In this episode, Dave sits down with Melton Littlepage, CMO at 1Password, to discuss how he’s transforming a well-known consumer brand into a B2B category leader in cybersecurity. With decades of experience in SaaS marketing, Melton shares insights on category creation, demand generation, and the intersection of brand and product marketing—and why being the leader in your space matters more than perfect attribution.
Dave and Melton cover:
- Why category leadership is critical and how to position your company as #1
- How enterprise marketing, brand-building, and demand gen work together to drive growth
- How 1Password is expanding beyond password management to create a new category
Timestamps
- (00:00) - – Intro to Melton
(06:30) - – The evolution of marketing from demand gen to category creation(09:39) - – The balance between data-driven marketing and brand-building(11:13) - – Why attribution alone won’t make your company “hot”(11:46) - – The importance of category leadership and market perception(13:58) - – How 1Password is shifting from password management to Extended Access Management (XAM)(16:22) - – How COVID changed the cybersecurity landscape(18:35) - – Why legacy security tools aren’t enough for modern businesses(21:05) - – The role of category creation in defining 1Password’s future(22:20) - – Naming and positioning a new category (Extended Access Management)(23:59) - – The risks and rewards of category creation vs. competing in an existing space(26:03) - – Why CISOs are hesitant to be early adopters—and how to shift buyer perception(29:18) - – The strategy behind creating demand for a new category(31:15) - – Lightning strike moments and big brand plays for category awareness(33:54) - – Structuring a marketing team to support both enterprise and self-service growth(37:48) - – Balancing B2B and consumer marketing(41:13) - – Why 1Password invested in sports sponsorships(44:10) - – The power of emotional marketing and brand trust in enterprise sales(46:57) - – Thought leadership and analyst relations in shaping a category(48:19) - – Final takeawaysSend 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 spending all this time on marketing… just to push buyers to a “Request a Demo” button? Even if they’re interested, no one wants to click that. No one wants to “talk to sales.” They just want to try the product for themselves!
Good news: now they can - with Walnut.
Walnut is the interactive demo platform for marketers who are done hiding their product and want to put it front and center.
You can build guided, self-serve demos in minutes. No engineers. No developers. No waiting. Embed them on your site. Drop them in emails. Let buyers explore your product on their terms - at any stage of the funnel.
And the best part? You get the data. See what features prospects are engaging with, where they drop off, and what’s actually driving pipeline.
500+ companies use Walnut - including Adobe and NetApp. Their teams save 400+ hours a year building demos… and have prevented over 1.5 million minutes of bad ones.
So if you want to drive more leads, shorten sales cycles, and actually show your product, go check out Walnut.io (and tell their team you heard about it on the Exit Five podcast!).