Phil Carpenter, CMO at Alice Technologies, believes that being a category creator gives you a competitive advantage. It sets you apart from the pack and positions you as a thought leader, creating new opportunities across the board, including the most highly competitive industries.

"Even if you're not creating a new category, push for novelty and innovation. Be interesting, take risks, and break the glass ceiling. Don't be afraid to stand out and be different in your industry." - Phil Carpenter

Phil explains how boring won't get you into conversations with your buyers. He advises B2B marketers to be bold and not run scared. Take risks, be interesting, and learn from your failures. 

"It's better to be ahead and push boundaries than to blend in with the competition." - Phil Carpenter

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Warren Zenna, founder and CEO of the CRO Collective, shares his perspective on the role of CMOs and the need for better integration between marketing and sales functions. He argues that the current organizational dynamics in B2B companies, with multiple C-suite executives, create silos and hinder alignment. 

"Pipeline and revenue growth are very inward-thinking goals. It's all about customer outcomes. Customers care about the experience that they have when they buy from you. There is much more purpose in focusing on outcomes." Warren Zenna

Warren proposes that a single person, the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), should oversee all revenue-generating functions, including marketing. He believes marketing should be more integrated into the revenue operation and that CMOs have an incredibly important role in helping the organization focus on customer outcomes versus pipeline growth. 

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In this episode, Karen Sage, a 5x B2B Chief Marketing Officer, discusses the evolution of content and introduces the concept of Content 3.0. She explains that content is becoming harder to differentiate and reach due to trends like ChatGPT and the impact of the deprecation of third-party cookies. To overcome these challenges, Karen suggests that companies shift their focus from content to community. 

"Content 3.0 is all about building authentic relationships and fostering discussions on trustworthy platforms. It's about creating a safe community where like-minded individuals can engage and share valuable insights." - Karen Sage

According to Karen, content is now the teaser, and community is the main event. Content serves as a way to establish and provide a platform for community engagement, where the real value lies.

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Ron Carson, a CMO, former founder, and Forbes Communications Council member with 25+ years of experience, shares his perspective on the critical role of a CMO and the importance of "just asking" customers for insights. He emphasizes the need for marketing departments to stay connected with customers and non-customers to understand their needs, motivations, and preferred channels of communication.  

"Without having regular customer conversations, you risk being untethered from our customer base." - Ron Carson

By having direct and ongoing conversations, marketing can align their content and messaging with the customer journey, uncover blind spots, and ensure a positive customer experience that directly impacts renewals, referrals, cross-sells, and upsells. Ron encourages CMOs to prioritize customer conversations that drive success at all levels. 

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Despite being bootstrapped, Kenneth Burke, the VP of Marketing at TexRequest, discusses the value of content marketing as a cost-effective strategy. While it required time and effort, it allowed them to build a reputation, attract qualified traffic, and serve as sales enablement tools.

"Look at your startup, resources, or time limitations as opportunities and reframe them." - Kenneth Burke

Kenneth emphasizes the importance of putting oneself in the customer's shoes and creating content that would be genuinely helpful to them, even beyond the solutions surrounding your company.

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Alex Shevelenko, CEO of RELAYTO, a content experiences company, discusses how content experiences can revolutionize how businesses engage with their customers. By transforming static content into dynamic and interactive experiences, businesses can create a more immersive and personalized journey for their audience. 

"In the world of modern consumerism, people want to interact. They don't want to hear a lecture. The interesting thing is how do you use AI? How do you use digital tools to create an interactive experience for your customers that makes them experience emotions, move forward with ideas, implement something, and make it their own?" - Alex Shevelenko

In this podcast interview, Alex explains how businesses can enhance credibility and engagement by including multimedia elements and authentic voices. Content experiences are crucial in creating differentiation and delivering impactful messages. The future of marketing lies in the ability to create compelling and interactive experiences that resonate with customers and drive meaningful outcomes.

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According to Jill Tygh, VP of Marketing at Data Cubed Health, trust is the key to creating a successful relationship between marketing and sales. Both teams need to understand that they are working towards the same goal and that they can rely on each other for support. Jill's secret sauce is building trust and having sales rely on her and the marketing team.

"Trust with the sales team is required. You're not getting near a customer call with them if they don't trust you." - Jill Tygh

Jill has an uncanny ability to create trust with sales, be welcomed onto sales calls, and, as a non-threatening marketing representative, can provide valuable insights and ask questions that salespeople can't, uncovering hidden challenges or opportunities. How does she build enough trust and respect to sit side-by-side with sales on their calls? Dive into this episode now.

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Jim discusses how the landscape of content creation is evolving. With the rise of language model AI, marketers need to adapt their strategies to ensure AI-powered search engines discover their content. By structuring data and training AI models, marketers can provide their audience with personalized and contextually relevant content.

"You can train AI language models on specific topics; marketers can create personalized conversations with customers. This will revolutionize how we build brands, thought leadership, search, and provide more specific results for buyers." - Jim McNiel

Jim emphasizes that the implications of AI in marketing are vast. It has the potential to automate operations, personalize customer experiences, and predict customer needs.

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Today’s guest is Polo Aristoy, an experienced marketing professional with a unique background in both B2C and B2B. He has worked as an analyst and consultant for companies like Procter & Gamble and Nielsen. He has also served as the CMO of a professional soccer team and has worked with FinTech companies in the B2B world. 

"The adherence and dedication of a company to content becomes a muscle in the company and used internally by every salesperson, copywriter, and every employee within the company to slowly start developing that storytelling muscle, and it becomes then easier and more of a commonality and a common practice." - Polo Aristoy

In this podcast interview, Polo sheds light on the complexities of B2B marketing and the need for more emotion. B2B marketers must prioritize brand, develop their storytelling muscle, and create a consistent and impactful message throughout the customer journey.

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Maria Osipova, CMO at Penny AI, discusses the role of AI in marketing and how it can augment, rather than replace, marketing teams. She emphasizes the need for marketers to understand the different subsets of AI and to start small by identifying areas where AI can improve efficiency and output.

"AI is like 10, 15 different technologists with different capabilities, different risks and limitations." - Maria Osipova

Maria shares examples of how AI has been applied in marketing departments, from generating content to optimizing websites, assisting with strategic decision-making, and more. She also highlights the importance of asking specific, well-structured questions to get the best results from AI tools.

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