The Best Practices for Bold Marketing Strategies, Learned from Marketo’s CMO

Guest: Sarah Kennedy Chief Marketing Officer, Marketo
April 19, 2018

Read the Interview

Marketo’s bold marketing strategies are well known across the marketing industry. For this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew interviews their CMO, Sarah Kennedy. He also introduces a new segment on the podcast, Renegade Rapid Fire, where listeners can get to know Sarah in an informative and engaging Q & A session. Discover her best advice for CMOs, why she chose a career in marketing and her recommendation for a book that will renew your courageous marketing spirit.

Sarah left a 10-year tenure at a previous company and leapt into a five-month interview process at Marketo in order to diversify her experiences and pursue bold marketing. She is passionate about building an empowered and talented team as well as removing the shackles of perfectionism that plague the marketing industry.

You don’t want to miss the insights Sarah brings from Marketo into this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. Discover why CMOs should be called to lead with conviction and the critical importance of risk-taking and experimentation through marketing.

This interview will unveil Marketo secrets that will push your own company to greater success. Click here to listen now.

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Why “fearless and bold marketing” is the mantra guiding Marketo into the future

When Sarah Kennedy joined the Marketo team, she immediately recognized the need to build a stellar team and fully understand the current Marketo brand story. Once she accomplished those tasks, she wanted to be able to have a single direction that would guide the company forward. That’s when “fearless marketing” was born. CMOs are born to lead, not waffle on ideas, and Sarah pursued fearless marketing relentlessly. She wanted to always circle back to customer engagement while also telling an even more powerful brand story that had been told in the past. Marketo has taken fearless marketing and turned it into an all-encompassing identity and even leadership summit events. Be sure to catch the full story on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite.

Learn from Sarah’s 15 years of experience at top marketing companies to discover what makes a fearless marketer

The definition of a “fearless marketer” is a CMO that is not afraid to experiment and take bold marketing risks. By setting aside fear of failure, CMOs are able to pursue THE idea they truly believe in. Fearless marketers aren’t afraid to experiment with platforms and strategies that other companies are ignoring. Bold marketing decisions, even if they fail by conventional standards, allow companies to learn and grow. Having the right infrastructure in place to be able to learn from mistakes is critical. Sarah shares all of this advice and more, so be sure to give this episode your full attention.

CMOs are called to lead with conviction and empower their teams to pursue bold ideas without fear of failure

Sarah believes that it is a moral imperative for CMOs to empower their teams to make bold marketing decisions. When Drew asks her about the most Renegade thing she’s ever done in marketing, she explains that it’s any time she steps up and serves as a voice for both the customer and her team. Sarah also explains that CMOs should never doubt their ability to succeed. This interview is filled with even more inspirational advice that will leave you hungry for success and it should not be missed.

What You’ll Learn

  • [0:30] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Sarah Kennedy, CMO of Marketo
  • [2:07] Drew gets to know Sarah through his new segment, Renegade Rapid Fire
  • [11:25] The most intriguing part of Marketo culture that drew Sarah in
  • [13:55] How the fearless mentality was created at Marketo
  • [16:53] Sarah’s definition of a fearless marketer
  • [23:20] CMOs are called to lead with conviction & stick to the ideas they truly believe in
  • [27:07] Content marketing and brand stories at Marketo
  • [32:54] Sarah’s final words of advice for CMOs
  • [34:19] Drew summarizes his conversation with Sarah Kennedy

Connect With Sarah Kennedy:

Resources & People Mentioned

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Meet the Guest

Sarah is Marketo’s chief marketing officer. She joined the company in October 2017, bringing with her nearly 15 years of technology marketing expertise.

Prior to Marketo, Sarah spent 10 years at Sabre Corporation, most recently as vice president, Global Marketing, and managing director, Digital Experience. In addition to being tapped to lead Sabre’s in-house interactive agency, Sarah served as CMO of Hospitality Solutions, the company’s fastest growing business unit, where she transformed the marketing organization into a global demand generation and growth engine. Sarah also spent nearly three years as the head of Sabre Labs, the travel industry’s first R&D and emerging technology incubator, where she forged landmark innovation partnerships to explore how emerging technologies can enhance the travel experience.

Sarah is a globally recognized thought leader on emerging technology, loyalty, and customer experience and sits on the boards of Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) and TECH Fort Worth, a nonprofit startup accelerator. She holds a BBA from Baylor University and an MBA specializing in marketing from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Quotes from Sarah Kennedy

  • Jump out of the plane and find your parachute on the way down.
  • Man, this is not one of those jobs that can be fully automated ever. At least not in my lifetime.
  • It was all about: "How do we start to take off the shackles of perfection in our industry?"

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