

Marketing Dilemmas
Cognism
It’s like therapy—for B2B marketers. On Marketing Dilemmas, host Liam Bartholomew unpacks one big marketing headache at a time—with help from leaders who’ve been there, failed, and figured out what works.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 9, 2025 • 49min
The differentiation dilemma: How do you really stand out? With Sarah Breathnach, VP of Marketing at Hunters
In this episode of Marketing Dilemmas, Liam sits down with Sarah Breathnach, VP of Marketing at Hunters and Founder of the Demand Gen London community. Together they unpack one of the toughest challenges in B2B right now: how to stand out in a crowded, copycat market without falling into the trap of gimmicks or feature wars. Sarah shares lessons from the cybersecurity industry, her “small teams, big impact” positioning, and why true differentiation comes from clarity, consistency, and customer experience - not monster trucks or marketing hype.

Aug 26, 2025 • 49min
The Comfort Trap Dilemma with Michael Maximoff
Too many marketing teams fall into the comfort trap - sticking with what’s “always worked” and avoiding change until results dip.In this episode, Michael challenges that mindset head-on. He shares why waiting for a downturn before testing new channels or formats is a risky move, how to run small experiments alongside BAU, and the mindset shift needed to keep performance growing in a fast-changing market.

Aug 12, 2025 • 49min
The zero-click search dilemma, with Tom Mansell, VP of Organic Performance at Croud
What happens when your SEO strategy stops delivering clicks? Tom Mansell, VP of Organic Performance at Croud, joins Marketing Dilemmas to unpack the radical shift in search behavior. From AI-powered search engines to plummeting click-through rates, Tom explains why traditional SEO metrics no longer tell the full story - and what forward-thinking marketers should do instead.

Jul 29, 2025 • 53min
The new market penetration dilemma with Adina Apachitei, Global Director of Best Practices Programme
Adina, Global Director of Best Practice Programs at AVEVA, joins Marketing Dilemmas to unpack one of the hardest challenges in enterprise marketing: how do you effectively penetrate new markets when you’re juggling long sales cycles, complex portfolios, and competing internal priorities? From thought leadership to funnel strategy and outbound alignment - this episode breaks down the real blockers to driving growth in new segments.

Jul 15, 2025 • 49min
The innovator’s dilemma: Risking a successful product to chase new heights with Maura Rivera, CMO at Qualified
What do you do when AI creates both your biggest opportunity and your biggest risk? In this episode, Maura Rivera, CMO at Qualified, shares how her team made the bold decision to pivot away from their successful flagship product and reposition entirely around an AI-powered SDR agent. It’s a story of product bets, internal resistance, and how to go all in - before the market catches up.

Jul 1, 2025 • 42min
Marketing the marketing team with Florian Frese, Marketing Director at Wire
In this episode of Marketing Dilemmas, Liam is joined by Florian Frese, Marketing Director at Wire. Together, they unpack a challenge every marketer faces but few talk about: internal marketing. From building trust across teams to avoiding the dreaded “marketing in a silo” trap, Florian shares candid insights into what it really takes to get internal buy-in, show marketing’s value, and foster cross-functional alignment. Plus, how sharing updates on LinkedIn can double as your best internal comms hack.

Jun 17, 2025 • 49min
Trapped by the Ideal Customer Profile with Ben Smith, Marketing Director at Reachdesk
In this episode of Marketing Dilemmas, Liam sits down with Ben Smith, Marketing Director at Reachdesk to tackle a growth challenge many scale-ups face: what to do when you’ve nailed your ICP but are starting to hit a ceiling. They unpack how Reachdesk refined their targeting, improved win rates, and now face the next big question - how to expand without losing focus. Expect insights on ABM signals, scrappy tactics, first-party data, and the true power of gifting in B2B.

Jun 3, 2025 • 58min
The Demand Gen Marketer’s Call to Product Marketing Arms with Tas Bober, Founder of The Scroll Lab
B2B marketing isn't just campaigns and channels - it's understanding your product like a PMM.In this episode, Tas Bober (Founder at Scroll Lab) shares how realising her weakest link - product marketing - led her to build a lightweight, scalable framework every demand gen marketer can use to bridge the gap, run faster, and never rely on a last-minute slide again.She breaks down:Why most campaigns fail from a lack of product contextHow she built a mini-PMM process from scratchWhy this framework will save you (and your sales team) hoursWhether you’re in-house or agency-side, this is your blueprint for becoming a deeper generalist - and making better marketing decisions.

May 20, 2025 • 51min
The art of nurturing: When is a prospect really ready? With Steffen Hedebrandt, CMO at Dreamdata
In this episode, Liam is joined by Steffen, CMO and co-founder of DreamData, to unpack one of B2B marketing’s trickiest challenges: how to bridge the gap between awareness and sales readiness without jumping the gun. They dive into the dilemma of where marketing should focus its energy in the funnel - top, middle, or bottom - and explore what it really takes to turn passive awareness into high-intent engagement. From AI-led outreach to benchmark reports and one-to-one dinners, it’s a conversation about timing, touchpoints, and finding the sweet spot before the demo.

Apr 22, 2025 • 32min
Evolving an ABM strategy that actually works, with Cognism’s Tim Hughes and Liam Collins
In this episode of The Loop, Tim and Liam reunite six months after their first ABM deep dive to share how their program at Cognism has matured into a high-performing machine. From refining their ICP and working hand-in-hand with sales to building an account prioritisation engine and embracing out-of-the-box 1:1 tactics, this conversation is packed with actionable insights for any team trying to scale ABM without overspending on tools.