CMO Convo

This episode is sponsored by Bynder. The most intuitive enterprise digital asset management platform. Find out more at Bynder.com Disruptor brands can inspire incredibly passionate followings. But there's a tendency as they grow for these brands to lose the personality and features that caused people to love them. They become more generic, with everything that made them stand out getting filed down. But does it have to be this way? Not according to Matt Sutton, CMO of The Black Tux. Matt joined us to discuss how effective use of technology, content, and creative thinking can help you keep your edge as a disruptor, in a way that keeps the close relationships and personal touches you had at the start as the brand scales and grows.

Who are the most important people for driving growth? It's a big question, but it's one we looked to answer in this year's Growth CMO Report. In this episode, we sit down with Morgan J Ingram to discuss the most interesting findings about personnel that CMOs need to rely on to help meet their growth goals: within their teams, in how they collaborate with other departments, and what opportunities they have to connect with customers. Want to dive into the full report? Head to the CMO Alliance Website and unlock your path to sustained growth. Don't miss the opportunity to meet Morgan another top markeitng leaders at the CMO Summit New York 2024 on March 20th. Get your ticket for the chance to discuss challenges and opportunities in markeitng with top CMOs. Head to the event website for more information.

Modern buyer personas need to be based on more than demographics or firmographics. They need to look deep at what drives decisions, and who is ready to make certain decisions, according to Jim Kraus of the Buyer Persona Institute. Jim joined us on the CMO Convo podcast to explain why buyer personas need to evolve, the power that modern, decision-based buyer personas can bring, and how you can get that level of understanding.

2024 is set to be the year that marketers finally bid farewell to third-party cookies. But what comes next? Adam Azor, EVP of Global Marketing at Sportradar, joins us to share his insights on how the marketing landscape will look when there's no more third-party cookies, and what you need to be prepared. Adam believes this is going to be one of the biggest shake-ups the industry has ever seen, but he has excellent advice on how you can change the challenges of this brave new world into success.

Sustainability isn't just good for the planet, it's good for business too. When Gen-Z and Millennial customers believe a brand cares about its impact on people and the planet, they are 27% more likely to purchase it than older generations (Deloitte). So clearly, it's important for brands to make a big deal about the sustainability innovations they're rolling out. But how can you ensure less well-known brands are getting the attention they deserve? Elyse Winer, CMO of Gen Phoenix, knows this challenge all too well. Despite her brand's long history of fantastic sustainability innovations, it's not exactly a household name. Elyse's solution? Strategic partnerships, and fearless efforts to make some noise about sustainability. Discover how you can do the same.

With so many responsibilities, most CMOs need to be self-starters to get things done. And if entrepreneurs are the ultimate self-starters, what is it about their mindsets that CMOs can take lessons from for success? That's the question that Fractional CMO Tim Hines has set out to answer. He joined us on CMO Convo to share his insights on what makes great entrepreneurs, and the lessons CMOs can take from their approaches.

2023 was a big year for marketing tech, particularly AI. So much so it can easy to lose sight of the real core of marketing: people. We market to people, people make up our teams, the other stakeholders within your organization are people. That's why we're kicking off 2024 with Sarah Roberts, CMO of Boldyn Networks, to discuss why maintaining that human connection and focus is going to be critical to success in the coming year.

2023 has thrown a lot of curveballs at CMOs and marketing leaders. And 2024 is gearing up to continue that trend. With both challenges and opportunities appearing around every corner, we sat down with Lori Goode, CMO of Index Exchange, to take a look back at how CMOs have responded, and what they can do to prepare for what's coming in 2024. From AI to the economy, the political landscape, and more, we dive into it all in the big CMO Convo of the year, 2023.

Connections require understanding, and understanding requires empathy. That's true in many situations, but particularly when it comes to brands connecting with their audiences. Miri Rodriguez, Senior Storyteller at Microsoft and best selling author of Brand Storytelling, knows the power of empathetic storytelling, and she joins us to breakdown why and how empathy needs to be at the core of your brand, and how to translate that empathy into effective stories.

Brand experiences and experiential marketing can be fantastic for building connections and relationships with your audience. Most marketers are well aware of this, but to get buy-in, you'll need to really show their value in driving revenue and their ROI. Kitty Hart, VP of Client Brand Experience at Heroic Productions, joins us to share how you can show experiential marketing’s ROI to your stakeholders.

In a world where CMOs are under pressure to deliver immediate results, how do you make the space for long-term plans? There are many things in marketing that take extended investment in terms of time and resources, but it can be hard to get buy-in from non-marketing stakeholders who want you to make an impact right now. This disconnect can be one of the main causes of the short tenure for CMOs, which is why we sat down with Ariadna Navarro, Chief Growth Officer at VSA Partners, to discuss how CMOs can make the case for their long-term planning.

We've all seen the stats about how CMOs have the shortest average tenure in the C-Suite. But having a constant revolving door of marketing leadership isn't just bad for individual marketing leaders, it can have major negative impacts on teams, brands, and the marketing industry as a whole. We sat down with Virtual CMO, Mark Donnigan to discuss his tried and tested framework for ensuring CMOs have the time and space to really show their value.

Once you reach CMO, where to next? It's an important question and one that Rob Balderstone had to answer in his role at Locket. Rob made the move to CPO because the company needed it, but in doing so he's found his marketing experience has been a huge boon to this role, while wading into Product has given him fresh perspectives on how marketing leaders need to function. Discover why this move made sense, what Rob's bringing to the table, and his advice for how you too can make a similar move.

When you're sick, you go to a doctor. When you have car trouble, you go to a mechanic. When you need legal advice, go to a lawyer. So when you need to tackle issues with social media, you need to find an expert on that. And we've found one such expert, Elina Vilk, CMO of leading social media management tool Hootsuite, who joins us on CMO Convo to share her insights on how to truly maximize the power of social for your brand. Discover how to reach people at a human level, choose the right platforms for your brand, and why your social media manager should be your right hand in this episode.

Businesses are growing increasingly complex, and the role of ops specialists is increasing in importance. But ops doesn't happen in the background. They aren't your magic helpers tinkering away in the background doing everything without assistance. For ops to be effective, the function and personnel need to be working closely with your marketing teams, and aligned with leadership's goals. That's why we spoke to Joe Aurilia Jr, Senior Vice President of Operations at Cyware, to break down everything ops specialists want their CMOs to know for successful alignment and collaboration.

In marketing, new technologies are always emerging that change the game. New platforms appear that can shake things up. Fresh strategies can bring new perspectives. But there's one constant that remains essential for marketers to succeed: being able to tap into creativity. So it's pretty dang important for CMOs to develop cultures in their organizations that foster and enhance their team's creativity. But, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to creativity: what works for one person, might not work for another, and different projects can require different approaches. That's why we're speaking to Bob Sherwin, recently CMO of Wayfair and current marketing consultant, on why it's important to have creative cultures that allow for flexibility to encourage a range of creative approaches that suit your team's immediate needs. Bob will be appearing at our Virtual CMO Summit on November 8th to moderate a panel on empowering dynamic marketing teams. Don't miss the opportunity to learn more from his and many others' expertise. Get your free ticket here.

The depreciation of third-party data and cookies, along with increased regulations around data collection and usage are having a fundamental impact on digital marketing. It's clear that first-party data will be a top priority for many organizations. But what if the first-party data economy is rigged before we even properly start? Nick Venezia, Founder of Centillion Group Inc. and Chief Data Officer at DeepPod, has seen the writing on the wall: even if we're moving towards being first-party-data-centric, the fact we have to use third-party apps for analysis and ad placements means we may have much less control over first-party data than we might think. In fact, you could find yourself paying Google, Meta, and the rest just to compete against your own data. What implications does this have for marketing leaders? How should CMOs respond? Nick has the lowdown in this episode of CMO Convo.

Thoughtleadership is a term that gets thrown around a lot, in many different circumstances. So, let's drill into a specific function and form: applications of thoughtleadership in B2B marketing strategies. Fractional CMO, Dr. Karthik Nagendra knows all about its power and applications, which is why he's joined us to share his insights on what a modern B2B thoughtleadership strategy needs to look like. What are its aims? What are the components? And how do you measure success? We dig into all this, and more.

No matter your industry, it's highly likely influencer marketing could make a major impact on your brand's success. But gone are the days where you just picked someone with a heap of Instagram followers to do a few posts where they tag your brand. The influencer landscape, and how their audiences respond have evolved massively, and so do how you approach your partnerships as a CMO. Michale Jaconi, CEO of mobile commerce platform Button, knows this all too well, and he's joined us to share what CMOs need to make the most out of influencer marketing. The most important thing? Ensuring your attribution is fit for purpose.

Agency partnerships can have big benefits but can carry high costs. In a world where CMOs need to count every single penny of your marketing budget, you'd best be sure you're getting the most out of them. You need to make sure you choose the right agency for the job, brief them effectively, and manage that relationship so you can both achieve success. We sat down with agency founder, Joe Zappa of Sharp Pen Media, to discuss how CMOs make the right choices when it comes to their agency partnerships.