The Changemakers Shaped By

Some people are quite happy to simply coast along, and see where the wind takes them. And others constantly push themselves, always looking to grow and develop through experiences that test their existing skills and help them to create new ones.

Matt Price falls into the latter camp. Each step in his career as a creative, whether to a boutique agency or the pristine corridors of Apple HQ, has been chosen deliberately to give him a new perspective on the craft of commercial creativity.

Now, deep into his first stint in B2B-land with fintech giants Checkout.com, Matt joins Dave to discuss how the sum of those experiences is an innate understanding of exactly what it takes to be a successful in-house creative leader.

The two of them also chat about:
how to be a collaborator rather than a blockerhow to uncover opportunities to elevate the power of creativity internallythe importance of educating audiences about your category as well as your brand and productwhy creatives should look to the world of fashion, art and design for genuine inspirationBe sure to give Matt a follow on LinkedIn. And if you enjoy the episode, why not take an extra minute out of your day and give us a lovely review?
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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This is the first of two episodes in which we’ll be stepping away from our typical guest profile of in-house marketers, creatives and brand leaders, and getting to know some of Shaped By’s fellow agency buddies.

And what a buddy to get to know. Kerry Guard is CEO and founder of MKG Marketing, a digital marketing agency that works with cybersecurity, data management and other fast-scaling tech firms to drive impactful growth.
So what are the most pressing digital marketing challenges that tech firms are grappling with now? And what should marketers be doing to solve them?

Join Kerry and Dave to find out, and also discover:
why truly effective digital marketing is ultimately a long gamehow to optimize your strategy to deliver consistent results over timewhat “intentional” digital marketing means, and why it’s so importantwhy moving away from lead gen and towards demand gen makes sense in today’s worldhow effective digital marketing relies on a splash of creativity to succeedYou can find MKG Marketing on the interweb here, and go follow Kerry on LinkedIn too. Also be sure to check out her podcast, Tea Time With Tech Marketing Leaders, which Dave will be featuring on very soon!
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

✌️

Until generative AI came along and took over every single conversation, one way to instantly ignite a ferocious debate in B2B marketing was to ask this question: “Should B2B companies be thinking like media companies when it comes to content marketing?”

ZoomInfo certainly believes so. And when the go-to-market software, data, and intelligence company’s CEO Henry Schuck decided to turn his content marketing operation into an editorial media machine, he hired Meghan Barr to lead it.

As an award-winning journalist with two decades of experience, Meghan’s editorial and storytelling skills were a perfect fit to bring Henry’s vision of building an internal newsroom at ZoomInfo to life.

So we were thrilled when Meghan agreed to sit down with Dave to discuss her experiences of moving into the B2B tech world, and how that move has signalled a shift in the way ZoomInfo builds its audience through content marketing.
Dave and Meghan also discuss:
how to tell brand and product stories across multiple channelswhy it’s so important to create an ownable narrative that draws audiences inhow thinking like a media company helps to build consistency and communityhow her editorial skillset adds value to teams and projects right across the marketing functionThe debate will rage on, no doubt. But whatever side you’re on, if you want an objective, honest and fascinating insight into what goes on inside a company that’s very much in this transition, then this one is most definitely for you.
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

✌️

It’s not every day that you get chatting with someone who, in the first five minutes, casually drops into the conversation that they “ran a couple of SWAT teams”.

But this is an episode with a difference. And if you’re involved in anything to do with cybersecurity marketing or thought leadership, then it’s one for you.

There ain’t no cybersecurity expert with more expertise than Steve Stone. From managing nuclear security and running counter-espionage operations for the US Air Force to then moving into counter-terrorism as a federal agent (including over 1200 interrogations of high-level terrorists), the early part of Steve’s career was action-packed, to say the least.

And it hasn’t slowed down since. After moving into cybersecurity as a case agent for several nation-state cyber intrusions into the US government, Steve left the military and joined the US intelligence community where he spent five years as a cyber intelligence expert, before moving into the private sector to help firms like IBM and Mandiant to convince C-suites and executive boards of the mission-critical threats that cybersecurity poses.

Today, Steve heads up Rubrik Zero Labs, the data threat research unit he helped to create inside the data security firm Rubrik (and Shaped By client). We’ve had the pleasure of working with Steve on the creative aspects of RZL, so Dave was stoked to get the chance to interrogate him about:
what led him from dusty interrogation rooms to the clean, bright corridors of a Silicon Valley tech firmwhy Zero Labs is such an important resource for Rubrik’s clients and security leaders everywherehow to engage busy CISOs and CIOs with thought leadership contenthow committed thought leadership like RZL builds genuine trust and credibilitythe role that storytelling plays in the RZL experienceThought leadership in B2B is so often a badging exercise, consisting of a few hastily-trotted-out reports with a foreword from the company’s CEO. So if you want a bagful of tips on how to build a true thought leadership platform, get your ears around this episode.
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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Whenever the conversation at Shaped By HQ turns to our favourite B2B brands, the same one always crops up: Drift.

This unapologetically bold SaaS startup broke all the moulds when it created the category of Revenue Acceleration, and launched a vibrant and expressive new visual identity last year. So we were stoked when Andrea Carrillo, the firm’s Associate Creative Director, agreed to jump into the Changemakers hot seat and give us the inside story on Drift’s creative ethos.

Originally from Colombia, Andrea and her family moved to New York as a child. Her parents - both engineers - landed jobs in the Big Apple, which sparked a keen interest in tech from an early age. This was matched by an equally enthusiastic passion for design when she joined a high school class that was effectively a mini creative agency for community projects.

Dave chats with Andrea about how those influences shaped Andrea’s career and led to her becoming a creative leader at one of the SaaS world’s most recognised and loved brands.

They also discuss:
why internal creatives should think more like marketers to understand business goals and objectivesthe value of having a creative team that has a voice in conversations across the businesshow to retain the essence of a strong brand, and still be able to evolve and progress as the company growsthe influence of Drift’s founders David Cancel and Elias Torres on the brand’s creative expressionhow their background as Latinx founders is so inspirational to Andrea as a member of the Latinx community.Find out more about Drift on their site, and follow Andrea on LinkedIn here.
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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How can the application of creativity enhance product marketing?
If there’s one thread that’s been running consistently through the 29 previous episodes of The Changemakers, it’s that product marketing is the unsung hero of B2B tech business growth.

All of our guests who have spent time in PMM roles have said that time was invaluable to their success. Many product marketers go on to have successful leadership careers. So when the time finally came for a discussion on creativity in product marketing, we knew exactly who to call on.

Shobhana Viswanathan is a Silicon Valley-based chief marketing officer who has held numerous product marketing and B2B marketing executive roles at companies including IBM, Oracle/Sun, VMware and Automation Anywhere and startups.

Shobhana started her career as a developer but found her true calling post-MBA at advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather. That stint in advertising and persuasive copywriting paid future dividends by allowing her to translate complex technical concepts into business benefits to help companies scale.

Listen as Dave and Shobhana dive into:
Why creativity is vital to product marketing, from campaign design to human-centric copywriting and messagingWhy nailing product marketing is especially crucial for category creatorsWhy product marketers’ skillsets make them perfect candidates for CMO positionsHow to use data to enhance your stakeholder management…and much more besides.

Shobhana is the host of a great podcast on the future of work called The Change Alchemist, which is wonderful listening.

Check it out here, and go connect with/follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter.
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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