Tea Time With Tech Marketing Leaders: Recent Episodes
Kerry Guard
This podcast helps Marketing Leaders who work at Tech Companies get their brands found via transparent, measurable digital marketing. Tech Marketing leaders join our host Kerry Guard to discuss what challenges they're currently facing and the creative solutions they've found to solve them.
It's presented by MKG Marketing - a digital advertising agency of experts who specialize in SEO, Digital Advertising, and Analytics.
Be sure to subscribe so you catch every season as soon as it drops at the beginning of each quarter.
In the final 2023 episode of "Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders," Kerry Guard and David Mundy, VP of Marketing at Dasera, explore the indispensability of AI in marketing. They delve into David's journey from cybersecurity startups to his role at Dasera, underscoring AI's pivotal role in content creation and competitive strategy.
Dasera
David Mundy on LinkedIn
Full transcript on MKG Marketing
In this episode of "Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders," host Kerry Guard sits down with Dan Sanchez, an expert in audience building and digital marketing. Dan shares his journey from graphic design to marketing, highlighting his experience in transforming a university's enrollment rates through innovative digital strategies.
Close Mode
Dan Sanchez on LinkedIn
Full transcript on MKG Marketing
In today’s episode, our host Kerry Guard is joined by Evan Patterson, Marketing Consultant at Inclusive Agile, where Evan shares his insights into the SaaS industry, revealing how his love of laughter and genuine connections with people fuel his success in building communities and fostering partnerships in the tech world.
Inclusive Agile
Evan Patterson on LinkedIn
Full transcript on MKG Marketing
In today's episode, our host Kerry Guard sits down with Eric Martin, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Stack Overflow, to explore the significance of setting aspirational goals and cultivating a supportive team environment. Eric shares insights from his extensive career, including transformative experiences at SalesLoft and his current role at Stack Overflow. Together, they discuss the evolving landscape of marketing, the impact of AI on go-to-market teams, and the importance of building trust and transparency within a team. Join us for an engaging conversation filled with valuable career insights and marketing wisdom from seasoned industry professionals.
Stack Overflow
Eric Martin on LinkedIn
Full transcript on MKG Marketing
In this episode, our host Kerry Guard is joined by Miad Moussawi, the VP of Marketing at Synsaber, as they delve into the dynamic world of tech marketing.
With over 17 years of industry experience, Miad shares insights into product alignment, the significance of flexible marketing efforts, and the pivotal role of customer feedback in shaping successful marketing strategies. From discussing the evolving cybersecurity industry to navigating the complexities of CRM systems and collaboration between marketing and sales teams, Miad's expertise offers a treasure trove of knowledge for tech marketers.
Synsaber
Miad Moussawi on LinkedIn
Full transcript on MKG Marketing
In this episode, host Kerry Guard sits down with Kindsey Haynes, the CMO of Kirkham Iron Tech, to delve into their innovative marketing strategies and tactics.
Kindsey shares insights into how her team effectively targets specific industry verticals, focuses on nurturing relationships with potential clients, and utilizes a mix of traditional and digital marketing approaches, such as webinars, email marketing, and direct mail.
Kirkham IronTech
Kindsey Haynes on LinkedIn
Full transcript at MKG Marketing
In today's episode, our host Kerry Guard welcomes Elizabeth Hague, a tireless underdog champion specializing in protecting and growing revenue for pre-IPO companies.
They delve into the importance of building and leading marketing teams, navigating the rebranding process, and the challenges faced by startups in hiring product marketers.
Wildcatecho
Elizabeth Hague on LinkedIn
Full transcript at MKG Marketing
Imagine a world where you never have to deal with CSS ever again. That world is real, and Adam Aragon talks through how his team goes from design to code seamlessly.
Illumio
Adam Aragon on LinkedIn
Full transcript at MKG Marketing
Trevor van Woerden. Trevor, a seasoned marketer, joins host Kerry Guard to discuss his journey in creating engaging content and his experiences in the sales world.
Tune in as Trevor shares his insights on building relationships on LinkedIn, the importance of empathy in sales, and the transformational power of the Challenger Sales approach. He also delves into his live-streaming shows, "The Early" and "The Hotness Unleasher," and how they have connected and impacted the LinkedIn community.
Kerry and Trevor also tackle the evolving marketing and sales landscape, discussing the responsibility for revenue generation and the need for collective accountability. So please sit back, grab a cup of tea, and join us for this insightful conversation with Trevor van Woerden on Tea Time with Tech Marketers!
Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders is a Livecast on LinkedIn and YouTube almost every Thursday around 3 pm ET.
Kerry Guard, CEO and Co-Founder of MKG Marketing, interviews B2B marketers who work for complex tech brands and market to tough audiences who generally don't like marketing – CISOs, Developers, and even us... marketers.
Lisa, an expert in B2B SaaS tech marketing, shares insights from her vast experience in the industry, including her time as a professional photographer and her recent transition into starting her own marketing consulting business. Lisa provides valuable advice for tech marketers, from the importance of repetitive processes to the value of measurement and utilizing advanced tools.
Tune in as they discuss the challenges of running a business, influencers' role, and thought leaders' power in today's marketing landscape. Don't miss out on this fascinating conversation filled with practical tips and inspiring stories from a true marketing leader. Let's get brewing with Tea Time with Tech Marketers!
Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders is a Livecast on LinkedIn and YouTube almost every Thursday around 3pm ET.
Kerry Guard, CEO and Co-Founder of MKG Marketing, interviews B2B marketers who work for complex tech brands and market to tough audiences who generally don't like marketing – CISOs, Developers and even us... marketers.
Getting quality, qualified leads takes intention and purpose. And once you have the lead, you can't just pass them off to sales immediately. The market has changed, and as marketers we must move with it.
Mason Cosby, Founder of Scrappy ABM, joins Kerry Guard on this episode of Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders to spill the tea on how to cultivate leads and then activate leads over time without needing fancy, expensive Martech.
Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders is a Livecast on LinkedIn and YouTube almost every Thursday around 3pm ET.
Kerry Guard, CEO and Co-Founder of MKG Marketing, interviews B2B marketers who work for complex tech brands and market to tough audiences who generally don't like marketing – CISOs, Developers and even us... marketers.
Leads aren't going anywhere. We must capture, nurture, and cultivate an audience to be effective marketers and sellers.
But WHEN and HOW we is anyone's game.
In this episode, Alex Titze, VP of Marketing at Blue Team Alpha joins host Kerry Guard to spill the tea on how he keeps his content ungated and cultivates qualified leads.
Through his partnership with his subject matter experts, their MBA expertise, and outgoing personalities sees how this unusual partnership has brought success to The Blue Team Alpha cyber security company, building awareness and education to conversation and conversion.
Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders is a Livecast on LinkedIn and YouTube almost every Thursday around 3pm ET.
Kerry Guard, CEO and Co-Founder of MKG Marketing, interviews B2B marketers who work for complex tech brands and market to tough audiences who generally don't like marketing – CISOs, Developers and even us... marketers.
Tirrah Switzer, Senior Director of Community Brands, joins Kerry Guard, CEO of MKG Marketing on this episode of Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders to spill the tea on why your competition matters, what matters, and what to do about it.
It's a delicate balancing act of not comparing and keeping focused on building your brand, and it helps to know how other brands are shaping the industry.
We can all pretend we're special snowflakes, but at the end of the day, other companies do what we do. What are they doing? How are they doing it? What waves are they making, and how does it impact the industry?
Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders is a Livecast on LinkedIn and YouTube almost every Thursday around 3pm ET.
Kerry Guard, CEO and Co-Founder of MKG Marketing, interviews B2B marketers who work for complex tech brands and market to tough audiences who generally don't like marketing – CISOs, Developers and even us... marketers.
Given the new world order in privacy protection – GDPR, Apple Tracking (or not tracking), 3rd Party Cookies being discontinued, etc.– marketers need to revert back to basics... or a better way to think about it, is to look at the channels on the fringe that have been shoved to the wayside and reinvent bringing them back.
Juan Mendoza, CEO of The Martech Weekly & TMW 100 Awards, joined Kerry Guard, CEO of MKG Marketing, on this episode of Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders to spill the tea on reactivating long-lost digital marketing channels to target through context and build first-part data lists faster and more intentionally.
Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders is a Livecast on LinkedIn and YouTube almost every Thursday around 3pm ET.
Kerry Guard, CEO and Co-Founder of MKG Marketing, interviews B2B marketers who work for complex tech brands and market to tough audiences who generally don't like marketing – CISOs, Developers and even us... marketers.
Guests spill the tea on how they navigate meeting the customer where they are in the way in which they want to be met.
Join us on Thursdays around 3 pm ET or listen wherever you podcast.
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Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tea-time-with-tech-marketing-leaders/id1483655266
Join us for an insightful conversation with Sophie Hedestad, the CEO of NOQX, as she shares her expertise on setting team goals. Discover how prioritizing quarterly objectives can propel your company, team, and personal growth, enabling you to achieve revenue targets and KPIs.
Join us for an engaging discussion with Steffen Hedebrandt, the founder of Dreamdata, as he shares insights on discovering and shaping your account-based timeline.
Join us for an engaging conversation with Bryan Grover, Founder & Copywriter of Grover Consulting, as he shares his insights on the significance of influencer marketing, his unique approach to it, and the outcomes he has experienced. Discover the secrets behind successful influencer marketing strategies and gain valuable knowledge from an industry expert. Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn and be inspired!
Join us for an enlightening conversation with Elliot Volkman, Director of Brand, Content, and Community at Drata, as we uncover the impactful combination of personal branding, positivity, and kindness in advancing your company's mission.
Join us for an insightful conversation with Natan Cohen, former Marketing VP of Corporate Brand Marketing and Sales Enablement at New York Life Insurance, as we delve into the realm of platforms and AI, exploring the ethical responsibilities that guide us in this rapidly evolving landscape.
Join the conversation with Adrian Menstell, Senior Manager of Advertising at T-Mobile, as he unravels the possibilities of achieving personalization throughout the omni-channel funnel.
Join us for a discussion with Deanna Shimota, CEO of GrowthMode Marketing, as she spills the tea on turning your digital footprint into a powerful SDR. With a deep B2B history working with brands like Concur Technologies and Great Bay Software, Deanna has cracked the code on demand gen to help brands grow and hit revenue goals. Learn how she meets customers where they are and ensures they're informed before talking to sales. Sign, sealed, delivered success!
Join us for an enlightening discussion with Tara Pawlak, VP of Demand Generation at Revenue Grid, as she implores marketing leaders to take ownership of the revenue number. Discover how marketers can drive revenue growth by being proactive, data-driven, and aligning strategies with business goals. Don't miss these valuable insights into the crucial role of marketing in generating revenue and contributing to overall business success.
Join us for an exclusive interview with Simon Chou, Chief Marketing Officer of BC Jobs and the Host of Marketing on Mars Shares , as he provides invaluable insights from top CEOs, CMOs, VPs, and founders about the current and future trends in marketing. Learn how these business leaders are emphasizing the importance of building a strong community and implementing effective tactics and channels to succeed in enterprise-level brands. Gain valuable insights into the strategies that are driving success in today's dynamic marketing world.
Zack Wenthe, Senior Technical Product Marketing Manager at Treasure Data joins us to discuss the powerful connection between evangelism and personal branding. Learn how advocating for brands we believe in not only benefits companies but also shapes our own careers. This dynamic interplay unlocks opportunities and empowers individuals to thrive in today's competitive landscape.
During a conversation with Revital Libfrand, the Chief Marketing Officer at Odix, the concept of bringing stories to life for your brand takes center stage. The emphasis lies not on your brand itself, but rather on the long-term impact you strive to make on your community and customers. Revital highlights the need to transcend self-centeredness and focus on the greater purpose behind your storytelling efforts.
Dave Corlett, Business Director at Shaped By, joins to discuss brand development for fast-growing tech companies and the challenges that arise in differentiating cybersecurity companies.
Thomas Beavers, Senior Marketing Manager at Sollensys, joins to discuss how he breaks down complicated topics, like Blockchain, into simple, easy-to-digest marketing materials. He also advocates for the use of affiliate marketing, in this instance is not MLM, but using influencers and young creators as a megaphone for product awareness in newer markets.
Kathryn Strachan, Founder & CEO at Copy House, joins to discuss how her content marketing agency has carved out a niche in the B2B tech space. She also discusses how she can potentially leverage AI for proof-reading and scheduling, not in content creation. Down the road, AI will carry the burden of many menial copywriting tasks, for instance writing 500 titles & meta descriptions, but junior copywriting will evolve rather than be replaced.
In a Special Podcast Showcase Episode, we highlight another show on our network, Mike Krass's "What's The Problem?"
He and Graham Smith dive into one of Endpoint Security's biggest problems: claiming compliance "out of the box" (or, as out of the box as possible with a dash of professional services on top). Graham talked through what this looks like in the #Education #Cybersecurity space, referencing the CJIS Security Policy that is enforced by the FBI, as well as HIPAA compliance out of the box in the healthcare security space.
Check out all 38 episodes of What's The Problem here: https://open.spotify.com/show/31t9iBWIRanKQDbgUHJcoh
This week, Paige Roderick, Demand Generation Manager at Cado Security, joins to discuss the benefits of regional trade shows with a human touch. Face-to-face interaction is important when enabling the sales teams to build relationships.
Emily Mireault, Marketing at Nectar, joins to discuss how a community can deliver value for internal teams and bolster employee engagement. Creating culture through living your mission, vision, & values.
Matthew Ziegler, Director of Product Marketing at Clarity, joins to discuss the challenges of crafting a message, translating between the design team and the potential customer. He speaks to how he utilizes specific environmental knowledge as well as the emotional side, using real, not exaggerated examples to avoid potential scary scenarios. Don’t rely on F.U.D. (Fear, Uncertainty, & Doubt) to push your products.
Marcus Cauchi, CRO at Mobile Practice & Coach at Success With Integrity, joins to discuss how we as sellers & marketers need to understand where our prospective buyers are and meet them there, rather than where we wish them to be. It relies heavily on trust, particularly in the Active-Looking and Decision-Making Phases.
“No one buys products, people pay for and rent outcomes.”
“Selling is helping people get their needs met.”
Sign-up for his exclusive webinar if you're selling a complex, high-value solution for mid-market and enterprise clients:
Email Marcus@laughs-last.com with the subject line "Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders Webinar" and tell him why you're interested and any initial questions. He will choose 6-8 companies based on whom he feels he can help the most.
Recommended Reading:
Bob Moesta - Demand-Side Sales 101
Charles H. Green - Trust-Based Selling
Andy Tzortzinis, Cybersecurity Messaging Mentor, joins to discuss building credibility with your target customer profile. He talks of the shift from Specialist to Generalist, Lead Generation to Demand Generation, and the rise of Product Led Growth.
Evan Kling, Growth Marketing Manager at Vicarious, joins to discuss how he spearheads different creative campaigns and utilizes his teammates’ specialties in bringing a vision to life in a fast-paced startup environment.
Ashish Malpani, Head of Global Product Marketing for DX, joins to discuss how product marketers can own the process and become the voice of the customer. They need to understand the nuances of each market & vertical particularly in global cybersecurity brands.
Matthew Delman, Director of Marketing at Techstrong Group, joins to discuss how he utilizes classic storytelling techniques in B2b product marketing. “Storytelling is all about finding the levers to pull in your audience to create the response you want to create.”
Joel Silverstein, Director of Content at Invicti Security, joins to discuss how he leverages his background as a print journalist to thrive on the content marketing path. He talks about how long-form research-based content has elevated his cybersecurity firm as a trusted subject-matter expert and how his team takes that content and utilizes it in various marketing initiatives, from Sales to SEO & Paid Ads.
Josh Martin, Technical Solutions Architect at Cyolo, joins to discuss how his team leverages curiosity in the sales process, putting the power back in the users’ hands. They allow the user to think up questions and test drive their tool Walnut.io in a controlled environment.
Stephanie May, Project Manager at Pacific Planning Group, joins to discuss how she liaisons between engineers, marketers, and clients. She has constructed a library full of acronyms for the industry and different company niches. She utilizes this lexicon to successfully change messaging and communicate effectively to her various audiences.
Cameron 'Cami' Regano , joins to discuss how she identifies pain points (or use cases) and how the sales team addresses those issues smoothly. Story based frameworks helps both marketing and sales teams bolster the inbound pipeline.
Alec Foster, Growth Lead at Stealth & Public Policy Manager at AI Alignment, Inc, joins to discuss GDPR compliance and how companies can protect their users and customer data. Individual control over data is crucial when building trust and ensuring security.
Bryant Pulecio & Theresa Woodiel from DeepInstinct join to discuss how to effectively utilize Account Based Marketing to bolster your cybersecurity company. They stress matching strategic planning, consistent messaging, and a well-rounded tech stack both reach and educate different personas throughout the complex sales process.
Saren Sakurai, Senior Director of Digital Marketing at Blackberry,joins to discuss what the future holds for brand marketing in the age of ChatGPT, speed with a human touch. He envisions that the customer journey is accelerated with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In addition, he warns of the tendency for some brands, particularly in cybersecurity, to operate based on fear rather than optimism.
Sandy Hawke, Cybersecurity Product Marketer at CISCO, joins to discuss what you need to do for a great product launch, combining storytelling and proper timing. Her key to great product marketing is always starting with the customer in mind, forever listening and iterating.
In this episode, Christian DeGobbi highlights the significance of incorporating emotions in B2B marketing. B2B marketers should use emotions like humor and storytelling to humanize marketing and appeal to emotions that influence decision-making.
This week Chris Cochran, CEO & Co-Founder of Hacker Valley Media, joins to discuss the power of storytelling and the mindset of the cybersecurity practitioner.
He has spent many years in the cybersecurity space and now tells stories for a living, including the comparison that cybersecurity practitioners are super athletes, going to battle everyday, training and pushing their craft to new horizons.
Kate Neuens, Marketing Manager at Beyond Identity, joins to discuss switching industries and building a cohesive skillset.
Jon-Eric Cornellier joins to discuss how to best market your company's capabilities at industry events, even when your team is small. He stresses the importance of cultivating 'buy-in' among team members and potential clients to successfully form relationships.
Peter Wheeler, joins to discuss how Product Led Growth can form bonds between the customer and product, allowing the features to do the heavy marketing lift. He also lays out the framework for a freemium model that enables the customer to try a product and integrate it in their daily usage prior to signing any hefty contracts.
He's launching his very own podcast soon! Be sure to subscribe: https://www.heygoodchat.org/
In this episode of season 13, Kerry Guard chats with Matt Hathaway, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at TrueFort. Matt Hathaway shares about the changes in the cybersecurity industry and the dangers of over-promising.
In this episode, Kerry Guard chats with Rachel Ratchford, Head of Marketing Communications at Cobalt.io. Rachel Ratchford shares about managing small, efficient teams across time zones.
In this episode, Kerry Guard chats with Xuan Liao, Chief Marketing Officer at Roboyo. Xuan Liao shares about SEO thought leadership and building a foundation with search marketing at the core.
Anna Hrach joins again to discuss how the industry has changed through the pandemic as well as how the mindset of the "Marketing Funnel" is antiquated and should be replaced with Customer Journeys.
In this episode, Kerry Guard chats with Patrick Garrity. Standing desk to standing desk, they dug into how to be decisive.
As marketing leaders trying to grow tech companies, you have to make 100 decisions a day, which can get overwhelming and daunting. Patrick somehow managed to find his way through that.
He shares how he's been able to do this daily while moving towards lofty goals and getting the magical thing about how Patrick does this is that he gets buy-in from key stakeholders every step of the way.
It's not just about making decisions, but how you make those decisions and then bring people in along with you to agree to those decisions that you're making fast and furious.
Patrick Garrity is a Go to Market specialist with over 15+ years of experience providing marketing, sales, and product expertise to high-growth SaaS startups with a primary focus on Cybersecurity.
In this episode of season 13, Kerry Guard chats with Brianna Doe, Senior Demand Generation Manager at Inventables. Brianna explains the importance of the customer experience and how you should pull your audience in and take them on a journey.
Brianna Doe is a marketing leader with ten years of experience driving growth and revenue and building engagement communities. She's driven over a million and monthly revenue two times the email subscribers and grew social channels by 70% for one of her customers.
In this episode of season 13, Kerry Guard chats with Yoni Solomon, VP of Product Marketing at Gympass. Yoni Solomon explains what product marketing is and how he uses his unique experience and perspective of product-led growth.
Janice Dru-Bennett joins to discuss partnership as a marketing function. In addition, we explore the phrase "Do, Delegate, Delay, Delete" in relation to prioritization and productivity.
It’s not everyday Kerry Guard run into someone who has built an entirely internal team dedicated to SEO. Content yes. Front end web development. Absolutely. But to then have internal SEO support driving the content and front end web development is unheard. Even Luke talks about the unusual position he’s found himself in and the payoff they’ve experienced because of it.
Luke Richardson is a web subject matter expert with 9 years of experience working in SEO and conversion rate optimization. In his current role, he leads a team of 5 and oversees SEO, web analytics, and web development for a rapid-growth cybersecurity unicorn. In his free time, Luke enjoys spending time with his fiancee, playing chess, and learning about wine.
Luke will share his story so you’ll see how you too can put emphasis on SEO.
In this episode Kerry Guard chats with Siena Dixon where they discuss the power of gamification and how to introduce your customers to your product in a fun creative experience. Whoever said B2B couldn’t be fun! We’re all people after all and how we experience consumer brands can be done with B2B. At least according to Siena.
Siena Dixon is Head of Strategy & Commercial at Zebrar. She is a relentlessly curious senior marketing executive focused on innovation where storytelling meets new and immersive technology. Exploring and refining technologies like AR, VR, AI and gamification for brands.
In this episode Kerry Guard connects with Sekou White where they discuss how to market to tough audiences, who are marketing skeptics. In his case the developer. Having been a developer Sekou understands his audience and that traditional advertising won’t work.
Sekou is a multifaceted marketing professional with 20 years of experience in technology, entertainment and media. He spent the first half of his career launching some of the biggest video games, mobile apps, and digital advertising products. More recently, he’s focused on building robust developer communities through advertising, PR and partnerships.
Here’s my conversation with Sekou.
Sekou also joined our live roundtable where we discussed putting your audience first. You can find that here.
In this episode Kerry Guard chats with Aileen Casmano. In Cyber Security it’s very easy to use language that strikes fear in the hearts of buyers everywhere. But Aileen is committed to proving time and time again that you don’t need to scare your customers into buying your product. There’s a better way and she walks us through it.
Aileen Casmano is an experienced marketer in cybersecurity and technology. Her work experience and skillset spans across brand strategy, product marketing, communications, and creative strategy. Aileen is currently the Director of Marketing at Cyvatar, where she leads the brand vision, strategy, and team. Prior to Cyvatar, Aileen held various marketing roles at Owl Cyber Defense and Dynata (formerly Critical Mix). She is also a co-founder of the Cybersecurity Marketing Society. When she’s not thinking of the next big idea, she’s can be found hanging out with her Goldendoodle pup Oakley or catching a yoga class.
In this episode, Kerry Guard hangs out with John Steinhert where they discuss what a marketing career can look like. As more people examine their careers and look at making moves, marketing offers not only options in terms of disciplines, but clear growth opportunities as well.
As TechTarget’s CMO, John Steinhert is responsible for positioning the company and messaging to their subscribers in ways that maximize understanding and energize action. He’s convinced that if they do this well, everyone benefits. At TechTarget, they’re committed to customer centricity and a win:win view of the world.
Here’s my conversation with John.
In this conversation with Matt Dynan brings to life how he kicked off his marketing career.
After Matt shares his story, we dig into what it means to build a category.
Matt Dynan is the Digital Marketing Manager at Jellyfish.io. He is a B2B digital marketer with experience owning SEO and paid media programs at high-growth SaaS companies. He focuses on building consistent digital experiences across channels that enable brand awareness, prospect education, and customer acquisition.
Alyssa Maker started off in PR and is now a demand gen marketer. It really goes to show that you just never know where your marketing career will take you!
Alyssa shares her story then we discuss what demand generation means to her and how she approaches it as the glue that holds all their marketing efforts together.
Alyssa is the Director of Marketing for Sana Commerce. As a Director of Marketing, she manages a marketing team focused on accelerating growth through multiple channels including digital, demand gen, events, and partners.
She loves marketing because it allows her to find sophisticated solutions to everyday challenges. She is passionate about growth and committed to developing new skills.
Here’s my conversation with Alyssa.
In this final episode of Season 12, Kerry Guard hangs out with Tom Wedding all the way from Australia!
Tom is committed to building digital communities on behalf of his clients. If you listened to my conversation with Sekou who talks about the power of community then consider this a perfect follow. Sekou was the why. This is the how.
Welcome to Season 11! Eight more episodes are here for you. Check em out and listen in whatever order you choose. We did curate them for you to serve up the best flow possible if you did decide to binge, but no worries if you’d prefer to skip around. Listen your way!
On this first episode of season 11 is Dani Woolf. Dani chimed in all the way from Israel and she and Kerry dig in to what it really means to know your audience. Not just know them, but understand them —what challenges they face, what their priorities are, and if what we’re doing as marketers is really working for them or not. Dani breaks it down on she has gotten to know her buyer and why we all need to pick up the damn phone and do the same.
Dani is the VP of Demand Gen at Cybersixgill. She’s a swimmer turned marketer and she still has the same appetite to win.
She’s been applying lessons learned as a distance freestyler to B2B organizational success for the past 10 years.
And while still get the same adrenaline rush looking at the scoreboard instead of beating personal records ⏱, she prefer racking up net new opps and revenue 💰with growth marketing strategies.
Today, she is responsible for digital marketing and demand gen programs at Cybersixgill.
Dani’s core specialty is in digital marketing with a focus on net new customer acquisition via digital channels - website optimization, SEO, SEM, social media, conversion rate optimization and marketing automation.
Connect with Dani on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniarad/
Season 11 Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6zszIevpfzAuRpJSOYvci3?si=f2fca4cd6ecf4e3a
Welcome back to season 11! In this episode Kerry Guard chats with Chris Spellman. Chris is the Senior Demand Generation Manager at Offensive Security. He is a marketing leader with over a decade of experience helping organizations grow. Dedicated to leading orgs in driving brand, demand, and revenue.
Chris and Kerry talk about what it means to be a mission driven organization. To have a real message about creating a real difference in the world, then backing it up through all your marketing efforts.
This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing.
It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG
Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis.
If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply.
Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.
In this episode Kerry Guard connects with Kaya Adams and Alexandra McWethy. Kaya and Alexandra work together at Watch Guard.
Kaya is a Director of Demand Generation and Marketing Operations at Watch Guard Technologies. She’s a passionate marketing leader with a proven track record of delivering innovative, data, and technology driven integrated campaigns in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments. She’s a creative problem solver with an analytics, detail-oriented approach, hungry to drive results.
Alexandra is also a Director of Demand Generation at WatchGuard Technologies. She’s focused on developing educational and engaging content that helps small businesses and mid-size enterprise organizations better protect their employees, customers, and sensitive data.
Kaya and Alex are a force. They have teamed up to build a team of Business Development Representatives. They are focused on drumming up leads then nurturing them to a place where they can pass them off to the sales team. Kaya and Alex break down how they did it, why marketing and sales love this approach, and the early outcomes they’re seeing.
This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing.
It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG
Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis.
If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply.
Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.
In this episode Kerry Guard chat with Hana Jacover where she gives me my first lesson in Web3. She’s so passionate about Web3 that she has actually left her previous company to be able to dedicate time into really digging into Web3 and becoming an expert.
Hana is a technical demand generation marketer with a proven track record of strategies and programs that accelerate revenue. She has deep experience in the optimization of high-performance tactics and marketing automation technologies that build and measure pipeline. She has a strong history of client loyalty and retention with marketing and sales executives at B2B tech companies. And she has a thorough understanding of marketing strategy, the importance of data and attribution, and execution. Most importantly, she can clearly articulate KPIs to decision makers.
Hana and Kerry take the conversation from Web3 101, into a deeper conversation around the power of community, and how community needs to be apart of your marketing efforts to give them a vote and allow them to be part of the development of your brand and product.
This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing.
It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG
Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis.
If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply.
In this episode, Kerry Guard gets to hang out with Rob Neuman where we dig into his unique approach to Account Based Marketing. Unique in his ability to personalize his marketing based on what he knows of his audience which is a unique and niche. Not what we’re used to the cyber security and data side so it’s nice to hear of other approaches outside of these industries and maybe find opportunities to apply it. This conversation is especially special because we’re talking just a week or so after Russia invaded the Ukraine and we take a moment to sit and chat through what that means and the impact it’s had on Rob and his company.
Rob is the Digital Leader of CSS Commerce. He works to create the most effective, uniquely innovative solution that will build your business, handle more traffic and transactions, move more clients to your platform and give you real insight into your business. Basically eCommerce for B2B. Rob knows the only way to make B2B transactional like ecommerce is to approach each of his clients with turn key solutions as they are all different.
This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing.
It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG
Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis.
If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply.
Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.
In this episode Jada Holst joins Kerry Guard to discuss raising up the next generation of marketers. There are some clear hiring challenges in the marketing industry and it’s going to take all of us to fix it. Jada leads with her story where she grew up on a farm and had quite the journey to becoming a marketing leader.
Jada Holst is a marketing manager at an ISV focused on supporting higher ed, non-profit, and other similar industries succeed in their missions. Her background also includes cybersecurity and B2B start-up's with experience in demand, channel, field, and customer marketing.
This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing.
It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG
Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis.
If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply.
Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.
On this episode Naz Ekim joins Kerry Guard to discuss PR and what great PR looks like when it comes to finding your partners. She’s so candid which makes for a real honest conversation, which given the current state of events we all need a good dose of honesty especially when it comes to cyber security.
Speaking of cyber security, Naz is an award-winning communication strategist and the Director of Global Marketing Communications at Keeper Security. She comes equipped with more than a decade of experience in orchestrating integrated communications campaigns for a diverse number of technology companies.
This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing.
It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG
Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis.
If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply.
Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.
In this final episode of season 11, Jim Mitchell joins to discuss the pitfalls of receiving too much funding as a startup. This conversation with Jim is an eye opener. Jim has been at a few security startups over the last 5 - 10 years and he has seen somethings. Especially as it pertains to rapid growth and the pitfalls, more like craters as he describes them, of what can happen if you grow to quickly.
Jim is a complete marketing professional with years of experience to get the job done: content management, brand management, end to end project management, and the ability to communicate across departments. He leads by doing not by telling.
This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing.
It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG
Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis.
If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply.
Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.
What an honor to kick off Season 10, with having our very first guest back with us, Amber Anderson. Be sure to check out her first episode - the very first episode of the Series. She takes Kerry to school on intersectionality and how it relates to marketing. Specifically the intersectionality of women, where they live, their ethnicity, their race, their life stage and how as marketers we need to make sure our marketing meets women where they are. It’s so good. Amber is so clear in what we need to do as marketers and how we can do better.
Which she brings us to this episode. Amber’s company, Tote and Pears has become more strategic in seeing a clear need for both women and tech companies. Given the great resignation, how real working remotely is now, and the realization for woman that the need for a true work life balance is non-negotiable, Amber and her team have identified a clear way to use their marketing and branding super powers to help tech companies, who are ready to embrace what it truly means to hire a working woman, find great talent. And to help women find awesome careers where they can have the lifestyle they want and can lean into it without apology.
https://www.toteandpears.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ambernanderson/
Spotify Playlist
On this episode Kerry Guard chats with Peter Zaballos, who is a fractional CMO at Authentic Brand. This is actually perfect timing in following Amber’s episode, because Peter is a prime example of what it means to be living the life he wants and to have a company support it.
Before we met Peter, he sent Kerry an email with something called his User Manual. We, here at MKG marketing, just started looking into this when Kerry very first met Peter and to see one in action was so cool. It really set the stage for who Peter is and the amazing conversation we knew he and Kerry would have. We’ll tell you all about what a User Manual is and how it fits into the bigger picture of how Peter leads, which is heart centered. People centered.
Let’s take a listen.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterzaballos/
Spotify Playlist
On this episode Kerry Guard chats with Lavanya Ganesh… Lavanya is the Senior Manager of Global Digital Strategy and Demand Generation, at VMware. Lavanya was kind enough to take time out of her trip to New York city to chat with Kerry which worked out perfectly, because they were talking about the customer experience and Lavanya could share first hand real examples of brand experiences - the good, the bad, and the ugly - and in no better place. As B2B marketers, like Lavanya, we are taking more cues from consumer brands on how to build better customer experiences end to end, this episode is a great opportunity to do just that.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lavanyag9/
Spotify Playlist
On this episode Kerry Guard chats with Shane Whelan, Owner of PetBidder and Carrying the fire. You might be wondering why we have Shane on our Tech Marketing Leaders Podcast. Sometimes we come across people who just catch our attention. Who has a great story. Who is out there doing something different and thoughtful and after talking to these people we realize that we all can learn from their journey… and Shane’s journey is inspiring. How he sees the world and his customers is something we all need to lean into no matter who we’re marketing for. It was an honor to connect with Shane and we hope you feel just as inspired as we did.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-whelan-13356bb5/
Spotify Playlist
On this episode Kerry Guard chats with Lisa McDermott, VP of Marketing at Acqueon. When Lisa and Kerry talked, Lisa was working at CoreDial, which is interesting because it’s a business that relies solely on partners. Marrying the business model with Lisa’s view of marketing and content makes for a new and exciting conversation we haven’t had before.
Take a listen.
As an FYI -
Lisa is now the VP of Marketing at Acqueon. She just started in January and is already looking for some great people to add to her team. Head over to their website and check out their job postings:
- Product Marketing - https://www.acqueon.com/careers/director-product-marketing/
- Partner Marketing - https://www.acqueon.com/careers/director-partner-marketing/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-mcdermott-marketing-leader/
Spotify Playlist
In this episode Kerry Guard chats with Steven Shapiro, who has been a marketing leader at companies such as Qualys, Informatica, Weaveworks and more. At each company he has set the stage for how to build Generate Demand. Given his track record Kerry asked him to walk through his secrets of where he starts and then builds upon it to create a pipeline generation machine.
Demand Generation is the new Lead Generation. If you haven’t thought about your demand generation efforts, you could find yourself playing catch up in 2022 and Steven talks through exactly where to start so break out that note book and take notes. Let’s go!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenshapiro/
Spotify Playlist
In this episode Kerry Guard chats with Rachel Jordan, head of marketing at TeachFX. Rachel is a purpose-driven marketing leader and change agent with more than 20 years of experience guiding brand strategy, content marketing, and marketing-sales partnership in b2b SaaS startup, b2b enterprise, and b2c nonprofit brands.
Given Rachel ran her on marketing company for many years she discovered that a strong brand strategy is the lynch pin to a sucessful business - it fuels everything from product to sales to marketing. She even has a framework to help you build one!
Grab your notebook and take a listen.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/racheljordan/
Spotify Playlist
Christina Kay, Vice President of Marketing at ResellerRatings joins Kerry Guard to talk about how given her lean team she’s had to lean on Rev Ops and how it has impacted ResellerRatings business and helped find major and important efficiencies across the whole organization. Take a listen.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinakay/
RevOps Templates
Spotify Playlist
In this episode Kerry Guard chats with, Diana Morante, Marketing Director at Richo where she works in the education department helping schools get the necessary STEM equipment to keep their students on the cutting edge… I loved this conversation. I got to nerd out super hard on STEM and education which I’m super passionate about and so is Diana! It was an amazing conversation and such an honor.
Season 9: Spotify Playlist
In this episode Kerry Guad chats with, Genepha Murphy, CMO at Five9.
We dig into how she builds and leads a team. She has developed a frame work - FIRE and we walk through what this framework is and how it has helped her build brands, such as Five9.
Resources
- Spotify Playlist
First up, we have Marguerite Yeo. This is a special conversation to me as Marguerite and MKG Marketing have a long standing relationship having worked together since Marguerite’s days at VMware back in 2014. Marguerite is now at Nutanix and has been for three months. Congratulations Marguerite! I hope all is going well.
In our conversation, Marguerite and Kerry Guard dissected what it means to work on corporate marketing verse product marketing and the pros and cons of both and why Marguerite’s heart lives with Demand Generation.
Season 9: Spotify Playlist
On this episode Kerry Guard chats with Chris Ott, CEO of Creative Blue. Chris and I were introduced through mutual connections. He first met my business partner, Mike Krass then Mike had the genius idea to see if Chris wanted to join us on Tea Time so here we are!
Chris and Kerry dig into Brand Marketing, especially as it relates to startups who are looking for funding so his company can help them get the funding then scale. Chris is a big believer in story and has a very direct approach on how brand can tell their story.
Season 9: Spotify Playlist
On this episode Kerry Guard chats with Jeanne Hopkins, who was the Chief Revenue Officer at Happy Nest.
Jeanne was an interesting conversation because it’s not everyday Kerry gets the opportunity to speak with Chief Revenue Officers! It was fascinating seeing marketing through her lens. We dug into the importance of marketing to existing customers. It sounds like a no-duh, but when you’re just getting going a lot of focus is outbound and new new new, so to take time to create marketing funnels to upsell and cross sell existing customers isn’t always on the radar. Jeanne thinks it should be not just on your radar, but something all brands are actively doing. And she walks us through why and how.
Season 9: Spotify Playlist
On this episode Kerry Guard chat with Joshua Kanter, CMO of Encora.
Josh and I dig into how Marketing and Product and work together. So many times organizations are set up in silos and don’t necessarily coordinate. Josh and I talk through how to work through and towards a more unified organization across departments and how to bring the customer voice to the table in doing so.
Season 9: Spotify Playlist
In this episode, Kerry Guard had the pleasure of speaking with Delitha Morrow Coles. Delitha and Kerry connected over LinkedIn and after one 20 minute conversation with her, Kerry knew this was going to be a special episode.
Delitha is the Global Corporate Communications Leader at NCR corporation in Atlanta. She is an award-winning, results driven leader who develops strategic communication programs that engage, education, and inspire employees and build company brand and reputation. She has extensive B2B experience with large, global brands, and is passionate about employee engagement.
Season 9: Spotify Playlist
Tracy Hansen and Kerry Guard talk about the importance of CMOs working with their executive teams in bringing them along with the importance of marketing. It’s not a world where if you build they will come and it’s up to the CMO to help the executive leadership team make space for marketing in an effort to impact everyone’s goals - especially the businesses bottom line.
Resources:
- Chief Outsiders
- Spotify Playlist
Season 8!! Industry Thought Leader Mark Schaefer joins to discuss the third marketing rebellion, focusing on people. He sets the tone for the entire season. Mark is a globally-recognized blogger, speaker, educator, consultant, and author. As Executive Director of U.S.-based Schaefer Marketing Solutions, he specializes in marketing strategy and social media workshops. Clients include both start-ups and global brands such as Adidas, J&J, Dell, AT&T, U.S. Air Force, and the UK government.
Friday Ahrenby, CMO of Get Accepted joins Kerry Guard to discuss how she’s building a global team and staying connected.
LinkedIn Profile
GetAccept
Tara Pawlak is the Head of US Marketing at GetAccept. She is a dynamic marketing expert who has over 15 years of experience in Marketing Operations and Automation, Marketing Strategy and Demand Generation, Marketing Technology and B2B Lead Generation. She joins to discuss breaking into a new market and positioning a product internationally.
Season 8 Spotify Playlist
GetAccept
Tal Valler is the Director of Global Marketing at Centrical. He joins us from Brooklyn New York and with the sounds of the city as the backdrop Tal and Kerry Guard dig into why Demand Gen is the new Lead Gen and how to make a personalized impact when talking to your broader audience.
Niki Wilson is the Director of Sales and Marketing for ClickClaims. She shares how she brings new customers along through personalized customer journey via LinkedIn. From awareness, to connection, to close.
Here are the tools Niki uses:
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- LinkedHelper 2
- LinkMatch
- Zapier
Our Season 8 Playlist: Spotify Playlist
When we were children, and people asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, not one of us said, "MARKETING LEADER!"
We each have a unique story on how we found marketing or in some cases, how Marketing found us. For David Mundy, head of marketing at Accurics, it was a symbiotic relationship. One he is deeply passionate about. In this episode David takes us on a journey through how he met Marketing, fell in love with Data and team building, and how he truly believes that Marketing should be a key pillar to the success of any organization... you build it then marketing brings them to it.
Season 8 Spotify Playlist
Martina Trucco is the VP of Corporate Marketing at Clari, a revenue operations software. She is an award winning tech marketer specializing in helping leaders build trust through what she calls "radical transparency".
Our Season 8 Playlist: Spotify Playlist
For this final episode, I had the opportunity to chat with Gabrielle Dalvet, and Natalie Cantave. Natalie is Product Marketing Manager at Cohere Health, and Gabrielle is Director of Marketing at Vendr. Gabrielle and Natalie started Marketing Women, it's a Slack channel of marketing women who support one another. Suppose that they have a small virtual gatherings around hot topics with experts who lead those gatherings. They started in December of 2020 and they have been growing exponentially. Mark wrote, in The Marketing Rebellion, that building communities is one very important tactic in leading as a human company. So what better way to wrap up the season than to give you a real case study of two women who have done just that?
Marcus LaRobardiere joins to discuss the power of account based marketing (ABM).
Marcus LaRobardiere is the Senior Director of Marketing at NewStore, a omni-channel store solution to help Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) retailers. He is the head of Go To Market and Demand Generation. ‘Omnichannel’ is the blending of channels; for retail, there are no specific silos but a seamless customer experience. He describes it as a more wholistic approach, whether the customer is shopping online or in store. “A customer is a customer no matter how they shop.”
Lorena Morales, VP of Marketing at Go Nimbly, joins to discuss how she works directly with CEOs to help them grow their companies rapidly. She also advocates for building skills as a generalist.
Margy Feldhuhn, CEO at InterviewConnections, joins to discuss how she helps marketers build personal brands and expansive networks through podcast appearances.
Quincy Johnson is a Marketing and Technology Strategist who teaches at the University of Texas at Dallas. He lectures primarily on how to effectively utilize social media marketing. He started in inside sales as has discovered the wide range of social and martech as it relates to technology companies.
Social Selling For Quincy, social media is the grand Truman Show: a great experiment to observe and document the way humans form connections and present stories. People have access to share whatever and whenever they want. For brands, the pandemic has forced them to create an identity and ‘meet people where they are’ but not cross the line into just selling. Many sales reps have had to “dust off their LinkedIn” and get down to forming connections in a remote world. Pro-tip: please don’t follow up five times on unreplied inMail message. Staying true to one’s message allows for better buy-in; for instance, Simon Sinek sharing tid-bits and helpful information, while still having a selection of books and content available for purchase. For Quincy, he argues that the executives (even via ghostwriters) needs to drive vision and the sales teams can be on the ground making connections, create 1 to 1 relationships. C-Suites have the ability to both garner attention and inspire internal commitment from their teams. Evangelists have a way of captivating audiences and crafting industry-shifting visions.
Petting the Belly of the Puppy As discussed on previous episodes, LinkedIn and Facebook have different superpowers and can offer various techniques on engagement. The latter is more of the ‘softer’ side of the company, in terms of demonstrating culture and community. Quincy mentions that TikTok has an enormous audience and brands can have the latitude to reach a variety of niche markets; the algorithm doesn’t discriminate on previous content. However, it’s an ever-changing platform that some videos garner a few hundred views and one could blow up reaching multiple millions of screens. YouTube is another, more established platform which requires people to build a channel; there is incredible value because millions go to the platform for information- from learning a new skill to fixing a sink. Demonstrating expertise on how to do what you do can garner leads and provide value. In addition, by learning how to navigate a platform, the future workforce can become skilled and implement those systems down the line. He advocates an entrepreneurial mindset when learning and implementing new technologies and strategies.
This was only a high-level overview of our conversation with Quincy. Be sure to listen to the full episode and the rest of the season on all streaming platforms!
Meghan Nesta, Senior Product Manager at AWeber, joins to discuss how she and her team build and maintain relationships while working from home.
Agile Resource: Agility Is Key with Lisa Furrow
Max Borges joins to discuss running public relations agency and How To Be Fan-F*cking-Tastic!
Max Borges runs a Public Relations (PR) agency that works exclusively with consumer tech companies. He employs 50 incredibly talented people and has built a profile of 50 clients. When starting, he mentions AFM (anything for money) wherein he built an agency to fill any need that would bring in a paycheck. He also hosts the “Unconventional Genius” podcast where he interviews authors and other industry-driving leaders in hopes to share stories and inspire listeners. Both he and Kerry focus on impacting the client’s bottom line through pipeline creation.
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Pivoting from Sales to PR
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The Four Stages of Growth
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Life Is An Open-Book Test
Read the full overview on MKG Marketing
Are you a Marketing Leader working in Tech? Be our guest!
Michael Sherlock, Chief Potential Officer at Shock Your Potential, at joins to discuss how to effectively use the mirror test when determining if an employee is properly trained.
On the Season 7 premiere, Larry Long Jr., Director of Collegiate Sales at Teamwork joins to discuss how his EPIC values (Entrepreneurial Spirit, Practice, Internal Drive, Communication) help lead high performing teams.
Larry has a goal to change 1,000 lives in 2021.
Not B2B or B2C but rather P2P, people to people sales. The most successful people care about others first. For Larry, sales is playing matchmaker; finding the right partnerships between products or services and individual’s wants and needs. They may not know what they need but it is a perfect opportunity for the salesperson to offer that service or assistance.
When faced with failure or obstructions Larry allows remembers the acronym FIDO- Forget-about It, Drive On. Try to not get bogged down with the rough patches of work-life because they will only slow you down in the future. When in conversation, strive for a 53-47 split. Listening is an excellent opportunity to learn.
Alex Dunn, head of Levelset, joins to discuss the importance of building a content machine.
Alex Dunn has been a friend of MKG for a long time. He is a results-oriented business development professional in B2B and B2C marketplaces; he specializes in driving traffic through content solutions
Alex is the Head of Demand at Levelset, a payment solutions company for the construction industry. They’ve created a platform to alleviate roadblocks, get people paid.
Alex started with video content creation while getting his MBA in Massachusetts, and went on to sell his production company in 2016. That venture primarily focused on video testimonials for B2B tech companies. He honed his craft and started to replicate the success using similar content creation patterns.
As Ben Horowitz quoted in The Hard Thing About Hard Things, “There’s no silver bullet, there’s only a ton of lead bullets”.
A new company must operate and define itself around a core philosophy. There’s not going to be one quick and easy solution for all problems; most of the time, the answer will be one specific solution replicated over and over.
For Levelset, the mission and main question was ‘how do we drive the most traffic to our site?’
The solution that Alex found was to become a media company (within their niche). Levelset leverages data to create a news website for the construction industry- from news, payment disputes, trends, they seek to grow thought leadership. Rather than ABC, the sales team shifted their focus to providing quality service. Their mantra is ‘help first, sell second’; this multifaceted approach builds trust, brand recall, and expands inbound traffic. In addition to being a reliable helping hand, creating content demonstrates the human element and often forges a connection with the reader.
Apply to be on Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders
Aileen Horgan, VP Marketing at Gremlin, joins to discuss executing fearlessness in content creation and nurturing trust among team-members.
"People that work with you and for you don't have to like you, they just have to trust you."
Apply to be on Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders
This week, Marlo Oster joins to discuss the delicate balancing act of project management. She is the entire marketing force at Work Patterns, an app that streamlines management best practices through templates and simplified user experience (UX). The firm is an extremely young, seed-funded startup (out of Beta in August 2020). While the company may be new, Marlo is a veteran of the industry, having spent ten years in client-facing roles at various martech and adtech startups. True to the fast nature of the industry, she rose from individual contributor to the executive-level in a matter of six years.
Apply to be on Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders
Adam Mendler, host of the podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, joins to discuss the importance of understanding your superpower as early as possible.
From Los Angeles to Wall Street, Adam Mendler has learned some hard-earned lessons.
While earning an MBA at the Anderson School of Management (UCLA), Adam interned in entertainment (Universal). Upon graduation, he returned to finance and worked in large corporate firms.
After nearly a decade, Mr. Mendler wanted to try something different, to build his own success. He founded the Velos Group in 2012 with his brother. They built three companies under the umbrella: Beverly Hills Chairs - the biggest refurbished furniture store in Los Angeles, a fully online cigar shop, and a life insurance software. He wanted to have more of an impact as it is nearly impossible to do so early on in career at older, bureaucratic companies. Adam wanted to contribute right away; building firms from scratch allowed Adam to build upon lessons from other companies.
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Gwen Lafage, Manager at Sköna - European HQ, joins to discuss how they create impactful branding for B2B tech companies, marrying brand awareness and lead generation.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwen-lafage-9500381/
Website: https://www.skona.com
Apply to be on Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders
Originally from Australia, Paul Higgins is a business mentor, podcaster, and publisher who helps coaches and consultants to help build profitable and sustainable online businesses. He previously spent 18 years at the Coca Cola company, managing $700 million in marketing strategy across the world. This conversation shares insight into how set up effective processes to run a global remote team.
Shifting away from his 12-14 hours of meetings per day at Coca Cola, Paul tries to keep the team to be as 'meeting free' as possible. They utilize Voxer, a voice chat platform that allows for instant communication across timezones. By utilizing this technology, Paul's team can effectively execute work 24 hours a day, from Melbourne to the Maldives to Colombia. Everyone will update a key focus, biggest win, and one area they need help. Every Friday, they update rewards summary.
They utilize Asana for project management as a bible; every task done by team members is noted and can be set up as repeatable tasks in order to keep the business on track. Trying to use too many tools can lead to friction; by keeping the amount low, you can streamline tasks and never miss a project. Dub, like Loom, allows the recording and sharing of processes which makes training and sharing recordings of meetings easier.
In order to construct a high performing team, you have to ask during the hiring process - Would you enthusiastically re-employee the people on your team? Paul advocates utilizing the classic, Norton's balanced scorecard of company effectiveness as well as 9 key foundational elements to create a high-performing team.
Check out Paul's Mentoring Website HERE - https://www.buildlivegive.com/sales
And listen to his podcast Build, Live, Give HERE - https://paulhigginsmentoring.com/podcast/
Be our guest on Tea Time With Tech Marketing Leaders: https://mkgmarketinginc.com/resources/mkg-podcast-guest/
Lawrence Elliot joins to discuss conversion copywriting.
Conversion Copywriting Creating In-Depth, PILLAR Content that can be written in a way that both informs and persuades.
The best copywriters pass what Lawrence calls the ‘barstool test’; in order to put the reader at ease, imagine as if you were sitting in a restaurant with the reader. By writing in a conversational tone, you invite the reader in and avoid confusing them with complicated industry jargon.
To build this perfect storm of growth, you’ll need an irresistible offer, understanding of sales psychology that drives your ideal customers, and the writing chops to weave a story that engages that audience into making a direct response.
By following three steps, companies are able to employ content as a method of lead generation.
- Providing valuable information
- Positioning product/service as an industry leader
- Drive engagement, (email opt-in, call to action)
Headlines need a solid hook and a solid graphic because people see the image first then read headline. If you don’t position your business along the way, a call to action won’t hit home. By utilizing a CHALLENGE/SOLUTION framework, companies can structure their content efficiently.
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Arel Moodie is a multi-talented professional speaker and bestselling author. He has spoken to over 650,000 people in 48 states and 5 countries. His podcast The Art of Likability was rated the Number 1 career podcast in iTunes and is listened to in 178 countries worldwide helping people build better relationships with people. Arel Moodie joins to discuss how public speaking can be utilized to generate leads and create demand.
Apply to be a guest on Tea Time With Tech Marketing Leaders
2021, finally!! We've got some fantastic changes coming to the podcast starting with a new name - Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders! We hope that this new name and format can better help our audience grow big, fast through meaningful, measurable marketing.
In addition, we're changing our release schedule and releasing all of Season 6 next Monday, January 11th! You can binge to your heart's content.
8 New Episodes to start off your new year right, coming 1/11/2021!
On the Season 5 Finale, Tom Martin joins to discuss how to "sell greatly" and bolster marketing efforts by making friends. The sales game has shifted; old models have faded into obscurity. Success is more often achieved when representatives choose to "sell greatly" rather than to "always be closing", to nurture a relationship instead of extracting a prize.
*Editor's Note- Thank you so much for tuning in this year! We have some exciting plans in store for Season 6, coming 2021! Have a wonderful and safe holiday season! -Kerry & Austin
Renato Agrella, Founder of 2A Consulting, joins to discuss how he helps build partnerships and utilize storytelling to communicate highly technical messaging. His firm simplifies the complex stories in ways to make it easier for an unknowing audience member to just hop in and understand the key elements. Whether they've been aware of the offer for 5 years or 5 minutes, the content needs to create an intriguing story and communicate the potential value add.
This week, Tish Millsap joins to discuss how to directly connect marketing spend to revenue. For the past 6 years, she has helped dozens of companies implement and sustain effective demand-gen and revenue-boosting solutions.
Jonathan Pogact is the VP of Marketing at Seamless.AI. He was the previous VP of Marketing for Drips, a text messaging software that helps brands deliver conversion results. He joins this week to discuss the power of text messaging in business development and solving the 'always on' problem.
Tamsen Webster joins to discuss, "The Red Thread", a method to help audiences, organizations, and individuals build and tell the story of their big ideas. The result? Real, transformative change. She works with individuals and organizations on how to talk about their ideas so that other people will act on them. "Your idea, business, product, or service is an answer. It is a new way to slay an old monster."
Christopher S. Penn is the Chief Data Scientist/Co-founder of Trust Insights. He is an authority on analytics, digital marketing, marketing technology, data science, and machine learning. Too often, marketers get caught up in the heaps of data without coming to a viable conclusion. If a decision isn't reached, all the statistics and metrics are ultimately useless. As he neatly puts, "analytics without action is a recipe you cook but never eat."
On this week's podcast, Anna Hrach joins to debunk a few widely-believed myths surrounding content production. Content is a piece of the puzzle that stretches over the entire marketing ecosystem. It remains the primary way in which brands communicate with their audience.
On the Season 5 Premiere, our guest is David Liljegren, the President & COO of ADK America. His mission is to aid brands in the complicated process of healthcare marketing. This particular industry requires marketers with a deft touch, who are able to concisely communicate their value propositions. To keep the focus, David encourages the team to keep these four core questions top of mind- What is the business goal? What is the right message? Who is the right audience? When is the right time to engage?
Klyn Elsbury is a keynote speaker, author, and executive trainer. Through her consulting and bestselling book, I Am___:The Untold Story of Success, she helps leaders identify their unconscious motivators and utilize them to grow both personally and professionally.
Her podcast, Elevation Nation, offers helpful insight and bite-sized pieces of wisdom from ordinary people who have overcome incredible odds.
Kathleen Booth is the VP Marketing for Attila Security. Her Mission - To help clients bolster inbound marketing utilizing fundamental tactics. By creating compelling content and cultivating community, brands are able to successfully grow. Her podcast Inbound Success helps marketers adjust their strategy and find the key niche for their development.
Carolyn Lyden is the President/Lead SEO of Search Hermit. Her goal is to help established women-owned businesses improve their online visibility through SEO and content strategy that drives sustainable growth and creates a more substantial online presence.
AJ Huisman is a coach for chief marketing officers (CMOs) and their teams on how to work better in an effort to generate better business outcomes.
His Mission- to offer a fresh perspective and mediate between marketing teams and the CMOs. He pushes the executes to be the chief rainmakers or drivers of change within their organizations.
Pam Didner is a passionate digital and tech marketer, speaker, and author who loves to bring alignment between sales & marketing. She is the author of The Modern AI Marketer and Effective Sales Enablement.
Her mission- to help bridge the gap between sales and marketing teams so they can work efficiently and grow together.
Sean Amster is the Manager for Digital Content Solutions at The Hershey Company. He also teaches digital marketing as a comprehensive subject at Pennsylvania State University.
His Mission: Oversee innovation and transformation processes to make data-driven decisions in demand generation and overall efficiency.
Samantha Stone is the Founder/CMO of the Marketing Advisory Network and the author of Unleash Possible: A Marketing Playbook That Drives Sales.
Her Mission: To unite marketing and sales teams around certain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that drive revenue in the sales funnel. She notes 3 metrics that marketers should take ownership of: lead conversion, time spent in the 'buying' phase, and win-rate.
Maurina Venturelli is a Senior Director of Demand Generation at Sumo Logic and Kate Gigax is the Founder of Development Corps. Kate is Maurina's leadership coach with a mission to challenge and support high-achieving women in reaching their goals.
Heather Seasholtz is the Director of Meeting and Event Management. Her mission is to aid organizations in shifting from live events to virtual meetings in response to the new world of COVID-19. From restructuring sponsorships to reformating content to coaching speakers on the chat function, Heather has helped clients adapt to our new circumstances.
The traditional 'waterfall' approach to project execution is outdated and no longer effective in these unprecedented times. Lisa Farrow is a marketing agilist encouraging teams to use Agile frameworks, such as Scrum and Kanban, to ensure that they meet and exceed customer expectations. By remaining nimble and iterating constantly, teams are able to deliver a product that is exactly what the client wants and within the means of the team's capabilities.
Latane Conant is the Chief Marketing Officer at 6sense, an A.I. powered Account-Based Marketing platform. Her mission is to utilize big data to personalize engagement with the coveted, in-market accounts that are most likely to purchase and succeed with a product.
Social media marketing has expanded and grown in importance within the marketing mix. However, teams are consistently hindered by the lack of cohesion and clarity regarding workflow. Xenia Muntean is the CEO and co-founder of Planable, a social media tool that acts as a one-stop-shop for the entire creation process, from writing content to scheduling and distributing across a multitude of channels.
Scott Brinker is a Software Product Leader at HubSpot. He directs the company’s platform strategy, business programs, and tech partners.
His mission is to offer guidance in the best practices to utilize evolving and expanding marketing technology ("Martech") to streamline and coordinate the various aspects of a project.
Ashley Cohen and Sabrina Galati are marketing solutions architects with TenX4 (Ten by Four”)
Their Mission- To help marketers be more effective and cost-efficient in the long-term by aiding the agency-client relationship from the start.
TenX4’s goal is to ensure the best possible B2B partnership through intensive review, pain-point recognition, and client-agency matching.
Roderick Jefferson is a Leading Sales Enablement Consultant who has worked with many innovative, category-leading companies (AT&T, eBay, Oracle, Marketo, and Paypal to name a few)
His Mission- Drive growth in small and midsized businesses (SMBs) and Fortune 500 companies.
He does this by coordinating and conducting multiple units (HR, Product, Marketing, and Sales) to ensure that the sales team receives the necessary support to effectively close deals.
Resources
Website: https://roderickjefferson.com/
Twitter: @ThevoiceofRod
Sales Coaching: https://www.lessonly.com/sales-coaching/
Carmen Collins is the Senior Social Media and Talent Brand Manager at Cisco.
Her Mission - Build personal connections with future talent by amplifying authentic content from current employees.
She does this by using marketing tools to talk about what it’s like to work at a company rather than to “sell” a product, commercial good, or service.
Resources
https://www.facebook.com/WeAreCisco/
https://twitter.com/WeAreCisco
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmenshirkeycollins/
Kelby Johnson gets real when talking about messaging for his healthcare brand Providence Health. Creating a succinct message across 150+ hospitals, internal teams, and local caregivers is a daunting task. Not surprisingly (if you know him) Kelby rises to the occasion. See how he created real, authentic messaging, helped produce ideas and content, distributed across the company, and measured its success thus far.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelbyj/
Providence Blog: https://blog.providence.org/
Hosing is Health: https://blog.providence.org/topic-spotlight-housing-is-health
It's very easy to write content to check off a box whether for SEO or just because you know you're supposed to be producing it. By taking a step back, asking the right questions, instead of just checking a box you can tell a compelling story that truly creates conversation and connection.
The Content Fuel Framework
Story Fuel
Neil Gordon teaches us how to hone our marketing messaging by distilling it down into a simple sentence - action, outcome. Listen to exactly how he does this.
Website: https://neilcanhelp.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilcanhelp/
Full Show Recap: https://mkgmarketinginc.com/blog/podcasts/neil-gordon-find-your-silver-bullet/
Miri Rodriguez is the Global Head of the Microsoft Internship Program. She's also a storyteller. She believes that your customer should be at the heart of your brand. To do this you have to lead with empathy. In this podcast, Miri walks me through what empathy means and how she has used storytelling and empathy on putting her customer at the heart of Microsoft and created content that did just that.
Brand Storytelling: Put The Customer At The Heart Of Your Brand Story
Building content, from your customers stories, can fill the negative space of where the your audience is and your competitors are not. Find your Blue Ocean.
Michele Mehl worked at a PR Agency that specialized in Start Ups. She has since moved on and created her own company which is a portable exercise machine. With her previous marketing talents she has gone on to build her company on the back of video content and her customers stories.
Website: https://excy.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelemehlexcy/
Book Recommendation: Blue Ocean Strategy
If done thoughtfully, the Email Newsletter can be a powerful medium. Here's how to get started. Sean Ryan, founder of Rotary Digital, has created multiple newsletters, dedicated to very specific audiences. Learn how he got them started, why they've worked, and how you can do it too!
Sean Ryan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanryanaccelerator/
Rotary Digital: http://www.rotarydigital.net/
Elevator: http://gettheelevator.com/
Scale your business and/or team by creating process and documentation in order to onboard and train new hires efficiently and effectively.
Jonathan Ronzio, CMO of Trainual, gives us great tips and tricks on how to start documenting how do you things in an effort to clone yourself which allows you to scale quickly.
http://trainual.com/
Free Asset from Jonathan, download now! > http://trainual.com/mkg
Jonathan on LinkedIn
Kick off 2020 with digging deep and finding your truth. I certainly did! Erin Weed just opened Speaker School. An 8 course class on finding your truth and learning how to deliver it. Learn how Erin found her own truth and decided to start speaker school.
To get started with Speaker School, visit www.speakerschool.com.
Connect with Erin Weed on LinkedIn.
Jo-Anne is out to helps sales men and women be the best sales people they can be to not only win the business but build lasting relationships with their potential buyers. Here’s part 1 where she walks through how to prep and kick off an ideal sales call.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanne-jaspan/
Website: http://shift-sales.com/collective
Jo-Anne is out to helps sales men and women be the best sales people they can be to not only win the business but build lasting relationships with their potential buyers. Here’s part 1 where she walks through how to prep and kick off an ideal sales call.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanne-jaspan/
Website: http://shift-sales.com/collective
Have you ever tried to use LinkedIn as a new lead generator and failed? We have. John Bellmay, CEO of Direct MSGing walks me through how we all can be successful in turning LinkedIn from a simple digital business card to demand generator.
If you'd like to see take a look at John's LinkedIn profile for inspiration, you can find it here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbellamy/
Be sure to check out his videos and posts on his LinkedIn profile for more inspiration.
Have you ever been in a training, where you're sitting in a room all day and someone is standing up and talking at you? I have. We all have. It's awful. Unless I was sitting up front taking vigorous notes while my Art History professor talked a mile a minute there was no way I was staying awake.
Joy of Professional Learning is out to disrupt professional development. It's their mission to bring back kindergarten of stations and play to adults. To bring back story and engagement. No more sit and get. Play and engage. Learn how Kurt Klynen started Joy of PL and how he uses marketing tactics to help teachers find joy in learning again.
To learn more about Joy of PL visit https://www.joyofprofessionallearning.org/
As a freebie, I put Kurt's idea of anyone can create to the test and to show you how easy it can be using the tools you already use everyday, I created a 10 minute how to video on making a Facebook Ad, which you can access here: https://www.loom.com/share/489196e6350c4a0f861136b99d24d76c
Every brand has a customer journey. The faster you acknowledge it, identify it, and develop a system the more efficiently your business can scale.
Brad Martineau is the CEO and Founder of Sixth Division where they help you discover and execute your automatic customer journey. After giving the podcast a listen, head over to https://sixthdivision.com/mkgpodcast for a special video from Brad, where he gives you a freebie on the three laws of an automatic client journey and how to go implement it. He also gives you a bright giant Orange MKG colored button to click then schedule a call to explore what your current customer journey is and how you might go about bringing it to life systematically and automatically with or without Sixth Divisions Help.
If you found this podcast helpful and want to ensure you get the next episode, please subscribe.
Ever wonder what your customers are thinking? Why they bought your product? Why the didn't buy your product? What challenges they are facing when it comes to your industry? Who your customer is? What they care about? There is a very real solution that can answer all these questions and more. Upfront User Research. Hear from Steve Kesselman on the power of really understanding your audience.
Gone are they days of excel sheets chock full of SUMifs and VLookups. Dashboard and reports that can automagically get updated periodically is the now. Our experts now focus on why our campaigns are closer to client's goals or not, rather than burning resources on aggregating data. Hear from Paul Deraval on the importance of data story telling and how we can now do that, thanks to tools that aggregate our data and help us automate the mundane.
Learn more about NinjaCat at https://www.ninjacat.io/ and book a demo.
NinjaCat has some beautiful reporting templates. Be sure to check those out and find inspiration - https://www.ninjacat.io/blog/client-reporting-examples.
You can also connect with Paul on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-deraval-98671232/.
85% of women make or influence purchase decisions. Learn how women should be part of your marketing mix. It's more than just adding women. It's understanding where they live in the world, what life stage they are in, and how they play a role in your marketing efforts.