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
- (06:06) - The Importance of Product Marketing
- (08:04) - Early Stage Marketing Strategies
- (15:17) - Building Trust and Influence in Startups
- (22:12) - Positioning and Messaging Challenges
- (26:30) - Addressing the Decline in Win Rate
- (28:47) - Importance of Executing Positioning
- (29:20) - Casual Conversation and Personal Interests
- (30:21) - Messaging Torture Chamber
- (30:54) - Marketing Strategies: Brand vs. Content
- (32:37) - Event Marketing Insights
- (34:22) - Simplifying B2B Marketing
- (38:01) - The Role of Podcasts in B2B Marketing
- (44:46) - 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 Walnut.
Why are we pouring all this effort into marketing just to push buyers to a “request a demo” or “contact sales” button?
Come on, today’s buyers don’t want to talk to sales right away. They want to explore your product themselves, see how it works, and understand its value before booking a meeting.
That’s where Walnut comes in.
Walnut empowers marketers and GTM teams to create interactive, self-guided product experiences in minutes. Embed these experiences on your site, in emails, or anywhere in your funnel to let buyers engage on their terms, from awareness to close and beyond.
That's the beauty of Walnut - you're getting a platform that your sales and CS colleagues can use to showcase the product too.
And the best part? You get real intent data—see which features prospects love, where they drop off, and what’s actually driving pipeline. Demo Qualified Leads are the new MQL.
Over 500 companies, like Adobe and NetApp, use Walnut to drive 2-3x higher website conversion rates and 7 figures in pipeline on a yearly basis. So do you want to drive more leads, shorten sales cycles, and actually show your product instead of hiding it behind another typical B2B CTA?
Go check out Walnut.io. And if you tell them Dave from Exit 5 sent you, they'll build out your first demo for free!
