The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)

#118: Marketing Leadership | How to align sales and marketing, why messaging matters over everything, and a new way to compensate marketing leaders (with Brian Kotlyar, VP of Marketing and Growth at Hightouch)


Listen Later

This week, Dave is joined by Brian Kotlyar. Brian leads Marketing and Growth at Hightouch and previously led teams at Sprinklr, Intercom, and New Relic. He shares his perspective on

  • Aligning revenue teams toward common goals
  • The importance of an effective messaging strategy
  • Prioritizing numerous ideas from CEOs
  • A high-reward compensation approach

Timestamps

  • (00:00) - - Performance metrics and career motivation
  • (07:05) - - Understanding customer needs
  • (10:29) - - Personal growth and getting recognition
  • (12:47) - - Aligning goals and compensation
  • (16:29) - - Higher earnings through higher risk
  • (18:12) - - Aligning compensation to reality
  • (21:24) - - The supply chain stages and revenue generation
  • (30:29) - - Product marketing and brand management
  • (32:30) - - Creative messaging
  • (38:33) - - Understanding the managers’ mindset in crisis
  • (41:53) - - Challenges of managing a startup
  • (43:46) - - Managing content effectively
  • (46:59) - - Sales enablement
  • (49:24) - - Becoming a valued expert and resource in a business
  • (52:33) - - The unpredictability of creative inspiration

  • Send guest pitches and ideas to [email protected]
    Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
    Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
    Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership

    ***

    Today’s episode is brought to you by Walnut.

    Why are we pouring all this effort into marketing just to push buyers to a “request a demo” or “contact sales” button?

    Come on, today’s buyers don’t want to talk to sales right away. They want to explore your product themselves, see how it works, and understand its value before booking a meeting.

    That’s where Walnut comes in.

    Walnut empowers marketers and GTM teams to create interactive, self-guided product experiences in minutes. Embed these experiences on your site, in emails, or anywhere in your funnel to let buyers engage on their terms, from awareness to close and beyond.

    That's the beauty of Walnut - you're getting a platform that your sales and CS colleagues can use to showcase the product too.

    And the best part? You get real intent data—see which features prospects love, where they drop off, and what’s actually driving pipeline. Demo Qualified Leads are the new MQL.

    Over 500 companies, like Adobe and NetApp, use Walnut to drive 2-3x higher website conversion rates and 7 figures in pipeline on a yearly basis. So do you want to drive more leads, shorten sales cycles, and actually show your product instead of hiding it behind another typical B2B CTA?

    Go check out Walnut.io. And if you tell them Dave from Exit 5 sent you, they'll build out your first demo for free!

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)By Dave Gerhardt

    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7

    4.7

    38 ratings


    More shows like The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)

    View all
    The Digital Marketing Podcast by Ciaran Rogers, Daniel Rowles and Louise Crossley

    The Digital Marketing Podcast

    114 Listeners

    The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast by Pat Flynn

    The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast

    3,447 Listeners

    Social Media Marketing Podcast by Michael Stelzner, Social Media Examiner

    Social Media Marketing Podcast

    1,440 Listeners

    The SaaS Podcast - SaaS, Startups, Growth Hacking & Entrepreneurship by Omer Khan

    The SaaS Podcast - SaaS, Startups, Growth Hacking & Entrepreneurship

    184 Listeners

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors by SaaStr

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

    178 Listeners

    Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips by Eric Siu and Neil Patel

    Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

    1,260 Listeners

    Noah Kagan Presents by Noah Kagan

    Noah Kagan Presents

    902 Listeners

    The CMO Podcast by vYve & Jim Stengel

    The CMO Podcast

    345 Listeners

    Creator Science by Jay Clouse

    Creator Science

    457 Listeners

    GTM Live by Passetto

    GTM Live

    201 Listeners

    The Marketing Millennials by Daniel Murray

    The Marketing Millennials

    147 Listeners

    Marketing Made Simple by Powered by StoryBrand

    Marketing Made Simple

    291 Listeners

    Marketing Against The Grain by Hubspot Media

    Marketing Against The Grain

    353 Listeners

    Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson l Presented By Marigold by GURU Media Hub

    Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson l Presented By Marigold

    824 Listeners

    AI Explored by Michael Stelzner, Social Media Examiner—AI marketing

    AI Explored

    85 Listeners