Pipeline Visionaries

This episode features an interview with Maura McCormick Rivera, CMO at Qualified. Qualified is the #1 conversational sales and marketing platform for revenue teams that use Salesforce. Maura leads the growth and expansion of the business’s marketing and demand generation efforts. Since joining in 2019, Maura launched three major products, led the development of their brand, and created the Demand Gen Visionaries Podcast. Under her leadership, Qualified has seen record levels of web traffic, follower growth, and pipeline generation.  In this episode, Maura shares her insights into Qualified’s pipeline revolution, creating thought leadership content to build awareness, and how to keep a pulse on conversations to engage buyers.---“Everybody wants to interact with one click, chat, voice, video. As companies, we need to shift how we meet with buyers and shift how we generate pipeline." -Maura McCormick Rivera, CMO at Qualified---Episode Timestamps:*(04:36) - Maura’s Role at Qualified*(06:25) - Segment: Trust Tree*(11:49) - What drives Qualified’s Pipeline*(15:35) - Segment: The Playbook*(17:05) - Why content is king*(21:23) - How to keep the pulse on conversations to engage buyers*(27:56) - The Pipeline Cloud Campaign*(35:15) - Segment: The Dust Up*(37:10) - Segment: Quick Hits---SponsorDemand 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.LinksConnect with Maura on LinkedInConnect with Ian on LinkedInLearn more about Qualifiedwww.caspianstudios.com 

This episode features an interview with Daniel Incandela, CMO at Reachdesk.  Reachdesk enables companies to deliver moments that matter at scale, globally, throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Incandela is a creative, strategic thinker, who has more than 20 years of digital and marketing industry leadership experience.In this episode, Daniel shares his insights on the role of authenticity in marketing, moments that matter at scale, and how company values tie into marketing.---“Ultimately B2B is about connecting with humans, and so it works. It works on the prospecting side, it works on the customer side. We want people associated with us to feel special and gifting does that." -Daniel Icandela, CMO, Reachdesk ---Episode Timestamps:*(02:15) - Daniel’s Role at Reachdesk*(03:23) - Segment: Trust Tree*(07:28) - Segment: The Playbook*(12:06) - Driving traffic to the key parts of your website *(17:59) - Gifting with personalization to gain customer loyalty*(20:39) - Bringing human connection to prospects*(27:22) - Segment: The Dust Up*(33:22) - Segment: Quick Hits---SponsorDemand 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.LinksConnect with Daniel on LinkedInConnect with Ian on LinkedInLearn more about Reachdesk www.caspianstudios.com

 This episode features an interview with Randy Frisch, Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist for Content Experience at Uberflip, a content experience platform & software that enables marketers to create digital experiences with content for every stage of the buyer journey. Randy has led the content experience movement, prompting marketers to think beyond content creation and focus on the overall destination, The Content Experience. In this episode, Randy shares his insights into why demand gen marketers are leading content curation, how personalization is being used to drive business and gain customer trust, and the power of marketing content to reflect what people care about.---“What we need to be thinking more about in marketing is what do people actually care about? That’s the content we should create. That’s the content you should package.” - Randy Frisch, Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist for Content Experience, Uberflip---Episode Timestamps:*(03:12) - Randy’s Role at Uberflip*(03:19) - Segment: Trust Tree*(11:31) - Personalization and putting the right content in front of people *(16:39) - Uberflips overall marketing strategy*(20:39) - Organizing and updating assets for maximum value*(25:26) - Gathering data and gaining customer trust *(29:56) - Why demand gen marketers are content curators*(31:48) - Segment: The Playbook*(40:23) - Segment: Quick Hits---SponsorDemand 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.LinksConnect with Randy on LinkedInConnect with Ian on LinkedInLearn more about Uberflipwww.caspianstudios.com

This episode features an interview with Suzanne Kounkel, CMO of Deloitte, an industry leader in audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands. Suzanne’s trifecta of business, technology, and marketing experience provides the essential foundation for spearheading marketing and sales in an era of rapid change and ground-breaking innovation. In this episode Suzanne discusses the mechanics of engendering customer loyalty, innovating marketing within long standing companies and elevating the human experience within B2B marketing.---“It’s really about thinking through the lens of your business strategy. Which are the channels that you should be investing in? At what levels? We should be constantly evolving.“ -Suzanne Kounkel---Episode Timestamps:*(03:50) - Suzanne's role at Deloitte*(04:55) - Segment: Trust Tree*(06:59) - Balancing the market set of activities and the marketing portfilio*(09:20) - Deloitte's overall marketing strategy*(13:20) - Segment: The Playbook,*(14:34) - What channels you should be investing in*(22:05) - Investing into the functionality of your website *(31:18) - Campaigns that drive customer engagement *(35:41) - Segment: The Dust-Up*(39:08) - Segment: Quick Hits---SponsorDemand 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.---LinksConnect with Suzanne on LinkedInConnect with Ian on LinkedInLearn more about Deloittewww.caspianstudios.com

Part Six of this special mini-series features 10 CMOs and marketing leaders from some of the world’s fastest-growing companies, including:*(3:17) - Anthony Kennada, CMO, Hopin *(7:30) - Nikhil Behl, CMO, FICO*(9:50) - Heidi Bullock, CMO, Tealium*(11:41) - Alon Alroy, CMO, Bizzabo*(14:02) - Tyler Lessard, VP of Marketing, Vidyard*(15:50) - Kevin Tate, CMO, Clearbit*(17:53) - Karen Steele, SVP of Marketing, Near*(20:31) - Ritu Kapoor & Julie Ginn, CMO, Lob*(21:35) - Mark Josephson, Co-Founder and CEO, Castiron *(23:32) - Eugene Levin, Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer, SemrushSponsorDemand 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.LinksFollow Ian on TwitterConnect with Ian on LinkedInwww.caspianstudios.com

This episode features Eugene Levin, the Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer at Semrush, an online visibility management and content marketing SaaS platform. Previously, Eugene was the Investment Director and a partner at Target Global, and before that - co-founded one of Europe’s leading game development and outsourcing studios.In this episode, Eugene discusses tailoring your marketing approach for small business owners, his GTM strategy (and why it doesn’t involve looking at channels), and shares valuable SEO best practices to help your content get more clicks. ---“Sometimes [ranking higher] requires you to go deeper. Sometimes it means you have to use more authoritative sources and work with materials that may be not as easy to analyze as a blog post. And then once you publish content, it's important to work on the distribution.”---Episode Timestamps:*(0:30) - Eugene’s role at Semrush*(5:00) - Segment: Trust Tree*(7:51) - Tailoring your marketing approach for small businesses*(8:50)  - Semrush’s overall marketing strategy*(10:00) - Semrush’s GTM Strategy *(10:38) - Segment: The Playbook *(12:56) - Best practices for writing articles and blog posts*(20:32) - Avoiding over-optimization *(21:56) - Uncuttable budget items *(26:29) - Investing in content creation for your website *(30:58) - Segment: The Dust-Up*(33:04) - Segment: Quick Hits---SponsorDemand 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.---LinksConnect with Eugene on LinkedInConnect with Ian on LinkedInLearn more about Semrushwww.caspianstudios.com

This episode features Mark Josephson, a Co-Founder and CEO of Castiron, an e-commerce company that caters to kitchen-based entrepreneurs. Mark brings to the table an impressive track record of successfully building and growing software and tech companies. Mark came to Castiron from Bitly, where he was CEO from 2013 to 2020. Prior to Bitly, Mark held various positions at AOL’s Patch, Outside.in., and About.com. In this episode, Mark discusses using storytelling techniques in demand gen marketing, how to engage with harder-to-reach audiences, and shares advice to CEOs and Founders figuring out their Demand Gen strategy. The interview wraps up Mark’s insights on investing in digital infrastructure with scaling in mind.---“Wouldn't it be great if we were obsessed with solving problems for our customers, instead of just trying to sell them something? Wouldn't it be great if our success was aligned with the success of our customers? … That means freemium, that means SAS, that means consumption-based pricing. A lot of truisms about great businesses have roots in the kind of relationship you want to have with your customers and that, to me, is all marketing.” - Mark Josesphson ---Episode Timestamps:*(0:30) - Mark’s vision for Castiron *(3:03) - How Mark views the role of CMO and Demand Gen as CEO*(5:00) - Segment: Trust Tree*(7:51) - Getting in front of harder to reach audiences *(10:38) - Segment: The Playbook *(12:56) - Biggest surprises Mark’s encounter in marketing*(17:42) - Segment: The Dust-Up*(23:56) - Mark’s favorite campaigns*(29:57) - How Mark views his website*(33:04) - Segment: Quick Hits---SponsorDemand 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.---LinksConnect with Mark on LinkedInConnect with Ian on LinkedInLearn more about Castironwww.caspianstudios.com

This episode features a special double-feature conversation with Lobs’s Chief Marketing Officer, Ritu Kapoor, and Vice President of Demand Generation, Julie Ginn. Ritu is Lob’s first CMO but is no stranger to leadership roles, having worked in higher levels at several SaaS automation leaders. Julie has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, with a specialization in demand generation and marketing operations.On this episode, they discuss the latest research in direct mail marketing, share their favorite experiential marketing campaigns, and talk about what makes a campaign and website outdated.---“[Personalization] is like going back to experiential marketing. Being able to have these small events and really immerse the customer in your brand by giving them an experience that they want to talk about with their friends and want to talk about on social, because these large events at this point are going out.” - Ritu---Episode Timestamps:*(2:00) - Ritu and Julie’s Roles at Lob*(5:00) - Segment: Trust Tree*(9:18) - Lob’s Go-To Market Structure*(15:46) - Segment: The Playbook *(25:10) - Using Experiential Campaigns for Engagement *(26:49) - Outdated & Oversaturated Campaign Techniques*(33:04) - What Makes Personalization Work*(34:43) - Stop Thinking of Your Website as Static*(36:30) - Segment: The Dust-Up*(38:10) - Segment: Quick Hits---SponsorDemand 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.---LinksConnect with Ritu on LinkedInConnect with Julie on LinkedInConnect with Ian on LinkedInLearn more about Lobwww.caspianstudios.com

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.---“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---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---SponsorDemand 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.---LinksConnect with Karen on LinkedInConnect with Ian on LinkedInLearn more about Nearwww.caspianstudios.com

This episode features an interview with Kevin Tate, Chief Marketing Officer at Clearbit, a marketing data engine for customer interactions that helps businesses grow. Kevin has more than 24 years of sales and marketing experience as a 2-time CRO and 3-time CMO, and has held many other senior leadership roles throughout his career.  On this episode, Kevin discusses the importance of speed when it comes to capturing customer intent, marketing’s role in creating a compelling promise for a company’s product, and why websites need to look to mobile-first experiences as inspiration sooner rather than later. -------------------- "...the idea of the ideal customer profile is maybe a sort of 101-level content, right? It is really foundational to how companies think about, understand, and act on their ideal customers. But, as we look at sort of the 201 and 301 levels, it's about how to actually focus my funnel on my ICP and then, how do I do it in a way that's consistent through acquisition, conversion, and operations so that I can actually measure and optimize? ... So, again, thinking about how [the ICP] goes from foundational to the edge of where people are pushing the boundaries is what keeps it fun." - Kevin Tate--------------------Episode Timestamps:*(2:00) - Kevin’s role at Clearbit*(3:12) - Kevin’s first job in demand gen*(5:00) - Segment: Trust Tree*(9:18) - Clearbit’s buying committee and personas*(15:46) - Segment: The Playbook *(25:10) - Clearbit’s event strategy*(26:49) - How Kevin views Clearbit’s website*(33:04) - Kevin’s favorite campaign*(34:43) - Kevin’s most cuttable budget items  *(36:30) - Segment: The Dust-Up*(38:10) - Segment: Quick Hits--------------------SponsorDemand 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.--------------------LinksConnect with Kevin on LinkedInFollow Kevin on TwitterFollow Ian on TwitterConnect with Ian on LinkedInwww.caspianstudios.com