Content Pros Podcast

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Bethany Walsh, VP of Marketing at Alloy. Bethany identifies as an early stage marketer and has a lot of experience being the “first, second, or third” marketer at early stage companies. She likes to build, problem solve and scale companies. This is something that sounds appealing to a lot of people but Bethany knows it can be scary in practice marketing without much support, data or establishment. Alloy had raised 40 million in Series B funding before even bringing in any marketing support, so she had challenges in front of her when she took on the role. Today we discuss these challenges, along with the excitement and the opportunities of growing an early stage company. We also discuss brand tone and how you ensure it remains consistent throughout your organization.Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play! Key takeaways from this episode:When you’re marketing through a private equity

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Robin Daniels, CMO of Matterport. Robin has enjoyed an impressive career and earned the right to work with brands such as Salesforce, WeWork and Linkedin. The core threads that have tied his career together have been the pursuit of bringing people together through technology and working with tech and products that are taking off to shape their journey. As a marketing leader, he finds it easier to tell a human story around tech and products that are bringing people together and have a human element and knows that storytelling and messaging are key to product marketing.Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play! Key takeaways from this episode:It all comes down to the story you’re trying to tell in the market. Storytelling should be focused around making your product more human and more customer-centric. It should make you come across like you care about your customer’s story.You don’t h

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Allison MacLeod, EVP of Global Marketing at Flywire. Allison rose to her current role by constantly pursuing education and ensuring she was advocating for herself and putting her hand up for new opportunities. On this episode, we discuss her career journey and philosophies before diving into the true meaning of marketing globally and the perks and challenges of leading and marketing on a global scale. Flywire goes to market in verticals and takes a “squad based” approach that allows them to ensure they aren’t working in silos and ultimately, that everyone stays connected with Flywire’s overall goals and objectives.  Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  It’s important to always raise your hand to try things- learn more, be open more. Value growth in learning and being challenged.  Flywire’s approach to product and marketing comes down to one co

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Deborah Singer, CMO of Girls Who Code, a unique and groundbreaking non-profit organization focused on getting more girls into STEM-focused education and career paths. Though Deborah started her career in the tech/startup world before joining Girls Who Code, she said one of the things that attracted her to the company was how it is run a lot more like a startup than a non-profit: it’s fast-paced, fast-growing, agile and ambitious. She also understands the importance of working with great people and says that she has landed in most of her roles from a desire to work with passionate individuals who challenge and empower her.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:Girls Who Code is an organization marketing to both corporate sponsors and young girls-- they know they have to do this very differently, using different channels. It’s important to unders

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Rebecca Grimes, CMO at Ruby. Ruby is another company that had to quickly adapt their strategy and product offerings in order to find their footing and thrive through COVID-- and thrive, they did. Not only did Ruby’s team continue throughout the pandemic without laying anyone off, they actually brought on 200 new employees. Rebecca, who oversees both marketing and sales, said that they were able to do this by digging into data and creating customer profiles and products to align with the business segments that were still thriving. Adapting their business and understanding their buyer experience was integral to Ruby thriving in the “new abnormal”.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play! Key takeaways from this episode:  Marketing and sales should work hand and hand-- they should not be at odds. There should be no success you can celebrate that would not be a team success.  Staying

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Duri Alajrami, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Moneris. Duri immigrated from Dubai to Canada and built an impressive career and wonderful family life that align with each other and make him proud. Though he started his career agency side, he recognizes that the shift to digital means brands are building out their own digital teams, sectors and in-house digital agencies, in many ways, slowly rendering digital agencies more and more obsolete. On today’s episode, we discuss the prominence of digital, his career and personal life, and most importantly, the way he thinks of the buyer journey and sales funnel at Moneris, when the lines between B2B and B2C solutions for the company have become so heavily blurred.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  90% of Canadians start their buyer journey online (and one of the things they’re often looking

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Soraya Alexander,  SVP of Marketing and Customer Growth at Classy. Soraya has not had a traditional path to a senior marketing role. In her own words, her career has been a little “random” and all over the place, spanning PR, media, big business and marketing, and she says she still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up. But she is hungry to learn and ensures whatever role she is in, she is constantly learning so she takes something to her next role. In her current role at Classy, she is focused not just on customer acquisition but on customer retention and growth. Soraya knows that customer marketing is an undervalued tool that often allows for faster growth than customer acquisition.    Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  For 80% of your working days your job is to accumulate enough knowledge and experience as you can, and eve

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Samantha Goldman, VP of Marketing at breather. breather is a company that provides spaces for people to work, so during the pandemic, it’s been more important than ever for them to have a truly strategic marketing leader who knows her team has to be mobilized and able to work collaboratively--wherever they all may be. Before her time at breather, Samantha held senior marketing roles at Lyft and Castlight Health. In her current role she is working through the pandemic as breather iterates on their product offerings to keep people everywhere connected.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  Giving people access is the trait that all tech companies share. Whether it’s access to credit, transportation, healthcare or office space, technology exists to provide people with access.“When there’s a rocket ship you get on the rocket ship” even if it’s no

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Susanne Gurman, SVP of Marketing at SecurityScorecard. Susanne spent ten years working as a marketer at an established company, but eventually, despite what she had learned and the opportunities she had been afforded, she felt that she had taken the position to its ceiling and made the leap to leave the company. She did not have a job lined up when she left but took the time to rebrand herself and understand her goals before eventually joining the team at SecurityScorecard. On today’s episode we talk about the importance of being unafraid of failure, how to build your personal brand, and marketing tactics field marketers are exploring throughout the pandemic, with buyers becoming too “Zoom fatigued” to bother with virtual events.  Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play! Key takeaways from this episode: Field marketing has a reputation about being all about events, but there is more

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Rishi Dave, CMO at MongoDB. Rishi credits his time at Dell with shaping his journey to becoming a CMO. It’s where he worked his first marketing job, with a higher up eventually taking a chance on him and providing him with a platform to become the marketer he is today. In his current role, Rishi knows that the success of his company is built on two things: a great product and a great go-to-market strategy. On today’s episode, we chat through the particulars of the different types of go-to-market strategies, what it’s like working at a high growth company, and relying on your wife to help you take time off.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  Answering to a board can seem scary but your board just wants you to succeed in driving growth for the company. Focus on working with your team to drive growth and communicating effectively with the boa

Because there are so many important roles and departments in marketing, it can be a bit too easy to think of things in silos. But today’s guest, Caleb Rubin understands that to be successful in our marketing, we need to ensure departments are working together, and think of things like brand story and data science synergistically, rather than in silos. Caleb Rubin is Head and VP of Marketing at EQ Bank, a digital first bank working to change banking to enrich customer lives by shifting financial and lifestyle value to them. Today we discuss Caleb’s career journey, the buyer journey at EQ Bank, and the importance of collaboration and synergy in marketing. Key takeaways from this episode: Your product is what you do or what you make but your brand is how people feel about what you do or make-- they are both equally important.In many ways, marketing for startups is about how you get people through the funnel with technology and tools rather than large scale  budgets.Good marketing teams are always focused on how

To many, it might seem like a bad move to hire someone good enough to replace us for fear of losing our jobs. But a true A Player knows that this just makes team members strive for excellence and that strong, dedicated employees should be hiring others just as good. Looking to the future is something today’s guest is more than familiar with. Not only has Mauricio Barberi acted as a fractional CMO and a consultant in a number of roles, he’s spent his career working with tech; originally as an engineer and eventually as a marketer. Just like the right team is important, so is the right tech-- though it’s important to focus on how the tech is serving us and what the tech can help us achieve, rather than just the tech itself. Key takeaways from this episode: We often think of fractional CMOs as “fixers” when really we should be thinking of them as people setting companies up for future success.The fear of hiring people as good as us is a broken system in business. It starts at the top: a true A player will hire A

Tangerine may have made strides in making banking “cool” by aligning themselves with brands like the Toronto Raptors, but is building a cool lifestyle brand enough? It may be for some, but not for everyone and a key part of every marketing strategy is understanding where to find your different customer segments and meeting them where they are. Some customers buy because a brand stands for something while others buy because a product fills their need. Brands that can achieve both can build even stronger bonds with their customers. On this episode of the Marketer’s Journey, Tangerine CMO Martin Fecko chats about how he got his start in the finance world, bringing banking and tech together, and achieving product market fit for Tangerine’s wide customer base. Key takeaways from this episode: When you’re starting your career, it’s important to leverage opportunities as they present themselves. Even if you don’t have a roadmap for where you want to land, utilize the chances you’re presented with and shape them into

Content encompasses more than just pretty videos and social posts-- it can be technical copy, sell-sheets, product manuals and more. Now more than ever, how we understand and consume content is undergoing significant changes-- it’s relevant to much more than top funnel and we need to make sure there’s consistency across all channels. Dayna Rothman is CMO at OneLogin, and a seasoned content marketer by trade. She knows that the role of a content marketer is not just to create content, it’s to think of the impact and role of that content and how it aligns to different stages of the buyer journey.  Key takeaways from this episode: Don’t discount your passion and your drive. It’s a key motivating factor on why people would hire you, even if you don’t necessarily have the right experience.Content marketing is definitely not the most direct route to becoming a CMO but content marketing skills are so unique and valuable. Focus on understanding demand generation and how your content drives results and you can be on t

Today’s guest Andrea Kayal asks an important question—is pipeline dead? Another way to put this is, what’s the benefit of tracking pipeline? Where does this data get us? And if we don’t track pipeline, how do we understand marketing’s contribution to the business? To Andrea, it’s important to keep metrics simple and tangible. Influence is important, but it’s even more important to understand what is driving sales. While multi-touch attribution is important, we can’t over justify every touch point because ultimately, every touchpoint extends your sales cycle.  Multi-touch attribution is great but ensuring as few touches as we can have is going to create a more efficient sales cycle and a more efficient company overall.Rather than tracking everything and pulling the numbers that make us look the best it’s important to look at the data behind successful sales cycles and figure out what led to the successes.There are benefits to marketing both “painkillers” and “vitamins.” With vitamins, you need to convince

Like many of the other 90s kids that taught themselves how to build websites before building websites was cool, Alex Schmelkin eventually grew up to run a web agency. This gave him a great perspective on what customers need in order to launch their digital initiatives and bring them to market. After decades in agency, Alex eventually went on to become CMO of Unqork. The important role of product in B2B marketing has never been lost on Alex. As CMO, though he is focused on his customer, refinement and excellence of his product is what helps him reach those customers. To him, they go hand in hand. He uses understanding of the commonalities in all of his customers to refine his product roadmap and drive solutions for his clients. Key takeaways from this episode: B2B marketing doesn’t have to be self-promotional and amidst a pandemic, it really should not be. It’s about communicating how your product can help your clients find solutions to their problems.When you’re creating a software and marketing to

Throughout her career, this week’s guest Melanie Marcus learned to pursue roles that gave her a bit more of what she liked and a bit less of what she didn’t. This philosophy eventually led her to become CMO at Surescripts where they’ve had to change their marketing mix from “very in person” to  “very digital”. Retooling her events team to develop new skills and execute on a wholly different strategy was a key reminder of something Melanie has known throughout her career -- it’s important to be constantly reinventing yourself. Key takeaways from this episode: Pivoting is a great opportunity to bring ideas to the floor-- but sometimes you don’t have the time. It’s important to ensure your team has the time and permission to bring more ideas to the table even amidst something like a pandemic.Marketers are typically the ones selling the company message, and as such, they need to believe in their company message to succeed. It’s important to love marketing, but believing in your company’s  valu

Leadership is something we talk about a lot, but according to Rossa, something that doesn’t get enough focus is followership. He knows that much of success can be about ensuring your boss looks good and is empowered to do the tough work. As a marketer, he understands the importance of marketing himself to ensure he is nurturing his professional connections, and categorizes people into two groups: radiators and drains. The people he seeks out for his team are radiators -- they are eager to learn, promote a positive atmosphere and remain nimble and adaptive through challenges. Rossa attributes some of his success to ensuring he makes a good impression with everyone he works with, whether it’s his boss, a peer or even a report. The world is small, the industry is smaller and he knows it’s not just about who you know, but also about who cares about you. While it’s clear that emotion and creativity are important in marketing, Rossa is also focused on ensuring that marketing is driving value and is solidified as a

Big business and startups may seem like two things that are mutually exclusive, but they don’t have to be, and according to this week’s guest, they shouldn’t be. Growing up, Jennifer Anaya, Ingram Micro’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, learned about the many facets of business over dinner with her entrepreneurial parents. It helped her learn about everything that went into running a business -- and ultimately where she wanted to fit. She’s carried this entrepreneurial mindset with her throughout her career because, from Jennifer’s perspective, entrepreneurship is defined by the ability to drive change. Jennifer describes herself as a “change agent” and she knows better than anyone that innovation can be just as important at large corporations as it is at growing startups.  Key Takeaways: People are attracted to startups because they can shape where the organization goes but you can also do this with larger organizations and it’s equally important to drive change to stay relevant.There have been

When it comes to content, we used to believe that if we built it, they would come, but with the amount of content our buyers need to sift through, we need to begin taking the approach of guiding our buyers to water before we can expect them to drink. On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, we discuss building content with context for our buyers, providing value to our shareholders and the importance of sales and marketing teams working hand in hand. Our guest Paul French is EVP & CMO at Axway, where he worked for several years before pursuing other opportunities at companies ranging from startups to larger organizations, eventually returning to Axway as CMO and having the unique opportunity to, in his words, fix problems that he may have even been the cause of, years ago. Paul is an advocate for marketing with authenticity and ensuring your buyer perspective is top of mind with everything you do. Key takeaways from this episode: Marketing starts with one thing: the customer perspective. This