This episode features an interview with Kimberly Storin, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Zayo Group, a leading telecommunications company with a network that stretches over 16.8 million fiber miles and spans 141,000 route miles across North America and Europe. 
 

In this episode, Kimberly shares with us how she built an end-to-end marketing organization within Zayo and demonstrated the value of the marketing function, diving into expanding their buying committee and creating a “Shark Tank'' mindset where people share their best ideas. 

Key Takeaways

• Marketing can be  undervalued as a function and collaborating with C-suite peers is essential to a CMO’s ability to demonstrate their impact on revenue for the organization.
• At the end of the day, marketing needs to be the “voice of” and the “voice to” the market, and needs to avoid short-term, quarter-by-quarter thinking.
• There is value in shifting to a “Shark Tank mindset” and having people bring their ideas, then funding great ideas.

Quote:

“At the end of the day, we really just need to be the voice of and the voice to the market. If we're thinking about in-quarter revenue, we're not doing our job. Our job is to be thinking about the next quarter, next year, next five years, and how do we position the brand for the maximum growth efficiency. And yet so often I talk to CMOs who are stuck in this, well, what did you do for me this quarter? And if that's where marketing is focused, then marketing will never be successful.” 

Episode Timestamps:

*(03:43 ) - The Trust Tree: Expanding your buying committee 

*(15:19) - The Playbook: Investing in the top of the funnel

*(35:37) - The Dust-Up: Learning to have constructive conflict

*(39:01) - Quick Hits: Kim’s Quick Hits

Sponsor:

Pipeline Visionaries is brought to you by Qualified.com, the #1 Conversational Marketing platform for companies that use Salesforce and the secret weapon for pipeline pros. The world's leading enterprise brands trust Qualified to instantly meet with buyers, right on their website, and maximize sales pipeline. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.

Links

• Connect with Ian on LinkedIn
• Connect with Kimberly on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Zayo Group
• Learn more about Caspian Studios