The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)

Sandra Rand, a fractional head of marketing focused on early-stage, non-SaaS B2B companies, shares her insights on how these teams can thrive without traditional SaaS strategies. She discusses the power of events, referrals, and word-of-mouth in driving growth on a limited budget. Sandra emphasizes creative approaches like gifting and relationship-building, along with the importance of brand trust. She also highlights the need for a supportive community for non-SaaS marketers to share innovative strategies and elevate their impact in the B2B space.

Ashley Faus, Director of Lifecycle Marketing at Atlassian, and Dr. Molly Sands, Head of the Teamwork Lab, share insights on building an efficient marketing team. They discuss the importance of reducing meetings to enhance productivity and the art of effective asynchronous communication. With strategies for structuring updates and fostering genuine connections, they highlight how to balance transparency without overwhelming team members. Listeners will learn how to create a lean, focused marketing approach that boosts output while minimizing distractions from platforms like Slack and Zoom.

Jason Lyman, CMO at Customer.io and former marketing lead at Dropbox, joins the conversation to unpack effective B2B marketing strategies. He emphasizes the importance of structuring a marketing org for scalability, blending product-led growth with sales efforts. Jason reveals why creative in-person events rank as their top channel and discusses the KPI and OKR systems that drive focused goal-setting across teams. Tune in for insights on aligning marketing with sales motions and the power of data-driven customer engagement in today’s landscape.

Chelsea Castle, Head of Content and Brand at Close, brings her B2B SaaS expertise to the table. She shares how to create a content goldmine by leveraging internal knowledge and repurposing media into various formats. The conversation covers merging brand and keyword-driven content, maximizing website traffic through brand strategy, and integrating SEO with authentic storytelling. Chelsea also discusses innovative new content channels for B2B and ways to engage on platforms like LinkedIn, ensuring that valuable content resonates with the audience.

Mark Schaefer, a marketing strategist and author of 11 books, shares his insights on navigating marketing in the AI era. He discusses why playing it safe is a major threat and how marketers should innovate rather than stick to 'best practices.' Schaefer highlights the significance of creating emotional connections through human-first marketing, and he argues that AI can enhance creativity if used wisely. Real-world B2B examples showcase how brands can break away from the mundane and truly stand out.

In this discussion, Matt De Vincentis, VP of Product Marketing at Atlassian, shares insights from his diverse background in engineering and product marketing. He emphasizes how product marketers must 'own the outcome,' connecting their efforts directly to revenue. Matt also discusses building high-trust marketing teams, using lessons from firefighting. He advocates for an async work culture to boost productivity and addresses the importance of aligning marketing strategies with business goals, ultimately revealing how to thrive in today's competitive landscape.

Pranav Piyush, Founder and CEO of Paramark, shares insights from his platform that revolutionizes B2B ad testing. He reveals real results from seven ad campaigns, including branded search and billboards, challenging common misconceptions about testing. Pranav explains the crucial differences between correlation and causation and stresses the importance of structured experiments. He also discusses how small teams can strategically use a modest budget to enhance their marketing efforts and drive impressive ROI.

Dive into the thrill of marketing, where creativity meets the power of community. Discover how AI is reshaping the landscape, providing tools that elevate efficiency and innovation. Unpack the joy of events in marketing, from successful fundraisers to networking opportunities that bring people together. Plus, learn about a game-changing no-code email platform that streamlines communication and lets marketers take charge of their audience. It's all about making connections and embracing the future!

Kieran Flanagan, SVP of Marketing at HubSpot and former CMO at Zapier, shares his insights on the future of B2B marketing driven by AI. He discusses how AI is transforming workflows and content creation while emphasizing the need for marketers to specialize at the edges of creativity and technical execution. Kieran also reveals his unique leadership style that fosters direct feedback and creativity within a large team. Listeners will learn practical strategies for staying innovative and indispensable in an evolving marketing landscape.

In this discussion, Sarah McNamara, a Revenue Operations expert at Vector, and Alex Fine, co-founder of Understory, dive into the often-overlooked world of email deliverability. They reveal why deliverability matters even more than subject lines and share metrics that truly count. Listeners learn how to spot potential issues early and protect their domain reputation. Insights on tools for monitoring deliverability, the importance of reply rates over clicks, and strategies for warming up inboxes make this a must-listen for B2B marketers.