The Revenue-Driven CMO Chris Mechanic

Today’s guest is a visionary and motivational leader who has won multiple awards, including the 2022 Washington Business Journal Women Who Mean Business Honoree, 2022 Bronze Stevie Winner for Marketing Executive of the Year, and was recognized as a 3-time Star CMO by DCA Live, most recently in 2021.





She is a Member Of The Board Of Advisors for Media4Math and is a Founding member of Chief, a private membership network for senior executive women.





Krystal Putman-Garcia is the Senior Vice President, CMO, & GM of Community of FiscalNote.









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Krystal joins Host Chris Mechanic to discuss the game of marketing, how effective CMO’s solve GTM problems, and the importance of being an advocate for your customer.













Takeaways:







* When joining a new organization as a marketing leader, many marketers think of themselves as a branding specialist or a demand generation specialist, however the CEO wants you to think bigger picture as a leader.





* Effective CMOs are able to work well within the entire organization, create influence, and align themselves with the corporate objectives. CMO’s must be the bridge between company goals and customer need and ensure alignment between the two.





* Rather than leaning on your own technical skills as the CMO it’s much better to hire the best possible people to address technical aspects. This allows you to focus on aligning the vision across the organization.





* When solving GTM (Go-To-Market) problems for your company, start by asking what specific problem you are gtrying to solve. Without aligning on the problem, leadership will apply disparate strategies without having a clear idea of what success looks like.





* Once determining the GTM problem your company needs to solve, the next decisions are around defining your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), identifying which products you need to sell, and finally how to focus in on one niche.





* Think about everything you do from the customers’ perspective. For example, before sending an email to a customer, send it to your personal email so you can get the full customer experience.





* It’s important as a leader to have the humility and self-awareness to know when you’re stressed out and when you need a break. When this happens, make sure to let your team know, because it lets them know it’s ok not to be perfect all the time.







Quote of the Show:







* “If you aren’t taking a position as your customer and thinking about the experience as your customer, then you’re not doing your job.” – Krystal Putman-Garcia







Links:







* LinkedIn





* Company website







Shoutouts:







* Thomas Barta





* The Secret Life of Water by Masaru Emoto





* East of Eden by John Steinbeck





* Silas Marner by George Eliot





* The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas







Ways to Tune In:







* Amazon Music

Today’s guest is a long-time sales and marketing leader with over three decades of experience at really cool companies like Altiris, InsideSales.com, and Cybersource. Jeff Fowler is the Vice President of Global Marketing and Demand Generation at Tradeshift.









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Jeff joins Host Chris Mechanic for a great discussion of the negative impact of subjectivity in decision-making, why marketing and sales alignment is critical, and how to lead a global marketing team.













Takeaways:







* When leading marketing meetings, do whatever you can to reduce subjectivity in the discussion. Keep the decision focused on the data and the goal while eliminating opinions as much as possible.





* When you are able to remove subjectivity from a decision, you will be able to reach a decision faster and it will more than likely be the right decision to reach the intended outcome.





* A key factor in limiting the influence of subjectivity is how well you compile your data and how clearly you present that data. Without a strong presentation of the data, its impact can be lost and it is often disregarded in favor of someone’s opinion.





* Informed marketing decisions require accurate, up-to-date data to be provided by the marketing operations team. That data should be the driving force behind marketing discussions.





* Companies with SaaS products should build a partner ecosystem that enables them to find synergistic relationships with their partners to the point where their combined efforts produce greater outcomes than either could alone.





* Although it requires effort, one of your top priorities as a marketing leader is to ensure alignment between the SDR (Sales Development Representatives) team, the marketing team, and the sales team. Find and fix the issues they face from working with each other.







Quote of the Show:







* “We’re literally a global team and I love getting together with my team on Zoom calls to wrap on what we’ve got coming up and what’s going on from a marketing perspective” – Jeff Fowler







Links:







* LinkedIn





* Tradeshift website







Shoutouts:







* Avinash Kaushik





* Multipliers by Liz Wiseman





* Good to Great by Jim Collins





* Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty







Ways to Tune In:







* Amazon Music





* Apple Podcast





* Spotify





* Google Podcast





* iHeart





* a href="https://www.listennotes.

This amazing guest is a driver of change who has over 20 years of experience leading both strategic and tactical Marketing efforts at companies like Staples, ConstantContact, Localytics, and Mindbody. Josh Todd is the CMO of SevenRooms and was named a Top 20 CMO by VentureBeat.









Book a 30 minute call Blog posts are great! But sometimes, it’s just easier to talk it out.

Reserve 30 minutes with a strategist and get 30 hours worth of value. Book a call











Josh joined Host Chris Mechanic to break down how to prioritize your marketing spend in the current economy, why measuring outcomes is more important than measuring activities, and how to build support within the C-suite.













Takeaways:







* That idea you think you absolutely need to do, may not be as important as you think and there is still time to come back from the brink. For example, you might think that your company needs to go totheindustry event, however, if you really look into it, you might realize it’s less critical and that those dollars could be better spent elsewhere.





* In the current business climate, there’s a focus on profitability over just growth, given that money available to borrow or invest is more expensive. Businesses and marketing leaders have to make hard decisions about where to invest their budget.





* As a business matures, it undergoes a natural cycle between the business experiencing growth and profitability. Because of current economic conditions, many marketers are feeling a strong swing toward needing to show profitability, which is behind the ever-present ideology of ‘doing more with less.’





* It’s important to distinguish between measuring marketing activities (what you’re doing) and measuring outcomes (what you’re achieving) to ensure a clear understanding of how marketing contributes to the organization.





* When taking big swings or making significant changes in marketing strategies and tactics, it’s crucial to have patience and remain committed to seeing the results over time. Short-term evaluations may not provide a complete picture of the efficacy of the new initiatives





* To gain the support of C-suite members who might not fully understand the nuances or expectations of marketing, start by building trust with colleagues at various levels within the organization, demonstrate value through smaller initiatives, and gradually expand.





* Effective marketing often depends on alignment with the sales team. It’s essential to consider the sales organization’s needs, strategies, and capabilities when planning marketing efforts. Find what you can do to work better with them and increase close-rates.







Quote of the Show:







* “The better you understand how you’re driving your revenue and the better you understand where to test, the more opportunities you’re going to have to take various swings.” – Josh Todd







Links:







* LinkedIn





* Company website







Ways to Tune In:







* Amazon Music





* Apple Podcast





* a href="Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OCuYchAG8TlGv82YARRhy?

This incredible guest has nearly two decades of experience in government technology marketing leadership across multiple verticals. They were recently recognized as WashingtonExec’s 2023 Chief Officer Award finalist for CMO of the year. Sarah Kim is the Chief Marketing Officer at Iron Bow Technologies and a Federal Partner Advisory Board Member at Dell Technologies.









Book a 30 minute call Blog posts are great! But sometimes, it’s just easier to talk it out.

Reserve 30 minutes with a strategist and get 30 hours worth of value. Book a call











Sarah joins Host Chris Mechanic to share the five keys to nunchi, how to use emotional intelligence to improve your marketing campaigns, and the importance of spending time in person with your customers.













Takeaways:







* Nunchi is a Korean word that refers to your ability to see and feel emotions, moods, body language, and verbal & nonverbal cues. A good English equivalent is the idea of EQ or emotional quotient.





* Emotional Intelligence is not just the awareness of how others are feeling, it is also the ability to take that awareness and turn it into action immediately. For example, it is your ability to take in non-verbal cues and pivot your behavior in response to someone else.





* There are 5 parts to Nunchi, the first of which is prioritizing your self-awareness. This is at the heart of Nunchi. If you don’t actually understand your own motivations and behaviors, it’s impossible to understand others.





* The second part is to focus on your customers’ emotional motivators. You must keep their pain points in sight. Your campaign messaging, visuals, and approach need to be grounded in your customers’ emotional motivators.





* The third aspect is to use plain language. While big words might matter to internal stakeholders, your customers don’t care. Don’t assume your customers are well-versed in the technical language of their problem or your solution. 80% of people scan text, while only 16% actually read word-by-word.





* Becoming the “trusted advisor” within a niche or industry is achieved by being approachable by speaking and writing in plain language.





* The fourth part is “Zooming Out.” Look at things from many points of view, such as the perspectives of your customers, channel partners, board of directors, employees, etc. This will give you a more holistic view which will help you identify blind spots.





* The fifth part is to meet people where they are. Pay attention to how your customers are consuming information and how they want to be engaged.







Quote of the Show:







* “If you don’t actually understand your own motivations and behaviors, it’s impossible to understand others. So that’s step one in achieving a strong nunchi.” – Sarah Kim







Links:







* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahckim/





* Company website: https://ironbow.com/ 







Shoutouts:







* Tiffany Bova: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanibova/ 







Ways to Tune In:







* Amazon Music: https://music.

Today’s guest is a marketing speaker and author who worked his way up through the New York City advertising scene. He’s been featured in AdAge, Forbes, CMO.com, and Fast Company. Jeff Perkins is the CMO of Greenlight Guru and Author of How Not to Suck at Marketing.









Book a 30 minute call Blog posts are great! But sometimes, it’s just easier to talk it out.

Reserve 30 minutes with a strategist and get 30 hours worth of value. Book a call











Jeff joins Host Chris Mechanic to share the importance of getting quick wins right out of the gate, how to reshape your content to land more logos, and why un-gating your content is the key to getting prospects to come back for more.













Takeaways:







* When stepping into a new marketing role, focus on quick wins! Instead of diving into big, time-consuming projects such as a website overhaul or full rebrand, start by identifying and implementing small, impactful initiatives that can build credibility and show results quickly.





* Build credibility with the executive team: Prioritize building trust and credibility with the executive team by delivering quick wins and demonstrating your competence as a marketer.





* Find the “watering holes” in your industry, such as key platforms, websites, or publications where your target audience gathers to learn about products or services in your industry. Establish a strong presence in these watering holes to increase visibility and credibility.





* Implement retargeting campaigns across multiple platforms to reach potential customers who have already visited your website. This cost-effective strategy can help increase brand visibility and engagement.





* Tailor your content strategy to focus on the needs and challenges of larger companies in your industry. This shift can help attract and engage more enterprise-level customers.





* Create a tool or calculator that helps prospects quantify the return on investment they can expect from your product or service. This can be a powerful sales enablement tool, especially in a challenging economic climate.





* Ungate most of your content to reduce friction for prospects. Only gate content that is highly valuable or requires additional contact information for lead generation purposes. Provide prospects with a wealth of informative and valuable content on your website.





* Design your website to serve as a virtual salesperson, providing prospects with all the information they need to make informed decisions this creates a self-guided buyer journey. Offer a choose-your-own-adventure journey that allows prospects to explore content and resources at their own pace.







Quote of the Show:







* “The key to the success I’ve had at different companies has been the quick win strategy” – Jeff Perkins







Links:







* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffperkins1/ 





* Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeffperkins8 





* Company website: https://www.greenlight.guru/quality-management-software 





* How Not to Suck at Marketing: https://www.hownottosuckatmarketing.com/ 

Joining Host Chris Mechanic on today’s episode is a passionate, data-driven marketer with over 20 years of experience in marketing and communications. They’ve won 12 marketing awards including “The Innovator” award for the most creative use of Gong. Aviv Canaani is the VP of Marketing and Sales at Datarails.









Book a 30 minute call Blog posts are great! But sometimes, it’s just easier to talk it out.

Reserve 30 minutes with a strategist and get 30 hours worth of value. Book a call











Aviv shares how to make B2B marketing less boring, the nuances of creating funny content your prospects love, and the unique marketing opportunities that startups have in SaaS verticals.













Takeaways:







* Note to marketers: B2B content does NOT have to be boring. Even if the brand or product you’re working on growing seems boring, the content you create for your prospects should not be boring.





* Marketers need to avoid falling into the trap of only sharing standardized messaging or a limited palette of content formats.





* The key to getting your prospects excited about and engaged with your solution is to create fun and engaging content that your prospects want to give their attention to. Without this in mind, your marketing efforts become lost in the noise your prospects ignore every day.





* In order to earn your potential customer’s attention, what you create must be remarkable. For example, past Datarails’ content focused on highlighting product features, however, they have seen better ROI since building an internal media company to create amazing content. Datarails began producing memes that were relevant to professionals involved in FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis) in target companies.





* Maintaining a certain level of quality in the ads and content you create is very important because, according to Aviv, “you need to create content that is good enough that your employees really want to share it.” Oftentimes, marketers have to beg their own co-workers to share online. Once employees are sharing content on their own, you know that you’ve created good-quality content.





* Humor is not universal, meaning what is funny to you may not appeal to your ICP’s sense of humor. Achieving great results with content that is meant to be funny and relevant is reliant on how well you understand your audience.







Quote of the Show:







* “I’m a strong proponent of the fact that B2B doesn’t have to be ‘boring to boring’” – Aviv Canaani







Links:







* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avivcanaani/ 





* Twitter: https://twitter.com/avivdc 





* Company website: https://www.datarails.com/ 







Shout Outs:







* Jonathan Marciano – Director of Communications at Datarails – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-marciano-b9328a1b/ 





* Hod Sivan – Director of User Acquisition at Datarails – https://www.linkedin.com/in/hodsivan/ 







Ways to Tune In: