Author: Melissa Caffrey

The CEO relationship is one of if not the most important alliance in a CMO’s world. It’s not going to be easy to do your job if your CEO doesn’t have your back. It’s an especially tough job if one’s CEO doesn’t believe in (or understand) the power of marketing, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t learn.

In this episode, we’re airing three Q&As with three CEOs who know that marketing can transform B2B organizations into powerhouses: David Friend of Wasabi, Rana el Kaliouby of Affectiva (now Smart Eye), and Larry English of Centric Consulting. The panel convened during a Super Huddle (a bi-annual mega-huddle exclusively for our CMO Huddles community), and all three CEOs shared their perspectives on marketing and their relationships with their own CMOs.

Tune in for some wonderful insights, including tips for what makes a great brand, why diversity matters, and what trends we can expect in an increasingly digital world.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How 3 CEOs think about marketing
• Advice on how to foster a strong relationship with your CEO
• How CMOs can transform B2B organizations

A CMO doesn’t join a B2B organization to keep things the way they are, they join to lead that company into the next phase of growth. That’s the mindset that CMOs Noreen Allen (who recently stepped down after 10 years at Bandwidth) and Kevin Spurway of Similarweb have brought to their roles over the years, evidenced by the integral roles they’ve played in bringing companies public.

In this episode, Noreen and Kevin share what it takes to prepare for an IPO and what it feels like to ring that bell in Times Square after months of hard work. This discussion is not just for those CMOs getting ready for an IPO, either. It’s a call to action for marketing leaders to embrace the IPO mindset: where strong positioning, a cranking predictable revenue engine, and a healthy set of attribution metrics can fuel next-level growth.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How 2 CMOs took their companies public
• What CMOs need to prepare pre-IPO
• Why you should always act as if an IPO is coming

The road to true Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is not a destination, it’s a journey. It’s one that many B2B marketers have embarked on in the last year, and for the CMOs of CMO Huddles, it’s a priority. To help CMOs navigate that journey, we hosted a Bonus Huddle (re: a private panel and Q&A) on the topic with DEI experts Cassandra Blackburn of Sprout Social, Cory Haynes of Salesforce (at Talkdesk at the time of the huddle), and Elisa Vincent of Skillsoft.

The conversation was incredibly illuminating and insightful, so illuminating and insightful that we just had to turn it into an episode of Renegade Marketers Unite. In this episode, learn how 3 B2B organizations are making DEI real, where and how to recruit diverse talent, and how marketing leaders are advancing such initiatives with true allyship. Don’t miss it!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How 3 B2B organizations are driving DEI initiatives
• How to recruit and where to find diverse talent
• How to be a DEI ally

Webinar-itis. Virtual event absentia. Zoom gloom. Just a few of the pesky, present-day afflictions that pervade in an era of such rapid digital acceleration, where work-from-home is the norm and the return to physical events is still up in the air. As a result, B2B audiences are more discerning than ever.

It’s up to the savvy CMO to remedy this “digital fatigue” with high-quality experiences, and in this episode, CMOs Shirley Macbeth of Forrester, Paul Stoddart of Epicor, and Amanda Carty of Diligent share how they’re making it work. Tune in for a deep dive into driving digital engagement, with great tips on how to up your event game, coach virtual keynoters, mobilize employees across the organization, and more.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How 3 B2B CMOs are engaging digital audiences
• How to up your event game, and how to prepare virtual speakers
• How to mobilize employees to drive engagement and content