174 The Modern CMO with David Keene

Sales Is King

The conversation between Dan Sixsmith and David Keene explores the state of B2B marketing today and the challenges faced by marketers. They discuss the importance of aligning sales, marketing, and customer success to provide a cohesive and integrated experience for buyers. They also touch on the impact of AI in marketing and the need for more practical use cases. David shares his career journey and highlights the skills required for modern CMOs, including being a people person, having technical knowledge, and being able to navigate various aspects of marketing. In this conversation, Dan and David discuss the challenges and importance of the modern CMO, the balance between brand development and demand generation, the power of storytelling and personal branding, and the value of hiring diverse talent. They also touch on the influence of mentors and the need to give young people a chance. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the need for CMOs to have a deep understanding of various disciplines, the importance of building a strong brand and culture, and the significance of connecting with customers through authentic storytelling.

Takeaways

Aligning sales, marketing, and customer success is crucial for providing a cohesive and integrated experience for buyers.

The gap between sales and marketing is a major challenge in B2B marketing.

AI in marketing has a lot of hype, but practical use cases are still limited.

Modern CMOs need to be people-oriented, have technical knowledge, and be able to navigate various aspects of marketing.

Metrics in marketing should focus on meaningful data and not just vanity metrics. The modern CMO needs to have a deep understanding of various disciplines and be able to go sufficiently deep across many areas.

Balancing brand development and demand generation is crucial, and metrics should focus on the entire customer journey rather than just clicks and conversions.

Storytelling is a powerful tool in marketing, and brands should focus on developing narratives that resonate with their target audience.

Personal branding is important for marketing and sales professionals, as it helps establish credibility and thought leadership.

Hiring diverse talent and giving young people a chance can bring fresh perspectives and energy to a team.

Mentors play a pivotal role in career development, and it's important to seek guidance from experienced professionals.

Sound Bites

"The big trend of super successful organizations is getting marketing and sales to ride together."

"You have to adopt a revenue operations model where you're looking at, look, what's our pipe look like six, nine, 12 months out?"

"For a business to be successful, your customers have got to love you."

"Either go for design and narrative and use focus groups and those kinds of things, or go for metrics that actually take you right through the funnel on a journey rather than just a click to cash kind of thing."

"The great organizations are the ones where there is an understanding of the power of brand, the power of the values under the organization, the power of the intangible things the organization does, as well as the brand, as well as the demand and growth pieces."

"Digital is failing in many areas. The internet's dying in lots of places and where it's strong is where you've got a real world analog pull and then a digital side to it as well."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and State of B2B Marketing

01:27 The Importance of Aligning Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success

11:36 Moving Beyond Vanity Metrics in Marketing

26:38 The Skills Required for Modern CMOs

30:20 The Challenges and Importance of the Modern CMO

33:15 Balancing Brand Development and Demand Generation

36:39 The Power of Storytelling and Personal Branding

45:29 The Value of Hiring Diverse Talent

53:57 The Influence of Mentors