This episode features an interview with Karen Steele, the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Near, a global leader in data intelligence for businesses. Karen has an impressive track record as an enterprise Cloud Marketing Executive with extensive experience in scaling fast growth companie. Some of her past roles include Marketo, VMware, Saba Software, Cloud9 Analytics, Xactly Corporation, Informatica, Currenex, and more.

On this episode, Karen discusses building demand gen teams on a global scale, why customer marketing is part of her DNA, and shares examples from her favorite campaigns. The interview wraps up with advice from Karen to Marketing Leaders about investing into their online presence, and explains how it’s a critical decision for growth.

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“Your website is your front door [to your brand]. Everybody communicates online these days. Everybody is going to look at your website first and do their own online research before they ever probably reach out and have a conversation with one of your sales reps. So, your website needs to have great content. It needs to be personalized... It needs to have great opportunities for people to engage with you and learn more. It is probably the most important thing you have to invest in.” - Karen Steele

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Episode Timestamps:

*(0:34) - Karen’s first job in demand gen

*(1:52) - Karen’s role at Near

*(3:08) - Segment: Trust Tree

*(6:22) - How to build a marketing team

*(9:53) - Building trust in the B2B world

*(14:37) - What makes a good leadership team

*(22:44) - Segment: The Playbook

*(31:47) - Potential future investments for Near

*(33:44) - Over-hyped marketing trends

*(35:03) - Karen’s favorite campaigns over the years

*(42:07) - Segment: The Dustup

*(46:12) - Segment: Quick Hits

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Sponsor

Demand Gen Visionaries is brought to you by Qualified.com, the #1 Conversational Marketing platform for companies that use Salesforce and the secret weapon for Demand Gen pros. The world's leading enterprise brands trust Qualified to instantly meet with buyers, right on their website, and maximize sales pipeline. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.

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Links

I Love That Ad | #106 w/ Dylan Cotter