Extreme Trail Running: B2B Marketing Lessons on Navigating Rough Terrain with DeepL CMO, Steve Rotter

The marketing terrain is rough out there. In many ways, traversing the roots, rocks and mud of extreme trail running is like navigating the shifting marketing landscape.

Both demand endurance, adaptability and a strategic mindset. Those are a few of the things we’re talking about today. 

In this episode, we’re taking marketing inspiration from extreme trail running with the help of our special guest, DeepL CMO Steve Rotter.

Together, we talk about being agile, stepping where others have stepped, how to plot your own route, and aiming for progress over perfection.

About our guest, Steve Rotter

Steve Rotter, an entrepreneur, evangelist, and author, brings over two decades of tech marketing leadership experience to his role as CMO at DeepL. With a track record as a two-time founder with two M&A deals and three unicorns under his belt, Steve is deeply passionate about innovative marketing, AI, and brand building. Prior to DeepL, Steve served as CMO of FourKites, where he spearheaded remarkable growth and revenue increases through targeted account-based marketing and PLG strategies, serving industry titans like Coke, Walmart, and Ford. His expertise extends to CMO roles at OutSystems and Acrolinx, where he drove unicorn growth, established category leadership, and facilitated successful acquisitions. He's also held leading tech-industry marketing positions at Adobe, Motorola, and Brightcove.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Extreme Trail Running:

• Agility is key. Be on the lookout for disruptions, like changes in buying pattern, that mean you may have to change course. Steve says he was out running “and we had a couple of days of rain because of the recent hurricane. And all of a sudden a trail that was normally a certain way had about a 10 foot river running through it, and you had to cross it and not try not to get too wet and fall over. And the course that you thought was one way is different.” This is true with marketing as well. The landscape is always changing. You have to adapt to what’s in front of you to keep going.
• Step where others have stepped. If you’ve seen others have success with a particular marketing strategy, try it. Use their success to your advantage. Ian says, “If you have somebody's footprints right there in front of you, you can just stay right in their footprints.” Like in extreme trail running, you know stepping in the same place as the person in front of you is a safe bet.
• When there is no path, slow down just enough to plan your route. But don’t take too long to do it. Ian says, “There's this balance of speed versus slowing down to plan your route. And I think that like a lot of times, in my opinion, B2B marketing teams slow down and plan way too much. And they're way overly concerned with the perfect plan rather than running. At the end of the day, you have to move. You have to keep moving. So many people are just crippled by indecision.”
• Progress over perfection. Don’t wait for perfect data to make great content. Use what information you have to move forward. Steve says, “In many cases, you have very data-driven businesses and by definition, marketing has become almost a data-driven skill set that has to be present. But in many ways, it's that analysis paralysis that slows them down because they're waiting for perfect data. We can't wait for perfection. We have to show progress.”

Quotes

*”I think that's actually a really healthy discipline for marketing teams, is not just to be on that hamster wheel all the time, but to take some time out and say, ‘Look, what do we really want to do? What do we want to say? What's our message? What's our story? What's our creative angle?’ And rarely do you achieve that in moments of extreme distraction, right? It's that focus time that kind of drives those light bulb moments.”

*”A leadership approach that is acceptable has a tolerance and there's no fear of failure. If you have marketers that are afraid, like if they make a mistake, they're going to get yelled at or fired, then of course they're going to take time because they're going to just wait for perfect. Whereas if you build a culture in your marketing team around speed, velocity, and learning from your mistakes, then you got a good recipe.”

Time Stamps

[0:55] Meet Steve Rotter, CMO at DeepL

[1:48] The Connection Between Trail Running and Marketing

[6:42] Psychology and Support in Extreme Trail Racing

[12:54] Preparation and Training for Trail Running

[16:56] Marketing Strategies and Team Dynamics

[22:15] Balancing Speed and Planning in B2B Marketing

[23:55] Overcoming Analysis Paralysis

[24:24] The Importance of a Fearless Marketing Culture

[25:05] Navigating Unpredictable Terrain

[29:12] The Little Things in Marketing

[31:46] Educating the Market on AI

[34:37] Leveraging Customer Stories

[37:54] Advice for CMOs on Content Strategy

[40:04] Uncovering Hidden Stories

Links

Connect with Steve on LinkedIn

Learn more about DeepL

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

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