In this episode, Dave is a guest on the We're Not Marketers podcast, hosted by Zach Roberts (Founder of Break Into Product Marketing), Eric Holland (current Product Marketer at Klue), and Gab Bujold (Founder at Press X to Market). They sit down to talk about Dave’s journey in B2B marketing—from marketing manager to CMO—hosting a podcast for B2B marketing, and organizing Exit Five’s first-ever in-person event, Drive in Burlington. Plus, Dave answers one important question: Are product marketers actually marketers?
We’re Not Marketers and Dave also cover:
- One way “frameworks” might hurt your product storytelling.
- Why you can’t just start a podcast in B2B without this obvious skill?
- What Dave said is “the most important role in B2B marketing”.
- Don’t tell sales “what to do”. They almost never listen. Do this instead.
- Why “messaging by committee” sucks.
- Good news! The "80% difference" to great B2B marketing, uses two common PMM skills.
- How can we (product marketers) simplify B2B marketing
Timestamps
- (01:05) - Dave's Journey and Podcasting Tips
- (05:52) - The Importance of Product Marketing
- (07:50) - Early Stage Marketing Strategies
- (15:03) - Building Trust and Influence in Startups
- (21:58) - Positioning and Messaging Challenges
- (26:16) - Addressing the Decline in Win Rate
- (29:14) - Importance of Executing Positioning
- (29:47) - Casual Conversation and Personal Interests
- (30:48) - Messaging Torture Chamber
- (31:21) - Marketing Strategies: Brand vs. Content
- (33:04) - Event Marketing Insights
- (34:49) - Simplifying B2B Marketing
- (38:28) - The Role of Podcasts in B2B Marketing
- (45:13) - Conclusion and Upcoming Events
Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.com
Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership
***
Today’s episode is brought to you by Zuddl.
We’re halfway through 2025, and one thing’s clear: events continue to be one of the highest performing marketing channels. Niche meetups, conferences, curated dinners, networking - you name it. Everyone’s leaning in.
Events are a core part of our playbook this year at Exit Five. So far, we’ve hosted two virtual sessions each month, one large virtual event, one in-person meetup, and we’re deep in the weeds planning our Drive conference coming back to Vermont this September.
Zuddl helps us run a smarter event strategy - from driving registrations, managing invites, automating comms, reminders, analytics, tracking. Their Salesforce integration also makes it simple to report on pipeline and revenue from events without pulling in ops.
On top of that, the differentiator with Zuddl is how their team is insanely good at supporting us. They always go above and beyond for us - and that’s how we’ve been able to keep the momentum going with 12+ events already this year, with plenty more to come.
If events are part of your marketing strategy, you need to look at Zuddl to see how companies like Zillow, CrowdStrike, and Iterable are using the top event platform for Business events in 2025.
Head over to zuddl.com/exitfive to learn more.