketing guru Drew Neisser! Discover:

Why the B2B CMO job market is so challenging right now
The 6-step process to land your next role faster
How to craft a personal brand that stands out
Tactics for leveraging LinkedIn (and avoiding its pitfalls)
Interview prep secrets to outshine the competition
The truth about starting a consultancy during transition

Plus:

Should you build a personal website?
Is the CMO role really "dying"?
Video introductions: yay or nay?

Packed with actionable advice and insider tips used in the CMO Huddles Transition Team curriculum, this episode is a must-listen for any B2B marketing leader navigating career transitions in today's competitive landscape.

A special thank you to today’s guest host, Julie Michelle Morris and the DIY Influence Community for inviting Drew to share his wisdom and guiding the conversation.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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“Even if great writing eludes you, brevity needn’t.”

This powerful principle drives Smart Brevity, the transformative communication method pioneered by the founders of Axios. Join co-author Roy Schwartz, a true brevity mastermind, reveals how to ditch corporate waffle and get to the point.

Discover strategies to distill complex ideas into impactful bites across the organization, like:

Visualizing your audience (literally)
The magic formula of "What's New" and "Why It Matters"
Mastering information hierarchy
Crafting compelling internal updates
Transforming your team into concise communicators

Learn why 200,000+ pros swear by Smart Brevity. Your audience (and inbox) will thank you. 

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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How are top marketers leveraging data to drive business growth and make smarter decisions? From demand creation to lead conversion, this episode explores the metrics that truly matter in today's B2B landscape.

Host Drew Neisser welcomes a stellar panel of veteran CMOs to dive deep into the data-driven world of modern marketing: Jamie Gier of Dexcare, Grant Johnson (previously Billtrust), and Julia Goebel of Komodo Health.

Tune in for their expertise on:

Pipeline contribution and revenue forecasting
Brand health measurement
Aligning marketing with sales through analytics
Proving marketing ROI to the C-suite

This episode is packed with actionable insights for metrics maestros and analytics novices alike. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What’s working today in SEO for B2B SaaS brands?

In this data-packed episode, digital marketing expert Tom Shapiro, CEO of Stratabeat, unveils the answers, drawing from an extensive study of 250 B2B SaaS websites. Prepare to challenge your assumptions and discover actionable strategies that can dramatically improve your search rankings and organic traffic.

Key findings include:

Blogging 5-8x per month increases Google top 10 keywords by 47.9%, compared to just 10% for 1-4 posts
Websites offering online tools saw a 40.8% boost in top 10 keyword rankings
Original research boosted top 10 keyword rankings by 36% on average
Audience segmentation led to a 31.7% increase in Google top 10 rankings, vs. 12.4% for non-segmented sites

Discover why blogging frequency is the low-hanging fruit you can't afford to ignore, learn how online tools can unexpectedly boost your SEO, and find out why audience segmentation might be your secret weapon. This data-driven deep dive challenges conventional wisdom and provides a roadmap for dominating search results in today's hyper-competitive landscape. Tune in!

[The B2B SaaS SEO Performance Study is brought to you by Stratabeat and CMO Huddles]

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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When CMOs invest in growing their people, they grow their impact. And with the right coaching strategies in place, they ensure their teams not only keep pace with industry changes, but also drive innovation and set new standards.

In this illuminating episode, join host Drew Neisser as he welcomes three exceptional CMOs to share their insights on nurturing high-performing teams:

Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek of IDG (previously CMO of Skillsoft)
Katie McAdams of Basis Technologies
Marni Carmichael of Image Source, Inc.

Discover how these leaders foster a culture of continuous learning, provide meaningful feedback, and adapt to the challenges of remote work. From creating individualized career paths to measuring employee satisfaction, our guests reveal their strategies for unlocking team potential and driving innovation.

Key topics include:

Building a feedback-rich environment
Balancing hard skills with essential 'power skills'
Adapting coaching methods for the hybrid workplace
Incorporating learning and development into recruiting strategies
Measuring the impact of talent development initiatives

By championing continuous improvement, CMOs lay the groundwork for dynamic and forward-thinking teams. Tune in for a masterclass in talent development from some of B2B marketing's brightest minds! 

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What if the secret to becoming an influential CMO lies in the tactics used by FBI hostage negotiators?

In this essential episode, Drew Neisser welcomes Chris Voss, former FBI hostage negotiator and author of "Never Split the Difference," to share game-changing conflict resolution and negotiation strategies for B2B marketing leaders.

By listening, you’ll learn how to:

Turn potential conflicts into collaborative problem-solving sessions
Use tactical empathy to align with stakeholders
Adapt your negotiation style to different personality types
Increase your emotional intelligence for more effective leadership
Techniques for managing stress and conflict in high-stake situations

Voss reveals counterintuitive approaches to help CMOs transform the most challenging C-Suite conversations into collaborative wins. Whether you're advocating for your marketing budget, aligning with sales on lead goals, or negotiating with external agencies, this episode offers invaluable lessons from one of the world's top negotiation experts.

Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What does it really take to secure a CMO position in today’s competitive landscape? Whether you're actively job searching or want to be prepared for future opportunities, this episode is packed with actionable insights from two CMOs who recently landed coveted roles and the recruiter who helped place them:

Kathie Johnson (CMO, Sitecore)
Scott Morris (CMO, Sprout Social)
Kate Bullis (Managing Director, ZRG Partners)

You'll learn:

How to strategically approach your job search and stand out from the crowd
The importance of personal branding and articulating your unique value
The value of networking with other CMOs
How to quantify your impact during interviews and presentations
Why culture fit matters and how to evaluate it during the interview process

Don't miss this candid conversation on navigating the CMO job market, leveraging your network, and positioning yourself for success in your next CMO role. Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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As budgets tighten, partnerships emerge as a beacon for innovation and growth.

In this electrifying episode, Drew Neisser sits down with Asher Matthew, co-founder and CEO of Partnership Leaders, to uncover the power of strategic partnerships in B2B marketing. Tune in to discover:

Why partnerships are a key growth lever for B2B organizations
The hidden “planning tax” that derails partnerships – and how to dodge it
The three layers of effective partnerships: production, distribution, and consumption
The rise of the "Chief Partnership Officer" and what it means for your organization
Cutting-edge metrics to prove your partnerships are pulling their weight

Asher shares invaluable insights on building high-quality, repeatable partnerships that drive real business results, using their strong partnership with HubSpot as an example. Learn how to leverage co-marketing, navigate relationships with larger partners, and create win-win scenarios that expand your reach and credibility.

Whether you're a CMO looking to stretch every marketing dollar or a partnership professional seeking to up your game, this episode is packed with actionable strategies to supercharge your B2B partnerships.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What does it take to craft a fully-fledged content experience that not only engages but also drives conversions? Tune in to this episode as 3 seasoned B2B CMOs reveal the secrets to transforming content into a powerful tool for connection and conversion:

🌟 Warren Daniels (Bynder) reveals how leveraging content templating enables localized, relevant experiences that drive results, like increasing campaign recall by 32%.

🌟 Ellina Shinnick (HUB International) discusses orchestrating thematic, integrated campaigns that bring the brand's personality to life through creative, energetic content, and their “HUB Outlook” campaign.

🌟 Katrina Klier (Sage Strategy Group) introduces the "Source and Savor" model to maximize content efficiency and impact while boosting resonance.

Uncover strategies to:

Balance brand storytelling with performance marketing tactics
Leverage research to redefine problems in a compelling, ownable way
Measure content engagement to prioritize what resonates (and what to retire)
Capitalize on AI's potential as an indispensable content team member
And more!

Whether you're a content marketer or senior leader, this insightful episode is packed with actionable tips to elevate your content experience game. Don't miss out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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CMOs face immense pressure to drive growth and deliver results, often with limited resources. To succeed, they need laser focus, courage, and a formidable team. Enter, the impact player.

In this riveting episode, Liz Wiseman offers deep insights from her popular book, Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact. Tune in as Liz details the five key practices that differentiate impact players from ordinary contributors, discussing how CMOs can amplify their own impact, while nurturing high-caliber talent.

Get ready to propel your team's effectiveness, outpace the competition, and enhance your leadership. This is a masterclass for anyone aiming to uncover the latent potential within their existing team or to assemble a new powerhouse of top performers. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What do CMOs and penguins have in common? More than you might think! Celebrate a major milestone with Episode 400, as Drew goes off the beaten path, sitting down with Dr. Pablo "Popi" Borboroglu - penguin conservationist extraordinaire and founder of Global Penguin Society (GPS).

Popi shares his lifelong purpose of protecting penguins, and the vital role these remarkable birds play in the health of our oceans and planet. Learn amazing facts about different penguin species, their abilities to thrive in extreme environments, the threats they face, and how you can help.

Hear incredible stories like how Popi's team grew one colony from 6 penguin pairs to over 8,000 through community partnership and eco-tourism efforts. He also shares his ambitious $6 million vision to purchase and preserve critical breeding grounds to ensure penguins survive for centuries to come.

This conversation highlights the efficient, adaptable, highly social, and resilient nature of penguins—qualities top marketers need to drive impact. Whether you're a penguin lover or looking for creative ways to engage your B2B communities, tune in!

Final Note: Renegade Marketers Unite is brought to you by CMO Huddles—a highly engaged community of B2B CMOs inspiring B2B greatness through confidence, colleagues, and connection. A group of penguins is called a “huddle,” and CMO Huddles donates 1% of all annual revenue to GPS.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Are you ready to see how a shift to product-led strategies could unlock new growth for your business? Dive into the dynamic world of Product-Led Growth (PLG) and discover how it's turning the tables on traditional B2B business approaches. This episode with Smita Wadhawan from SimplePractice is all about how marketing can lead a PLG motion, driving revenue and fostering customer loyalty through innovative product-centric tactics.

SimplePractice has successfully harnessed the power of PLG to not just participate in their market, but to dominate it. Whether you're building a startup or transforming an established company, the insights shared here will give you the tools to elevate your marketing game and pump up your product-led growth. Get ready to be inspired, energized, and equipped to propel your company to new heights!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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With mounting pressure to deliver ever-increasing pipeline results, it’s time for CMOs to prove that they’re not just tacticians—they’re key strategists essential to business longevity.

In this episode, Liza Adams of GrowthPath Partners dives into how AI can make it all possible. She’s shepherding in a shift from “growth-at-all-costs” thinking to sustainable profitability. Armed with use cases and custom GPTs, Liza brings her extensive experience as an AI consultant and fractional CMO to outline how you can leverage generative AI as a strategic thought partner.

Here are a few things she covers:

How to deploy AI for competitive analysis and positioning
How AI can identify and prioritize high-value customer segments
How to use AI insights to blow away your C-Suite
How promising to tip your AI can yield better results

Don't miss this insightful conversation that could redefine how you view the role of AI in your marketing strategy!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What does it take to transform a local website into a global powerhouse? Find out from Tom Bianchi of Acquia and Hannah Grap of Sitecore, as they dissect the strategies behind successful international digital presences.

Learn how Acquia’s latest initiatives are making the digital world more accessible and how Sitecore is modernizing data to tailor customer experiences across borders. We cover the changing landscape of SEO, how to localize your site for different countries, and which website metrics matter.

Whether you're revamping your digital strategy or just tuning in to the latest trends, this episode is your gateway to mastering the art of engaging a worldwide audience through smart, inclusive web design. Don't miss these essential insights that could redefine your digital footprint!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Every day, CMOs must navigate a whirlwind of high-stakes, spontaneous conversations, from high-stakes boardroom challenges to delicate internal communications. Yet many have no formal training in this area or formulas for improvement.

In this episode, Stanford professor and communication expert Matt Abrahams shares actionable, science-backed strategies from his latest book, “Think Faster, Talk Smarter.” Whether it’s acing unexpected questions in job interviews, managing crises, or giving feedback, discover the structures and exercises that will prepare you to handle every spontaneous scenario like a seasoned pro.

This episode was originally recorded in front of a live audience, hosted by CMO Huddles, an exclusive community of B2B marketing leaders. If you’d like to join these conversations in the future, learn more at cmohuddles.com.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Are you ready to elevate your role from marketing maestro to strategic linchpin within your organization? Tap into your CMO superpower—your “plus”—and discover how it can dramatically expand your impact far beyond the conventional scope of marketing.

In this enlightening episode, we sit down with three trailblazing CMOs who have transcended traditional boundaries by embracing their “plus.” Learn from their experiences as they share the challenges and triumphs of mastering a dual role that leverages their skills to foster cross-functional success and drive significant organizational change.

Meet our guests and the pluses they covered:

Chris Willis: Former Chief Marketing + Pipeline Officer at Acrolinx. He is now CMO of Axios HQ
Melanie Marcus: Chief Marketing + CX Officer at Surescripts
Patti Newcomer: Former CMO + GM at FieldRoutes

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegademarketing.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Katrina Klier, Michelle Puleio, Jeff Morgan, and Megan Rainbow To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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If you’re a B2B CMO stuck in limbo at the moment—you’re not alone. We’re in a seller’s market for executive talent, and the round peg, round hole expectations of companies looking for their next marketing chief are exceptionally limiting.

Richard Sanderson of Spencer Stuart brings a glimmer of hope, suggesting a brighter outlook for 2024. In this episode, he shares his expert perspective on the trials and triumphs facing today’s marketing leaders. Tune in as we explore what’s going on with the CMO role right now, the 6 dimensions that capture recruiter’s attention, and effective strategies to showcasing these qualities on LinkedIn. Plus tips on interview prep, 100-day plans, and what mediums to search through.

Recorded during a CMO Huddles Transition Team Huddle, this episode is more than just a conversation—it's a part of a supportive community aimed at empowering CMOs through networking, resume and cover letter reviews, and shared experiences. If you’re a B2B CMO in transition, check it out.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Peter Finter of KX, Adriana Gil Miner of Iterable, James (JD) Dillon of Tigo Energy, Suzanne Reed of LBMC, Hannah Grap of Sitecore, and Dan Cote To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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We’re in a defining moment where the role of the CMO is under the microscope, every decision measured against the relentless drumbeat of numbers and revenue. Yet, the pillars of authentic leadership extend far beyond the balance sheets—they’re the bedrock for sustainable growth.

Tune in for a compelling dialogue with Jenn Lim, author of Beyond Happiness, as we delve into the art of harmonizing purpose with performance. Learn how a purpose-driven mindset can yield profound job satisfaction, catalyze growth, fortify teams, and solidify your place in the C-Suite.

This episode unpacks practical strategies for safeguarding your career trajectory and elevating your role, even amidst the fervor of lead-chasing. Because in the end, the true measure of a CMO's success is about more than revenue generated—it’s in the resilience, innovation, and authenticity they bring to their team and the entire organization.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: James (JD) Dillon of Tigo Energy, Laura MacGregor of Center for Internet Security, Grant Johnson of Billtrust, Julia Goebel of Komodo Health, Julie Kaplan of CareMetx, LLC, and Eric Quanstrom of CIENCE To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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From shifting market trends to M&As to unexpected external events, if great B2B marketing is one thing—it’s agile. And in this episode, we pull back the curtain on CMOs who aren't merely surfing the waves of change—they're harnessing them.

Welcome to a masterclass in change management from Cary Bainbridge of ABM Industries, Narine Galstian of SADA, and Khalid El Khatib who was of Stack Overflow at the time of this recording but is now CMO of Consumer Reports.

Join us as we dissect pivotal decisions, pivot points, and the nimble moves that define successful B2B marketing today. We’ll explore the agility of B2B marketing through the lens of these seasoned leaders, providing actionable insights into how to lead transformation via resilience, strategic foresight, and a culture of continuous learning.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Dave Bornmann, James (JD) Dillon, Jan Deahl, Jane Kayser Tague, James B. Stanton and Marca Armstrong To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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From new privacy laws to AI-influenced Google search algorithms, there’s been a massive shift in the world of B2B paid media.

In response, CMO Huddles has tapped Josh Muskin of WebMechanix and Mike Ulanski of thunder::tech, experts in cutting-edge targeting and data utilization, to shed light on how B2B marketers can refine their strategies for today's challenges.

From leveraging first-party data in ad campaigns to executing precise ABM on LinkedIn, our guests reveal how a data-centric approach can significantly boost engagement with niche B2B audiences. Plus, they share insider tips on optimizing SEO and content to stand out on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), which are increasingly influenced by AI algorithms.

This episode is packed with use cases, best practices, and innovative strategies, offering businesses the insights needed to navigate the intricate realm of B2B marketing and capitalize on the latest technologies. Tune in if you’re looking to enhance lead quality and market presence in a digital-first economy.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: James (JD) Dillon of Tigo Energy, Ellina (Gurvits) Shinnick of HUB International, Michael Callahan of Acronis, and Alexandria (Ali) McCarthy of Amplify Your Voice Studio To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Fingerspitzengefühl: A German loanword literally meaning “fingertips feeling.”

It’s a term that AI trailblazer Noah Brier of Brxnd.ai cites in his conversation with Drew about the digital sixth sense today’s marketers must hone to master AI’s potential.

In this episode, Noah unveils a roadmap for marketers eager to develop their AI intuition, cutting through barriers to adoption and offering practical steps to not just use AI, but to think alongside it. Tune in as we unpack how AI can elevate your B2B strategy, from distilling brand essence to crafting narratives that resonate in the digital marketplace.

Pro Tip: Noah shares a peek into Brxnd.ai’s AI-driven brand collaboration engine—Collabs—so you might want to watch the video version of this on our YouTube channel.

The conversation comes ahead of Brxnd’s 2024 Marketing x AI Conference in NYC (May 8th, 2024), the leading AI marketing event that will sell out fast.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Lauren Wagner Boyman of KPMG US, Michael Callahan of Salt Security, and Grant Johnson of Billtrust To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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In the ever-evolving rodeo we call “B2B marketing,” CMOs have a lot to juggle. From navigating demographic shifts to lassoing elusive budget approvals, this episode dissects the critical skills needed to not just stay on the bull, but to lead the stampede in marketing-led transformation.

In this episode, Forrester’s Matt Selheimer shares his hard-earned insights into a wide-reaching range of important strategic recommendations, including:

Navigating the preferences of Millennial and Gen Z buyers
Securing and optimizing marketing budgets with a VC’s savvy
Selling in the long-term value of consistent brand investment
Building agile, customer-centric “two-pizza teams”
Broadening the scope of marketing metrics beyond pipeline

Tune in with your notepad (or your favorite AI assistant) ready, as we uncover the future of B2B marketing, one insightful tip at a time!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Jan Deahl, Gabi Zijderveld, Ellina (Gurvits) Shinnick, Megan Rainbow, Hannah Grap, Jamie Gier, Alexandria (Ali) McCarthy, Isabelle Papoulias, and Martha Clement Rochford To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Is the pen mightier than the roar in the realm of B2B marketing? Witness the unexpected edge introverted leaders like Bill Strawderman of GS1 US, Julie Kaplan of CareMetx, and Lorie Coulombe of Q4, Inc. wield in an arena where they turn introspection into influential strategy.

Join us as we delve into how introversion shapes effective leadership. From the power of the thoughtful pause to mastering calm under pressure, we explore the misconceptions of shyness, how to be heard in executive meetings, how to consciously build balanced teams, and a whole lot more.

Whether you're an introvert or extrovert—or somewhere in between—this episode promises insights that will reshape or refresh your approach to communication and leadership. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Kevin Sellers, Dawn Crew, Dean Nicolls, and Peter Finter To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Aside from “Artificial Intelligence,” what does “AI” stand for?

According to digital marketing expert Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media, it’s: “Another Input.” And this second opinion, when trained right, is able to identify gaps that the human brain can’t see, build personas, mimic your brand voice, and a whole lot more.

In this episode, Andy shares practical use cases for AI beyond content creation and design that will amp up your marketing impact. Tune in to this cutting edge conversation, previously aired as part of CMO Huddles Bonus Huddles, a monthly series featuring experts in AI, attribution, and more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Misty Walsh of Centric Consulting, Christopher P Willis of Axios HQ, Katrina Klier of Sage Strategy Group, Jeff Morgan of Elements, and Julie Kaplan of CareMetx, LLC To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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EdTech marketers, this show is for you. Everyone else, this show is ALSO for you.

Let’s examine the unique challenges EdTech marketers are facing right now:

They effectively have to market to 50 local markets
Due to the academic year, buying cycles are highly seasonal
With budget constraints, customers are demanding efficacy data

Scale, personalization, educating customers, proving ROI—there’s a lot to learn from how EdTech CMOs are approaching said challenges. In this episode, learn from EdTech marketing masters: Kevin Briody of Edmentum, Kay Moffett of Amplify, and Megan Rainbow of Allovue.

Plus, get an inside look at how purpose-driven marketing can attract and retain top talent and the importance of empathy in understanding the educator's perspective.

Don't miss this rich conversation filled with insights that transcend the EdTech space, providing valuable takeaways for marketing leaders in any sector.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Patti Newcomer, Lesley Davis, Marni Carmichael, Heidi Bullock, Hannah Grap, Sabrina De Veylder Pahwa, Grant Johnson, and Isabelle Papoulias, and Laura MacGregor To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Two out of three customers say that speed is as important as price—making it an essential ingredient of brand success.

That’s why it’s time for CMOs to harness responsiveness as a distinct competitive advantage. In this episode, Jay Baer provides a blueprint for how to get there, detailing 6 time-busting strategies shared in his book, “The Time to Win.”

From auditing your current responsiveness to baking in a “fast pass,” prepare to transform customer interactions into swift, memorable experiences that promote loyalty and positive word-of-mouth.

Don't miss out on these game-changing insights that could set the pace for your company's future!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Katrina Klier, Gabi Zijderveld, Jan Deahl, Julia Goebel, Joy Neely, Ellina (Gurvits) Shinnick, Janet Jaiswal, and AJ Bellarosa To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Expanding into new markets can bring incredible growth opportunities for B2B brands. But how can marketers navigate the complexities of cultural nuances to build successful global marketing strategies?

Spoiler alert: It’s not easy tying together a global marketing model under different time zones, budgets, languages, cultures, and different sets of resources. A CMO undergoing such an endeavor can’t be afraid to get their hands dirty and iterate as you grow.

In this episode, three such seasoned CMOs share the strategies and best practices that drive success in global markets. Tune in as we explore the power of community building, how to coordinate across borders, and how local experiments can be transformed into global wins.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: La Toya Hodge, Ali McCarthy, Gabi Zijderveld, and Jamie Gier To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Let us briefly introduce you to the 95/5 Rule: 95% of your market isn’t ready to buy today. 5% is.

With such a significant chunk of future buyers not in-market at any given point in time, why are CMOs under so much pressure to generate leads? In this fascinating episode with Peter Weinberg of LinkedIn’s’ B2B Institute, he breaks down the key arguments you can use to remind your CEO and CFO why brand building is essential to long-term growth.

Based on B2B Institute’s groundbreaking insights, we don’t just explore the WHY of B2B success, but the HOW. It’s time for B2B brands to get weird, to update their media spend strategy, and to hone in on the rational sales pitch.

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience as part of CMO Huddles’ Bonus Huddle series. If you’re interested in learning more, check out cmohuddles.com.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Bryan Law, Jeff Otto, Lorie Coulombe, Marca Armstrong, Heidi Bullock, Grant Johnson, Marshall Poindexter and Tom Bianchi To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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When economic pressures hit, the pressure on CMOs intensifies. The decisions you make as CMO can significantly impact your marketing team’s ability to weather the storm and come out stronger on the other side. But fear not!

In this episode, we'll be speaking with three bright minds and marketing leaders who have successfully navigated through storms: CMOs Marca Armstrong of Sensera Systems, Katrina Klier of Sage Strategy Group, and Gabi Zijderveld of Smart Eye.

Tune in explore how to captain your team when external factors are pushing in, how to be nimble when the unexpected happens, and how to get ahead of employee burnout while inspiring productivity. We're about to gain some serious altitude in our conversation today, so fasten your seat belts and get ready for a ride filled with insights!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Shirley Macbeth, Alan Gonsenhauser, Olga Noha, Gabi Zijderveld, Lawrence Schwartz, Sara Ramlo Larsen, Laurie Coppola Mitchell, Kevin Ruane, Chris Willis, and Andrés Roselló To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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At the heart of transformative leadership lies a powerful concept: Radical Candor. It's the art of caring personally and challenging directly, a philosophy Kim Scott crafted to help others achieve results collaboratively that you could never achieve alone.

For B2B CMOs, adopting Radical Candor can be a game-changer. In this episode, Kim Scott herself applies the principles of Radical Candor to the unique challenges of the CMO role. Tune in to learn how to communicate collaboratively with your CEO, your C-Suite peers, and your teams, all in the name of B2B greatness.

Captured live in front of a CMO audience, this session is part of CMO Huddles’ ongoing Career Huddle Book Club series spotlighting thought leaders and authors who are reshaping the world of business.

Interested in being part of the conversation? To join a future Career Huddle or to suggest an author whose ideas could ignite the next discussion, reach out to us at support@cmohuddles.com. Your seat at the table awaits.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Marca Armstrong, Jeff Morgan, Ellina (Gurvits) Shinnick, Peter Finter, and Joy Neely To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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An “invisible” B2B recession, budget cuts, and short-termism… it’s not easy being CMO.

In this special episode hosted by Julie Livingston on her show, PR Patter, as Drew tackles these timely challenges head on. This episode isn't just about weathering the storm; it's about charting a course to innovation and long-term triumph. We'll explore how to invigorate your marketing strategy, reallocate budgets, and rethink how marketing and sales work together.

Let’s turn obstacles into opportunities and set the stage for a year where being a CMO doesn't just mean leading marketing—it means leading the market! Here’s to a fantastic 2024.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Grant Johnson, JD Dillon, Jeff Morgan, Julie Kaplan, Dean Nicolls, Marshall Poindexter, and Lesley Davis To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Ready, set, drive pipeline!

That's the battle cry for B2B CMOs, where driving growth from day one is a given—and consistently delivering on that promise is non-negotiable. This episode zooms in on the tactical prowess of three CMOs who have turned pipeline playbooks into a science.

Tune in to hear wisdom from proven pros: Kathie Johnson of Sitecore, Joshua Leatherman of Service Express, and Gary Sevounts of Malwarebytes. They'll delve into the critical assessment of a company’s current state and how to craft dynamic pipeline playbooks that not only meet targets but exceed them.

Expect to walk away with a playbook of your own, filled with actionable tactics and hard-earned wisdom. Are you ready to escalate your pipeline strategy? Get this conversation in your ear buds!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Chris Willis, Karen Budell, Bryan Law, Ellina Shinnick, Heidi Bullock, Charles Groome, and Amisha Gandhi To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Beyond the numbers and strategies, beyond the boardrooms and presentations, lies a question that's more vital than ever before: How do CMOs ensure that brand values aren't just words on a wall?

Cue CMOs Marshall Poindexter of OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences, Joe Cohen of AXIS, and Matt Preschern of NTT Ltd, who are ensuring that brand values shine as the guiding stars in every strategic and day-to-day decision at your business.

In this episode, they share how to bring your brand values to life for employees, customers, and prospects. Tune in to learn what it means to define your values, how to weave them into overall business strategy, and how to measure them to make sure they’re still going strong. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Tyler Lessard, VP Marketing and GTM Executive of Vidyard To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Want to win with video?

Tune into this episode with Tyler Lessard, VP of Marketing at Vidyard, as he answers questions from CMOs, for CMOs, sharing a wealth of pragmatic advice for B2B CMOs looking to utilize this powerful business asset. We cover the 4 Es of great videos, why you need a “watch demo” button on your website, how video enables personalization to a whole new level, and a whole lot more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Being customer obsessed has always sounded like a good idea. And here’s a stat that should catch your (and your C-Suite’s) attention: “Customer obsessed companies have 10% higher performance numbers in revenue, growth and profits, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. That’s 3x the rate of companies that are not customer obsessed.”

In this episode, Forrester’s Lori Wizdo shares how CMOs can take the reins and help their companies develop customer obsessed growth engines. Tune in to learn why you need one, how to pilot one, and how to flip the script from “data-driven” to “insight-driven” strategy. You won’t want to miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Grant Johnson, Tom Bianchi, Heidi Bullock, Hannah Grap, Bhaskar Roy, Robert Hackl, and Chip House To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Want to be the best podcast guest?

Rachel Downey, the mastermind behind Share Your Genius, unveils her secrets to help you amplify your voice—and your brand—via the power of podcasting. Whether you're aiming to bolster your personal brand, widen your company’s reach, or attract fresh talent, hopping onto a podcast could be your game-changer.

This episode is your all-access pass to mastering the art of podcast guesting, including how to:

Select podcasts that align with your vision.
Find the right tech for a flawless audio (and video) presence.
Craft compelling narratives that captivate audiences.
Measure the exposure and reach of your show appearance.

And for the visionary CMOs out there, we've got something special—as a B2B podcast production expert, Rachel shares exclusive insights into starting and hosting your own podcast, tailored for the B2B space.

Ready for the mic? Tune in now!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Marca Armstrong, Ellina Shinnick, Marshall Poindexter, Jamie Gier, Joy Neely, JD Dillon, and Guy (John) de Torcy To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Low budget and high ROI expectations? No problem. This episode of Renegade Marketers Unite is all about how B2B CMOs are building, optimizing, and tracking ABM programs with low-to-no budget.

Tune in as Julie Kaplan of CareMetx, Olga Noha of SplitMetrics, and Julie Feller of U.S. Legal Support share their top tips for setting up an ABM program that maximizes results without maxing out your team. We’ll cover how to find your target audience, how to align with Sales, the must-haves of a successful ABM program, and a whole lot more. Tune in!

(P.S. We had a surprise guest—ABX expert, Jon Russo!)

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Sangeeta Prasad, Chief Marketing Officer of Slalom To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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How do you CMO at a B2B org that’s never had a CMO before? In this episode, we explore this unique challenge with Sangeeta Prasad, Slalom’s first-ever CMO (and it’s not her first rodeo either, she was also inaugural CMO at Russell Reynolds).

Tune in to learn how Sangeeta masterfully approaches the inaugural CMO role, blazing the path for marketing to drive business growth. The conversation covers how to transform frustrations into quick wins, how to balance brand and demand, and how to get marketing a seat at the strategic table. We also explore Slalom “Fiercely Human” repositioning and their big Dreamforce reveal. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Peter Finter, Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek, Jan Deahl, Michelle Gaines, Dean Nicolls, and Steven Nghe To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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What are you using AI for? According to CMO AI advisor Nicole Leffer, that’s the wrong question to ask. Instead, CMOs should be asking, “What are we not using AI for, and how can we?”

Nicole is CMO Huddles’ favorite GenAI genie. She returned to a recent CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle to share a wide range of use cases for GenAI, from copywriting to image generation, from landing page analysis to strategic insights.

This is an episode dedicated to optimizing your team’s time and your strategic initiatives. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Marshall Poindexter, Ali McCarthy, Jeff Morgan, Joy Neely, Grant Johnson, and Katrina Klier To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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The success of a CMO’s first 90 days starts before day one, and its impact extends well past that 3-month mark.

In this episode, we explore how to get that first 90 right with CMOs Jamie Gier of DexCare, Bernd Leger of Cornerstone OnDemand, and Isabelle Papoulias of BackBox, who at the time of this interview were freshly into or just out of their own first 90.

Tune in as we explore the step-by-step methodology behind a fruitful first 90 days in the CMO role. We’ll cover topics like how to run your listening tour, how often you should communicate with key stakeholders, and how to get some quick wins while ramping up for long-term success.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Carlos Carvajal, Peter Neiman, Ian Howells, Katrina Klier, Grant Johnson, and Deidre Hudson To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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We triple dog dare you to be more daring marketers in 2024. To be growth drivers. To stop playing it safe. In this fantastic Drew on Drew episode, the two Drews discuss how the B2B realm is overdue for a shakeup in 2024, with 10 daring marketing moves that will get you there.

This is especially pertinent in today’s current climate, with a significant number of companies eliminating the CMO role altogether as the recession continues to put pressure on budgets. Tune in to learn where to focus your time and attention to be a better strategic partner, a better marketer, and a better leader. This episode is not to be missed!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Chip Rodgers, Gabi Zijderveld, Jan Deahl, Nisha Bagepalli, Lesley Davis To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Over 90% of your buyers are not in-market today. So how do you make sure that you’re at the top of their list whenever they decide it’s time to buy?

Enter brand, the powerful component of every company looking to impact long-term growth and drive revenue. In this episode, we explore how CMOs are using brand as a strategic lever in their long-term revenue generation strategies, how they get brand buy-in across the org, and how they measure brand’s impact on growth.

Learn why every brand moment is an acquisition moment in this conversation, guided by the exceptional Margaret Molloy of Siegel+Gale, our guest host, and our stellar lineup of CMOs:

Kristin Russel of symplr
Chandar Pattabhiram, Former of Coupa and Marketo
Rashmi Vittal, CMO of Productiv at the time of this interview

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Dave Bornmann, Carlo Cadet, Marshall Poindexter, Julie Kaplan, and Deidre Hudson To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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If there’s a social media platform where a CMO can gain substantial influence, LinkedIn is the one. So how can marketers get their voices out there? Enter Beth Granger, your LinkedIn Guru, who joined a CMO Huddles Career Huddle to share her top tips for networking and connecting on the popular business platform.

Beth works with organizations and individuals who want to grow their businesses through referrals and unleash the power of LinkedIn. Tune in as she shares her exclusive insights into managing your personal profile—what to write, when to post, who to tag, and more. We cover everything from LinkedIn Live to LinkedIn Groups, what happens when you go Creator Mode, and the ever-elusive LinkedIn algorithm. Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Chandar Pattabhiram, Jakki Geiger, Ellina Shinnick, JD Dillon, Fredrik Carlegren, and Sheraun Britton-Parris To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Bad bots, security breaches, and deceptive phishing schemes—oh my? That’s right! There are a lot of dangers out there in the often-murky waters of cybersecurity, and marketers need to be ready.

That’s why we brought 3 cybersecurity CMOs on the podcast. Tune in as Dan Lowden of BLACKBIRD.AI (previously HUMAN Security), Laura MacGregor of CIS, and Michael Callahan of Salt Security (formerly Acronis) shed light on these digital threats and share how B2B marketers can stay ahead of them. We cover things like how to develop a crisis playbook for security breaches, how to protect your tech stack, and why CAPTCHA isn’t all that effective anymore.

Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: La Toya Hodge, Jamie Gier, Gabi Zijderveld, and Sara Larsen To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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The road from cold lead to engaged prospect can be long, winding, and notoriously hard to trace. But the top of the funnel is a good place to start.

In this episode, three seasoned CMOs delve into their techniques for nourishing the top of their funnels and the nuances of lead assessment and qualification. Discover the power of impactful content and learn the triggers that send a qualified lead to Sales.

Tune in to hear from our special guests Jeff Morgan of Elements, Andrés Roselló of Cognex, and Kevin Briody of Edmentum.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Adriel Sanchez, Marca Armstrong, Susan Ganeshan, Ellie Ahmadi, Kevin Ruane, Grant Johnson, Heidi Bullock, Julia Goebel, Tara Robertson, and Melanie Marcus. To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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10 weeks. 60 blog posts. 3 authorship sources: Humans, AI, and Hybrid.

These were the conditions put to the test in a quest to answer the age-old question: Who writes better, humans or AI?

To hear the results, tune in to this interview with Michael Brenner and his team at Marketing Insider Group, who ran this test in partnership with Renegade.com and CMO Huddles. There was a clear winner in terms of site traffic and rankings (Humans! cough, cough), but also undeniable evidence that hybrid is the way of the future.

On top of exploring the test results, we also cover whether AI will replace SDRs, copyright and plagiarism concerns, and more. Don’t miss it!

What You’ll Learn

Who writes better content: Humans, Bots, or Hybrid
The methodology behind the report
The future of AI and content creation

Check out the test results at https://cmohuddles.com/man-vs-machine-content-report

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Dan Lowden, Sara Larsen, Christopher Willis, Victoria Godfrey, Michael Welts, Khalid El Khatib, and Brad Cohen. To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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“Tell me about yourself.” This vague, clichéd interview question can be answered in a lot of different ways. Executive coach Jacob Warwick is here to tell you the best way, especially if you’re looking to land your next CMO role.

In this riveting CMO Huddles Carreer Huddle replay, Jacob shares his top interviewing tips and tricks, like how to be assertive, why you should lean into your competition, and how to approach compensation conversations. For those eyeing the CMO chair – a position known for its fleeting tenure – this episode is essential listening. Immerse yourself and gear up for success!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Chip Rodgers of WorkSpan, Marca Armstrong of Passport, Bernd Leger of Cornerstone OnDemand, Karl Van den Bergh of Gigamon, Marni Carmichael of ImageSource, and Grant Johnson of Billtrust To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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AI has become the secret weapon for many marketing teams. In the MarTech world, this goes one step further: many MarTech CMOs are not only embracing AI but pioneering its integration.

Three such CMOs are Adriana Gil Miner of Iterable, Christopher Willis of Acrolinx, and Andrew Bennett of Smartsheet. In this episode, we bring them together so they can share how they’re marketing the AI that’s making their respective products that much more powerful. Tune in to deep dive into their strategies for rising above the AI buzz, leveraging PR, community engagement, word-of-mouth campaigns, and the myriad ways their teams are harnessing AI.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Marshall Poindexter of OpenEye Scientific, Patti Newcomer of FieldRoutes, and Jan Deahl of Drake Star To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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All aboard! If you want to bring any strategic vision to fruition, you need to bring everyone along with you—from the CEO, to the executive team, to employees throughout the org. That’s what we explore in today’s episode with CMOs Melanie Marcus of Surescripts, Grant Johnson of Billtrust, and Lauren Boyman of KPMG US.

All three have led impressive strategic initiatives at their respective orgs, and in this conversation, they share the behind the scenes work that it takes to get there. Tune in to as they share how to navigate corporate dynamics, win over the skeptics, and get consensus for the big ideas that will move the needle.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Jennifer Houston, Martin O'Leary of Tap Payments, Jamie Gier of DexCare, Ed Breault of Malbek, and Tom Treanor of Snipp Interactive.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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If we had to choose one member of the C-Suite to step into the CEO role at the drop of a hat, take one guess who we’d choose. We’re not biased or anything—the CMO has a clear view across the org that no other function does, and the function itself is geared towards driving growth.

Don’t just take our word for it though. In this episode, Karen Starns of OJO Canada joins to share her journey from CMO to CEO, a beacon of inspiration for B2B CMOs who aspire to the top leadership role. Tune in to hear how she did it, what it’s like in the CEO seat, and what building blocks can help you make the jump, too.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format. Featuring: Jeff Morgan of The Elements Financial Planning System, Julie Kaplan of CareMetx, Laura Beaulieu of LeanLaw, Dave Bornmann of Association Analytics, and Deidre Hudson of Bloomfire To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub! And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Here’s a little secret: This Drew-on-Drew episode was not entirely human-made. We did have two real Drews, yes, and our production crew surely played a role throughout the entire, multi-step podcast-making process. But we made all of it a little easier with transcription bots, AI content generators, and AI video editors.

And that’s the theme of this episode. Generative AI is here to help make processes a little bit easier for B2B marketers. To help sort through content for a first draft, to create at a higher capacity, to save you time so you can dedicate more of it to high-level strategy.

Tune in to hear from Drew how B2B marketers are using AI now, how it’s evolving, and what great thought leaders like Forrester and McKinsey are saying about future of AI. Plus, Drew shares a list of his top AI thought leaders and conferences. Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Gail Moody-Byrd of LinkedIn, Bryan Law of ZoomInfo, Jeff Morgan of The Elements Financial Planning System, Sheri L. Chin of Galileo Financial Technologies, Jan Deahl of Drake Star, Narine Galstian of SADA Systems, and Katrina Klier

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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A full funnel doesn’t always = revenue. B2B marketers know this, and CMOs are really feeling it as marketing budgets are growingly contingent on dwindling lead funnels. But there’s hope—what if the line from prospect to lifetime customer might be as simple as I-C-P?

The Ideal Customer Profile helps B2B businesses determine truly qualified leads, those who are most likely to pay for your product or service, get the most value of it, and remain a loyal customer in the long term.

In this episode, three powerhouse CMOs share how they identified their ICPs and mastered the art of refining and sharpening them. Through the lens of their experiences, we'll delve into the intricate process of zeroing in on those pivotal targets that can transform a company's trajectory.

Tune in to snag all the wisdom from Kaycee Kalpin of Premier, Janet Jaiswal of Cloudbeds, and Jan Deahl of Drake Star.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Shirley Macbeth of Forrester, Gabi Zijderveld of Smart Eye, Olga Noha of SplitMetrics, Bernd Leger of Cornerstone OnDemand, Eric Eden, and Heather Salerno of Appcast.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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If marketing wants to have a strategic seat at the table, CMOs need to be in the business of marketing (opposed to marketing the business). Effective CMOs with sway create markets. They unite the C-Suite as one. They shepherd in the Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies that grow the business.

In this episode, we explore the core elements that make a B2B GTM strategy truly effective with three renowned B2B marketers: Bryan Law of ZoomInfo, Amanda Malko of G2, and Sangram Vajre of GTM Partners. They share what it takes to build strong B2B GTM motions, the telltale signs of a faulty strategy, and why NRR (Net Revenue Retention) should probably be your new favorite metric.

Join us as we unravel these insights and more, ensuring you walk away with actionable takeaways to supercharge your B2B GTM strategies.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Have product-market fit, will travel.

International expansion is an exciting B2B growth opportunity, but marketers have a mind-boggling set of variables to consider. From relocating headquarters to navigating language barriers to engaging analysts, there’s a lot to manage. Luckily, this episode with Jacques Botbol, Olga Noha, and Dean Nicholls dives into what it takes to take a brand global without getting lost in translation.

Tune in as we hear from three experienced international marketers who know how to go the extra mile.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Melissa Sargeant of Alpha Sense, Kevin Sellers of Ping Identity, and Alexandria (Ali) McCarthy

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Purpose. Perspective. Power up. People. Positivity. These are Dalia Feldheim’s 5P’s of compassionate leadership, which she laid out in a powerful Bonus Huddle about how CMOs can be better bosses, or, as Dalia put it in her book of the same name: Dare to lead like a girl.

With a collection of inspiring and heartfelt stories across an illustrious career, Dalia is set on inspiring better businesses and work cultures through focusing on individual strengths, positivity, and compassion. This is an episode dedicated to great leadership, founded by a strong purpose: “To put the hearts of your people in the heart of what you do.”

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Isabelle Papoulias of BackBox, Shirley Macbeth of Forrester, Toni Clayton-Hine of EY, Armen Najarian of Sift, Grant Johnson of Billtrust, and Carlos Carvajal of Q2

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Welcome to THE board management episode for B2B CMOs.

There’s a lot of pressure when it comes to managing the board. It’s up to the CMO to ensure that marketing has a strategic seat at the table, to show the board marketing’s impact on revenue and build a business case for the budget.

That’s why we brought in two veteran CMOs, Bernd Leger of Cornerstone OnDemand and Jamie Gier of DexCare, to share their learnings from managing both public and private boards. Tune in to learn everything you need to know about board management, from how to build great board relationships, to which metrics to bring to the table, to what not to do in the boardroom!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Jake Goeckeritz of Bola AI, Michelle Puleio of SageWater, Patti Newcomer of FieldRoutes, and Marshall Poindexter of OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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What is a surefire way to snuff out any interest from a potential B2B buyer? A product pitch. Unfortunately, our brains are wired to pitch, so it’s going to take a collective effort and a lot of practice to rewire how you talk to your customers and prospects in market.

Enter, Brent Keltner, President of Winalytics LLC and author of The Revenue Acceleration Playbook. He joined a recent Bonus Huddle to share how to develop your own revenue acceleration playbook, hit personalization at scale, and collect the customer stories that people really want to hear.

If you find this conversation insightful and would like to participate in these Q&As in real time, check out cmohuddles.com.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Grant Johnson of Billtrust, Jean Sabbagh of Equisoft, Peeyush Dubey of TheMathCompany, Alex Diamond of Carbon Mapper, Marshall Poindexter of OpenEye Scientific, Tara Robertson of Bitly, Amy Messano of Altair, and Katrina Klier

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Once you go ABM, there’s no going back. That’s the sentiment that our CMO guests shared in this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite, and for good reason. Tune in to learn how ABM can transform the revenue engine at B2B organizations, setting marketing up as a key strategic player and enabling personalization at scale.

CMOs Kevin Sellers of Ping Identity, Laura Beaulieu of LeanLaw, and Ali McCarthy share their experiences standing up and evolving ABM at their firms. As Kevin declared, “ABM done right is spearfishing. You're not casting the net super broad and sorting through it, you're really going after specific fish.”

Don’t miss it!

And don’t forget to catch the previous episode, also dedicated to ABM: CMO’s Guide to Adopting Account-Based Marketing.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Peter Finter of CyberGRX, Kristin Fornal of Brand pH LLC, Ajay Khanna of Mezmo, and Deidre Hudson of Bloomfire

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Thinking of adopting (or ramping up) ABM? Welcome to part 1 of two episodes dedicated to implementing Account-Based Marketing (ABM) programs. In this episode, Huddlers Charles Groome of Biz2Credit, Chip Rodgers of WorkSpan, and Grant Johnson of Billtrust lead the charge, sharing how they’ve brought ABM into their organizations and the difference it has made.

Learn how to choose an ABM platform, how much time and how many people you may need, and what ABM success looks like.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Peter Finter of CyberGRX, Dean Nicolls of Jumio Corporation, Charles Groome of Biz2Credit, Marshall Poindexter of OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences, and La Toya Hodge of Cappfinity

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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To rebrand or to not rebrand, that is the question… in this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite! Three CMO guests join to share the strategic process behind a brand refresh, from how to know it’s time to rebrand, to how to get buy-in, to what you need to do to execute a successful one. This is the perfect strategic rebrand episode for B2B marketers wondering if it’s time for a refresh, giving them the building blocks they’ll need to enable change that will drive business forward.

Tune in for wisdom from:

* Rashmi Vittal of Productiv

Bill Strawderman of GS1 US
Julie Feller of U.S. Legal Support

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Adriel Sanchez of WalkMe, Heidi Bullock of Tealium, and Jeff Otto of Riskified

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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This special 350th episode was brought to you from Drew’s hotel room at Forrester’s 2023 B2B Summit and holds 12 key takeaways that B2B marketers can use to drive customer-centric growth. Long-time listeners will recognize Drew’s CATS framework and the enduring importance of being courageous, artful, thoughtful, and scientific. These core traits of successful CMOs are reinforced with fresh insights from the Summit. Tune in to soak it all in.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Josh Leatherman of Service Express, Grant Johnson of Billtrust, Chris Pieper of ADP Enterprise, Jen Jones of commercetools, Khalid El Khatib of Stack Overflow, and Dave Bornmann of Association Analytics

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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This episode was brought to you by AI (with a healthy dose of human oversight, of course).

Descript. Otter. ChatGPT. These are just a few of the generative AI tools that are helping simplify the tedious and clear the way for bigger and better ideas in the marketing world, and that’s the focus of this conversation with Cathy McPhillips, Chief Growth Officer of Marketing AI Institute.

Tune in to hear some really interesting use cases, like how she saved 18-20 hours of podcast production, how AI won in an A/B test for generating promotional copy, and how to keep up with the pace of AI. And if you like what you hear, check out the upcoming MAICON (Marketing AI Conference), July 26-28th, 2023 in Chicago.

We have a discount code for CMO Huddles members. If you want it, let us know!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Sara Ramlo Larsen of Wolters Kluwer Health, Simon Schaffer-Goldman of Case Paper, Kathie Johnson of Talkdesk, Hope Scibal of Tria Federal, Carlos Carvajal of Q2, Bernd Leger of Cornerstone OnDemand, and Kevin Briody of Edmentum.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Navigating a potential spinoff of a megabrand. Moving to enterprise. Going public. These are massive business initiatives where marketing can play a key role—and it’s up to the CMO to prove it.

In this episode, three such CMOs share how they’ve cemented marketing’s seat at the table when it comes to propelling business forward (with impressive stats like 60% year-over-year growth and marketing bringing in 80% of the pipeline, for example).

Tune in to hear the strategies and tactics behind these powerhouse CMOs:

Toni Clayton-Hine of EY Americas
Jamie Gilpin of Sprout Social
JD Dillon of Tigo Energy

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Janet Jaiswal of Cloudbeds, Melanie Marcus of Surescripts, Josh Machiz of Redpoint Ventures, Megan Galvin of New State Capital Partners, and Mary Leigh Mackie

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Metrics, metrics, metrics. It’s the science of marketing that delivers budget approvals, board buy-in, and a formidable seat at the table. In this episode, we explore the B2B metrics that matter with three metrics-driven CMOs. 

Tune in to get all kinds of metrics insights, with wisdom from CMOs Kevin Sellers of Ping Identity, Deidre Hudson of Bloomfire (previously Payability), and Khalid El Khatib of Stack Overflow.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: JD Dillon of Tigo Energy, Dave Bornmann of Association Analytics, Ajay Khanna of Mezmo, and Jennifer Houston

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Weather any storm with a strong customer marketing motion. In today’s episode, Drew and our CMO guests explore what it means to build and facilitate a successful customer marketing program. Tune in to learn why you should set up a CAB ASAP, how retention can lead to growth, how much of the budget should go to marketing, and a whole lot more.

Featuring CMO Huddlers:

Tejal Parekh (Previously CMO Terminal)
Marca Armstrong of Passport
Grant Johnson of Billtrust (Previously CMO Emburse)

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Michael Callahan of Acronis, Rashmi Vittal of Productiv, Olga Noha of SplitMetrics, Dean Nicolls of Jumio Corporation, and Patti Newcomer-Small of FieldRoutes

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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B2B marketers: This is the ChatGPT episode you’ve been waiting for.

Get ready to save 5 hours a week and increase productivity with Nicole Leffer, your go-to AI consultant. Nicole joined a recent Bonus Huddle to share a myriad of pragmatic ways marketing teams can leverage generative AI, like training it to use your brand voice, transforming webinars into blog posts, and prompt crafting.

We also cover what Google thinks about the whole AI thing, why you need to fact check, and what to do about potential security concerns. Get this in your ears ASAP—AI is evolving fast and this is a train you don’t want to miss.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Grant Johnson of Billtrust, JD Dillon of Tigo Energy, and Chip Rodgers of WorkSpan.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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How can CMOs better enable Sales teams? Can marketers create content that Sales will actually use? What is the meaning of life?

These are just some of the questions we ponder in this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite, recorded while Drew was off the grid in the Galapagos. But how could we air an interview without our steadfast host, you ask?

Enter Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale of the Advanced Selling Podcast, who bring their A-game as they enter the world of CMO Huddles, leading the conversation on Sales Enablement with three savvy CMO guests: Peter Finter of CyberGRX, Sara Larsen of Wolters Kluwer Health, and Carlos Carvajal of Q2.

Tune in for a really fun episode, as Sales and Marketing worlds collide and seek common ground. Let’s get to it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Jennifer Houston, Ellina Shinnick of HUB International, and Bhaskar Roy of Workato

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Searching for your next CMO gig? Need help educating your CEO and the board? Wondering how you can expand in your current role to set you up for the next one?

This episode with expert executive recruiter Erica Seidel has it all. Erica founded The Connective Good, a boutique recruiting firm that specializes in CMOs, and with over a decade of experience, she has one of the strongest reputations in the industry.

Tune in to hear all the wisdom she shared with CMO Huddles in a recent Bonus Huddle—with practical takeaways and pithy insights and ensure a long, happy career.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Shirley Macbeth, CMO of Forrester

Speaking of customer events, CMO Huddles is a proud community partner with Forrester’s 2023 B2B Summit, in-person in Austin, Texas from June 4-7th, with expert keynotes, specially curated breakouts, a live band (Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats!), and a whole lot more. Huddlers will get a special discounted rate, with access to exclusive networking opportunities, VIP status, and more.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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How are elite marketers helping Salespeople (and the prospective customer) make the buying journey fruitful (and not frustrating)?

We take a broad, strategic look at the question in this episode with experts Rebecca Stone, SVP Customer Solutions Marketing & CMO at Cisco Meraki, and Marni Carmichael, VP of Marketing at ImageSource. It’s full of strategic gems that B2B marketers can use to better support and align with their sales teams.

As you’ll learn, synergy between Sales and Marketing is about a synergy between consistency and spontaneity, brand and individual style, art and science. Tune in to get your Sales Enablement plan in tip-top shape for 2023.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Ross Graber, Forrester VP, Principal Analyst

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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The economy is turbulent and marketing budgets are down. But growth goals are up… What’s a marketer to do?! Listen to this episode with Forrester’s VP and Principal Analyst Ross Graber.

He returned to CMO Huddles to share Forrester’s recommendations for marketing in a downturn. Tune in to learn why customers are the dominant growth engine in 2023, how to solve the problem with sourcing, what the idea marketing dashboard should look like, and a whole lot more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Michael Callahan of Acronis, Itamar Sabo of Gigamon, and Grant Johnson of Billtrust

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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This special tribute episode is dedicated to Drew’s dad, Carl Neisser (1927-2023). The original recording aired 5 years ago, when Carl joined Drew in the studio to share lessons on life, leadership, and curiosity for episode 100. The lessons are as important as ever today, for everyone, including marketers and business leaders.

Tune in to learn how to build a network across the span of a lifetime, why you should never stop learning, what it means to be a great leader, and the most important lesson of all: Find a loved one and listen to them with all your heart.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Kevin Sellers of Ping Identity, Amy Messano of Altair, and Lynne Capozzi

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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B2B buying trends are changing and the old marketing playbook isn’t working anymore. What does this mean for your marketing strategy? Tune in to today’s episode with the expert marketing execs Jon Miller of Demandbase and Allyson Havener of TrustRadius as we examine the implications of these notable trends and what marketers can do about it.

The 6 trends we explore:

Buyers want to research anonymously
Buying committees are even larger and more complicated
The buying process is nonlinear and looping
Buyers want to self-serve
Buyers trust 3rd party resources over 1st party resources
Sales has dropped out of the top 5 sources of influence

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Sarah Franklin, President & CMO at Salesforce

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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In January 2023, Salesforce announced it was laying off 8,000 staffers, roughly 10% of its workforce. Smelling blood, five sharks of Wall Street—otherwise known as activist investors—started buying shares. It was a big blow for the brand that has been at the center of the tech world for the last 15 years, but one that it hasn’t been afraid to face head on.

Welcome Salesforce President & CMO Sarah Franklin to Renegade Marketers Unite, here to share how Salesforce is committed to leading from the front, especially during turbulent times. Tune in as we talk about how to stay true to your brand values, why you need to drill down on customer centricity, what AI will mean for the future of B2B marketing, and a whole lot more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Peter Finter of CyberGRX, Gabi Zijderveld of Smart Eye, Chip Rogers of WorkSpan, Dean Nicolls of Oosto, and Jennifer Griffin Smith of Brightcove

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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How are B2B marketers adapting their digital experiences in a down economy? We covered the topic with two superstar marketing execs based across the pond from our NYC studio: Tom Bianchi of Acquia and Warren Daniels of Bynder.

Are you creating knock-your-socks-off content? Do you have a clickable demo for your business? How are you connecting digital and physical experiences for customers, employees, and partners? We answer all of this and more—tune in for an episode full of practical tips and tactics to keep your business thriving despite the economic challenges at hand.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Ellie Ahmadi, CMO of Sāgo

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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The CMO role is the most bespoke in the C-Suite, the range of responsibilities and challenges changing from company to company, growth stage to growth stage. In Ellie Ahmadi’s case, the challenge when she joined Schlesinger Group in the end of 2021 was to give the 57-year-old a brand a fresh face, one that matched the acquisitive company.

Enter Sāgo, officially launched March 1st, 2023. In this episode, Ellie shares the work behind finding and launching the new brand name (in 11 months, no less), with a ton of great tips in how to activate a new brand for employees and customers without losing 57 years of brand equity. And all of this while building a better than ever demand gen engine.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Chip Rodgers of WorkSpan, Patti Newcomer of FieldRoutes, Ann Boyd of Stoplight, and Dean Nicolls of Oosto

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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As the war for talent ebbs and flows, the need for a strong employer brand stands steadfast. An employer brand is the #1 way to give current employees a reason to stay, and to attract top talent looking for a fulfilling place to land.

Enter CMOs Deidre Hudson (previously of Payability), Lynne Capozzi (retired from Acquia), and Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek of Skillsoft, here to share their insights into the role marketing plays in building and evolving an employer brand that people talk about. Tune in to this episode as we cover everything from navigating layoffs to building brand ambassadors to measuring employee satisfaction. You don’t want to miss it.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: La Toya Hodge of Cappfinity, Sheraun Britton-Parris of VisionLabs, Natalie Gullatt of HubSpot, and Deidre Hudson

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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AI is on the up and up.

As Chat GPT’s servers try to keep up with the buzz of users looking to play with the popular copywriting tool, there’s a whole lot more going on across the generative AI space. Enter Noah Brier, Founder of Percolate, Variance, and most recently brxnd.ai, an organization dedicated to helping brands, marketers, and agencies navigate the ever-changing world of AI.

He joined a CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle to share all the ways B2B marketers can and should start using AI to optimize everything from survey analysis to data extraction to writing BDR scripts. Tune in for a fascinating look into how these helpful little assistants are going to change the way we work.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

This episode features tips on getting the most out of marketing conferences, with wisdom from Shirley Macbeth, CMO of Forrester.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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What’s a surefire way for B2B brands to grow customer champions, drive cross-sell and upsell, and spread brand love? A robust event marketing strategy will do the trick. Especially in a world where budgets are being cut and CMOs are being asked to do more with less, a well-run event (virtual, hybrid, or in-person) can get you the most bang for your buck.

Tune in for an insight-packed episode—we explore everything from event planning and promotion to being a stellar host to post-event follow-up with a customer obsessed CMO panel: Shirley Macbeth of Forrester, Olga Noha of SplitMetrics, and Marca Armstrong of Passport.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Dave Bornmann of Association Analytics, Chris Willis of Acrolinx, Josh Leatherman of Service Express

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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How can B2B CMOs optimize their digital marketing efforts?

Tune into this insight-packed episode with CMOs Ellina Shinnick of HUB International, Mika Yamamoto of F5, and Norman Guadagno of Mimecast as they share their approaches to digital spend—what’s worked, what hasn’t, and where they’re focusing when it comes to building brand awareness online. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Bill Strawderman of GS1 US, Ian Howells of Sage Intacct, Melissa Sargeant of AlphaSense, Michael Welts of Aviatrix, Jason Widup of metadata.io, Mike Brannan of Centric Consulting, Ellina Shinnick of HUB International, and Josh Leatherman of Service Express

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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CMO turnover is rampant.

That’s why CMO Huddles is dedicated to helping B2B CMOs with career development, hence this episode with executive coach Pat Romboletti, Founder & Author of Bulletproof Your Career.

Whether you are looking for your next role, eyeing a different industry, hoping to get on a board, or want to be a thought leader, this is the episode for you. Tune in as Pat shares her expertise on how CMOs can build their personal brands and network better, with comprehensive tips on using LinkedIn, putting deposits in the goodwill bank, and developing a career blueprint.

This episode was originally recorded as a CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle, a live Q&A where Huddles members can listen, ask questions, and get access to helpful resources. If you’re interested in getting involved, you can learn more at cmohuddles.com.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Jeff Otto of Marqeta, James B. Stanton of Empyrean, Tom Bianchi of Acquia, and Charles Groome of Biz2Credit

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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“After employees, customers are the target of 2023.”

With unrelenting pressure on B2B marketers to build pipeline, Drew Neisser’s above advice may sound unhelpful. But the reality is that you can’t have more pipeline without a strong brand embraced by employees and customers alike, especially when the CFO becomes the CFNO.

Tune into the 330th episode of Renegade Marketers Unite, where Drew shares strategic wisdom when it comes to 2023 growth. Our special host this episode is Joe Cohen, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer at AXIS, who led the conversation for the benefit of his marketing team and generously shared it with us to air for all.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Michael Callahan of Acronis, Matt Serna of Notable, James B. Stanton of Empyrean, Eric Eden of InGo, Cynthia Gumbert of SmartBear, Wendy Perilli of PeerSpot, and Jennifer Houston

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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To the extent that you can create a self-guided buying experience, the happier your customers and potential customers will be. That’s one of the big ideas that drive Product-Led Growth (PLG for short), the topic we cover in this episode featuring CMOs Michael Callahan of Acronis and Allyson Havener of TrustRadius. 

Michael and Allyson’s insights into marketing’s role in driving PLG are a must-listen for marketers no matter who you work for and how you go to market. Tune in to learn how to optimize your PLG efforts to nurture prospects, drive adoption and upsell, and bring your B2B organization to new heights!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Kristin Russel of Symplr, Dean Nicolls of Oostos, Carlos Carvajal of Q2, and Kristin Fornal of Brand PH

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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On your mark… Get set… Acquire a company!

An acquisition announcement garners a lot of excitement, but the real challenge rests in everything a company does afterwards to ensure that brand equity isn’t lost and that customers aren’t confused. Want an acquisition playbook? Here’s the kicker, no two acquisitions are the same.

Luckily for our listeners, we have three fantastic CMOs with multiple acquisitions under their belts, here to share their strategies and best practices when it comes to effectively pivoting post-acquisition. With wisdom from Julie Feller of U.S. Legal Systems, Isabelle Papoulias of Mediafly, and Kristen Russel of symplr, this episode is not to be missed—tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Chip Rodgers of WorkSpan, Patti Newcomer of FieldRoutes, and Chi-Chi Liang of Alloy

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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B2B Marketers… This is the episode to bring to your C-Suite.

It’s no secret that marketing budgets are often the first to be cut when things get tight, but Forrester analysts Barbie Mattie and Nick Buck are here with the cold hard data about why marketing spend correlates directly to business growth.

Tune in for a fascinating conversation about the implications of Forrester’s benchmarks, with guidance on budget allocation, marketing orchestration, why brand is important, and more.

This recording comes from a CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle—a private Q&A with our community of B2B CMOs where they can ask the questions that guide the conversation. If you want to get involved, you can apply at cmohuddles.com.

Speaking of CMO Huddles… CMO Huddles is now a community partner with Forrester’s B2B Summit, coming to Austin, Texas from June 5th to 7th. Huddlers will get access to preferred pricing + other exclusive benefits — if you’re a B2B CMO looking to connect with fellow CMOs and Forrester’s top-notch analysts in a very special way, join us ASAP.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Allyson Havener of TrustRadius, James (JD) Dillon of Tigo Energy, and Isabelle Papoulias of Mediafly

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Should B2B brands commit to ESG initiatives?

This question is one that’s debated in both public forums and behind closed C-Suite boards, and it’s one that we tackle in this episode featuring Joe Cohen, the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at AXIS. Tune in as we discuss the why AXIS has leaned into commitment to ESG, how to do it right, and what amazing things might happen if you do.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Chip Rodgers of WorkSpan, Danielle Gotkis of Pecan AI, Bryan Law of ZoomInfo, Marshall Poindexter of OpenEye Scientific, and Jennifer Kling of Ombud.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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B2B marketers know that brand sells, but how does a CMO sell brand?

In this episode, three CMOs share the secrets to setting up your B2B brand strategy for success. Tune in to learn how to sell brand to the board, the C-Suite, and through data—to get the internal buy-in necessary if you want your branding efforts to succeed and propel business growth. This interview’s expert insights come from:

Pamela Herrmann (previously at OnSolve, now at SVP Marketing at Ethisphere)
Jamie Gier (previously CMO of Dreambox Learning, Ceros)
Johnny Smith, Jr. (previously at Encompass Health, now VP Comms at Roche Diagnostics)

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Carlos Carvajal of Q2, Melanie Marcus of Surescripts, Sue Holub of OnSolve, Oliver Nutt of General Dynamics, Chandar Pattabhiram of Coupa, Kristin Fornal of Brand pH LLC, and Michael O'Connell.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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The metaverse. Web3. Cryptocurrency. NFTs.

These platforms may not be at top of mind for most B2B CMOs today, but maybe it’s time to start evaluating their potential. That’s why we invited futurist Shelly Palmer, CEO of The Palmer Group and co-founder of Metacademy, to speak at a CMO Huddles #BonusHuddle about the exciting possibilities of these community-building tools.

Now we’re airing the conversation on Renegade Marketers Unite. Tune in to hear about how these tools are already being used by big brands in the real world, how CMOs can get started in their Web3 education, and more!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: JD Dillon of Tigo Energy, Rashmi Vittal of Productiv, Roark Pollock of Cylus, Heidi Bullock of Tealium, Chi-Chi Liang of Alloy, Dan Lowden of HUMAN, Gabi Zijderveld of Smart Eye, Melissa Sargeant of AlphaSense, Marshall Poindexter of OpenEye Scientific

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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What maketh a high functioning, well connected B2B marketing team?

In this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite, we welcome three CMOs who share their approaches to shaping, growing, and nurturing their marketing organization in tandem with business growth. Get ready for some winning wisdom from these three CMOs:

Melissa Goldberger of Safebreach
James B. Stanton of Empyrean
Jamie Walker of Keyfactor

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Amisha Gandhi, SVP of Marketing at Tipalti

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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“When you make an investment, make it worthwhile.”

That’s exactly what Amisha Gandhi has done in her last two years as Tipalti’s SVP of Marketing, joining the fintech organization not too long after it rebranded and was raring to grow.

In this episode, learn what it takes to come in as the new CMO and get quick wins while setting up an organization for marketing-led growth. From optimizing demand to defining a brand purpose to squeezing everything out of events, learn how to ensure that marketing’s contribution to the organization can’t be questioned (AKA 52% marketing-sourced net new deals, among many other impressive numbers). Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Peter Finter of CyberGRX, Chandar Pattabhiram of Coupa, Christopher Willis of Acrolinx, and Jennifer Houston

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Josh Leatherman has been with Service Express for over a decade, serving the last 6 as CMO as the company has grown from $30 million to $250 million in ARR. And they don’t show signs of stopping, on a growth path to reach half a million by 2025.

But with signs of a recession growing stronger, will that put a pause on their high-growth plans?

“We just refuse to participate in recessions,” says Josh, joking that he wished it was that easy. But he’s not too nervous. You can recession-proof your business.

How? Tune in to this episode to learn the secret to revenue growth, how to maximize marketing spend, and how to build customer advocacy programs in the face of a downturn.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Grant Johnson of Emburse, Gabi Zijderveld of Smart Eye, Danielle Gotkis of Pecan AI, and Aaron Ballew of Split Software

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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What should the coolest, most CATS-est of marketers be thinking about for 2023? (CATS standing for courageous, artful, thoughtful, and scientific). Tune into this episode with Drew as he reflects on some of the standout lessons of 2022 when it comes to building an unbeatable B2B brand strategy.

Want to learn more about our CMO Huddles community? This just skims the surface of what top B2B CMOs of today are solving together...come join us! To learn more, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Jamie Gier, Chandar Pattabhiram of Coupa, Jennifer Davis, Julie Feller of U.S. Legal Support, and Isabelle Papoulias of Mediafly

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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“This is a critical thing about a powerful brand: It requires very few cognitive calories from their audience to remember it.”

The idea of “cognitive calories” resonated deeply with the CMOs attending the CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle (re: private Q&A) with Lindsay Pedersen, brand strategist and author of Forging an Ironclad Brand. In this episode, tune in to hear all of Lindsay’s illuminating insights into what it takes to create a truly sharp, memorable, and resonant B2B brand. It’s not to be missed. Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Dan Lowden from HUMAN Security, Marca Armstrong from Passport, Jon Miller of DemandBase

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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There’s a lot to be learned from the enterprise brand.

They’ve reached a status that many strive for, and it’s pretty clear from today’s episode that an emphasis on brand and an eye on the future are the reasons why. Tune in to hear from Rebecca Stone of Cisco Meraki and Peeyush Dubey of TheMathCompany (he was at LTI at the time of this interview) about why to go big on brand, as well as how these mega-brands are looking at things like CSR, Web 3.0, the metaverse, and more!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Suzanne Kounkel, Chief Marketing Officer at Deloitte

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Deloitte added 156K new hires in 2022. You heard that right—in the middle of mass-resignations and the war for talent, the professional services brand’s employee base has grown to 412K-strong. What’s their secret?

Enter Deloitte CMO Suzanne Kounkel, who has been with the firm for 27 years, serving countless consumer and business brands while leading relationships with many of the firm’s largest clients. In this insight-heavy episode, Suzanne shares what it means to win at employee engagement, how Deloitte keeps its culture strong in a hybrid world, and the integral role brand plays in all of it.

This episode is largely about creating the formal programs that lead to those informal magic moments—where a brand’s culture lives freely in the wild in a way that captures the attention of talent, customers and prospects. Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Chandar Pattabhiram of Coupa, Katrina Klier, and Andy Paul author of "Sell Without Selling Out"

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Allocating your marketing budget but don’t know where to start?

Begin with the end in mind. That’s where we start in today’s episode with Mary Leigh Mackie of AvePoint, Sue Holub of OnSolve, and Suzanne Reed of LBMC, three marketing mix masters with tons of hard-earned wisdom about how to spend money wisely with a limited budget.

Tune in to hear each CMOs approach to their marketing mix, working backwards from who they target to how they spend to how they adjust their marketing mix along the way. This is both a timeless and a timely episode—don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Brent Adamson, Global Head of Research and Communities at Ecosystems

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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We couldn’t quit Brent Adamson even if we wanted to. Yep, he’s back for his 5th appearance on Renegade Marketers Unite! One of the premier sales thinkers of today, Brent recently joined a CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle to discuss how to sell in the context of a will-it or won’t-it-happen recession.

Regardless of whether or not the downturn will become a reality, this episode is a lesson in staying a few steps ahead of your customers—how to demonstrate real value that brings decision makers together and overcomes buyer trepidation. He also shares advice for B2B CMOs facing budget cuts but not outcome cuts—don’t’ sleep on this one!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Josh Machiz, Partner at Redpoint Ventures

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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"You can’t eat awareness,” says the non-believer.

“Awareness is delicious,” says Josh Machiz.

On this Renegade Marketers Unite, Josh blows the lid off B2B content marketing. With a penchant for going viral, Josh shares success stories from 9 impressive years at NASDAQ and how he’s brought his turn-content-into-revenue skills to his current role as partner at Redpoint Ventures.

It’s about being bold, about being funny, about the power of becoming a newsworthy brand. It’s about deciding where to invest your time. It’s about how a short-form appetizer can increase long-form consumption. Any maybe… it’s the best argument out there for why B2B brands should be on TikTok!?

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Misty Walsh of Centric Consulting, Mary Leigh Mackie of AvePoint, and Karl Van den Bergh of Gigamon

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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When a CMO says, “We’ve been winning business lately because of our culture…” That’s a mic drop moment.

Tune in to this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite to hear from 3 CMOs who know the true value of great employee cultures, from companies with remarkable growth and some impressive stats, like a 94% retention rate for one and 96% C-Sat for another.

Learn how to codify brand values, bring them to life across the organization, and more from the super stars of this show: CMOs Mandy Dhaliwal of Nutanix, Bhaskar Roy of Workato, and Julie Kaplan of CareMetx.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: JD Dillon of Tigo Energy, Ali McCarthy of Skience, Jamie Walker of Keyfactor, and Chris Willis of Acrolinx.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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What’s a CMO’s number one adversary? Time.

In a role with such a wide purview and high expectations, there are a limited number of hours to get it all done. Enter Kory Kogon, VP of Global Field Development at FranklinCovey and author of The 5 Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity.

Kory recently joined a CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle (re: a private Q&A) to share the 5 most important choices anyone makes during the day and change bad, time-sucking habits in order to be less busy, more productive, and healthier all around. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Patti Newcomer of FieldRoutes, Jim (JD) Dillon of Tigo Energy, Dave Bornmann of Association Analytics, Tara Robertson of Bitly, and Cary Bainbridge of ABM Industries

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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The Great Resignation, The Great Renegotiation, The Great Reshuffle… whatever you want to call it, recruiting challenges are alive and well in the B2B world. That’s why we brought in 3 savvy, inspiring CMOs to share their approaches to attracting talent via Great Cultures, Great Experiences, and Great Brands… all while the world adjusts to a new hybrid reality. Don’t miss this one, featuring:

Allison Munro, Chief Marketing and Ecosystem Officer at Vena
Adriel Sanchez, previous CMO at Newsela, now CMO at WalkMe
Kristin Fornal, previous CMO at IAM Robotics, now Founder of Brand pH LLC

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: JD Dillon of Tigo Energy, Jeffrey Lamboy of KLDiscovery, Brett McCarty of Segal, and Katrina Klier.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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The jury’s still out on the pending recession and whether it’ll happen or not. But a month’s worth of CMO Huddles discussions about how to prepare for a downturn has yielded a wealth of best practices that you should be keen to put in place no matter what the future holds. 

In this Drew-on-Drew episode, the Drews explore 4 buckets of recession preparedness: Essentialness, Insulation, Operation, and Internal. In each bucket, there’s a lot to consider, like how important it is to ramp up your customer marketing efforts, how to tie marketing activities to revenue, how to balance staff and programs in the face of budget cuts, and more.   

If you’d like to see where your business might be lacking in particular, take a spin in this special Recession Preparedness Calculator, developed with the help of the fabulous team at Outgrow.co.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Simon Schaffer-Goldman of Case Paper, Heidi Bullock of Tealium, Dan Lowden of HUMAN, Marshall Poindexter of Cadence Design Systems, Steven Duque of Pearl Health, Andrew Hally of Markforged, Patti Newcomer-Small of FieldRoutes, Ajay Khanna of Mezmo, Melanie Marcus of Surescripts, and Cynthia Crossland of Constella Intelligence.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Oh, do we love any and all conversations with Sangram Vajre! At the heels of co-founding his new venture GTM Partners and co-authoring the WSJ best-selling book MOVE: The 4-Question Go-To-Market Framework, we invited Sangram to join a CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle (re: a private Q&A) to help B2B CMOs rethink their GTM strategy and wow…

He did not disappoint. Tune in for a fantastic episode with a seasoned marketer-at-heart that covers the CMO’s role in GTM, signs your GTM strategy might be broken, which metrics matter in the world of GTM, and a whole lot more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Armen Najarian of Outseer, Heidi Bullock of Tealium, Caroline Tien-Spalding of Aptology, Rashmi Vittal of Productiv, Jakki Geiger of Pyramid Analytics, Kishore Kothandaraman of Goldcast, Bhaskar Roy of Workato, and Ajay Khanna of Explorium

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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B2B market research. When done right, it’s a tentpole for an entire quarter’s worth of marketing activities. A resource to help SDRs transform leads into genuine opportunities. A newsworthy buzz about your brand that will catch the attention of everyone in your orbit, including customers, prospects, analysts, and talent for those highly skilled roles you’re trying to fill.

For this episode, we’ve got two world-class CMOs to share all the ins and outs of B2B market research with you—say hello again to longtime friends of the pod: Denise Vu Broady of Appian and Dan Lowden of Human and tune to learn how to get your B2B market research to do all of the above. Happy listening!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Daniel Bernard of SentinelOne

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Want to build a challenger brand? This episode with CMO Daniel Bernard of SentinelOne is for you. SentinelOne has boldly faced off against Goliath (Microsoft’s CrowdStrike), zoning in on the fact that it’s the only next-gen autonomous security platform of its kind and showing up in all kinds of exciting ways.

From out-of-home airport ads to working with resellers to setting up their booth right next to their biggest competitors, Daniel shares challenger brand best practices that are not to be missed. After all, who wouldn’t want a 7 out of 10 win rate for their business?

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Rashmi Vittal of Productiv, Allison Munro of Vena Solutions, Brad Mehl of Coleman Research, and Carole Winqwist of GitGuardian.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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We have lofty expectations for our MarTech stacks. They’re meant to automate marketing processes to clear the way for more big thinking. To keep a clean and accurate tracker of every customer and prospect in the system. To prove to the org that marketing is contributing to growth.

But this isn’t always the reality, and B2B businesses often find themselves with too much tech, not enough staff, and dirty data that focuses on the wrong metrics. Avoid these woes by listening to this episode with Mike McKinnon, VP of Global Revenue Operations at LogRhythm and author of The Marketing Operations Handbook (which you should get your hands on ASAP).

This conversation comes from a CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle (re: a private Q&A), and answers all your questions about budgeting for MarTech, the intersection of Marketing Ops and Rev Ops, proving marketing’s value, and more.

It just skims the surface of what top B2B CMOs of today are solving together at CMO Huddles... To learn more about our guest pass program, visit https://cmohuddles.com/guest-pass

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Cindy Zhou of SecurityScorecard, Peeyush Dubey of LTI, Brad Mehl of Coleman Research, Kevin Sellers of Ping Identity, and Katrina Klier.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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There are many different reasons to rebrand, but if it’s just to change the logo and colors to “freshen things up,” that’s not it. A rebrand has to be more a coat of paint on an old barn, and while we talk a lot about that here on Renegade Marketers Unite, this episode brings three different 3 rebranding stories to the forefront.

Tune in to learn about three different B2B rebrands from CMOs Heather Salerno of Appcast, Marshall Poindexter of OpenEye Scientific, and Gabi Zijderveld of Smart Eye. They share all kinds of goodies, like how to get buy-in for rebranding efforts, how to work with agency partners, how much to budget for a rebrand, and more. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Narine Galstian of SADA

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Over the course of SADA's growth, the company has had a habit of going all in. It went all in on Google Cloud in 2019, divesting its Microsoft Cloud business to get there. It went all in on its 2020 rebrand, casting aside the brand it had for the brand it needed to move the business forward despite the shock of the pandemic. And it goes all in for its employees, customers, and prospects every day.

It's kinda a no-brainer that their brand purpose can be surmised in the phrase “Together, we’re all in.” In this episode, SADA CMO Narine Galstian talks about all the strategic thinking behind the cloud provider’s bold rebrand. She also discusses the secret to her longevity at SADA (almost 10 years!!) and what it means to be an #IamRemarkable facilitator. Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Paige O'Neill of Sitecore, Bernd Leger of Mimecast, and Shirley Macbeth of Forrester.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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When Drew heard Alan Hart’s interview with Qualcomm SVP and CMO Don McGuire on Marketing Today, he knew he couldn’t do it better. So we’re bringing the episode to you directly in Renegade Marketers Unite’s first-ever show swap! Here’s the show description…

Don leads the global marketing organization, supporting Qualcomm’s advancement into new and existing markets and growth areas. He’s redefining Qualcomm’s strategic approach to product marketing, leading to innovative campaigns and collaborative partnerships that are bringing cutting-edge products to market.

On the show today, Alan and Don talk about how Qualcomm has increased its total available market by 7X, what that means for their strategies, and how they’re managing the organization through growth. They also talk about the brand strategies they use for their B2C brand, Snapdragon, as well as the enterprise brand of Qualcomm itself.

Listen in to learn how to elevate your brand and prepare for rapid growth.

Shout out to the Share Your Genius, the B2B podcast agency who recommended we show swap and made it happen. Thinking of starting or optimizing a podcast for your B2B brand? Let us know and we’ll connect you to these savvy folks.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Heidi Bullock of Tealium, Andrew Hally of Markforged, Patti Newcomer of FieldRoutes, and Ali McCarthy of Skience.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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In case you weren’t sure about the power of purpose, this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite with Peter Neiman of Amalgamated Bank and Julia Goebel of Halo Health (now a part of symplr) may just clear things up for you. The marketing execs at these organizations have seen it first-hand—purpose wins employees, customers, and prospects in ways that even the most impressive swag cannot.

Tune in for a fascinating episode as we cover how marketers can help their organizations embed purpose into everything they do, why the business you may lose isn’t necessarily a bad thing, how to avoid “purpose-washing,” and more!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Gaurav Chand, Cognizant's Chief Marketing Officer.

The full interview with Gaurav is episode 301 of Renegade Marketers Unite. Don’t miss it!

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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If you’re looking for a story about what a B2B brand can do to drive awareness, shift brand perceptions, and build a top-talent pit crew—this episode with Cognizant CMO Gaurav Chand is a hole-in-one. Tune in for a fascinating look into the world of B2B sports sponsorships, a track that Cognizant has entered full throttle with Formula One, PGA Tour, and LPGA Tour sponsorships.

Learn how this path can boost your B2B brand awareness to new heights, winning over customers and employees along the way. It’s a fascinating lesson in doing your due diligence to set a purposeful strategy, how to make sure your sponsorship is more than just a logo, and more. Don’t miss it!

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Cindy Zhou of SecurityScorecard, Katrina Klier of PROS, Patti Newcomer-Small of FieldRoutes, and Michael McKinnon of LogRhythm

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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300 episodes of Renegade Marketers Unite. Thank you for supporting and trusting this incredible community of B2B CMOs and other marketing-obsessed individuals.

We thought long and hard about how to celebrate this milestone, but what better way than to relive some of the most powerful moments and expert insights of the last 100 most downloaded episodes? This 300th episode features interviews with Toni Clayton-Hine of EY, Bill Strawderman of GS1, Johnny Smith Jr. (2x!) of Encompass Health, and Peeyush Dubey of LTI among many others.

Please continue to share your favorite moments and don’t forget – hit me up on LinkedIn with your feedback, comments, or questions. I may just answer it live on the show.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

Featured CMOs:

Amy Messano of Altair
Toni Clayton-Hine of EY
Bill Strawderman of GS1 US
Johnny Smith Jr. of Encompass Health
Julie Kaplan of CareMetx
Dave Bornmann of Association Analytics
Stephanie Buscemi of Confluent
Archana Agrawal of Airtable
Rob Whitney of Univar Solutions
Ran Avrahamy of AppsFlyer
Peeyush Dubey of LTI
Dave Koerner of 75F
Latané Conant of 6sense

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Ajay Khanna of Mezmo Heather Salerno of Appcast, Melanie Marcus of Surescripts, Peter Finter of CyberGRX, and special guest, Alan Hart.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Peter Winick, founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage, has deep expertise in helping those with deep expertise, with two decades of experience building thought leadership platforms that actually drive revenue and differentiation.

He stopped by a CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle to discuss thoughtful thought leadership for B2B CMOs—and now you can listen to the conversation on Renegade Marketers Unite. Tune in to learn how to get buy-in for thought leadership programs, what works and what doesn’t, and how CMOs can approach building their own thought leadership brand.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

Featuring: Dan Lowden of HUMAN Security, Sue Holub of OnSolve, and Ajay Khanna of Mezmo.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Unbeatable B2B brands are those that dare to be distinct. That’s the theme of this episode with HubSpot CMO Kipp Bodnar, a differentiation pro who has been with the brand as it’s grown into a global marketing behemoth with over 7K employees and an impressive reputation.

Tune in for a lesson in courageous strategy, as Kipp shares (1) why HubSpot decided to acquire a media business and how it’s working out for them and (2) the story behind HubSpot’s first-ever global ad campaign with… Kathryn Hahn as a pirate!?

Listening to this episode will give you an extra, fun boost to your day and hopefully inspire some bold moves for your business. No matter where you are in your brand or marketing journey.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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The confusing thing about the term “Growth Marketing” is that every business wants to grow. Every business wants to acquire new customers, to increase revenue, to measure success in dollar signs year over year. But desire alone does not the growth marketer make. It’s about so much more than that. Yes, you need to acquire customers, but you also need to make acquisition easier. You need to deliver on your promise when they do sign. You need to give them reasons to become avid evangelists for your brand. In this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite, 3 CMOs in very different fields to share their unique perspectives on what it means to be a growth marketer, how they’re applying it in the real world, and what success looks like. (Hint: 500% quarterly growth, reducing negative brand sentiment by 90%, etc.)

Tune in to hear insights from three all-star Growth Marketing CMOs: Jennifer Houston of D-Wave Systems, Gary Sevounts of Socure, and Katherine Post Calvert of PagerDuty (previously Khoros)

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

Featuring: Caroline Tien-Spalding of Aptology, Chip Rodgers of WorkSpan, Gabi Zijderveld of Affectiva, Dave Bornmann of Association Analytics and Chi-Chi Liang of Alloy.

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Is your B2B content engine eco-friendly? Or is it just polluting an already oversaturated world of podcasts, blogs, white papers, and self-described thought leaders? In this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite, PROS CMO Katrina Klier joins Drew to talk about where B2B brands can do better when it comes to creating engaging, thought-provoking content to serve as a tentpole for the organization.

Tune in for a fascinating episode dedicated to B2B content marketing. With insights into finding your perfect content fit, drafting on industry analysts, and B2B market research design, there’s a lot to learn. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Want more predictability in your pipeline? You just found your match in account-based marketing. ABM for short, these three simple letters are strapped with big implications for the organizations that get it right. In this episode, B2B Fusion’s Founder and CMO Jon Russo shares his ABM expertise, covering how to go about launching your ABM strategy in a way that will align Sales and Marketing, optimize revenue growth, and help you forecast the future.

Tune in to hear the ins and outs of ABM, like how to measure a “marketing qualified account,” what red flags to look out for, and what you need to get your ABM program off the ground.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/ To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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This is a Tuesday Tips episode where you will hear host Drew Neisser, CMOs, and other B2B experts share their hard-earned wisdom and fresh marketing insights in a bitesize format.

To see the video versions, follow Drew Neisser on LinkedIn or visit our YouTube channel—The Renegade Marketing Hub!

And if you’re a B2B CMO, check out our thriving community: https://cmohuddles.com/

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Here’s a riddle for you: If marketing grew the business but nobody was around to measure it, did it really happen? No matter what side of this philosophical query you stand on, let’s face it: No one is going to take marketing seriously if they can’t quantify it with data.

Put any two B2B metrics dashboards side by side, and you’ll soon find that there is no one-size-fits-all way to prove marketing’s value—but there is a lot to learn by observing what’s working for others.

In this episode of Renegade Marketers Unite, CMOs Chris Willis of Acrolinx, Tara Robertson of Teamwork, and Karl Van den Bergh of Gigamon each share how they evolved marketing metrics at their organizations. Tune in to learn all kinds of amazing takes on the world of measurement, including:

Why a CMO should be a CPO (Chief Pipeline Officer), too
An innovative Sales Velocity formula
Tips on how to measure the unmeasurable
Why you need to ditch revenue as a leading indicator, and more!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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It’s not often that “love” is part of a B2B organization’s brand values, but for cloud infrastructure provider DigitalOcean, it’s at their core. It’s the reason why they have 6K+ ungated online tutorials, why their self-serve motion is here to stay, and why investors are confused when the lion’s share of DigitalOcean’s revenue comes from marketing. In her time at DigitalOcean, CMO Carly Brantz has helped evolve this idea into a full-fledged brand awareness campaign, leading the charge on the heels of the company’s recent IPO with a rallying cry of “Get Growing.” Tune in to hear Carly talk about how DigitalOcean is making its commitment to growing alongside its customers real, making good on their brand promise in a tactical way that actually matters to their developer audience.

Want to learn more about our CMO Huddles community? This just skims the surface of what top B2B CMOs of today are solving together...come join us!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Ah, innovation. The buzzword of every company striving to be different, daring, and bold. But what the heck does it actually look like to innovate? And how can a CMO get their teams to start innovating in a way that actually yields growth (i.e., not just quirky ideas in brainstorming meetings)?

Carla Johnson is the perfect person to walk us through her foolproof formula for innovation that moves the needle. She's a 10x author, and her most recent book RE:Think Innovation busts the myth that innovation requires any special degrees, training, or skills.

The key takeaway from this interview is that innovation is a learned muscle, and Carla lays out how the exercises every CMO can use to shape their own innovation powers AND build a team filled with strong innovators. This episode of Renegade Marketers Unite is not to be missed.

Want to learn more about our CMO Huddles community? This just skims the surface of what top B2B CMOs of today are solving together...come join us!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Ahh, the New Year’s resolution—easily made but oft forgot. Today’s episode of Renegade Marketers Unite is here to remind you to check in on the promises you made at the beginning of the year. It’s here to recall the importance of reflection and growth at all times, not just once a year. Tune in to hear from three all-star marketers about the lessons they learned in 2021 and planned to bring in to 2022. This conversation is equally timely and timeless, with insights into human-first marketing, battling digital fatigue, auditing MarTech, rethinking lead gen, not letting fear hold you back, and much, much more.

The aforementioned all-star marketers:

Katrina Klier, CMO of PROS
Kevin Briody, CMO of Edmentum
Mika Yamamoto, CMO and CXO of F5

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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CMOs have a lot on their minds lately, so let’s get into the mind of one, shall we? Or, even better, let’s get into the mind of host Drew Neisser, as he hosts a conversation with himself (is this what it feels like to be in his head?!) on all the things CMOs are thinking about right now and how they’re solving them. Sourced from the conversations happening at CMO Huddles, Drew (and Drew) cover everything from employee retention to proving brand value to managing a messy inbox, providing useful takeaways you can implement today. After this episode, even the busiest CMO will know how to reclaim 10+ hours of their time per week (Seriously!) and work more effectively than ever.

Want to learn more about our CMO Huddles community? This just skims the surface of what top B2B CMOs of today are solving together...come join us!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Developers don’t want to be marketed to, you say? Kerry Ok, SVP of Marketing for Auth0 is here to prove you wrong. From day one, Auth0’s marketing mandate wasn’t about building pipeline or demand gen, it was about building trust and relationships with a vibrant community that loves learning, discussion, and things that make their lives easier. Talk about renegade marketing—this episode is all about shirking traditional B2B marketing tactics in exchange for far more powerful and engaging ones (that just so happen to yield an 80% YoY increase in unaided awareness). From building a strong customer community to gamifying internal comms to getting silly with Loggie the anti-mascot, tune in for a fascinating episode about what courageous marketing really looks like.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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CMOs and marketing metric fiends–this is the episode for you.

Forrester VP and Principal Analyst Ross Graber joins us on this “Bonus Huddle” episode to enlighten us on which metrics should be on every CMO dashboard–and which should be left off. He shares formulas for calculating important metrics like marketing revenue lift, how to turn seemingly flimsy marketing concepts like “value add” into a solid metric, and how CMOs can set proper expectations for their CEOs.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/
To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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SaaS is a 145 billion dollar industry that touches almost every aspect of our work lives. Even this podcast is brought to you by SaaS—a collection of 7+ tools to record, publish, and house countless marketing insights.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a successful software product right now that isn’t either fully SaaS or migrating to it. There are 35,000 SaaS products from over 15,000 companies competing in over 740 vertical markets, which means there’s a noteworthy number of CMOs out there navigating a competitive market with massive growth potential.

To help us understand what makes SaaS marketing such a distinct challenge are CMOs Grant Johnson of Emburse, Ali McCarthy of Skience, and former CMO of Bynder, Andrew Hally (he’s now CMO at Markforged). Tune in to hear how these CMOs have navigated the choppy waters of marketing SaaS and how they are using their past experiences to inform future decisions.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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As the world of influencer marketing has evolved, so has Traackr, an influencer marketing platform that’s been around since before Instagram and TikTok. In the early days, the brand was all about answering: What is influencer marketing and why should you care? Now, they’re hyper-focused on enabling word-of-mouth marketing at scale for their customers.

How? Via interactive, data-driven content. In this episode, Traackr CMO Evy Lyons shares how the marketing team transformed their State of Influence report into an interactive app, creating an experience that prospects and customers couldn’t ignore.

She describes the development as a “hack”—a hack that has become a vertical marketing tool with a 40%-win rate, that is. No wonder, too, as one survey found that CMOs who invest in interactive content are 72% more likely to meet or exceed their sales and marketing targets.

Tune into this episode to learn more about what it takes to develop a B2B marketing strategy that proves business value, enables sales, and engages audiences all in one.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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For many B2B companies, the sales process is broken yet the solution is remarkably simple. It’s time to treat buyers as collaboration partners instead of targets. Time to approach selling as something you do with a prospect rather than to them. Time to make selling more human and more effective in a world where more qualified leads is not resulting in higher win rates. Simple, right? But not easy. As laid out in Sales expert Andy Paul’s new book Sell Without Selling Out, it takes true courage to transform the current playbook, but those bold enough to take the leap will see shorter decision cycles and higher win rates, any B2B organization’s dream. In this episode, Andy shares how marketers are uniquely poised to enable sales teams through insights into buyer behavior—introducing a new way of selling that ditches “salesy” to make way for connection, curiosity, understanding, and generosity. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

Sell Without Selling Out: A Guide to Success on Your Own Terms

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Are startup CMOs gluttons for punishment? The CMO role is tough enough these days, but strap on high expectations, limited resources, and the pressure of a low life expectancy for startups, and you’ve got yourself a real challenge.

For CMOs Allyson Havener of TrustRadius and Ajay Khanna of Explorium, startup is a way of life. They don’t see their roles as punishment; instead, they see an exciting opportunity to build something great in a fast-paced environment, with a close-knit team of others who are like family. Tune in to this fascinating episode to hear how both CMOs navigate their roles, standing up the marketing function while building a team and a brand with an eye towards long-term success.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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If you've ever wondered how much a CMO can do in a year to change the trajectory of a company, this is the episode for you. Enter Kady Srinivasan, who has kicked things up a notch at Klaviyo, a marketing automation platform dedicated to helping its customers discover a new, more effective way to grow their business.

Grow their business how, exactly? By flipping the funnel on its head, focusing on the bottom first, which has resulted in something like 65x higher ROI for Klaviyo customers. In this episode, Kady shares how the brand developed this new positioning, using it as a centerpiece to unite employees, customers, and prospects alike. Tune in to learn how they made their refreshed brand come to life in a myriad of ways, as well as how Klaviyo measures marketing, and more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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For a locked room labeled “Marketing Spend,” the CFO holds the keys. And they aren’t going to be quick to hand them over, either. This all-important alliance depends on the CMO’s fluency in CFO-speak, AKA how $1 into marketing will equal more $$$ out. Luckily, it’s not too hard a language to pick up.

In this episode, we’re airing three Q&As with three CFOs who laid out their formulas for a great CMO/CFO alliance during a recent CMO Huddles Super Huddle (a bi-annual mega-huddle exclusively for our community of B2B CMOs). Tune in for some wonderful insights from Chris Andersen of Acquia, Nicole Anasenes of Ansys, and John Evarts (now President and COO) of Mediafly—insights that CMOs just might want to share with a CFO who’s on the fence about the power of marketing.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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What’s a B2B brand without employees? In a word, nothing. They are the lifeblood of any company—the ones who execute brilliant strategy, the ones who take care of your customers, the ones who represent your brand to the world. That’s what makes a renewed focus on employee experience (EX for short) so important, especially when The Great Resignation is a very real challenge today. In this episode, CMOs David Kirven of Reltio, Caroline Tien-Spalding of Aptology, and Michael Collins of CFA Institute share how their organizations are approaching employee retention, as well as how they are optimizing the recruiting process to bring on great employees faster. The show also covers the role brand plays in EX, what we can learn from people data, and the unique role C-Suite leaders play in recruiting and retention. Tune in!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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We’re switching things up for episode 280 of Renegade Marketers Unite. Instead of asking the questions, Drew will be answering them. Our special, stand-in host for this episode is Katrina Klier, CMO of PROS, who led the conversation for the benefit of her marketing team while taking a deep dive into Drew’s new book, Renegade Marketing: 12 Steps to Building Unbeatable B2B Brands.

This discussion covers everything from how to rethink marketing metrics, to how to justify B2B brand spend, to the book’s Clear Away the Clutter pledge. Drew also discusses B2B marketing trends in 2022 and more ideas gleaned from CMO Huddles, an elite community that unites and empowers a cross-section of B2B marketing executives to share, care, and dare each other to greatness. Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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When Dan Gingiss and his family went out to a nice steakhouse for his son’s 15th birthday, little did he know that he’d walk away with a perfect metaphor for how to deliver an extraordinary customer experience. Remarkable CX is as simple as replacing a birthday candle with a sparkler—the small, seemingly simple changes to the way you celebrate and serve your customers can go a long, long way.

This episode comes from a CMO Huddles Bonus Huddle (re: a private Q&A) with Dan, an international keynote speaker affectionately known as The Experience Maker with a wealth of insights and stories about the power of phenomenal CX. Tune in to learn all about how B2B brands can up their CX game, how marketers play a key role in building better customer experiences, and more!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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VMware is going from big to bigger. To start, VMware has added 8,000 new hires in the last year, standing now at 37,000 employees strong. Not only that, but the mega-B2B brand has also expanded its offerings, spelling out a robust suite of services to encompass on-prem and cloud solutions. Such massive change requires a massive shift in mindset. In this episode, CMO Carol Carpenter shares how VMware’s value proposition transformed, how they introduced the new brand to employees and customers, and how everything VMware’s marketing team does is driven by one big question: “Does this give us 10x impact?" Tune in for yet another great interview on Renegade Marketers Unite, a top-rated podcast for renegade CMOs and other B2B marketers. For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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A CMO doesn’t join a B2B organization to keep things the way they are, they join to lead that company into the next phase of growth. That’s the mindset that CMOs Noreen Allen (who recently stepped down after 10 years at Bandwidth) and Kevin Spurway of Similarweb have brought to their roles over the years, evidenced by the integral roles they’ve played in bringing companies public.

In this episode, Noreen and Kevin share what it takes to prepare for an IPO and what it feels like to ring that bell in Times Square after months of hard work. This discussion is not just for those CMOs getting ready for an IPO, either. It’s a call to action for marketing leaders to embrace the IPO mindset: where strong positioning, a cranking predictable revenue engine, and a healthy set of attribution metrics can fuel next-level growth.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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The CEO relationship is one of if not the most important alliance in a CMO’s world. It’s not going to be easy to do your job if your CEO doesn’t have your back. It’s an especially tough job if one’s CEO doesn’t believe in (or understand) the power of marketing, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t learn.

In this episode, we’re airing three Q&As with three CEOs who know that marketing can transform B2B organizations into powerhouses: David Friend of Wasabi, Rana el Kaliouby of Affectiva (now Smart Eye), and Larry English of Centric Consulting. The panel convened during a Super Huddle (a bi-annual mega-huddle exclusively for our CMO Huddles community), and all three CEOs shared their perspectives on marketing and their relationships with their own CMOs. Tune in for some wonderful insights, including tips for what makes a great brand, why diversity matters, and what trends we can expect in an increasingly digital world.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Can your content cut through? Through the 27 touchpoints in a B2B buyer’s journey. Through the flurry of emails hitting everyone’s inbox every day. Through the clutter of millions of blogs, social posts, and videos online. It’s a heavy task for any company to run a truly remarkable content program, but when done right, it can boost your brand to new heights.

In this episode, CMOs Jamie Gier of Ceros, Suzanne Reed of LBMC, and Heidi Bullock of Tealium gather together to discuss all things content marketing. Tune in to learn how to create a content engine that will not only engage prospects in increasingly complicated sales cycles but will excite existing customers, garner partnerships, and draw in top talent.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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75F is not here to market via Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD). That’s why the smart building automation brand has banished the words "climate change crisis," and "global warming." Not because they are not dedicated to making the world a better, more sustainable place, no—that’s integral to 75F’s mission.

In this exciting episode, 75F’s VP of Global Marketing David Koerner joins the show to share how 75F is marketing sustainability in a whole new way while going up against some heavy, well-known competition in their space. Having helped close the largest Series-A funding round in Minnesota history, David is a master marketer. Tune in to hear all about how the B2B brand has rolled out a truly renegade marketing strategy—cutting through the clutter to do what they do best in a big way.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Decisions, decisions. We encounter them every day. Like whether to snooze your alarm one more time. What way to make your eggs in the morning. Whether or not your B2B brand strategy is in need of a revamp. Yes, some decisions are much more difficult than others, and in this episode, we’ll be discussing how to make great ones with CMOs Jennifer Davis of LEARFIELD and Jon Miller of Demandbase, as well as special guest Professor Kimberly Whitler of UVA’s Darden School of Business.

Tune in while we cover how to conquer decision making (Hint from Jennifer: Decisions are a starting line, not a finishing line). From brand positioning to ABX to taking a stand, this is a great episode for marketers looking to grow more confident in decisions big and small. Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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The road to true Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is not a destination, it’s a journey. It’s one that many B2B marketers have embarked on in the last year, and for the CMOs of CMO Huddles, it’s a priority.

To help CMOs navigate that journey, we hosted a Bonus Huddle (re: a private panel and Q&A) on the topic with DEI experts Cassandra Blackburn of Sprout Social, Cory Haynes of Salesforce (at Talkdesk at the time of the huddle), and Elisa Vincent of Skillsoft.

The conversation was incredibly illuminating and insightful, so illuminating and insightful that we just had to turn it into an episode of Renegade Marketers Unite. Learn how 3 B2B organizations are making DEI real, where and how to recruit diverse talent, and how marketing leaders are advancing such initiatives with true allyship. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Webinar-itis. Virtual event absentia. Zoom gloom. Just a few of the pesky, present-day afflictions that pervade in an era of such rapid digital acceleration, where work-from-home is the norm and the return to physical events is still up in the air. As a result, B2B audiences are more discerning than ever.

It’s up to the savvy CMO to remedy this “digital fatigue” with high-quality experiences, and in this episode, CMOs Shirley Macbeth of Forrester, Paul Stoddart of Epicor, and Amanda Carty of Diligent share how they’re making it work. Tune in for a deep dive into driving digital engagement, with great tips on how to up your event game, coach virtual keynoters, mobilize employees across the organization, and more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Curious about Drew’s top hits for 2021? Well, this is the episode for you. From the rocket growth of CMO Huddles (a community for B2B CMOs that share, care, and dare each other to greatness, if you didn’t know) to the release of Renegade Marketing, this year has been one for the books—filled with ups and downs and a whole lotta B2B marketing lessons.

Tune in for one of our special Drew-on-Drew episodes, where the Drews review 2021, covering top challenges CMOs are facing with recommendations for how to face them head-on. Key takeaways? 2022 should be the year to: Stick to your North Star. Lead by doing less, better. And take small bets that could become big bets.

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit: https://cmohuddles.com/

For full show notes and transcripts, visit: https://renegade.com/podcasts/

Renegade Marketing: 12 Steps to Building Unbeatable B2B Brands

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Want to teach an old dog new tricks? Teach them shoshin. It’s a word from Zen Buddhism that means “beginner’s mind,” a state of approaching any challenge with a childlike eagerness. It’s about infinite curiosity, about the constant learning process, about being an open canvas to all the possibilities out there.

It’s the shoshin mindset that drives everything at LTI, a global IT and digital solutions company with 40,000 employees around the world. In this episode, CMO Peeyush Dubey shares how shoshin has driven the brand’s success, especially in relation to LTI Canvas, the new product that LTI developed in three months in response to the COVID pandemic.

Tune in to hear all about it in this fascinating interview, as well how LTI scales its marketing efforts under a three-pronged structure of brand, demand, and expand.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

To learn more about CMO Huddles, visit https://cmohuddles.com/

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Want to win in the CMO role? It’s all about that first 90 days. Three months’ worth of work that can pave the way for success. And at the executive level, CMOs don’t go in blindly—these master marketeers are dedicated to finding the quick wins to prove their savvy while ramping up for long-term success.

In this episode, Dave Bornmann of Association Analytics, Julie Kaplan of CareMetx, and Johnny Smith Jr. of Encompass Health describe their own approaches to the first 90 days at their current positions. Tune in to hear about the value of using those first few months to listen, to forge allyships, and to optimize the marketing department in a way that will boost both professional and organizational success.

BONUS: Dave generously provided us with a draft of the 90 Day Plan he made while interviewing for his current role. A valuable resource for any CMO. Reach out if you want a copy!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Forrester. Gartner. IDC. These global market research firms can put your brand on the map, or they can tuck you into the doldrums of an undesirable quadrant. With a direct and well-trusted line to B2B customers, analyst relations are no joke, and the CMO plays an integral role in building up a mutually beneficial relationship that lasts.

In this episode, CMOs Isabelle Papoulias of Mediafly, Carlos Carvajal of Q2, and Narine Galstian of SADA share their experiences navigating the world of analyst relations and the lessons they’ve learned along the way. Whether you’re in the early stages of getting on the analysts’ radar or refining the way you engage your analyst connections, this episode is packed with best practices, mistakes to avoid, and more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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When Univar, the second-largest chemical distributor in the world, acquired Nexeo Solutions, the third or fourth-largest, VP of Global Marketing Rob Whitney had a challenging task on his hands. This M&A wouldn’t be about absorbing a smaller company, it was about creating a whole new brand culture out of two strong organizations.

Enter Univar Solutions. In this episode, Rob shares the story behind the brand consolidation, demonstrating a strong sense of what it takes to revamp a B2B brand that’s more than just a coat of paint. Tune in to hear how the new brand story of “Growing Together” came to life as Univar responded to the pandemic, with marketing leading the way as the company pivoted to the ultimate form of customer service: solutions-based service.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Forget the notion of born leaders. Leadership is a skill that is that’s learned through practice, and even trial and error. It is a skill that needs continual refinement and is always a work in progress. In this episode, we explore the path to leadership with CMOs Amy Messano of Altair, Bill Strawderman of GS1 US, and Toni Clayton-Hine of EY Americas.

Tune in as we focus on the “Chief” of Chief Marketing Officer, exploring many aspects of CMOing, from how leadership adapted during COVID to how to lead while following the lead of your CEO. This episode is filled with unique insights into the different paths to leadership as well as tried-and-true ways to inspire employees and organizations to greatness. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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What does pro-skateboarder Tony Hawk have to do with network security? For one, his surname is the same as Gigamon’s latest cloud visibility offering, Hawk by Gigamon. The solution enables customers to get a full 360 view of their hybrid infrastructures, making it easier to see—as Tony described in his Cameo for the brand—what could go wrong, what the backup plan is, and how to transform chaos into control.

Tony Hawk’s role as a Gigamon’s spokesperson is just one part of a massive, marketing-led transformation for the brand. It all started in 2019 when Gigamon went private and brought on Karl Van den Bergh as CMO to lead the strategic shift. With an engineering background, Karl faced the challenge head-on, quickly building a predictive ROI model and ramping up brand awareness efforts across the board.

Tune in for a seriously fascinating episode with a master marketeer, one who uniquely understands the value of how engaged employees, a clearly defined brand, and an award-winning demand gen engine can build the momentum a company needs to really soar (like, increasing pipeline by 6x soar).

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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What does B2B success look like? Some might say that it looks like $12 billion in annual revenue with over 60,000 employees serving more than 20,000 clients in 130 countries, and in that case, FIS is right on the money. So why did the financial services company decide to turn their focus to building brand awareness?

In this episode, CMO Ellyn Raftery shares how FIS simplified its brand after acquiring Worldpay, streamlining a docket of 800+ products into 10 distinct categories and one brand story as it shifted into a B2B2C mindset.

Tune in to learn how FIS developed the new brand, how they made it real, and how it’s setting them up for even more growth in the future. Plus, learn Ellyn’s secret to CMO longevity—she’s been at FIS for 9 years!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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It’s time to restructure your B2B organization. To trim down your MarTech stack. To reconsider which metrics matter. These are things that this episode’s guests are all in agreement on, and taking it one step further, they also believe that the CMO is the one for the job.

Tune in to hear from two of the three CMO to CRO authors, Brandi Starr and Rolly Keenan (COO and CRO of Tegrita, respectively), as we compare the future-thinking recommendations put forth in their book with those in Drew’s new book, Renegade Marketing. To keep everyone honest, CMO Peter Finter of CyberGRX brings a bevy of real-world experience and insights to the table. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Of the B2B brands that became essential post-COVID, ABM Industries sweeps up. Literally. No, this isn’t a show about Account-Based Marketing per se; it’s about a facility services company that stepped up during a time of need to ensure that employees, customers, and customers’ customers were safe.

Tune in to this fascinating interview with ABM CMO Cary Bainbridge, where she shares how the company relied on the experts and adapted in real-time to help customers through a time of need. This is a lesson in pivoting under pressure, with great insights for marketers into co-branding, developing essential services, and more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Wait, wait, wait… Renegade MARKETERS Unite? You heard that right. After 259 episodes, we’re re-establishing a little bit more loudly and clearly what this podcast really is—a hub for renegade marketers. This is a podcast that records and celebrates fascinating stories from visionary B2B CMOs, a very specific brand of renegade thinkers in the B2B world.

The name change falls right in line with Drew’s new book Renegade Marketing: 12 Steps to Building Unbeatable B2B Brands out Oct 5th, compiling insights gleaned from 450+ CMO interviews, research studies of 200+ CMOs, and years of torture testing the prescribed strategies. In this episode, Drew the host asks Drew the author some hard-ball questions about the book, like why you should read it and what you can learn from this valuable marketing resource. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Ahh, work from home. A concept that became a hashtag overnight as the pandemic shut down offices around the world, relegating entire teams to Zoom squares. Zoom squares that moved away from the area, that enjoyed skipping a long commute, and that were able to maintain high levels of productivity despite the limitations. Zoom squares that nevertheless missed the creative spark that comes from in-person meetings.

Now that things are opening up again, B2B businesses face a new challenge: figuring out what exactly their new policies will be when it comes to in-office versus remote work. In this episode, Khalid El Khatib of Stack Overflow, Ellina Shinnick of HUB International, and Mike Brannan of Centric Consulting share how their respective companies have adapted, offering heaps of insights into how to maintain a strong work culture, how to effectively communicate with hybrid teams, and what it means to be a good leader during these ever-changing times. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Ah, RFPs. Short for Requests for Proposal. Long for time-to-value. They’re the bane of many a B2B business’ procurement processes, frustratingly time consuming and full of friction in a fast-moving world. But they don’t have to be that way, not according to VP Global Marketing Angela Earl and the team at RFPIO.

They aren’t here to tell you that the RFP process as it stands today isn’t full of pain; instead, the RFP response SaaS brand is here to tell you there’s another way. Tune in to hear how RFPIO is drinking its own champagne to both simplify and build confidence in a notoriously frustrating category, enabling sales teams in such a way that the RFPIO marketing team effectively delivers a whopping 90% of pipeline (“pipeline” being fully vetted Sales Qualified Opportunities, that is). Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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If you build it, will they come? Not necessarily, especially not if all coverage and conversation about your brand is negative. Case in point—three years ago, D-Wave Systems had a 30 percent negative brand sentiment in the market, and the brand’s team of quantum physicists all turned to marketing to save the day.

In this episode, learn how CMO Jennifer Houston faced challenge head on without dwelling on the negative, developing instead a powerful new brand promise to highlight D-Wave’s practical quantum computing capabilities. Effectively decreasing the brand’s negative sentiment from 30 percent to less than 3, this is a remarkable story about the power of B2B branding—don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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No budget, no problem! Said no one ever. Except, maybe, the savvy CMO who’s got the magic touch when it comes to making something out of nothing. As Gartner’s CMO Spend survey showed marketing budgets being slashed across all industries in 2021, marketers are being asked to do more with less—and while that’s absolutely a challenge, CMOs are stepping up to prove how important marketing is.

Today’s show features three CMO guests at start-ups, two of which had virtually no marketing staff when they came onboard. Tune in to hear a bevy of practical insights into how to stretch a small budget in big ways from Chi-Chi Liang of Alloy, JD Dillon of Tigo Energy, and Luanne Tierney, who had just left her role at Betterworks.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Low-code development platforms like Airtable are interested in turning software users into software creators, something growingly more important in a world of rapid digital transformation. That’s just one of the reasons why Archana Agrawal was excited to join Airtable as CMO in March 2020—she saw the innate benefit of, in her words, “taking the power that was previously left in the hands of software developers and bringing it to the rest of the world.”

With a background in computer science and a rich marketing career, Archana was perfectly primed to help Airtable amplify its product to the world via data-driven marketing. In this episode, learn how Archana helped to build out a marketing function to match the scale of the company, growing the team from 4 to 45, partnering with sales and product teams, and working to improve time-to-value for customers. Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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“When the going gets tough, the tough hug their customers.” That’s the theme that emerged early on in CMO Huddles, and the going at that point in April 2020 surely was tough. As the world shut down, customer retention became a top priority for many B2B brands, with astounding results—customer success strategy revealed itself to be a key growth strategy.

Customer-centric marketing does not only increase the likelihood of cross-sell and upsell opportunities, it also cultivates a healthy set of customer champions who are more than happy to refer prospects (and what’s more convincing to buy than a glowing customer review?). In today’s episode, CMOs Marshall Poindexter of OpenEye Scientific, Jakki Geiger (formerly of Reltio), and Simon Schaffer-Goldman of Case Paper cover the ins and outs of building and maintaining great customer relationships—don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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After months of planning, Duck Creek Technologies had all of its ducks in a row for its flagship customer event, Formation, set to launch in April 2020. You might guess where this story is going—Duck Creek had to cancel the event and look for a virtual solution, one that wouldn’t let all its content go to waste and one that would be as powerful as most in-person events are for so many B2B brands.

In this episode, Senior Director, Global Marketing Lauren St. Amand shares how the insurance software company changed its course and developed vFormation, a digital engagement platform that was so much more than a virtual event.

It was a solution to a world that would quickly become inundated with digital fatigue, a perfect lead-gen opportunity for Duck Creek partners, and, surprisingly, a way to reach more customers and prospects (and employees!) than ever before. This story is incredible—don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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If there’s no partnership experience (PX) function in your organization yet, it’s high time you made one. As this episode’s all-star CMO guests can avow, a well-built and well-maintained partner ecosystem can do a lot for any B2B brand. Not only can it accelerate brand awareness and trust in the market, but a well-run partner marketing program can also directly and exponentially impact both pipeline and revenue.

In this episode, learn why partnership marketing needs to be taken seriously, with real-world examples to prove it and a slew of incredible insights into both growing and sustaining a powerful partner program from CMOs Denise Vu Broady of Appian, Michael Welts of Wasabi, and Melissa Sargeant of Litmus.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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No two CMO playbooks are the same, but in all of them, agility is a prereq for success. The best CMOs are able to recognize the unique challenges of their organizations in the context of their growth stage and brand identity (or lack thereof), then develop the foundation for marketing-led, organization-wide success.

CMO Celia Fleischaker is an expert in the custom build, with previous stints at Epicor and PROS and now taking on a new challenge at Verint, a $1.3 billion company that recently completed a massive spin-off of its cybersecurity services, cementing itself as a pure-play customer engagement brand. Tune in to learn how Celia moved from her past experience for her current one, adapting along the way as needed to deliver a resonant Verint message to inspire employees and customers alike.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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We haven’t had a Drew-on-Drew episode in a while, so buckle in for a meta-conversation between Question-Drew and Answer-Drew for episode 250! That’s right, Renegade Thinkers Unite has reached episode two-five-zero, and with so many interviews over the years, Drew has tracked the challenges that B2B CMOs have faced as well as the solutions they’ve implemented to lead their organizations to greatness.

Pulling together these insights as well as those gleaned from Renegade Thinkers Live discussions and the confidential conversations at CMO Huddles, Drew reflects on three core issues that B2B CMOs are facing these days. Tune in to learn how CMOs are working to recruit and retain top talent, lead hybrid workforces, and preparing to meet their CEO’s growth expectations for 2022.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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It takes special care to brew a post-acquisition stew. B2B brands need to determine how to properly blend the newly acquired brand into the established mix without jeopardizing the integrity of the branded house, and without losing the equity and loyal customer base of its sub-brand.

In today’s episode, CMOs Grant Johnson of Emburse, Kevin Ruane of Precisely, and Joshua Leatherman of Service Express share how they’ve successfully consolidated newly acquired brands, reflecting on best practices and mistakes made around the B2B world as companies work to build branded house empires. Tune in for a ton of great tips for B2B brand consolidation, from how to measure the value of an acquired brand to how to protect SEO equity in the process.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Transitioning from startup to scaleup sure does come with its growing pains. Marketing teams are stretched as they recruit for new and necessary functions, systemize demand gen efforts, and update their brand story in the market. Add in a global pandemic, a team spread across nine time zones, and a competitive labor market and you’ve got yourself an immense challenge.

For Bynder CMO Andrew Hally, this is not his first rodeo. Bringing in lessons learned from scaling up at Allego, Andrew shares how his team adapted to advance the brand’s growth phase in style. This is a fascinating episode about the marketing strategy behind two different scaleups, as well as why leading starts with listening and how to optimize intent signals in your category. Don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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You’ve no doubt heard of Honeywell, the publicly traded, multinational conglomerate among the Fortune 100 and list of top 100 US federal contractors, with stock in both the Dow and S&P. Around since 1906, Honeywell is a mega brand, bringing in over $32 billion in revenue with a global workforce of over 110,000.

But what is it that Honeywell does exactly? That was the marketing challenge Joe Toubes encountered when taking on the VP of Global Marketing role in 2019—the market still associated Honeywell with a product it didn’t even sell anymore. Tune in to learn how Toubes and his team revamped the Honeywell brand, solidifying a new message in the market and attracting top talent along the way.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Why should B2B organizations make employee engagement a high priority? According to Forbes, highly engaged teams are 21% more profitable. Employees that feel supported by their companies stay longer, perform better, and are less likely to get burnt out. They become cheerleaders for your brand, attracting other great talent and generating buzz that is nearly impossible to replicate any other way.

In this episode, CMO Caroline Tien-Spalding of Aptology, CMO Jeff Perkins of ParkMobile, and Tanika Vital-Pringle, the founder of Brand Rebirth, discuss just how to develop employee-first cultures that will be able to withstand tough times, drive empathy, and enable employee loyalty. This profound and practical conversation is undoubtedly a lesson in the power of empathy—don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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The perfect B2B marketing metrics dashboard doesn’t exist. Well, not in the way that you’d think. Every organization is at a different growth stage, has different opinions in the C-Suite, and has different strategic priorities, so it only makes sense that there’s no one-size-fits-all measurement standard out there. Savvy CMOs know this—and they also know that not everything marketing contributes can be measured—but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be done.

In this episode, we explore which metrics matter to the CMOs at three B2B organizations: Rebecca Stone of Cisco Meraki, Chandar Pattabhiram of Coupa, and Katie Risch of Centro. This insightful discussion is about how to demonstrate the value of marketing to the C-Suite, to your organization, and to the world at large. Tune in to learn about the best “brand-quisition” metrics, the state of attribution modeling today, why employer brand metrics are really important (even if no one thinks so), and more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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In recent years, a significant percentage of consumers—from 72-76%, based on various studies—would rather bank with a local institution than a megabank. So why don’t they? According to CMO Keith Brannan, it’s because local banks marketing budgets don’t stand a chance against the punching power of their larger counterparts.

That’s where Kasasa comes in, helping community banks and credit unions earn their rightful share of the market through a co-branded solution. Tune in to this fascinating episode to hear how the FinTech and marketing services brand makes buying easy for its resource-constrained customers, proof for why brands need to keep marketing in a downturn, how to use data to cross-sell and upsell a limited customer pool, and more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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FUD, you ever heard of it? No, not Elmer Fudd, the Looney Toon set on hunting that wascally wabbit Bugs. We’re talking about FUD, the acronym for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt, a marketing tactic that focuses on the dangers customers face if they don’t adopt a product. In the B2B cybersecurity world, FUD-based marketing is quite popular, and while it's effective in many cases, the negative approach can have unintended consequences on company culture and brand perception.

Enter Dan Lowden of HUMAN, Kevin Sellers of Ping Identity, and Armen Najarian of RSA, three B2B CMOs in the cybersecurity world set on throwing FUD out the door and selling instead through values-based marketing. Tune in to this fascinating episode to learn how these brands have found ingenious ways to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market, why B2B brand values are essential to success, and more.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Category creation is the ultimate form of B2B brand differentiation. Think Salesforce and CRM, HubSpot and inbound marketing—these top-tier brands are the leaders in their category because they were the champions of it from the very beginning. It takes a lot of work to get there, however, and not all brands are made for category creation.

This episode features three expert marketing execs who also happen to be veteran category creators—Chip Rodgers of WorkSpan, Gabi Zijderveld of Affectiva, and Bernd Leger (now at Mimecast). Tune in to learn the ins and outs of category creation, like how to engage with analysts to build credibility, how you know you’re on the right track, and how to manage competitors as a category leader.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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If you’re a B2B marketer and you’ve never heard of Forrester, you’re probably not a B2B marketer. The world-renowned research and advisory firm has firmly established itself as one of the most influential of its kind, and in this episode, CMO Shirley Macbeth fills us in on how Forrester maintains its high status via ever-evolving brand strategy and dedicated brand activation.

Having joined Forrester right when the world shut down in March 2020, Shirley dove headfirst into bringing Forrester’s Bold at Work message to life and consolidating the recently acquired SiriusDecisions without losing its loyal customer base. Not only that, Forrester’s marketing team drank its own champagne, using data to increase marketing spend and narrow down its list of key target personas from 20 to 5 (as well as its product set from hundreds to a handful). This is an awesome B2B brand story—check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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B2B success starts with carefully considered organizational design. Whether strategically allocating budget and staff across multiple marketing functions or managing a growing MarTech stack, organizational design is no easy task. In this episode, CMOs Kathie Johnson of Talkdesk, Anna Griffin of Smartsheet, and Melanie Marcus of Surescripts discuss how they’ve structured their marketing teams for today and tomorrow, aligning to C-Suite expectations and adapting to both predictable and unexpected change.

Be sure to tune in to learn how the right B2B marketing structure can align Sales and Marketing teams, grow revenue, and transform marketing into an integral part of a B2B brand (and why DE&I should be a priority for building marketing teams). Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Powerful narratives tend to follow a 3-act story structure: the setup, the confrontation, and the resolution. Act One is about establishing characters and their challenges in the world they live in; Act Two is about the actions they take in response to said challenges; and Act Three brings the story to a climax, effectively giving characters a new sense of who they are.

In this fascinating episode, CMO Paul Stoddart lays out the 3-act story behind Epicor’s recent brand development. Tune in to learn how Epicor identified where it was lacking, discovered a new purpose that aligned its brand strategy to its business strategy, and brought its new promise to life through its employees and customers, effectively transforming the organization from the inside out.

To find the transcripts of all episodes, suggest future guests, or learn more about quite possibly the best B2B marketing agency in New York City, visit https://renegade.com/

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Artful marketers don’t just chuck paint at the wall and hope people notice, they come with a full set of brushes and an eye for detail. It’s this focus that can lead to some really effective, targeted marketing campaigns, and in this episode, we’ll be exploring the medium called “Vertical Marketing.”

There’s a lot to sift through when it comes to building a robust B2B vertical marketing program, but Ian Howells of Sage Intacct, Lynne Capozzi of Acquia, and Mika Yamamoto of F5 are great guides. Tune in to hear how they apply vertical marketing in the real world, where they’ve noticed mistakes, and why vertical marketing is here to stay.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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How is a CMO to roll out a new brand, purpose, and business strategy all at the same time? As Accenture’s CMO Amy Fuller says, “Instead of focusing on speed to the answer, focus on inclusion of the process.”

This episode with Amy dots all the i's and crosses all the t's as she walks us through why Accenture decided to rebrand, how they developed their purpose, and how they’ve brought it to life and redefined their business strategy. With a wealth of insights into the true value of a dedicated brand development strategy, this is a lesson in one CMO’s dedication to develop an everlasting purpose for ever-changing business needs—don’t miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Which came first, brand or demand? It's an age-old question in the B2B world, especially for B2B CMOs who understand the delicate balance between growing a powerful, lasting brand and a demand gen engine that delivers results. Enter CFA Institute, a leading association of investment professionals with a global reach and a strong brand identity.

In this episode, CMO Michael Collins shares exactly how CFA balances brand and demand while managing a robust MarTech stack, adjusting strategy where needed, and tracking key metrics to maintain a healthy data-oriented alignment with the C-Suite. Tune in to hear what has worked, what hasn’t, and how CFA has driven growth within its close-knit community of Chartered Financial Analysts.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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When CMO Heidi Bullock joined Tealium in 2019, her mandate was to grow the company from great to greater. Tealium already had a solid standing in the customer data management space when she arrived, having reached over $100 million in ARR with no plans of slowing down.

Heidi dove in immediately, directly reaching out to customers and partners to figure out how to level up the brand. Tune in to hear Heidi spill the tea on how Tealium simplified its brand story, infused it into the organization, and brought it to market with a flourish. This episode is a remarkable lesson in B2B brand strategy—you don’t want to miss it!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Like any good magician, a great marketer never reveals their secrets. The best marketing is so good that it wows its target audience on the stage, but when that audience is a group of marketers, things become a lot trickier. It’s like pulling a rabbit out of a hat at a magician’s convention—your fellow marketers already know all the tricks of the trade, so they are that much harder to impress.

In this episode, we spoke with three master CMOs of marketing to marketers: Norman Guadagno of Acoustic, Jamie Gilpin of Sprout Social, and Eric Eden of Postclick. In this insightful conversation, they share all kinds of tricks of the trade, from strategies to really engage the marketing community to how much MarTech is too much. Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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When Johnny Smith Jr. joined Encompass Health as VP of Marketing, he was tasked with a tall order—to create a strong, growth-oriented marketing department. The change management job would involve a complete rebuild, but luckily for Encompass Health, Johnny’s strategic approach to marketing transformation and diplomatic leadership helped them align the organization in 12 months.

Tune in to hear Johnny’s in-depth, step-by-step guide to building a marketing organization. From establishing guiding principles to aligning newly organized across strategic priorities, Johnny is a master in change management. Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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The executive job search is all about taking a consultative approach. For CMOs, it’s about using interviews to truly understand the pain points of an organization and to measure their values against your own. It’s about setting expectations so that, once hired, the CMO be able to deliver both quick wins and big wins that have a lasting impact. And now, Post-COVID, it’s also about doing all of those things virtually.

This episode comes from a livestream we recorded in January 2021 with three guests who bring different perspectives to the CMO job search. Patti Newcomer-Small had just been hired as CMO at FMG Suite, Sara Larsen was in transition at the time (now she’s CMO of Wolters Kluwer Health), and Brandon Palmer of Discover Podium coaches CMOs looking for their next gig. Tune in to hear how the job hunt has changed post-COVID as well as an abundance of useful tips for the search and that first 90 days as a virtual leader.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Joan Jett may not care too much about her bad reputation, but for B2B CMOs, it’s a totally different story. Marketing executives know the incredible business value of a strong brand and, like this show’s guest Rebecca Biestman of Reputation says, “Brand building and reputation building takes years and a lot of tiny acts.”

In this week’s show, Rebecca joins Drew to discuss Reputation’s recent brand refresh. The reputation management brand has not only shed its “.com,” it’s also established its new purpose-packed tagline and completely rebuilt its website. Tune in to hear some key learnings, like how Reputation built a brand and a demand gen engine simultaneously, why branding work is an integral part of corporate strategy, and how Reputation’s prescriptive scoring system can help brands thrive.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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The events of the past year have been nothing short of disruptive. Life as we know it has changed, and while we (as individuals, as marketers, and as brands) are all looking forward to things going “back to normal,” things aren’t going to look quite the same as we remember. But that’s not a bad thing—B2B marketers have proved over and over again that they are agile, resilient, and a true asset in the B2B world.

In this special 230th episode, Drew explores the new normal for B2B marketers. Wielding the wisdom of hundreds of CMO interviews and countless insights gleaned in CMO Huddles, Drew covers how marketers have faced the challenges of 2020 head-on. Tune in to learn what an effective B2B marketing strategy looks like today, and how B2B marketers are changing the world for the better.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Since CMO Ran Avrahamy joined AppsFlyer in 2013, the SaaS mobile marketing company has grown from 12 employees to over 1,000, from a small tech startup to a worldwide brand. So, how exactly did AppsFlyer launch to such heights, and how did it adapt as it grew?

Tune in to hear all about AppsFlyer’s zero budget, guerilla marketing in the early days, and how its “Be Everywhere” mantra drove the company’s growth. Ran also discusses how AppsFlyer has been helping all of its customers—whether they’re in the travel industry or the cloud—through post-COVID challenges, as well as why B2B marketing has to (yes, has to) start with employees.

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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Prior to the pandemic, 40% of Sendoso’s program spend went to physical events that brought in a significant number of leads and got prospects to close. Such a reliable source of revenue for the brand suddenly became redundant in March, and as customers scrambled to figure out how to adapt, the pipeline froze in April.

Luckily, Sendoso had a strong foundation, with a fully scalable marketing program and a robust marketing team. The sending platform immediately shifted its focus to providing educational content to customers and adapting its marketing strategy to new buying behaviors.

In this episode, CMO Dan Frohnen shares how Sendoso rebuilt its pipeline post-pandemic, transforming its product into a must-have via meaningful virtual events, powerful partnerships, and a special, Sendoso-style take on direct mail marketing. Check it out!

For full show notes and transcripts, visit https://renegade.com/podcasts/

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In-person events have always been gold for B2B brands. Accounting for 10-50% of B2B marketing budgets in 2019, B2B marketers relied on physical events as a massive revenue source, effectively filling the funnel with leads, closing deals, and extending customer contracts.

This was not to be so in 2020. We all know the story—as marketers everywhere had to pivot to digital, events and event planning went virtual. Lift and shift was not going to work. Not only did B2B marketing teams face unanticipated technical challenges and a sea of new virtual platforms, they also had to figure out how they could actually engage attendees and nurture leads in a world of Zoom fatigue.

This episode comes from a recent livestream, where CMO Mandy Dhaliwal (Dell Boomi), CMO Paige O’Neill (Sitecore), and CEO David Fischette (Go West Creative Group) shared everything about their virtual event experiences in 2020, both the good and the bad. Tune in for common challenges, creative solutions, and predictions for the future of B2B virtual events. Who knows, they may be here to stay.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

How to increase virtual event engagement
Common technical issues & fail-safes for virtual events
The future of B2B events

Time-Stamped Highlights

[0:00] Cold Open — This is Renegade Thinkers Live
[1:13] Adjusting to the New Virtual Reality
[4:25] How Sitecore Pivoted to Virtual Events
[9:56] How Dell Boomi Pivoted to Virtual Events
[14:46] Transitioning from Stage Presenter to TV Presenter
[18:04] How to Mitigate Technical Issues
[24:53] Common Technical Issues for Virtual Events
[30:18] What Virtual Event Planners Can Learn from Broadcast Television
[32:42] How to Nurture Virtual Events Leads
[37:42] Tech Features Can that Increase Engagement
[43:00] Should Content Lean Towards Authenticity or Slick?
[44:45] What’s Better, Live or Pre-recorded Video?
[47:19] The Future of Physical and Virtual Events
[52:49] How to Ensure Virtual Events Kick A** in 2021

For full show notes and transcript, click here.

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If you have a product that would really help customers adapt to the world of remote work, how do you sell it to them while being mindful of budget cuts, layoffs, and a global downturn? Take a page from HackerRank’s book. The B2B tech company’s remote interview solution was just what their primary personas needed, and CMO Jennifer Stagnaro knew that the product needed to be endorsed with empathy and generosity.

In this episode, Jennifer shares how HackerRank transformed the remote interview experience for the better, reaching out with useful, timely content and offering free solutions to customers and prospects in a time of need. These were the seeds that led to the best Q3 in the company’s history. Tune in to hear how they did it, as well as how HackerRank is aiming to diversify the tech space one interview at a time.

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Unless they were deemed an essential service, most B2B brands had to pivot their marketing strategy in 2020 to make themselves relevant in a world of digital transformation, lockdowns, and quarantine orders. This was especially challenging for brands that depended on in-person events—from the travel industry to the hotel industry to the restaurant industry, things were going to be tough.

In this episode, Drew talks with CMO Dhanusha Sivajee of The Knot Worldwide (TKWW), a B2B2C brand that faced a unique challenge—TKWW’s network of over 300,000 vendors were about to lose their livelihoods as engaged couples updated their “Save the Dates” to “Change the Dates.” TKWW rose up to the challenge, quickly establishing a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) program for its B2B customers and compiling a comprehensive content library of best practices for the trials ahead.

Not only does Dhanusha share how the brand created meaningful content for its customers in a time of need, she also discusses how it established itself as a thought leader and helped its vendors redefine the wedding experience. Tune in for a fascinating episode that exemplifies the value of putting customer care first, especially for B2B brands that are committed to finding truly creative, renegade solutions.

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What do a premium content strategy and conversational AI have to do with driving revenue? Perhaps unsurprisingly, quite a lot! Content raises awareness and nurtures leads, and after the human handoff, Sales teams can use AI tools to assist them to close.

In this episode, ringDNA CMO William Tyree shares a behind-the-scenes look at the AI-powered sales enablement platform’s remarkable content strategy, starting with the acquisition of Andy Paul’s Sales Enablement podcast. He also discusses why businesses shouldn’t be afraid of conversational AI tools—they aren’t here to replace Sales, they’re here to augment and assist them. Check it out!

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There are 50 honorees listed in TopRank’s 2020 installment of Influential Women in B2B Marketing Who Rocked, and in addition of these amazing leaders, we at Renegade know that there are countless others worth celebrating for their contributions to marketing in the B2B world.

This episode comes from our recent livestream show on the subject, featuring LogRhythm CMO Cindy Zhou, Skillsoft CMO Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek, and Charlene Li, the founder of Altimeter, author of The Disruption Mindset, and one of the women on TopRank’s aforementioned list.

Tune in to hear these inspiring leaders and role models share all about what it means to be a woman in the C-Suite, what progress still needs to be made, and how we can all work together to get there.

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After nearly 7 years with Salesforce, 2.5 of which she served as CMO, Stephanie Buscemi announced on Twitter that she’s saying goodbye. The 100+ (and counting) responses to her announcement have been overwhelmingly positive—a testament to her inspiring, compassionate leadership and her trailblazing, marketing-led initiatives for the cloud-based software powerhouse.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Stephanie a few weeks ago, so this outpouring of admiration is no surprise to us. Her success epitomizes the core values that Salesforce has upheld from its start 21 years ago. In this episode, Stephanie shares just what it means for B2B brands that are committed to a capital-P Purpose, and why we truly believe that CMOs can change the world for the better. Tune in to hear how Salesforce has brought its values to life over the years, how said values informed their customer-first response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.

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Anthony Kennada knows a thing or two about ANA’s 2020 word of the year: “Pivot.” In just 4 years, Anthony “pivoted” from Business Development Associate (BDA) at Box to CMO of Gainsight—an astounding feat for any marketer—and during his 6 years at the startup, he helped establish a category, growing the brand from $0 to over $100 million in revenue.

Now, he’s at Front, a start-up customer communication hub with a high-level story to tell. In this episode, Anthony shares how his experiences at Gainsight have informed his community-building, demand-generating efforts at Front—from how to develop a long-term, growth-focused brand strategy to how to bring employees, customers, and prospects together under one purpose-driven cause. Check it out!

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It’s not every year that Christmas falls on the same day as a new Renegade Thinkers Unite episode, so this one is extra special. The show focuses on the story of Keane Veran, a cancer survivor who, while undergoing treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) as an 8-year-old, was asked by Make-A-Wish to wish big.

And wish big he did. In 2011, Keane and his family, including his older brother, Shaun, were flown to Washington DC to meet President Obama, in the White House no less. Nearly a decade later, this moving story about making a young boy’s wish come true is truly powerful—it not only motivated Keane to keep on fighting, but it’s the foundation that inspired the Veran brothers to start a wellness brand with a business model based on goodwill.

A portion of every purchase from their company, Ouragami (OURA), goes to making a wish come true. It’s a lesson in generosity that B2B and B2C companies alike can benefit from. Tune in to hear how marketers can play a very vital role in helping both OURA and Make-A-Wish help kids reach their biggest dreams, with advice and inspiration from Keane, Shaun, and the CEO of the Make-A-Wish chapter in Orange County and the Inland Empire, Gloria Crockett.

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In the premiere episode of Renegade Thinkers Live, Drew was joined by CMOs Rashmi Vittal (Conversica) and John McCrea (Amplify.ai), to discuss all things conversational AI. We take stirring things up quite literally here at Renegade, so in this episode, we sipped in the latest AI marketing insights along with Letherbee’s original label gin (which was amazing, by the way).

It was a fun episode, filled with AI conversational marketing use cases, wisdom from Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and a Live audience Q&A. Even Google Chrome makes an appearance! Tune in to hear some incredible use cases, learn why John and Rashmi both say that “bot” is a terrible word, and see just how Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs) can transform B2B marketing in a digital-first world.

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What happens when you pair an identity security company and Terry Crews? An impressive, wildly successful influencer marketing success story, that’s what. It was the final piece of the “Let’s boost our brand awareness” puzzle that Ping Identity CMO Kevin Sellers was looking for. They had already identified their new brand identity and got internal support, now it was time to go big.

This episode is all about the courageous, artful, thoughtful, and scientific marketing that goes into building brand awareness, all in the service of driving new customer acquisition. As Kevin shares, “You can't win business if you don't even get a chance to bid on the deal.” Tune in for an inspiring story about brand differentiation, with ingenious marketing executions and measurable results.

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Would CMO Kevin Ruane recommend renaming a brand during a pandemic? No, he wouldn’t; but they had to do precisely that when Syncsort acquired the data and software division of Pitney Bowes in December 2019. The company had 6 months to change the Pitney Bowes name—6 months that just so happened to coincide with all of the disruptions of 2020.

In this episode, Kevin shares how Syncsort became Precisely, a global leader in data integrity committed to its “Trust Your Data” message. Tune in for tried-and-true best practices for B2B brands undergoing a name change, like when to get employees involved (hint: early and often) and how to successfully transition old brand equity over to a new, purpose-packed brand.

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2020 has not been easy for anyone. In this episode, Drew reflects on the personal and professional challenges faced by marketing leaders, and how they’ve overcome adversity to build better, more empathetic B2B organizations that are dedicated to making the world a better place.

As the great Ben Franklin once said, “Out of adversity comes opportunity.” From how #WFH has changed the way we work to what CMOs plan on doing differently in 2021, this special Thanksgiving episode is filled with silver linings and insights from a wide range of inspiring B2B CMOs.

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This September, Litmus released the results of its latest state of email survey: 77% of marketers say email is one of their most effective channels, and 78% suggest that it’s been vital to their overall success. This should come as no surprise, especially given that Litmus surveys have also found email has a staggeringly high return on investment: $42 ROI for every $1 spent.

The survey came out with the launch of Litmus’ first-ever Litmus Live Everywhere, a free, virtual event to replace their in-person one (which typically costs ~$1500, by the way), as well as a new product and certification program. Needless to say, Litmus has been busy.

In this episode, CMO Melissa Sargeant joins Drew to discuss all things email marketing, like how Litmus markets to marketers, common mistakes, and why batch and blast is dead. This episode is jam-packed with insights from the CMO of one of the leading email marketing tools of today. Don’t miss it!

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Any B2B or B2C organization is only as good as its team, so it may be surprising to hear that the hiring process hasn’t really changed for the last decade. In fact, 9 out of 10 CMOs say they aren’t doing anything different when it comes to building their marketing squads.

It’s high time for that to change; it’s time to bring all of the tools available in MarTech over to the people side of the house. In this episode, Aptology CMO Caroline Tien-Spalding joins us to talk all things employee hiring. Tune in to hear why understanding behavior at work is essential, how Caroline built a CRO advisory board to help drive content, and how hiring right can boost revenue across the board.

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Shifting an entire B2B organization from a traditional to a cloud-based selling motion is no walk in the park. Throw in a global pandemic and a sweeping digital transformation, and you’ve got yourself a real marketing challenge. CMO James Whitemore and his team at NetApp were up to the task, ripping up their marketing playbook and transforming business from the inside out.

James tells all in this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, sharing how the company has shifted to a real-time marketing approach that enables sales teams to close quickly, as well as how it revamped its messaging with humor and grit to engage and entertain a new audience of potential users. With NetApp’s 180% plus YoY growth in cloud services, 5-day sales cycles, and messaging campaigns that have significantly increased click-through-rates, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

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As a multi-disciplined, multi-functional channel, social deserves a seat at every B2B brand’s strategic table. A robust social strategy does more than just drive brand awareness, it also can also generate leads, attract talent, and build a strong employee culture with far-reaching effects. Don’t take just our word for it though—this week’s guest is Jamie Gilpin, the CMO of Sprout Social, a leading social media management platform, and she’s here to discuss all things social.

From why the C-Suite needs to be on social to why you need more than just a “Twintern” to manage your social channels, this episode is chock full of insights about common B2B social media mistakes and specific B2B social media success. Jamie not only shares how social plays an important role in Sprout Social’s marketing mix, she also addresses how social listening has informed successful marketing motions and driven revenue. Check it out!

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Like many B2B companies, K2 Software has really zeroed in on what makes its low-code process automation platform mission-critical for its customers. Unlike many B2B companies, K2 had already started shifting its strategy and messaging in 2019, months before the far-reaching effects of COVID were on anybody’s radar. In the scramble to prove that its product or service is essential during a downturn, K2 was ahead of the game.

In this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, K2 CMO Carlos Carvajal shares how the company’s recent brand transformation and various internal and customer partnerships have helped them navigate the challenges of 2020 and transform automation for the better. Be sure to tune in to hear about the success of K2’s virtual event, the launch of a new sub-brand, how K2 celebrates customer success, and more.

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Citing a recent virtual event she attended, CMO Latané Conant of 6sense truly believes that, for marketers, “The more things change, the more things stay the same.” Now, a lot of things have changed: no more physical events, no more sales presentations, no more opportunities to bring clients together or close deals via in-person entertainment. So, what stays the same?

In Latané’s opinion, what doesn’t change is the fact that, as always, marketers need to lead the charge with bold, creative marketing that works with changing circumstances to bring people together, create memorable experiences, and help get sales teams to close. For this bold episode, Latané shares how 6sense has captured demand via meaningful, community focused virtual events, why creativity is essential when marketing (especially if you’re marketing to marketers), and how to use ABM effectively without wasting anybody’s time.

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Imagine a globally recognized brand (say, IBM Watson Marketing) decides to spin out and gets packaged up and purchased by private equity. Imagine said brand not only has big name recognition, but also a handful of acquisitioned companies with some seriously loyal customers. So, you’re a brand-new company with 1,000+ employees, 3,500+ customers in 21 countries, and 5 major products; you need to build an infrastructure, culture, and brand from scratch. Top that all off with a worldwide pandemic, and you’ve got one seriously big challenge ahead of you.

Enter CMO Norman Guadagno. Joining Acoustic in 2019, Norman’s mandate was to create a brand, build a marketing organization, and build a company for the IBM carve-out. Daunting, yes, but in this epic episode, Norman shares how Acoustic has made a name for itself. From partnering with HR to establish a distinct culture to selling the new brand to existing customers, this jam-packed episode is a must for courageous B2B marketers everywhere.

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“So, a brand walks into a bar…What drink does it order?” And no, it’s not the start of a joke, instead, it’s a question that CMO Paz Macdonald asks when thinking about brand. When she joined Software AG in 2019, it was clear that the 50-year-old enterprise software company’s brand needed a massive overhaul—they had a great reputation but poor brand awareness. It was time to stop being the brand that would order a still water at the bar, and instead order a sensible, inviting cocktail with the confidence of a globally recognized brand that knew it was making a difference.

In this episode, Paz shares the story behind Software AG’s rebrand, and how a comprehensive brand audit, a completely new website, and an inspiring “living connections” message has built a well-oiled, marketing-driven organization. She also discusses B2B rebranding best practices with full transparency, like how much to involve employees, why companies should seriously consider using an outside marketing firm, and more. Check it out!

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The challenges of 2020 have set the stage for big changes in 2021 (and beyond). For optimistic marketers, this means that 2020 is the fertilizer for a beautiful 2021, but it’s going to take a progressive, agile, and strategic mindset to reap the rewards. To discuss upcoming changes in the way that buyers buy and sellers sell in the context of marketing, Brent Adamson, distinguished VP at Gartner, joins Drew for his fourth episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Joined by a live audience, Brent answers questions about how CMOs can plan for 2021, positing that marketers shouldn’t necessarily be focused on creating high-quality content. Instead, marketers should be brokers of information and experiences, building the confidence of their customers and prospects by coaching them through a world overwhelmed by thought leadership. Be sure to tune in to this productively disruptive episode—it might just change the way you think about marketing for the better.

Today’s guest CMO audience: Dux Raymond Sy (AvePoint), Mandy Dhaliwal (Dell Boomi), Dan Marks (previously of Hancock Whitney, now Infusion Marketing), Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek (Skillsoft), and Simon Schaffer-Goldman (Case Paper).

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Businesses need marketing now more than ever if they want to drive top-line growth. Why? Because marketers know how to do more with less. Despite budget cuts and the shift to virtual-only communications, marketers still know how to motivate employees, generate quality leads for sales teams, and gather customer feedback to influence product. As Drew says, “Marketing to the rescue. This is your moment.”

Enter CMO Katie Risch of Centro, a global software provider for digital advertisers that has grown from 3 employees to 700 in 15 years. In this episode, Katie shares how the marketing team at Centro has played a crucial role during COVID—enabling the sales team via high-quality content and enabling the product team to develop a companion product for the platform. As one of the original 3 employees at Centro, Katie also shares her unique path to the CMO role, one that has made her a dynamic leader who really understands what it means to align teams to work towards the company vision. You don’t want to miss it!

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2020 was going to be the year of the brand refresh for the data and analytics company, Information Builders. CMO Carol McNerney came on board in January to help bridge the gap between the company’s 45-year history and its desired future, and despite all of the challenges this year, they’ve successfully rolled out an ambitious (and fascinatingly unique) rebrand.

In over 200 episodes, this is the first rebrand with a logo where the old name (Information Builders) is embedded into the new one (ibi). The goal was not to erase the brand’s heritage but to incorporate it into its present and future the same way that ibi’s technology promises to embed intelligence into customer data. Tune in to today’s episode to hear Carol share how ibi rebranded successfully amidst #WFH challenges—completely redoing the website, getting employees on board and excited, and launching the brand to customers in an online event with a global reach.

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It’s not easy to create your own category. It takes vision, it takes competition, and it requires the analysts’ blessings. But, if done right, category creation can differentiate your business in a big way. B2B brands that establish a new category often become the household names of said category—visionary thought leaders who are tuned into ever-evolving customer needs.

CMO Scott Brazina joins us in this episode to discuss how he’s helped create not just one, but two categories during his career. First at PTC with the product lifestyle management category (PLM) and now at Impact with partnership automation. Be sure to tune in for incredible insights into when it’s time for category creation, how to know it’s working, and how to continue standing out when competitors begin to follow your lead.

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At the beginning of 2020, Pluralsight decided it was going to give away all of its online tech courses for an entire month. The education company knew that this might negatively affect revenue, but that was a risk worth taking. After all, unemployment numbers were soaring and non-essential workers had to stay at home—this was an ideal time to learn some new skills and level up.

Pluralsight’s offering came to be known as #FreeApril, and so far it’s yielded remarkable results. 1.1 million users took advantage of the offer in markets around the world, and it didn’t cannibalize sales either. In fact, it’s helped close deals in unexpected ways and helped Pluralsight fulfill its altruistic mission: To democratize tech skills across the globe. In this episode, CMO Heather Zynczak shares how they did it, how they plan to nurture these new seeds, and why abundant generosity is the way to go. Check it out!

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In case you haven’t heard, it’s time to rev up your demand generation tactics. With budgets cut and in-person lead nurturing opportunities out of the picture, it’s up to marketers to put the pedal to the metal and show their CEOs and CFOs the return of marketing investment in hard dollars i.e. closed sales from marketing-generated leads.

In this episode, we’re joined by Kevin Fliess, a veteran CMO in SaaS and enterprise software who knows a thing or two about how to build an enduring demand generation engine that runs efficiently and effectively. He’s worked for SAP, Cvent, Cofense, and is currently CMO of Altum. His comprehensive insights cover everything from simple messaging to frictionless free trials to lead scoring models—as well as his take on why the brand purpose work Cofense did with Renegade last year was crucial to their COVID response.

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With 25 years in the tech industry, Conversica CMO Rashmi Vittal knows a thing or two about sales and marketing alignment. She knows that it’s about “company-wide enablement” as opposed to “sales enablement.” She knows the value of a simplified product message. And she knows the common excuse, “Well, I gave leads to sales and they just didn’t do anything with them,” just won’t cut it.

In this week’s episode, Drew and Rashmi discuss her nine-square “Alignment Between Sales and Marketing” grid (see below). It’s a simple yet thorough model, one that recognizes that achieving alignment is about constant evolution and clear communication. Be sure to tune in to hear how Conversica applies this grid in action, as well as how they’ve pivoted in 2020.

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If you could go back in time and meet one historical figure, who would it be? For Drew, the answer is obvious: Dr. Benjamin Franklin. This should come as no surprise to anyone who knows Drew. As a proud Franklin nut, he considers the man who sold a revolution to a king to be America’s first-ever marketer. That’s why it was a no-brainer when we discovered a special “time travel” button on Zoom—we just had to give Dr. Franklin a call.

For Renegade Thinker’s Unite’s 200th episode, Drew travels through time to catch up with Dr. Franklin. While covering Franklin’s life and accomplishments, they discuss the value of humor in marketing, how to lead courageously, and why relentless curiosity is key to success. Be sure to tune in for Franklin’s take on the topics of today in relation to events of the past, you won’t want to miss it!

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What does B2B excellence look like in a downturn? When faced with this question, the software company Coupa quickly adopted a story of resilience. The decision to change its messaging allowed Coupa to change buying committee perspectives on its offering—if the prospect’s goal was to preserve capital and mitigate risk in the long-run, Coupa had the solution to get there.

Coupa’s strategy has proven effective, and the company’s skyrocketing stock is proof. In this week’s densely packed episode, CMO Chandar Pattabhiram uncovers how they pivoted under pressure, harmonizing their messaging and releasing it to a 100% digital world. He also shares valuable insights, like Geoffrey Moore’s concept of “provocation selling,” the 4 P’s of pivoting, and how Coupa is taking action against social injustice.

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While California went into shelter-in-place in early March, Talend CMO Lauren Vaccarello read an article about a popular bubble tea franchise laying off 400 workers in less than two weeks. With a self-prescribed “healthy sense of paranoia and a very strong desire to grow the business,” Lauren jumped into action. She knew that, if the company wanted to survive the long road ahead, they needed to ditch everything they were working on and start fresh, and they needed to do it fast.

Talend’s new 2020 playbook reflects the power of agility in the face of a crisis. They repositioned their messaging in just ten days with full C-level support, then planned not just one, but three user conferences in under two months. Tune into this tell-all episode to learn why doing things the “wrong” way is sometimes the right one, as well as how fearless leadership and empathy are key to both short- and long-term success.

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Right around mid-March 2020, every brand, B2B or B2C, had to take a cold hard look at their brand promise and consider its relevance. Was the brand promise that seemed so right in the go-go months before the pandemic suddenly tone deaf? For Jakki Geiger, CMO of Reltio, a Silicon Valley-based data management platform, the answer to that question was “yes.” Practically overnight, the idea of “winning” seemed out of step with their customers, many of whom were focused more on surviving and less on thriving. So, what’s a savvy marketer to do?

In this remarkably frank episode, Geiger shares exactly how she and her colleagues shifted gears and found a new, more relevant message around “serving, protecting, and retaining.” It’s a story of agility, determination, customer-centricity, and fearless leadership that almost any marketer can learn from. Drew and Jakki cover a lot of ground including the role CMOs can play not just in driving leads (which she did) but also driving social change in areas like diversity.

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If you’re looking for an example of a high-quality virtual event, you’ve got to check out Skillsoft’s Perspectives 2020. Drew did, and he was absolutely blown away by the online summit. In fact, it was so engaging that he just had to interview their CMO, Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek (Michelle BB for short) to learn more about the work that went on behind the scenes to create a global experience that rivals pre-COVID physical events.

In this episode, Michelle generously shares the details behind the making of the event, as well as other tips, like how they’re measuring its success and how they plan to use the momentum to generate demand. We’ve also got a special Q&A session with a live audience of CMOs: Gabi Zijderveld (Affectiva), Ian Howells (Sage Intacct), Holly Rollo (RSA Security), and Mark Floisand (Coveo). Check it out!

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With physical events and direct sales canceled, the idea of filling the pipeline with valuable leads may seem daunting. However, many CMOs see this challenge as an opportunity to prove that it can be done digitally, and it’s become glaringly apparent that when it comes to B2B demand generation, content marketing is king.

One such CMO, Richard Jones of Cheetah Digital, has made quality, valuable content his top priority. Why? Because he knows that a well-oiled content engine will not only help their salespeople find and close leads, it will also engage customers and attract new talent in profound ways. In this episode, Richard and Drew discuss everything from building your content strategy to measuring its success. There’s a wealth of valuable insights to be found, so be sure to tune in!

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“Zoom, Zoom, Zoom” may seem like the title of a children’s song, but for many of us, it’s the reality of the workday—a string of Zoom meetings that take up the brunt of one’s time. And while virtual meetings have been a great way to stay connected to colleagues and hold brainstorming sessions, they can be a real hindrance to productivity.

It’s important for CMOs and other leaders to help their teams Zoom smarter, not harder. In this week’s episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Smartsheet CMO Anna Griffin shares tips and tricks for facilitating effective brainstorming sessions, like starting meetings with a frame break and assigning ownership. The process passed the test, as the Smartsheet team pulled together and published their recent global survey within a week of their initial Zoom ideation session. Be sure to tune in, you won’t want to miss it.

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A rebrand is not a campaign, it’s a new direction. That’s why NI (previously known as National Instruments) brought on their first-ever CMO, Carla Piñeyro Sublett—they wanted someone to guide them through the brand refresh process, to shake up their foundation and challenge their entire business strategy for the better.

Knowing that this would be a bold undertaking, Piñeyro Sublett and her team, with full C-Suite support, worked from the outside-in. Then, with the help of an outside marketing agency, a cross-functional internal team, six months of brand strategy planning, 800+ interviews, and a month of employee prep, NI initiated an electrifying process of discovery for the business—one whose identity is encapsulated in two powerful, purpose-packed words: “Engineer Ambitiously.”

This episode is a special one, as NI live-streamed the launch this week in a global celebration of their new brand. Tune in to hear about how they did it, you won't want to miss it!

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Brands must be handled with care. They are emotional, enduring, and convey everything a business stands for, so it behooves CMOs to ensure that their company’s brand purpose and the messaging around it are not tone-deaf, but accessible—so accessible that they become a rallying cry for employees and customers alike and speak to any challenge that may come your way.

Now, how can you achieve this? At Renegade, we suggest finding a common story and articulating it in six words or less, which is exactly what Altair did when the software engineering firm launched its “Only Forward” campaign. As CMO Amy Messano explains, they knew that their decision to rebrand during COVID was the right one; firstly, because they had previously put in nearly a year of hard work to find their brand story, and secondly, because their purpose gave employees hope in an otherwise unpredictable moment—the true acid test for a successful brand refresh.

In this week’s episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Amy shares the story behind Altair’s mid-COVID rebrand, including how she used her “engineering pocket translator” to discover their purpose-driven story statement, how they activated their employees with the new message, and how they’ve measured its success thus far.

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When do company values matter? Just ask today’s guest Peter Finter, the SVP and CMO at Couchbase: “It's when you have to make a hard decision, that's when values matter.” Speaking with conviction, Peter knows what it takes to prepare a business to take on any challenge. This conviction was made clear in Couchbase’s nearly seamless response to the COVID pandemic and how it took care of employees, customers, and prospects.

In this week’s interview, Peter shares the six unique values of the open-source cloud database company that they’ve brought to life in the recent months across the spectrum of their ecosystem, starting with “Be a good human always.” With a commitment to personalizing marketing through things like employee talent showcases on Zoom and a free community edition of their software, Couchbase’s priorities are evidence that the human, purpose-driven B2B brand will always outlast the two-dimensional, poster board one (and they’ll probably see higher demand generation, faster once things start picking up again).

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Enter overused marketing advice: Be authentic. Understand your customers. Helping is the new selling. Clichés, yes, but they are as true today as when they were first uttered. You can’t skip these steps, and most people get it wrong by assuming they can, ultimately undercutting their “authentic” image with overtly salesy content or “authentic” messaging with no steps taken to back it up.

In our opinion, the true renegade marketer will be able to bring these platitudes to life through innovative actions and strategy. The leaders that can achieve this are sure to see a growth in demand generation and value-added conversations, because working off of a strong foundation will set you up for a lifetime of success.

One such renegade is Christina Bottis, the CMO of Coyote Logistics, a 3rd-party logistics (3PL) provider with a pack mentality. The business is focused on enabling its customers with industry-specific data, forecasts, and content because you can only be as good as the people you serve.

Not only do they get e-commerce and the supply chain right; they have established themselves as reliable thought leaders who are committed to their purpose-driven tagline: “Drive your business forward.” Tune in to this week’s episode to hear how Bottis has helped Coyote articulate their promise, align it with the organization to make it real, and measure the results of their successful growth.

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With budget cuts looming (or already made), CMOs are suddenly being asked to do even more with even less. Many are stirring up their inbound marketing efforts, concocting lots of content with the hope that their audiences will drink it up. But as the old saying goes, hope is not a strategy. SEO, or should we say smart SEO, is indeed a strategy, one that takes a specific expertise and can pay substantial dividends.

Getting discovered on Google for specific keywords is hardly a new opportunity. Many marketers have been doing it successfully for years. But if for some reason—perhaps you’ve changed target markets, launched new products, or just updated your website—you’re not appearing on page 1 of Google, then now is the time to fix that. In this episode, Drew speaks with Geoff Atkinson, the founder and CEO of Huckabuy, a firm that helped radically improve our firm's search presence for keywords like B2B Brand Strategy (feel free to type that into Google to see how we’re doing!).

Since Drew doesn’t normally have other service firms on the show, he wanted to make sure that what Huckabuy recommends could actually be achieved. As it turns out, they’ve got a reliable recipe for SEO success. Listen in to learn how a tweak here, an amazing piece of content there, and a bunch of well-structured metatags all over your site will make you an unstoppable SEO mixologist.

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What does leading through a crisis look like? Drew covered the subject in-depth in a recent episode, but if you want a real-life example of leadership in action, look no further than Holly Rollo, the CMO and SVP Transformation at RSA Security (and avid sailing enthusiast). In the past few months, Holly has taken the helm, steering her team through the COVID storm from her #WFH office in South Lake Tahoe, California.

Tune in to this week’s episode to hear how Holly has shifted priorities and helped transform the cybersecurity organization for the better: anticipating new security threats, building community through authenticity, and aligning sales teams with digital marketing efforts.

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How can a business discover its brand story? The first step, according to David Altschul of Character LLC, is to identify the story’s conflict. Now, this isn’t the classic “good vs. bad” conflict that you tend to see in Marvel movies—a brand conflict is between two positives, think “independent vs. social” or “strong vs. soft.” That’s what Character specializes in, and they’ve helped some big-name clients (think Walmart, Amazon, Wendy’s) embrace such conflict and infuse it into the way they do business.

Why does this matter in B2B, you ask? Well, there are a few reasons. At the outset, brands with story set themselves apart from competitors that are just selling products; when the buying committee comes together, story unifies the c-suite’s perspective of your brand; and finally, story gives you a framework for making decisions no matter what you come up against, even a pandemic.

Tune in to this week’s episode to hear David’s expert advice on discovering brand story, and how to align the goals of your business across the board. He also answers questions from our live audience of three CMOs: Kevin Alansky of Higher Logic, JD Dillon of Enphase Energy, and Dave Bornmann of Naylor Association Solutions.

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Imagine you’ve spent the past year preparing to rebrand your organization. You’ve ticked off all the boxes—strategized with a cross-functional team, developed a robust communications plan, and defined your brand purpose—and you’re finally ready to start rolling things out, but then, the COVID pandemic brings the world to a halt. This is a moment for a big decision, do you still rebrand? Or do you put things on hold?

For Julia Fitzgerald, CMO of American Lung Association, the answer was to forge ahead. After all, if they were going to make their new brand promise real, if they truly were dedicated to fighting lung disease, then this was the perfect opportunity to do it. The rebrand didn’t come with all the bells and whistles that it normally would have, but this, perhaps, makes it that much more real. After all, as Ben Franklin once said, “Well done is better than well said.”

Tune in to this week’s episode to hear about all about American Lung Association’s rebrand and how they’ve agilely pivoted their marketing efforts amidst the COVID pandemic.

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We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: no CMO can succeed without the backing of their CEO. Countless CMO guests on the show have talked about how crucial it is to have that top-down support, and on this special episode, we’re joined not only by the CMO of Wasabi, Michael Welts, but also by his CEO, David Friend. With a strong working relationship that most can only dream of, they talk about how they’ve built their brand and grown their customer base from 1200 to 15,000 in just two years.

The key thing David was looking for was a “simplifier” CMO, and with Michael, he found just that. Through bold marketing, Michael and his team developed a strong value proposition, “1/5 the price of Amazon and 6x faster” and based their sales strategy around the three Wasabi “peas:” price, performance, and protection. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear how to build a B2B demand gen machine, measure metrics outside of revenue, and have the CEO/CMO relationship that dreams are made of.

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Now more than ever, people want simplicity. They’re looking for simple solutions to complex problems, simple language to describe complex ideas, and simple experiences in an increasingly complex world. That’s why this week’s episode, recorded pre-COVID, is so poignant. Mika Yamamoto, the CMO and CXO of F5, joins us to share the ways she has transformed how they do business by asking one simple question: “Does this remove friction or add delight?”

Mika discusses the advantages of combining the CMO and CXO roles, they’ve given her a unique end-to-end perspective that has ultimately led to innovative, measurable changes for F5’s employees, customers, and prospects. With the battle cry “code connects us all,” tune in to hear all about how to best measure customer satisfaction (spoiler, it’s not NPS) and how to align your employee’s day-to-day interactions with the larger goals of the organization.

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Where do you go when you’re a guest on Renegade Thinkers Unite but can’t find a quiet place in the house? To the RV, of course! That’s where Ed Rusch, the VP of Marketing at Command Alkon, has set up his #WFH headquarters, working closely with his team as the company adapts to working remotely. Fortunately, the heavy construction software company isn’t new to big change—over the last three years, Rusch has led the launch of an impressive brand transformation, repositioning Command Alkon as a category innovator and leading provider with the perfectly pithy purpose-driven story statement: “Together we build amazing.”

Command Alkon had defined the way that business was done for the last 40 years, so when they found an even better way of doing things, they were setting out to disrupt themselves in order to change the industry, pulling intercompany value from a supply chain perspective through to construction. On this week’s episode, Rusch leads us through Command Alkon’s brand reimagination, starting with the quick wins that generate leads and gain executive buy-in, developing a provocative story, and then bringing that story out to employees and customers in order to build upon that promise. For additional materials about finding your brand's purpose in order to weather any storm, take a look at our comprehensive guide to effective B2B brand strategy, here!

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It's impossible to have business continuity during a crisis if your contact center software is only designed to run on-premises (on-prem for short) and your employees can’t come into the office. This has become a serious issue for many companies in the recent weeks, because if your customers can’t reach your service team, it stops business in its tracks and, ultimately, adversely affects your brand.

That’s why Talkdesk, a cloud-based contact center solution, made it their mission to bring on-prem operations home quickly so that businesses can continue thriving while protecting their employees. Their first of many crisis-centered products launched one week before “business continuity” started trending, and Talkdesk CMO Kathie Johnson joins us this week to talk about how her team’s agility, commitment to goodwill, and holistic view of business put Talkdesk front and center in the conversation.

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Stack Overflow, an online Q&A community for developers, has a clear #WFH advantage—they’ve operated with a largely remote workforce for over a decade, and they’ve done it well, simultaneously growing their business and earning a spot on numerous Best Developer Website lists. That’s why, in response to COVID-19, they’ve made it their top priority to share their #WFH best practices and anticipate the challenges that more traditionally in-office businesses may be facing.

On this week’s episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, we’re joined by Khalid El Khatib, Stack Overflow’s VP of Marketing, to discuss the things companies can do to not just keep their teams connected, but to continue collaborating and innovating as they work from their new home. Tune in to hear his well-informed take on virtual socializing, the future of events, and the wealth of resources and tools available as we navigate a virtual world.

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As our CEO & host Drew Neisser so aptly puts it, “this an unusual episode for an unusual time.” There has been a lot to think about in recent weeks, and with the current COVID-19 pandemic affecting nearly every facet of life, it’s tremendously important—now more than ever—for leaders to step forward, take action, and lead by example. That’s why, on this week’s episode, Drew reflects on how you can take care of the people in your orbit: yourself, your family, your employees, your customers, and the world at large.

His valuable insights incorporate the input of 7 CMOs who have shared their recent actions and thoughts concerning the current crisis, including Sarah Larsen (Brightcove), Jeff Perkins (ParkMobile), Paul Sparrow (Chief Outsiders), Janine Pelosi (Zoom), Mandy Dhaliwal (Dell Boomi), Sara Varni (Twilio), and Alicia Tillman (SAP). For more, take a look at Drew's tips on our blog, here.

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Joshua Leatherman has been CMO at Service Express for 9 years now—during that tenure, revenue has grown from 30 million to 130 million, marketing efforts now contribute a whopping 70% of qualified leads in their sales pipeline, and their NPS score is currently at 90. Behind these impressive numbers is a lot of hard work, gaining executive buy-in, inspiring staff with an employee-first organizational purpose, and building a customer experience that drives satisfaction and referrals.

Leatherman is an expert on the metrics that matter, both the impressive ones listed above, and the ones that you look at behind the scenes to get there. It’s not about the number of meetings, it’s about the number of quality meetings; not the number of prospects, but the strategy behind how prospects are brought in and engaged. In this episode, you’ll get an up-close look at CMO math as Leatherman discusses how they calculate ROI and the essential steps to building a revenue-generating marketing engine.

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According to a Gartner Report, Dell Boomi leads the way as an innovative strategic partner for its clients in the Enterprise iPaaS category, with over 8,000 customers and a churn rate below 3%. That’s the biggest compliment you can get, especially if you’re a company with a large service component. What role did marketing play in developing these relationships and garnering this reputation? Drew sits down on this week’s episode with Mandy Dhaliwal, Dell Boomi’s CMO and certified sommelier, to discuss how she kept Boomi’s marketing initiatives grounded in company strategy in order to modernize engagement across the board.

When she joined in 2018, Mandy hit the ground running: she developed a company purpose within a six-week period (during a holiday, no less!), presented the positioning at the annual sales kickoff, and oversaw a complete rebrand with a clearer customer focus than ever before. This week’s Renegade Thinkers Unite is packed with remarkable insights. Check it out!

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How important are your customers to your business? This one should be a no-brainer—the relationships you build with your customers are vital to success. Leaders that actively focus on customer engagement and satisfaction are able to nurture a customer-base that will champion your product on your behalf and help push innovation. With a wealth of experience under his belt, Chip Rodgers, CMO of WorkSpan, knows the quantifiable value of cultivating customer champions and is here to tell us how he nurtured these relationships from Workspan’s early startup days to now.

Chip puts a special emphasis on building and retaining trust, and shared a perfect Bill McDermott quote on the subject: “Trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets.” For more gems like this, listen in to this week’s Renegade Thinkers Unite and learn about how cultivating customer champions can boost your business value, shape your product, and bring in new prospects.

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It’s tough enough to build a company’s marketing engine from the ground up, but Isabelle Papoulias, CMO of Mediafly, successfully navigated through not just one, but two acquisitions within a six-month period. What did she learn? Not all acquisitions are created equal: it was two weeks before their second acquisition announcement when Isabelle, in conversation with her CEO, realized they had an opportunity to completely pivot their brand messaging for the better and decided to scrap their original plan. While this would be considered risky to most, the decision ultimately elevated Mediafly to a new level within the sales enablement category.

Join us on this week’s episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite to hear all about Isabelle’s experience during these back-to-back acquisitions, how their campaign brought both expected and unexpected successes, and why ABM goes beyond marketing to give a company a surround sound approach to targeting valuable prospects.

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When purpose moves front and center, a company can attract better talent and better customers. This is not conjecture. Dov Baron, via his leadership consulting practice, has proven it over and over. Dov, who is also a top podcaster, best-selling author and speaker, gets to purpose by asking the tough questions. No wonder he sees himself as the “father of dragons,” helping executive teams find their own distinct purpose, and a collective purpose for the organization. This means digging deep and even exploring one’s biggest fears. There’s obviously a lot more to it and we spend a lot of time in this episode exploring why “starting with why” is in fact just the beginning of every organization’s purpose-seeking journey.

On this week’s episode, Dov and Drew are also joined by a live audience of industry-leading CMOs, who weigh-in and help shape the engaging discussion. Listen in for more about the best way to find the why of your why, which questions you really should be asking to get there, and how to get tangible results from shining a light on your company’s purpose.

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Sometimes, the big ideas sort of just happen. That said, some magical brand moment isn’t going to just appear without some planning or effort—but sometimes, some small bit of genuine authenticity can grow into a brand pearl. That’s part of what happened with White Ops, and on this episode, Dan Lowden, CMO, discusses how.

White Ops is fueled by their purpose-driven mission to disrupt the illicit economy built by cybercriminals; that mission has caught fire and stands as a sterling example of why purpose is a must. Tune in to hear about how they formed their mission, how they show it to the world, why they shun the hard sell, and how an overarching purpose came from a simple t-shirt that just read “human.”

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“It’s not if—it’s how.”

That’s how Karen Jones, CMO of Ryder, a supply chain management and logistics company, started wrapping up our interview. It’s also what she tells her team often, and an integral part of how they approach business hurdles. The key to their success, though, isn’t just relishing the opportunity to overcome a challenge—they also rely heavily on a deliberate, test-heavy approach where they have room to explore, experiment, and find bold solutions that work. Another crucial element is the CEO relationship—for Karen to succeed, she noted the need for support from the CEO and board to have leeway in her marketing endeavors.

In this episode, we’ll hear more about how she’s formed her marketing mindset through her career, and how learning from failures has helped shaped her current approach. Listen in for a candid conversation about the pitfalls of marketing in a silo, marketing’s limitations within a business, and how effective marketing can accelerate a product’s demise.

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In this interview, host & Renegade CEO Drew Neisser actually sits down with, well, Drew Neisser. Maybe it’s half interview, half monologue. Either way, on this episode, Drew explores the concept of CATS. Not the fluffy, loveable-yet-tempestuous pets, but the four key traits for being an effective marketer that are absolutely crucial in developing an effective B2B marketing strategy.

Listen in to learn about being an effective, creative marketer, crafting a brand, cutting the clutter in your efforts, and much more! For the main course on How to Develop an Effective B2B Brand Strategy in 2020, please chomp on Drew’s Special (17,771 word) Report http://renegade.com//b2b-brand-strategy-report/

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In 2017, Jeff Perkins was champing at the bit to get started as CMO of ParkMobile, a parking assistance app based out of Atlanta. He saw the 7.5 million users, the hundreds of thousands of new users each month, and the awesome product driving everything. However, when he got going, he began to notice his enthusiasm wasn’t exactly the norm. Jeff joined the team following some significant board changes, executive changes, and turnover. As a result, the company moral was experiencing a sort of slump, despite the app's early success, and the leadership decided to step up.

Jeff was quick to spot that this relative malaise could be remedied with a clearer articulation of the company’s vision in a clear set of core values. Following that, an emphasis on employee engagement would help that mission—and a new positive spirit—spread through the company. Listen in to this episode to hear more about how ParkMobile built a thriving culture around core values and an engaged internal team, and how that culture has helped the company grow to 17.5 million users.

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One of the integral questions most marketers face is: How do I expand my audience?

Well, you could draw up a new campaign, make a new product—heck, you could even bite the head off a bat; Ozzy Osbourne definitely reached quite a few new people in the 80’s with that stunt. Well, maybe that last one isn’t the best idea for businesses. Anyways, an important aspect is: you have to do something that works with your brand, resonates with the people who want to use your product, and is relatively product agnostic. Now, while they may not be dining on any small nocturnal mammals, Twilio’s marketing efforts certainly capture the aforementioned guidelines, and take on a spirit of boldness and experimentation, all in the service of expanding their audience.

In this episode, Sara Varni, CMO of the cloud comms company, discusses how they’ve created marketing that they know their users will like and respond to. It ranges from gamified tutorials, to dev conferences, to sponsored hackathons at client offices and so much more. To learn more about these efforts, and the scrappy, startup-mentality that drives them, tune into this week’s episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

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As a veteran of Silicon Valley with tenures at multiple massive, industry-leading tech companies, Carl Tsukahara has developed a serious taste for adventurous testing, especially in B2B. That doesn’t mean just running around pushing buttons and selecting metrics at random, it means breaking free from the common snare of planning multiple meetings and emails before adjusting a small facet of the landing page for A/B testing.

Speaking of A/B testing, Tsukahara’s career path has led him to currently serve as Chief Marketing Officer of Optimizely, which is essentially the home of the A/B test. They also call themselves “the world’s leading experimentation platform,” painting the company as a fitting place for a bold marketer and tester like Tsukahara. In this interview, Carl discusses what different companies ought to be testing for, how to properly set up certain guardrails to guide your testing, what we can learn from big brands like Amazon and Netflix, and much, much more. Check it out!

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When Matrixx started out in 2008, they were a David among Goliaths. People thought they were crazy to even try cracking a pretty crowded SaaS market for communications and digital services provider. Skip ahead a few years and they’re boasting 70% growth (for 3+ years!), 15% responsibility for the lead pipeline—which in a niche market like Matrixx’s is quite a feat—and, perhaps most impressive of all, a 100% renewal rate for the multi-year subscription model. You don’t see 100% all that often (Citizen Kane’s 100% on Rotten Tomatoes is certainly good company to share), and with good reason: it takes some simply stunning work from the company to achieve.

In this episode, Jennifer Kyriakakis, Founder & VP of Marketing, talks about their journey from startup to top-5 brand in their industry. She shares how they’ve celebrated customer loyalty (hint: don’t make your case studies about your product), how to boldly approach new business acquisition, how they manage to show each prospect a live demonstration of how the Matrixx software can support their specific needs, and more. Matrixx has maintained a David mentality, even as they’ve grown to the Goliath level, listen in to this episode of RTU to learn how.

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Ask most senior marketing executives to describe their company, and you’ll often hear words like “workflow,” “optimization,” or “disruption” get thrown around. When you ask Dave Brotton, Vice President of Marketing, about Purple Wave, you’ll get something a little different—they like to say they “sell big, dirty, greasy equipment.” Now that’s a description with character. Purple Wave is, in fact, is in the business of big, dirty, greasy equipment—they are an online auction platform focused on things like construction and agricultural vehicles. So, think of it as eBay, but instead of a cute, $30 vintage sweater, you’re bidding on a $43,000 2012 John Deere S660 RWA combine to help harvest your next corn or soybean crop.

Believe it or not, marketing a company geared towards industrial agricultural equipment is a little different than marketing a company where you can sell your sibling’s old sweaters for some pocket cash. Purple Wave has devoted significant time to ensuring proper persona slicing for their efforts and have committed to building a strong community that can help them draw in both buyers and sellers. On this episode, Dave and Drew meet in Tampa at The CMO Club Summit in their escapes from Manhattan, KS and Manhattan, NY, respectively. They talk about company growth, community forming for customers and prospects, meaningful customer relationships, and more. Check it out!

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What happens when you put an incredibly articulate CMO in a cab with the host of Renegade Thinkers Unite? Genuine fast-paced goodness, that’s what! Jennifer Renaud, CMO of Vertiv, a $4.5 Billion company that spun out of Emerson Power in late 2016, is absolutely riveting as she shares the stories of two large companies that abandoned well-known brand names with frightful results.

The first company in question was Oracle. During her time there, Renaud witnessed the disappearance of both the Eloqua and Responsys brands in favor of the new Oracle Marketing Cloud. The initial results were not pretty as thousands of Eloqua and Responsys lovers searched in vain for those brands. Site traffic dropped off dramatically until they returned to using the old names at least on landing page.

Amazingly, the same thing happened at Vertiv, the parent company of brands like Liebert, Avocent and Geist. While none of these are household names, it turns out they are well liked in their vertical markets. Shortly after her arrival at Vertiv in April 2018, Renaud visited a customer who had not heard of her new company, but when she shared the name of the other brands, he said proudly, “oh great, do you want to see my Liebert?” It was at the moment that Renaud realized that bringing back the Liebert name, at least online, as well as the others, could have a dramatic impact on their business. She was right!

If you’re thinking about abandoning a brand name, then do listen in both to understand the risks and to hear ways of mitigating the downside. And for anyone who wants to make a case for growing brand awareness, you’ll find it especially interesting to hear what happens when that awareness is suddenly taken away. Fascinating insights await you. Enjoy.

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There is probably nothing more fundamental to marketing than your brand name. It usually takes years to build awareness and equity, especially the kind of equity that helps recruit employees, retain customers and attract prospects. So, when a company decides to change its name, that’s a really big deal or at least it should be given both the challenges of finding a new name and then rebuilding the lost equity. In this episode, Dave Deasy, CMO of TrustArc, formerly TRUSTe, walks us through their entire renaming process.

Over the course of this interview, you’ll learn how to tell when a name change is in order and a concrete process for the development of the new name. Involving an outside naming firm was only part of the answer. Another important component was the role of the CEO and his insistence that the executive committee build consensus together. Along the way, Deasy shows his artfulness, encouraging his branding agency to “get crazy” when thinking about the logo design, a suggestion that resulted in the addition of a fin to the logo and a whole new story line for the introduction. This is just one of the many insightful stories you’ll find in this episode.

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On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, world-famous influencer Nala Cat—who is, in fact, a cat—joins RTU to meow her thoughts on brand building, partnership marketing, and her general marketing philosophy. As she usually does, Nala brought along her two interpreters/owners, Pookie and Shannon, to help put the Nala Cat marketing philosophy into words. In the discussion, they’ll explore exactly what goes into building Nala Cat’s brand, which is notable for—other than being awesome and adorable—boasting 4+ million Instagram followers, earning Nala her own CAA agent (the only cat to do so), and so much more.

Additionally, we’ll be donating $1 (up to 1K) for every download of this episode, and the money will go to an awesome charity selected by Nala herself: Love Your Feral Felines, an all-volunteer, registered 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to rescuing cats and giving them a second chance at life. Check out LYFF’s website, and make sure to check out Nala’s episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite!

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If you’re a fan of renegade thinking, then you’ll probably be a fan of David Thompson, CMO of Freshworks, and serial bold marketer. His marketing has historically been fairly subversive, think responding to competitions’ hiring of Cindy Crawford with a RuPaul-led Superbowl commercial (in the early aughts). Or hiring a blimp with “#FailsForce” written on it to circle Salesforce Tower, the tallest building in San Francisco, and home of Freshworks competitor Salesforce.

When asked about being afraid of backlash to his marketing, Thompson responded that, if you aren’t a little afraid of your marketing, it’s probably not worth putting out into the world. He likes to partially gauge this by seeing how his CEO reacts to the pitch—if the CEO immediately mentions that the board will need to take a look, you’re on the right track. Learn more about bold, tactical marketing, rapid rebrands, bartending for Meryl Streep before a performance (her go-to before performing is whiskey), and more on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

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What comes to mind when you hear “Spartan?” Probably some version of the imagery found in 2006’s blockbuster, 300. Scenes of great battle, troops acting in perfect unison to overcome odds in a gritty, ticket-selling fashion. While the Spartan brand we’ll be discussing in this episode doesn’t boast life-threatening battles, it does feature some dramatic challenges, the kind that help to build teamwork. And given the importance of building and sustaining teamwork for the success of just about every organization, you’re going to want to hear how the CMO of Spartan, Carola Jain, pulls this all together.

On this episode of RTU, Jain discusses the importance of a great team—and not just a supportive CEO or an understanding CFO; Carola emphasizes the importance of the people you work with, the people in the company trenches, not the owners or executives. She discusses how commitment to a purpose can help motivate employees, and how they can boost the effectiveness of internal rollouts. Beyond that, Jain explores leadership, collaboration, purpose, highlighting the Spartan women, and adds in what might be a piping hot take in the business world: “don’t email.” Tune in for more!

Is there anything that drives the whole business? What are some crucial elements of your operation, marketing or otherwise?

I think nothing works without a great team. And oftentimes you forget: It’s the people that are not necessarily in the board-level conversations. And you really need to spend time and understand what makes him tick. Why do they believe in the company? They don't own the company. They don't necessarily own all the shares. So, how do you think about translating what makes me come to work every day to everybody in the team? And I recently devoted more time to these informal sessions where we explore that. I love working in a way where I can do a lot of interesting things—how do I bring that same opportunity to everybody on my team?

Can you share any big or surprising learnings you’ve encountered in your career thus far?

I think one of the biggest learnings, as well as something I’m continuing to learn about, are the fast lanes and slow lanes on projects. How do you create a fast lane where you can always tackle issues, and really drive forward? When is that the right move? I recently got advice from a mentor to always have these stand-up 10-minute meetings. There's only one topic that can be discussed. And everybody goes away and does something that gets implemented immediately. Looking at those moments where speed and efficiency are priority, as opposed to moments where a slower deliberate approach may be crucial.

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How many languages do you speak? No judgements here—just curious. But, a safe bet would say that the majority of people reading this have a primary language, and then a rudimentary understanding of a second (if that). Now, this is probably fine for the most part, but if you generate some content that needs to be consumed by prospects in other countries, you’ll need a translation service like Smartling. But, Smartling’s marketing doesn’t just revolve around citing how they solve business needs, it celebrates the translators—the people—who make it run, and the stories that each translator has. On this episode of RTU, Adrian Cohn, director of Brand Strategy and Comms, and Jack Welde, Founder & CEO, discuss how they do that.

Smartling’s values highlight humanity and personality, and they’ve found considerable success taking those values to heart when marketing. Tune in to hear more about their efforts, how they engage employees before rolling out a campaign, their approach to measurement, and more. Plus, hear more about their most renegade marketing effort yet: a beautiful, printed book that tells the stories of 12 Smartling translators, both through beautiful prose and stunning imagery.

What inspired the story-based approach?

What are we in business to do? We're trying to help companies to reach people around the world. It's very human. It's a communication process. I would argue that, in a world of marketing personalization, translation is the most basic form of marketing. Speak my language if you want to reach me, right? So I said: hey, there's got to be a way to tell a story like this, that perhaps allows our translators and our buyers to connect more and really remember that balance between art and science, not just the technology, but also the humanity.

How’d you settle on the book? How’d you start putting the content out there?

We didn't have a calculation as to whether or not this would work, but we did have affirmation from customers who continuously told us about how important the translators were to them. This leap of faith was rooted in our customers and their feedback. When we went to produce this, it was extremely challenging. We had to send someone to 11 or 12 destinations around the world. There were dozens of trips, flights booked, hotel rooms—very complicated to execute. But what I was really excited about is that we decided to produce and roll out this campaign in a very agile way. We didn't actually produce everything and keep it to ourselves until one big launch. As soon as we started getting images from Elizabeth, we started dripping them out across social media. We started incorporating them in our presentations around the world. It was a very different way of unveiling a brand marketing campaign, but every single time we dripped something new, we got great feedback.

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“When the time is right, you’ll know.” It feels like an almost trope-ish answer to many of life’s questions, or like the vague wisdom from a mentor in a karate movie. Unfortunately, the utility of that phrase really doesn’t extend to executing a rebrand. So, how did Acquia know it was time to rebrand?

Acquia, an enterprise software company, just topped $200 million in revenue, and has achieved 57% growth in the past three years. Clearly, they’ve been doing some things right, and can feel good about their recent decision to rebrand. So, how did CMO Lynne Capozzi know the timing was right? Well, it took a quite a bit of marketing know-how, a need to stand out in the market, and a desire to really emphasize the company’s purpose: to help people “experience digital freedom.”

Tune in to this week’s episode to hear more about Lynne’s extensive marketing background, their approach to a successful rebrand, the importance of getting internal buy-in, and more.

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A major CRM company, Springbig, is blazing a trail. They’ve become a go-to provider in the industry they focus on, they’ve got a 98% customer retention rate, and have their entire staff supporting a brand purpose: Help retailers accomplish their goals, every day. On this episode, co-founder and CEO Jeffrey Harris explains how they managed to come into a new industry and quickly establish themselves as key players. The kicker? The area that Springbig pivoted to focus on is the rapidly flowering, marijuana dispensary industry.

The cannabis tech industry—think martech, but specifically for cannabis companies—is booming. Updated legislature and an overall cultural shift in perception are two especially large factors in this market’s rapid growth, and as such, a massive new marketplace is opening up, meaning companies have huge opportunities, but need to move quick. Springbig recognized this and set to work identifying and understanding their target. Now, they’re sought out at industry conferences, expanding their vast clientele, and helping dispensaries optimize customer messaging with advanced metrics—After 4 visits, Springbig can actually predict with 90% accuracy what time a dispensary’s customers will have their 5th visit!

Tune in to this week’s episode to hear more about their rapid ascent in dispensary circles, their approach to quickly gaining an accurate understanding of the market, how they use marketing to foster loyalty, and more. Plus, take a look at a couple highlights below:

So, you made the decision to boldly commit to one, new-ish vertical market. How’d you approach it?

When we got into it, we didn't realize what pent-up demand there was in the space for a service like ours. When we got into the space, there was one competitor that had gotten in before us and they were doing very well. And they were they were well-known. We were basically the other guys. We're now at the point where there's probably three other players besides us doing similar things in this space, in this vertical. And we probably are the most well-known now and probably have the most customers. You know, partly because we really delved into it. We really got to understand not only the general market, but the state-by-state market, because every state has its own market in this industry. You really have to continue and commit to those cycles of learning to try to get to a place where you can accelerate your success

Were there some things that you did to help market your organization that were, in retrospect, particularly effective?

Well, it's an industry now, but when we got into it about three years ago, I would call it more of a community than an industry. When there's this cause going on, there's a community built around that cause. And where does a community meet and get together? In person, at conferences. In other industries that I've participated in, you go to a conference and you may see the marketing managers, or the marketing directors of these companies. In cannabis, the owners were there. All of them. That was where we wanted to spend the most dollars and the most time. So, we basically brought people onboard, and walked through those conferences. We were advertising beforehand to let people know we were there, we were trying to do everything that we could to get the exposure that we needed. This past year, just to fast forward about a year and a half, at the big conference in Las Vegas—it's called MJ BizCon—we finally had people seeking us out. Coming over like “Oh, I was looking for you guys.”

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Most CMOs “only” have to focus on businesses or consumers as their primary target. Avid, a multimedia tech company, actually markets products to both audiences, a challenge that CMO Melissa Puls relishes. For Puls, the buyer in either market is still a human, a person with creative ambitions. And while a giant TV network might be spending a lot more money on far more complex editing equipment, their end goals are often the same – produce awesome content and share it with the world. As such, Puls helped the company rally around a shared purpose of “powering greater creators,” an idea that also helped hold all their global marketing efforts together.

In our lively conversation, we covered virtually every facet of modern marketing, from what to do in the first hundred days to building a content marketing machine. Importantly, we spent a lot of time talking about the power of having a purpose-driven story statement that is unique, own-able, and inspires employees, customers and prospects regardless of job or business size. Ultimately, Puls helped Avid recognize the humanity of all of its customers. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear about that, the value of balancing face-to-face marketing with digital, the importance of a collaborative leadership team, the number one most important thing a CMO needs to do in a subscription-based world, and much, much more!

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Simon Schaffer-Goldman, of Case Paper, is really just your run-of-the-mill CMO. Well, except maybe for starting out as a shepherd in New Zealand. Also, maybe his portfolio of stunning photography and his penchant for comedy writing are somewhat uncommon. Oh, and the willingness to lead a bold rebrand with a new approach that strays pretty far from the typical tone of B2B paper companies. Hm. Okay, maybe Simon isn’t so run-of-the-mill after all. Though, run-of-the-mill could make for some pretty decent paper industry puns... We’ll file that one away for now.

On this week's RTU, Simon and Drew discuss Case Paper's recent update to their branding and marketing, including their new commitment to being "On the Case," how introducing a purpose-driven branding campaign can improve the company culture and operations, agency partnerships (including with yours truly!), and Case's history—and future—with absurdity, humor, and, generally, having a good time cutting through. Listen in for more!

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On last week's RTU episode 155, Kim Whitler and Drew dove into a wide range of marketing topics, including exploring the CMO/CEO relationship in detail. Given the subject matter, it was only appropriate that the episode was recorded in the presence of 6 B2B marketing leaders. Now, in the second part of the interview, those marketing leaders start guiding the discussion.

Tune in to hear their questions on the subjects of branding vs. demand budgets, how CMOs should engage with other C-suite members, and whether modern CMOs should skew towards a quant-mindset or a creative mindset.

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What do you get when you combine a dash of academic rigor, a hint a marketing obsession (in the best way possible), a few critiques of modern CMO tendencies, and a live audience of some of the sharpest B2B marketers out there? That’d be this week’s episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, with Kim Whitler, Assistant Professor of Business Administration at UVA’s Darden School of Business.

Host Drew Neisser and Kim cover quite a bit of ground on this one, drawing on Kim’s 250+ published Forbes Articles—including a comprehensive look at some CMO challenges, in The Trouble With CMOs, published in the Harvard Business Review—Drew’s 300+ CMO interviews, and the shared knowledge of 6 B2B marketing leaders weighing in. The conversation explores the often tenuous relationships with CMOs and CEOs, how those can be improved, the ideal type of CMO to lead an effective marketing team, how leadership can change consumer behavior, and much, much more. Given the expansive subject material, this episode will actually be broken into 2 parts—be on the lookout for part 2 next week, but for now, listen in to hear about some research-backed tactics every creative marketer needs to consider.

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In the age of 1:1 personalization, it might be considered heresy to suggest that persona-based marketing is a false idol. But hey, we’re renegades, so of course we’re going to challenge convention. The idea of personas is not necessarily bad. You can never know enough about your target audiences especially when facing 11-person buying committees as is the case with so many enterprise sales efforts. But there is a big difference between 1:1 personalization and personas, which are often an amalgamation of clichés by job title-- like all CFOs are risk averse and all IT people are data-driven. Sure, many CFOs tend to be risk averse and many IT people like numbers. Now what? Does that mean you present you product as the least risky to the CFO and the most data-rich to the IT person? In a word, no.

As it turns out the different story for different targets approach simply doesn’t work when you’re selling large solutions to large companies and Gartner’s Brent Adamson has the research to prove it. In this episode, host Drew Neisser gets on his anti-persona pulpit by interviewing himself. That’s one less persona to cope with on this show perhaps making the medium the message? Too meta? You decide.

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When Intuit’s Mary-Ann Somers took over as SVP & Chief Growth Officer of the Consumer Group business unit, she wanted to build upon the success of her predecessor, and encourage a culture of experimentation. She wanted a marketing machine that led with inquiry, holistically understood the business, and got close to its customers. She wanted big things for the consumer business—of course, when you're Intuit, which pulls in about $7B in revenue annually, employs over 8,000 people, and has a consumer product portfolio with names like TurboTax and Mint, you're already going pretty big. Still, Somers and her team were ready to continue building on the software giant's momentum.

On this episode, she discusses her past in consumer packaged goods, including championing digital marketing at Hershey's (and moving 35% of their efforts to digital in just 6 months), her commitment to clean, crisp, and single-minded messaging, brand management, and why marketers ought to operate with a holistic view of the company. Listen in to her interview, recorded in front of a live audience, to hear more!

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At Drugstore Publicis, a luxury shop on Champs-Élysées, you’ll find more than a typical pharmacy. You’ll find Joel Robuchon’s L’Atelier Etoile restaurant, a bookstore, a cinema, imported olive oils, cigars, and wines. Plus, they are also actually a drugstore in case you need a prescription filled.

This summer, you may have also found host Drew Neisser chatting with Corneliu Vilsan, Director of Marketing Operations EMEA & LATAM for Pernod Ricard. Running the marketing of an international beverage titan, with a portfolio ranging from Jameson Whiskey, to Malibu Rum, to Absolute Vodka and far beyond, is certainly a tall order. On this episode, listen in as Corneliu shares how he does it, and the wide range of tools he uses, from influencer marketing, to cultural analysis, new approaches to data analysis and social listening, and more.

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If someone ran up to you and said, “Congrats, you’re now the CMO of a $165M tech company with about 500 employees,” what would you do? First, maybe celebrate a bit—that’s a pretty significant achievement—but next, you’ve got to form a plan. Are you pursuing growth? Acquiring companies? Rebranding? Pivoting away from tech and towards producing artisanal hand soaps?

Granted, Sara Larsen, CMO of Brightcove (a $165M cloud video platform with about 500 employees), didn’t just get her role from some random guy on the street—she’d stepped into it after an extensive career in tech marketing at companies like IBM and SAP—but hopefully that thought exercise gave you just the slightest glimpse into the sort of decisions that need to get made when you take the helm of a ship like Brightcove. Coming into the role, Larsen wanted to aim for growth, but not just for the company; the entire category of online video could be expanded with the right approach. Now, ten months later, the company has grown and is hard at work pushing its category further. Tune in to this interview to hear how they’re approaching that, as well as other insights regarding career management, successful acquisition, customer experience, employee engagement, and more.

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What’s it take to be a marketing leader? Well, you can have boundless knowledge of metrics, have a mind for strategy somewhere in the neighborhood of Sun Tzu’s, and write copy that would make Hemingway blush, but just having the sharpest tools on your belt won’t cut it. Above all else, you need to able to mobilize your team.

As Thomas Barta puts it, you need to be energetic, you need to inspire, and you need to be a role model. As the authority on marketing leadership, you’d be wise to heed his call. Barta was a partner and senior marketer at McKinsey, led the world’s largest study of marketing leadership (68k+ assessments!), published a book on the subject, and is a regular contributor for multiple news outlets. He’s consulted and marketed for 20+ years, in 14 industries, across 45 countries. You could say he’s picked up a thing or two on the way—tune in to this week’s special episode, recorded with a live audience of top-tier marketers and CMOs (who contribute along the way), to hear more about marketing leadership, effective attribution, learning from the customer voice, and more.

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In this special episode, three accomplished CMOs share their experiences as women in the marketing world. The featured guests include Kathy Button-Bell, SVP & CMO of Emerson, Tolithia Kornweibel, CMO of Gusto, and Jean English, who was CMO of NetApp at the time of this interview (she’s now at Palo Alto Networks).

While the glass ceiling seems to have been broken for CMOs awhile ago, distinct challenges remain. Each of the guests explore the barriers they’ve overcome and share hard-earned advice on navigating the modern workplace. It’s important to note that these women have been vocal advocates for change, having worked to organize and develop female leaders within their organizations. Tune in to hear more.

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Bon jour, and welcome to the first-ever overseas RTU! This episode was recorded from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport. Why? This beautiful airport, in the spirit of the show, serves as a perfect symbol of breaking into new territories, and acts as a wonderful hub for exploration. Well… That, and this week’s guest, Jan Huckfeldt, had a flight to catch after this interview. After all, the former Global CMO of Motorola and Lenovo, and current chairman of Ledger’s advisory board, has quite a few places to be.

Still, his busy schedule didn’t stop him from taking some time to dive into a few crucial traits every great marketing leader should have. Jan helps break down how leaders need to approach inspiring and engaging employees, but also how to work towards a purpose, how to protect your marketing, and how to instill trust. He explores the subject in more detail, and also discusses broader brand strategy tactics, and his extensive marketing career, in this interview.

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Lorraine Barber-Miller, CMO of ADP, has a tough mission: make ADP a category of one. That means helping push her legacy brand past its perception of just being a payroll solution. And, though it's a tough goal, ADP's marketing machine has been firing on all cylinders and getting it done.

Lorraine and her team have been hard at work implementing the company's first-ever marketing plan. They've crafted a new brand purpose to help differentiate in a crowded field, made a new character the hero of their story, and have invested in massive outdoor, digital, and print campaigns to bring their reinvigorated brand to the world. Tune in to hear how they told a story that no one else could, and how they made it real.

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In last week’s episode, we traced the career of Noah Brier from a copywriter who didn’t know what copy was, all the way to co-founder of an immensely successful content marketing platform that’s, to date, received north of $100M in funding.

On the second part of the interview, Drew and Noah take a closer look at brand positioning and content marketing. Noah shares his thoughts on where brands are going too exclusive, and how orchestration is a thorn in content’s side. He also dives into the key storytelling alongside the customer journey, and in one ten-minute stretch, shares a veritable boatload of illuminating advice on how to improve your content. Listen in!

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Percolate, a software company, has received north of $100M in funding. Not a number to be scoffed at. In this episode—a fairly atypical one—Noah Brier, the founder, recalls and examines the path he followed to get to this point. Noah started with a job at American Demographics, a now-defunct marketing and advertising magazine, moved into a copywriting position (despite not knowing what ‘copywriting’ was) at a familiar agency (Renegade LLC!), and wound his way through a few other roles and side projects, twists, turns, ups and downs before reaching the point he’s at today. Now, Percolate is making a name as a leading enterprise content marketing platform, and he can lay claim to a true wealth of experience.

Noah’s journey is, in many ways, extraordinary. It follows unconventional routes, shows moments of peerless creative intuition and spark, and can ideally help guide each and every aspiring marketing leader out there. Listen in to hear about Noah’s entry into marketing, how he advises developing and managing your career, and how he approached starting his own, now massively successful, company. Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, but Noah’s model can offer some insights into how it can happen. As he says, “you can’t go through the experience of being an entrepreneur and not make a bunch of mistakes. You just hope to make fewer of them the next time around.”

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Millions of data points. A singular vision. Those are at the core of the new NetApp campaign, and the results were pretty significant. Over 70% of folks who saw the campaign saw NetApp as “a new company,” while website traffic tripled. So, yeah, pretty successful. So how’d they pull it off? A blend of tactful digital rollouts, account-based marketing, and more. It also came down to the idea of being a data visionary, and that, as CMO Jean English puts it, “everyone wants to be a visionary.

On this episode, Jean further explores the notion of being a visionary, and the crucial role boldness played in shaping this successful campaign. In forming the campaign, and the marketing mindset, Jean wanted her team to stretch the idea as far as it could go, and then go a little bit further. She wanted to make sure people had far-reaching ideas, and then she wanted to test and experiment. Listen in to hear more about her fail fast and move forward mentality, about aligning her vision across the company, and more.

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How do you become a $4-billion company by selling free software? It almost sounds like a trick question, but it’s been done. Just ask Tim Yeaton, CMO of Red Hat, a $4-billion, open-source software company. The marketing’s been a major driver of success, and as Tim Yeaton puts it, has been the glue that permeates across the company and enforces everything—from product, to community, to end user.

Though Yeaton starts out by discussing how marketing supports large tech companies, and how it has fostered a community as unique as Red Hat’s, he starts to break down the individual elements that can be applied to any B2B brand looking to get their marketing gears turning: simultaneous brand building and demand gen, developing a collaborative, meritocratic culture, effective agency collaboration, and perhaps most importantly, the benefits of simply telling a great story. Lastly, though it may not be the most critical driver of success, it is probably worth mentioning that Red Hat is likely the first-ever company with an advisory committee built entirely of employees that have had the logo tattooed on them—now that’s dedication.

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How can a brand save the world? They could do something flashy, like repel an alien invasion or topple Godzilla, or they could do something real and substantive, like the World Surf League. When the WSL isn’t helping pro surfers shred the next big curl (are we saying that right?) or giving sports fans a great way to soak up some rays, they’re preparing for the future. As a sport deeply intertwined with the environment, that means committing to going carbon neutral.

Sophie Goldschmidt, CEO of the WSL, has helped this goal permeate the entirety of the organization, and has noted how crucial it is to have a brand purpose worth rallying behind. On this episode, she discusses her athletics-centered marketing career, from Adidas, to the World Tennis Association, the NBA, and Rugby Football Union, as well as her commitment to brand purpose, engaging with the customers, effective company leadership, and more.

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What does a B2B brand’s website have in common with a SuperBall? A significant bounce rate! Okay, maybe not the funniest joke, but it does transition well into discussing a pretty real issue with many B2B brands: they’re boring! There are plenty exceptions, of course, but far too often, B2B brands end up being, as this week’s guest puts it, “B2Boring.”

Ryan Urban is the CEO & Founder of BounceX, a company that helps brands optimize their websites (and ditch the high bounce rates). In examining countless B2B brands, Urban has gotten a great sense of where these companies tend to go wrong, and so much of it ties to these brands being dull, playing it safe, and failing to show any personality. Their websites and content too often lack story, and end up being “coagulated, congealed buzzwords” that’ll just bounce prospects away like a trampoline. So, if you’re interested in hearing about how brands can be a little more exciting, what landing pages need to be successful, and more, tune in to this week’s Renegade Thinkers Unite.

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Email is still innovative...right? One might argue that email marketing has become the Facebook of marketing strategies— It was cool at first, it hasn't declined yet, but everyone and their grandmother is now on it. So what are the trendy marketing kids using now? Erik Huberman, CEO & Founder of Hawke Media, gives us the answer: SMS. As it turns out, customers only engage with marketing emails about 3% of the time, while the average click-through rate for SMS marketing tallies up to 30%. That's a number to write home about.

Erik knows that these statistics are too important to ignore and knows that they're indicative of a larger shift in B2B. Acknowledging that shift, and moving with it, has helped Erik's young company grow from 7 to 160 employees in just about 5 years. On this week's episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew chats with Erik about the shift in traditional advertising towards more efficient digital strategies, and how B2B marketers can navigate it artfully. Learn about how this shift isn't for everyone, the importance of product demand, what an outsourced CMO does, and more.

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What do you need to make a big splash? A big ship, one would assume, is a terrific place to start. So that’s exactly what Agari used to launch their new brand, the purpose of which is written loudly and proudly on the walls of their headquarters: “Agari protects digital communications to ensure humanity prevails over evil.” That’s a pretty bold way of explaining that your company is an advanced cybersecurity firm for email. But a bold mission statement is exactly what companies need to grow. At Agari, this statement is deeply woven into the community fabric, from the board members down to rank-and-file employees.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Armen Najarian, CMO, discusses how they made the mission real, and how having that meaningful guidance of saving and protecting the world of digital communications, helped drive brand, product development, company growth, and more.

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How do you effectively lead the marketing efforts of a 20,000+ employee tech giant well enough to make it into the American Marketing Association’s Hall of Fame? Sure—the question may sound a bit specific, but that journey is chock full of valuable takeaways for marketers at any sized company, in any line of work. Lucky enough for RTU listeners, this week’s episode features Ann Lewnes.

Ann is a recent inductee into the AMA Hall of Fame and is currently the CMO of Adobe, a company that doesn’t really need much of an introduction. In her time at Adobe, she’s established herself as a trail-blazing, “flag planter” who gives great attention to the big picture. Listen in to this episode to hear about how she does that, her own marketing journey, the content strategy for Adobe, building brand trust, inspiring the people around you, and more.

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Customers: What are they? Where do they come from, and what do they want? These are some of the great, cosmic questions we humans may never be able to answer. Just kidding, it’s actually (from a high-level, conceptual viewpoint) pretty simple. We’re all doing business with people, and people matter. If you keep your customer happy, great things happen. Going a little further, companies need to spend more time focusing on customer activation. Customers can and should be advocates for your brand, but to achieve that, they have to be treated well. Simple enough concept, but execution will take a little work.

On this episode of RTU, Kevin Spurway, SVP of Marketing at Appian, an enterprise application development platform, talks about the high level of commitment and effort required to really engage with customers, especially existing ones. He discusses what he calls “post-sale marketing,” which is how Appian has been so successful at developing meaningful relationships with its client base. Tune in to hear about post-sale marketing, celebrating customer success, customer-engagement pitfalls to avoid, and more!

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When you order a pizza, you want it delivered quickly. It should prepared, placed in one of those fancy heat-retaining delivery bags, and be at your door within the half hour. Boom. Simple.

A brand transformation is not a pizza (stop the presses!). Most marketing endeavors, in fact, benefit immensely from first slowing things down. Do your research, let ideas cool off while you consider them, and make sure your efforts are built on a strong, deliberately crafted foundation. Then, order your team a pizza to celebrate a well-executed campaign.

That's part of what Dawn Colossi, CMO at FocusVision, a customer insights company, preaches. Research is absolutely key. No matter how tight the deadline, how urgent the project, it'll always be beneficial to start off with the research, even if a light, initial round. Tune in to hear more about effective researching, tactful surveys, and how to be more deliberate in your marketing efforts.

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What’s your brand truth? Actually—let’s pull back a bit: what is a brand truth? You could give it a few different names, but in essence, your brand truth is a concise guiding principle that informs virtually every aspect of the company’s operation and, importantly, can’t be dismissed. In the case of UTAK, a toxicology quality control provider (serving chemistry labs, forensics experts, and more), they nailed it in two words: “Control Freaks.”

On this episode of RTU, CMO, and Chief Control Freak, Matt Kopp joins the show to discuss the origins of “Control Freaks,” and how two simple words have influenced every arm of the company, from product development, to customer engagement, to marketing. He also dives into the benefits of bringing in an outside agency (Renegade LLC) to develop the idea, the importance of internal buy-in, how to stand out in a crowded B2B market, and more.

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About 5 years ago, Rebecca Stone joined LiveRamp and the CEO said, “I want you to be as sophisticated as possible in advertising, and how you use it.” At the time, the company had two sales development reps, a funnel that wasn’t necessarily feeding leads properly, and a young tech stack and tons of potential, so Rebecca got to work on the company’s digital transformation.

Now, the company has a tech stack built from roughly 40 different tools, broken into different operating nodes, a marketing team that supports 20 sales development reps, an in-house data lake, and data analytics models that can accurately predict how marketing spend will translate to revenue—a sort of holy grail for marketing analytics.

On this episode, Rebecca shares her journey at LiveRamp, a platform that helps brands get personalized ads in front of users across the web, and how she helped build the well-oiled marketing machine that her department has become.

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You might think the first step to asteroid mining is get a rocket ship. Usually you would be right. But on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Sean Regan, Head of Product Marketing at Atlassian, is taking a different approach. To Sean, mining an asteroid speaks more to the idea that a portion of your marketing, or overall company strategy, has to seek out untapped, sometimes hard-to-reach areas, otherwise you’ll just be chipping away at coal in the same mines as everyone else, looking for small, incremental bumps in value. As Sean says about marketing, “if you’re not nervous about it—even a little bit—there’s a pretty good chance it doesn’t matter.”

At Atlassian, a software developer aimed at improving collaborative productivity for companies, Sean keeps asteroid mining front-and-center when formulating marketing strategies. On today’s episode, join in as he and Drew talk about how to bring emotion and creativity to science-driven marketing, how product development and marketing is contributing to Atlassian’s 100M monthly active user goals, how to get customers to become brand evangelists, and more.

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If you were constructing a bingo board based on the lingo in tech company discussions, you’d have “disrupt” right in the middle square, as it’s basically a freebie. What’s far less common, is seeing a company actually follow through on that disruption, but that’s what SAP has managed to do. Alicia Tillman, CMO, has been hard at work trying to re-envision how SAP presents itself, largely driven by the CEO’s ambitious goal to crack the top 10 most valuable brands in the world.

So, Alicia took the reins, set about repositioning the company, and has since seen SAP move from 21st most valuable brand to 17th—their highest growth rate since 2009. Quite a few cylinders have been firing to make this happen: Their commitment to rallying behind a bold, company-wide purpose, their internal buy-in and alignment, their dedication to creativity and storytelling, and of course, good old fashioned hard work, have all played a major role in kicking SAP into the next gear. For more of Alicia’s keys to effective marketing, and to get a closer look at how one of the most valuable companies maintains and builds on its success, check out the full interview.

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In the utopian holster of magical marketing bullets, employee advocacy is right up there with viral videos (think Ice Bucket Challenge) and real-time marketing (remember Oreo’s ‘dunking in the dark’ social posts?) But, unlike the last two options, employee advocacy is actually something most companies can execute consistently, assuming they follow a few critical steps. First, you have to run a company that employees actually enjoy working at and feel comfortable advocating for. Second, you need to allow your employees the latitude to speak in their own voice not just the brand’s. And third, it really helps if you have a tech platform that makes it easy for employees to advocate on the brand’s behalf.

On this episode, Drew chats with Glenn Gaudet, CEO and founder of GaggleAMP, an employee advocacy enablement tool. In their conversation, Drew and Glenn dive into the issues most marketers face when developing these programs, how to build a culture of eager sharers and the importance of segmenting potential advocates. They also discuss how employee advocacy programs need to align with broader marketing strategies, a few dos and don’ts, and more. Listen in and learn how to get employees caring about sharing.

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What the heck is a purpose-driven story statement and why are they so critical to successful marketing? These are the question Drew answers on the first-ever installment of Drew’s Takeaways, a special RTU episode where he distills and discusses key topics and themes of recent interviews. On this episode, Drew breaks down why and how a company can rally behind a powerful, purpose-driven story statement.

Through the discussion of two such statements—one that worked, and one that fulfilled its promise—Drew helps shed some light on how a brand can craft a meaningful identity that engages employees, customers, and prospects, while helping drive the brand forward. To hear more about being purpose-driven, and to take a closer look at statements like Family Circle’s Where Family Comes First and SurveyMonkey’s We Power the Curious, tune in!

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A true, purpose-driven brand doesn't happen overnight. What it really takes is a goal, specific actions, and at times, a bit of sacrifice. For Bank of the West, their mission meant, in the short-term, potentially leaving money on the table in the name of responsible investment of customers' money, and transparency as to what that money was doing. That initial cost was worth it, as the long-term benefits, like new customers, talent attraction, and differentiation, outweighed any money lost. Now, when high-profile job candidates ask, "Why should I join you? How are you helping the world?" Bank of the West has a great an answer—they're one of very few banks that has restrictive financing policies on things like coal, fracking, and arctic drilling.

On this episode of RTU, learn how CMO Ben Stuart and his team helped shape this relatively small financial institution to become a competitive, purpose-driven company with marketing that doesn't feel like an uninvited guest. The discussion touches on crafting a tight strategy, gaining internal buy-in, data analytics, the keys to differentiation, and more on how to craft brilliant marketing.

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Payroll tends to be a purely transactional moment between employer and employee, but Gusto is working to shift that to being a "life moment," potentially one of delight (as receiving a paycheck should be!). Effectively reaching their audience while balancing internal alignment, a hefty tech stack, and their mission statement—to create a world where work empowers a better life—can be something of a juggling act. Tolithia Kornweibel, head of marketing, and her team at Gusto, are up to the task.

On today's RTU, Drew and Tolithia talk about how to effectively build a demand engine, how to demonstrate value internally to gain support, and how to keep track of your brand through a balance of qualitative and quantitative assessment, all while staying true to a brand mission. Tune in!

Connect With Tolithia: * On LinkedIn * Via gusto.com

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Silicon Valley is home to thousands of B2B startups—and one of the the newest B2B unicorns. Brex offers a corporate credit card more built around the ever-changing needs of a startup, and they've been valued at over $1 billion. One of the secrets? Champagne and chocolate.

Brex's overall success has tied heavily into their bold marketing, and on this episode of RTU, Chief Sales Officer Sam Blond, and CFO/CMO Michael Tannenbaum, discuss it in detail. From identifying your targets, to orchestrating outdoor campaigns, to in-depth attribution models, Brex has been firing on all cylinders. Listen in to learn more.

Be sure to listen.

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What You’ll Learn How Brex found its current market Brex is located in Silicon Valley, where there are thousands of B2B startups. Brex’s founders stumbled upon the painfulness of managing corporate credit cards when they could not get a credit card for one of their own new business. Their experience demonstrated a business opportunity and a marketplace in the niche of corporate cards for startups. Typically, founders of startups had to personally guarantee a corporate card. Even with millions of dollars in the bank, these businesses would have 20k-30k spending limits placed on them that were nowhere high enough to support the spending of a company. Brex instead uses businesses bank accounts and bank activity to determine the spending limits on corporate cards. Michael and Sam point out that startups move and grow too quickly to have spending limits determined on a yearly basis, so Brex is constantly evaluating what a business needs and what limits will be. Their business model has resonated especially with tech startups and B2B businesses in Silicon Valley.

Why outdoor marketing works To launch its company, Brex turned to outdoor marketing. With already 100 clients prior to launch, Brex knew it had a good story to tell with a large impact for startups. They wanted to maximize the one time impact of the company’s launch. With a highly targeted market of startups concentrated in the San Francisco area, they purchased as much outdoor inventory as they could. Brex flooded the market with billboards informing the public that they were the first corporate credit card for startups. Outdoor marketing allowed them to go broader and reach a larger number of people.

Brex’s unique email campaign Prior to working with Brex, Sam had lots of experiencing testing outbound email copy. For Brex’s unique email campaign, they coupled creative email copy with Brazilian chocolates or champagne. Brex was able to research companies that seemed like a good fit for their corporate card. Then, they targeted specific CFO’s in the Bay area to receive these gifts, and then an email from Brex shortly after. There was a combination of these emails and outdoor marketing to continue to get the word out there that there was an alternative to the current idea of a corporate credit card.

Timeline * [2:23] Who Sam and Michael are * [10:35] How Brex found this viable market * [15:28] Why Brex chose to use outdoor to launch its product * [18:02] The “Brex It” message * [22:45] Outdoor correlation to measurable results * [25:09] How’s Brex’s email campaigns are different (and successful) * [28:45] Viable CPA and the lifetime value per customer

Connect With Michael Tannenbaum & Sam Blond: * Connect with Michael Tannenbaum on LinkedIn * Connect with Sam Blond on LinkedIn

Resources & People Mentioned * www.Brex.com

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Perhaps Kathy Button Bell’s title should change from “Chief Marketing Officer” to “Chief Complexity Reduction Officer”—after all, she’s been simplifying things at Emerson Electric for over 20 years. Over that time, marketing has become complex due to the advent of new tools and the increased precision of targeting, among other things, but sometimes marketers need to shift their priorities towards making things easy to understand.

On this episode of RTU, Kathy and Drew discuss unnecessary complexity, employee engagement, the importance of—and keys to—longevity in marketing, and perhaps most importantly, how to keep your marketing brave, human, and uncluttered.

You won’t want to miss Kathy’s insights!

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What You’ll Learn How to stay fresh as a tenured CMO In a world where there is massive CMO turnover, Kathy Button Bell has not just survived for 20 years as CMO at Emerson, but she has thrived! She digs in and stays at one place by working on culture and driving it in a positive direction. She stays fresh in her job by being transparent. The world is pushing her to change every day, and she says to not be afraid of this change but to run with it! Marketing today has become overly complicated with all sorts of new channels, but it's not becoming more effective as a whole. Return to your main purpose. Instead of advertising your way to greatness, you have to earn your way to greatness.

Emerson’s “We See” Marketing Campaign Emerson launched its “We See” marketing campaign for its 125th anniversary. This campaign started internally with videos, banners, and information going first to employees. This campaign plays on Emerson’s core brand idea: Consider It Solved. Focussed on video advertising, it highlights the warmth and care from Emerson by showing how they enable life-saving drugs to be made faster and allow quicker access to natural gas. Kathy explains that they chose to go broad with this campaign to drive the relevancy of their business and remind people who they are! With this campaign, she has set the table for other businesses and created an umbrella for the campaign to be stretched and applied locally.

2 dos and a don’t for other CMOs Kathy Button Bell shares her biggest dos and don’ts for other CMOs. She says to be the Chief Complexity Reduction Officer. Meaning, a great CMO should reduce complexity in an organization and make others’ jobs easier. A great CMO should also reduce complexity externally by creating messaging that is simple and understandable. Secondly, she shares that CMO’s should always do the thing that is a little unexpected to keep people’s attention. For example, when Emerson wanted to create a video on its core values, instead of filming its employees talking about values, the children of employees were filmed! A small change such as this keeps people interested. Kathy says that as a CMO, you should never be defensive. Defensiveness is the enemy and makes you inauthentic.

Timeline * [2:01] Who is Kathy Button Bell * [3:47] How she dug in and stayed at one place as a CMO * [11:24] Living out her moto: Be Brave and Have Fun! * [18:48] How to stay fresh when you’ve been in the same job * [22:12] Emerson Electric’s new iteration of a campaign * [28:21] Kathy Button Bell’s guiding principles * [31:30] Measuring the success of the “We See” campaign * [34:16] Two dos and a don’t for other CMOs

Connect With Guest: * Kathy Button Bell’s Bioon Emerson’s Website * Connect with Kathy Button Bell on LinkedIn * Follow Kathy Button Bell on Twitter * Follow Kathy Button Bell on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Video: Emerson Kids * Website: Emerson.com

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Call an Uber, order from Amazon, book a hotel… You can do all of these things instantly—even at 4 AM. People today want commodities quickly and with round the clock access. Believe it or not, your B2B buyers are also people, and they probably want the same. Now, most businesses can’t man their websites 24/7 (unless you’re shelling out for night shift employees or lots of coffee)—this is where the chatbot comes in. But there’s an art to the bot—they shouldn’t replace humans, but should help facilitate conversations with customers. Proper use can result in tremendous boost to lead generation, and can radically speed up a company’s growth.

Dave Gerhardt, co-author of Conversational Marketing and VP of Marketing at Drift, joined RTU for a chatbot chat, and really digs into the value, and ideal usage, of these automated critters. Beyond that, Dave touches on a few broader subjects, including how marketing efforts need to be rooted in empathy and humanity. After all, you’ll always be marketing to people.

Listen in! You’ll want to hear about why businesses big and small can benefit from chatbots!

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What You’ll Learn Conversational marketing: why you should nix your lead form When Drift nixed its own lead form, they did so to teach the market about conversational marketing! Drift needed to practice what it preached. Drift utilizes bots to capture leads. Instead of a form submission, there is a conversation with a potential customer. Dave shares that a form is binary while a chatbot allows a conversation to occur. Today’s technology is so good that from a single email address, your company can get ample information. Because of this, companies should feel free to focus on the conversation.

Why chatbots? Chatbots work 24/7. You can get leads while you are sleeping, and no matter when a customer is on your website, they can get help. Consumers do not want to wait for information, and bots allow access to it at any time. Humans are used to instant gratification, and it has been proven that if you can respond to a new lead in 5 minutes, the chances of getting into contact with them goes up 10x. Astonishingly, over 90% of B2B companies are not replying within 5 minutes. But, a bot service can help them do just that! Your company can look to chatbots to facilitate conversations as a helper of humans.

The need for empathy in sales conversations Dave defines marketing as helping people to buy, and empathy as the ability to put yourself in others’ shoes. He explains that it is necessary to have empathy in good sales conversations. It changes how you approach sales by trying to understand how to best help the customer by understanding their point of view. It is a give-to-get economy, so if you want to build trust, you must give! Bots can answer questions and get information to buyers. Chatbots are a great way to give customers back their time, and time is one of the most valuable commodities.

Timeline * [2:40] Get to know Dave, and why he was first attracted to Drift * [6:15] Information from his book, ConversationalMarketing * [11:11] Is there every information on a website worth gating? * [14:03] Why chatbots * [20:20] Embedding a calendar-like function to a chatbot * [25:20] The point of moving from a chatbot to livechat * [28:16] Why speed matters! * [31:37] The importance of empathy in sales conversations * [35:40] Using chatbots for customer service and post sales * [39:35] CQL’s and why they will save the world

Connect With Dave Gerhardt: * Connect with Dave Gerhardt on LinkedIn * Follow Dave Gerhardt on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Book: Dave Gerhardt’s Conversational Marketing

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Conversational Marketing: How the World's Fastest Growing Companies Use Chatbots to Generate Leads 24/7/365 (and How You Can Too)

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Nothing like a live audience to keep you on your toes! Third-time guest Brent Adamson, Distinguished Vice President, Gartner, joins Drew for a live conversation in front of an elite collection of B2B CMOs to chat about smarketing—and no, that’s not a typo. Brent dives into why sales and marketing—“smarketing”— must work together and fully align to connect with customers.

Beyond that, Brent explains why buying is broken, the pitfalls of working with a large buyer committee, and why companies need to make customers reevaluate themselves rather than products. Don’t miss that and more on this week’s Renegade Thinkers Unite.

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If a tree falls in the forest... You know the rest. But, if Randy Frisch doesn't attend a conference, did people there still talk about content marketing? It's quite possible—but perhaps not with the same enthusiasm, and likely not from the same angle.

On this episode, Randy Frisch, the CMO & President of Uberflip, a content experience platform for marketers, talks about cutting through. Randy explains that you have to “Trojan Horse” your sales message inside a broader, topic of interest. The opportunity here is to create content that your target actually wants to consume, and then using that content as a path to your offering. Content marketing has to cut through and get attention. If not, in the words of Randy himself: F#ck content marketing. To learn more about properly leveraging marketing materials, creating provocative content, scaling personalization, and more, listen to today's episode.

This episode is especially relevant for today’s marketers. Listen in!

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What You’ll Learn Why Uberflip’s marketing isn’t all about Uberflip Randy shares that when he is booked to talk, no one wants him to talk about Uberflip’s technology. Instead, he needs information and a story to drive people to his product. He tells people about the best framework for content creation and does not push his product. Instead, he shares the things that businesses must do to do content creation well such as centralizing and organizing all content so it can be leveraged. Be sure to listen in to hear more on what Randy says!

Common mistakes content marketers are making Marketers are falling for the trap of not wanting to overwhelm consumers with information. They are following the “send 7-9 emails over the course of a few weeks ideology,” but by doing this, they are creating dead ends for consumers who would like to know more. Randy says don't wait for the next email to share more information and most certainly do not create a dead end on information. Send people pieces of content and make sure there are several interesting paths forward from this content. Similar to Netflix series, consumers often want to binge information, and marketers are doing themselves a disservice by not providing a path for them to do so.

Randy also notes that content marketing needs to be personalized. He says that Spotify does an excellent job of curating music to individuals’ tastes. In the same way, content marketers must also create an experience for different individuals’ tastes. By delivering more custom content via email or a website, marketers will be able to connect better with people!

Five takeaways from Randy Frisch on content creation 1. Have a strong point of view! Be the CMO that leads the way, disrupts the market, and evangelizes for his product. 2. Make sure your content is personalized! 3. Create content that the consumer can binge. Allow the consumer to choose his own adventure and follow a path of content as far as he would like. 4. Keep everything focused on your brand! 5. Focus on technology last, not first. Make sure you have your team and process in place before you implement technology.

Timeline * [2:40] Who is Randy Frisch * [7:36] Top priorities as a CMO * [18:01] President and CMO: how this affects marketing * [25:37] More on Uberflip’s marketing * [29:32] Most common mistakes content marketers are making (and solutions!) * [43:05] What happens when you scale * [48:04] Episode overview

Connect With Guest: * Connect with Randy Frisch on LinkedIn * Follow Randy Frisch on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Randy Frisch’s Book: F#ck Content Marketing * Randy Frisch’s Podcast: Conex * Renegade Thinkers Unite Podcast: Docusign Episode * Uberflip’s 5 Steps to Build Content Experiences

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

F#ck Content Marketing: Focus on Content Experience to Drive Demand, Revenue & Relationships

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Surveys can provide a wealth of data on any sort of topic. But there is an art to crafting the perfect survey, one that invites honest and valuable feedback without steering the respondents, and doesn't damage the responses by overwhelming the survey takers.

Leela Srinivasan, CMO of SurveyMonkey, took some time after recording her recent RTU episode to discuss survey creation with Drew. Well-constructed surveys are crucial for informing creative, effective marketing efforts. To learn more about artfully crafting questions, audience selection, getting people to take your survey, making sense of the information, and more, check out this brief, bonus episode!

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“Eating your own dog food” didn’t sound so appetizing, so folks started “drinking their own champagne.” SurveyMonkey didn’t want people thinking they were sipping too much bubbly on the job, so now they “eat at their own restaurant.” Put simply, they lean heavily on their own offering to strengthen their marketing, grow their company and—as they like to say—power the curious!

From finding out how much a person uses technology, to determining how a company’s culture is developing, the options are endless on what info you can gather with SurveyMonkey, and the company's marketing efforts put that to test. Leela Srinivasan, SurveyMonkey’s CMO, chats with Drew on how everything at SurveyMonkey—from campaign development to internal culture—is about creating and supporting a world of curious people.

Don’t miss what Leela has to share!

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What You’ll Learn Power the Curious campaign Prior to going public, SurveyMonkey did a brand refresh with its Power the Curious campaign in 2017. The company defined its mission as Powering the Curious. SurveyMonkey’s products and solutions enable organizations everywhere to measure, benchmark, and act on feedback. If these organizations can listen to this feedback and have a curious attitude towards it, then the feedback can drive growth and innovation.

Leela shares that she loves the notion of curiosity for two reasons. One, the notion of curiosity was one that their audience was leaning into. The smartest people display curiosity. Secondly, if you think about the idea more broadly, the value proposition for employees is massive. This campaign not only set SurveyMonkey up to market to the business realm but to employees and potential employees. SurveyMonkey could be the place where the curious come to grow, which is exactly what bright minds are looking for in a workplace.

How to build a culture of curiosity internally SurveyMonkey uses its own tools to build a culture of curiosity. Leela shares that SurveyMonkey leverages its own platform to obtain living feedback from its employees. These surveys measure employee engagement and to find places that can be improved to make a company with more inclusion and belonging. All leaders in the company are given scores for their departments, and they are shown how their scores stack up against other departments in the company. All of this information pushes SurveyMonkey to be curious internally. They are given results and scorings that can drive its leaders to be curious and search for solutions on how to how a healthy organization.

Big drivers to marketing SurveyMonkey SurveyMonkey partnered with 4 influencers to show that curiosity is self-defined. Serena Williams, Arianna Huffington, Draymond Green, and Jeff Weiner each created concise surveys to engage different audiences. These surveys were advertised on social media, billboards, and more to let the world engage with these influences. Curiosity was at the top of the whole thing. Success was measured by the volume of responses, and there was a lot of engagement. Throughout this campaign with these four influencers, a conversation was generated that said, “you can do this every day of the week by using SurveyMonkey. Find an idea you want to tap into. Bring these ideas to market and explore the things where you are involved in the world.” Be sure to look below in the resources mentioned for the findings from the influencers surveys.

Timeline * [3:07] Who is Leela Srinivasan * [9:07]] Launching the Power the Curious campaign prior to going public * [15:42] How to build a culture of curiosity internally * [21:00] How to teach curiosity * [26:05] Big drivers for marketing at SurveyMonkey * [29:50] The Curiosity Conference * [32:35] Lessons learned from rolling this campaign out

Connect With Leela Srinivasan: * Leela’s Bio on SurveyMonkey’s Website * Connect with Leela on LinkedIn * Follow Leela on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Tool: SurveyMonkey Audience * Tool: SurveyMonkey Genius * Tool: Inclusion and Belonging Survey Template * SurveyMonkey’s Curiosity Conference * Partnership: Serena Williams' SurveyMonkey Results * Partnership: Arianna Huffington’s SurveyMonkey Results * Partnership: Draymond Green’s SurveyMonkey Results * Partnership: Jeff Weiner’s SurveyMonkey Results

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Whether you're a small business catering to a consumer, or an enterprise tech company targeting fortune 500 giants—the changes in how banks are approaching branding and marketing can provide a great template for successful marketing in the modern era.

When most people have a banking issue to resolve, they usually open up their mobile app, or visit a website—in-person banking is starting to take a back seat to digital mediums. That's the shift Paul Kadin and Sarah Welch, of analytics and advisory firm Novantas, are wrangling. In this episode, they discuss how banks are evolving, and how those banks are championing new, universal principles of successful B2B and B2C marketing.

Listen in! You won’t want to miss this episode.

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What You’ll Learn What banks need to do to succeed? Paul and Sarah share that successful banks have three things in common. They satisfy what people expect from them. A bank will not succeed if it does not offer basic customer service or features. Secondly, successful banks are distinct. They answer the question, “Why should I choose this bank over another bank?” Their products and service must set them apart. Lastly, successful banks make their voice heard in the marketplace. Banks can have all the right feature but must spend sufficiently enough to raise their voice enough to be heard.

Banks that are distinctive and why Paul, Sarah, and Drew discuss multiple banks that are killing it on being distinctive.

Huntington Bank markets itself as being on the side of the customer. They are living and breathing their value proposition on products, pricing, marketing messages, and customer experience. Banks are known for nickel and diming customers, but Huntington extends a 24-hour grace window, allowing customers 24 hours to write a check to cover an overdraft, before incurring a fee.
First Republic is a bank that goes above and beyond, helping customers. This bank is very specific on what companies and individuals it takes on as customers, and focuses on the more affluent. Because it has a more niche customer base, First Republic is able to serve its customers how they would like to be served.
USAA is a bank with extreme intimacy around one focus group - those who have served in the military and their families. If you are in this target group, their service is unbeatable. They also hire retired service people, so they hire from the target demographic they serve.
TD Bank has branded itself as America’s most convenient bank. Everything they had decided is based on convenience. For example, they are open on Saturdays and Sundays.

Marketing banks: finding an emotional pitch andmaking it real Marketing banks is hard. Banks have thought about things in terms of creating new features and improving functionality, but there is a whole other dimension: emotion. Money creates emotion: anxiety or satisfaction. Banks have to appeal to the emotional side of the customer, but this must also be lived out in experience. As banking moves away from person to person and towards digital, banks must figure out how to be emotionally connected through a digital relationship. To make this happen, Sarah and Paul share that banks must have a clearly designed core target, and then drive experience around it. All experiences, whether in person or digital, need to be serving the bank’s brand.

Timeline

[1:55] Introduction to Paul and Sarah
[8:50] Bank branches are decreasing, but brand, marketing and digital are increasing
[10:24] What banks need to do to succeed
[14:19] Which banks are distinctive in today’s market?
[17:43] How focussing on a designed target can help banks
[21:33] How banks (and other businesses) can distinguish themselves
[24:30] The need to find an emotional pitch and make it real
[31:07} How to make media spending cut through the noise
[35:51] B2B vs. B2C marketing for banks
[40:54] What is state of the art in attribution modeling

Connect With Paul Kadin and Sarah Welch: * Connect with Paul Kadin on LinkedIn * Connect with Sarah Welch on LinkedIn * Follow Paul Kadin on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Book: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century * Huntington Bank’s “People Over Everything” * Leader in Attribution Modeling: Visual IQ * Leader in Attribution Modeling: Marketing Revolution

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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You’ve heard it said, “be the big fish in a small pond.” But have you ever considered being the big fish in many small ponds? Sage Intacct, a provider of cloud financial management, is doing just that. To pull this off, Sage Intacct first defines different “micro-verticals” by breaking down larger marketplaces, like manufacturing, into more granular categories, like toys, planes, and cars. Following that, they become experts in the field, and begin producing valuable, category-specific sales materials and insights.

Vice President and Head of Marketing, Ian Howells, chats with Drew on this episode about how his employees get to know these different markets—or ponds if you will—and the rigorous process of becoming the biggest fish in each.

Be sure to join in!

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What You’ll Learn 1% penetration to a desired goal - how to get started in micro-targeting Ian shares the process of penetrating a new market. Sage Intacct works hard to reach out to multiple companies to conduct interviews and research. It is Sage's job to understand this customer and understand what is going on. What are the pains of the customer? Are there similarities between this company and others Sage Intacct work with? Ian's interviewers must gain understanding and draw correlations between companies in the same micro-target. This interview process gives understanding into a micro-vertical. The more companies you interview, the more you know about this subset of the market: associations, key influences, key applications... All of this information affects positioning and messaging for that micro-vertical.

How to know you have achieved success in a micro-vertical Oftentimes, companies believe they have achieved success in a micro-vertical too soon. Ian explains that you have achieved success in a current micro-vertical, and should approach another, when you have at least 20 clients with the same patterns and pains, and you can predict what the client will say. This shows you understand the current micro-vertical, and you are in a position to begin learning about a new one.

The importance of website content and collecting data Sage Intacct’s website overtly lists its competition. It compares what it offers to various companies. Ian explains that you must over communicate what your company does and why it is the best. By comparing Sage Intacct’s products to others, clients can quickly see why Sage is different and the best for them.

On several demo videos, Sage Intacct stops the video to collect viewer information. This is important for several different reasons. Collecting information allows Sage to know what industry this person is from. When the video resumes, the viewer gets personalized content. If you’re from a nonprofit, you get specific messaging. By pausing the demo, Sage is also able to collect data from potential clients and know how interested the viewer really is.

Timeline * [2:04] What Sage Intacct does * [4:30] Ian’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [13:16] How Ian got started in microtargeting * [16:40] The process from 1% market penetration to your goal * [19:45] How to get interviews, who conducts them, and where they’re shared * [25:49] When to add another micro-vertical * [29:00] Telling customers stories * [30:17] Over communication on website content * [34:51] When to move on from a micro-target

Connect With Ian Howells: * Ian’s Bio on Sage Intacct’s Website * Connect with Ian on LinkedIn * Follow Ian on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Sage Intacct’s Website: Comparison to Competition * Book: Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers

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UVeye is putting together technology that has an immense range of uses, is wildly innovative, and is—putting it plain and simple—cool! The company produces under vehicle inspection systems, that use deep learning—a sort of AI-derived machine intuition—to say “hey, something about this car doesn’t seem right” and flag it for inspection. This can help stop dangerous contraband or weapons from being smuggled into secure areas, but the use cases don’t stop there.

Though in an ideal world these scanners wouldn't be needed, Ohad Hever and David Oren understand the importance of having this sort of capability. As COO and CSO, they've had to figure out how to market this product in a fairly private industry, while leveraging a bunch of partners, and all on a meager budget. Learn how they do it on this episode of RTU.

Don’t miss out on Ohad and David’s experience. Tune in!

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What You’ll Learn Raising awareness of a challenge your company can solve Imagine this: it is 2019. Acts of terrorism are on the rise worldwide. Protection is a need, but how? Drew reminds everyone of the B2B marketing technique called the “FUD factor.” Creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt is a way to raise awareness of a challenge your company can solve. UVeye does just that by reminding its audiences of this issue of safety. UVeye also positions itself as the company to solve this problem. Through demonstrations and videos, UVeye shares how it can detect abnormalities under cars, such as a car bomb or even an oil leak. This technology can be sold to government agencies or individuals. No longer do you need to rely on a security guard crawling beneath a car to see if it is safe to drive, this surveillance of a car’s undercarriage is efficient and able to detect abnormalities as small as a USB. It can also protect the average person by detecting when car maintenance is needed.

How to foster brand engagement As a brand, UVeye has several audiences. They must foster brand engagement with each. For governments, UVeye provides security. When approaching governments with its product, UVeye looks for a local partner. These partners are already in communication with government and are known companies in distribution or sales.

Currently, UVeye is focussed on breaking into the market of car manufacturers. Its technology can help provide data and preventative maintenance on cars. To create brand engagement, the company is focused on implementing a brand that provides a competitive advantage. What can UVeye offer to the manufacturers to make their lives easier? David and Ohad explain that their goal is creating a brand around “certified by UVeye.” Meaning “certified by UVeye” provides protection of having a vehicle inspected completely from the inside out. They want this term to be a stamp of approval, known by the average Joe.

Marketing on a limited budget David and Ohad explain that as a startup technology company, the majority of their funding went to creating the product. 14 million was spent on developing the inspection system and distributing it to other countries. There was little money left for marketing. However, UVeye has found that its team can attend conferences even without having an exhibit. These conferences have been a lower budget marketing tool that can create lead generations and partnerships. UVeye has been a part of large security conferences, which are very niche and cost-effective. UVeye has also attended CES. CES has been so effective in the past - even with a tiny display - that David and Ohad used their small marketing budget to have a larger exhibit and demonstration. Prior to the conference, they generated a lot of buzz around the fact that UVeye would be at CES and what they would be sharing. This created engagement prior to the event.

Timeline * [2:03] UVeye’s beginnings and how the product works * [5:22] The process of development and going to market * [7:52] Brand engagement: targeting governments * [10:22] Running a successful pilot * [14:55] Where UVeye chose to spend its money as a new company * [20:47] Target audiences: who will buy the technology first? * [24:45] Lessons for those wishing to start or run a company

Connect With Ohad Hever and David Oren: * Connect with Ohad on LinkedIn * Connect with David on LinkedIn * Follow Ohad on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Video: Under Vehicle Inspection System UVeye * Video: UVeye AI-based Automotive Technology * CES Conference

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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When you have to reach out to someone quickly, what do you usually do? Exactly! Send a text. So why aren't more businesses text-enabling their phone lines? That question is at the center of Brightlink's text-enabling solution, designed so that company phone lines—usually reserved for saying 'no' to pesky cold calls— can handle informative text conversations with prospective clients. Given the nature of their product, Brightlink has also been able to utilize it as their own marketing tool, a simultaneous demonstration and use case—a real situation of killing two birds with one phone!

On this episode of RTU, Drew chats with Rob Chen, Brightlink's CEO, and a former CMO. They chat about how Rob's marketing background informs his current role, how to put their technology front-and-center in their marketing, and why a clear company culture is king.

Be sure to listen in - this is a valuable conversation!

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What You’ll Learn Using your own technology as a marketing vehicle Rob is a believer in drinking your own champagne. To that end, Brightlink currently uses its own technology of text enabling any phone number as a marketing vehicle. The company is able to override and enable any phone number to receive text messages, which is an extremely beneficial feature for the millennial generation. Brightlink is currently taking a traditional email campaign and offering the customer the ability to respond back by phone, by email, or by text. Through its own technology, Brightlink text enables sales and corporate phone numbers. Using key-word prompts, the sales team at Brightlink is able to respond via text to answer questions, provide solutions, and much more. Not only does this connect the Brightlink team with customers, but it also highlights the technology they can provide. Listen in to hear more on how Brightlink uses its own product as a marketing vehicle!

Your target audience affects your marketing Rob shares that Brightlink utilizes different strategies depending on whether the primary target is a small business or large enterprise. For a small businesses, Brightlink focuses on co-branding and a partner with the ability to add value. They rely on a partner who knows the needs of each small business because use cases tend to be more specific. This allows Brightlink to market to and speak to the individual needs of small business. For large enterprises, Brightlink takes their product directly to the company because their needs are broader and many times the entire product is used.

3 key lessons for CMOs Guest Rob Chen and host Drew elaborate on 3 important lessons for other CMOs.

Have one key, very focussed story. Know what your company is about, and be able to say that succinctly.
You have three target audiences: employees, customers, and prospects. Make sure to have your employees on board with core values and your product. They will be advocates for your brand and remain loyal. Create content that is valuable to your customers, and it will also be intriguing to prospects.
Simplify your plan. It is hard to do everything. Brightlink’s plan is integrated around its own product. It is a demonstration and a use case at the same time!

Timeline * [1:55] Rob Chen: Bridging the gap from CMO to CEO * [5:40] What Brightlink is and does * [10:47] How to use technology as a marketing demonstration * [18:36] Who Brightlink targets in its marketing * [22:55] Successful marketing examples * [26:33] Key lessons from a CMO turned CEO

Connect With Rob Chen: * Rob’s Bio on Brightlink’s Website * Connect with Rob on LinkedIn

Resources & People Mentioned * CES Conference

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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CES never fails to be a revelatory experience, but this year marked a significant step closer to one of humanity's longest-held dreams (or at least, one of Drew's longest-held dreams): A Jetsons-style flying car! A key component of this tech-driven marvel is an astoundingly impressive "LiDAR" system—think radar detection, done with laser technology. In simpler terms, a new way for machines to see things. Granted, the implications are much broader than a flying car, but it provides an interesting way to demo this new system.

On this episode of RTU, Drew speaks with Louay Eldada, CEO and co-founder of Quanergy, the company helping cars "see". They chat about the range of potential uses for such powerful tech, and the why to market it, they had to first understand the problems that people need solved. Don't miss this tech-heavy episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, recorded at CES 2019.

Louay shares various ways Quanergy can creatively solve problems! You won’t want to miss this episode!

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What You’ll Learn A virtual wall - an effective way of protecting the border Quanergy is proposing the creation of a virtual wall on the border of the United States and Mexico. Currently, a physical wall is being proposed to the country. Louay points out that this kind of barrier could disturb the environment. Quanergy has targeted the United States government as its audience to market their technology to, speaking with politicians on both sides of the border protection debate. Using LiDAR, Quanergy creates a dome of protection by setting its giving computers eyes to monitor the border area. LiDAR uses its “eyes” to see anything coming to the border and can allow authorities to be dispatched to the area. A virtual wall addresses the issue of protecting the border but does not create more problems as a physical wall could.

Quanergy is a leader in effective technology marketing Quanergy tells and shows customers what they need. They allow customers to observe the product, so they know they want it. Quanergy provides a vision of what customers can do, and how they can solve problems. This creates new markets for its technology.

Quanergy’s technology, LiDAR, is marketed to many different industries. Each market has its own experts, so Quanergy uses partners to improve solutions. For example, Quanergy partnered with 6-Watch to help create a virtual surveillance partner for Boston’s police vehicles. 6-Watch was an effective partner because the company is well connected in the law enforcement space, helping Quanergy break into that market with its technology.

Creating a culture where it is ok to fail Louay says if your company doesn’t run into things that don’t work, then you are not trying hard enough. Everything is not feasible until someone does it. If a problem is worth addressing, try until you find a solution. Louay creates a company culture where failure and bad news are okay. This gives his employees the ability to take risks and be creative. In order to lead a company where there is the courage to take risks, Louay says he must have an open door policy to hear about issues and ask what can be done solve problems, what have the employees learned and what can be changed. This culture of risk being okay has helped propel Quanergy to the frontline in LiDAR technology as well as marketing technology.

Timeline * [1:13] Louay’s inspiration and Quanergy’s technological core * [2:23] Technology for a flying car * [6:08] Reasons and opportunities for attending CES * [8:08] A virtual wall - an effective way of protecting the border * [11:30] A CEO’s take on marketing * [14:10] Quanergy’s most effective marketing * [17:58] The importance partnerships * [19:24] Biggest lessons to share with other entrepreneurs * [20:53] It is ok to fail!

Connect With Louay Eldada: * Louay’s bioon Quanergy’s website * Connect with Louay on LinkedIn * Follow Louay on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Video: Virtual Wall Using LiDAR * CES Conference

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Have you ever read through healthcare plans in an effort to sign-up? They're generally pretty important, but given how jargonistic and dense they are, they can be a real snooze-fest. That's where Jellyvision comes in. This week's guest, Bob Armour, is CMO of a company that creates a software named Alex that helps people make sense of their healthcare benefits and select the best plan by communicating with them in plain english.

The efficacy of Alex speaks to a few types of effective communication, but a big portion of it, ties to how Jellyvision helps companies communicate with their employees. Whether discussing a new campaign, product, or in this case, health benefits, effective internal communication is absolutely crucial. If done well—and in this episode, Bob shares some tips for success—employee communications can help make employees love their jobs, treat their customers well, and advocate for the company. Check out the full interview to learn more!

This episode is extremely relevant in today’s market. Be sure to listen in!

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What You’ll Learn What it takes to communicate effectively with employees Jellyvision’s software, Alex, communicates with employees on healthcare. It talks to the users about demographics and needs. Alex creates the illusion that someone is truly listening behind the screen and reacting in human ways. In employee communication, you need to really listen and react in a human way - customized, with a personal response.

Bob also says that to succeed in communicating with his customer’s employees about benefits, his program must strip away the jargon associated with healthcare, insurance, and 401ks. Employees need to make the right decisions, but they have to understand what they are talking about to make a decision. By speaking in a simple way that employees can understand, they can make better informed decisions.

Employee engagement: how to succeed and measure success Bob shares that Jellyvision helps its clients market Alex internally to their employees. Clients are provided with resources such as pre-written emails, collateral for signing up, and content to help them effectively communicate with employees. Jellyvision helps HR departments focus on what employees have to gain by using Alex, not just a message of “you should sign up for benefits.”

Jellyvision helps customers measure success with its software. It isn’t important to Jellyvision to just sell Alex. They want to know how many of their customers’ employees have been helped by the software. Bob encourages listeners to align their company’s marketing efforts with the goals they are hoping to achieve. For example, Jellyvision chooses to measure how helpful they were as employees signed up for benefits.

The Do’s and Don'ts of employee communication Bob says to be straightforward and to use humor in employee communication. Put the details somewhere else where those who would like to read more can access them and dig in, but don’t clutter the main message. Be helpful, and don’t be boring or condescending. Avoid using jargon at all cost. Your own employees are also a meaningful tool in crafting a measure to communicate with others. They can offer feedback on whether wording is confusing or relatable.

Timeline * [2:19] All about Bob Armour * [11:44] What it takes to communicate effectively with employees * [17:14] How Jellyvision works with HR departments to make sure employees see Alex * [26:38] How Bob advises customers to measure their employee engagement * [31:07] Your own employees feedback in crafting your message is huge * [34:36] What not to do when communicating with employees

Connect With Guest: * Bob’s Bio on Jellyvision’s Website * Connect with Bob on LinkedIn * Follow Bob on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Alex Demo Video

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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If you took every tech company logo and stacked them by color, here's what you'd see: some red, some shades of black, grey, and white, some green. But all those stacks would be in the shadow of one color: blue. Samsung, Facebook, Lenovo, PayPal, hp, Dell—the list of blue logos goes on and on.

So what did Morgan Norman, CMO of Copper (née ProsperWorks)? He went pink. With a dash of creative and a spritz of data analysis, Morgan went bold and rebranded in a major way. But—a rebrand isn't just a name and a color. The new mentality has to fill up every nook and cranny of the company, employees need to buy in, users need to be kept informed. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew Neisser talks with Morgan Norman about the keys to a full rebrand, some common hurdles, and more about B2B marketing.

Join in to hear lots of inspirational conversation and more on this company name change!

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What You’ll Learn Why a company name change? Before its company name change, Copper was a very successful business. It was not looking for a different name to boost sales or to pull itself out of a slump. However, there were still various reasons to change its name. ProsperWorks was a hard name for people to remember. It was even harder for people to say. Prior to its name change, it was in 110 countries, and the name ProsperWorks was hard to translate. Studies were also showing that customers were consistently misspelling its name. All of these reasons culminated in a desire to explore new company names.

Just a coat of paint, or a complete overhaul? When ProsperWorks changed its company name to Copper, it did not just change its name - it changed its entire brand. Morgan explains that every bit of product was overhauled, from customer interactions and existing content, to its brand and the company’s roadmap of where it wanted to go. He said that with the new name, the brand changed to revolve around relationships.

How Copper used a relaunch to generate interest in its brand Copper used its relaunch to help generate interest in its brand in several different ways:

They launched a new advertising campaign: CRM Minus the Bad Stuff. Their ads were enough to make the public curious enough to finish the story by finding out more information on the product.
Copper utilized billboard ads. They ran 2 at a time in San Francisco near the airport. This captured the audience of people flying in. They also put a human face to CRM.
They produced massive amounts of content about the company and its new name. The name change was surrounded by information on the company.

Timeline * [2:30] Who is Morgan Norman? * [5:52] Why ProsperWorks changed its name to Copper * [7:31] Which came first: the name change or the URL * [12:24] Why the name Copper instead of Copper CRM * [15:43] Why Copper chose pink in branding * [17:46] A complete overhaul: from name to product * [21:34] Internal involvement before a name change * [27:25] The launch of Copper’s new name * [30:18] How to use a relaunch to generate interest in your brand * [35:22] Top lessons from name changing * [38:47] Key metrics that matter in marketing

Connect With Guest: * Morgan’s Bio on Copper’s Website * Connect with Morgan on LinkedIn * Follow Morgan on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Book: Subscribed by Tien Tzuo * Campaign: CRM, Minus the Bad Stuff

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company's Future - and What to Do About It

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Shakespeare once wrote, "To thine own self, be true." In that spirit, RTU host Drew Neisser did something a little out of the ordinary.

Now, some people might consider talking to yourself for 30+ minutes to be a little crazy, but not Drew Neisser. In one of the most unusual Renegade Thinkers Unite episodes to date, Drew interviews none other than himself.

On this episode, the dynamic duo of Drew and Drew continually push the conversation to exciting territories. The discussion touches on key insights Drew has learned over the course of his 300 CMO interviews, the challenges 2019 will bring for marketers, and more. Don't miss it!

You don’t want to miss all of Drew’s insights on this idea!

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What You’ll Learn Employees are a key part of marketing You need to have dedicated employees on board with your brand and with your product. Employees purchasing what you’re selling as a marketer is highly linked to the success of a product. If they are behind the product enough to purchase it, they are likely to understand and promote it. If the employees buy the brand story, they can be tremendous advocates. They can share their real experiences and use social proof to spread the word about your brand in a cost-effective way. Especially in a downturn, employees buying in with a brand and sharing content is key. It’s free media, and you can’t live without it.

How to prepare your B2B marketing plan for the recession Drew shares that it is vital to prepare a B2B marketing plan for the recession. Great marketers will shine during the recession, but weaker marketers will not survive. A smart marketer will recognize a good strategy and will work on all communication channels, marketing to employees, customers, and prospects alike. Drew tells the audience to prepare for budget cuts in preparation for the recession. Figure out what part of the budget will drive demand generation, because those dollars spent will yield successful business results. These parts of the budget can be defended, but defending the portion of a budget focussed on building one’s brand on will be at risk. Drew shares that a B2B organization needs to have a brand health tracking study in place beforea recession, so that if a budget cut arises, marketers can still know how their brand is performing."

Why you should secure customers before the recession With a recession, all companies will likely experience budget cuts and potential losses. Drew explains that businesses should think about securing customers as the recession draws near. Focus should be put on keeping current customers happy. These current customers will also have problems linked to a recession, so Drew says to be prepared to answer how your specific product or service can help customers grow their business even in an economic downturn.

Timeline * [1:02] Renegade Rapidfire * [12:19] Why talk about the recession now? * [15:37] Why employees are vital in marketing * [17:51] What smart marketers will prepare for with a recession in mind * [24:28] What marketers can do in an economic downturn to make them different * [28:42] Other CMO’s opinions on what should be 2019’s focus

Resources & People Mentioned * Book: Robert McKee’s Storynomics

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World

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What do we talk about when we talk about a CMO’s to-do list? Usually, items are along the lines of “align sales and marketing” or “ensure proper metrics are being examined.” And, yes, those are usually, in conjunction with other things, crucial to making your marketing machine fire on all cylinders. However, if you add tasks like “Dress as Korean mega star Psy and open for Bon Jovi” and “Set up online video series centered on food and marketing” to your list, it might start to look a little more like Dux Raymond Sy’s.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew talks with Dux, CMO of AvePoint, to better understand symbiosis between personal brands and company brands, how social selling and employee advocacy can be crucial, and much more.

You won’t want to miss this. Dux’s information will keep you on the edge of your seat!

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What You’ll Learn Building complementary content helps AvePoint reach a broader market One thing AvePoint does to produce marketing leads is position their company as an industry advisor. As a company, AvePoint builds software based on Microsoft. To become an industry advisor and get leads, Dux shares that AvePoint produces content based around the Microsoft programs his company works with - they do not produce content that competes with Microsoft but instead complements it. All content produced is very use case driven and specific, and it helps AvePoint become a trusted advisor to the public. This also organically boosts SEO by putting content online tied to AvePoint, so AvePoint’s content shows up when Googling “SharePoint” or “Office 365.” Dux mentions that this content is also being published in every language his company services. They are not only reaching an American market but worldwide.

How Dux’s personal brand helps grow AvePoint’s brand Dux has a great personal brand. He has opened for Bon Jovi, singing in Vegas at a Microsoft conference. He can also be found in many marketing videos online. Prior to working as the CMO, Dux was a Chief Technology Officer. He is not just a paid actor, but a real-life person who knows what he is talking about. He understands code and the technical side of the products. Dux currently is featured in multiple AvePoint video series that explain product features and uses. By appearing in these videos, he has humanized the content. However, he says that it must be substantial first, not just full of great video edits and snappy sound bites.

Getting your employees on board with marketing Dux creates videos for AvePoint to explain products, offer tips, and much more. These videos are shared through social media and regular newsletters to clients. However, AvePoint also has an internal social selling program. It allows employees to join in and help build their own brand as professionals at AvePoint. Dux’s company encourages employees to post AvePoint content on LinkedIn and awards employees whose Social Selling Index on LinkedIn score is the highest. AvePoint has seen that the conversions from employees’ posts are much higher than that of paid ads, and employees do not mind posting these videos because they don’t appear to just be selling a product.

Timeline * [4:24] Dux’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [9:53] The key indicator that shows Dux is on the right track * [12:00] What to do to get marketing leads * [15:33] How Dux got into marketing * [18:54] Becoming a trusted industry advisor in a Microsoft ecosystem * [22:18] Partnering with Microsoft * [26:09] What helps AvePoint cut through the noise of the market * [29:22] How Dux’s personal brand helps grow AvePoint’s brand * [36:10] Two do’s and one don’t for new CMO’s

Connect With Dux Raymond Sy: * Dux’s Personal Website * Connect with Dux on LinkedIn * Follow Dux on Twitter * Follow Dux on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * "reDux" series * Another in the "reDux" series * ChewNChat series * Another in the ChewNChat series * "Dux Quax" series

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Growing a community of leaders - an important goal for many companies, but not typically the designated task of a CMO. Diana O’Brien, CMO of Deloitte, however, is not your typical CMO. Diana spends 50% of her time prioritizing building workplace culture and, in turn, the firm’s brand to provide better marketing services to clients. She spearheaded Deloitte University, which provides training to bring employees into the fold on brand alignment, culture, and continuing workplace education for every single Deloitte employee in the United States. Now, she is recognized as one of the World’s Most Influential CMOs by Forbes and is one of Business Insider’s Top 50 Most Innovative CMOs in the World.

Diana has been on the cutting edge of marketing, working for Deloitte since the 1980s. From creating a place where leaders can grow and employees thrive, to being the first CMO at Deloitte, she has a lot to share. On this episode, she brings a wealth of knowledge on the importance of creating a workplace culture of leaders, how your business’s brand and culture affects client relations, the necessity of being the voice of the customer at the leadership table, and so much more.

Be sure to listen in - Diana has insights you don’t want to miss!

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What You’ll Learn Key things Deloitte focuses on in developing workplace culture Diana shares that there are sequences followed at Deloitte University that are key to building employee culture. As a company, the art of empathy is massively important. This allows employees to understand differences and help people feel a sense of belonging. It teaches them how to communicate - to listen before you speak. Diana notes this is a foundational attribute as a consulting company. Empathy helps employees communicate better internally. It also vital when interacting with clients.

The art of story is also important. Employees are taught how to connect their story or stories to a client as well as the company as a whole. Stories are meant to inspire and spark action. Stories allow employees to connect the personal to why they do what they do. Be sure to listen to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite to hear about other key items Deloitte focuses on in its employee culture.

How to get from customer insight to real innovation Customer insight is defined as understanding who the customer is and where they are going. As a marketer, you are looking to co-create with the customer and join them in their journey. Typically the act of innovation comes out of Research and Development or a different business unit at Deloitte. Part of the CMO or marketer’s job is to communicate with these units so that they know what to create or where to look. They feed them information on where to look and what to do. Currently, real innovation is hard to find with many firms following market trends. However, Diana says that real innovation comes from the activation of an organization’s purpose. When an organization knows its purpose, it is able to innovate. Their change is based on their passion and purpose, which drives them to use their current skills to create innovation.

Make an impact that matters - creating a brand inside and outside company walls Deloitte is committed to “make an impact that matters” - a phrase they have coined as their tagline. Diana mentions in this episode that she spends about 50% of her time on the internal activation of their brand idea. Deloitte chooses to heavily invest in its employees to make sure their brand is not just shown in the marketplace but also is pervasive within its own walls work. By creating a good workplace environment for its employees, it allows employees to focus on customer interactions. So, not only is Deloitte looking to make an impact that matters in the world, but also within its company. Hear more on how they do this in this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Timeline * [0:32] Who is Diana O’Brien? * [3:01] Why Deloitte University is the soul of the firm * [5:38] What Deloitte University taught Diana * [8:25] Face to face still matters in the digital age * [8:39] The three arts Deloitte focuses on * [18:58] From customer insight to real innovation * [25:43] The importance of organizationally elevated marketing * [31:13] Why the internal activation of a brand is key * [39:49] The 4 “M’s” of marketing

Connect With Diana O’Brien: * Diana’s bio on Deloitte * Connect with Diana on LinkedIn * Follow Diana on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * BOOK: Seth Godin’s This is Marketing * BOOK: Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Leadership in Turbulent Times * Deloitte University

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Top 10 Global CMO for companies worth over two hundred and fifty million, top 15 CMO on Twitter by Social Media Marketing Magazine, and top 50 most influential people in sales lead management - just some of the accolades that CMO Brian Kardon has earned over decades of cutting through in marketing. Now, as the CMO of Fuze, a cloud-based communications business, he is continuing to cut through by using his vast knowledge of sales and marketing metrics. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, you’ll learn how to build a seamless demand gen engine, and how to focus on the metrics the matter. Brian and Drew also discuss how you can understand your clients’ perceptions of your brand, and how AI is going to influence the way people create marketing initiatives.

Brian’s insights are ones not to be missed - you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of marketing metrics and so much more.

Click here to listen to the full story.

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What You’ll Learn How do you know when your marketing is working? Understanding how your marketing is benefiting your business is often the top priority for both CMOs and CEOs. By using the best marketing metrics for your type of business, you can stay focused on those that matter - a avoid becoming distracted by those that don’t. Brian explains the 3 main metrics he always looks for when evaluating the success of marketing efforts:

Net new pipeline contributions
Total marketing-influenced leads
Total number of closed bookings

These 3 metrics combine to give you data that’s actually worth examining. Learning what marketing metrics work best for you and your company is a process, but it is 100% worth the investment of time and energy.

Handling the micro-marketing metrics is just as important as the big-picture metrics Understanding the value of both micro and macro-marketing metrics will allow you close sales at both ends of your customer spectrum. Whether you’re examining data on a $1 million contract or securing a $12,000 sale, your marketing metrics are invaluable. For example, a micro-metric will allow you to see how much time a visitor is spending on certain segments of your website, while a macro-metric goes into greater depth on what types of content a specific type of client is looking at and downloading. Brian encourages other CMOs to not forget about either one when creating a roadmap for future marketing efforts.

Use these 2 metrics to help understand your clients’ perception of your brand There are 2 main questions Brian uses to help him understand his clients’ perceptions of his brand. They are:

The net promoter score of the brand’s product(s)
The level of customer satisfaction with the sales and marketing process

When conducted by third-party companies, these two marketing metrics shed new light on your entire pipeline process and buying experience. For the full explanation behind these metrics, don’t miss this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Timeline * [0:30] Here’s why you need to be paying attention to Brian and his team at Fuze * [13:37] How do you know when your marketing is working? * [27:14] Handling micro-measurements vs. measurements that help close a sale * [36:19] Understanding your customer’s perceptions of your brand * [39:19] Use THESE metrics when presenting to the CEO and board * [42:43] Lifetime value, customer acquisition costs, and customer retention * [48:26] Using artificial intelligence in customer acquisition and marketing metrics

Connect With Brian: * Brian’s bio on Fuze * Connect with Brian on LinkedIn * Follow Brian on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * ARTICLE: “5 Ways To Know Your Marketing Metrics Don’t Suck” * TOOL: Zoom

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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One of the most sought-after goals in current B2B marketing is being able to deliver personalized content to clients in a sales cycle. This elusive skill is one of the foundations of Coveo, a company using machine-based intelligence to help clients deliver personalized content to their markets. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew talks with Coveo’s CMO, Mark Floisand, about the latest account-based strategies that have allowed them to become experts at personalized marketing.

As Mark explains, the company’s tagline “Making Business Personal” serves as the base upon which the rest of their business operates. Mark and his team are proving that it is possible to scale the personalization of content, if you use the right data. While taking advantage of account-based marketing, Coveo’s success has come from strategically utilizing the computing power that allows personalization at large. Mark also shares his insights on how to walk the thin line between helpful and harmful data usage when determining personalization.

Learn how to deliver the right content at the right time.
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What You’ll Learn Coveo’s account-based marketing strategy allows them to reach more markets than ever before When Mark joined the Coveo team in early 2016, he realized that not every account in Coveo’s market needed (or wanted) an in-depth sales presentation. He began to ask the question, “How do we cost-effectively reach the target audience we know we can differentiate to?” He and his team segmented out which clients needed an individualized interaction, which could be a part of a one-to-few presentation, and which could handle a one-to-many approach. By getting specific in the way they approached clients, Coveo was able to land 1 in 5 meetings and raise over $100 million last year. The full story is on this episode, and it’s one you don’t want to miss.

Delivering personalized content CAN happen at scale - here’s how Coveo is delivering on that promise
Nearly every B2B marketer understands the importance of delivering personalized content to clients; content that adds value to their purchase journey. But many are wondering if this can happen at scale, across dozens of platforms. Coveo’s team is proving that yes, it is possible! Mark tells Drew that it’s all about “Using as much information as you have access to, to make the best guess at what is going to be most statistically likely to be relevant to each individual.” Coveo’s machine-learning programs take data from website interactions, searches, clicked links, etc. and use it to create personalized content streams that can be delivered to clients when they need it most. They’re taking advantage of the world’s computing power and putting it to use.

“Making Business Personal” is much more than a tagline, it’s a way of running the entire company Coveo not only uses the tagline “Making Business Personal,” they use it as a foundation upon which the rest of their business operates. Mark explains that “The more you can position an organization against the real goals that your target customer has, and the personal goals they are trying to solve, the more relevant you become.” The B2B market is no longer satisfied with cookie cutter sales pitches. They expect - and deserve - quality personalized content because they experience it every day as a consumer. Why should their workplace experience be any different?

Timeline * [1:00] Coveo takes personalization of content in their stride * [2:26] Mark’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [12:57] Coveo raised $100 million last year - here’s how they did it * [20:16] The logic behind “Making Business Personal” * [22:55] Coveo can personalize content at scale because they leverage THIS technology * [29:28] Lessons learned en route to becoming a purpose-driven company * [31:44] Walking line between helpful and harmful data usage * [36:00] Measuring what’s important to a client over a long sales cycle

Connect With Mark: * Follow Mark on the Coveo blog * Connect with Mark on LinkedIn * Follow Mark on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Ep 100, “Thoughts on Leadership, Accountability, and Building a Network That Spans a Lifetime” * TOOL: Slack

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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A company's brand transformation process should never be taken lightly, especially for a health insurance company that serves the lives of thousands of people across the country. When David Edelman joined Aetna’s team as the CMO two years ago, he knew that a change was needed to reimagine the public perception of health insurance companies. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, you’ll learn how he and his team successfully transformed the Aetna brand into one that puts the joy and wellness of its clients first and foremost.

David shares why a rebranding transformation is not just a marketing thing — it must be an organization-wide effort that translates to tangible changes for customers. Drew and David also dive into how the Aetna marketing team achieved internal company buy-in, and how acting courageously in their market led to a completely reinvented brand rooted in sincere storytelling.

Get inspired to let storytelling drive your next marketing move.

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What You’ll Learn David’s first challenge was figuring out the space in which Aetna could relate with clients When asked about the healthcare industry, most people will associate the market with negative words and emotions. Overcoming this negative association was David’s first challenge as Aetna’s new CMO. He realized that Aetna had to become so much more than a health insurance company. He tells Drew that they needed to become “a partner in our clients’ lives,” while telling each client, “We’re joining you! You lead, we’ll follow.” By opening up this line of honest communication with their clients, Aetna has been able to enter into new spaces of health, wellness, and preventative medicine.

Achieving internal buy-in was critical to the success of Aetna’s brand transformation Before Aetna could help their clients reach their wellness goals, David and his team first had to achieve internal buy-in. Previously, each of Aetna’s departments had their own “feel” and culture. They combated this lack of unity by sharing the new brand promise, explaining priority initiatives, and continually asking for employee feedback and insights. They also used a variety of evaluation and measurement tools that allowed them to make the necessary course corrections throughout the brand transformation process. To hear the full story behind how all of this - and more - was achieved in just 6 months, be sure to listen.

Reorienting the B2B and B2C sales teams to sell with storytelling in mind Drew and David talk at length in this episode about how Aetna successfully sells in both the B2B and B2C space. Not only does Aetna sell to individuals and families, but they also offer healthcare packages to small businesses and major corporations. David outlines a few major tools his marketing team was able to share with the sales team to make selling the new Aetna brand easier:

Arm the sales team with great content
Share the new customer experience
Use storytelling techniques - don’t just share lists and data
Focus on the idea of “One Aetna”

The reorienting process hasn’t been simple, but David and his team have handled it beautifully so far. For the full story, don’t miss this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Timeline * [0:28] David approached his marketing challenge at Aetna with courage * [3:54] The first steps in rebranding the entire company * [9:06] Taking action on the research David and his team collected * [11:28] Overcoming pushback throughout the rebranding process * [13:48] Engaging employees was critical in making the rebranding successful * [21:00] The internal structure of the brand transformation at Aetna * [26:05] Reorienting the B2B and B2C sales teams to sell with storytelling in mind * [36:41] David’s final thoughts on brand transformation and lessons learned during his 2 years at Aetna

Connect With David: * About Aetna * Connect with David on LinkedIn * Follow David on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * CMO Moves podcast, “David Edelman On Aetna’s Agile Digital Transformation Of A Complex Ecosystem”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Every January, over 180,000 people converge on Las Vegas to place their bets on the coolest and potentially coveted gadgets the world has yet to see. The 2019 CES promises to be “the world's gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies.” It’s a can't-miss conference for marketers and business professionals from all industries — even those in the B2B space.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew talks with Shelly Palmer, CEO of The Palmer Group, about what attendees can expect and look for at the 2019 conference. You’ll hear about why B2B professionals owe it to themselves and their clients to learn what is up-and-coming, as well as why attendance ROIs are so individualized. Be sure to listen to catch Shelly’s expert insights on new sub-conferences at the 2019 CES and how you can make the most out of this major networking experience.

Get up to speed on the upcoming 2019 CES - listen now.

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What You’ll Learn Here’s what you can expect at the 2019 CES Shelly explains that CES has been a proving ground for new technologies for the past 50 years. Not only will attendees catch inside glimpses into brand-new technologies already on the market, but they’ll be able to understand what’s coming in 18, 24, and even 36 months. He says it’s a “unique crystal ball into the future,” and allows you and your team to begin building new technological opportunities into your own business plans.

Networking opportunities and big-picture dreaming will be abundant in January Virtually all aspects of modern businesses are influenced by technology. Shelly tells Drew that even giant corporations have individuals on the receiving ends of B2B sales calls, and those individuals use everyday technologies that are featured at CES. That’s why even B2B professionals have countless opportunities to add value to their companies and careers by attending the 2019 CES.

Simply reading about CES after the fact won’t give you the full scope. To truly understand the importance of this event, you have to experience it for yourself. No longer just an “electronics show,” Shelly believes that the 2019 CES is truly a “business show.” Drew, Shelly, and hundreds of other industry leaders will be at 2019 CES - will you?

“Resiliency” will be a new focus at the 2019 CES, and it’s an area of innovation that deserves your attention One business and marketing trend you need to be aware of is “resiliency,” explained by the Consumer Technology Association (owner and producer of the CES) as the ability to “keep the world healthy, safe, warm, powered, fed and secure, even in the face of adversity.” Innovations that will help restore power and cell service to disaster-riddles areas, for example, will be featured at this sub-conference event. “The Resilience Conference will deliver world-class conference programming, insights, and solutions,” says a recent CTA press release. In order to be informed and responsible global citizens, marketers can’t afford to miss this event.

B2B and B2C marketers alike will have dozens of opportunities at the 2019 CES to expand their network, brainstorm with like-minded professionals, and plan for the future. For more information on 2019 CES and to register, visit the conference website.

Timeline * [0:28] This year’s CES conference is not you can’t afford to miss * [7:27] B2B people need to attend the CES event too! * [13:34] Here’s what you need to look for specifically at this year’s CES event - and what not to believe * [21:44] “Retargeting is evil, but it works beautifully!” * [26:14] Shelly transformed his family-owned consulting business into a global entity that does “engineering for engineers” * [33:00] “Resilience” will be a new focus at the 2019 CES * [32:28] The ROI on CES is very individualized, but 100% worth it

Connect With Shelly: * CES Conference website * Shelly Palmer’s biography * Connect with Shelly on LinkedIn * Follow Shelly on Twitter * Follow Shelly on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Ep 52, “Preparing for the 2018 CES” * Urban Green Council * Press release, “Resilience to be New Part of CES 2019”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Gabi Zijderveld is no stranger to pioneering new tech industries. As the CMO of Affectiva, she has helped to create an entirely new category in the tech industry: #EmotionAI. While emotional intelligence is not always fully understood, Gabi and her team at Affectiva have found a way to craft a narrative around emotional AI that the tech world could not ignore. From educational summits to simple handwritten notes to supporters, Gabi has found the keys in paving a new frontier for smart technology.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Gabi shares her nonlinear journey to the CMO seat at Affectiva. Her courageous drive to do something that had never been done before led to an innovative breakthrough for emotional intelligence. With the right strategies and priorities, Gabi proves that CMOs don’t have to follow the leader — they can create whole new markets for their product.

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#1 - Gabi developed terms and marketing language that was easily understood “Emotional AI” is an artificial intelligence that can detect human emotion in the form of non-verbal facial cues, body language, gestures, etc. While it is now a well-known category in the AI space, that hasn’t always been the case. When Affectiva and Gabi were developing the technology, they had to overcome the challenge of not being recognized or understood. They combatted these issues by crafting their messages in common language that everyone could easily understand. Everything from expanding the company’s vision to drafting press releases used language that was engaging, yet not too technical.

#2 - The ecosystem of support for emotional AI was critical Developing the emotional AI industry wasn’t done in a silo. The entire Affectiva team had a support system of brand ambassadors, technology advocates, and media contacts that supported the vision and the product. Gabi tells Drew on this episode that collecting creative, innovative, and loyal people was essential to the industry’s developmental success.

#3 - Measurement of the new industry’s reach and impact continues to be a top priority Gabi also shares the importance of having concrete measurement and evaluation tools in place while working in a new company with new ideas. This measurement isn’t solely about collecting more leads and sending them down the pipeline - it’s about tracking the overall exposure and awareness of the company and technology. Gabi and her team accomplish this by measuring press activity and coverage, identifying key industry influencers, tracking diversity in live event attendees, and ensuring marketing dollars are allocated appropriately. These 3 keys have been critical to Affectiva’s success, and you can implement these same ideas in your own company. For the full story, be sure to give this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite your full attention.

Timeline * [0:28] All about Gabi and how she transitioned from art history to technology * [4:14] Having a foundation in marketing isn’t the end-all-be-all factor * [7:35] Describing emotional AI in a way people understood was critical * [13:57] The “Aha!” moment behind the term “emotion AI” * [18:45] Implementing a new technology frontier isn’t always easy * [24:40] Here’s how you can get over 40 speakers to come to speak at your event - for free! * [28:40] Fostering and personalizing relationships through thoughtful gestures * [31:34] Measuring the impact of emotional AI is a top priority at Affectiva * [36:46] 2 do’s and 1 don’t for CMOs creating new markets

Connect With Gabi: * Read about Gabi on the Affectiva website * Connect with Gabi on LinkedIn * Follow Gabi on Twitter * Follow Gabi on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * ARTICLE: “How We Created a New Technology Category—Emotion AI—in 4 Steps”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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No matter how dramatic or controversial, truly great storytelling in marketing doesn’t just boil down to publicity stunts. Rather, the most impactful storytelling is all about the message a company is trying to convey and how that message originates from its internal values. And in the case of the famous “Fearless Girl” statue that faces down Wall Street’s charging bull, it was the message about fostering a greater diversity in the financial industry that has had a lasting impact. Stephen Tisdalle, CMO of State Street Global Advisors, was on the team that made the “Fearless Girl” statue. And although the installation made headlines all over the world, the campaign also prompted State Street Global Advisors to devote themselves to greater gender diversity in their own leadership and on their own boards. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Stephen shares the internal challenges his team faced when developing the idea, the global reaction to the statue, and how this striking piece of storytelling marketing sparked a global-wide conversation about equality in the workforce.

Click here to learn all about impactful storytelling in marketing.

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What You’ll Learn Why did a statue of a ‘Fearless Girl’ in front of the ‘Charging Bull’ leave such an impression? The “Charging Bull” statue that lives on Wall Street has been an iconic symbol for decades. On March 7, 2017, SSGA unveiled the “Fearless Girl” statue - a brave young girl that confidently faces the bull. She continues to serve as a symbol for greater diversity on C-suite level boards, and that’s exactly what Stephen and his team were trying to convey. That’s what makes Fearless Girl such a prime example of storytelling marketing - a piece that stands the test of time and represents values that span companies, states, and even nations.

You have to back up your storytelling marketing with action Fearless Girl may have remained a simple statue with a brief amount of fanfare if it hadn’t been for SSGA’s actions that backed up the claims she made. SSGA has committed to increasing the level of diversity in their own boards, as well as encouraging their clients to do the same. Stephen explains to Drew that since her installation, SSGA has found that more than 300 companies added a female director, and to-date another 28 plan to follow suit. Fearless Girl also amassed over 6.5 billion social media impressions. However, if a company’s storytelling marketing campaigns are to leave a persisting impact, they must be backed with action.

Truly great marketing can flourish when its paired with important values The genius behind Fearless Girl lay in her ability to convey values that should be important to companies of all sizes in all industries. Stephen explains that “authenticity is attractive,” and that people are drawn to marketing campaigns that are aligned with important values. He continues by explaining that companies and leaders need to “do well, do better, by doing good.” Storytelling marketing can be the perfect way to convey those commitments.

Timeline * [0:30] Stephen explains why State Street wanted to put a fearless girl in front of a charging bull * [9:50] Stephen and his team had to overcome internal concerns before moving forward with Fearless Girl * [15:29] Great marketing comes when you align with important internal values * [21:04] The true value behind Fearless Girl was in the actions taken across the world * [26:24] Stephen explains the future of Fearless Girl * [31:33] The storytelling process begins with a strong marketing focus * [38:48] Fearless Girl and how she has impacted the brand awareness of State Street Global Advisors

Connect With Stephen: * Stephen’s State Street bio * Connect with Stephen on LinkedIn

Resources & People Mentioned * ARTICLE, “The ‘Fearless Girl’ statue turns 1 today. Here’s what she’s inspired.” * TED Talk, “Your body language may shape who you are” * Crazy Enough 2 Work series

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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When it comes to building customer loyalty, Dani Cushion believes that the creativity is in the data. In her role as CMO of Cardlytics, she and her team work under the power of “purchase intelligence,” or the ability to know where your customers are buying when they’re not buying from you. As Dani has learned throughout her career as a marketer, it’s all about defining who is loyal and figuring out why.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew and Dani discuss why defining your existing loyal customers can help you understand where you’re missing profits, as well as why using insights on aggregated data doesn’t mean creative marketing is dead. As Dani admits, “it ain’t sexy,” but working to have a extraordinary customer experience will result in unmatched loyalty.

Get to know your customers by following this advice - listen here.
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What You’ll Learn “Defining your loyals” is step one in the process of building repeat business Dani explains the importance of “defining your loyals” on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. She shares that one of Cardlytics’ clients earned an additional $6 million in sales, simply because they identified and retargeted a segment of their existing repeat customers. By knowing who your potential loyals are and the problem they’re trying to solve, you can tap into a new area of business.

Gathering insights from your data doesn’t equal the death of creative marketing Cardlytics’ success is built on their ability to combine purchase data and creative marketing. In order to build customer loyalty, marketing teams need to use both strategies. Just because you’re aware of your customer’s data does not mean you should stop reaching out to them with engaging and creative marketing stories. Drew and Dani both agree that “the creativity is in how you use the data.”

2 do’s and 1 don’t for CMOs looking to build customer loyalty Dani’s top 2 “do’s” for CMOs seeking a greater ability to build brand loyalty are to always look at the broad picture of loyal customers and to listen to what they’re saying. Without an accurate picture of what your customers want and their past buying habits, you won’t make much progress. She also encourages CMOs to never be scared to try something new. The most innovative marketing strategies to build loyalty only began because someone was willing to take a risk - and that someone can be you!

Timeline * [0:30] Loyalty and customer acquisition are both essential topics on Renegade Thinkers Unite * [1:51] Dani’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [15:54] The importance of building loyalty into your marketing plan * [20:00] Digging into the purchase behaviors for your existing customers * [25:35] Using analytical insights to understand customer loyalty * [33:13] Dani explains Cardlytics’ in-house loyalty program * [37:30] 2 do’s and 1 don’t for CMOs looking to expand their customer loyalty knowledge

Connect With Dani: * Dani’s CMO press release * Connect with Dani on LinkedIn * Follow Dani on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * BOOK: “Chesapeake: A Novel” * BOOK: “How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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As the marketer of a software service product, Meagen Eisenberg isn’t just a CMO. She is also a salesperson, which is why her alignment with MongoDB’s sales team proves critical to the company’s rapid success. Through her influential roles at multiple B2C and B2B tech companies, Meagen can attest to the fact that any company, no matter its audience, can create a pattern of collaboration and success in creating a unified buying path.

From insights about demand generation, to Martech, to work-life balance, Meagen’s marketing insights apply to CMOs everywhere, whether you’re B2B, B2C, or even B2D. When reflecting on her career, Meagen shares that the alignment of sales and marketing teams has transformed companies that she has worked for, including MongoDB. On this episode, you’ll hear Meagen’s top 5 ways to increase your company’s internal collaboration, as well as discover the engaging marketing strategies MongoDB uses to attract developers. She also explains why the marketing and sales funnel strategy isn’t dead, and how it can be used in innovative new ways.

Learn why collaboration is the future of marketing by listening here.

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What You’ll Learn Meagen’s top 5 ways to increase your company’s sales and marketing alignment Just like countless other companies, MongoDB has struggled with sales and marketing alignment, as well as collaboration between teams. As a tech company that offers a database as a service, Meagen has learned to overcome the challenges of managing teams made up of employees with varied skill sets. Developers, salespeople, marketers, and more all want MongoDB to succeed, but approach it in different ways.

From her years in both engineering and marketing, Meagen has learned how to create the ultimate environment of collaboration. Check out all the details behind her top 5 strategies for alignment on this episode.

Understand your sales funnel and how it converts leads into customers
Intentionally build all of your systems together
Focus on authentic communication
Identify the stopgaps in your sales system
Invest in your tech stack (but don’t add more tools until you’re ready)

MongoDB uses creative and engaging strategies to hook their audience After Meagen and her team built a solid team, together they were able to develop creative marketing strategies. They hook interested followers through live events, energetic brand advocates, and a speedy website that always delivers to their followers. They fill their robust website platform with content that educates and inspires. This content is found in many forms, such as white papers, blogs, thought leadership pieces, product demonstrations, and compelling customer stories.

Marketing and sales are about putting the right information in front of the right people at the right time Alignment between your marketing and sales departments doesn’t happen overnight. Meagen and Drew discuss how a business that sells directly to consumers as well as to other businesses can approach their content marketing strategies. For example, when a B2B prospect visits your website, they most likely need to be connected to an account manager and salesperson that can address their specific needs and questions. A B2C prospect, however, is much more likely to explore your website and fill out an inquiry form all on their own - without ever speaking to a salesperson. The key in content marketing and sales is to make it obvious to your followers who you are and what you do, that way you can address their questions before they even think of them.

Timeline * [0:30] MongoDB is a massive resource for CMOs * [2:04] Meagen’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [12:16] Alignment between sales and marketing is critical - use these strategies to succeed * [16:03] Connecting with developers is key * [19:16] The sales funnel is not dead in today’s marketing world * [21:35] What’s the difference between MongoDB and a datalink system? * [23:11] MongoDB hooks their audience through a variety of creative marketing tactics * [30:32] Balancing B2B and B2C audiences for your business * [39:24] Meagen’s problem-solving thoughts for the challenges facing marketing

Connect With Meagen: * Meagen’s MongoDB profile * Connect with Meagen on LinkedIn * Follow Meagen on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * PagerDuty * Women 2.0 * BOOK: “The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children” * Ep 64, “How Looker is Enhancing Marketing Data Analytics Through Organization and Face-to-Face Communication” * Ep 91, “Why a Digital Brand Relies on Outdoor for Growth”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Far too many marketers believe that “competency creates conversation,” thinking that a word of mouth marketing strategy will simply appear out of thin air. Jay Baer, entrepreneur and author of his new book “Talk Triggers,” joins this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite to convince you otherwise.

Word of mouth marketing is essential to B2B businesses. After all, 91% of all B2B purchases are made because of its influence. Despite this overwhelming need, most B2B companies don’t have a specific word of mouth marketing strategy in place. As Jay shares, it’s all about doing something different in your company’s operations that makes customers chatter -- a “talk trigger”. On this episode, you’ll hear about several successful talk trigger stories, like the ingenious DoubleTree cookies, along with the 4 main criteria any talk trigger needs to meet. Jay also shares his expert advice on following his book’s 6-step process to creating a successful talk trigger. His message on word of mouth marketing says one thing loud and clear: “same is lame”, so don’t just follow what the other guys in the industry are doing.

Learn how to get your customers talking in all the right ways.

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What You’ll Learn What are talk triggers and why do you need them in your word of mouth marketing strategy? Jay explains talk triggers as, “something that you choose to do differently that creates conversation.” They’re not marketing tactics, they’re operational choices that are designed to specifically generate discussions about your business. It’s the most important part of B2B that no one’s talking about - until now.

One of the best examples of a recent talk trigger is UberConference’s “I’m On Hold” song that plays in their virtual waiting room for conference calls. Instead of going with predictable "elevator music,” they had a unique song composed specifically for them that now generates conversations about their service every time users are on hold. Jay shares even more great examples all on this episode.

“Same is lame” - follow these 4 criteria to create a great talk trigger Many marketers revert to mimicking successful strategies rather than create their own original ideas. But when your business starts down that path, you’ll be resigned to being second-best, rather than an innovative industry leader. Jay explains that to break out of this pattern and start creating great talk triggers that enhance your word of mouth marketing strategy, your trigger needs to follow these 4 criteria:

Remarkable - it needs to be worthy of remarks from people outside of your traditional audience
Relevant - it cannot simply be about gathering attention
Reasonable - different enough to be remarkable, but not so “out there” that people are wary of the offer
Repeatable - a talk trigger isn’t just a one-time stunt

Jay’s insider advice for entrepreneurs looking to avoid getting stuck when creating talk triggers On this episode, Jay warns marketers of 2 main “sticky points” to watch out for when developing talk triggers. As tempting as it may be to sit around coming up with fun marketing ideas, the best talk triggers don’t come out of one or two brainstorming sessions. He encourages marketers to consider using a third-party company that can have an objective look at your business while researching what resonates with your audience.

He also explains the importance of measuring you talk trigger’s impact. By sending out a survey to your recent customers and followers, you can begin to understand what’s been working and what didn’t. For the full list of questions to consider asking, be sure to listen to this episode.

Timeline * [0:30] Word of mouth marketing expert, Jay Baer, is Drew’s guest for this episode * [7:02] What are talk triggers and why are they important? * [8:25] Word of mouth marketing is 100% critical for B2B businesses * [12:05] Marketing departments shouldn't be the only ones developing talk triggers * [15:51] Same is lame - the 4 criteria to follow to create great talk triggers * [26:19] The 5 types of talk triggers * [30:48] Take a look at this example of talkable empathy in the B2B space * [37:28] Learn from Jay’s 6-step process and work through the “sticky” points by considering these 2 things * [45:58] 2 do’s and 1 don’t to follow when creating talk trigger

Connect With Jay: * Jay’s website * Connect with Jay on LinkedIn * Follow Jay on Twitter * Follow Jay on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * BOOK: “Talk Triggers: The Complete Guide to Creating Customers with Word of Mouth” * Uber Conference Call song * Download the 6 step guide for creating talk triggers * The Lost Kitchen in Maine * Jay’s BOOK: “Hug Your Haters” * Blue Ocean Strategy

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Catherine Davis knows how marketing for non-profits differs from marketing in the for-profit sector — and she succeeds at both. From building her marketing foundation at Leo Burnett and Diageo to her current role as the CMO of Feeding America, Catherine has mastered the ability to distill powerful stories into tangible pieces that entire populations can connect with. Through strategic brand tracking strategies and working to solve an issue that she is passionate about, Catherine is proving that the role of a CMO as a storyteller has never been more important.

As Renegade Thinkers Unite meets its 101st episode milestone, Catherine Davis and Drew sit down to discuss why a career in marketing does not have to be linear to be successful. Catherine also explains how to capture individual stories, overcome challenges in brand awareness, and manage a non-profit CEO’s expectations. In this episode, Catherine will walk you through what it takes to communicate what your organization stands for and how to break down big issues into personal stories.

You’ll be inspired to make your marketing matter — catch the full story now.

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What You’ll Learn Catherine works to capture individual stories - a skill she learned early on in her marketing career Catherine picked up on 2 major lessons that have laid the foundation for her career in marketing for non-profits. The first is to identify and select a marketing strategy. Then, you have to break down that strategy into emotional and logical components that can be woven into stories, statistics, and campaigns.

She explains that people find it much harder to dismiss individual stories from real people struggling with hunger. By encouraging people to have conversations about the bigger issues in America, even if they aren’t necessarily “measurable,” Catherine can begin to see how the tides are turning for the hunger problem.

Measuring progress in marketing for non-profits - it doesn’t come down to quarterly reports Both Drew and Catherine agree that you can’t begin to measure your non-profit’s success if you don’t use a brand tracking study. Even Feeding America, the 3rd largest non-profit in the United States, couldn’t measure their level of brand awareness without using a study - one that gave them valuable feedback into their brand and messaging. Catherine and her marketing team discovered that across a 2 year period, Feeding America’s level of brand awareness and passion for solving hunger went up from 24% to 51%.

Catherine explains that measuring the impact of a campaign often doesn’t occur after just a few months - solving an issue like hunger can take a decade or more for progress to be made. She outlines how to maintain support from your CEO and more on this episode.

Key pieces of advice for CMOs in non-profits There are a few key takeaways from this episode that every CMO should hear. Catherine explains that in order for marketing for non-profits to be effective, CMOs need to be 100% clear on who the organization is and what it stands for. Then, you must execute in a way that people understand - avoid academia-type language that isn’t easily understood. Finally, you cannot assume that people believe in the same ideals as you do. By speaking with a single, focused, and passionate voice, you can find success in your marketing efforts.

If you visit the Feeding America website and donate now (tag Renegade Thinkers Unite,) the Renegade Team will match up to $250 in gifts from listeners. What a Renegade way to make a difference today in the lives of fellow Americans. #SharingIsCaring

Timeline * [0:30] Having a foundation in classical marketing strategies allows Catherine to flourish * [13:01] Feeding America and its place in the American non-profit industry * [17:55] Catherine works to capture individual stories - because people can’t ignore a person’s story of hunger * [20:47] Catherine’s proudest marketing moment at Feeding America * [24:45] The biggest differences being a CMO for a non-profit vs. for-profit organization * [32:38] Bridging the gap between brand awareness and unawareness * [35:43] 2 do’s and 1 don’t for CMOs of non-profit organizations

Connect With Catherine: * About Catherine on the Feeding America website * Connect with Catherine on LinkedIn * Follow Catherine on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * ARTICLE: “A 7-Step Recipe for Marketing Success” * Ep 95, “How Monster’s CMO is Revitalizing the Brand” * ARTICLE: “Feeding America's Ice Cream Truck Roadtrip for Hunger Awareness”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Carl Neisser starts every new year with a list of learning goals. Last year, he aimed to master texting with his children and grandchildren. Throughout his lifetime of over 90 years, Drew’s father Carl has collected important lessons about everything from teamwork, to leadership, to continually building a personal network. Above all, he never stops learning and never stops caring about his relationships.

On this special 100th episode of the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast, Drew and his Dad discuss the Neisser family legacy in marketing and business, and chat about why putting people first is the first idea that any Renegade marketer needs to understand. For Carl, listening is important, but retaining that information is even more crucial in becoming the player that your team can rely on. In an inspiring “like father, like son” fashion, Drew and his father will walk you through the steps to becoming a lifelong learner in marketing and beyond.

Listen here to celebrate 100 episodes of Renegade thinking.

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What You’ll Learn Life lessons on how to build a network of relationships across the span of a lifetime Great relationships with people from all walks of life should be an aspiration for people across the world - not just in B2B marketing. How can you begin to build a network of close friends and colleagues? Drew and Carl explain that it starts with simply taking the initiative to connect with them on a regular basis. Carl meets with dozens of people every month and always takes an interest in their businesses, ideas, passions, and families. This deep knowledge people allows him to make meaningful connections among people in his network - adding value to the lives of nearly everyone he meets.

Leadership, accountability, and the power of a great team Leadership, while often complex and detailed, really comes down to a few simple strategies. Carl outlines his best advice for leadership all on this episode. For example,

Be honest, upfront, and supportive in your communication
Hold your team accountable in order to help them grow
Remember what people tell you, and make connecting with them a priority
Encourage authentic teamwork within your organization

Carl also learned how to keep a close eye on his competitors from the great Abraham Lincoln. By understanding the way they think, lead, and act, your organization can be better prepared to compete against them in your industry.

You can’t avoid failure, so learning from past mistakes is crucial Everyone has known deep and painful failure, both in their professional and personal lives. The difference lies in whether or not you learn from your mistakes and move past them, or continue to dwell in the past. By approaching every day with Carl’s mindset of “every day is a learning day,” you can start to view mistakes as simply opportunity for growth. He encourages all Renegade marketers to stay humble, stay curious, and never stop learning.

Timeline * [0:29] Drew’s guest for this episode is his father, Carl Neisser * [5:50] Key leadership and teamwork lessons from Abraham Lincoln * [10:50] Teamwork is essential in many contexts, from sports to marketing * [15:30] Learning how to build and maintain a lifetime’s worth of connections * [22:17] The way you connect with people is important * [25:22] Treating failure as an opportunity for growth

Resources & People Mentioned * BOOK: “Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business” * BOOK: “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” * BOOK: “Red Sparrow: A Novel (The Red Sparrow Trilogy)” * Entrepreneurial Operating System

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Red Sparrow: A Novel (1) (The Red Sparrow Trilogy)

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

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Few professionals are as knowledgeable about marketing leadership and the CMO’s role as Greg Welch. A senior partner at Spencer Stuart, one of the world’s foremost leadership consulting firms, Greg helps to connect companies with the right fitting CMOs. He’s witnessed firsthand how, when leadership is done right, a CMO can be his or her team’s biggest cheerleader and source of inspiration.

Greg has worked with the leadership of dozens of large corporations, including Walmart, Facebook, and Dunkin’ Donuts. Greg believes that the intangibles of an extraordinary leader can transform a good CMO into a great one, but developing those skills takes work. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew and Greg discuss what aspiring professionals need to know to be successful in marketing leadership, as well as concrete advice for CMOs striving for that CEO desk. Greg also shares why you should surround yourself with a group of supporters and mentors to develop your personal marketing leadership style.

You’ll be inspired by Greg’s advice - be sure to listen here.

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What You’ll Learn Greg is seeing a new breed of CMOs emerge, and they have these qualities Throughout his 20 years of executive search experience, Greg has discovered that the best marketing leaders possess a few main qualities, including:

The ability to understand both the brand and data sides of a business
An intense sense of curiosity
An ambition to be a great listener
Capable of building and maintaining support with others

CMOs need to be smart, aggressive individuals. Greg believes they need to have the ability to know the basics behind building quality, sustainable brands, as well as motivate and inspire others.

Marketing leadership is all about building and maintaining relationships Greg says, “You can’t manage your marketing team with the door closed.” Meaning, a person in marketing leadership can’t exist as a silo - every leader should rely on their team in order to achieve the greatest amount of success. That’s why stellar leaders intensely focus on building and maintaining strong relationships with others. Mentors, peers, subordinates, and even your competition are all invaluable connections a great CMO needs to invest in. Being authentic, transparent, and honest will go a long way towards fostering strong relationships with those who will help you in life and work.

The role of the CMO is always shifting - here’s how to continually succeed Drew and Greg both believe that the role of the CMO in business is never stagnant. The best CMOs are seeking to learn and understand more about the business they’re in - even if they have no desire to end up in the CEO spot. Greg explains that the top priority should be keeping your team satisfied and engaged, no matter what else you may be focusing on in your marketing leadership role. Looking towards the future, Greg predicts that a focus on eCommerce strategies will help you stay on the cutting edge of a career as a CMO.

Timeline * [0:29] Greg’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [6:50] It’s a new day in marketing and marketing leadership * [12:40] You can’t manage the marketing team with the door closed * [23:39] The ever-expanding role of the CMO * [33:10] Greg’s take on the ultimate CMO of the future

Connect With Greg: * About Greg * Connect with Greg on LinkedIn * Follow Greg on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Antonio Lucio marketing guru * The CMO Club * BOOK: “The Old Rules of Marketing are Dead: 6 New Rules to Reinvent Your Brand and Reignite Your Business” * BOOK: “Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times” * RESEARCH: “Chief Marketing Officer Average Tenure Increases to 44 Months” * SPONSOR: Social Media Explorer

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times

The Old Rules of Marketing are Dead: 6 New Rules to Reinvent Your Brand and Reignite Your Business

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As a CMO, sometimes nothing seems worse than your business receiving scrutiny on a review site. But don't review site pages with only stellar, positive reviews also seem suspicious? The reality is that even negative reviews serve an absolutely vital role in how authentic and genuine your business comes across to potential customers. Not only can they create a well-rounded story around your brand, but review sites can even be a major lead generation source. Now that sounds like a strategy that every marketer should take into account!

From her experience as GM of Capterra, a leading online review platform, Claire Alexander shares her expertise in everything from lead generation to turning a bad review into a marketing win. Claire drives everything she does at Capterra with the motto, “Do the right thing and the right results will follow.” Throughout this episode, you’ll learn Claire's advice on how you can best engage with your audience on review sites and optimize every dollar of your marketing budget to get the best results.

results.

Listen here to catch the full story about this new form of word of mouth marketing.

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What You’ll Learn Why are review websites so important to your business? Everyone knows that word of mouth marketing is the best form of marketing. For modern businesses, this type of marketing can be found digitally through review sites. Buyers are starting their purchase journeys online, and resources such as Capterra allow them to evaluate their needs and compare software programs. Buyers take online reviews very seriously, and the way your company responds to reviews describes a lot about your company’s leadership, culture, customer care, and products.

Using review websites as a lead generation strategy can work wonders for your business One avenue for success that many CMOs aren’t aware of is the ability to combine a lead generation strategy with review sites. For example, if a buyer can find a highly-searched for review site on Google, then find your business on the review site, you can use that site’s organic traffic to drive leads to your site. Potential buyers that click through a review site onto your web pages can be captured as buyers with a higher level of buying interest than those who simply stumbled upon your site by accident.

Claire’s best advice for handling reviews left on your business, products, and services Review sites can not only serve as a great lead generation strategy, but they can also be a new avenue for connecting with your audience. Drew explains that there are 2 facts in modern marketing: reviews will be given and therefore, you must seek to provide the best customer experience you can. Claire outlines a few key steps to follow when monitoring reviews:

Decide which review sites matter to you (consider the ones with the highest volume of traffic)
Monitor review (just as you would comments on social platforms)
Invite people into the conversation
Incorporate review collection into your closing/follow up process
Graciously embrace the negative reviews (but closely monitor for incorrect or bot-driven reviews)

Claire’s #1 key to success for using review sites as a lead generation tool is to allow and encourage both positive and negative reviews. Having a mix increases your buyer’s trust with your company, and results in higher conversion rates for your products/services. Interacting with customer reviews isn’t always simple and easy, but it is 100% worth it.

Timeline * [0:30] Claire shares how she became involved at Capterra * [9:09] Claire’s biggest challenges as she transitioned from marketing to GM * [13:22] Your biggest outcomes come from having great processes * [19:54] Why are review sites so important? * [26:39] Claire’s best advice for approaching reviews left on your services and products * [32:30] Using review sites as a lead generation tool * [35:53] The best way to optimize your marketing dollars spent on review sites * [47:25] 2 do’s and 1 don’t for review site marketing strategies

Connect With Claire: * Capterra team webpage * Connect with Claire on LinkedIn * Follow Capterra on Twitter * Like Capterra on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Ep 91, “Why a Digital Brand Relies on Outdoor for Growth” * BOOK: “How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know” * Glassdoor review tool

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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With growing demands from the C-Suite, (often) low budgets, and pressure to keep up with today’s current trends, marketers constantly face the challenge of creating authentic content that builds brand awareness and inspires action. Every CMO knows how difficult it can be to recruit brand ambassadors to create compelling content that cuts through. But what if the answer could be found in the co-workers around you? A recent study showed that brand messages posted by employees achieved 561% more reach than posts made by the company itself—resulting in 8 times the engagement for those posts! You’ve probably heard of different employee advocacy programs, but Jeanniey Mullen’s concept of “people marketing,” through her role as CMO at Mercer, is a brilliant concept of building big brand awareness with no media budget at all. There is no formula and no equation to adhere to in order to get the best results. Jeanniey’s philosophy is simple: trust in your people to tell their stories.

Mullen has a deep background in advertising, start-ups, and entrepreneurship. Looking back at her career, she credits her renegade spirit to the Davos Squad initiative at Mercer—a content marketing success that created a one-of-a-kind buzz around hundreds of Mercer employees enthusiastically interacting with the brand on social media. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew and Jeanniey dive into how brand ambassadors can be formed within your own company. Jeanniey also explains her top three takeaways from initiating a “people marketing” program and demonstrates how to overcome any obstacles in your way.

Listen here to learn how to market engaging content in completely new ways.

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What You’ll Learn How can you use people marketing to create brand ambassadors? Simply put, Jeanniey explains that “People marketing is the process of leveraging your company’s people in a way that’s so powerful, it takes your brand to new heights.” The first step in the people marketing strategy is to develop impactful content. Jeanniey created the AIR concept - content that is Authentic, Inspirational, and Relatable - in order to develop better material. Developing that content is only one part of the people marketing journey. You must then make your employees brand ambassadors. These ambassadors then share your content to reach new markets like never before.

Overcome the challenge of staying “on voice” by following these guidelines With dozens or even hundreds of new employee brand ambassadors, how can a company stay “on voice” with the message? Jeanniey explains that the answer isn’t found in strict guidelines. If you provide authentic content to people, let them choose what to share and when, and allow their individual personalities to shine through, your people marketing strategy will be effective. If you want a brand ambassador’s post to be authentic, you can’t script their social media.

Jeanniey’s 3 key takeaways from successful people marketing campaigns Throughout her time at Mercer, Jeanniey has learned 3 main lessons when handling people marketing campaigns. Here they are.

Break the rules! Don’t be afraid to pursue new options.
Don’t default to email (there are better, more creative options available)
Nobody will pay attention to your content unless it’s really cool

People marketing has the power to forever change how you view marketing - be sure to learn from Jeanniey’s career.

Timeline * [0:29] Jeanniey’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [13:01] What is people marketing? * [21:18] Overcoming the challenge of staying “on voice” in people marketing * [25:42] People marketing is not just a single moment in time * [31:17] Tackling hurdles while pursuing this marketing strategy * [34:04] 3 key takeaways from using people marketing strategies

Connect With Jeanniey: * Jeanniey’s bio on the Mercer website * Connect with Jeanniey on LinkedIn * Follow Jeanniey on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * BOOK: “Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World” * VIDEO: “Peter Beshar Executive Vice President and General Counsel Marsh & McLennan Co. on Cyber Security”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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The notion of a CMO building or rebuilding a marketing team is not an unfamiliar concept, especially on Renegade Thinkers Unite. Thinking back to the insights provided by Paige O’Neill, hiring a new team can be one of the first major tasks a CMO has to tackle in their first 100 days. When faced with this challenge, CMOs should always focus on designing a team that will align with the strategic goals of the company and that fills the current HR gaps. But one element of the process that is often overlooked is the interview—and more importantly, the interview questions. That’s where Kipp Bodnar comes in.

As a wine enthusiast, mechanical watch aficionado, and host of HubSpot’s "The Growth Show," Kipp Bodnar, the CMO of HubSpot, loves learning from the people he interviews and encounters. Kipp’s recent article, “The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Interview Questions From HubSpot's CMO,” made waves in the marketing community, discussing the best questions to ask in a marketing interview. On this episode, Drew turns the tables by asking Kipp to respond to the questions he wrote. Drew and Kipp also explain the best ways to hire for senior-level leadership positions and share how new professionals can prepare for the hiring process.

Click here to learn how to add these great insights to your own interviews.

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What You’ll Learn The best marketing interview questions achieve these goals Hiring top talent starts with asking the right questions. Kipp is an expert in sorting out expert applicants from the general pool, and he suggests CMOs use marketing interview questions that do the following:

Encourage open-ended responses
Identify if an applicant can problem solve
Discover if an applicant can simplify a complex topic and notice great marketing in other brands

The best applicants will demonstrate a high level of humility, motivation to learn, and an ability to listen. Getting great answers only comes from great questions. To hear the full list of marketing interview questions, be sure to listen.

Follow this advice when considering a senior-level leadership applicant Hiring for a senior-level position is much different than hiring for marketing team members. Kipp shares his process for hiring leaders throughout his conversation with Drew. Kipp explains that during a 2-week hiring process, he will spend 20-30 hours with the applicant in a variety of settings (dinners, presentations, panel interviews, etc.) He says that if you’re going to be working closely with this applicant for the next few years, you must understand the essence of what that person is all about.

How can new marketing professionals prepare for an interview? Preparing for an interview doesn’t have to be stressful. Kipp shares 5 main things an applicant can do to prepare for the interview process. Here they are.

Become familiar with the company’s products/services
Seek out and talk with existing company employees
Do content research
Understand the culture
Come with questions of your own

The hiring process is a “unique mix of buying and selling,” as Drew explains. These insights from Kipp on marketing interview questions can help make the process smoother and more effective.

Timeline * [0:29] Drew explains the format for this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite * [2:51] The fine art of interviewing and hiring for a marketing team * [4:00] Use this question to know if your applicant can problem solve * [8:28] Use this question to see if the applicant puts the opinion of the customer first * [12:14] This question determines if an applicant can pull info from a set of data * [17:09] Is this applicant able to understand what good marketing is all about? * [21:04] Can this applicant seek out and absorb information on their own? * [28:16] Follow this advice for hiring a senior level position * [30:20] These traits help people make the senior-level cut * [34:24] Follow these tips for preparing for an interview * [36:46] The main relationship between marketing and sales * [39:20] This one question is what Kipp hopes for in every interview

Connect With Kipp: * Kipp’s bio on the HubSpot website * Connect with Kipp on LinkedIn * Follow Kipp on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * PODCAST: “The Growth Show/The Turnaround” * PODCAST: “71: Drew Neisser: Marketing’s renegade talks strategy, story, and courage” * ARTICLE: “The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Interview Questions From HubSpot's CMO” * BOOK: “Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice” * BOOK: “The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results” * BOOK: “White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” * BOOK: “Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike” * BRAND: Walker and Company * Follow Tristan Walker on Instagram * APP: Flipboard

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results

Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

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One of the more refreshing trends in marketing is the grand “mea culpa” in which a brand apologizes for past shortcomings and offers a renewed commitment to quality/integrity. Wells Fargo’s recent “re-established in 2018” campaign is one striking example. Another comes from Domino’s a few years back when they admitted their pizza was poor and relaunched with a better tasting product. This approach takes guts but really resonates especially when the pledge to be ‘better” comes with demonstrable actions. Which brings us to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite in which Jonathan Beamer, CMO of Monster, admits that the online jobs site had “coasted” for a while and explains how they are renewing their commitment to job-seeker success.

What is so interesting in this case is that though Monster had coasted after dominating the job search market for most of the dot-com era, the brand still enjoyed high awareness and what Beamer calls “latent favorability.” Having this strong baseline to build from, Beamer expected that the combination of product improvements and increased advertising would help revitalize the brand. And though Beamer describes Monster’s revitalization as “a work in progress,” the brand is already seeing increases in site traffic and customer activity. Not coincidentally, Monster is back on TV providing further proof that this medium is far from dead as digital pundits declared 10 years ago!

Listen here for inspiration on how you might revitalize your brand.

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What You’ll Learn There’s great power behind a brand that people are familiar with and trust There’s one core truth behind Monster that has allowed their brand to survive across decades, and that is that people are always searching for fulfilling work. Since 1999 Monster has connected people and job opportunities, and Jonathan explains that it’s paying attention to small details that makes Monster stand out from the masses.

He explains the powerful concept of “latent favorability,” when people remember your brand fondly even after having not used the company’s services for a period of time. Monster has values attached to the brand that goes beyond the product it provides, and that’s where the company’s power lies.

These 4 tips will help you refresh a stagnant brand Jonathan’s marketing team at Monster has been faced with the challenge of refreshing a company message that has existed for nearly 20 years. In his conversation with Drew, Jonathan explains 4 main tips that have helped guide his team through the process of refreshing a stagnant brand. Here they are.

Be the voice of the customer (in Monster’s case, understanding both an employee on the hunt for a new job and a recruiter looking for top talent)
Have a close partnership with the product/service development team
Understand the simple decisions made throughout a customer’s purchase journey
Be consistent with the tools you choose to use

Learn how to track brand awareness for greater marketing success Having data on your brand, its level of awareness within your target market, and your digital followers is essential, but you have to know how to aggregate and analyze that data. Jonathan explains that you should not get hung up on the questions to ask when conducting brand awareness surveys or sending out evaluation tools. At the end of the day, the tools you use to track brand awareness matter less than the overall feedback it provides to you and your team. Jonathan also recommends that you also utilize your historical data and keep the big picture in mind when doing brand tracking. For even more insights on how to track brand awareness effectively, be sure to listen.

Timeline * [0:28] Drew introduces Jonathan to the Renegade Thinkers Unite show * [3:38] Jonathan’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [17:06] The importance of factfullness in the world around you * [19:50] What Jonathan’s excited about as the CMO of Monster * [24:07] This is what happened when Monster stopped investing in marketing * [30:14] Fixing fundamental aspects of the Monster brand * [35:37] Keep these ideas in mind when doing brand tracking * [40:51] There’s a strong bond between quality products and justifying marketing efforts * [43:32] Content is huge in Monster’s marketing strategy * [48:15] Jonathan’s top 3 pieces of advice for new CMOs

Connect With Jonathan: * Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn * Follow Jonathan on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * BOOK: “The Fountainhead” * BOOK: “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think” * BOOK: “How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

The Fountainhead (Centennial Edition HC)

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Joining a company as the new chief marketing officer can be an intimidating affair. There are new team members to meet, historical strategies to digest, and an overwhelming pressure to make an impact early in your tenure. With the rest of the C-Suite reminding you of the needs to generate demand and to calculate ROI on every expenditure, it is easy to find yourself being pulled in multiple directions and forced into “ready, fire, aim” mode. Luckily, Paige O’Neill is here to help on this special episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

As the new CMO of Sitecore, an integrated CMS, and e-commerce solution, Paige is an expert at handling new roles in marketing departments, having been through the process on multiple occasions. Dubbing herself as the chief marketing “synthesizer,” Paige has a knack for synthesizing all the information that is thrown her way and gaining a quick understanding of the company’s goals and priorities. Having worked as a CMO for large companies as well as start-ups she continues to add to her extensive toolkit, taking away something new from each experience. Listen carefully as Paige details the critical steps every new CMO should take to ensure they too get off to a successful start.

Click here to listen and learn how to navigate your first 100 days.

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What You’ll Learn Don’t be afraid to ask big questions during your first 30 days When Paige stepped into her new role as CMO, she understood the importance of asking the right questions within the first 30 days. Recognizing the key stakeholders within the company is one of the biggest objectives you should have as a new chief marketing officer.

You also have to “become a synthesizer” of all of the information being thrown your way. Understanding the company’s current priorities, current team roles, and workflow processes are all important to understand soon after joining the company. The sooner you ask these big questions and understand the answers, the faster you’ll be able to start actually marketing and leading your team.

Here’s how to approach your new marketing team Being hired as a new CMO means being paired with a brand new team of marketing employees. Or, you’ll be tasked with hiring your own new team. Paige outlines a few key questions that can help you navigate this complex process:

What are the strategic goals of the company?
How is the marketing team going to contribute to that growth?
What’s holding the company back from the current objectives?
What vacancies and gaps are there in the current team?

She encourages new CMOs to “be your own best case scenario” and to not let distractions get in the way of securing a great team. If you take the time to build solid relationships with your coworkers early on, the rest of your first 100 days will go much smoother.

Consider Paige’s best advice for your first 100 days as a new Chief Marketing Officer During your first 100 days as a new CMO, Paige explains that you will have to embrace and lean into the difficult conversations. On this episode, she shares a list of things that are important to work on during the first 3 months in a new role:

Build key relationships
Learn the business
Shore up the team and prioritize hiring
Figure out the quick wins that buy you time for longer-term projects
Prioritization goal alignment
Articulate a vision
Be mindful of how you’re spending your time - don’t be afraid to say no

By keeping these areas in mind as you work in a new company, your first 100 days as a new chief marketing officer are sure to be successful.

Timeline * [0:28] Paige is here to help CMOs understand steps to take in their first 100 days * [2:54] Paige’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [13:33] Don’t be afraid to ask big questions in your first 30 days * [17:55] How do you ensure your observations are true? * [19:40] How long should you take to make your first sets of decisions? * [25:37] Here’s how Paige approaches a new marketing team * [34:09] This advice is key for the first 100 days in a new CMO role

Connect With Paige: * Press release on Paige’s new role at Sitecore * Connect with Paige on LinkedIn * Follow Paige on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * BOOK: “A Good Time to be a Girl”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Sometimes a marketer’s most renegade moment comes from a change in their career path. As it turns out, moving across the country and making a career change is no easy feat and requires a healthy amount of courage. But that’s exactly what Peter Isaacson did, and after a productive decade-plus working on the agency-side of advertising, he’s now nested in Silicon Valley and leading a charge of marketing innovation as the CMO of Demandbase, a targeting and personalization platform and the global leader in account-based marketing.

This podcast dives into the world of ABM and why it's no longer just optional for B2B marketers. As the CMO of Demandbase, the ABM market leader, Peter Isaacson offers an insider look at account-based marketing, serving up concrete advice on how to make the most of these programs. To achieve major results, Peter advises marketers that are new to ABM to take things slow and steady. It’s not something that you can just rush into, but with the help of Peter and this podcast, crafting an ABM strategy will start to feel like a piece of cake. In this episode, Peter and Drew discuss the three main mistakes marketers make when trying to implement an account-based marketing strategy and how you can use intent signals to identify better targets. Peter describes how companies can begin to adopt an ABM strategy, the future of ABM, and why ABM is not the death of storytelling and creative marketing.

Listen here for all the latest details on account-based marketing.

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What You’ll Learn These are the 3 biggest mistakes marketers make when considering an account-based marketing strategy Account-based marketing is not something that can be ignored in the B2B marketing space. However, Peter has found that many people new to ABM strategies make 3 main mistakes that prevent them from fully succeeding. They are:

Not engaging the sales department teams in the new strategy
Not aligning with the right target accounts
Tackling too many areas of ABM all at once

He proposes that all marketers engage with the sales teams from the start, to eliminate confusion down the road. He also explains that your former strategies for finding the right target accounts may no longer be effective and that starting small with ABM is the best way to approach the new strategy.

How can marketers use intent signals in a new account-based marketing strategy? Implementing an account-based marketing strategy is all about identifying the right target accounts. Then, you must uncover the right buying committees and decision makers within that account. Using specific intent signals can help you accomplish those goals. When done correctly, intent signals can help you and your team understand which companies are already researching account-based marketing firms. Intent signals are no longer limited to simply noticing when a company fills out a form on your website.

ABM is not the death of creative marketing - here’s why Using an account-based marketing strategy does not mean you’ve given up on other creative marketing tactics. Creative marketing and genuine storytelling are still important, often overlooked, B2B marketing strategies. People are still looking for groundbreaking brand stories and engaging content. Peter explains how account-based marketing and creativity are uniquely paired, all on this episode.

Timeline * [1:09] Drew introduces Peter and why account-based marketing is so critical * [3:00] Peter’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [13:46] These are the 3 biggest mistakes made in ABM * [18:44] What does an ABM program look like? * [22:00] Using intent signals in account-based marketing * [24:54] The old way of demand generation is no longer functional * [27:40] ABM is not the death of brand and creativity * [30:48] Peter proposes the future of ABM

Connect With Peter: * Team webpage on Demandbase website * Connect with Peter on LinkedIn * Follow Peter on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * BOOK: “Educated: A Memoir” * Demandbase’s ABM Certification process * Ep 73, “MRP CMO Explains Why Predictive Analytics in Marketing Will Revolutionize the B2B Industry” * Ep 84, “Why an Account Based Marketing Strategy in B2B is Successful”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Let’s face it – simple is hard, especially in B2B marketing. It’s so easy to get caught up in flashy features, complicated jargon, and complex campaign strategies that we forget what marketing is all about – making buying easier. Faced with this challenge of persuading people, many CMOs are struggling to keep things simple. Margaret Molloy is not one of those CMOs.

As the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Siegel+Gale, Margaret has mastered the art of persuading people with simple, but powerful messaging. She points her success to two key foundations: having permission to fail and the effectiveness of fact-based storytelling. The lessons she has to share are not only coming from her experience at Siegel+Gale, but also from what she learned by exploring her own passion project, the #WearingIrish initiative.

In this episode, Drew and Margaret talk about how to keep things simple in B2B marketing and explain the four main traits of successful CMOs. Margaret describes her experience with her passion project, the #WearingIrish initiative, and how CMOs could be growing and learning from their own side hustle.

Margaret is a bundle of B2B wisdom, click here to listen to her story.

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What You’ll Learn

Keeping marketing simple is hard, but these 2 foundations make it easier B2B marketing is all about making a buying decision easier for a customer. Even though there are thousands of experts and opinions in the industry, Drew and Margaret both believe in the idea of simple marketing - a Renegade approach to marketing that makes everything approachable and easy to understand.

Simple marketing focuses on encouraging and persuading people to act. But a CMO cannot pursue this path without these 2 foundations: internal company support and a solid fact base. Without these tools to lean on, a CMO is more likely to get distracted and lose sight of the true company goal. Artful, courageous simple marketing follows after these foundations have been laid.

Successful CMOs exhibit these 5 behaviors that lead to better simple marketing campaigns Great CMOs are fundamentally simplifiers. They’re always working towards boiling down ideas into easy-to-digest pieces of information. Margaret explains that throughout her career as a marketer and creator, the best CMOs consistently exhibit these 5 behaviors.

They’re purpose-driven
They’re fact-based, but they have an imagination
They are bold and brave in prioritization (they say no often)
They create and empower smaller teams
They execute on company and brand promises

These behaviors allow a CMO to focus on what truly matters in their marketing campaign.

Margaret uses her passion project #WearingIrish to help her role as a CMO - and you can too Margaret’s native country is Ireland and even while working as a top CMO she knew she wanted to bring global exposure to Irish creators. That’s why she created the #WearingIrish initiative. She is telling the untold story of Irish fashion design and learning skills that are transferable to her CMO role as well.

Margaret explains that this passion project has given her an opportunity to have an “experimentation lab” that is separate from the risks and responsibilities associated with Siegel+Gale. It also allowed her to develop a higher sense of empathy for other companies and her CMO clients. No matter where your personal interests may lie, the stories shared on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite show that they can always be used to benefit your company and your own professional work.

Timeline * [0:30] Margaret Molloy, CMO and creator, is featured on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite * [2:07] Margaret’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [11:35] The story behind Margaret’s #WearingIrish passion project * [19:04] Tying together your personal brand with your company’s brand and mission * [22:20] These are the top 5 behaviors of successful CMOs * [32:00] Actionable steps make simple marketing tangible

Connect With Margaret: * Margaret’s profile on the Siegel+Gale website * Connect with Margaret on LinkedIn * Follow Margaret on Twitter * Follow Margaret on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Wearing Irish website * BOOK: “The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail” * BOOK: “Eat Fat, Get Thin: Why the Fat We Eat Is the Key to Sustained Weight Loss and Vibrant Health” * INTERVIEW: “Marketing Needs to Be More Than a Coat of Paint”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Eat Fat, Get Thin: Why the Fat We Eat Is the Key to Sustained Weight Loss and Vibrant Health

The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change)

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Fans of The Simpsons may remember the episode in which Homer is jubilant about "new billboard day." This 1995 episode happened long before digital marketing became an obsession that in some circles rendered outdoor obsolete. Well Homer Simpson has a new comrade in arms with Janine Pelosi, the CMO at Zoom, at least when comes to the appreciation of outdoor advertising. In past 18 months, Pelosi and Zoom put forward the simple but powerful message "Meet Happy" to build awareness of their online meeting platform. Then they shared it with the world, but not just through ads on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google. They invested heavily in billboards and transit ads across major US and European markets. The results? 100% year over year revenue growth. 135% year over year user base growth. 1600% growth in weekly web traffic. That Simpsons gag was released in 1995, but Janine's team is proving that billboards and outdoor advertising can still be powerful, as long as the message is right. In this episode, Drew and Janine talk about effective, honest messaging and how to broadcast it to the world. Janine talks through Zoom's success, its challenges, and her high-level thoughts on the role a CMO should play, especially in being an advocate for their team. Learn from Janine’s journey at Zoom by listening to this episode.

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What You’ll Learn Zoom’s latest brand awareness campaign is “Meet Happy,” and it works wonders without digital marketing With over 700,000 businesses using Zoom to meet virtually, Janine and her team realized that meetings were a critical piece of modern business. They sought out to create a brand awareness campaign that would generate demand in a unique way. That’s why they stayed away from typical digital marketing strategies such as Facebook ads. Instead, they put outdoor marketing pieces across the world on buses, billboards, taxis, etc.

The “Meet Happy” campaign speaks to so many prospects because it encourages a positive emotion and interaction with a product. Delivering happiness and great meeting experiences are what Zoom does best, and it shows.

Generating demand is one thing, delivering on a promise is another. Zoom succeeds at both! The “Meet Happy” campaign simply generates demand. It doesn’t capture that demand and turn it into leads and sales. For capturing the demand, Janine still relies on digital tools. By using this form of promise-based marketing, Janine creates positive connections with prospects even before they visit Zoom’s website. Their team follows through on that promise by always focusing on perfecting their product and having exceptional customer service.

Internally, the Zoom team keeps “be happy” as a company culture pillar. It focuses everyone around a central mindset and has bonded the team together as they grew.

Janine shares her main ideas for successful marketing, company culture, and innovation At Zoom, having a supportive CEO is one of the biggest ingredients in their “secret sauce” of success. Janine explains that without the support and encouragement of top company leaders, organizing successful campaigns is difficult.

Are you interested in achieving the same amount of success as Zoom? Janine encourages all marketers to keep marketing practical, keep it simple, and stay focused. Don’t chase after all the tools on the market and don’t overthink your messaging. Simply know your brand, believe in your product, and trust your intuition.

Timeline * [1:15] How Janine’s work has increased Zoom’s marketing success in just 3 years * [2:35] Janine’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [11:49] How Zoom’s “Meet Happy” brand awareness campaign works wonders for capturing demand * [20:07] The “secret sauce” behind Janine’s marketing strategy at Zoom * [23:34] Delivering on the promise of the “Meet Happy” campaign * [26:45] Learn from the challenges Zoom’s marketing team has faced

Connect With Janine: * Janine’s profile on the Zoom website * Connect with Janine on LinkedIn * Follow Janine on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Zoom website * BOOK: “The SPEED of TRUST: The One Thing That Changes Everything” * Gartner brand

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Brent Adamson has a bone to pick with marketers: the way many of them define their industry is miles off the mark. In fact, Brent may want to abandon the term 'marketing' altogether, because too often the notion of separate marketing and sales departments breeds a lack of coordination. If your marketing and sales teams are not in perfect lockstep, you can count on your business suffering. If you disagree, maybe he can sway you in part 2 of his interview.

In today's conclusion to the interview, Brent and Drew get at to the heart of how a marketing team needs to operate to be successful, and it involves a lot more than handing leads off to sales like a relay-race baton. Brent will talk the listener through seven tools that can help make speed up the process of connecting a customer with a product. Then, Drew and Brent talk through the buyer enablement journey, and why breaking down walls between sales and marketing will enable the teams make it as easy as possible for the customer to buy. In the end, that's goal number one.

This episode is brimming with wisdom to help you shed some outdated notions of marketing, don't miss it!

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What You’ll Learn Marketing and sales collaboration is the wave of the future - here’s why Brent wants every marketer to understand that the role of every B2B business is to make buying easier for the customer. This is achieved through a high level of marketing and sales collaboration. Gone are the days where marketers can simply hand off a prospect to the sales department and hope for the best. If a company knits together the two departments, they will have a competitive advantage over every other business in the industry.

Where do buyers look for information validation? During the purchase journey, a buyer is always seeking for validation on the information they receive. After speaking with a sales representative, there are 3 main places where they will look for validation:

The company’s website
SEO organic searches
A third-party analyst/thought leader

That’s why it’s so important for companies to be unified in the way they deliver information and lay out why their solution is the best available. If a buyer receives mixed information, they’re less like to choose your solution.

The 7 main tools that enhance buyer enablement A B2B company with linked marketing and sales departments can work together to create tools that help a customer make easier buying decisions. There are 7 main categories of tools that can be explored.

Calculators
Simulators
Recommenders
Benchmarks
Connectors
Advisors
Diagnostics

These tools ultimately allow the customer to choose the best solution to their problem. Brent explains that there is a “huge commercial benefit” to providing tools that make a customer’s life easier, and companies can see increased loyalty from customers after they use these tools.

Timeline * [1:40] Marketing has a new role - make it easier for the customer to buy * [4:24] Buyer enablement takes the form of these 7 tools * [10:14] You can’t fit these ideas into legacy structures for companies and brands * [14:20] This is the #1 place customers look for information validation * [23:34] Why you should be excited about the upcoming Gartner conference

Connect With Brent: * Brent’s CEB/Gartner webpage * Connect with Brent on LinkedIn * Follow Brent on Twitter * Follow CEB/Gartner on Facebook * CEB/Gartner on YouTube

Resources & People Mentioned * Brent’s book: “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation” * Gartner events and conferences * Brent’s blog on HubSpot

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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A customer’s purchase journey is never an easy process to document and collect data on. Thankfully, Brent Adamson is interviewed on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. As Principle Executive Advisor at Gartner (formerly CEB), Brent works to help B2B companies explain to customers why their solution is the best available.

Throughout part 1 of this conversation, Brent and Drew discuss why putting the customer first should be at the heart of any B2B organization. They explain the 6 non-linear steps in any purchase journey, and Brent shares his #1 tip for any B2B supplier.

This conversation will shed new light on the purchase journey. Check it out.

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What You’ll Learn Putting the buyer first is the #1 step to create a better purchase journey B2B companies should be focusing on understanding how buying happens. Learning how your ideal customer views the buying process will give you direction when bridging the gap between marketing and sales departments. Brent explains that unfortunately, few brands in the B2B space are doing this well. To learn how to put the buyer first and reorganize your brand’s purchase journey model, be sure to listen.

The 6 main steps in any B2B purchase journey - they’re not linear! Contrary to what many professionals believe, a purchase journey within B2B industries isn’t linear. And closing a deal isn’t about progression, it’s about completion. Brent outlines the 6 main steps that must be completed before any buying decision is made.

Problem identification
Solution exploration
Requirements building
Supplier selection
Consensus creation (always happening)
Validation of information (always happening)

These steps are far from being linear, especially when multiple decision-makers are involved. Of all the B2B buyers surveyed by Brent and his team at Gartner, 90% reported having to revisit one of the top 4 steps multiple times throughout their purchase journey.

Marketers should be doing THIS, before anything else, to help buyers choose their solution Given these 6 steps, what is the ideal job of a B2B marketer? Brent believes it’s simple: marketers need to make buying easier. The first step in doing so is ensuring that problem-solving information is available through multiple channels. The answers given to a buyer over the phone from a sales rep should be consistent with information available online and via social media.

Actively solving a customer’s problems, before they even recognize a problem, is the key to making B2B buying easier. By understanding a buyer’s problems, offering them the best solution, and supporting them through their purchase journey, you’re well on your way to closing more deals in your industry.

Timeline * [0:30] Brent’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment, and his unique definition of marketing * [7:30] The importance of putting the customer first * [12:11] Brent explains the traditional customer purchase journey model * [17:42] The 6 main steps to a buying process - they’re NOT linear * [25:40] B2B buying is incredibly complex, and it’s through a multi-channel approach * [33:27] Here are your need-to-know takeaways from part 1 of this conversation with Brent

Connect With Brent: * Brent’s CEB/Gartner webpage * Connect with Brent on LinkedIn * Follow Brent on Twitter * Follow CEB/Gartner on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Brent’s book: “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation” * BOOK: “Jobs to Be Done: A Roadmap for Customer-Centered Innovation”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Jobs to Be Done: A Roadmap for Customer-Centered Innovation

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Becoming a great B2B company starts with one thing: creating a better brand narrative. The story you tell about your brand is the driving force behind every action your team takes. A great brand narrative inspires quality product design and links every team member to your common values and goals.

Throughout this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew and Barry also discuss why marketers need to go out and be the face of the company through making sales and speaking with customers. Finally, Barry shares his best tips for creating apps people ACTUALLY want to use. You can learn from his clear insights that break down app design into a few easy ideas.

You’ll enjoy and learn from this podcast - check it out!

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What You’ll Learn Professionals should do these 3 things in the B2B marketing industry B2B marketers do more than create content to be shared. The best professionals break out of the marketing mold regularly and become salespersons for the day. By going out and talking to prospects, understanding their problems, and making sales they are better equipped to create campaigns that target the heart of a prospect.

Barry explains that marketing professionals should also do these 3 main tasks in order to best serve the company:

Develop the “why change” and “why change now” stories
Express and condense the brand narrative into 2-3 sentences that can be repeated by every team member
Create authentic content that backs up the brand narrative

Here’s how to build a better brand narrative for your company Drafting a better brand narrative goes beyond restating the company’s mission. A truly great narrative paints a picture to the customer that resonates deeply with their problems and need for solutions. Writing a better brand narrative becomes a process of deconstructing and reconstructing your company’s mission, values, core principles, and positioning. Barry explains this process in full detail on this episode. It’s not an easy road, but it’s one that 100% worth it.

Your app shouldn’t be just a mobile website - give it a job to do and problem to solve Barry explains the 3 main types of apps: those used to waste time, those used to connect people together, and those used to save time. The entire idea behind productivity-based apps is to minimize the amount of time a user spends on the app itself. If you understand the fundamental reason behind WHY people need your app, you can use those insights to design a better, more efficient user experience. And remember, not everything should be about marketing within your app!

To hear more about why user-first app design is so important, and even more details behind authentic brand narratives, be sure to give this episode your full attention.

Timeline * [1:20] Barry’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment, and why marketers need to become salespeople * [15:20] Could machines take over a creative marketer’s job? * [18:35] Constructing a great narrative for your company * [25:57] Professionals do these 3 things in the B2B marketing industry * [32:40] Barry’s best advice for creating apps that people ACTUALLY want to use * [38:42] Barry’s #1 tip for designing great apps

Connect With Barry: * Swrve’s company webpage * Connect with Barry on LinkedIn * Follow Barry on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Swrve website * Swrve on Facebook * Swrve on Twitter * Ep 67, “How DocuSign’s CMO Discovered How to Develop a Marketing Vision through Orchestration”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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On part 2 of this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite recorded live at the PSFK conference, Drew speaks with two guests about how marketers can relate to audiences over 50 and the future marketing trends to be looking for.

David Stewart, CEO/founder of Ageist, explains the disconnect between 50+ audiences and younger marketing teams. He shares insights that will change the way you approach marketing to older generations.

Dr. Devon Powers shares her knowledge on future marketing trends and how brands need to be thinking about their future interactions with guests.

You’ll appreciate this episode, it’ll leave you thinking.

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What You’ll Learn * [1:18] Part 2 of the podcast recorded live at the PSFK conference * [1:55] Most marketers are missing the mark for consumers over 50 * [8:10] How can you communicate effectively with the 50+ demographic? * [16:26] Dr. Devon Powers, researcher and professor, on future marketing trends * [23:57] Devon explains why challenging your marketing assumptions is key * [28:19] Here are your main takeaways from this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite

Marketers are missing the mark for audiences 50+ -- here’s the solution "Too many marketers are obsessed with the millennial generation," explains David on this episode. Few brands understand what older consumers are looking for and they’re missing out on capturing their brand loyalty. He wants listeners to understand that people over 50 often feel invisible in the market, and if your company recognizes the value they add to society, you’ll be well on your way to capturing their dollars.

Focusing on values and aspirations is key for marketing to all ages Campaigns focused on values and aspirations are two marketing trends that are always successful. No matter the age of your audience, these types of campaigns speak to every consumer. If you appreciate a consumer’s accomplishments and explain how your company can help them succeed even more, you’ll earn customers for life.

Here’s how you can identify future marketing trends Devon explains that always evaluating your physical and online environments is key to understanding future marketing trends in your industry. Marketers need to be thinking about how their consumers identify themselves and interact with others. Those patterns and trends will dictate how they interact with your brand. If you’re always challenging your assumptions, you’ll be on your way to understanding where marketing trends are headed in the future.

Connect With David Stewart: * Ageist website * Email David * Connect with David on LinkedIn * Follow Ageist on Twitter * Follow Ageist on Facebook

Connect With Devon Powers: * Devon’s website * Devon’s Temple University webpage * Connect with Devon on LinkedIn * Follow Devon on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * PSFK Conference

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Throughout this episode, recorded live at the PSFK conference, Drew speaks with two professionals that explain 3 strategies on how to build a quality brand. Both guests focus on how a brand can help people think about big ideas and create change in their own lives and in their communities.

Jordan Schenck is the Head of Global Consumer Marketing at Impossible Foods, and she talks about how a brand can spark change across multiple business platforms.

Amber Case is a Research Fellow at MIT and is an expert in “calm tech,” an area of research that focuses on eliminating unnecessary tech systems. She wants to see every marketing professional avoid distracting systems, and get back to the heart of working for a quality brand.

You don’t want to miss these inspiring conversations.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:01] Drew’s overview for this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite * [1:38] Jordan Schenck from Impossible Foods is Drew’s first guest * [8:27] How Impossible Foods maintains brand integrity across multiple platforms * [10:49] Impossible Foods is helping people make decisions they can feel good about * [15:04] Jordan’s key insight into marketing a product brand * [17:14] Amber Case, MIT Research Fellow, is Drew’s second guest * [22:00] AI is not about replacing humans * [25:29] You have to know what can and cannot be automated

#1 - Creatively market your mission-led brand Jordan explains that in order to effectively market a mission-led brand, you have to go beyond spouting off your values. People are always willing to follow a quality brand, but you have to first get their attention. Your job as a marketer working for a quality brand is to get people into the headspace of getting behind a message they can support.

#2 - Help people make beneficial decisions they can feel good about Quality brands push people towards decisions that are better for their communities, themselves, and the world we all live in. That the mindset Jordan and her team believe in at Impossible Foods. They are always trying to go beyond being a consumer brand and start bigger conversations about how the brands we follow can ultimately influence and change the world.

#3 - Know when to use AI to make your life easier, not full of distractions Amber is a supporter of calm tech - a method of using technology that allows you to still be human and not become immersed in complicated technology systems. She explains that quality brands are well designed and built for optimal human use. Truly great products take more time, but they can help people do tasks in a more focused, efficient way. If you choose to use artificial intelligence (AI) in your company, understand that AI systems still require human insights. If not, your data will be flat and not useful.

Connect With Jordan Schenck: * Impossible Foods’ company webpage * Connect with Jordan on LinkedIn * Follow Jordan on Twitter * Follow Jordan on Facebook * Follow Impossible Foods on Twitter * Follow Impossible Foods on Facebook

Connect With Amber Case: * About Amber * Amber’s book: “Calm Technology: Principles and Patterns for Non-Intrusive Design” * Connect with Amber on LinkedIn * Follow Amber on Twitter * Follow Amber on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * PSFK Conference * Impossible Foods website

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Calm Technology: Principles and Patterns for Non-Intrusive Design

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Norwegian Cruise Line is a leader in the travel industry and an expert in product launch marketing. Their CMO and Senior VP, Meg Lee, is Drew’s guest for this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. Tune in as Meg and Drew talk marketing over a glass of champagne aboard Norwegian's Bliss ship in NYC.

On this episode, Meg shares her tips on how to handle product launch marketing and the benefits of having diverse channels of marketing. She touches on how she sells fun, whether it's through the smoked Texas BBQ (prepared off-ship), or the electric race car track available to guests on the ship. Overall, she talks through how she completes her main job: filling 16 huge ships with excited travellers.

Don’t want to miss this entertaining and educational episode.

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Use a variety of marketing strategies when launching a product

Meg and her team at Norwegian Cruise Line recognize the importance of using many different marketing channels when preparing to launch a new ship. Using social, video, print, and word of mouth platforms allow the Norwegian brand to reach as many people as possible. It’s always important to curate and organize the content you’re developing so that the right message can be shared at the right time.

Relationships can be your best marketing strategies

In the travel industry, the best resource available for product launch marketing is travel agencies. The relationships Meg has built with travel agents are invaluable and offer an unparalleled level of expertise and knowledge to potential customers. Forming relationships in your own industry like these should be a top priority.

The benefits of using creative product launch marketing strategies

By using creative marketing for your B2B or B2C business, you can stand out from the competition. Creative ideas make your brand memorable and allow you to go deeper into storytelling mode. Without creative storytelling, you're just sharing data and facts. Meg also urges marketers to never let fear be a driver of their decisions.

What You’ll Learn * [1:04] Meg’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [6:35] The customer journey for Norwegian Cruise Lines * [9:52] Why differentiation matters for Norwegian Cruise Line * [12:47] How the Norwegian brand leverages word of mouth marketing * [14:15] The challenges of marketing and selling a brand new cruise ship * [22:17] The role of B2B marketing in the travel industry * [27:55] How Norwegian Cruise Line utilizes video marketing strategies * [31:09] Meg’s “two do’s and a don’t” for marketers

Connect With Meg: * Norwegian Cruise Line’s Leadership webpage * Connect with Meg on LinkedIn * Follow Norwegian Cruise Line on Twitter * Follow Norwegian Cruise Line on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Target brand * Feel Free video ad * Norwegian Cruise Line 2018 video ad

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Jon Miller, founder and CEO of Engagio, has found success with an account based marketing strategy for his company. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, he explains what account-based marketing is and why it can change the way you approach prospective clients.

He also shares practical ways you can authentically relate to company CEOs and why account-based marketing strategies are a business process, not a tech stack tool.

This conversation is sure to educate and inspire, so be sure to listen!

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What You’ll Learn * [1:14] Jon’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [10:39] What is ABM and why should you consider this strategy? * [15:10] How Jon is using ABM in practical ways at Engagio * [21:45] People respond to the human touch in account-based marketing strategy * [27:32] ABM is a business process, not a tech stack tool * [29:26] Jon’s “two do’s and one don’t” for marketers interested in ABM

Why choose an account-based marketing strategy? Jon describes account-based marketing (ABM) as fishing with a spear vs. fishing with a widely cast net. It’s about identifying which accounts are most likely to work with your company, then putting more energy and resources into securing those accounts. B2B marketing environments are noisy and competitive, and ABM strategies allow you to stand out from the masses and attract the best clients with the highest ROI opportunities.

People seek authentic connection - that’s why they respond to the human touch in ABM True account-based marketing strategies are multidimensional and go deeper than superficial attraction. CEOs are open to ABM strategies because they’re human and they want to work with people who truly understand them. Jon and his team at Engagio have a 26% meeting rate and a 60% human reply rate, simply because they’re not afraid to personally reach out to every prospect.

Practical ways to implement an account-based marketing strategy into your B2B company An account-based marketing strategy can be implemented within your company in 3 steps: identify a CEO/company target, assign a team member to interact with them, and personalize your tactics for that specific target. Using face-to-face meetings as much as possible, targeted direct mailings and engaging emails are all useful when starting an ABM approach.

Connect With Jon: * Jon’s website * Engagio’s website * Connect with Jon on LinkedIn * Follow Jon on Twitter * Follow Engagio on Twitter * Follow Engagio on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * INTERVIEW: “Turning Marketing into Math” * Salesforce brand * 1-1-1 Approach * Dreamforce conference * BOOK: “The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business” * BOOK: “Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty” * BOOK: “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation” * Lingo Live company

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty

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Creating the perfect marketing promise is one of the biggest goals for CMOs. But a marketing promise without a product to back it up will not succeed. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew interviews Jennifer Deutsch, CMO of Park Place Technologies - a company that specializes in third-party data center maintenance. She shares her experiences in pairing the perfect marketing message with a brand-changing product and it's an episode you don't want to miss.

Jennifer shares her expert opinion on how your team can identify the “aha moment” for your brand. She and Drew also discuss how sales leads are directly connected to marketing and the importance of simple marketing.

Learn from Jennifer’s recent success with marketing promises by listening to this episode.

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What You’ll Learn * [1:12] Jennifer’s diverse experience brings a high level of expertise to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite * [2:35] Jennifer’s Renegade Rapid Fire * [12:02] How did Jennifer and her team come up with the idea of anticipating customer needs? * [17:46] What percentage of leads are driven by marketing? * [19:43] A new product launch delivers on your marketing promise * [23:53] How marketing & PR is directly tied to Park Place’s global leads * [26:24] Why simple is marketing is hard * [28:07] The biggest lessons Jennifer learned while at Park Place Technologies

A product MUST deliver on your marketing promise, or else it won’t succeed If your CEO says “we don't have a new product, but we need a new campaign" - consider finding a new company. Marketing without a deliverable promise isn’t really marketing, and it won’t make an impact on your customers. It’s the CMO’s job to find a position that supports a new product and then deliver on that marketing promise. A stellar new product and a foolproof marketing plan create a 1-2 punch that will fundamentally change perceptions about your brand.

Anticipating your customer’s needs will allow you to crush your competition Jennifer and her team at Park Place Technologies have created the perfect tagline for their latest product and marketing releases, “Up-time is everything.” They recognized that for data centers and technology companies, “downtime” (where servers and technology aren't functional because of repairs or unplanned incident) directly equates to lost profit. Jennifer and her team decided to passionately pursue the idea of “up-time” and make it a new cornerstone for Park Place Technologies. That was their “aha brand moment.”

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Jennifer explains her process for internal and external rollout after identifying customer needs and creating a marketing campaign to support the product. They spent 1 month explaining the “why” and the inspiration behind the new campaign. This allowed internal audiences to buy into the new direction. Then, the global external rollout followed with digital and print marketing efforts. Combining these two rollout plans, just as Park Place Technologies did, will allow your company to see the greatest levels of success when delivering on a marketing promise.

Simplicity in marketing key, but hard to master Effective marketing begins by simply understanding what makes your audience tick. Jennifer encourages CMOs to speak their customers’ language and identify their needs. After you’ve identified those puzzle pieces you can begin to craft messages that speak to those needs. Drew and Jennifer discuss why simple marketing is as valuable as gold, but why it’s so hard to perform in the right ways. Simplicity in the right places is genius, but simplicity in the wrong marketing places isn’t strong enough to make an impression on your customers. For their solutions on how to simplify your marketing while have it be backed up by a product, don’t miss this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Connect With Jennifer: * Jennifer’s webpage at Park Place Technologies * Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn * Follow Park Place Technologies on Twitter * Follow Park Place Technologies on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Gartner events * Dragon 360 digital marketing

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Renaming a company is no small task. It’s even more challenging when your company is fewer than 10 years old. Marissa Aydlett, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Braze, is Drew’s guest for this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. They skillfully unpack the art and science of renaming a company and it’s a conversation you don’t want to miss.

Marissa shares insight into challenges surrounding the renaming process and the subsequent rebranding efforts. There is power behind selecting a name and future direction for your company and it’s not something that should be tackled haphazardly.

Key differences between historical, in the moment, and predictive data are also covered. Knowing how to capture these types of data and use them to your company’s advantage is one of the biggest pieces of advice Marissa has for listeners.

Learn from the renaming journey Braze just completed by listening to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:30] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Marissa Aydlett of Braze * [2:56] The major brand transformation from Appboy to Braze * [7:56] Understanding the true importance of selecting a new name through dedicated research * [10:33] The biggest lessons Marissa’s learned throughout the renaming process * [14:27] So the company has a new name - now what? * [18:06] The medium was the message at Braze’s live promotion events * [21:57] Turning the Braze name into an eponym * [24:40] The future of Braze - where are all of the company’s ideas heading? * [28:21] Historical data vs. in the moment data vs. predictive data * [34:23] The power of first-party data within predictive analytics * [36:39] How to look at your marketing programs beyond the next 6 months

The essentials behind renaming a company Braze is a customer engagement platform that allows companies to send out personalized messages across a variety of platforms. Formerly known as Appboy, the company began in 2011 and Marissa’s team started the renaming process when the company was only 6 years old. She knew the company needed to be a leader in predicting how people will communicate and interact with each other in both B2B and B2C environments in the future. Achieving this leader status could only come after a renaming process. Marissa shares the following key insights about renaming a company:

Understand that a name could stick with your company forever
A name should be symbolic of your company’s goals and values
Naming a company is a personal experience - be sure to take into account internal and external opinions
Don’t be afraid of seeking third-party advice and support
Have a plan for rebranding efforts after the naming process is complete

All of this advice and more great insights can be found on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

The power of choosing a great name and how that name can organically become an eponym The ultimate dream for marketers is universal awareness - the point in time when your brand becomes synonymous with a noun. Having your brand become a verb is an even better case scenario. Think, “I’ll Venmo you the money!” or “I’ll Google it!” Marissa has found that the company name “Braze” is organically becoming an eponym and that organic discovery process is better than any marketing-driven campaign. Her team members are using variations such as “Brazify it!” and that’s quite an exciting process to watch. There’s power in a great name. It could drive the future direction of your company for years to come. You can’t afford to miss the renaming secrets that Drew and Marissa discuss, so be sure to listen.

Being an innovative company is all about fostering personal connections with each customer Even though a stellar name is a perfect foundation for a company, the company then has to strive to make personal, individualized connections with every customer. That’s where data comes into play. Marissa describes how Braze encourages its clients to use three types of data: historical, in the moment, and predictive. This combination of data gives a company the best chance at knowing what the customers want, when they want it, and why they’re seeking it. She says it’s all about delivering the right message at the right time to the right person. It’s an explanation that’s best heard from the expert, so be sure to listen to Marissa’s conversation with Drew. You won’t regret it.

Connect With Marissa: * Braze’s About Us webpage * Connect with Marissa on LinkedIn * Follow Marissa on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Branding partner company, Lexicon * Episode 65: “The Ups and Downs of Xerox’s Universal Awareness and Shifting Your Brand Perception” * ARTICLE: “Most Innovative Companies - Domino's”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Salesforce has built a company that makes the customers a top priority, and it's a big part of the brand's success. Focusing on the customers means a marketing strategy centered on having an authentic voice and encouraging interactions that feel personally relevant to the consumer. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Salesforce CMO Simon Mulcahy shares why that trust is so critical, and how companies can put customers first in their business plan.

Additionally, Simon discusses the art and science of marketing, the role artificial intelligence can play, and how GDPR and data security concerns are forcing marketers to get better.

This conversation is sure to inspire, click here to listen!

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What You’ll Learn: Don't put a product at the center of your business model Companies often make the mistake of placing their product at the center of their business model. Simon counters this mindset and explains that in the modern era, it's much easier to build an amazing product, but much harder to engage the customer in a relevant, honest way. With that in mind, customer-centered thinking has to be everywhere in your business, starting with the CEO. If you keep your focus squarely on the customer, success in other areas of business will follow.

Brand trust takes years to build, but seconds to lose One of the key points Simon emphasized is that business is all about trust. If your company prioritizes generating trust in the community you’re trying to serve, customers will keep coming back to your brand. Conversely, one major negative interaction can destroy months of rapport with a customer, so you should always be conscious of your tone and how it will be received. A voice that inspires trust in your customers will serve your marketing for years to come.

Marketing isn't just for the marketing department. Every single touchpoint with the consumer represents the brand. That means that everything from salespeople, to direct communications, to customer service, is marketing, to an extent. Make sure that the brand identity is infused into every element of the company, and that each department is helping deliver a personalized, contextually-relevant experience.

Timeline * [1:20] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Simon Mulcahy, CMO of Salesforce * [3:15] Simon’s Renegade Rapid Fire segment * [13:07] Why the customer is at the center of the Salesforce business model * [19:53] The most powerful lesson learned from Salesforce - it’s all about trust * [25:26] The importance of having a unified view of your customer * [31:10] Simon shares his opinion on the future of customer centric businesses * [36:39] How GDPR will impact customer-centric businesses * [41:50] Simon’s “two do’s and one don’t” for marketers

Connect With Simon * Salesforce website * Connect with Simon on LinkedIn * Follow Simon on Twitter * Follow Simon on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Adidas brand * BOOK: A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction * BOOK: The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook * INTERVIEW: “Ding Dong, Salesforce Calling: CMO Aspires to Avon-like Army of Evangelists” * BOOK: “Who Can You Trust?: How Technology Brought Us Together and Why It Might Drive Us Apart”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Who Can You Trust?: How Technology Brought Us Together and Why It Might Drive Us Apart

The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series)

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Storytelling is an important concept, but it's often misunderstood. It is absolutely crucial for creating meaningful marketing efforts that stand out, but few B2B marketing leaders are using it to its full potential.

On this special 80th episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew revisits 5 past interviews that highlight key elements of successful storytelling and its use in marketing.

To hear these insights from successful story-driven marketers, click here to listen now!

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Why you need a signature story rooted in emotion - with David Aaker of Prophet David explains that when trying to convey a message, a CMO has two options: share facts or tell stories. And facts don't work. B2B storytelling must magnify the problem, offer a solution or accentuate the outcome. This can artfully be done by combining customer testimony with just enough facts to provide a reliable level of reality. However, simply listing data and facts is a record-keeping entry - not a compelling marketing campaign.

How and when to put emotion into your ads - with Manny Rodriguez of UC Health Manny’s healthcare marketing philosophy goes against the grain: He always strives to connect to the human side of B2B marketing by putting the patient first. He shares how to nurture the emotional component of storytelling to effectively connect with the audience, as well as his 4 top lessons all CMOs should learn.

Brand identity and storytelling need to be strongly united - with Martin Häring of Finastra One of the biggest challenges any CMO will face is the task of creating a new brand identity without losing the loyalty and enthusiasm of existing customers. It goes far beyond choosing new colors, a new name, and a fancy new logo. From legal issues, to market research, to the process can be daunting. Martin discusses the foundational principles - including storytelling - that helped him get the job done quickly and successfully.

With innovative storytelling, marketing campaigns can resonate with millions - with Rich Kylberg of Arrow Electronics Arrow’s story-driven marketing campaign reached people around the world. Rich and his team connected with Sam, a former indy car driver who had become a quadriplegic following a crash in 2000. Arrow was given an opportunity to create technology with real human benefits, and to share a story that would engage people and bring about positive change. Some time after being connected, Sam was able to take his family for a Sunday drive again. Rich explained that Arrow wants to share stories that can "drive technology innovation forward and inspire people to dream big because anything is possible."

How storytelling can be the foundation of a successful rebrand regardless of scale - with Carolyn Feinstein of Dropbox With over half a billion worldwide users, Dropbox is major player in cloud storage. Despite their success, they wanted a to expand to ensure their continued status as an industry leader and innovator. With a story-driven campaign, Carolyn helped successfully execute the massive rebrand that coincided with a new company mentality.

Resources & People Mentioned * BOOK: “Creating Signature Stories: Strategic Messaging that Energizes, Persuades and Inspires” * VIDEO: “This is Normal” * Email Drew for a special storytelling guide that will guide your business forward * Ep 34 “How Storytelling Begets Healthy Marketing for UCHealth” with Manny Rodriguez * Ep 66 “Driving the Future of Banking Technology Through a Massive Merger with Martin Häring of Finastra” * Ep 69 “How Arrow Electronics Reinvented Storytelling Marketing and the Importance of Taking Risks” with Rich Kylberg * Ep 70 “The Prophet Way of Utilizing Brand Storytelling to Engage With Audiences” with David Aaker * Ep 74 “How Dropbox is Channeling Global Creative Energy Through a Bold Rebranding Effort” with Carolyn Feinstein

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Quotes * Aaker: "The media world is clutter, today. It's really hard. Into this context steps story." * Häring: "In marketing, we are all storytellers. We have to create emotions." * Feinstein: "At the end of the day, our role is to understand the people that we're trying to reach deeply and to know the kind of stories that will resonate most deeply." * Kylberg: "It was a wild success. This initiative totally transformed the company, totally pushed us into the dominant position in our industry." * Rodriguez: "We took the risk of really tasking the patient with telling the story, and the payoff and the benefits have been huge."

Creating Signature Stories: Strategic Messaging that Energizes, Persuades and Inspires

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It’s easy for B2B marketing to skew factual and dry, and it often forgets that on the receiving end of messaging and marketing, there are actual humans with senses of humor and personalities. Alex Reed, Global Marketing Director for Big Ass Fans, knows this well, and has used it to craft funny, innovative B2B marketing and branding that connects with his audience on an emotional level.

In this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Alex and Drew discuss the importance of using humor in marketing, share inventive ways to connect with customers, and examine why being relatable, funny, and approachable is extremely important, even if you’re an industrial-size fan manufacturing company.

This conversation is loaded with helpful insights into creative marketing, click here to listen now!

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What You’ll Learn Customer Listening Drove Big Ass Fans to Get Creative Alex shared a story of how the name went from the lackluster “HVLS Fan Company” to “Big Ass Fans”. There was no big secret to the company’s a-ha moment, they simply listened to customers who would call and ask “are you the guys that sell those big-ass fans?”. It was an early lesson for the company: pay attention to what your customers are saying and adjust to fit what they’re looking for can have massive payoffs. Alex also stresses that, in making these creative decisions, it’s important to run everything by his team; if he’s making a joke, it can’t be too uptight otherwise it won’t be funny, and it can’t be too crass otherwise it’ll be poorly received.

How Big Ass Fans Connects with Customers Humor and creativity need to be ingrained in the company culture; a funny company name can only take a brand so far. “Big Ass Fans” can get a prospect’s attention, but there’s plenty more hard work that goes into landing a sale. Alex Reed and the marketing team committed to taking traditional outreach efforts and twisting them to deliver messages in a way that sets them apart. Rather than physical mailers, they produced a quarterly magazine that avoids being a catalogue and focuses on human interest pieces related to company employees or industries they service. The company used this to build up the ‘Big Ass Fan Club’ from the subscriptions, and now have a robust infrastructure for maintaining positive relationships with the customer base.

The Primary Goal for All Marketers In reflecting on the lessons he’s learned as CMO of Big Ass Fans as a brand, Alex’s first piece of advice was that a marketer’s number one job is to stand out. Big Ass Fans delivers humor, and shares their company culture with the world, but Alex notes that there are plenty of ways to connect with your audience emotionally, you just have to find them. For more in-depth discussions surrounding marketing and Big Ass Fans, listen to the full episode.

Timeline * [1:17] Drew ponders the use of humor in B2B marketing and introduces Alex as his guest for this episode * [4:00] Why Alex uses humor in his communication strategy * [8:08] Big Ass Fan’s innovative way of connecting with their customers * [15:20] The Big Ass ways of acquiring customers * [20:16] Using traditional media in nontraditional ways to connect with customers * [27:36] The role humor plays in acquiring customers and hiring top talent * [30:32] Alex shares his best lessons for marketing

Connect With Alex: * Big Ass Fans website * Connect with Alex on LinkedIn * Follow Big Ass Fans on Twitter * Follow Big Ass Fans on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Big Ass Magazine * Company tour video * “Not What They Expected” video * “Worthless Dirt Bag” Hate Phone Call

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

Meet the Guest With nearly a decade at the company, Alex Reed is one of Big Ass Fans’ longest-serving employees.

As chief marketing officer, he has devised strategies that have yielded a commanding brand recognition in the commercial space. His innovative approach has seen the number of new customers increase nearly 40 percent annually over the past five years. At the same time, customer loyalty has become so strong that repeat business accounts for around half of all orders, and the company’s net promoter score ranks three times higher than the manufacturing industry average.

The world has taken notice, too, as Alex’s public relations strategy has piqued the curiosity of every major media outlet with coverage that included a front-page article in The New York Times.

Beyond marketing, Alex consistently pushes the company’s evolution and oversaw its expansion beyond a B2B strategy to business-to-consumer with the 2012 debut of Haiku, the first Big Ass Fan for homes.

Alex holds a bachelor’s degree in integrated strategic communications from the University of Kentucky and has submitted two patent applications for smart ceiling fan technology.

Quotes from Alex Reed * Listen to your customers. Take risks, but first and foremost, do what's right for the customer. * Everybody should understand what role each touch point plays in the customer journey and come up with a metric that makes sense. For us we were looking at all things as equal. It was a misunderstanding of what role these touch points played as the customer moved along the journey from awareness to consideration to conversion and ultimately retention. * The number one job of marketing is to stand out. Humor is a great way to do that. We all like to laugh, we all love a good joke. It's not the only way to connect with your customers on a more emotional level, but you've got to find a way to stand out.

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Risk is too-often considered a dirty word in healthcare sectors. Transparency in healthcare industries is sadly uncommon. For this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite Drew interviews a courageous thinker in healthcare that's changing the way people think about risk-taking in healthcare, CMO of HealthSparq Burt Rosen.

Burt’s background in hospitality and education allowed him to see the massive gap in the healthcare industry - it’s wasn't actually about helping and connecting people. By turning his company upside down and digging into the true goal of HealthSparq, Burt has launched a movement that strives to make healthcare less confusing and more transparent.

This interview will restore your faith in the healthcare system. Learn how an insatiable level of curiosity can make you successful in any industry, as well as how to know when your brand positioning has struck gold. Finally, hear the background story behind Burt’s “What’s the Fix?” conference.

Burt and Drew tackle big issues on this episode and help you unravel the transparency in healthcare issues. Be sure to give it your full attention.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:30] Drew’s introduction of Burt Rosen, CMO of HealthSparq, and why risk shouldn’t be a dirty word in healthcare * [1:40] Why Burt embraces risk in healthcare and what attracted him to the industry * [4:08] You can learn the skills necessary for any industry if you understand marketing and have an insatiable curiosity * [8:13] Identifying HealthSparq’s true niche through risk-taking rebranding * [12:01] Uncovering what people really want out of healthcare through public focus groups * [23:19] The importance of investing in face-to-face interactions with actual people * [26:24] Storytelling at HealthSparq and why it’s so critical for Burt and his team * [30:01] How a low-budget conference became a massive movement in the healthcare industry * [34:10] Everything starts with the positioning of the brand * [37:38] Burt shares what’s next for HealthSparq and the What’s the Fix? conference

Redefining HealthSparq’s brand story in order to identify their true niche Burt learned about the importance of connecting with people and caring for them during his careers in education and hospitality. When he joined the HealthSparq team he recognized the need for a massive redefinition of the brand. Rather than talk about the specifics of the tools the company offers, Burt wanted to talk about the impact the tools has on the actual human using them. That’s why HealthSparq’s tagline is now “Helping people make smarter healthcare choices.” No matter how powerful research tools or cost calculators may be, if they’re not helping people feel more comfortable and confident in their own decisions, the tool is not serving the greater brand purpose. Burt’s understanding of person-first business is unparalleled and you’ll enjoy hearing him passionately talk about this idea on this episode.

Transparency in healthcare is key because it’s so personal to people and their families HealthSparq’s marketing team realized that healthcare should not be impersonal. Everyone has a healthcare story - they should be positive and comforting tales, not riddled with confusion and frustration. Burt believes that the professionals in the industry should be framing every decision in regards to the customer and patient. This underlying belief drives everything HealthSparq creates. HealthSparq knows that people of every age and from every walk of life want the same things. They want to be taken care of, they want good service, and they want transparency. Changing a decades-old industry is not for the faint of heart and to hear how Burt is conquering this task be sure to listen to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

How a simple focus group idea turned the healthcare industry upside down In every other industry, focus groups and panel questioning is commonplace. In the healthcare sector? Not so much. An idea for a public focus group left long-standing industry professionals baffled. When the first few HealthSparq-sponsored panels drew in massive amounts of feedback and stories it sent shockwaves through the industry. These panels soon morphed into Burt’s passion project, the “What’s the Fix?” conference. This conference, with the second one being held in May 2018, strives to connect actual people to industry leaders. Making people smarter about healthcare and the decisions they make for their families is always a move in the right direction. Burt’s excitement about the conference is contagious and this episode is sure to leave you inspired.

Connect With Burt: * Burt’s page on the HealthSparq website * Connect with Burt on LinkedIn * Follow Burt on Twitter * Follow Burt on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Drew’s presentation “The 7 Reasons Why (Most) Brands Fail at Storytelling” * Ep. 54 Story-Driven Content Marketing That Drives Leads * HealthSparq’s blog on the 2018 #WhatsTheFix conference * What’s the Fix? conference website

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook

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Drew’s conversation with Paul Gottsegen, Executive VP and Chief Marketing/Strategy Officer of Mindtree, will provide new CMOs with a step-by-step playbook for creating the best marketing organization structure possible. Paul provides listeners with 4 best practices to follow for ultimate success in digital, content, and social marketing.

Paul explains that “I’ve learned everything by making every mistake in the book.” Don’t repeat his mistakes, learn from his experiences. Those experiences have allowed him and his team to bring in over 100,000 sales pipeline leads over the past few years. The company’s stock value has quadrupled, and Mindtree has become a globally trusted brand.

Learn from one of the industry’s best experts on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. Listen now!

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What You’ll Learn * [1:38] Drew’s guest introduction and why this episode is a playbook for marketing organization structure * [4:45] Paul’s biggest challenges as a new CMO and how he learned the best marketing lessons * [10:50] Hidden costs to tech stacks that often go overlooked * [13:37] How can a small B2B company develop a competitive brand? * [17:58] Making Mindtree’s tagline, “Welcome to possible,” become reality * [20:26] Paul’s proudest moment of marketing execution at Mindtree * [23:57] Utilizing metrics and how to drive more leads to the sales pipeline * [30:12] The biggest area of uncharted territory in B2B marketing * [34:23] Paul’s 2 do’s and 1 don’t for CMOs

#1: Find out what your CEO/Executive Board’s marketing expectations are A CMO should not spend a single dollar or make a single decision until they determine what goals the company leadership team has for marketing. By having their expectations outlined ahead of time, you’ll save time, energy, and resources. Paul struggled with conveying the true importance of marketing to Mindtree’s executive board, but he summarized it by saying, “Marketing isn’t easy! If it was, everyone would be doing it in amazing ways. You just have to keep pushing good content, having great interactions, and build company credibility.” This mindset needs to be conveyed to company leaders before any of the other best practices can be implemented.

#2: Build the best marketing tech stack infrastructure you can afford Once marketing expectations and goals are established, a CMO should focus on building the best marketing tech stack possible. Paul explains that marketing professionals should “hire and fire tech stack tools quickly; don’t just sign a longer contract for a better deal!” He goes on to explain that many organizations forget about the staffing needs that come along with every tech stack tool and that every tool should provide quality metrics. Your tech stack should always be evolving and changing to fit the needs of the company.

#3: Focus on building a competitive brand Clear marketing expectations and having the right infrastructure then allows a CMO to focus on building a competitive, trusted global brand. Paul explains that small marketing organizations shouldn’t immediately focus on going toe-to-toe with brand 10x-20x larger than they are. That growth will come in time. However, every brand does need to focus on telling a better story that explains why YOU can solve a customer’s problem better than anyone else. Marketing can and should be about more than securing contracts. It’s about building a reputable, trusted, expert brand. All of this can be accomplished by following these 4 best practices, fully explained in the audio for this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

#4: Don’t be afraid to partner with experts and empower your team Even the CMO of Mindtree wasn’t afraid of turning to outside experts when he and his team hit a wall. There are thousands of qualified professional marketers that can provide third-party insights into your organization. Empowering your team to become experts in different areas is also immensely beneficial to a marketing organization’s structure. Specialties are great, employee silos aren’t. Your team should be just that, a team, all focusing on one common goal. This final best practice is best heard from Paul himself, so don’t miss this episode.

Connect With Paul: * Paul’s page on the Mindtree website * Connect with Paul on LinkedIn * Follow Paul on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Pardot marketing automation platform * Marketo platform * Moz software * Tableau business analytics software * Ep. 75 “Best Practices for Bold Marketing Strategies, Learned from Marketo’s CMO”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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When you think of Lucidchart, you probably think of the massively popular "doggo meme videos." These viral marketing campaigns are the result of Lucidchart taking risks and creating a culture of experimentation within their company. What started out as a simple idea from a team engineer has morphed into a global campaign that introduced Lucidchart to hundreds of thousands of new viewers.

On this entertaining and educational episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew and Lucidchart’s CMO, Nathan Rawlings, discuss the 3 major ideas behind a viral marketing campaign. Throughout the conversation, they discuss how the "doggo meme videos” became a staple in Lucidchart’s marketing portfolio.

Don’t miss the conversation behind why your website must be rock solid before launching into a campaign strategy and how to effectively track the impacts of a digital marketing campaign.

This podcast episode will leave you laughing and inspired - it’s one you don’t want to miss.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:30] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Nathan Rawlins, CMO of Lucidchart * [1:03] How are marketing and torturing marshmallow peeps connected? * [4:11] The marketing strategies going on behind the scenes at Lucidchart * [5:30] Successful demand generation method examples * [6:16] Search engines are ground zero for marketing and why you have to master the basics * [10:16] Why practical effectiveness sometimes trumps creativity * [11:49] The genius idea behind the "doggo meme" campaign * [17:13] Memes are great, but some of Lucidchart’s ideas weren’t as successful as the “doggo speak” campaigns * [18:21] How Lucidchart measured the impact of the meme videos * [22:03] How viral videos can increase morale and allow people to have fun communicating * [25:26] The future of Lucidchart’s meme videos * [27:58] Had Lucidchart not taken a risk with the meme videos, they would have never discovered the rich vein of viral marketing * [29:53] Drew summarizes his conversation with Nathan and outlines 3 major points for successful viral marketing campaigns * [32:06] Have a strategy to try many different marketing tactics

Before you can begin thinking like a Renegade, your company’s digital infrastructure must be built and optimized correctly Even the best viral marketing ideas will fall flat if your company does not have a stellar website. Combining best practices for SEM and SEO optimization, refining your blocking and tackling techniques, and understanding what your target market is looking for are crucial. This is where data and metrics trump creativity. If your website doesn’t flow well and give people the answers they’re looking for even the best demand generation strategies won’t succeed. Nathan experienced this firsthand when he joined the Lucidchart team. He walks listeners through the process of tweaking your website on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Brand awareness can be created through viral marketing campaigns, like Lucidchart’s wildly successful doggo meme videos Creativity can be found anywhere when brainstorming for ad campaigns. Lucidchart’s team desired to reach out to potential customers and go beyond the low hanging industry fruit of people already creating diagrams. Thus the “doggo meme” diagram videos that describe the “internet love language for dogs” were born. Each video has millions of views and as a result, the company’s global brand awareness has skyrocketed. A combination of endless internet memes, pop cultural awareness, and a willingness to produce great content simply for the sake of brand awareness allowed this viral marketing campaign to flourish. This campaign is shaping the way Lucidchart looks at customer engagement and you don’t want to miss hearing Nathan talk about the videos with passion and excitement. Be sure to give your full attention to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Finding the intersection between culture, product, and storytelling comes after your team has built a culture of experimentation Nathan explains to Drew that “drawings are the most natural form of communication.” Even before Lucidchart developed the meme diagram videos they had developed a culture of experimentation within their team. No idea was ever too simple or too outlandish to be considered. Nathan urges other CMOs to be human in their storytelling and to always seek out ways to communicate authentically with audiences. Drew also states that you can test a lot of things on the internet, and to not be afraid of the potential (minor) fallout if a digital campaign falls flat. When creative teams who are willing to take risks and try unconventional strategies are united with powerful technology strategies, brilliant ideas are able to flourish.

Connect With Nathan Rawlins: * Nathan’s introductory blog feature on the Lucidchart website * Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn * Follow Nathan on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * VIDEO: Nathan’s torturing peeps family tradition * VIDEO: “What is a Pupper? What is a Doggo?” Lucidchart ad * VIDEO: “Doggo Chart - Part 2” Lucidchart ad * VIDEO: “Doggo Chart - Part 3” Lucidchart ad * VIDEO: “Visualize Your Nopes” Lucidchart ad * VIDEO: “Kitteh, Kitter, and Catto - internet names for cats” Lucidchart ad * VIDEO: “Catto Chart - Part 2” Lucidchart ad * VIDEO: “Internet Aninmal Names” Lucidchart ad * VIDEO: “Internet Aninmal Names - Part 2” Lucidchart ad * VIDEOS: “Will it blend?” By Blendtec * VIDEO: Wednesday Chart by Lucidchart * BOOK: How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Marketo’s bold marketing strategies are well known across the marketing industry. For this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew interviews their CMO, Sarah Kennedy. He also introduces a new segment on the podcast, Renegade Rapid Fire, where listeners can get to know Sarah in an informative and engaging Q & A session. Discover her best advice for CMOs, why she chose a career in marketing and her recommendation for a book that will renew your courageous marketing spirit.

Sarah left a 10-year tenure at a previous company and lept into a five-month interview process at Marketo in order to diversify her experiences and pursue bold marketing. She is passionate about building an empowered and talented team as well as removing the shackles of perfectionism that plague the marketing industry.

You don’t want to miss the insights Sarah brings from Marketo into this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. Discover why CMOs should be called to lead with conviction and the critical importance of risk-taking and experimentation through marketing.

This interview will unveil Marketo secrets that will push your own company to greater success. Be sure to listen.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:30] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Sarah Kennedy, CMO of Marketo * [2:07] Drew gets to know Sarah through his new segment, Renegade Rapid Fire * [11:25] The most intriguing part of Marketo culture that drew Sarah in * [13:55] How the fearless mentality was created at Marketo * [16:53] Sarah’s definition of a fearless marketer * [23:20] CMOs are called to lead with conviction & stick to the ideas they truly believe in * [27:07] Content marketing and brand stories at Marketo * [32:54] Sarah’s final words of advice for CMOs * [34:19] Drew summarizes his conversation with Sarah Kennedy

Why “fearless and bold marketing” is the mantra guiding Marketo into the future When Sarah Kennedy joined the Marketo team, she immediately recognized the need to build a stellar team and fully understand the current Marketo brand story. Once she accomplished those tasks, she wanted to be able to have a single direction that would guide the company forward. That’s when “fearless marketing” was born. CMOs are born to lead, not waffle on ideas, and Sarah pursued fearless marketing relentlessly. She wanted to always circle back to customer engagement while also telling an even more powerful brand story that had been told in the past. Marketo has taken fearless marketing and turned it into an all-encompassing identity and even leadership summit events. Be sure to catch the full story on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Learn from Sarah’s 15 years of experience at top marketing companies to discover what makes a fearless marketer The definition of a “fearless marketer” is a CMO that is not afraid to experiment and take bold marketing risks. By setting aside fear of failure, CMOs are able to pursue THE idea they truly believe in. Fearless marketers aren’t afraid to experiment with platforms and strategies that other companies are ignoring. Bold marketing decisions, even if they fail by conventional standards, allow companies to learn and grow. Having the right infrastructure in place to be able to learn from mistakes is critical. Sarah shares all of this advice and more, so be sure to give this episode your full attention.

CMOs are called to lead with conviction and empower their teams to pursue bold ideas without fear of failure Sarah believes that it is a moral imperative for CMOs to empower their teams to make bold marketing decisions. When Drew asks her about the most Renegade thing she’s ever done in marketing, she explains that it’s any time she steps up and serves as a voice for both the customer and her team. Sarah also explains that CMOs should never doubt their ability to succeed. This interview is filled with even more inspirational advice that will leave you hungry for success and it should not be missed.

Connect With Sarah Kennedy: * Sarah’s profile on the Marketo website * Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn * Follow Sarah on Twitter * Follow Sarah on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International organization * BOOK: You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life * ARTICLE: Calling the World's Boldest Marketers to Join the Marketo® Fearless 50 * Drew’s interview with Jon Miller, Turning Marketing into Math * ARTICLE: Drink Your Own Champagne And 8 Other Delicious Ways To Drive Revenue * Use promo code “Renegade 400” for $400 off your registration to the Marketo® Fearless 50 summit

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

You are a Badass (Deluxe Edition): How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

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Few companies have mastered the art of channeling creative energy through a focused rebranding effort better than Dropbox. On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew interviews CMO of Dropbox Carolyn Feinstein. Their shared love of creative energy and authentic storytelling makes for a podcast episode you don’t want to miss.

Carolyn discusses her passion for connecting deeply with consumers through stories as well as why Dropbox chose to “fix something that wasn’t broken” all on this episode. Be sure to listen to discover how Carolyn’s team shifted the market’s perspective about the well-loved company and its offerings.

With over half a billion worldwide users, Dropbox is among the best for workflow technology companies. Their ability to roll out massive internal changes while simultaneously conveying the right story to loyal consumers is encouraging.

Hear all about the challenges tackled, lessons learned, and joyful successes on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite

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What You’ll Learn * [0:30] Drew asks the question, “if it’s not broken, should you break it anyway?” * [2:00] Carolyn’s go-to story to share with marketers * [6:16] The biggest moment for Carolyn when she was with Electronic Arts * [11:03] The massive rebranding project Carolyn helped Dropbox navigate * [14:27] Shifting the consumers' perspective of Dropbox * [16:57] How Dropbox handled the fear of changing a well-loved brand * [21:40] The internal rollout of Dropbox’s rebranding project * [23:57] Dropbox is becoming an eponym and approaching the level of Google or FedEx * [26:00] The art of a living, dynamic workspace product * [28:15] Distraction = death in the modern workplace, and how Dropbox is unleashing global creative energy * [31:08] The biggest lessons learned throughout this bold rebranding mission and the 3 main measures used to measure a storytelling effort * [35:06] Drew summarizes this inspiring episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite

How did Dropbox approach such a massive project? By following these three main ideas Carolyn’s team is passionate about storytelling. She explains to Drew on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite that connecting people to one another through quality products and touching stories is the best way to begin a rebranding project. After realizing that Dropbox wanted to reinvent itself, Carolyn followed three main ideas that dictated their path: the art of storytelling, achieving buy-in from internal audiences, and listening to the voice of loyal customers. To hear how she skillfully knit these steps together into one successful mission be sure to listen to this episode.

Rebranding should not be incremental - bold actions conquer fear and allow your company to make huge strides forward Dropbox’s biggest success throughout the rebranding process was persuading every member on the team that bold actions were the way to achieve ultimate success. Drew is also a huge proponent of the idea that incremental steps don’t move companies forward. Carolyn knew she needed to snap people to attention and have them understand that Dropbox is more than cloud storage. While there will always be some concerns about restructuring a brand’s identity, moving forward with confidence is the ultimate way to launch your company into the next chapter of success. You’ll surely learn from this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite so be sure to give it your full attention.

The crisis of modern work is “death by distraction” - hear how Dropbox is channeling the world’s creative energy and allowing people to work to their full potential The modern workplace is plagued with notifications, emails, and deadlines. Carolyn and her team at Dropbox recognized this issue and wanted to solve it. Their solution? Streamlined services and products geared at freeing teams from monotonous and time-consuming tasks so they can unleash their creative energy. The goal? Global teams working on a united platform to create projects that will change the world. That’s why Dropbox continues to be a leader in workplace technology and creative storytelling. This interview is one you don’t want to miss.

Connect With Carolyn: * Dropbox’s blog on Carolyn * Connect with Carolyn on LinkedIn * Follow Carolyn on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Ep. 63: Marketing Trends from The CMO Survey and Reigniting Your Passion for Marketing * Ep. 65: The Ups and Downs of Xerox’s Universal Awareness and Shifting Your Brand Perception * Dropbox Paper * ARTICLE: The world needs your creative energy

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Predictive analytics in marketing is going to revolutionize the way CMOs and marketing teams do business. On this stimulating episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew interviews James Regan, CMO and co-founder of MRP.

James and his company are greeting predictive analytics with excitement and ingenuity. He shares why your company should be doing the same on this episode. This technology, combined with artificial intelligence (AI), is not something to be feared, contrary to what Hollywood may lead us to believe.

For a full explanation of this exciting new technology, why predictive analytics is NOT the death of big brand ideas and company storytelling, and how to start integrating this idea into your company, be sure to listen to this conversation.

Predictive analytics in marketing is something everyone needs to hear. Don’t be left behind, and give this podcast your full attention.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:29] Drew tracks down an expert in the field of predictive analytics for this episode, James Regan, CMO and co-founder at MRP * [2:05] The excitement surrounding predictive analytics at MRP * [4:20] James’ layman’s explanation of predictive analytics * [8:26] Specific actions that sales teams can take to take advantage of this information * [11:38] The death of traditional marketing campaigns * [13:57] James shares a real-world example to describe how predictive analytics works * [14:55] Creating the messages upfront and programming them into the analytics system is still a challenge * [16:10] Predictive analytics, the future of B2B marketing, and removing the human element * [20:50] What is preventing mass adoption of predictive analytics? * [23:48] Predictive analytics is NOT the death of the big-brand idea * [26:04] How a CMO’s plan can welcome predictive analytics * [28:33] Why an out of control marketing tech stack can be mitigated through predictive analytics tools and outsourcing * [32:33] James’ two overall “do’s” and a “don’t” for CMOs

Predictive analytics in marketing is fairly new - what is it and why is it important? Predictive analytics seeks to increase marketers’ ability to achieve the “holy trinity” of digital marketing - getting the right message in front of the right person at exactly the right time. James offers listeners of this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite the perfect explanation of this technology. In a B2B sense, every organization has potential clients that are doing research on what they may need to buy that will serve their needs. Predictive analytics can track this digital data trail that tells your organization general geolocations and keyword sets that are spiking. The analytics program then automatically sends out tailored content that puts a problem-solving solution directly in front of the eyes of the potential client. James further explains that this is not being done at an individual level, rather at a group target market level. James’ description is best understood by listening to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, so be sure to make time for the full audio.

Why the invention of predictive analytics is a death sentence for traditional campaigns, but not for big brand storytelling Predictive analytics is moving marketing teams towards automating and programming their engagement strategies into an AI program, rather than focusing on traditional campaign methods. James claims that traditional campaigns are simply too slow in today’s environment. He argues that if you really want to deliver a relevant message, you have to be doing programmed customer engagement. You need to have an “always-on” approach that directly integrates your response with the appropriate message that is aligned to the content your potential customers are consuming outside of your firewall. Simply put, traditional campaigns create gaps in communicating with your customers that cannot be permitted any longer. This does not mean your brand’s big stories are irrelevant. Predictive analytics simply propels your values and stories at lightning-fast speed - it does not eliminate the story you’re trying to tell. You have to focus on the big brand of your company before you can focus on content delivery optimization. This episode is full of insights that you need to hear, so be sure to listen.

The future of B2B marketing in a predictive analytics world, removal of the human screen, and what is preventing mass adoption of this technology AI and predictive analytics are going to reshape the world of B2B marketing as we know it. One of the biggest questions Drew asks James on this episode surrounds the perceived danger of removing the human element from the backend of content delivery. What will prevent an AI system from delivering the wrong message at an inappropriate time? James explains that AI will pull from an extensive digital repository of content that a marketing team has crafted. It will not be creating its own messages. Programming algorithms to know what message to pull and when is still a challenge, but one that is quickly being solved by the marketing world’s best and brightest. There is also the issue of what companies have access to massive data-ingestion technology. James predicts an arms race to see what company can get the best real-time input on customers and their behavior and that this will drive the future of predictive analytics. The next few years will see a huge uptick in this technology, and your company should not be left out of the loop. Be in the know by listening to this interview on Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Connect With James Regan: * MRP About Us webpage * Connect with James on LinkedIn * Follow James on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * DOCUMENTARY: Spielberg * MOVIE: Minority Report * Ep. 46 - Visionary CEO Alan Trefler on Future of Marketing

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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In this second installation of Drew’s interview with Eric Eden, CMO of Receipt Bank, they discuss additional strategies to improve your marketing technology stack. Be sure to listen to part 1 of this conversation on episode 71 of Renegade Thinkers Unite. After securing a budget and receiving buy-in from company leadership teams, selecting the right pieces to add to your marketing technology stack is the next big step.

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When Drew recently asked a crowd of CMOs how much revenue marketing should directly generate, most said 5-15%. However, Eric Eden, expert CMO of Receipt Bank, claimed that marketing should be a company’s main revenue generator, bringing in 80% of all sales.

This uncommon point of view is explained and detailed on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. Eric and Drew talk through the first two main steps of how to turn your marketing efforts into a revenue machine.

They discuss the importance of having a solid foundation marketing technology stack, all of the details behind why evidence-based marketing is the norm, and how to secure a substantial marketing budget for your team. Don’t miss part two of this interview on the next episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

You’ll learn a lot from part one of this conversation, so give it your full attention.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:29] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Eric Eden * [3:05] How to lay the foundation for marketing to become a revenue generator * [6:00] Why the burden of proof for success lies with the marketer * [8:27] What exactly is evidence-based marketing, and how do you define your strategy? * [13:57] Eric walks through his process for securing a substantial marketing budget * [22:02] The essentials for your company’s tech stack and additional layers to consider * [28:22] What’s the next step after creating a solid CRM piece? * [33:39] Why isn’t it more common to combine the first two layers of your marketing stack?

Why a CRM is a foundational basis needed for any successful marketing or revenue-generating campaign Eric explains on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite that without a functional and clean customer relationship management technology piece, your marketing will never turn into a revenue generator. He continues by saying that, “If you don’t have a good marketing technology stack that enables your demand generation engine, everything falls apart.” A solid CRM piece allows you to track leads, understand what is encouraging or hindering contract success, improves integration between marketing and sales teams, and is necessary when putting together a budget proposal. If a CMO is looking at upgrading a single piece of their marketing strategy, having a bombproof CRM platform needs to be at the top of the list. To hear why CRM technology is so critical, and to understand why Eric is so adamant about this piece of technology, be sure to give this episode a listen.

The importance of understanding evidence-based marketing to secure a substantial budget Gone are the days where the phrase, “it’s complicated, just trust me!” can be successful in budget meetings with company executives. In order to secure the funds marketing teams need, CMOs need to understand how to articulate their marketing in in terms of data and evidence of success. The burden of proof lies with the CMO to persuade others why marketing as a revenue generator can work for the company. You have to determine how to frame things in such a way that makes people comfortable with spending dollars on marketing, build a common language that all teams and levels of employees understand, and prevent any misconceptions. Once you have set the stage and brought people over to your side of the budget debate, you can then begin to determine what percentage of the budget should be spent on each potential customer, and the ROI that would come from each prospective contract. This framing turns marketing into an investment, not a cost, and is the key to massive success. To hear Drew and Eric’s conversation surrounding evidence-based marketing and how it can ultimately be used to generate revenue, don’t miss this episode.

Transform your ordinary marketing campaigns into a massive revenue generator through automation After a functional CRM piece, the next step to generate revenue is marketing automation - the second most popular piece of a technology stack. Eric urges listeners of this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite to understand that automation cannot and does not happen overnight, or even within 90 days. A truly successful marketing automation plan can take upwards of 6 months to design and implement. But the time investment is 100% worth it. By hiring talented sales people and allowing them to actually sell your company, without getting bogged down by monotonous tasks, you are ultimately generating more revenue for the company. Automation allows more integration between the marketing and sales teams and setting the correct timeline expectations upfront will prevent mishaps later on down the line. Drew and Eric have a great conversation about marketing automation and the connections it has to revenue generation on this episode, CMOs in every industry need to hear it.

Connect With Eric: * Receipt Bank’s blog - when Eric joined the team as CMO * Connect with Eric on LinkedIn * Follow Eric on Twitter * Follow Eric on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Download Drew’s latest ebook and learn from 11 of the top CMOs * SalesForce technology

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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David Aaker, known as “Father of Modern Branding,” discusses the idea of B2B brand storytelling and being able to convey engaging messages on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite hosted by Drew Neisser.

As the Vice Chairman of marketing consultant giant Prophet and renowned author, David has decades of experience in reinventing the way a company shares its brand message. He explains to Drew the importance of balancing hard facts with emotions as well as emphasizes the importance of becoming a brand other companies want to be associated with.

David also shares multiple personal stories that validate the importance of being a stellar brand storyteller. You don’t want to miss his explanation of how both T-Mobile and Barclay turned their companies around through brand storytelling.

David’s expertise will revolutionize your company’s way of conveying messages, so be sure to give this episode your full attention.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - Stitcher- or Podsearch

What You’ll Learn * [0:30] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, David Aaker * [2:58] Why is everyone realizing that storytelling is critically important? * [4:27] Why is a story so important in engaging employees? * [8:54] What will it take for B2B firms to recognize that story is a cultural opportunity? * [12:32] David’s personal stories behind effective storytelling * [16:39] Why does the story go away once a company reaches marketing evaluation stages? * [17:58] How does a brand find their signature stories? * [21:06] The balance between hard facts and “fluffy” emotions in storytelling marketing * [24:23] Actionable items behind improving your B2B storytelling marketing efforts * [29:13] David’s steps for creating a brand storytelling plan * [32:42] One of the most common problems when brands attempt storytelling marketing for the first time * [33:25] Drew summarizes his conversation with David Aaker

Why are stories so effective in engaging customers and employees? Brand storytelling is more than just a hot topic in current B2B marketing environments. It is the key to truly connecting with your employees, partners, and customers. B2B customers feel the need to have a relationship with the business they interact with and employees need to feel that their work is important. Stories garner attention, change perceptions and attitudes, and inspire action - and stories are far more effective than fact-sharing alone. This is why your company and team need to be experts in brand storytelling. To hear the full reasoning behind why this idea is a critical issue for companies across the country, be sure to listen to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

The importance of creating a signature story while balancing fact and emotion When trying to convey a message, a CMO has two options: share facts or tell stories. Even though some may argue that "if it's not fact-based how do you convince people's it's actually true?", there is a balance that needs to be reached. The key in the B2B storytelling space is to either magnify the problem, offer a solution or accentuate the outcome. This can artfully be done by combining customer testimony with just enough facts to provide a reliable level of reality. Just listing data and facts is a record-keeping entry - not a compelling marketing campaign. David highlights that a signature story can be 200-300% more effective than data alone. To hear more about why brand storytelling is so impactful give this episode a listen.

Actionable items for creating brand storytelling initiatives Take it from the best leader in storytelling. David lays out a plan to create a storytelling focus in your company on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. As a CMO you must first believe and buy into the power of storytelling marketing. Then you have to build a skilled team and develop an environment that allows storytelling opportunities to flourish. Drew also adds that you have to throw your content calendars away because all they do is allow you to get away with regularly producing mediocre content. Hiring a support crew that can take raw stories and turn them into engaging content can also drastically improve your storytelling ability. For more hands-on hints on brand storytelling, don’t let this episode go unlistened.

Connect With David: * David’s Prophet webpage * Connect with David on LinkedIn * Follow David on Twitter * Follow David on Facebook * Email David

Resources & People Mentioned * BOOK: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln * BOOK: Grant * BOOK: Creating Signature Stories: Strategic Messaging that Energizes, Persuades and Inspires * PODCAST: David Aaker on the power of stories and the fight for the soul of capitalism * ARTICLE: How Barclays Defined Brand Purpose and Regained Customer Trust * Episode #4 - Content Marketing - Guest, David Beebe, Marriott * Audible Course - The Art of Storytelling: From Parents to Professionals

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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In order to achieve storytelling marketing success, CMOs have to be willing to take risks. Even with all of the data and metrics available to evaluate, sometimes the best ideas come directly from human intuition.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew interviews Rich Kylberg, Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Arrow Electronics. Arrow is a $24 billion global supplier for a wide array of technology and products, and Rich has helped them break into new ways of communicating internally and externally.

Throughout this podcast, Rich explains how his background in literature allows him to see marketing campaigns in new ways and why casting a vision internally is needed before you can communicate identity externally. Arrow’s groundbreaking SAM vehicle technology is revolutionizing many industries, and you’ll be inspired by Rich’s explanation of this pursuit.

Their conversation is a perfect mix of marketing knowledge and inspiration - you don’t want to miss it.

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What You’ll Learn * [1:25] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Rich Kylberg of Arrow Electronics * [2:48] Rich’s favorite risk-taking story from his childhood * [8:00] How Rich’s educational background impacts his current career * [13:18] The story behind how Rich joined the Arrow team and how they created a common identity * [17:45] Taking the internal identity and transforming it into an external message * [21:55] Arrow’s program that brought their innovative ideas to life that enhance humanity * [27:30] The barriers Rich’s team encountered while developing the SAM technology * [33:00] Rich shares the best lessons he learned through the SAM journey * [37:13] Why you should bring in an outside firm to assist your company in storytelling * [39:51] The power of a plan on a page * [42:07] Drew summarizes his conversation with Rich

How Rich helped Arrow create a common identity When Rich joined the Arrow team, they had recently acquired over 130 companies and many hadn’t yet fallen in line with the overarching Arrow brand. Arrow was on the verge of becoming a holding company too comfortable in their own success, but Rich was determined to take some risks and create a guiding theme that would direct every employee and customer interaction. Thus, the phrase “guiding innovation forward” was born. Rich explains that “you have to inspire your employees before you can market your company externally” and this progress was essential for Arrow to continue growing. It created a conversation starter that is still being talked about today. To hear exactly how Rich achieved this lofty goal, be sure to give this episode a listen.

Why risk taking in marketing is so important Rich and Drew are adamant about risk-taking in marketing - it’s one of the key aspects of being a Renegade Thinker. On this episode, Rich explains that the opportunity to attain exponential rewards are worth taking substantial risks and that the fear of mediocrity is often the driving force behind risk-taking. CMOs in any B2B environment should ask themselves these questions: What risks am I willing to take in my marketing? What will be the source of my courage? How am I going to prepare? After you consider these questions, remember that as a marketer you need to be empowered to try ideas, keep what works, and move past what doesn't. Without risky marketing decisions, Rich and his team never could have developed the storytelling marketing campaign that moved Arrow into the future of connecting with clients and telling great stories. Be sure to discover the story on this episode.

Arrow’s innovative storytelling marketing campaign and how Rich and his team burst through the barriers they encountered Arrow Electronics recently unveiled their latest storytelling marketing campaign, and it’s one that resonates with people across the country. When Rich and his team were connected with a former Indy Racing League race car driver who was sadly diagnosed as a quadriplegic after a crash in 2000, they came up with the SAM car technology - a car that would allow drivers with disabilities to regain their independence. When asked about the project, Rich's team explained that "We hope the SAM car continues to drive technology innovation forward and inspire people to dream big because anything is possible.” Had Rich and his marketing team forgone risk-taking and stuck with what is “normal” and expected in the marketing industry, this amazing project never would have left the idea board. It’s sure to inspire you and your team to take marketing risks and delve into the unknown so be sure to get all of the details by listening to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Connect With Rich: * About Arrow * Connect with Rich on LinkedIn * Follow Rich on Twitter * Follow Rich on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * ARTICLE: SAM Car Technology To Benefit Humanity

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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The term “marketing risks” is not often heard in the financial technology industry, but Adi Bachar-Reske, Global Head of Marketing at Provenir, is making it commonplace. She has overturned the company’s communication strategies and is sharing her insights on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

In her conversation with Drew, Adi explains how Provenir went from using a third-party communication distribution company to handling all of their press releases and supporting content themselves. She also fully explains why Provenir seeks to help financial lenders make better, faster decisions.

Taking marketing risks is one way to ensure your company stands out from the competition, even though it takes courage as a CMO. Drew shares his top four qualities for entrepreneurs as well as why you should avoid too many micro-campaigns all on this episode.

You’ll enjoy Drew and Adi’s conversation, and it’ll leave you thinking, so be sure to listen.

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What You’ll Learn * [2:07] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Adi Bachar-Reske, Global Head of Marketing at Provenir * [3:33] Adi’s approach and philosophy for risk-taking in marketing * [10:17] Why Provenir decided to go with in-house communication strategies * [14:07] The content that Adi created and the mechanisms they used to direct customers * [17:00] Viewing new campaign strategies from an evaluation standpoint * [19:23] The full story behind how Adi brought Provenir’s marketing in-house * [21:10] Why you should avoid too many micro-campaigns that drive leads but don’t add up to a bigger story * [24:01] Provenir’s main goal as viewed through a car lease example * [30:00] Adi’s go-to inspirational resources for marketing risks and CMO advice * [32:42] Adi looks forward into the rest of 2018 and talks about the challenges she hopes to tackle

Provenir’s main focus within financial technology and why empowering people to make better, faster decisions is so important Provenir strives to orchestrate a company’s decision making processes for customers. Adi first experienced this decision-making dilemma after wanting to lease her third car from the same company in four years. Even though the company knew her as a customer and was familiar with her positive financial history, the company still made her wait over 48 hours before they would approve another lease agreement. She believes that decision making needs to be faster, more automated, and that you should never make a customer wait while you decide on whether or not to take their business because it gives them time to go to your competitors. That’s what Provenir prevents. They empower lenders to make better decisions faster and enables them to provide their customers with an even better experience. Adi shares some great anecdotes with Drew about why automating decisions is so critical to a company’s success and you don’t want to miss them.

The path towards in-house communication strategies and how Adi artfully crafted this process from start to finish Even though working with public relations organizations has been an industry standard for years. Adi and her team at Provenir recently decided to create and distribute their own in-house press releases. This decision came after a few of their self-published blog posts received large amounts of feedback and engagement. Journalists were attracted to the company and they connected with their audiences even without the third party assistance. While bringing communications in-house, Adi realized that there were a number of needs that now needed to be fulfilled by their team: create a CRM database, produce content to follow up each press release, measure the impact, etc. No one could do all of this work on their own, which is why Adi has teams across the world working on these communication and marketing strategies. She tells Drew that there are always trade-offs for bringing work in-house, but that it was definitely a successful marketing risk that Provenir took. To hear all about Adi’s challenges and successes with this venture, be sure to listen to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Taking strategic marketing risks can provide greater benefits, and your company can learn from Adi’s successes at Provenir There are four main qualities that Drew encourages every CMO to have: courage, artfulness, thoughtfulness, and scientificness. Of these, he believes that courage is the most essential and the one in shortest supply. Taking marketing risks can be difficult but it is necessary even in financial industries. If your team decides to go after a risky marketing venture rather than going with the standard methods and it’s successful, the payoffs will be far greater. You can learn from Provenir’s recent in-house communications successes and adapt their strategies to your company. Taking the initial steps is often the most challenging part, and requires every bit of courage that you have as a CMO. For inspiration, be sure to check out Adi’s story on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Connect With Adi: * Provenir’s company team webpage * Adi’s Provenir author webpage * Connect with Adi on LinkedIn * Follow Adi on Twitter * Follow Adi on Facebook * Follow Adi on Medium

Resources & People Mentioned * Adi’s article on chocolate-cinnamon cake * Provenir blog article: “Is Google Picking on the Payday Lending Industry?” * Provenir’s chosen database service - Hubspot * PR Newswire website * Inbound conferences * Stratabeat B2B marketing agency * BOOK: “Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Developing a marketing vision through company-wide orchestration will allow you create more value while streamlining work. In today’s accelerated world, both customers and businesses want to spend less time on logistics and more time actually making a difference in their markets. DocuSign is one of the top businesses doing just that - allowing work to happen faster for over 200 million users across 188 countries.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew interviews Scott Olrich, the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer for DocuSign. They discuss exactly what orchestration means in terms of B2B marketing environments, how to sell a marketing vision, and why courageous decision making should be a part of any CMO job description.

Scott is behind some of the biggest changes at DocuSign, rated as the 22nd best place to work in 2018 by Glassdoor. He shares his expertise with Drew in this interview and explains why ultimate orchestration will set you apart from your competitors in an exciting new way.

To hear why marketing visions are so important, be sure to catch this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - Stitcher- or Podsearch

What You’ll Learn * [1:10] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Scott Olrich, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer for DocuSign * [4:25] DocuSign’s current place in transactional happiness and what it means to be an orchestrated company * [11:54] What exactly does orchestration mean within a company? * [15:05] The importance of not pushing the envelope too far when it comes to selling a vision * [19:25] How Scott views the idea of a company narrative and how it can be used to sell your marketing vision * [24:29] Scott shares how he’s incorporating courageous decision-making into his current position at DocuSign * [28:59] Where DocuSign is headed in the future * [36:25] Drew’s summary of the episode, and why orchestration will set you apart from your competitors

Scott explains exactly what orchestration means within a company and why it’s so critical to long-term success When Scott started the orchestration process at DocuSign, the company was focused solely on making digital signatures easier. Now they are moving towards streamlining multiple components of doing business in a digital world. In any company environment, you have to understand where your organization's broader category of business is going to go. Rather than focusing solely on the “now,” teams have to be able to see where the entire market is going in the future and set up systems to accommodate that forward growth. That’s where orchestration comes in. Essentially, orchestration occurs when a company’s marketing visions, products, sales teams, and senior leadership all subscribe to a new macro way of thinking about the company. This drives long-term success because as Scott explains, “People want to buy into the future!” They just have to be given a reason to do so.

The importance of not pushing the envelope too far when it comes to selling a marketing vision The first step of orchestration is to develop a new marketing vision for your company. This clear vision and narrative of what you think the company should be will drive your products, marketing strategies, and internal educational components. A vision should teach and challenge people to think differently about the bigger picture issue, but you have to be able to back up this vision with real-world examples that people can understand. Orchestration does so much more than just improve response rates for one marketing campaign, it has the power to rework your entire business if you allow it. The biggest danger with orchestration? You want to avoid a disconnect between your product and the vision you’re trying to sell. If your marketing teams and product teams are not on the same page, customers will recognize this and be wary of your company. To hear Scott explain this challenge in full detail, be sure to listen to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Why courageous decision making should be a large part of any CMO job description As the Chief Strategy Officer and CMO, Scott has been charged with taking an already successful company and making it even better. On this episode, Drew asks Scott how he has the courage to take risky decisions and how he combats the idea of “if it’s not broken, why fix it?” Once you establish a clear marketing vision you have to subscribe to it 100%, go out and win over the rest of the company, and then sell it to your customers. There’s actually a formula for this type of courageous decision-making, and Scott fully explains each step in this interview with Drew. Your company and your career will greatly benefit from hearing his story, so don’t miss this episode.

Connect With Scott: * DocuSign’s press release on Scott * Connect with Scott on LinkedIn

Resources & People Mentioned * DocuSign website * Ep. 42 “Why The Best Talent is Going Client-side w CMO of Boxed.com” * Drew’s scheduling tool - Schedule Once

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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It’s always fun to talk with someone who is on the cutting edge of their industry. And when that industry is something as significant to the global economy as banking, it gets even more interesting. On this episode, you’ll hear my conversation with Martin Häring, CMO of a newly formed company Finastra. Finastra is actually the result of a merger between two existing powerhouses in the banking technology industry - Misys and D+H.

In our conversation, Martin highlights the particular challenges faced in bringing two well-known and highly-respected companies together with an eye to maintaining the reputation and specialization of each but forging something altogether different and exciting at the same time.

As Chief Marketing Officer, for Finastra, Martin is responsible for marketing on a global scale. He first joined the team at Misys in October 2013 and is part of the Executive Team at the newly formed company. He’s excited not only because the company is a big player in the banking industry but more so by its opportunity to determine the future of banking technology over the long haul.

You’ll enjoy this conversation so I hope you take the time to listen.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:29] My guest on this episode: Martin Häring of Finastra * [1:18] The amazing journey of how Finastra combined 3 companies * [4:41] Approaching the business analysis for a merger of this magnitude * [7:23] Getting employees excited about the new brand coming from the merger * [11:20] The brand naming process, legal hurdles, internal challenges * [13:36] An unbelievable 6 month timeframe for making the merger happen * [21:01] Martin’s interview with a human-sounding and human-looking android * [24:43] A.I. solutions being built into the Finastra platform * [28:07] The biggest marketing challenges Martin and Finastra are facing

In marketing, we are all storytellers ~ Martin Häring One of the most intriguing things to me about a huge merger like has happened between Misys and D+H is the task of creating a new brand identity without losing the loyalty and enthusiasm of existing customers. It’s not simply a matter of coming up with a catchy name and deciding on a color palette for the new logo and letterhead. The legal issues alone are mind-boggling.

Martin shares some of the challenges the Finastra team had to address in its merger and rebrand and highlights how the same foundational principle that supports good marketing - storytelling - was required internally in developing and nurturing a new vision among its team members, and externally in the form of customer outreach and communication. I love how marketing principles prove to be useful in a variety of challenges businesses face. Martin’s insights are gold, so be sure you take the time to listen.

A brand starts with a bold vision and requires the underlying tech to fuel it ~ Martin Häring When it comes to bold visions, Martin Häring and the team at Finastra are leading the way in the banking industry. The company is positioned as a leader in banking technology and is intentionally paving the way for the future of what banking will become as a global industry.

In our conversation, Martin and I talk about the role A.I. (artificial intelligence) will play in banking tech and how Finastra is leading the way in developing the systems and platforms that financial institutions will use in the future. It’s a long, slow road to introduce new technologies in the banking industry but the Finastra team is not only patient, they know the industry well and are taking steps at the pace the industry can handle.

Are you driving the trends in your industry or trying to keep up with them? In Martin Häring’s view, CEOs and CMOs should be asking themselves daily if their company is merely maintaining the status quo or driving their industry forward. It’s the innovation and disruption market leaders create that makes them the go-to people in a given industry.

In this conversation, as Martin describes the changes coming to the future of banking technology and the role his company, Finastra is playing in the implementation of those changes, I got a feel for what he meant. It’s about thinking ahead, looking into the future to see what will be needed years from now, and positioning yourself to be the one to meet those challenges and provide the right solutions. This was an enjoyable and challenging conversation you won’t want to miss.

Connect With Martin: * Finastra Company website * Martin’s LinkedIn Profile

Resources & People Mentioned * www.Force.com (the SalesForce website)

Connect with Drew * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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The ultimate dream for marketers is universal awareness - the point in time when your brand becomes synonymous with a noun. Having your brand become a verb is an even better case scenario (think, “I’ll Venmo you the money!” or “I’ll Google it.”) This extremely high level of brand awareness can create issues though when your brand perception becomes “stuck” in this one-way thinking.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, the CMO of Xerox, Toni Clayton-Hine, joins Drew for a conversation about how Xerox is embracing the new connectivity trend and how it is breaking through old brand perceptions to stay relevant in the 21st century.

Toni shares with Drew the story behind Xerox’s latest marketing initiative, Set the Page Free, and how Xerox is striving to be at the forefront of the intersection between digital and physical workspaces. They also discuss the pros and cons of such a risky marketing project and Toni's top “do’s and don’ts” for current CMOs.

Join Drew and Toni for this engaging conversation - you won’t want to miss a single minute.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:30] Why does brand awareness matter when you’re trying to sell a product or service? * [3:15] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Toni Clayton, CMO of Xerox * [4:52] The main strategy behind Xerox’s marketing * [9:31] The benefit of working with creators who deliver extraordinary content * [12:58] Once you’ve created the excellent content, you have to “market the marketing” * [15:47] Toni explains how she had the courage to approach her CEO with this big, untestable idea * [18:30] What does storytelling meaning to Toni and Xerox? * [23:29] How Xerox is currently demonstrating their broader platform and usability * [26:48] Combatting the loss of reach associated with using digital marketing tactics * [30:19] How Xerox is showing customers new ways to use their products * [32:11] The biggest lesson Toni has learned in her career with Xerox * [37:03] One “do” and one “don’t” for CMOs as a result of Toni’s experience with Xerox

Xerox’s latest Set the Page Free project and how they “marketed the marketing” so effectively When faced with seemingly cemented brand perceptions, Xerox came up with a creative and big-picture marketing campaign: Set the Page Free. With 14 world-famous writers and creative minds in collaboration, Xerox told the story of the modern workplace - and the entire project was produced using Xerox technology. The end result were podcasts, videos, and a final free download book. After creating the piece, Toni and her team had to answer the question, “who is going to consume this content?” Drew asks Toni about how they “marketed the marketing campaign” so effectively and she explains that they really leveraged the celebrity collaborators and their social channels. For the full story behind the project, don’t miss this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

What does brand storytelling mean to Xerox in the 21st century? Shifting Xerox’s brand perceptions became a balance of using the company’s history to their advantage, while still demonstrating to their customers that they are about more than just copying and faxing physical documents. The Set the Page Free project helped Xerox transition from the realm of a 1990s office verb into a frontrunner of 21st-century workplace technology. This engaging act of brand storytelling allowed the company to show the outcome of using their technology, not just the inputs. Since Xerox is a B2B technology company, Toni’s goal is to ensure Xerox is seen as fresh, relevant, and understanding of their different types of customers. To hear more of Toni’s marketing initiatives at Xerox that are continually shaping their brand perspectives, be sure to listen to the full audio.

The biggest lessons Toni has learned since joining Xerox and why taking marketing risks can be beneficial While developing Set the Page Free, Toni explained that she often struggled with the desire to control every aspect of the project and subsequent brand awareness surveys. But when Drew asks her about the biggest lessons she learned while working on the project, Toni explains that Xerox had to take a risk in order to shift how people think about the company - and taking that risk also meant dealing with unpredictable variables. She also learned the importance of being more directive in her approach to help customers understand how to bring their Xerox technology tools to life. To hear Toni’s top “do’s and don’ts” for other CMOs, don’t miss this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Connect With Toni Clayton-Hine: * Connect with Toni on LinkedIn * Follow Toni on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * ARTICLE: “41 Brand Names People Use as Generic Terms” * Set the Page Free website and free book download * VIDEO: “How does Lee Child Create the Jack Reacher Suspense?” * Episode 48: “If Marketing is Storytelling Then Learn from NYT #1 Bestseller Chris Bohjalian” * Episode 49: “The Intersection of Marketing & Storytelling (with Chris Bohjalian)”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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The sheer amount of data any company collects can quickly become overwhelming if it's not managed efficiently. As a CMO you have to have control of the data and understand how it flows throughout your organization. That’s why companies like Looker exist - to help you make sense of the data and use it to your advantage.

In this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Looker’s CMO, Jen Grant, talks with Drew about why her unique background allows her to understand the art and science behind connecting everyone to your company’s brand message. She also shares why it’s important to simplify your company’s core message down to just a few phrases.

Not only does Jen explain why actual face-to-face interaction is even more critical in today’s B2B marketing environment, she also discusses how Looker is achieving just that. You also don’t want to miss her best advice for CMOs.

Jen conveys the heart of marketing in such an intriguing way in this episode - you don’t want to miss it.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - Stitcher- or Podsearch

What You’ll Learn * [2:20] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Jen Grant, CMO of Looker * [2:43] Jen shares her unique background story and how she got started in marketing * [4:25] The key lessons Jen learned while working with Google * [10:17] Looker’s purpose and story simplified into just a few words * [13:17] How Looker’s technology allows data to be seen and enacted upon for their customers * [17:16] What Looker’s data processing system looks like * [20:00] Where Looker falls within the “stack” of data systems * [22:20] Jen shares Looker success story case studies * [26:46] The marketing efforts Jen has completed to combat Looker’s awareness challenge, outside of the data industry * [34:24] Balancing tailored regional needs to overall company brand messages * [37:45] The toughest lesson Jen has learned in the marketing world * [39:20] Jen offers her “two do’s and a don’t” for data analytics

Why data organization is so important and the art and science of connecting people to your company’s true message Without a user-friendly and complete data analytics system, critical insights that could be derived from your company’s data go undiscovered. Companies such as Looker provide an easily understood way of compiling individual data silos into one platform that can be shared across multiple employee teams. Once your data is organized in an effective manner, you can then use this data to enhance your company’s ability to spread your brand message. Data that is easily accessed and understood becomes a tool for creative storytelling that elicits an emotional response from your target market - ultimately creating more success for your company.

How Looker is bringing actual human interaction into B2B marketing, and why your company should be doing the same Jen explains to Drew in this episode that Looker really wants to push face-to-face marketing because of the human connections that come from that process. But she warns that these in-person events cannot just be a drawn-out sales pitch. It has to be about creating genuine connections with people in your industry and regions, which then opens the door for future sales. These events are also an incredible resource for first-person stories that can be shared with your team and customers. In our technology-driven world, actual human interaction events can set your company apart from the rest, and you’d be surprised at just how effective they can be. Be sure to listen to this episode so you don’t miss out on Jen’s engaging story behind Looker’s journey in face-to-face B2B marketing.

The top two “do’s” and one critical “don’t” in data analytics Because of Jen’s long history in marketing, and her unique background in theatre and English, she has a unique set of advice for CMOs. She suggests that companies get all of their data centralized so that every team can see the whole picture - not just snippets of information. She also is a huge proponent of as many people as possible looking at your company’s data, because you never know where your next great campaign idea might come from. Finally, she doesn’t want CMOs to forget the innate nature of marketing. While technology, reports, and team meetings are all critical pieces of the data analytics process, she encourages CMOs to remember their gut intuition when it comes to taking a leap of marketing faith. Her insights are sure to be useful to your company in 2018, so be sure to listen to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Connect With Jen: * Meet the Looker Team * Connect with Jen on LinkedIn * Follow Jen on Twitter * Follow Jen on Facebook

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Christine Moorman is the T. Austin Finch, Sr. Professor of Business Administration at The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Beginning in 2008 she started interviewing marketing leaders to determine their most important marketing questions and The CMO Survey has been an integral part of illuminating marketing trends ever since.

Christine shares with Drew her excitement over the future of marketing and explains that “It’s not just about number crunching, the best marketing analytics bridge the divide between human insights and hard data.” They also dive into a conversation about why performing all marketing activities well is critical to organizational success.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew and Christine discuss the importance of teaching holistic marketing to future industry leaders, current trends in marketing, and the importance of measuring marketing effectiveness.

Christine and Drew’s conversation is sure to reignite your passion for marketing, so don’t miss this episode.

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What You’ll Learn * [1:44] Drew introduces this week’s guest, Professor Christine Moorman, Professor at The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University * [3:42] The importance of marketing in the business education curriculum * [7:02] Key marketing components that Christine hopes students take away from her classes * [9:30] The difference between the tech companies and the CPGs viewed from a teaching mindset * [13:00] Christine talks about the macro trends she’s seen since the survey was released * [20:20] Christine explains the difference between digital marketing “stuff” and digital marketing organization * [24:27] The future of CMOs and key questions to ask your marketing team * [26:17] The ability to measure marketing effectiveness as shown by the survey * [28:24] Key metrics used to evaluate marketing ROI * [33:20] Christine shares her excitement over the future of marketing * [35:00] The true reality of marketing done well

The importance of passionate marketing curriculum in academia Marketing is the one area in business that companies cannot afford to not master. Exceptional marketing helps acquire and maintain customers which is critical to long-term success and profit. As new generations of future industry leaders are rising through the ranks of higher education, professors like Christine are setting the standards high. Throughout this episode, she explains a few of the top challenges she faces in the classroom, as well as why she enjoys instilling a passion for marketing in her students. You don’t want to miss her description of why watching her students adopt a customer-first mindset is one of the greatest benefits of her position at Duke University, so be sure to listen.

Key findings on marketing effectiveness and the top four components for measuring return on investments One of the biggest findings The CMO Survey has uncovered is the fact that marketing efforts need the whole company’s support in order to be most effective. Christine explains that every CMO needs to ask themselves, “What place does marketing have in my company/career? How can I be the voice of the customer?” After these questions have been addressed, companies can move forward in evaluating how marketing is impacting ROI. Drew and Christine also list the top four metrics to be used in ROI evaluation: awareness based on reach, brand/brand lift, usage, and customer retention. They go into full detail on these metrics and why they’re so critical - you should hear what they have to say.

Where Christine sees future marketing trends going in the future and why she’s excited Throughout her career in marketing, Christine has found that “It’s such a dynamic field, a full array of different people and different works.” In the digital age, marketing is an integral part of life in even more varied ways. Innovating marketing tactics are only going to become more refined over time, and marketing will continue to show up in new and impressive ways. Drew and Christine both believe that you can truly drive things forward with the deep understanding that stellar marketing can bring.

Connect With Christine: * Christine Moorman’s biography page at Duke * Christine’s Forbes profile * Connect with Christine on LinkedIn * Follow Christine on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * The CMO Survey * Highlights and Insights Report from August 2017 CMO Survey * Innovative Marketing and ROI, an interview with Antonio Lucio * Master of Quantitative Management at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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The historically challenging industry of telecommunications is changing thanks in part to Jive Communications and their cloud-based phone services. Drew talks with co-founder and current CMO, Matt Peterson, about how he transitioned from his background in software engineering into the marketing realm.

Not only do they discuss Jive’s innovative marketing verticalization strategies, but they also focus on the company’s innate ability to tackle big problems and approach large customer opportunities with confidence and ease.

Hear the story behind Jive’s unconventional beginning and the heart of the company, as well as discover Matt’s favorite resources for marketing professionals by listening to this engaging episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Matt and Drew’s conversation is sure to inspire and educate - you don’t want to miss it!

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What You’ll Learn * [0:31] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Matt Peterson, co-founder and CMO of Jive Communications * [3:44] Matt explains how he became the CMO of Jive * [6:34] How Matt’s background in software engineering influences his current work in marketing * [10:20] Drew asks Matt about his biggest learning curve when entering the marketing realm of Jive * [13:35] What is at the heart of the Jive brand? * [16:43] The top examples of Jive’s marketing campaigns that point to the core of Jive * [21:25] Drew asks Matt about one of Jive’s most creative marketing projects * [23:59] Another example of a Jive program that points to their core values * [27:00] Brands and strategies from other companies that Matt admires * [29:48] How to keep your marketing mind sharp and Matt’s top resources for CMOs * [34:04] Matt explains some of the strategies Jive is implementing for better organizational success * [36:00] Challenges Matt is tackling in 2018

The heart behind Jive Communications and how Matt’s background helps him in his position as CMO Drew and Matt discuss at length the heart of Jive Communications, and Matt attributes much of the company’s success to their “scrappy, blue-collar, bootstrap” approach. He understands that while their competitors may be larger and have more resources, Jive is able to tackle the industry and “punch above their weight class” with ease. Matt explains that by using his background in software engineering he is able to approach problems with an analytical mind that quickly links together the human intangibles found in marketing with what the data illuminates. Your company could benefit from hearing the story behind Jive’s foundation and current success, so be sure to listen.

Tackling marketing verticalization the Jive way In order to effectively go after specific customers within their chosen target market, Matt needed to help Jive Communications find its optimal verticalization strategy. One of the best examples he explains to Drew involves the K-12 education system - a customer base that was notoriously hard to enter and change. By following Jive’s “scrappy” mindset Matt and his team were able to solve multiple problems for their education customers and ended up with dozens of new sales contracts. You don’t want to miss the full story of how Jive is shaking up the telecom industry, or the other fascinating examples of prime verticalization, so give this episode your full attention.

How to keep your marketing mind sharp and Matt’s top two challenges for 2018 Matt explains to Drew that staying current in the marketing industry through continuing education is key to greater success. By attending conferences, reading voraciously, and having an incredible appetite for knowledge your marketing professionals are sure to stay at the top of their game. In this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Matt discusses his top two challenges for 2018: communicating Jive’s differentiation points in better ways and nailing their outbound approaches. Be sure to listen to the full episode to catch the whole conversation.

Connect With Matt Peterson: * Jive’s website * Connect with Matt on LinkedIn

Resources & People Mentioned * “Will it Jive?” - video marketing campaign * Book: Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman * Turning Marketing into Math, an interview with Jon Miller, co-founder of Marketo * Book: How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know by Byron Sharp

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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As the CMO of Hootsuite, Penny Wilson has some fantastic insights into the social media listening industry and why identifying the customer voice of your company is essential. Not only is customer voice important for executing exceptional customer service but it can also be used as a tool to effectively communicate with executive boards and chief financial officers.

Drew Neisser asks Penny about her journey towards Hootsuite and the top questions on why listening to your customers is critical. The idea of going “beyond marketing” is explored and Penny’s understanding of this concept is unparalleled.

You can’t afford to miss their discussion on upcoming social media trends that could help your company grow by leaps and bounds. The top challenges faced by CMOs are also discussed in this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

It’s sure to be an educational and inspirational episode that you don’t want to miss.

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What You’ll Learn * [1:07] Drew introduces the guest for this episode, CMO of Hootsuite, Penny Wilson * [4:40] How social media is helping companies go “beyond marketing” * [5:57] Penny’s part in a new leadership team at Hootsuite * [7:53] Unpacking the voice of the customer * [13:02] Finding insights for your company through listening to the customer voice * [19:43] Hootsuite’s challenge of breaking out of their original market * [23:32] Drew asks Penny about the main challenges for CMOs * [24:25] How can CMOs provide CFOs with the tools they need to understand the importance of marketing? * [27:00] Social media opportunities that are often overlooked by companies * [29:33] How AI can revolutionize the social media tools companies are using

Customer voice is a tool that reaches beyond just marketing By taking the time to understand your company’s customers and the preferences and expectations they have, you can capture their collective voice. While this voice has obvious benefits in product/service development it can also allow you to examine their entire journey with your company. Listening to the voice of your customers allows you to build a culture that encourages the customer to direct the company and lets the customer lead. Devoted listening creates loyal customers which leads to valuable insights. The listening process should be built into every level of your company, with employees being empowered to become representatives of your company. For more information on how identifying your customer voice can be an asset to your company don’t miss this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

The greatest challenge faced by CMOs and how Hootsuite has conquered it Penny’s career in marketing has allowed her to understand some of the greatest challenges faced by CMOs today. One of the most prevalent issues is the constant need for CMOs to get approval from top-level company leaders for their social listening and marketing campaigns. This challenge requires CMOs to tie marketing to a tangible outcome - a challenge that can be solved by using hypothesis-driven tools and metrics. Dive into this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite to discover how Penny and her team at Hootsuite are enabling companies to create more effective marketing campaigns by offering information on the returns on investment for marketing campaigns.

The most overlooked opportunities that exist through social media listening Penny explains to Drew that the best marketers should be paying attention to the fact that not every customer or employee is 100% comfortable with social media yet. Educational training components can be built into the company culture or customer interface to allow those with less experience to catch up with the current trends and techniques. She also explains that while artificial intelligence is definitely making an appearance in the social listening spheres, it’s not going to overpower the human element of marketing and customer interaction. No matter how your company goes about social listening to uncover the voice of your customers, keep in mind Penny’s best acronym for marketing - SCALE - social, customer-centered, authentic, listen and learn, and engage. You and your company will benefit from listening to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, so be sure to listen.

Connect With Penny Wilson: * Hootsuite Leadership Team webpage featuring Penny * Connect with Penny on LinkedIn * Follow Penny on Twitter * Follow Penny on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Hootsuite’s LiftMetrix tool * Ep. 40 - “Meet McDonald's Maestro of Social Customer Care” * Hootsuite Academy

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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For the 60th episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew Neisser interviews Peter Shankman - author, serial entrepreneur, and a world-renowned speaker on social economics. He is a top-tier expert on customer service, social media, public relations, and advertising - all while spreading the idea that incredible things can happen when creativity, determination, and ADHD meet.

Drew asks him about best advice for entrepreneurs and how to work in your zone of focus on this engaging and entertaining episode. You’ll discover Peter’s ritual suggestions and what’s on the horizon for marketers in 2018.

You don’t want to miss Peter’s insights into the top marketing mistakes to avoid. He also uncovers why social media relates so strongly to marketing and the foundational beliefs behind storytelling and public relations.

Drew and Peter’s conversation will leave you wanting more, so be sure to listen.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:50] Drew introduces the guest for the 60th Renegade Thinkers Unite episode, Peter Shankman * [4:00] How Peter was able to write a book in 31 hours after finding his zone of focus * [6:24] Ritual suggestions for marketers in 2018 * [12:00] New ideas on the horizon for marketers * [13:00] The importance of public relations in B2B marketing * [15:14] Public relations and marketing mistakes to avoid in the new year * [19:00] How do we measure public relations? * [22:28] Social media and how it relates to marketing * [25:18] Why Twitter is becoming less valuable in a B2B marketing situation * [28:35] Best use of social media as a brand within the marketing mix * [30:14] Rapid fire questions with Peter Shankman

Why finding and working in your zone of focus is critical for ultimate success When Peter had two weeks to finish (and start) a book he had committed to writing, he did what works best for his brain. He booked a roundtrip flight to Tokyo and wrote all ten chapters of the book over 31 hours. While this type of work schedule may not be ideal for everyone, Drew and Peter discuss the importance of finding what works for you and focusing solely on tactics within that zone. As conversations about resolutions become increasingly more abundant, Peter counters that line of thinking by explaining that “resolutions fail, but rituals succeed.” To learn more about Peter’s story and to learn from his successes don’t miss this stellar episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

The top marketing trends to look for in 2018 2018 is sure to be a cornerstone year for individuals and businesses alike. Peter talks with Drew about why listening is of utmost importance in the marketing realm, but why it has to go beyond listening for a break in conversation so you can share your thoughts. They also discuss why conversations across the world are moving away from distrust and into an age of wanting to believe in the truth again. Understanding hot topic ideas such as blockchain, cryptocurrency, and why Twitter’s heyday may be ending are all covered on this episode, so be sure to take the time to listen.

Public relations in B2B marketing and why having an audience is a privilege - not a right As B2B marketers it’s key to understand how public relations relates to your company. Public relations helps people to believe the information they’re consuming, which is key for audience engagement. The audience your company targets deserves high-quality content delivered on a timely basis, and Peter explains that companies should never take their audiences for granted. Connecting what you have to what the industry needs, and conveying it in a thoughtful, concise manner, is a key PR strategy in B2B marketing. You can’t afford to miss the rest of Peter’s insights that will help you start off 2018 with a burst of productivity, so don’t miss this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Connect With Peter Shankman: * Peter’s personal website * Peter’s ShankMinds: Breakthrough website * Connect with Peter on LinkedIn * Follow Peter on Twitter * Follow Peter on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Peter’s founding company, Help A Reporter Out * Peter’s books on Amazon * Drew’s 2013 interview with Peter, “Nice Companies Finish First”

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew Neisser asks CMO of NetBase Solutions, Paige Leidig, the top questions surrounding social listening and analytics. With over 80% of tweets mentioning brands and the social media analytics industry being a $2.7 billion operation, it’s critical to know how listening can increase your customer connections.

Drew and Paige dive into social listening to give you and your business the best chance to hone your target market and utilize the best marketing channels possible. You’ll also discover how artificial intelligence in the form of Natural Language Processing can revolutionize your metadata processing.

The toughest challenges and biggest surprises encountered in social marketing are covered in this episode. You also don’t want to miss Paige’s top tips for CMOs in 2018.

This conversation is sure to provide critical social listening insights, so be sure to listen.

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What You’ll Learn * [1:40] Drew introduces this episode’s guest - Paige Leidig, CMO of NetBase Solutions * [3:00] What is social listening and social analytics? * [8:15] Paige shares a great example of social listening information used in revolutionary ways * [10:12] The main three marketing channels most brands utilize * [12:13] What is the state of the art technique for social listening? * [15:36] How can you differentiate your competitive advantage via social listening? * [16:59] Natural language processing (NLP) - Artificial intelligence to moderate meta social media data * [20:52] Top areas marketers miss while listening to customers * [23:49] Paige shares additional example stories on why social listening is critical * [28:19] How changing your message for your target market can increase sales and customer engagement * [33:35] Why customer stories are of utmost importance in B2B marketing * [36:33] Paige’s tips for CMOs moving forward into 2018 * [38:00] Common surprises encountered when entering into social listening

The practical benefits of incorporating listening into your social marketing strategies The premise behind social listening is aggregating all public data that’s published on millions of social media platforms and analyzing it to provide key insights into your industry. There are multitudes of practical benefits to social listening, including having the availability to quickly change marketing techniques if the listening offers new feedback on how the market is reacting to a campaign. It enables your company to create content that adds value to the market and encourages high-level digital connections with your customers. Microsoft and Apple are only two examples of top-tier companies utilizing social listening in their marketing strategies and their successes are demonstrated across the board. To hear their full stories be sure to give this episode a listen.

The top three channels used in marketing and how new technology can improve the data analysis process Paige walks Drew through the main three channels that brands utilize on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. The company’s own channel is the most obvious, followed by partnered content channels. But the most valuable channel is through earned content - where people are talking about your brand/content and the signature characteristics that they find interesting and applicable. The best insights come from this channel alone. In order to analyze all of the data that comes through the earned channel, companies should utilize a new form of artificial intelligence called Natural Language Processing or NLP. It automatically sifts through millions of posts, images, and videos to determine the main themes and sentiments of the messages. This data is analyzed across dozens of languages in real time and offers critically important insights into your social marketing strategies. You don’t want to miss this conversation, so be sure to listen to the full audio.

Top social listening tips for CMOs and how to avoid the biggest mistake in marketing analysis If social listening is done correctly, your company has the opportunity to see huge progress made in your marketing campaigns. As 2018 approaches, Paige encourages other CMOs to be spending 80% of the marketing budget on digital marketing and to move beyond demographic marketing into psychographic marketing. He shares with Drew the biggest mistake to avoid in social listening, which is using false metrics derived from your own channel to drive marketing campaigns. There’s a whole world of opportunity that exists in your earned channel, you just have to be infinitely curious about your customers. You can’t afford to miss these applicable lessons from Drew and Paige so be sure to listen to this engaging episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Connect With Paige Leidig: * NetBase team website featuring Paige * Read Paige’s recent posts for NetBase * Connect with Paige on LinkedIn * Follow Paige on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * NetBase’s Natural Language Processing tool * Paige’s “9 Social Media Metrics to Monitor” webinar

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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Drew’s guest on this episode, Juliette Rizkallah, has an MBA from Harvard University and over 20 years of marketing and cybersecurity experience. As the CMO for SailPoint, she has linked the idea of identity management to cybersecurity and built a brand that is synonymous with excellence.

In this conversation, she and Drew offer your company the best tactics for brand building, how to differentiate your company from competitors, and why branding is important for employee buy-in and workplace fulfillment. Juliette believes that going beyond “FUD - fear, uncertainty, and doubt factor” marketing leads to customer empowerment and a solid foundation for your company to stand on for many years to come.

On this insightful episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew and Juliette tackle some of the biggest challenges for new CMOs and discuss how to handle one of the biggest obstacles in any workplace - ensuring top executives buy into a marketing initiative.

Juliette has some exciting ideas to share with you, so be sure to listen.

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What You’ll Learn * [1:22] Drew introduces the guest for this episode, Juliette Rizkallah, CMO of Sailpoint * [2:30] How marketing influenced SailPoint’s recent growth in sales * [5:26] The human element of data breaches * [6:47] Juliette discusses the mission and strategy of SailPoint * [8:05] How do customers emotionally buy into SailPoint? * [11:46] What is branding? * [13:20] How Juliette is helping SailPoint cut through the competition through branding * [18:23] One great effort that Juliette did with SailPoint to differentiate the company * [20:54] How to handle a competitor copying your branding efforts, and what that means for your company * [27:02] Slow branding is better than fast branding = builds a better foundation * [30:00] The biggest challenge as a new CMO who is building a new program * [33:00] Advice for fellow marketing professionals * [35:33] Drew’s summary of the episode

How SailPoint built a brand that ultimately increased sales and moved away from FUD tactics When Juliette joined SailPoint two years ago, their existing branding efforts were not linking the impact of identity management to cybersecurity. She led the efforts that brought SailPoint back to their mission and core values, which “gives enterprises the power to grow, expand and innovate, securely and confidently via innovation, integrity, impact, and individuals.” SailPoint moved away from relying on FUD techniques to incite fear in their customers and demonstrated to them the “power of identity.” Juliette explains that by empowering your IT team and taking away the minutia of cybersecurity work, they are better equipped to focus on company growth - which leads to great fulfillment. These combined efforts led to an exponential growth in sales, increased customer satisfaction, and improved company culture and morale. You can learn how to make these benefits come to fruition at your company if you listen to Juliette’s full story on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

So a competitor copies your branding efforts? What’s next? After the intense branding process, SailPoint was faced with a large competitor copying their efforts - unfortunately, a common problem in B2B environments. Drew and Juliette discuss the emotional discovery and how SailPoint turned a potential conflict into a reflective exercise. She explains that while the competitor copied SailPoint’s tagline, they could not capture what made SailPoint an exceptional and unique company. Simply changing color schemes and logos does not bring about real change, and clinging to that mindset got Juliette’s team and SailPoint through the challenge. She encourages other CMOs to accept the issue, move past it, and know that those who go through the long process of building a brand will ultimately find more success than those who simply copy the work of others.

Slow branding is better than fast branding, and why a firm foundation is critical to company success and workplace fulfillment Throughout this episode, a common theme of Drew and Juliette’s conversation is that “slow branding is better than fast branding.” When she began the process of building a brand at SailPoint it was ten months later before real internal and external change was recognized. “We decided to do it well rather than fast,” Juliette explains, and she recognizes that this mindset can be challenging with sales teams, marketing qualified leads, and executive boards looming. This process can excite employees and refresh the ideas behind why the company exists and why employees have dedicated time to its efforts. You can implement her same problem-solving techniques at your company and build a branding platform that you can use for many years to come. Be sure to listen to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite to take advantage of Juliette and Drew’s CMO experience and learn why effective branding can differentiate your unique company from the rest.

Connect With Juliette Rizkallah: * SailPoint’s Executive Team Website * Juliette’s Forbes archive * Connect with Juliette on LinkedIn * Follow Juliette on Twitter * Follow Juliette on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * “Marketing Today with Alan Hart” podcast * Chanel’s marketing videos * SailPoint’s “Identity is Everything” initiative

Connect with Drew * 917-679-8852 (Text “renegade thinking” so we can talk about how to cut through the noise as a marketer) * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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With more than 15 years of healthcare marketing experience, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Binary Fountain, Aaron Clifford, talks with Drew in this episode about the importance of understanding what your customers are saying about your brand. As you listen to this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, you’ll discover the top strategies you can implement during your first 6 months on the job as a CMO for a new company.

Drew not only asks why customer experience should matter to company administrators, he and Aaron talk about the top marketing lessons current CMOs need to know in order to succeed. Critical topics such as reviewing past marketing attempts and accomplishments and the importance of owning a problem are all covered on this episode.

You’ll enjoy this conversation and you can’t afford to miss Aaron’s insights, so be sure to listen.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:32] Drew introduces his guest, Aaron Clifford, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Binary Fountain * [1:25] The story behind the name and purpose of Binary Fountain, and how Aaron came to be with the company after 15 years of healthcare marketing experience * [7:00] Top tips for the first six months as a CMO at a new company * [12:17] Why customer experience should matter to company administrators * [13:21] How do you market a service to large companies? * [19:00] Suggestions from Aaron to make webinars more impactful * [21:51] Secret to making online events work - market the heck out of them * [27:17] Trick to using RFPs for internal company success and to increase functionality on digital marketing platforms. * [29:58] How did Aaron have the confidence to take on such a large risk at a new company? * [32:38] Top marketing lessons from Aaron for other CMOs

How Aaron Clifford tackled the issue of listening to conversations to enhance customer experiences The name Binary Fountain evolved from a simple brainstorming session with company developers. Since that initial discussion, Binary Fountain has become synonymous with creating exceptional customer experiences through enhanced marketing and conversational strategies. What began as a felt need - How do you sift through enormous amounts of healthcare-related customer feedback? - has morphed into a world-class operation that seeks to “leverage patient feedback to impact revenue and operations.” During his first six months in his role as CMO Aaron went on a “listening tour” and simply asked why employees were working with Binary Fountain. What he found will surprise you. Be sure to listen to this engaging episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite to discover what he found.

Why should customer experience matter to company administrators? Customer experience is a huge part of brand management. Aaron explains that “You are not what you say you are - you are what others say you are. That’s your brand!” By ensuring that every interaction with every customer is exceptional, you are not only creating brand loyalty but also enabling your company to do better in its overall operations. If your marketing tactics such as utilizing social media platforms and having creative website interfaces create an atmosphere of support and engagement, your customers’ satisfaction will improve dramatically. For more insights on why customer experiences should matter at a company’s highest levels don’t miss this episode.

Tired of lackluster online events? Check out these industry secrets for stellar webinar sessions Drew and Aaron discuss how you can make webinars more impactful on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. Here is an example: Live webinars allow you to connect with your customers in a tremendous way but they are of no use to your company if they aren’t marketed correctly. Enhancing the marketing strategies for your webinars will allow you to increase your registrants for the event and increased registrants will combat the level of attrition that comes with the territory of webinars. And if you partner with industry leaders for the webinar, your company now has a bullet-proof way to disperse information and connect with customers. Don’t miss this helpful, webinar-focused part of the conversation on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite with Drew Neisser.

Connect With Aaron Clifford: * Binary Fountain’s spotlight on Aaron Clifford * Connect with Aaron Clifford on LinkedIn

Resources & People Mentioned * Text “content audit” to (917) 679-8852 for world-class content * National Donut Day * Ep. 42: Why The Best Talent is Going Client-side w CMO of Boxed.com

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For some time now the social marketing campaigns of most brands have consisted of scheduling out loads of content through Buffer or another social management tool and letting it run. Kevan Lee, Director of Marketing at Buffer says your promotions, blog posts, and podcast episodes are undoubtedly filled with valuable insights, but a shift is taking place in the social media world that demands you modify your strategy. Users of social media - the very ones you’re trying to reach - are valuing the “social” part of social media more than the “media” part. In short: Engagement matters more than publication.

What does that mean for a brand? It means a new approach to social media is in order. To help us get our heads around what exactly that means, Drew recorded this conversation with Kevan and discussed the shifting social media landscape, how social marketing campaigns of the past must give way to genuine transparency and engagement, and how small to medium-sized businesses can do social right.

Sounds intriguing, don’t you think? Be sure you listen.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:30] Why hell hath no fury like a social detractor and why businesses need to use it effectively to listen, learn and engage. * [1:50] Kevan and the team at Buffer work in a fully remote team environment * [3:00] The reason Kevan believes writing is vital for marketers to learn * [4:26] The changes that have happened in the social media world: engagement matters more than publishing * [6:19] How the Buffer team markets Buffer through engagement: No ROI for social * [10:26] What does it mean to be “on brand” - the Buffer approach * [14:59] Brands that have been using social media effectively these days * [20:24] The biggest mistakes Kevan sees brands making on social * [24:33] Buffer’s transparency ethic and how it impacts their planning and engagement * [32:13] Kevan’s advice for medium-small businesses when it comes to social

Most social media activity is crap simply because brands feel they HAVE to schedule something to publish. Try on a new social marketing approach: Be active, be on brand, be engaged As Drew and his guest, Kevan Lee, of Buffer spoke about current social media trends, Drew pointed out how much of what’s out there is the epitome of irrelevance. Most brands are guilty of adding to the noise instead of adding to the conversations already happening on social. Kevan responded by saying that a good social campaign these days involves being active (and he’s got an interesting definition of what that means), being “on brand,” and being engaged. In this conversation, he shares clear explanations of how a small to medium sized company can pull off each of those 3 elements of effective social, so don’t miss this conversation.

If you don’t have something meaningful to say in a week’s time, your brand has bigger problems The biggest part of being a brand that adds true value on social media is to only post things that are truly relevant and valuable. But because the “old way” of doing social marketing insisted that companies fill up their channels with content (relevant or not), many in the marketing department are scratching their heads about what it means to be truly meaningful. Kevan Lee, Director of Marketing at Buffer says if you don’t have something meaningful to say in a week’s time, your company has a bigger problem than you realize. Find out what he means by that statement and how he proposes companies adjust their social media strategy on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Be among the 20% of brands who actually respond to mentions on social media Engagement matters on social media, especially for companies. But Kevan Lee points out that only 20% of companies these days even respond when they are tagged or mentioned on social. It’s unthinkable when you realize that the person who tagged your company is likely a customer or prospect - the very people you’re looking to reach. So naturally, the most obvious thing you can do to increase the effectiveness of your social marketing is to be among the 20% of brands that monitor your social accounts and respond when you’re mentioned. Start a conversation, engage, solve problems. That’s the “social” part of social media, and it works.

Connect With Kevan * Kevan’s profile on the Buffer page * Connect with Kevan on LinkedIn * Follow Kevan on Twitter * Follow Kevan on Facebook

Resources & People Mentioned * Dogs in Politics Day * National Blueberry Popsicle Month * Mailchimp * Red Bull * GoPro * Product Hunt * + On Twitter + On Facebook * The Seattle Times * + On Facebook + On Twitter * HARO - Help A Reporter Out * Google Analytics * Facebook Insights * Ted Rubin - “There’s no ROI on ignoring”

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The role of the Chief Marketing Officer in any company is tough simply because it requires a seemingly contradictory set of skills - the foresight and courage of a brand marketer, and the detail and systems approach of a performance marketer. How can anyone be expected to fill THAT kind of job description as a CMO? That’s the question being explored on this episode.

Drew’s guest is Kristi Maynor, Head of the U.S. CMO and Digital Transformation Practice at Egon Zehnder, one of the top recruitment and talent search companies in the world. The resumes of some of the top CMO candidates in business have passed through her hands, so if anyone can describe the kind of skills it takes to be or become a truly effective CMO, Kristi can.

Join us for this wide-ranging and provoking conversation as we dig into why courage and curiosity are some of the most important characteristics for any potential CMO and how you can take steps in your current position that position you for advancement to the prestigious yet challenging role of CMO.

You’ll enjoy this conversation so I hope you take the time to listen.

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What You’ll Learn * [0:30] Courage: Easy to say but hard to demonstrate * [1:23] Kristi Maynor’s role with Egon Zehnder, one of the premier talent search agencies in the world. * [4:01] Marketers at Procter and Gamble Kristi worked with who she believes was courageous * [8:11] The top characteristic of successful CMOs: Curiosity * [12:03] The expanding role of today’s marketer and what should a CMO be responsible for? * [15:35] Who does better? A brand marketer or performance marketer? * [21:55] The role of the CMO as bridge builder and instigator of more effective integrations within the company * [27:43] Advice Kristi gives to those looking to become a CMO in the future * [29:54] Why very few CMOs become CEOs

In order to transform a company you have to exhibit courage from the moment you walk in It’s probably fair to say that most newly-hired CMOs are walking into a situation where their new employer is struggling, at least on some level. They’ve been hired to assess the current state of things, diagnose the problems, and set a new direction that brings the company out of the down season and into a new era of success. Stepping into a situation like that requires courage - both because it’s a step into the unknown and because it will require the development of plans that take the company in an entirely new direction. Find out how Kristi Maynor suggests you cultivate and develop that kind of courage, on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

The problematic need for a CMO who is brand driven AND performance driven As Kristi and Drew discussed the common traits Kristi has seen in some of the most effective and sought-after CMOs in the business world, it quickly became apparent that a person with a very unusual gift-mix is needed to fill this vital and company-changing role. The CMO job description demands a person who is visionary and able to communicate where the brand is headed - but at the same time able to spearhead efforts to build systems and procedures that drive the process efficiently. There aren’t many people like that, and Kristi explains what it takes to become that person and succeed, in this episode.

When working toward a CMO role, don’t focus on the title, focus on the impact you’ll be able to have It’s undoubtedly an ego boost to anyone to be offered the role of CMO in a prestigious company. But the allure of such a high profile position pales in comparison to the potential the role provides. Kristi Maynor has seen many new CMOs step into their role with courage and lead their company to new heights. Her advice? Don’t focus on the title or position you’ve been given, focus on the impact you’ll be able to have. Keeping your eyes on the prize enables you to avoid reading your own press and accomplish the things you were hired to do - and everyone from team members to customers to board members will benefit as a result. This episode shares key insights from a woman who’s seen the impact of effective CMOs first-hand. Don’t miss it.

Connect With Kristi: * Kristi’s profile on the Egon Zehnder site * Connect with Kristi on LinkedIn * Follow Kristi on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned * Procter and Gamble * Kevin Hochman of KFC * Beth Comstock * Salesforce * Best Buy * Domino's Pizza * Box.com * Aflac

Connect with Drew * http://renegade.com/ * On LinkedIn * On Twitter * On Facebook * On Instagram

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B2B storytelling isn’t easy especially on a modest budget. Creating campaigns that both peak the interest of prospective customers and rally the morale of employees requires careful orchestration and a big idea. On this episode, Tungsten Network's CMO Connie O’Brien breaks down how her internal and external team built a story-driven content marketing program that filled the company's pipeline with high-quality leads. Working with multiple agency partners including Renegade LLC, Speed Communications, and Dragon Search, O'Brien also provides valuable insights on how to maximize teamwork by getting everyone pointed at the same goals and metrics.

Meet the Guest

Connie O’Brien is the CMO of UK-based Tungsten Network. As CMO, Connie is responsible for the Tungsten brand and ensuring the firm is at the forefront of the digital transformation of the purchase-to-pay process, with a focus on how we delight our customers through automated, scalable, dynamic and personalized experiences.

Connie joined Tungsten from Affinion Group, an international membership, and loyalty company where she was Chief Digital Officer. She has over twenty years’ experience driving digital marketing strategies for businesses and has delivered campaigns for brands including GlaxoSmithKline, P&G, Kraft Foods, AXA, John Hancock, AT&T, Vonage, and Verizon.

Connie is an innovative executive with an exceptional record of building award-winning integrated experiences across channels. She has expert multi-dimensional skills in strategy development, product launches, and cross-functional team building. Connie has also demonstrated a proven ability to align operations, establish a shared vision, recruit and retain top talent, build collaborative teams and instill the focus on shareholder value creation.

What You’ll Learn

The ingredients of a successful story-driven content marketing strategy.
How to empower your employees to get behind a new campaign.
How to develop a sound A/B testing strategy.
Advice for navigating agency partnerships.

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Think of this episode as a happy holiday greeting with just a bit of meat on the bones as Michele Fino, CMO of DoSomething.org, offers family-friendly advice on how to give back during the holiday season. Michele’s suggestions are short and sweet offering a poignant reminder that giving is a habit that can be taught and shared at an early age.

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Are you hyped for the 2018 International Consumer Electronics Show? Today’s guest, Shelly Palmer (CEO of the Palmer Group), covers some of the biggest tech trends that will be shown off at the event. Palmer talks about the future of AI, illustrating how consumer interaction with products like Google Home and Amazon Alexa is expected to evolve in the near future.

Meet the Guest

Named one of LinkedIn’s Top 10 Voices in Technology, Shelly Palmer is CEO of The Palmer Group, a strategic advisory, technology solutions and business development practice focused at the nexus of media and marketing with a special emphasis on machine learning and data-driven decision-making. He is a trusted strategic advisor to the C-Suite of leading digital media, content, broadcasting and technology firms and a key driver of market, technology and strategic direction, as well as acquisition strategies, for his clients.

Palmer is well known as Fox 5 New York’s on-air tech expert and for his work on the Emmy-nominated television show, Shelly Palmer Digital Living. He is also a regular technology commentator for CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox Business News.

An award-winning composer, producer, writer and director, Palmer has worked with hundreds of brands, agencies, broadcasters, publishers and tech platforms on advertising and marketing campaigns such as Meow Mix, Burger King and The City of Las Vegas.

Palmer is the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV (Focal Press 2006; 2nd Edition, York House Press, 2008) the seminal book about the technological, economic, and sociological forces that are changing everything, Overcoming The Digital Divide: How to use Social Media and Digital Tools to Reinvent Yourself and Your Career (York House Press, 2011), Digital Wisdom: Thought Leadership for a Connected World (York House Press, 2013) and Data-Driven Thinking: A collection of essays on data-driven decision making (Digital Living Press, 2016).

You can book your official CES tour with a ShellyPalmer strategic advisor here.

What You’ll Learn

What to expect at the 2018 International Consumer Electronics Show.
How collaborating with people outside your field can lead to big ideas.
Insights into recent AI trends.
Topics to think about in preparation for the CES show.

Quotes from Shelly Palmer

This year at CES, we're going to have a really good look at integrations between the natural language understanding tools and the physical world.
Just physically being at CES puts you in an environment where you can meet people who are scholarly, learned, and experienced in other disciplines.
Consumers are going to always find the most frictionless path to fulfill their desires.
If you're going to spend a few days out of your life [at CES] without having to be in the office and you're going to go learn new things, well then have a plan about what you want to learn.

Data-Driven Thinking: A collection of essays on data-driven decision making.

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Retail is not exactly rich with turnaround stories these days but that's exactly what's happened at Pearle Vision. CMO Doug Zarkin provides a step-by-step review of how the brand has gone from stagnant to revitalized, indicated by same-store sales growth, new store openings and a jump in ranking from >100 to #24 among the best franchises to own. Through a number of small but ultimately significant changes like renaming customers to patients, employees to eye care professionals and stores to eye care centers, Pearle Vision has been able to shift the conversation from deals on glasses to professional eye care. Most significantly, Zarkin and company figured out that people who come in for eye exams are far more likely to buy glasses and become repeat customers than those that are just shopping for new glasses.

Meet the Guest

Doug Zarkin is a senior-level, global strategic marketing executive with an impressive array of honors and recognition for his marketing and brand building successes in the retail arena at companies such as Avon, Limited Brands and Kellwood. In 2012, Doug joined Luxottica where he is currently responsible for the global strategic marketing, visual merchandising, product promotion and store design for Luxottica's global optical franchise business Pearle Vision.

Among other industry accolades, in 2015 and again in 2016 Doug and his team were recognized with a Silver Effie for marketing excellence in HealthCare Services Marketing for leading the brand revitalization work for Pearle Vision. When not at the office, Doug can be found on the tennis court or in the pool with his two kids.

What You’ll Learn

How a willingness to learn and listen can allow your team to win.
Why marketers should practice humility when facing their audience.
Insightful perspectives on social media’s role in the brand-customer relationship.
How your brand’s language can influence consumer perceptions.

Quotes from Doug Zarkin

Any marketer worth his salt knows that a positioning that doesn't make for great execution is just words on paper.
To win, you must always be thinking about consumer perception because as smart as you are…you're never going to be as smart as your consumer.
There is a positioning idea where you want to be aspirational. I don't think that's it. I think it's about a positioning ideal where you want to be inspirational.
Trust is really built in a series of small moments.

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Renegade Thinkers Unite may be 50 episodes in, but we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the many innovative marketing ideas out there. This special episode takes a unique twist; instead of asking the questions, Drew will be answering them! Marketing Today podcast host Alan Hart asks the RTU host about some of the biggest insights he’s discovered after interviewing over 200 CMOs. So buckle in and get ready to learn about Drew’s favorite renegade-inspired strategies discussed on the show.

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A little tenderness goes a long way when trying to reach an audience. If you want to develop a brand message that has meaning, emotional storytelling could be the key to your next marketing campaign. As bestselling author Chris Bohjalian illustrated in Part I of this Renegade Thinkers Unite episode, storytelling is all about touching the audience on a personal level.

In Part II of this episode, Bohjalian talks about the mechanics behind some of the deeply emotional themes he has communicated to his readers over the years. The author’s eloquent words are sure to inspire your marketing team, as he provides narrative advice that can help your brand convey a powerful story.

Meet the Guest

Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 20 books. His work has been translated into over 30 languages and three times become movies.

His new book, The Flight Attendant, lands March 13, 2018.

Bohjalian's books have been chosen as Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Hartford Courant, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Bookpage, and Salon.

His awards include the ANCA Freedom Award for his work educating Americans about the Armenian Genocide; the ANCA Arts and Letters Award for The Sandcastle Girls, as well as the Saint Mesrob Mashdots Medal; the New England Society Book Award for The Night Strangers; the New England Book Award; Russia’s Soglasie (Concord) Award for The Sandcastle Girls; a Boston Public Library Literary Light; a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Trans-Sister Radio; a Best Lifestyle Column for Idyll Banter from the Vermont Press Association; and the Anahid Literary Award.

Bohjalian is a Fellow of the Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He has written for a wide variety of magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Reader’s Digest, and The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. He was a weekly columnist in Vermont for The Burlington Free Press from 1992 through 2015.

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Marketing is all about telling stories. Who could share better storytelling insights than #1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian who also started his career in account service at J. Walter Thomson? A character-driven novelist who imports his own emotional experiences into many of his deeply descriptive works, Bohjalian has mastered the ability to connect with his readers. The wordsmith shares his strategy for hooking in audiences and discusses his genuine approach to engaging with fans on social media.

Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 20 books including Midwives, Sleepwalker and The Guest Room. His work has been translated into over 30 languages and three times become movies. Bohjalian's new book, The Flight Attendant, lands March 13, 2018.

His books have been chosen as Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Hartford Courant, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Bookpage, and Salon.

Bohjalian's awards include the ANCA Freedom Award for his work educating Americans about the Armenian Genocide; the ANCA Arts and Letters Award for The Sandcastle Girls, as well as the Saint Mesrob Mashdots Medal; the New England Society Book Award for The Night Strangers; the New England Book Award; Russia’s Soglasie (Concord) Award for The Sandcastle Girls; a Boston Public Library Literary Light; a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Trans-Sister Radio; a Best Lifestyle Column for Idyll Banter from the Vermont Press Association; and the Anahid Literary Award.

He is a Fellow of the Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Bohjalian has written for a wide variety of magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Reader’s Digest, and The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. He was a weekly columnist in Vermont for The Burlington Free Press from 1992 through 2015.

After graduating from Amherst College, Bohjalian started his career in advertising as an account executive at J. Walter Thompson where he met the host Drew Neisser. In this episode, you'll learn among other things the dramatic story that pushed Bohjalian out of New York City and into the verdant hills of Vermont.

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Is your marketing department diverse? Does it reflect the target audience you are hoping to engage? If not, there's a good chance your communications will fall flat and the chance of recruiting a diverse workforce in the future will be that much tougher. How then do you hire and then manage a diverse workforce and what are the key benefits of doing so? To answer these questions and more, Jennifer Brown is this week's guest on Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Jennifer Brown is an award-winning entrepreneur, dynamic speaker and diversity and inclusion expert. She is the founder, president, and CEO of Jennifer Brown Consulting (JBC), a strategic leadership and diversity consulting firm that coaches business leaders worldwide on critical issues of talent and workplace strategy. Brown is a passionate advocate for social equality who delves into the “business case for diversity” as she helps businesses foster healthier, more productive workplace cultures.

With over a decade of experience consulting to Fortune 500 companies including Toyota, Starbucks, and Capital One, Brown is a highly sought-after expert source on changing demographics, specific communities of identity including women, people of color, LGBT individuals, generations like Millennials, and the role of male leaders in change efforts.

Brown’s book Inclusion: Diversity, the New Workplace & the Will to Change (2016) will inspire leadership to embrace the opportunity that diversity represents and empower advocates at all levels to find their voice and be a driving force in creating more enlightened organizations that resonate in a fast-changing world. You can learn more about Brown’s mission on The Will to Change podcast.

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If your own CEO is skeptical about your marketing strategy, chances are you’ll run into problems internally and externally. To operate more effectively and with the board’s full support, you need to fully understand the data and communicate it honestly. Few professionals understand the importance of the CEO-CMO relationship as well as Alan Trefler—founder, CEO, and chairman of Pegasystems. Listen now for Alan’s take on building a stronger rapport with your superiors, maintaining customer satisfaction, and working as a student of business.

Alan Trefler is a visionary change-agent, innovative philanthropist, and trusted advisor to business leaders around the world. Alan founded Pegasystems three decades ago to change how the world builds software. In that time, Alan’s unique vision and relentless focus on client success has positively evolved the way many of the world’s leading enterprises engage with their customers.

Alan’s best-seller, Build for Change, describes a new generation of customers with the unprecedented power to make or break brands and the changes businesses must embrace to succeed in today’s digital world.

Alan is the holder of multiple software patents, and the recipient of industry awards recognizing him as an innovative CEO and successful entrepreneur. In 2017, Alan was appointed to the World Economic Forum’s IT Steering Committee.

A staunch education advocate, Alan and wife Pam established the Trefler Foundation in 1996 to improve educational outcomes. The Foundation recently sponsored Union & Fifth, an innovative non-profit that turns clothing donations into money for charities.

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Whether you're considering entrepreneurship or eager to rise another rung on the marketing ladder, now is the time to be thinking about your personal brand and enter the world of content creators. To understand how to navigate this potentially perilous world, you'll need a guide and I can think of no one more qualified than entrepreneur Dorie Clark. The New York Times describes Dorie as "an expert in personal reinvention," and with the release of her new book Entrepreneurial You, she has outlined all the ways to "monetize your expertise, create multiple income streams and thrive!" Listen now for Dorie's recommendations on content creation, blogging, podcasting, speaking and so much more.

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WNYC’s transformation from a traditional regional broadcaster to a multi-platform media powerhouse offers lessons for just about any marketer, especially those seeking to become world-class content providers. Setting the stage for our extensive conversation, Peter Weingard, CMO of WNYC, explains, “It's like being in a new business all of the time because what the business looks like today is not what it looked like a year ago.” This enlightened perspective is just the beginning of the CMO-worthy insights Weingard offers.

New York Public Radio may be a 93-year-old radio station, but it still manages to look brand new. Weingard helps ensure the media outlet remains agile in its offerings to listeners. As Weingard puts it, New York Public Radio is in the curiosity business. In this episode, you’ll learn how to cater to the here and now audience, understanding how to maintain a flexible content approach.

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A company without values is like a tree without roots. As soon it faces adversity, it will tumble over. When Denise Broady arrived at WorkForce Software, she was alarmed to find out that the company did not have any written values in place. To make matters worse, WorkForce had an international team with employees spread out across the globe. Broady had her work cut out for her when she decided to rethink the brand’s vision and communicate that message to the whole company. In this episode, you’ll learn how her marketing team convinced fellow WorkForce employees to embrace new core values and amplify the brand message.

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Boxed.com is in the business of delivering joy. Whether you work for the e-commerce startup or order from them, there’s a good chance they’ll make you smile. On this episode, Boxed.com’s CMO Jackson Jeyanayagam discusses his role in helping the brand maintain its sparkling reputation. You’ll learn tips for reaching customers emotionally, as well as how to create a specific vision for your company.

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Although the Equifax hack put cybersecurity on the priority list for 140 million Americans and scared the heck out of many others, it is hardly a new issue for consumers. Major hacks at Yahoo and Target a few years back put many on high alert. So what is new here and why should cybersecurity be a priority issue for senior marketers? Well, as it turns out, all that marketing technology you've recently brought into your company has created even more exposure for your company's data and that of the consumers with whom you do business. Sure enough, your pursuit of big data to optimize your sales, marketing and customer experience efforts, have put your companies at risk, in a remarkably big way. And of course, a data breach will inevitably become a brand breach as the folks at Equifax can attest. So batten down the hatches and have a listen as Norman Guadagno, Senior Vice President of Marketing shares his thoughts on why this is such a big problem and some of the steps that marketers can take to prevent or at least mitigate the impact of a security breach.

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If you’re not focusing on customer experience, you may be missing out on a huge opportunity to build brand love. Dan Gingiss—Senior Director of Global Social Media for McDonald’s—believes in the power of service. He identifies social media as a key medium to address customer questions and concerns. As a published author and podcast host, Gingiss offers professional advice for connecting with audiences and getting involved in consumer conversations.

Technical note: Drew apologizes for the sound crackles - he was too close to the mic and hopes it won't distract you from his guest's sparkling insights! He'll try not to make that mistake again.

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Many fuel companies struggle to build loyalty among customers. With so many potential gas options out there, most consumers won’t go out of their way to choose a specific brand. At Shell, it is the job of Dan Little (Head of North American Marketing) to get drivers to go that extra mile. Little and his team launched a rewards program called Instant Gold Status earlier this year that encourages consumers to fill up at Shell on a regular basis. In this episode, you’ll learn how the campaign aims to create brand love and what you can do to improve customer retention.

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Is virtual reality putting us on the brink of a new marketing revolution? Google’s creative think tank, Zoo, has initiated a study on VR in hopes of recognizing its full potential. Abigail Posner, who is the Head of Strategic Planning at Zoo, boldly believes that this new technology will show immense promise for marketers in just a few years. In this episode, you’ll learn how some brands are already taking advantage of VR to go from storytelling to story living.

Here is a sample Q&A from the interview:

Drew: VR has been talked about for years and years and years as the next thing. Are we finally at the point where this is going to become at least semi-mass?

Abigail: I think it's a combination of a number of things. One is that we have enough experiences under our belt to recognize the value of it, whether it's gamers playing it, whether it's porn, whether it's the fact that doctors are using it. All of a sudden, there's a range of different worlds that are recognizing its value and it's hitting mainstream. That's number one. Number two, as we brought up before, the actual physical headsets themselves are becoming more accessible, whether it's accessible that we can wear them or accessible price wise. That helps. And then finally the technology itself is evolving. So it's becoming finer tuned. It's becoming more accessible so that we can use it on a number of different platforms integrated into our phones and so forth. It's a combination of a number of different factors. And then I just think generally we are becoming just more comfortable and agile with what it means to create a story in this space.

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Not all heroes wear capes. Trip Hunter, CEO of Silicon Valley ComicCon, just happens to work with people who do. When he was tasked with creating buzz for the con from scratch in its inaugural year, Trip had just two weapons at his disposal: a renegade mind and Steve Wozniak. Two cons and a couple star-studded celebrity squads later, the event is looking to build on the massive success Trip helped generate. In this episode, you’ll learn the secrets that make Trip one of the bravest marketers in the world today. He has led groundbreaking campaigns for an array of companies like Renegade, Fusion-io, and Primary Data—always looking to boldly go where no marketer has gone before.

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Virtual Reality (VR) as a marketing tool is in the very early stages of development which is why we recorded this special episode live from the launch of “The Hard Way – a KFC Virtual Training Escape Room.” In this episode, you’ll learn why KFC spent six months developing this unique training experience and how it fits into to their overall marketing strategy of “re-kernelizing” the brand. By that they mean putting the founder Colonel Sanders back into the heart of the brand and in this case, bringing to the forefront his fanatical attention to the details of the chicken cooking process. Jonathan Minori, the design director at W&K Lodge, the developers behind the app, will help you understand the laborious process of putting together a unique experience like this. And while KFC’s Chef Bob did not reveal the secret recipe, he did explain how they keep secret even from him.

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The goal of Renegade Thinkers Unite is to present you with fresh approaches to age old problems — and this episode does that in spades with guest Jerome Nadel, CMO of Rambus. Nadel will introduce you to the idea of design-led marketing and how rather than just accepting the products as given, CMOs can help drive product development such that the marketing is baked into the outcome. And as Nadel notes, better products are a whole lot easier to sell!

Here's a sample from Jerome's interview with RTU host Drew Neisser:

Drew: When did user experience and design thinking really take off?

Jerome: As we came into the 2000, the notion of differentiation through user experience became sort of the mantra for product success. So, as we go deeper in the conversation, what I'll suggest is the difference between user experience and marketing or design-led marketing are really minimal. What user experience professionals focus on is the upstream concepting of, what's the narrative that makes product great? Not just in terms of its features but how should it work and how does it support use cases? Often what marketers are focused on is telling stories about why products are great. If you connect the stories that made the product great with the stories that reinforce and articulate their greatness, you have beginning to end of full marketing. Ironically Drew, I don't think that such a radical construct but I think it's not embraced to the extent that it should be in the profession that we share.

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It’s not easy to get a breakthrough marketing strategy off the ground; it’s even more difficult to kick start a new idea in a highly regulated industry. This roadblock didn’t stop Manny Rodriguez, CMO of UCHealth, from developing an eye-opening campaign. Through patient-centric storytelling, he managed to help the university hospital network invigorate its message. This tender approach isn’t just business for Rodriguez. He is a leukemia survivor who underwent many of the types of treatments his team now promotes.

Rodruguez’s healthcare marketing philosophy goes against the grain. Hospitals and clinics often showcase their technologies and services in advertisements, much to Rodriguez’s chagrin. “I just believe healthcare marketers in general have lost sight of what matters,” he says. “We’ve gotten away from the fact that what we do is about the patient.” Instead of explaining how great UCHealth’s treatments are, Rodriguez set out to reach patients on a more personal level.

Rodriguez wanted his UCHealth’s advertisements to focus on clients and their experiences. Being a leukemia survivor, he understands the pain patients have to deal with. Rodriguez says, “Most health care brands look at themselves as the hero. We believe that our patients are the heroes.” UCHealth decided to let its heroes tell their stories from their own perspectives. The result was a series of heartfelt video testimonies given by actual UCHealth patients.

You can’t help but cry during these 90-second flashes of affection. As Rodriguez notes, “You really feel, hear, and sense the heartache and the emotion and the feeling in the story.” Although the scripts are written internally, the patients themselves deliver the lines. Who else could?

One of the biggest challenges Rodriguez has faced is advertising services that have such a negative connotation. “Nobody wants what I have,” Rodriguez says. “Nobody is sitting there going, ‘I can’t wait to have my liver removed or my heart surgery!’” The UCHealth marketing team remedies this problem by delivering what Rodriguez calls a “lifestyle brand.” The CMO continues, “I want to provide you [with] content and resources, and talk to you in a way that prevents you from being broken more than selling you a service when you’re broken.” Warmth is at the heart of the strategy, giving patients hope and comfort in UCHealth’s message.

Enhancing patient experience plays a big part in the brand’s marketing strategy. When someone goes to a hospital, obviously the biggest goal is to leave healthy. For Rodriguez, the peripherals of a hospital visit also matter greatly. Elements like staff friendliness, parking accessibility, and cafeteria food quality make a difference in the patient’s experience. “It’s the softer side of healthcare that I think we’re looking at as an organization—How do you build the softer side?” Rodriguez wonders. UCHealth answers this question by staffing itself with sympathetic employees. While health remains the top priority, patient experience is still important.

It’s been a bumpy ride for Rodriguez, as his own encounter with terminal illness has driven him to help other patients in need. He says, “Being a survivor of ultimately a disease that takes many lives is a motivator for everything I do.” Rodriguez recalls the personal experiences he’s had with medical professionals—some great, and some not so great. Ultimately, those instances have given him the drive to connect with patients through heartfelt passion and understanding. (These show notes were prepared by Jay Tellini.)

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Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection is not exactly a CMO’s dream situation. In fact, if handled poorly it could be a career-ending nightmare not to mention the potential reputational damage to the company. Fortunately for Avaya, which filed for Chapter 11 in January of 2017, CMO Morag Lucey provided the kind of courageous leadership that leaves one both awed and inspired. Lest you think we are exaggerating, have a listen to this episode and you’ll want to join the Morag Lucey fan club with us. On the podcast, Lucey explains how she helped Avaya weather the storm and come out all the stronger.

Here's what you'll learn:

How to present a strong business narrative.
How to keep your message simple—even in turbulent times.
How to draw up a real vision of the future.
How to communicate with your employees.

There was nothing fundamentally wrong with Avaya when it filed for bankruptcy; Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) were high, and the brand maintained a healthy reputation. The culprit for Avaya’s Chapter 11 filing was its $6 billion debt. When the deficit grew too large to handle, the company needed to restructure itself financially.

Lucey, who was in charge of managing internal communications in regards to the bankruptcy filing, aspired to preserve Avaya’s image and address any worries about the brand’s stability. She managed the process by explaining the situation to Avaya’s customers, affiliates, and employees on a regular basis. “We met [with our constituents] daily and talked about the narrative of what was happening to us and why it was happening,” says Lucey. “And on the other side, we also balanced that with all of the positive that was happening.” Lucey made it perfectly clear that Avaya had no intention of going belly up.

On the day Avaya filed Chapter 11, the company was already working on a campaign to show that nothing was wrong with the service it offered. “The key is the stories that we tell,” says Lucey, “and the customers that continue to rely on us to provide that experience that is outstanding…this was just a debt issue. We [could] still execute in terms of serving the market.”

Openness was the key to Lucey’s communication strategy. From holding regular meetings to promoting CEO video communications to distributing employee newsletters, Avaya used a variety of mediums to keep its workers in the loop in regards to the impending changes.

The brand used storytelling to send the message they sought to get across. Avaya wanted to let its employees and customers know that bankruptcy wasn’t the end; it was a new beginning. Lucey explains, “It was very much a story about the future. We had to bring the past to the future, and so we really did write the narrative of where we’ve been and where [we are] going.”

For Lucey, storytelling is more than a means of keeping customers and employees at peace; it’s a mechanism to reach clients emotionally. “[What we do is] not just communications for companies to make big profits,” she says. “It's really about the connection between people and it's creating a world in which we can have more time to spend doing the things we want to do, while we seamlessly interact and communicate with all the things that we have to do because it's mandatory in our life.” Business can be a welcomed, integrated part of life.

Even though Lucey was able to safeguard Avaya’s image in the face of bankruptcy and keep it going strong, she understands that her brand has to keep evolving to remain vigorous. She believes change is always imminent in marketing, and every CMO needs to be a “catalyst for change” to stay ahead of the curve. Lucey says, “Today, if you don't look at transforming your marketing organization and really focusing on how the technology delivers to the customers in a way so they want to consume it, you're going to be left behind.” Success today doesn’t necessarily equate to success tomorrow. Be ready when the call for innovation beckons. (These show notes were prepared by Jay Tellini.)

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With great power comes great responsibility. When Lexmark acquired Kofax—an automation software company—in 2015, the now-global business was burdened with the task of streamlining its marketing functions. Kofax CMO Grant Johnson was tabbed for the job. It was Johnson’s duty to institute a centralized marketing plan that the company’s worldwide sectors could follow.

Grant Johnson talks about his formula for creating a unified, global marketing strategy in part two of his interview. Host Drew Neisser, accompanied by Inc. magazine author Bill Carmody, ask Johnson about his trials and triumphs. If you missed part one of this interview, please refer to episode 31.

Here's what you'll learn:

How to unify all employees within your organization.
How to harness the power of teamwork.
How to integrate positive habits into your marketing strategy, while unlearning ineffective ones.
Why simplifying your marketing goals is critical.

Here is a sample of the content discussed in this episode:

Drew: It’s hard to get our marketing messages to stand out…what is one thing you do to make sure your marketing cuts through?

Grant: We take great pains to avoid the one-size-fits-all approach or what I call random acts of marketing. Instead, we work toward truly integrated marketing campaigns that encompass print, digital, social, etc. Part of cutting through effectively is a relentless focus on delivering consistent messaging across every touch point and element of a given campaign. Like many companies, our customer base cuts across a range of verticals – from Banking and Financial Services and Insurance to Healthcare, Government and BPOs. For some of these verticals, like banking, we frame the message around their primary concerns, e.g. how we can help enhance the customer experience (faster account openings and easier loan applications through mobile apps, etc.). We call that “customer speak,” instead of techno speak, and it really helps us stand out from the cacophony of competitors touting their offerings.

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This episode is the first of a two-part series with Grant Johnson, CMO of Kofax, a huge company you made not have heard of unless you're in need of automation software. Grant is a veteran marketer who managed to pull together three separate organizations into one cohesive marketing machine and in the process, discover many keys to successful B2B marketing. My co-host in this in-depth exploration of B2B marketing is entrepreneur and Inc magazine author, Bill Carmody.

Kofax CMO Proves that in Marketing, United We Stand.

If “every village has its idiot” had an antithesis, it would be “every community has its organizer.” In any group setting, he or she is that person who naturally brings together disparate individuals with a common bond and, most importantly, mobilizes them for action.

At Kofax, that person is Grant Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer. The automation software company was acquired in 2015 by Lexmark, which had recently subsumed two additional software brands. As the new CMO, Johnson set out to unify the various marketing functions of the now-global brand.

“I think we are in a unique position now at Kofax to look at the market with a fresh set of eyes,” he says, “and we have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. Although we have this broad portfolio of great software and solutions, we know that in the customer-driven era, it’s about them, not us.”

The Cause: Customers

Several years ago, Johnson realized that the only way for Kofax to thrive was to attain best-in-class marketing practices. How to do this required time, but it mostly involved attaining the maximum threshold of relevance with its customer. Because marketing technology is a vast, specialized landscape, Johnson also understood that Kofax could be hyper-targeted and intentional in its marketing and still generate a high volume of business.

To reach that stream of business took building, refining, building, refining the customer journey via experimentation and retargeting, with some failures and what Johnson terms “sacrifices” along the way. “I have a motto, which is ‘do great work that works.’ If it doesn’t work, stop doing it. If it works great, whether engaging customers and prospects, generating leads or nurturing opportunities, do more of it.”

His department eventually netted out with five detailed customer personas and predetermined content roadmaps. “We take great pains to avoid the one-size-fits-all approach or what I call random acts of marketing,” says Johnson. “Part of cutting through effectively is a relentless focus on delivering consistent messaging across every touch point and element of a given campaign.”

These journeys are continually tested and refreshed via community engagement, influencer campaigns, and social listening. The approach is what Johnson calls “aim, ready, fire,” and it helped Kofax’s revenue climb from $300 million to $600 million in just three years.

The Activists: Employees

Getting three marketing departments on the same page after the merger, however, was no easy task for Johnson. The first step was a marketing audit among the brands, a new work stream Johnson called “marketing best practices.” The groups gathered and came to discover who did what best. “The work stream became both a catalyst for change and way to galvanize the organization around a consistent set of best practices,” says Johnson. “The teams could envision how they could do better marketing by making the changes.”

Part of helping teams “unlearn” their less effective habits involved a physical blueprint of 2017 plans that outlined their marketing roles and was created with assistance from outside firms. “That fact that every group could see how they were contributing to and impacting the integrated plan helped literally get them on the same page they could refer to, communicate and understand.”

The Goal: Change

Johnson says the 2017 plan is off to a strong start, but he explains that one hard lesson for marketers to learn is that lasting change always takes more time than anticipated. “People can nod their head, agree to the new directive and then just go back to doing things the way they have,” he says, “Especially when the leadership is thousands of miles away.”

One way to expedite the process, however, is spurring employee cohesion by blending teams and creating new ones. “I didn’t just put managers based in Irvine [headquarters] in charge of larger groups. I gave some increased responsibility to leaders based in Lenexa, KS and Europe,” says Johnson. His department also merged content, digital and social teams for the first time, driving higher productivity. Spoken like a true organizer: “I knew that I had to find a way to bridge different cultures and operational styles if I had any chance of success.”

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Brace yourself for the most inspiring episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite thus far. In fact, our guest Coss Marte, had us choking back tears. His story begins a little over a decade ago, when he kick started his own enterprise as a teenager in front of a New York City bodega. By age 19, Marte’s business was raking in over $2 million dollars a year. He ran into trouble shortly thereafter, and in less than ten years he was scrubbing toilets at a reconstructed hotel to pay his rent.

The reason for Marte’s struggles is simple: his business was the business of selling drugs. He was incarcerated at 23 on charges related to peddling drugs, and spent seven years in prison.

Marte, now 31, is a free man and an up-and-coming marketing phenom. Upon his release from prison, he founded ConBody—a prison style fitness program where students work out with minimal equipment. Thanks to Marte’s marketing guts, ConBody is now one of the fastest growing fitness programs in NYC. To be frank, the young entrepreneur probably knows more about advertising than most CMOs.

You can learn more about ConBody here: https://conbody.com/

As you might expect, the seedlings of ConBody—which is short for “convict body”—came while Marte was incarcerated. “I got my first medical examination and was told that I could die in prison because of my health issues,” he says. “As soon as they told me this, I went back to my cell and I started doing lunges, and any type of exercise I probably knew.” Marte lost 70 pounds in six months after customizing his own exercise routine. Not long afterwards, he helped over 20 inmates lose over a thousand pounds combined.

Having inspired others to make positive lifestyle changes, Marte started thinking about his past—and his future. “I started realizing that I was creating a web of destruction,” he says, “and for the first time I started praying and asking God, ‘How can I give back?’ And that’s when ConBody was born.” Marte mapped out a plan for an exercise center while he was in solitary confinement, and then turned those blueprints into action when he was released a year later.

Marte’s bold marketing tactics helped put ConBody on the exercise studio map. He began marketing his business by speaking to women who were doing yoga in public spaces. Simply talking to them about ConBody, Marte managed to steadily build a customer base. “There [have] been times,” he states, “where I stood on the train and said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, pay attention.’… I tell my story and I’ll tell about ConBody.” Marte says he continues to share his story about 20 times a day, never underestimating word-of-mouth.

ConBody has boomed since its inception. Upon speaking at a conference, Marte was approached by a woman who offered him the opportunity to open a ConBody location in one of New York City’s most famous luxury department stores, Saks Fifth Avenue. This change in fortune still gives Marte goose bumps. He says, “Every time I go up to the second floor [of Saks], I start smiling because the first thing [I] see on the floor is a mannequin with a ConBody t-shirt on.”

ConBody’s studio atmosphere is no doubt responsible for part of its success. With the intention of motivating participants, Marte designed the studio like a prison. Brick walls and prison bars line the fitness center. Signs that read “five minute showers” and “do the time” line the interior. At ConBody, you’ll find all the same body weight equipment as you would in a prison. This gritty appearance is one of the business’s most popular features, giving members a hardcore workout experience.

Following Marte’s lead, marketers should strive to provide consumers with a similarly exceptional experience. This is the driving force behind ConBody. “If I keep going and I keep delivering a great product,” Marte says, “no matter what I’m going to wake up, I’m going to be okay, and I’m going to live life.” (These show notes were prepared by Jay Tellini.)

What You’ll Learn

Ideas for starting up killer guerilla marketing campaigns.
How incorporating your passion into your business can lead to prosperity.
How to tackle unexpected marketing challenges.
Advice for establishing a clear and effective brand vision.

Quotes from Coss Marte

As an entrepreneur, you just don't know what's going to happen, what you have to deal with. You don't know what you're going to sign up with. You've just got to roll with the punches.
I share my story about 20 times a day, and I stop random people and I go up to everyone who I think works out.
I try to find somebody and train them and duplicate myself, which is impossible. But you do what you can, and you manage and you just set priorities and expectations.
I was affecting so many people in my life and so many people that I sold drugs to, when I started realizing that I was creating a web of destruction and for the first time I started praying and asking God, "How can I give back?" And there's when ConBody was born.

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Gone are the days of “just throw it out there” and “let’s see what happens” when it comes to marketing campaigns. The hard truth is that in 2017, we have too much information at our disposal to lean on our instincts and creative prowess to connect with consumers, and today’s leading marketers know this better than anyone.

How Take Rob Rakowitz, Global Director of Media at Mars, who was recognized by The CMO Club for his cut-through Content Marketing performance with brands like Uncle Ben’s, Snickers, Pedigree and Whiskas. Rakowitz understands that to drive growth, marketing teams must use a targeted, well-researched approach backed by fail-safe insights—and the simpler the goal, the better. Here are just a few of things you'll learn from this episode:

How to make your marketing campaign stick.
The significance of identifying brand purpose and engaging with consumer culture.
How to diversify your marketing strategy.
Why service is the new selling.

Driven by data

It could be said that a good marketing theory works well outside of marketing, so a good marketing leader practices his theories outside of work. For his part, Rakowitz enjoys mining data as a member of a cycling team. Thanks to the Internet of things, even riding a bicycle generates a mind-boggling amount of data. Armed with insights before a race, for example, his team can determine distinct roles and peak performance points “much in the way that you would for launching a really great campaign.” The implication for brands here is that data offers not only meaningful positioning but can also inform when to act on topical content.

In Rakowitz’s opinion, it’s the CMO’s duty to show his or her teams how to make these same discoveries. “The only thing that you can do in this role,” says Rakowitz, “is equip teams with the right navigation tools so that they can wade into this unknown and increasingly complex territory and actually drive growth from it.”

And to drive growth, he says, these teams must make simplicity a goal, as the team with the discipline to focus in an ever-distracting environment will eventually outpace its competitors. “I find that the more you can simplify down what it is that we’re trying to do from a vision perspective,” he says, “the better an idea travels.”

Content that cuts to the point

At Mars, Rakowitz says he was able to influence and coach teams in the execution of “fantastic content programs” for the labels that sought to understand how to best bring the brand, consumer and customer together. “It’s what I like to call the idea of 4C conversion that bring consumer, customer, communications and commerce closer together,” says Rakowitz, and it centers around a simple purpose.

With Uncle Ben’s, the Mars Food team discovered that the brand’s purpose is helping consumers make great food choices. “We find out that consumers who start meals with rice are more likely to choose a lean protein or a vegetable to go along with it,” he says, leading to healthier eating outcomes.

But when Mars released Uncle Ben’s ready-to-heat pouches in the UK, the Uncle Ben’s UK team discovered that consumers either weren’t aware of the product or saw it as irrelevant. Working with BBDO and MediaCom, the team started to look to content to address the reach and relevance shortfall. They developed a series of short online videos that featured a celebrity chef demonstrating the product in a public park, which engaged healthy consumers. The best-performing clip was trimmed and disseminated to TV and social media. “It was a very content-driven idea backed up by behavioral data,” says Rakowitz. “We were able to use social media to make sure the content was as personal as possible. And it actually yielded some really nice business results for us.”

Another data-supported campaign Rakowitz championed was “Kitten Kollege” for Whiskas, following an insight that new cat owners often lack the knowledge to properly care for them at first. Mars’ Petcare marketing team and agency partners in BBDO and Mediacom created tongue-in-cheek videos about a kitten’s life stages using insights from Mars’ Pet Institute research center in the UK. Partnering with Google and YouTube also helped raise the brand’s profile, “simultaneously educating and entertaining and then closing the gap with commerce.”

While Mars marketing measure success with methods sometimes as sophisticated as biometric tracking, many are available to any CMO. “What we did for Uncle Ben’s was 100 percent behavioral, digital metrics that are available to a lot of marketers,” he says. In fact, Rakowitz recommends taking advantage of as many sources of data as possible to see the best results from a campaign and glean the best insights for the future. “I think that's very much an agenda I had, with a lot of my colleagues out there—taking more and more advantage of things to drive better planning, strategy, and activation.”

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Without communication, businesses crumble. Sending a clear message is the only surefire way to get people to care about your brand. This need for coherence isn’t limited to the marketer-consumer relationship, however—all business branches should work in harmony in order to present a sharp brand image. Ann Davids, Senior Vice President and CMO of Direct General Insurance Company, specializes in coordinating her company’s identity on all fronts.

In this week’s episode of the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast, Davids explains how a brand identity can become too abstract if it’s not managed well internally. It’s Davids’s duty to weave product language, internal language and consumer language together to create campaigns that customers and Direct employees can embrace.

Marketers should stay in close contact with their fellow departments, believes Davids. When the marketing department at Direct works in unison with the entire office, it can accomplish brand goals from all angles. Davids says, “I’ve often heard it said that marketing should make the rest of the organization uncomfortable. I couldn’t agree more. I’ll really advocate for anything the business needs, even beyond marketing if it helps move the needle.”

This strategy is mutually beneficial, Davids finds. In addition to orienting the marketing team’s attention to the overall business plan, she seeks to involve other business disciplines in Direct’s advertising campaigns. In previous years, Davids has laid out the blueprints of her team’s marketing strategy for all to see—literally—by distributing architectural blueprints in frames around the office. “We basically run our own internal campaign, and it tends to get people excited and raise intellectual curiosity,” Davids says. “We have people hand-raising to opt in to work on these things instead of having to recruit.”

The blueprints clearly illustrated the marketing strategies, but they also generated interest in the projects from the entire company. Let’s face it; if an organization can’t get its own team members excited about a campaign, how can it expect to make a lasting impact on consumers?

Speaking of impacting consumers, Davids notes how Direct aims to be, well, more direct. “We try to just always speak the customer’s language,” she says. “Whatever that happens to be for your particular customer, I think you have to really understand them and how they talk and process, and what they’re looking for.” Offering exactly what the consumer needs is only half the battle, however. Without clear, direct marketing, any campaign can fall flat.

Given the nature of Direct Insurance’s industry, it’s inherently tough to make consumers eager to engage with the brand, which is why Davids’s team goes the extra mile to make their experience enjoyable. Davids says, “A lot of people don’t want to pay for insurance, either, so we make it fun, we make it pleasant and we try to have added little surprises along the way that make it easier to do business with Direct Auto and Life Insurance.” These “little surprises” have resonated well with customers, she says.

Another challenge for Direct has been the transition to new marketing platforms. When the company knew it wanted to establish a strong digital presence, Davids was careful not to jump the gun with new channels. Her team decided that gradual changes would better suit the brand’s customers. “Our customer is still telling us that they enjoy other mediums, as well as digital,” says Davids. “They’re still heavy consumers of television and radio, so we’ve been careful in how we transition to digital.”

This kind of adaptability is an important piece of Direct’s marketing puzzle. Davids talks about the art of identifying the next big thing: “Really, what I consider state of the art is knowing when to jump on a trend versus waiting. Or how you might migrate within your own media mix.” Although her team is always looking for the next big thing, the marketing department acts slowly and steadily when integrating it into a campaign.

If Davids could offer just one piece of advice to her fellow marketing leaders, it would be to maintain a robust network of professionals. “I think you’ve got to find people that you connect with,” she says. “If you make investments in these relationships, they will be valuable. There’s nothing more valuable to me than my network and the mentors I’ve had over the years.” (These show notes were prepared by Jay Tellini.)

What You’ll Learn

Ways to engage your company’s entire business staff with your marketing strategy.
How to speak your customers’ language.
Advice for building a successful network with likeminded business professionals.
When to put the pedal to the metal on your marketing strategy, and when to hit the brakes.

Quotes from Ann Davids

Really, what I consider state-of-the-art is knowing when to jump on a trend versus
You have to listen to your customer.
Think about how to present yourself, your personal brand, through words and actions and engagements. Strive for what you want, and don’t be shy about letting people around you know your goals.
You have to be open to different challenges that come along, in work as well as in your personal space, and be willing to share what you learned from those experiences.

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One of the most difficult but important things marketers can do is find a way to make their brand stand out from the competition. This is an especially weighty challenge in the financial industry, as Suzanne Copeland, the former CMO of Sterling National Bank, will tell you. Faced with regulatory restrictions and fierce competition, Copeland applied renegade thinking to separate Sterling from the pack. In this episode of the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast, Copeland explains how the bank’s brand positioning allows it to provide one-of-a-kind customer experiences.

(These show notes were prepared by Jay Tellini.)

Creating a unique brand experience is crucial not only to marketing, but also to business success as a whole. At Sterling, this was no easy feat. As Copeland points out, “Everybody tells you that their customer relationship is better. It’s kind of hard to really tease that out to some specifics that explain exactly how you’re better.”

Abstract problems like these require creative solutions. For example, Copeland’s content marketing strategy at Sterling went against the grain to reach to its audience, and you may be surprised to learn that digital marketing had little to do with it. The company wanted to bring its message to the consumer’s doorstep—literally. The finished product for Sterling was Connect Magazine, a print publication featuring the success stories of some of its clients. Copeland says, “We have been publishing Connect Magazine for over seven years now, and a key feature is that we do client profiles. We have a cover story with a client talking about their business.”

Connect Magazine continues to spread brand awareness for both client businesses and Sterling National Bank. Copeland continues, “[Featured clients] sprinkle in where Sterling has helped them with their business.” By mentioning how the bank has assisted clients, the publication also gets people talking about Sterling. As Copeland notes, “There is some relationship building with regard to the prospects and, quite frankly, most of Connect is mailed to prospects and that helps build our brand. But at the same time, it is going to our clients…It is also creating brand ambassadors that will praise our services.”

Like Copeland, many marketers face the challenge of presenting a uniform brand image. The team at Sterling is constantly maneuvering to keep all employees on the same page. “We have a lot of different sales people with a very specific approach,” Copeland says. “It’s really hard to be efficient with that. So, for us, the challenge is how do you have a really lean organization? How do you create some level of consistency and some configurability so that you can address vertical markets?”

Copeland urges marketers everywhere to hone in on their core business to find a unifying message. She says, “The other thing now I think that we can do ourselves is just be maniacal about focusing on our business strategy, really understanding what is it this company is doing.”

Perhaps the biggest blunder a marketing team could make is to seclude itself from the company’s other operations. “The biggest ‘don't’ for me is getting cornered in the marketing world,” says Copeland. “You've got to be able to have relationships beyond that in the organization, and really understand what other parts of the organization are doing, and not just say this is the marketing domain and that's the only place that I stay.”

Meet the Guest

Suzanne Copeland is the former CMO of Sterling National Bank, an institution that offers banking services and solutions to business owners and consumers. She holds an Executive MBA from the University of Memphis. After starting her career as an art director, Copeland moved into a corporate leadership role at First Tennessee Bank in her hometown of Memphis. Copeland started at Sterling in 2009 and has since launched Copeland Collaborative, an initiative that provides consultation for women at Sterling and executes strategies to improve employee engagement.

What You’ll Learn

How to distinguish your brand from the pack.
Tips for building relationships with clients and prospects.
How to maintain a consistent brand message.
Advice for understanding both your brand and your industry.

Quotes from Suzanne Copeland

Wherever you are, you really need to know: how does this business run, how does this business make money and what [are] the activities that you are driving in marketing?
I still think if you can get in front of the absolute right person at the right time and say the wrong thing, it won’t work.
I do think having a personal brand is really important.
The more and better data you have, the more discreet your activities can be toward changing particular behaviour.

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Customer experience is at the core of marketing success. Nimble founder and CEO Jon Ferrara explains where and how brands should be targeting their messages in Part II of his interview on the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast. Ferrara grew Nimble out of the idea that brands do best when customers recommend them to their networks. Nearly nine years later, Ferrara’s business is stronger than ever and venturing into new marketing frontiers.

During his extensive tenure in marketing, Ferrara learned that business doesn’t have to be impersonal. In fact, his experience at GoldMine CRM—and eventually Nimble—demonstrates that the best marketing strategies are personal in nature. Ferrara says, “I think the mistake that many businesspeople make is that they make business about business…[but business] is about connecting with people. That’s why they’ll remember you.”

Jon walks the walk on that philosophy, sharing both his personal and private social accounts with the people in his network to this day.

Ferrara didn’t originally foresee GoldMine, his first business venture, taking a turn towards customer-centricity. “GoldMine actually started out as an accounting software company,” he says. “I needed something to manage the relationships, so I built and designed GoldMine to do that. It turned out that GoldMine really was our future and we had to pivot.” Ferrara’s strategy at GoldMine was to “build relationships with editors and writers so [consumers would] see us being written about in publications, and then we started slipping in radio ads and airplane ads.”

Nimble, which launched in 2008, capitalizes on that same influencer-driven approach. “We’re here to help those influencers build their brands in social sales and marketing by helping them inspire and educate our customers,” he states. “So it’s a win-win situation.” The company anticipates user counts of multiple millions in the near future.

One of Ferrara’s top priorities is helping Nimble’s marketing team strike the right balance between telling a unified brand message and genuinely opening up to potential partners. He says, “The relationships happen at that one-to-one level across your team members, but you still need to have a unified message, be consistent about that messaging, drive the high-level stuff, and then integrate.”

Knowing that he’s serving his customers is Ferrara’s biggest reward, and he takes every compliment to heart. “When somebody stops [me] on the street and says, ‘you know, Jon, you changed my life with GoldMine,’ or ‘you’re changing my life with Nimble,’ that’s the best,” he claims. “That’s why we do what we do.”

Meet the Guest

Jon Ferrara is a social marketing sensei. As a co-founder of GoldMine CRM, he innovated new ways for marketers to build relationships with customers. Ferrara launched Nimble in 2008, the next-generation CRM product for small businesses. Ferrara provides top-notch social customer relationship management to marketers everywhere. He currently serves as Nimble’s founder and CEO, where he specializes in entrepreneurship, product innovation and brand and identity development.

What You’ll Learn

How customer experiences can expand your brand more rapidly than advertising can.
Best practices for managing customer relationships.
The importance of helping social influencers succeed in your audience’s niche.
The value of having a unified brand message.
How to cook a chuck roast (seriously!)

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Jon Ferrara grew the social selling platform Nimble from scratch to 100,000 users in just a couple of years without spending a dime on media. He has also converted 15% of those users to paid subscribers making Nimble a model for bootstrapping entrepreneurs. Having been a CRM pioneer with Goldmine which Jon sold in 2000, he is a wonderful font of insights and inspiration so much so that we recorded two episodes.

This episode will teach you how to develop a clear-cut selling strategy for your brand, and look good doing it. You’ll also learn how to institute an effective CRM strategy that won’t overwhelm your business. No matter the bandwidth of your organization, Jon offers his testimony to describe how sharing content and networking with influencers can reel in dollars.

Jon is a pioneer of CRM, and has used outside the box thinking to connect with influencers. After co-founding GoldMine three decades ago, Jon discovered new ways in which businesses can discover and engage with potential customers. His work resulted in the launch of Nimble in 2008, the next generation CRM product for small businesses.

Jon believes that the key to marketing is using professionals who your target audience trusts to recommend your brand, rather than advertising to them yourself. He boldly claims, “I think it’s more powerful when other people talk about you than when you talk about you.”

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Is the key to immortality for brands simply about finding the right moment for reinvention? When Ron Chemow’s Hamilton became Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway sensation, Global Head of Corporate Marketing Aniko Delaney recognized the opportunity for BNY Mellon to reach new audiences. Affectionately called the Hamilton campaign, “Invest In Our Legacy” managed to not only to honor BNY Mellon’s founder Alexander Hamilton but also to modernize the brand.

So far, her team’s modernization efforts have paid off in big ways, with triple-digit increases in engagement and brand awareness on Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook. In this podcast, we’ll examine how Delaney and her team capitalized on the Broadway Show, Hamilton, to help BNY Mellon’s marketing cut through. You’ll learn how to identify moments of opportunity for reinventing your brand, the importance of having a message that resonates across all social platforms, and the keys to keeping a seasoned brand relevant.

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Keeping a brand fresh means evolving with trends, but Alma Derricks, former VP of Sales & Marketing of the Retail Sales Division at Cirque du Soleil, knows that not every trend is right for every industry. As someone who runs towards moments of inflection, that’s exactly what Derricks walked into when she joined Cirque during an ownership change in 2015. Believe it or not, Cirque had relied on organic growth for over 30 years but finally found itself in need of an organized and inventive marketing strategy. With a diverse background in media and entertainment, Alma Derricks helped differentiate Cirque’s many shows and make them top-of-mind for show goers. She also launched SPARK, a brand extension of Cirque that serves as a learning laboratory for corporate teams. The new business took off and not only created a new way to access the brand, but also a strong statement about who they are.

In this podcast, we’ll take a special peek behind the curtain of one of the world’s top-earning theatrical companies and the marketing that helped revive its brand. You’ll learn about identifying which trends are suitable for your business, making sure your company cuts through the noise, differentiating your product or service offerings, and more. While Derricks has since moved to another role, you’ll find that the insights she shares are timeless.

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This episode will help you understand the state-of-the-art for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and how forward-thinking businesses are capitalizing on CRM to improve customer experiences and drive revenue.

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In this podcast, you’ll learn about where to start your brand transformation, why your brand should be a “sage” instead of a “hero,” the importance of creating a tangible customer experience and the strategy behind CA's new ad campaign, "The Modern Software Factory."

Over the last four years, CMO Lauren Flaherty repositioned CA Technologies’ global brand, helped it adapt to the fast-paced blur of digital disruptions and masterfully co-created an app with CNN to cover the 2016 presidential election. This app enabled CNN to experience higher-than-ever levels of engagement and reach while demonstrating the power of CA's technology. Flaherty has since initiated a similar co-creation venture with Eurosport, helping to make the brand more tangible.

Think of this episode as a master class in transformation B2B marketing.

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As Chief Revenue Officer, Meredith Kopit Levien is a driving force behind The New York Times’s digital transformation and their stunningly timely “The Truth is Hard” campaign. When the news became the news during the 2016 presidential election cycle, Kopit Levien’s challenge was not only to remind people why real journalism matters, but also to reach a new base of paid subscribers hungry for high-quality journalism, effectively changing the news category. What you’ll take away from this podcast, among other things, is why the story you tell is more important than how often you tell it, and why it’s important to adapt to the times—no pun intended—without losing sight of your brand’s core mission.

In addition to sharing why and how the new campaign came to fruition, Kopit Levien provides an inside look at building T-brand, their highly successful content creation studio. Although she admits that The Times was late to the content creation game, they entered it with gusto hiring top talent and holding the bar extremely high – so high that they will and have told the client “no” when they don’t think an idea will in their publication. Noting that there are only 10 million people that pay for their news online, Kopit Levien says that the real work, is only beginning as The New York Times continues its transformation from print to all other current and future news channels. For example, The Daily, The Times’ first podcast has dramatically exceeded expectations and is now a coveted slot for their reporters. She also discusses a new channel on Snapchat Discover, yet another indication that her brand ain’t your grandmother’s New York Times!

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When Tom Libretto joined Pegasystems as Chief Marketing Officer, he recognized that his new company was on the cusp of huge changes. Applying his experience at major companies like IBM, Nokia and Chase, Libretto dove headfirst into his role, first by assessing star performers, past successes and failures and opportunities for growth. The good news was that one of the company’s star performers was its own platform, PEGA. What you’ll learn in this podcast, among other things, is the importance of being able to “drink your own champagne,” as Libretto and his team have found it to be an invaluable source of authentic marketing, not to mention troubleshooting.

Today, Pegasystems is considered a top vendor of software for customer engagement and operational excellence. As a leader in martech (marketing technology), Pegasystems provides a window into the future of automation and artificial intelligence, which Libretto breaks down over the course of the conversation. Without giving too much away, check out the podcast to hear about how Libretto helped the company achieve this amazing transformation.

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Described as both a bulldog and a warrior, Intuit’s VP of Marketing Patti Newcomer-Simmons built her reputation by seeking out the difficult challenges most mortals try to avoid. One such challenge was to dramatically improve departmental performance at a company that was already filled with “happy campers.” To do this, she first focused on the getting the metrics right. Rather than dwell on how satisfied employees were they with their jobs, she focused on employee engagement, a metric that corresponds with answers to questions like, “Would you stay with the company even if you received a higher offer from somewhere else?”

Ultimately, through a series of actions, including adding new hires, moving team members around and aligning around core goals, Newcomer-Simmons helped drive a 30-point increase in employee engagement. In case you were wondering, that is a very big jump, especially when you consider that Intuit already enjoyed a very high employee retention rate. So, if you’re wondering how you can get your marketing team operating at a higher level, this is definitely the right episode for you.

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Dara Royer sat alone at her desk pondering the seemingly impossible--how do you rebrand a global organization with only a $50,000 budget? She knew in her heart of hearts that rebranding was not just a nice next step for Mercy Corps, but it was a critical requirement for the organization to realize its global ambitions. She also knew there is little glory in being right, what really mattered was getting the rest of Mercy Corps to join her on the journey and embrace the forthcoming change. Royer's journey as Chief Development and Marketing Officer is chronicled in detail in this epidsoeand it is profoundly instructive for all businesses especially those with modest budgets and massive expectations.

And just in case you were wondering if we're hyperbolizing, the outcome of Mercy Corps rebranding was an increase in awareness, revenue via donations and recognition by the Harris Poll as the 2017 EquiTrend “Brand of the Year” and “Most Loved Brand” in the category of International Aid Nonprofits. Those are results that would delight any marketer and leads to the question, how the heck did Royer and her team accomplish so much with so little? Well, without telling the whole story, let's just say that necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

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Digital rock star and Spotify’s Global Vice President for Growth & Marketing, Mayur Gupta, joins us in this week’s podcast to talk predictive marketing, lack of separation in online and offline worlds, and why quality beats quantity when it comes to consumer acquisition. With over 15 years of experience in leading the digital transformation, Gupta shares insights on how brands and marketers can ease into predictive marketing, and explains how Spotify is using this method to unify online and offline worlds, delivering relevant, contextual experiences for their users that inspires them to keep coming back for their musical needs.

While most of us are driving into the future of marketing with limited visibility, Spotify’s Mayur Gupta not just sees what’s ahead, but also shares his vision with helpful precision. In this episode, Gupta talks about how he views marketing and innovation from the eyes of an engineer, and the importance of putting human’s needs at the top of the marketing ecosystem, which consists of technology, data, and storytelling. As the Global Vice President for Growth & Marketing at Spotify, Gupta emphasizes that you cannot effectively market only using technology, or data, or storytelling – the three are completely intertwined, and wholly dependent on the marketer’s understanding of unmet human needs. To see what’s ahead, just listen!

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There are three salient features of creativity, regardless of the form it takes: It’s new, it’s everywhere, and everyone can do it. This week we switch it up on RTU to talk to the expert on creativity, Larry Robertson. Robertson’s latest book, The Language of Man, tackles the biggest myth about creativity, and that’s this notion that only a few rare people are capable of creative genius. In the podcast, Robertson talks about the two sides to each individual: one side (the left brain) is dedicated to order, pragmatics, survival; the other side (right brain) is dedicated to exploring, creativity, and thinking towards the future. Most often we prioritize the side of our brain that is dedicated to order, but Robertson says it’s important to give our creative brains a chance to play and discover as well. Ultimately, there has to be a balance between the two, but everyone is capable and equipped for creative genius.

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At one point in our inspiring conversation, Chandar Pattabhiram says "I've always believed that people buy candles not because they need candles, but because they need light." As CMO of Marketo, Chandar brings a floodlight to the world of marketing, leading to an episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite you won't want to miss. Among his many illuminating ideas, Chandar espouses "engagement marketing" as the only way to overcome the radical shift in power from buyer to seller and proposes that we've entered the "engagement economy."

Expecting a conversation about the science of marketing, marketing automation and perhaps the latest applications of artificial intelligence, his focus on engagement, the art of storytelling and advocacy provides a show that is as surprising as it is informative. Listen carefully and you'll discover some of the secrets to not just building customer loyalty but also the kind of brand advocacy that gets your customers shouting your story from the rooftops!

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Every brand strives to build emotional connections with its constituents but few have succeeded in the manner of Pete Krainik, founder and CEO of The CMO Club. Starting from scratch in 2007, Pete has built a remarkably collaborative membership of over 800 senior marketers that meet regularly in 22 US cities and several more around the world. In this episode, we’ll reveal some of the secrets to The CMO Club’s success in recruiting new members and creating unmatched event experiences.

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Ryan Linders, VP CRM, Loyalty, and Marketing Analytics at Sally Beauty provides a rare glimpse into the initial phases of building a customer loyalty program from scratch. You'll learn how Linders got the program off the ground and how Sally Beauty provides value to customers and gets it back in terms of membership fees and on-going purchase loyalty.

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In episode 9, we take a break from big brand CMOs to hear from independent musician Will Dailey. Why this deviation? Well first, I’ve been trying to get an interview with Will Dailey ever since I saw him speak at a Content Marketing conference in 2016 because I was certain his story would inspire marketers big and small. Second, Will really is a renegade, having walked away from a major record label just as his career was gaining steam. This was an incredibly gutsy move that helped set the stage for his instructive approach to fan building. And finally, I secretly hoped Will would perform on the show, and amazingly, he did just that, making it easy for you all to understand why I’m such a fan!

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Special Episode - A second report from IBM Amplify on Watson Marketing and Cognitive Computing. Drew Neisser talks with Amber Armstrong, IBM Director of Digital Amplification and Demand Generation. Explore the future of marketing and customer experience by delivering just the right content at the right time.

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Special Episode - Drew Neisser reports from IBM Amplify 2017. Live from the conference floor. Get an up-to-date perspective in this special report on influencer marketing with Amy Tennison, Director of IBM's "Futurist" influencer program. Also features interviews Brian Moran and Jason Falls, two IBM Futurists.

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Rich Honiball, is the CMO of the Navy Exchange (NEX), which generates over $2 billion in sales through over 300 retail stores worldwide that range from a 200 square foot “Micro Market”, a 24/7 vending operation, to a 200,000 square foot flagship store “that looks like a department store attached to an electronics store attached to a home store attached to a drug store.” In this episode, you’ll learn how NEX generates extraordinary brand loyalty through user-generated content and a fanatical devotion to customer listening and customer service.

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When Elissa Fink joined Tableau she was one of 40 employees that helped orchestrate a user conference for 200. Ten years later Tableau has a staff of over 3,200, a user conference for 13,000 and revenue that exceeds a billion dollars annually. It’s an amazing success story that Elissa has not just witnessed – she’s played a vital role, bringing a combination of enthusiasm, smarts, willingness to try new things and a deep appreciation for using data to make informed decisions. If you aspire to be a leader at a fast growing organization, then this is a must-listen episode.

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Gina McDuffie of VER, one of the largest video/audio equipment providers in the world, shares how she helped evolve what was Video Equipment Rentals into VER, not just from a naming standpoint but also how they marketed and interacted with their global customer base.

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Lamenting the fact that the healthcare industry “says the same thing and blends into this mush,” Arra Yerganian is “working to change the conversation” about Sutter Health. To achieve this goal Yerganian is “leaning in when others lean away” and seeks to “embrace the digital experience and create one-to-one relationships for the 3.5 million people that we serve.” Believing that this promise needs to go deeper than marketing, Yerganian works in “really close partnership with Sutter’s patient experience folks, executive leadership and operations” to “lay the foundation for a new [customer] experience.”

Yerganian joined Sutter Health’s not-for-profit network as its first chief marketing & branding officer in August 2015. “Recognized by colleagues as an innovator in residence, a marketing visionary and a customer experience evangelist,” Yerganian has lead a comprehensive repositioning of Sutter Health, which you’ll learn about in our podcast.

Prior to joining Sutter Health, Yerganian served as chief marketing officer for San Francisco-based One Medical, an innovative primary care network focused on transforming patients’ experiences through improved quality and accessibility of care. Before that Yerganian served as CMO for University of Phoenix and held senior international marketing roles at Procter & Gamble, the Dial Corp. and Atari.

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The notion of having a large-scale content studio in-house would be radical for many brands but that’s just the opening scene for David Beebe who “set out to establish [Marriott] as the largest producer of travel lifestyle content.” A veteran of Hollywood, Beebe has turned Marriott into a content powerhouse by “not asking for permission all the time” and by focusing initially on “really premium storytelling.” Noting that successful content needs to be scalable, built around a community and have a commerce component, Beebe advises, “You’re not making a commercial, you’re not talking about yourself and your features anymore.”

David Beebe leads Global Creative and Content Marketing for Marriott International’s portfolio of 19 brands, which includes Marriott Hotels, The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Bulgari, EDITION, Renaissance, Gaylord Hotels, Autograph Collection, AC Hotels by Marriott, Moxy Hotels, Delta Hotels, Courtyard, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Spring Hill Suites, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites, Protea Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments, Marriott Vacation Club with over 4,200 hotels in 82 countries.

Beebe leads a global creative + content marketing group responsible for the strategic and creative development of consumer facing creative, content marketing, influencer marketing, and real-time marketing with teams in Bethesda, MD, Hong Kong, London, and Dubai across four divisions, including Marriott Creative Agency (MCA), and in-house agency and Marriott Content Studio (MCS) an in-house studio that develops, produces, distributes, and monetizes original content including webisodes, documentaries, short films, television shows, magazines, books, animated series, and live programming. In short, when it comes to content, he’s a king.

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As a long-time financial services marketer, you would expect Dan Marks to have the science of marketing down pat. And indeed he does, having built a predictive marketing spend model at First Tennessee Bank (see my book The CMO’s Periodic Table: A Renegade's Guide to Marketing!) and the marketing tech infrastructure in his current role. But Marks sees the trend towards data-driven marketing going too far, explaining that, “Just doing the science without starting with the purpose is a recipe for failure.” Embracing the art-side of his job, he encourages his team to “remember that we are ultimately serving people” and to look at what’s happening with people in other categories.”

Dan Marks is the CMO for Hancock And Whitney Bank, a regional bank in the Gulf South spanning from Houston, Texas, to Tampa, Fla. At the bank, Marks is responsible for overall strategy and execution of marketing and leading a digitally enabled client-focused transformation. Recognitions have included the Presidents Circle CMO Award, “Top CMO on Twitter,” and “Top 40 under 40.”

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With over 70% share of the premium tequila market, it would be easy for Patrón’s CMO to rationalize a conservative marketing approach. Instead, Lee Applbaum believes that success can only be found by “challenging long-standing norms in luxury and in spirits marketing,” and by “always staying ahead of the curve.” To these ends, Applbaum is focused on showcasing Patron’s authenticity as a handcrafted tequila via advertising, influencer programs, social media and an innovative Oculus VR experience.

During is over 3+ years as CMO at Patrón, Lee Applbaum has launched successful line extensions (La Roca) and won numerous awards including two from The CMO Club. But what’s more impressive is that he has helped keep the growth streak alive as Patron continues to find new fans while maintaining a highly loyal following.

Applbaum started his career at Coca-Cola in sales after earning his MBA at UMass Amherst. After Coca-Cola, he held increasingly senior marketing jobs at Schlotzsky’s, Footstar Athletic, David’s Bridal, Radio Shack and even spent 8 months in Melbourne, Australia working with Target. Most importantly, in addition to his strong marketing background, Applbaum knows how to mix the perfect margarita, a skill that comes in handy remarkably often in his current role.

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Packaged goods companies are well known for their marketing discipline and not the place you’d expect to hear a CMO express the need for “tolerating a lot more chaos and ambiguity in the culture and the way we work in order to get to the good stuff.” But that’s just the starting point with Eric Reynolds, CMO of The Clorox Company, who among other things advises against using influencers on a broad scale and believes that unless your brand gets talked about via the “holy trinity of the brand story, the message, and the content” then the idea isn’t big enough to cut through.

Eric Reynolds was named CMO in January 2015 and according to Clorox, “As CMO, he has global responsibility for all marketing functions, including brand strategy and management, personnel staffing and development, consumer insights, advanced analytics, agency management, consumer promotion, digital capabilities, media planning and buying, commercial production, and graphic design.” In short, he’s the real deal.

Reynolds overseas marketing for a wide range of brands including Brita, Burt’s Bees, Formula 409, Glad, Hidden Valley, Kitchen Bouquet, KC Masterpiece, Soy Vay, Kingsford, Liquid-Plumr, Mistolin, Pine-Sol, Tilex, S.O.S., and Fresh Step, Scoop Away and Ever Clean cat litters.

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Described by Inc as one of the “sharpest minds” in marketing, Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast host Drew Neisser is a recognized authority on cutting-edge techniques and has won innumerable awards for creativity and campaign effectiveness. In Episode 0, Drew tells you what he's learned from interviewing over 200 Chief Marketing Officer in the last five years and how these lessons can be applied to just about any marketing challenge.

Ranked among “50 Thought Leaders over 50” by Brand Quarterly for 3 years in a row, Drew has been a featured marketing expert on ABC News, CNBC, CBS Radio, iHeart Radio and the Tony Robbins podcast series among many others.

Drew is the author of the highly regarded book, The CMO’s Periodic Table: A Renegade’s Guide to Marketing. He is a frequent keynote speaker and emcee at top marketing conferences including the 2017 Marketo Marketing Nation Summit and is counted among a small group of IBM Futurists.

Last but very definitely not least, Neisser is the founder and CEO of Renegade, the NYC-based marketing agency that has been helping CMOs find innovative ways to cut through since 1996.

Renegade Marketers Unite: Top Rated Podcast for CMOs: Recent Episodes

Drew Neisser