Category: Interviews

3 Savvy CMOs Share SaaS Marketing Secrets

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

SaaS is a 145 billion dollar industry that touches almost every aspect of our work lives. Even this podcast is brought to you by SaaS—a collection of 7+ tools to record, publish, and house countless marketing insights.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a successful software product right now that isn’t either fully SaaS or migrating to it. There are 35,000 SaaS products from over 15,000 companies competing in over 740 vertical markets, which means there’s a noteworthy number of CMOs out there navigating a competitive market with massive growth potential. To help us understand what makes SaaS marketing such a distinct challenge are CMOs Grant Johnson of Emburse, Ali McCarthy of Skience, and former CMO of Bynder, Andrew Hally (he’s now CMO at Markforged). Tune in to hear how these CMOs have navigated the choppy waters of marketing SaaS and how they are using their past experiences to inform future decisions.

What you’ll learn:

  • How to stand out as a SaaS brand in a competitive market
  • The differences in marketing SaaS versus non-SaaS products
  • How to lower the barrier to trial and put the “service” in SaaS

Resources Mentioned

Honing Your Decision-Making Chops for 2022

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

Decisions, decisions. We encounter them every day. Like whether to snooze your alarm one more time. What way to make your eggs in the morning. Whether or not your B2B brand strategy is in need of a revamp. Yes, some decisions are much more difficult than others, and in this episode, we’ll be discussing how to make great ones with CMOs Jennifer Davis of LEARFIELD and Jon Miller of Demandbase, as well as special guest Professor Kimberly Whitler of UVA’s Darden School of Business.

Tune in while we cover how to conquer decision making (Hint from Jennifer: Decisions are a starting line, not a finishing line). From brand positioning to ABX to taking a stand, this is a great episode for marketers looking to grow more confident in decisions big and small. Check it out!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How to make great personal and professional decisions
  • How to apply this to brand positioning, ABX strategy, etc.
  • Lessons learned from great and not-so-great decisions

Structuring the Ideal B2B Marketing Department

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

B2B success starts with carefully considered organizational design. Whether strategically allocating budget and staff across multiple marketing functions or managing a growing MarTech stack, organizational design is no easy task. In this episode, CMOs Kathie Johnson of Talkdesk, Anna Griffin of Smartsheet, and Melanie Marcus of Surescripts discuss how they’ve structured their marketing teams for today and tomorrow, aligning to C-Suite expectations and adapting to both predictable and unexpected change.

Be sure to tune in to learn how the right B2B marketing structure can align Sales and Marketing teams, grow revenue, and transform marketing into an integral part of a B2B brand (and why DE&I should be a priority for building marketing teams). Check it out!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How 3 B2B CMOs structure their marketing organizations
  • How to optimize staffing resources to align Sales and Marketing
  • Why DE&I should be a priority for leaders

How to Get More Women in the C-Suite

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

There are 50 honorees listed in TopRank’s 2020 installment of Influential Women in B2B Marketing Who Rocked, and in addition to these amazing leaders, we at Renegade know that there are countless others worth celebrating for their contributions to marketing in the B2B world.    

This episode comes from our recent livestream show on the subject, featuring LogRhythm CMO Cindy Zhou, Skillsoft CMO Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek, and Charlene Li, the founder of Altimeter, author of The Disruption Mindset, and one of the women on TopRank’s aforementioned list.

Tune in to hear these inspiring leaders and role models share all about what it means to be a woman in the C-Suite, what progress still needs to be made, and how we can all work together to get there.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • What we can learn from women in leadership
  • How to be intentional about gender equality, intersectionality, and more
  • What aspiring leaders should know right now

Salesforce CMO on the Power of Purpose

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

After nearly 7 years with Salesforce, 2.5 of which she served as CMO, Stephanie Buscemi announced on Twitter that she’s saying goodbye. The 100+ (and counting) responses to her announcement have been overwhelmingly positive—a testament to her inspiring, compassionate leadership and her trailblazing, marketing-led initiatives for the cloud-based software powerhouse.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Stephanie a few weeks ago, so this outpouring of admiration is no surprise to us. Her success epitomizes the core values that Salesforce has upheld from its start 21 years ago. In this episode, Stephanie shares just what it means for B2B brands that are committed to a capital-P Purpose, and why we truly believe that CMOs can change the world for the better. Tune in to hear how Salesforce has brought its values to life over the years, how said values informed their customer-first response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Why Salesforce is dedicated to its values
  • Why CEOs need to take B2B brand purpose seriously
  • How B2B brands can make the world better

The Big Pivot for 2021? Category Creation!

Posted on by Melissa Caffrey

Anthony Kennada knows a thing or two about ANA’s 2020 word of the year: “Pivot.” In just 4 years, Anthony “pivoted” from Business Development Associate (BDA) at Box to CMO of Gainsight—an astounding feat for any marketer—and during his 6 years at the startup, he helped establish a category, growing the brand from $0 to over $100 million in revenue.

Now, he’s at Front, a start-up customer communication hub with a high-level story to tell. In this episode, Anthony shares how his experiences at Gainsight have informed his community-building, demand-generating efforts at Front—from how to develop a long-term, growth-focused brand strategy to how to bring employees, customers, and prospects together under one purpose-driven cause. Check it out!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How Gainsight became a leader in customer success
  • What it means to produce high-quality content
  • How Front built its brand