The Marketer's Journey

In today’s episode of the Marketer’s Journey, I interview Jessica Gilmartin, CMO of Calendly. You’ve probably used Calendly to book meetings, appointments and organize your busy schedule- but how does Jessica juggle their astounding 20 million users? We dive into that today while tracing Jessica’s nontraditional route to CMO from investment banking, and explore her two decades' worth of B2B and B2C experience. We also discuss how Jessica is redefining what Calendly can be for an organization, how she segments users, and why marketers need to understand the people, the story, and the data. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify Key takeaways from this episode: Effective CMOs are well-rounded. Jessica stresses that effective CMOs need to understand every aspect of marketing, because every decision they make will impact the brand's image and messaging. She also says that having a well-rounded understanding of marketing allows her to be a more empathic and effective leader. Team communication is key. Jessica says she spends a lot of time focusing on how she can create an effective communication process with her team. Marketing teams work best when everyone understands what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how it ladders back into company goals. Find the right level of engagement. When deciding what path to send leads down, Calendly focuses on key personas when sending leads to a salesperson. Most leads don’t need to speak with a customer service person, so sales shouldn't be flooded with leads who don’t need them. Jessica and Calendly are constantly tweaking their lead scoring to make sure the level of engagement each lead receives is right for them. Learn more about Calendly here: https://calendly.com/ Learn more about Jessica here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicagilmartin

In this episode of the Marketer’s Journey, host Randy Frisch sits down with Jennifer Ravalli, CMO of Harri. Jennifer is an award-winning executive who is passionate about HR tech. During her year at Harri, the company has been rapidly growing, which has meant that Jennifer has had to create clear frameworks for determining their best-fit market and expand their ideal customer profile. In this episode, Randi and Jennifer discuss her time at Harri, where content lives in the funnel, and how she is leveraging ABM as Harri grows. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Saying no is just as important as saying yes. Jennifer and her team are very clear on what they will and won’t do. She says that making sure the team is on the same page about strategy and expectations means there is room to pivot and adapt, while staying on track. Be a leader, not just a marketer. Jennifer emphasizes that at the beginning of your career, you’re paid for what you do, and later on, you’re paid for what you know. To be an effective leader, you need to share that knowledge with your team and allow them to execute ideas.Account executives need to be part of the funnel. Jennifer believes that as a buyer approaches the middle of the funnel, an account executive should step in, and help build the case for why the buyer needs to make a change and continue down the funnel. Learn more about Harri here: https://harri.com/ Learn more about Jennifer here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferravalli

Welcome back to The Marketer's Journey! In this episode, Randy sits down with Susan Beermann, CMO at Contentstack. As a three-time CMO and former salesperson, Susan brings years of expertise to the table and has worked to build Contentstack’s marketing team from the ground up. Today the team has over 50 people, and Susan is a leader who wants to keep her team empowered to do their jobs. Susan shares how she does just that, along with what she sees as the role of BDRs in the marketing team, the role of automation, and her predictions for the future. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Look for leads who are qualified and ready. Contentstack is a technology that is disrupting the traditional CMS space, and Susan emphasizes that in addition to being qualified, leads also need to be ready to embrace new technology. Enable your managers to manage. As a CMO, Susan doesn’t have the time to review every single budget and decision. That's why she ensures her managers have the tools and oversight they need to run their teams successfully without having to constantly come to her.You need a system. When Susan first started at Contentstack, there weren’t systems in place to ensure that everyone was on the same page. One of the first things Susan did was create a process of checks and balances to ensure that the right decisions were being made and that the right people were aware of what was going on. Learn more about Contentstack here: https://explore.contentstack.com/ Learn more about Susan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susancbeermann

In this episode of the Marketer's Journey, I had the pleasure of interviewing Peter Mullen, CMO of Interactions. With a background in communications and tech, including his time at Netflix during their CD-mailing era, Peter's expertise has been shaped by his journalism roots. Today's episode revolves around the central theme of communication, a vital aspect that Peter emphasizes as a CMO. Interactions specializes in developing intelligent virtual assistants that offer personalized service at every stage of the buyer's journey, so Peter has navigated balancing AI's capabilities to enhance communication, foster trust, and instill confidence, all while maintaining authentic human connections. Our conversation delves into empowering teams, finding the equilibrium between technology and human interaction, and "yelling at robots." Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify Key takeaways from this episode: Communicate the value you bring. Peter emphasizes that it is crucial that you effectively communicate with everyone inside and outside your organization the value you bring to the marketplace. Effective messaging will ladder back into your value proposition. Don’t lose the human connection. Peter believes that there must always be a human engaged in communication to deliver an outstanding experience. While AI is important and here to stay, there should always be a human guiding the process. The perfect formula is trust and confidence. Peter’s North Star is nurturing trust and connection on the buyer's journey. Using tools like those developed by Interactions is one of the ways in which organizations can foster trust and decrease frustration. Learn more about Interactions here: https://www.interactions.com/ Learn more about Peter here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phmullen

Welcome back to The Marketer’s Journey. In this episode, I interview Caroline Goles, CMO of Pax8. With an impressive reach, Pax8 collaborates with a staggering 30,000 partners, all the while catering to the needs of a customer base totalling 500,000. Caroline manages a team of 65 marketers serving 17 markets, and uses her background in sales strategy to propel growth and manage her team efficiently. We have a great conversation about getting the right content in front of the right audience, working as a single team, and why marketing is the perfect combination of science and art. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify Key takeaways from this episode: You have to be a learner. Caroline stresses that the best salespeople and marketers are learners who don’t pretend to know everything. This is especially important when working across 80 product lines as they do at Pax8. A willingness to learn is what creates great marketers and salespeople. Make content that educates. Caroline believes that part of the reason a lot of content goes unread is because it doesn’t educate. At Pax8 they make content that helps prospects understand why their solutions are good for their business, and what pain points they will help them solve. Don't be afraid of failure. As a former science major, Caroline likes to think about experimentation in marketing as a scientific experiment. Even if your hypothesis fails, you’ve gained data that you can use to innovate and create better solutions and products. Learn more about Pax8 here: https://www.pax8.com/en-us/ Learn more about Caroline here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinegoles

In this episode of the Marketer’s Journey, I interview Alyssa Hall, CMO of CDI. Alyssa has never worked in the same industry twice and pivoted from roofing and manufacturing when she joined CDI. CDI is an I.T. integration company that has experienced tremendous growth, expanding from $250 million to $1 billion in revenue in the past couple years. Alyssa has navigated and managed that growth while simultaneously building a cohesive brand as CDI went through multiple acquisitions. We discuss how her career led her to become a CMO, bringing teams together after acquisitions, and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify Key takeaways from this episode: It’s ok to be a little uncomfortable. Alyssa loves the work she does, but she also stresses that she had to step outside her comfort zone to get where she is today. As a brand marketer, she learned how to be a data-driven as she stepped into her role as CMO. Do the job you want before you have it. Alyssa knew that her goal was to become a CMO. As CDI grewm she continually stepped up to the plate and demonstrated her ability to do the job…and it paid off. Content needs to solve problems. Whether it's inbound or outbound, Alyssa stresses that what gets people to click on content is relevance. Content that promises to solve a pain point is what earns a click. Learn more about CDI here: https://www.cdillc.com/ Learn more about Alyssa here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssajhall

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I’m joined by Rob Gonzalez, CMO and co-founder of Salsify. Rob is an ‘accidental CMO,’ with a background in engineering and product management and design. He took on the role of salesperson when he and his co-founder started Salsify and from there, eventually scaled the marketing plan to keep up with Salsify’s rapid growth. As a founder, he’s stayed focused on where he can add the most value to the organization and ensuring they stay true to the tactics that drive awareness and growth. In this episode, we discuss a founder's role as a super-generalist, Rob’s path to CMO, and why running too many experiments at once can be a bad thing. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify Key takeaways from this episode: Less is more. Rob believes that many young marketers fall into the trap of trying too many things at once. This can lead to attribution problems on top of being exhausting for marketing teams. Give yourself and your team the chance to discover what strategy is working before jumping onto the next marketing trend. Stick to the tactics that work for you. Rob and his team were aware from the start that advertising was not going to be effective in awareness building for their category. Instead, they focused on strategic outreach and invested in that tactic once it delivered results. CMOs need to be comfortable with numbers. Rob believes that CMOs must be good with quantitative revenue marketing, which means being able to analyze the numbers in front of you and understand how they inform your strategies. Learn more about Salsify here: https://www.salsify.com/ Learn more about Rob here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robgonzalez

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I sit down with Bryan Law, CMO of ZoomInfo. As the CMO of an organization that does over a billion dollars in revenue, Bryan brings unique insight into how to continue to achieve a high level of growth and lead a large team of marketers to success. We discuss consistently looking for new opportunities for growth and how to identify areas for improvement through leveraging both data and content. We also dive into his twelve years as a consultant and his time at other public companies including Salesforce, Google and Rackspace, and how he translates those experiences into his role as CMO. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify Key takeaways from this episode: Create messaging pillars. Bryan stresses the importance of creating high-level messaging pillars that ensure consistent content across channels. Once these have been established, sales and marketing messaging can both ladder into the pillars for consistency and connectivity.B2B customers want to unlock data. After surveying customers and prospects in Q4, Bryan and ZoomInfo discovered that B2B respondents want to leverage data to engage with customers in an integrated way, and improve conversion rates through automation and scaling. Sales and marketing teams need to be aligned. Bryan believes that in the current economic climate, sales and marketing teams need to be aligned on overall goals and the metrics that will be used to measure success. He thinks that there is waste between those two departments and that increased connectivity is where the market is going. Learn more about ZoomInfo here: https://www.zoominfo.com/ Learn more about Bryan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanbasdenlaw?

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Shay Howe, CMO of ActiveCampaign. He lets the audience in on his unique career journey so far, including how he’s had multiple diverse roles that have all touched go-to-market strategy, but often from more of the design or product perspective. Shay also shares how he landed his current role as CMO by sticking to what he loves, and the benefits of a product-led growth strategy. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: There’s wisdom in letting go. When he transitioned in his current role as CMO, Shay inevitably had to let go of control when it came to some of the elements he had worked so closely on for so long, including design. Shay reminded us that letting go doesn’t happen overnight—it’s all part of evolving into a leadership role.Stay engaged. With the marketing world continuing to change a mile a minute, CMOs need to constantly stay on their toes to roll with the punches. Shay says part of his strategy as CMO is to constantly be re-evaluating your plans to see if they make the most sense in the current climate.Embrace automation while retaining humanity. Shay believes there’s a sweet spot to be found between leveraging AI to be more efficient and adding a human touch to every customer interaction. Every touchpoint within the customer journey is crucial, so it needs to feel personalized every step of the way. Learn more about ActiveCampaign here: https://www.activecampaign.com/ Learn more about Shay here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shayhowe/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview John Solomon, CMO of Therabody, the well-known brand behind Theragun. John discusses how he’s helped to take the brand to the next level since joining in 2021, and how a big part of his strategy has included positioning the product as an essential component of a specific lifestyle. By making this connection, he believes that customers will be empowered to view the product as an integrated lifestyle solution that they can benefit from on an everyday basis. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Think holistically. John’s experience working with brands like Beats by Dre taught him to integrate digital touchpoints from the beginning to create a holistic experience from start to finish. That way, he was able to act as the voice of the consumer while merging this knowledge with the expertise of his team. Ensure your influencer strategy is relatable. John mentioned that when developing the company’s influencer strategy, it was important to consider that it featured a mix of aspirational and relatable figures. For example, in addition to working with athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo, they also made a point of educating consumers and demonstrating how the product fits into the lifestyle of an everyday person.Build the brand through the products. With Therabody, the team’s focus is to continue building the brand through products like Theragun. By placing the emphasis on the product’s benefits, John and the team have been effectively positioning the company within the health and wellness market while continuing to build relationships with customers. Learn more about Therabody here: https://www.therabody.com Learn more about John here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsolo/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Bill Talbot, CMO of OpsRamp. This is an interesting episode because just before the interview, OpsRamp was acquired by the well-known brand Hewlett Packard Enterprise. We take advantage of this timing to discuss what this acquisition will mean for OpsRamp, what it means for Bill as CMO, and how he’s planning on navigating the change. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Avoid getting hung up on titles. Throughout his career, Bill has held several various roles, responsibilities, and titles. Rather than getting hung up on titles, he’s always been focused on the kind of impact he can make, the company culture, and the team he’s working with—which has ultimately led him toward the right path for his own career development.Demonstrate success to sellers. Bill talks about why, as the team begins to navigate the post-aquisition shift, it will be crucial to grab the attention of sellers and win them over. Part of his strategy to do this is pointing to some of the joint successes OpsRamp and HP have seen in recent years in order to demonstrate their proven track record.Prioritize the customer. Bill also notes that when it comes to building relationships, it’s important to show the customer that you genuinely care about their concerns on a regular basis—not just when it’s getting close to renewal time. Authenticity is key, so learning to build real relationships with customers is pivotal. Learn more about Redwood OpsRamp here: https://www.opsramp.com/ Learn more about Bill here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/btalbotjr/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Wendy Steinle, CMO at Domo, a cloud software company. Wendy has worked across a variety of sectors prior to her time at Domo, including positions at Adobe, Novell, and Degreed. Throughout her career, she’s tied her love of words with data to become a well-rounded marketer and storyteller. Wendy believes strongly in needing a robust content marketing strategy that connects with people throughout the buyer's journey—and that positioning yourself in a place of trust is key to conversion. In today’s episode, we discuss the importance of having a variety of experiences to be a great CMO, the human element of marketing, and the importance of consistent messaging. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify Key takeaways from this episode: People buy from people they trust. Wendy stresses the importance of trust in the buyer's journey. Humanizing your marketing and anchoring your strategy in a human approach fosters trust and connection, which can ultimately lead to conversions.Connect your content. Your content strategy should connect a consistent message and compelling story to resonate with different buyers.Be a full-journey marketer. Wendy and her team look at every step of the buyer’s journey in depth, developing personas and pain points for each, and then creating strategies for reaching each persona and addressing their questions. Learn more about Domo here: https://www.domo.com/ Learn more about Wendy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendysteinle

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Bryan Urioste, CMO of Redwood Software. Bryan has spent his career in the tech world, becoming an expert at building revenue acquisition strategies for long-term growth. We discussed his path to becoming a CMO and the opportunities marketers have to invest in customer marketing. Bryan shares his insights into announcing acquisitions, the role of newsletters, and finding work-life balance. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Talk to your customers. Bryan believes that too many marketers don’t take advantage of the amazing resource that is their customers. By talking with customers, you can discover their pain points and solve them, and also uncover opportunities for growth you would otherwise be unaware of. Invest in customer marketing. Bryan emphasizes the value of investing in tools that will help your team understand what your customers are thinking. He emphasizes the huge growth opportunity in leveraging customer marketing and giving current customers additional value. Raise your hand. Bryan was able to develop a wide array of skills and advance in his career by raising his hand and taking on new projects, even when they seemed difficult. He’s a believer that every job gives you new skills and helps you grow, even if you eventually realize the role isn’t the right fit.  Learn more about Redwood Software here: https://www.redwood.com Learn more about Bryan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/b2bonlinemarketing

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Stephen Gold, CMO at SparkCognition. Stephen brings a holistic view to his role, having served as CEO and President at his previous companies, Azerty and Aberdeen Group. Trained as an engineer, he later became passionate about marketing and made it his career focus. We discuss the importance of knowing what makes your product relevant, the role of AI in marketing, and why marketers need to tell relatable stories. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: The CMO role is about more than being a great marketer. Stephen has learned that being a great CMO comes down to much more than being an expert marketer. CMOs need to understand their product and the industry inside and out, which means learning how to effectively communicate with leaders across their company and following what's going on in the world that will keep their product relevant. Segment your stories and sell solutions. Stephen emphasizes the importance of segmenting the story you tell prospective clients to fit their pain points. The value you bring each buyer will inherently be different, so aim to package the story to be relatable to them and their needs. To manage these different stories, he recommends finding a basic common thread that applies to all of them. Sell solutions. Stephen knows that no one is going to raise their hand and ask to be sold to. People lean into stories they find value in and relate to, so marketers need to ensure that the top of the funnel knows what the company can do for them and what challenges they will help them solve. AI will be a marketer's best friend. Stephen wants marketers to embrace AI. AI used to be about what it could do for your customers, but now it's about what it can do for you and your communications strategy. Learn more about SparkCognition here: https://www.sparkcognition.com/ Learn more about Stephen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephengold

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Joe Sawyer, CMO at Mirakl. Joe began his career as one of the first e-commerce analysts and witnessed the dot-com boom, then became a CMO of an e-commerce company, bringing his journey full circle. I was eager to hear how his experience as an analyst has informed his current approach, and what he thinks most CMOs misunderstand about the role of analysts. We discuss when to use an analyst and when to use your company’s own internal knowledge, and the importance of focus for a robust marketing strategy. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Don’t see your relationship with analysts as transactional. Joe believes that CMOs and MarTech executives fundamentally misunderstand the role of analysts. Analysts like to engage and ask big questions about the ‘whys’ of your company, and you need to prove to them that your company or tech is the next big disruptor in the market. If you understand they are your partners, they can help you shape your organization’s story. Externalize the internal. Joe believes vendors need to remember that they have a lot of value internally, which they can ultimately transform into external assets. Creating assets that are independently valuable is a key lead-generating tool, and empowering internal thought leaders with the tools they need to create these assets is something that Joe believes is often overlooked. Sometimes you don’t need an analyst paper—you have all the tools you need already. Don’t create a category, redefine one. Joe believes that instead of creating a new category, organizations need to redefine a static, existing one. The way forward for many vendors is to disrupt how a category is perceived, while redefining the needs and expectations of the space. Learn more about Mirakl here: https://www.mirakl.com Learn more about Joe here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-sawyer-a4255

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Latané Conant, CMO at 6sense, who I previously interviewed more than three years ago at the tail-end of 2019. Of course, a lot has changed since we last spoke, so I was eager to hear her exciting updates about how much her team has grown over the years. We discuss how buyer expectations have shifted, how she’s managing those changes alongside her colleagues, and how she encourages everyone on her team to help move the needle. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Don’t fall too far behind the wave. Latané uses an imaginative analogy to explain the importance of keeping up the momentum during stages of high-growth. When wake-surfing, it’s important that you avoid falling too far back behind the wave—otherwise, no amount of movement will help you stay afloat. The same goes for companies that are growing fast: hiring should be a top priority if you hope to keep pace. Understand your employee value proposition. Latané believes that learning to hire well is one of the most important aspects of the CMO role. Part of this includes communicating your company’s value proposition clearly to candidates. For example, she mentioned that at 6sense, work/life balance isn’t a major draw for the organization, but since it offers such a high-growth experience, they can guarantee that employees will learn a lot on the job—and fast.Take the time to communicate effectively. Latané also reminds us of the importance of clear communication, especially as we scale. Regardless of the size of your marketing team, we live in a world that’s changing rapidly. It’s essential that leaders take the time to sit down with their teams and explain the things that people may not see on the surface. Learn more about 6sense here: https://6sense.com/ Learn more about Latané here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/latane-conant/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Kelly Buchanan Spillers, CMO at Infor, a large organization with over $3 billion in revenue and 7,000 customers in 70 countries. The company was acquired by Koch Industries a number of years ago for a massive sum of $13 billion. Kelly came to Infor after leading digital marketing at L’Oreal, so she has a lot of insights to share about bringing B2C strategies into a B2B organization. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Always put the consumer first. Coming from a B2C background, Kelly started her role at Infor with the mindset that marketing teams should always be prioritizing the consumer’s needs. Despite not having a set B2B playbook to work from, Kelly used her B2C background from L’Oreal to communicate with Infor’s customers in a way that would resonate. Position your brand as a market expert. When it comes to carving out an authoritative position in the market, Kelly says she and the team at Infor have been focused on establishing the brand as high-level experts for specific industries. By communicating their expertise in certain niche areas, Infor has been able to set themselves apart from the competition and earn customers’ trust.Go back to basics. Recently, Kelly and the team at Infor have been taking a more holistic approach to the brand, ensuring that their online presence is clean and consistent across the board. When she first started as CMO, one of the first tasks she and the team undertook was to clean up anything that could be diluting their brand equity, and create streamlined brand guidelines to protect the brand’s image. Learn more about Infor here: https://www.infor.com/ Learn more about Kelly here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellybuchanan/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Sandeep Singh Kohli, CMO at Venafi. Coming from a product marketing background, Sandeep has a strong passion for the technology space, and his impressive career reflects that. During our conversation, we discuss concepts like embracing the voice of the customer, as well as realizing the responsibility we have as marketers at every stage of the buyer journey. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Do your homework. Venafi is a company that’s growing exponentially because so many brands are in need of their solution, so I was curious to know how Sandeep and the team strategized to achieve this. He mentioned that a part of the company’s success was just honest luck, but they also committed to doing their homework by really understanding the market, talking to the right people and researching the different buyer personas within the landscape. Keep messaging consistent. Sandeep mentioned that there are two aspects of customer marketing: marketing to customers, which relies on demand gen and growth marketing, and leveraging the customer's voice and advocacy for marketing, which tends to rely on content strategy. As an organization matures and there’s a steady flow of opportunities, Sandeep says it’s essential that the team remains consistent with its messaging to maintain momentum.The responsibilities of a CMO have shifted. Sandeep noted that over the years, we’ve witnessed several different generations of marketing, and as the industry has evolved, so have the expectations surrounding the CMO role. Now, CMOs are considered responsible for driving revenue throughout the various stages of the funnel like closing, retention and cross-selling. Learn more about Venafi here: https://venafi.com/ Learn more about Sandeep here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skohli1/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Ashley Kramer, CMO and CSO at GitLab—a company that’s a true force in the DevOps space. Having previously held roles as Chief Product Officer at Sisense and GM at Tableau Software, Ashley has plenty of wisdom to share about taking an unconventional route to the CMO role. She also offers her perspective on how to make all customers feel welcome and connect with them through a smart content strategy. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Create a consistent experience. During her time at Tableau Software, Ashley learned the importance of creating a consistent experience for customers despite any major differences among the company’s various business units. In Ashley’s words, “no matter what you're talking about, no matter what you're promoting, no matter what you're trying to get customers to understand about the company, it has to feel like the same company.” Passion comes in threes. For Ashley, when it comes to choosing a company for her next position, she needs to feel strongly passionate about three things: the product, the space, and the people on the team. She emphasized the importance of finding a position that feels like a fit culture-wise since it very often sets the tone for your entire role and tenure with the company.Empower your team to think outside the box. When it comes to content, Ashley is always thinking of new ways to encourage her team to think creatively and find fresh ideas to keep audiences engaged. For example, she’s keen on keeping a finger on the pulse of the community to seek inspiration and gain new insights daily. Learn more about GitLab here: https://about.gitlab.com/ Learn more about Ashley here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyekramer/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Tom Butta, CMO and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Airship. As someone who’s held almost 10 different CMO roles throughout his career, Tom’s learned a thing or two about positioning a brand in the market along the way. Tom shares his tricks of the trade from a leadership perspective and explains what it takes to be an effective CSO. Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts! Key takeaways from this episode: Being a great CSO means taking a strategic approach to marketing. For Tom, the CSO role begins with positioning the company effectively within the market and clearly articulating its vision. The role of the CSO and the CMO, then, is to find alignment behind the company strategy, bringing it to life through each interaction within the ecosystem.Work with challenger brands. Since the beginning of his career, Tom has been drawn to working with what he calls “challenger brands,” companies that are shaking up the status quo and disrupting a space by thinking outside of the box. By doing this, he’s been able to carve his own unique career path and gain experience that sets him apart from the crowd.Walk your talk. Tom argues that excellent marketing really begins within the organization. Companies need to first ensure they’re truly delivering on their value proposition before they focus on marketing efforts because, otherwise, it’s just “fake news,” as Tom says. This is one reason why he spends so much time with the product team at Airship—so he can develop a solid understanding of the product and the value it brings to customers. Learn more about Airship here: https://www.airship.com/ Learn more about Tom here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tombutta/