Author: Melissa Caffrey

Wearing the CMO+ hat rewires the role. You pick up a second lane, your calendar tightens, and perceptions shift from “just the marketer,” a label no one should wear, to business leader. 

The path is demanding, but when the plus lines up with company priorities and earns trust across the business, the impact is unmistakable.

In this episode, Drew sits down with Sandy Ono, EVP and CMO at OpenText, who leads global marketing across ten business units while also owning partnerships and alliances. She treats both as one go-to-market, aligning partners and the field around a single story, running the forecast together, and keeping a steady rhythm so co-selling and co-marketing stay aimed at the same targets.

Three Actions Behind Sandy’s CMO+ Success:

1. Mindset: Claim growth as the job and step closer to revenue through partnerships 
2. Skillset: Learn forecasting, deal construction, and the weekly rigor of partner sales 
3. Toolset: Build the operating rhythm that connects co-selling, co-marketing, and accountability at scale 

Plus: 

• How to choose a plus that aligns with company growth priorities 

• How to juggle both roles with capacity planning and clear priorities 

• How to protect brand integrity while telling a shared story with partners 

• How to measure progress with sourced pipeline, influenced revenue, retention, and feedback loops into product 

Weighing a plus or already living one? You’ll find proven moves here. 

If you’re a B2B CMO, you can meet Sandy and another 100 incredible marketing leaders at the CMO Super Huddle in Palo Alto, California on November 6th and 7th. She’ll be speaking on a panel about how CMOs are leading the charge with GenAI. 

“How are we going to show up in LLMs?” 

That’s the new CEO question keeping B2B CMOs on alert. 

As AI-powered search reshapes how buyers find answers, B2B brands need a new organic strategy—Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). In this episode, Drew Neisser brings together two AEO trailblazers: Guy Yalif (Webflow) and Omer Gotlieb (Salespeak). Together, they tackle what it really takes to earn your place in AI answers. Forget keyword stuffing—this is about understanding how LLMs ingest, rank, and cite information, and how B2B marketers can respond now.

You’ll learn how to earn placement in AI-generated answers by mastering the four pillars of AEO: 

1. Content: Answer real buyer questions clearly and concisely. 

1. Technical: Make your site machine-readable. 

1. Authority: Earn credibility where buyers AND models are looking. 

1. Measurement: Track share of voice across critical questions, then iterate.

Also in this episode: 

• What LLMs want—but often can’t find—on B2B websites 

• How to build a question-driven content strategy using sales calls, support tickets, and win-loss data. 

• Why share of voice (across buyer questions) is the new metric for AI visibility. 

• How to serve two audiences at once: humans and machines 

 Whether you’re losing traffic to AI summaries or just trying to future-proof your content strategy, this episode is your practical playbook for showing up when it matters most.

Join us at 2025’s CMO Super Huddle on November 7th in Palo Alto, where Webflow is a founding sponsor. In a panel on AEO, Guy will share how to get your brand found in AI-powered answers—plus, attendees will receive personalized AEO assessments. 

If you think AI is about flashy tools or abstract futures, think again. 

In this solo Huddles Quick Take, CMO Huddles founder Drew Neisser shares a pragmatic look at how B2B marketing leaders are actually using GenAI to drive results today—and what still gets in the way.

From nurturing “vibe coders” to prompt libraries to CFO briefings, Drew maps out four essential areas where GenAI is already reshaping the work of modern CMOs. Plus, he offers a sharp reminder: If you’re not leading the charge, someone else will.

What You’ll Learn: 

• 4 practical ways B2B CMOs are using GenAI now 

• The role of “marketing MacGyvers” in early adoption 

• Why GenAI rollouts fail without training and clear use cases 

• A smarter way to evaluate AI tools—without bloating your stack 

CMO tenure is a hot topic. Everyone wants to know the secret to staying power. 

One proven path is stepping out of the narrow marketing lane and showing up as more than the title suggests. Call it CMO+.   

The challenge is figuring out what your “plus” will be and how to put it into practice. 

To help you understand what CMO+ looks like in action, Nikhil Chawla (Resilience), Isabelle Papoulias (EliteOps), and Ali McCarthy (Amplify Your Voice Studio) share their own pluses, how they discovered them, and what changed when they leaned in. Each story is different, but the theme is the same: Credibility grows when CMOs contribute in ways that extend beyond marketing.

In this episode: 

• Nikhil on adding customer voice as his plus, linking post-sale and product, and feeding live feedback into roadmap and revenue calls. 

• Isabelle on bringing operations into marketing, using V2MOM to align goals, resources, and execution across sales, enablement, finance, and ops. 

• Ali on leading with emotional intelligence, coaching leaders to read the room, ease friction, and keep teams focused on the customer journey. 

Plus: 

• How to spot the plus that fits both your strengths and your company’s needs 

• Why credibility comes from saying yes to the right opportunities 

• The link between curiosity, influence, and long-term career resilience 

• How CMOs expand their impact without burning out

If you’re ready to grow your role beyond marketing, this one’s for you! 

Every CMO wants alignment with their CEO. But all too frequently, things go sideways. It turns into chasing growth at any cost, drowning in acronyms, or scrambling to justify marketing’s seat at the revenue table. What if the real secret isn’t louder advocacy, but clearer translation, seeing the world the way your CEO does? 

That’s the perspective Rohini Kasturi brings as CEO of HG Insights. Fresh off two bold acquisitions in just a few months, HG Insights is redefining revenue growth intelligence and giving CMOs a new way to frame growth, retention, and efficiency. Rohini’s advice: Stop playing defense on budget lines and start leading with business outcomes.

In this episode: 

• How CMOs can connect their work to the three CEO obsessions: Growth, retention, and efficiency 

• Why spotting churn signals early matters as much as chasing pipeline 

• What it takes to balance efficiency with agility… without cutting corners

Plus: 

• The role of revenue growth intelligence in shaping GTM strategy 

• How acquiring TrustRadius and MadKudu expands HG Insights’ platform 

• Why every marketing move should tie back to revenue, even on a longer timeline 

• What CMOs gain by learning to speak the language of the boardroom 

If you want to know how CEOs really think and how CMOs can match them step for step, this one’s for you!

BONUS: HG Insights is THE Official GTM Partner of CMO Huddles and one of the Founding Sponsors of the 2025’s CMO Super Huddle in Palo Alto. Rohini will join for a panel on The Future of GTM. With sharp strategic insight and deep empathy for the CMO’s ever-evolving role, Rohini offers a rare CEO perspective on what it takes to drive smarter, more connected growth in 2025 and beyond. 

Putting the customer at the center has been preached for years, yet too often, B2B marketers are told to chase net new logos and leave expansion for someone else. That approach leaves growth on the table. Delighted customers are your advocates, your storytellers, your engine for long-term success.

Every company says it listens to customers. In this conversation, Drew and guests Allyson Havener (HG Insights), JD Dillon (Tigo Energy), and Alan Gonsenhauser (Demand Revenue) show how listening turns into concrete action, how feedback becomes a system, and how customer voices drive lasting growth.

In this episode: 

• Allyson on how reviews, surveys, and customer spotlights at TrustRadius feed marketing and influence buying decisions early 

• JD on how Tigo’s Green Glove Program creates loyalty through installer support and a seal of quality 

• Alan on why retention is a financial driver CMOs must track as closely as revenue 

Plus: 

• Why framing churn as retention keeps teams motivated 

• How to bring the customer voice into leadership discussions 

• The metrics that capture customer impact, from adoption to earned growth 

• How to operationalize cross-functional alignment around the customer

Catch this episode to hear how customer voices shape strategy, culture, and growth.