Podcast appearances and mentions of bill macaitis

This episode features an interview with Bill Macaitis, Founder & CEO, SaaS CMO Pro, where he shares growth strategies for SaaS and AI companies. His past roles include CMO positions at Slack and Zendesk, and SVP of Marketing at Salesforce. Bill joins the podcast to discuss findings from a recent survey of over 300 B2B marketers that gives insights into marketing strategies and budgets. He shares what they learned about marketing versus sales budgets, the most common attribution model, and more. Key Takeaways:Companies that are growing the fastest, invest the most in marketing. While cause and effect of that correlation is unclear, it's an interesting finding. Pipeline generation was one of the most tracked metrics for CMOs, which is a nice move away from only looking at MQLs or leads. Unfortunately, awareness was rarely tracked, making it hard for marketing teams to invest in long-term initiatives. A lot of companies, 65 percent, continue to use first or last touch attribution models.  Quote:  So, what we learned is a lot of companies, I think especially in their earlier stages -  percent still use first- or last- touch.  It's kind of crazy. I'm still shocked by it.  I remember my time at Salesforce,  I was running the marketing ops team at that point, along with a couple other teams, and  I just did a deep dive into attribution. Like I really wanted to understand like, hey, how many touches are people having with us before they became a lead? And then how many touches before they became a customer? What we would see is people would have 10, 20, 30 interactions or touches with us before they became a lead, and then they'd have like another 20 or 30 before they became a customer. And just imagine giving all the credit to the very first or last thing. And by the way, it's one of the reasons Google got so big was because a very common last touch thing is they will search on your company name. Branded search, right? And it's like, oh, like the SEM guys are like, this is amazing, right? We need to spend more on Google because they're producing these massive deals. And it's like, well wait, what about all the stuff in the middle?Episode Timestamps: *(03:48) Marketing Strategies and Budgeting*(22:31) Attribution Models in Marketing*(26:44) Top Metrics for B2B SaaS and AI Companies*(31:06) Marketing's Role in Revenue and ExpansionSponsor:Pipeline Visionaries is brought to you by Qualified.com. Qualified helps you turn your website into a pipeline generation machine with PipelineAI. Engage and convert your most valuable website visitors with live chat, chatbots, meeting scheduling, intent data, and Piper, your AI SDR. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.Links:Connect with Ian on LinkedInConnect with Bill on LinkedInLearn more about SaaS CMO ProLearn more about Caspian Studios

In this episode, Matt Cohen interviews Bill Macaitis of SaaS CMO Pro. Bill was instrumental in scaling B2B SaaS giants like Salesforce, Zendesk, and Slack. The conversation covers Bill's transition from B2C to B2B, bringing consumer marketing techniques into enterprise SaaS, and his role in IPO successes for companies like Zendesk and Slack. Bill also delves into building high-performing, customer-centric marketing teams, strategies for effective inbound and outbound marketing, and the importance of brand differentiation, even in the traditionally risk-averse B2B space. They also explore the evolving role of AI in marketing and the shift in customer acquisition strategies using product-led growth (PLG) models.And John Ruffolo is back to break down the news of the week!About Bill Macaitis:Bill Macaitis is the founder and CEO of SaaS CMO Pro, a platform that helps B2B SaaS and AI companies grow through customer-centric, capital-efficient strategies. He also provides advisory services to founders on scaling marketing and sales.Previously, Bill served as CMO and CRO at Slack, where he led the company to a $16 billion IPO and later acquisition by Salesforce. He was also CMO at Zendesk, guiding the company to a $1.7 billion IPO, and SVP of Marketing at Salesforce, where he drove revenue from $900 million to $3 billion.Bill began his career in B2C marketing, notably at IGN Entertainment and Fox Interactive Media. He holds a Bachelor's in Business Administration from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.News Rundown with John Ruffolo* (00:01:04) U.S. Federal Election Analysis* (00:04:00) Mainstream Media and Social Media's Rise* (00:06:35) Elon Musk's Influence and Stock Market Reactions* (00:08:18) OpenAI's Purchase of "Chat.com"* (00:09:38) Perplexity AI's $500 Million Funding Round* (00:13:00) Venture Capital's Private Equity Strategy in AI* (00:15:23) Salesforce in the AI LandscapeInterview with Bill Macaitis* (00:20:20) Bill Macaitis' Journey from B2C to B2B* (00:21:52) Building Salesforce's Brand in the Financial Crisis* (00:27:00) Importance of B2B Mascots* (00:32:57) Product-Led Growth (PLG) Strategy at Slack* (00:39:00) Tips for AI Startups on Freemium Strategies* (00:41:31) Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Insights* (00:45:58) AI's Impact on Marketing and Career Advice for Marketers* (00:49:26) Launch of SaaS CMO ProFast Favorites* Favorite Podcast: Artificial Intelligence Show* Favorite Newsletter or Blog: Only CFO* Favorite Tech Gadget: Rachio* Favorite New Trend: Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancements* Favorite Book: Earn It by Steve Pratt* Favorite Life Lesson: Don't focus on if you're employed, focus on if you're employableFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.ai This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

Georgiana is a strategic advisor, author and speaker who's passionate about turning customer value into revenue-generating outcomes. Marketing online since 2000, she began her track record as a marketing executive and product growth advisor in 2010 working with high-growth, B2B SaaS like Unbounce, Sprout Social, Bitly, Appcues, SparkToro, Invoice Simple and more. Questions and topics we covered in this interview include: The origins of Forget The Funnel (and why funnels are bad for business) What Customer-Led Growth is and why it comes before all other growth models (like product-led, sales-led, marketing-led, or community-led) How do marketers begin to learn from their customers?  What's the best way to collect product feedback? What's the best way to implement that feedback? + How does marketing champion and facilitate this process with other departments? You're a prolific advisor to several big name startups, what does it take to become one? Georgiana's advice on how to become a startup advisor And more! Important Links You can say hello to Georgiana on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgianalaudi/ You can find me on LinkedIn here- https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto  Get her book on Customer-Led Growth™ here - https://www.forgetthefunnel.com/customer-led-growth/book Check out her podcast with cofounder Claire Suellentrop here - https://pod.link/1713510690 Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com 

Kate Guerrero helps early stage startups solve positioning and messaging challenges, and translates strategy to a crystal clear homepage. She's a 2x small business owner, a 2x mom, and the author of an award-winning manuscript. Questions and topics we covered in this interview include: Fletch's philosophy around product marketing How product positioning lays the groundwork for all other forms of marketing collateral a business will need to make and deploy How to sell the work of product positioning internally How the size of a business's product portfolio affects positioning exercises and GTM strategy The core differences between brand marketing and product marketing The actual step-by-step process Fletch takes to update a B2B SaaS company's homepage and product positioning   How to identify what differentiates a product from the rest of the market Why it's okay to actually talk about the competition in your positioning  And more! Important Links Learn more about Fletch PMM's positioning and product marketing services here - https://www.fletchpmm.com You can say hello to Kate on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-guerrero-

Shelagh Dolan is the Content Marketing Manager at Quora, where she has led the content strategy for Quora for Business, the platform's advertising division, since June 2022. With over a decade of experience, Shelagh has a proven track record of crafting content strategies that align with sales goals and drive growth for global B2B brands. Before joining Quora, she held key roles as the Director of Content Marketing at eMarketer and Senior Content Marketing Manager at Business Insider. Topics and questions we covered in this episode include: The key skills every entry-level content marketer should focus on developing in 2025 The things that HAVEN'T changed in marketing (and probably won't) Shelagh's process for launching new product features How to prove that content is bringing in revenue and ROI? Shelagh's advice for finding (and getting) great marketing jobs The challenges people don't talk about when it comes to managing a team And more! Important Links You can say hello to Shelagh on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelaghdolan/ You can find me on LinkedIn here- https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto  Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com 

Nikki Lindgren, founder and managing partner of Pennock, is a leader in scaling DTC businesses through paid ads with a focus on helping female-led beauty brands. With expertise in digital media management exceeding $100 million, Nikki and her team leverage strategic advantages for impressive MER and ROAS. Questions and topics we covered in this episode include: Nikki shares her story of how she founded Pennock When and how marketers should deploy ads to grow eCommerce businesses The nuances that come when doing any type of performance marketing campaigns for beauty products What constitutes a strong ad strategy in today's market? The metrics that truly matter when it comes to doing media buying well The “learning phase” is defined (in as simple a way as possible) How to measure ad fatigue/campaign decay How much should brands spend on ads, where should that money go, and what should be the expected returns? What are your predictions for the future of DTC and performance marketing? And more! You can connect with Nikki on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkilindgren/ You can connect with me on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Kristin Fracchia is a growth and marketing exec who has helped scale companies from early stage to public, including Chegg and Magoosh. She is an unabashed generalist and lifelong learner, who has flexed between roles leading marketing, growth, sales, product, finance, business development, and business operations. Her current passions are helping companies leverage AI to their advantage and mentoring early career leaders. Prior to working in tech, she obtained a PhD and dabbled in academia, earning an excellence in teaching award from the University of California.    Questions and topics we discussed in this interview include: How Kristin is learning about new tools like Clay.com to stay adaptable as a marketer in this budding field of GenAI How should marketers think about getting their brands more visibility on gen AI tools and chat-based search tools like ChatGPT? What's the business impact that obtaining AI visibility would have on business growth? What is generative engine optimization (GEO)? And how is this field emerging and evolving? What tools can marketers use today to determine how their marketing is being impacted by genAI? What should marketers tell their leadership teams about how genAI search may impact their marketing strategies and how we should all start adapting And more! You can connect with Kristin on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinfracchia/ You can find me on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com 

Shelia Rondeau is a driven and experienced executive with expert proficiency in providing unsurpassed leadership and revenue growth in dynamic, fast-paced, competitive business environments. She's fully capable of leading a full array of enterprise marketing responsibilities, as well as general business operations, building foundations that enable the companies she works with to scale for growth. She is currently a Fractional CMO and CEO for her company MOGXP. Questions and topics we discussed in this interview include: The story of how MOGXP began What it takes to obtain big-name clients like Toyota, Budweiser, Walmart, and more. The common marketing challenges big brands face when it comes to customer experiences Experiential marketing defined How college ambassador programs are a great example of experiential marketing programs (done the right way) The current state of experiential marketing and its effectiveness as a marketing channel And more! You can connect with Sheila through LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilarondeau/ You can find me on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com 

In this episode of the SaaS Sessions podcast, we hosted Bill Macaitis who is currently the founder & CEO of SaaS CMO Pro.SaaS CMO Pro helps you learn B2B SaaS and AI marketing with fun and easy-to-understand videos.Previously, Bill was the CMO at Slack and Zendesk. Before that, he held the title of SVP of Marketing at Salesforce.Bill shares his rich career journey from media companies to leading roles in SaaS giants like Salesforce, Zendesk, and Slack.The discussion covers essential strategies for building a marketing career, navigating career pivots, and capitalizing on emerging opportunities like AI.Bill emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, staying employable, and managing stakeholder relationships.This episode concludes with practical advice for aspiring marketing leaders, including managing work-life balance, leveraging career opportunities, and understanding AI in modern marketing.Connect with Bill on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bmacaitis/Subscribe to SaaS CMO Pro Newsletter - https://www.saascmopro.com/Subscribe to SaaS CMO Pro YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@SaaSCMOPro/00:00 Introduction00:46 Bill Macaitis' Career Journey05:28 Transitioning to B2B SaaS11:12 The Importance of Career Pivots13:59 From Individual Contributor to Director21:09 Building Relationships with Stakeholders21:52 The Visibility of Marketing22:18 Climbing the Marketing Ladder23:58 The Importance of Continuous Learning29:00 Navigating Career Choices in B2B Marketing34:14 Lightning Round: Quick Tips and RecommendationsVisit our website - https://saassessions.com/Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunilneurgaonkar/

Pat LaCroix is the EVP of marketing and commercial strategy at Seekr, a leading artificial intelligence company specializing in transparent content evaluation. For over 20 years, Pat has worked inside major consumer brands and advertising agencies. Prior to Seekr, he held a variety of global marketing leadership roles at Bose, where he was responsible for brand marketing, media, digital, social and partnerships with relevant brands such as NFL, Amazon, Disney, and Spotify to name just to name a few. During this time, he was recognized in the “Sports Business Journal” with the “40 under 40” award. Questions and topics we discussed in this interview include: He explained how past roles prepared him for his leadership at Seekr Pat provided an inside look at Seekr's mission and explained his responsibilities within the company He addressed the challenges he faces in his role Pat shared insights on Seekr's biggest marketing challenge for 2024 Pat introduces us to the PIE framework (performance, image, and exposure) that all marketers need to know if they want to get promoted And more! You can connect with Pat on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pat-lacroix-1883506/ You can find me on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Near the end of the episode, Patrick also mentions the PIE framework (performance, image, and exposure) that he used to get promotions throughout his career. If you want a deeper dive specifically into this subject, check out this article I wrote about it on Medium - https://medium.com/@KennySoto/why-doing-a-good-job-isnt-enough-here-s-a-slice-of-p-i-e-for-my-marketing-homies-dce789fc2cf6 Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com 

Andrew began his career by spending seven years in newspaper journalism. He then logged five years in higher-education marketing, co-managing a college website with a focus on video storytelling and fine-tuning email messaging to 18-year-olds. For the past 7 years, he's worked in B2B software, in marketing operations and then product marketing, with a focus on quantitative and qualitative customer research. He's started one customer advisory board and scaled two others, both in person and virtual, and strongly believes there's significant value in both approaches, for both customers and companies. Questions and topics we discussed in this interview include: What are the basics of customer research that marketers need to understand as they grow in their careers? When proposing the idea of a Customer Advisory Board (CAB), is it mainly to inform product marketing initiatives? Are there other areas of marketing and business overall that can benefit from the investment in a CAB? How should marketers identify and select the right members and determine the correct size for a Customer Advisory Board? What strategies can marketers use to keep CAB members engaged and active? How should the feedback process with CAB members be structured to ensure it's productive and actionable? What are some other common challenges businesses face when managing CABs, and how should marketers address them? How can marketers measure the success and impact of a Customer Advisory Board on product marketing initiatives? How do the role and operation of a CAB differ in startups versus established SaaS companies? Is there a specific stage in a business's life cycle where a CAB is more beneficial? How is the role of CABs expected to evolve in the next 5 to 10 years? And more! You can say hi to Andrew on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewgpetersen/ You can find me on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com 

Marina is a Content Marketing Specialist & Founder of the B2B Content Marketing agency Retold. With an extensive background in marketing, including content, social media, branding, and more, Marina opted for the agency approach after working in marketing leadership roles with companies in a number of different verticals. Today, she is passionate about bringing the power of storytelling and innovation into the world of content marketing to help companies solidify strategies that get results. Questions and topics we discussed in this interview include: The hardest part about being a marketing manager that people don't talk about enough Does written content still have a place in a marketing strategy (within video-first world)? What do people get wrong about thought leadership? How can marketers make it an effective part of a strategy? How to get your CEO featured in the media Skills Marina thinks marketers should focus on learning this year if they want to get better at B2B marketing What's been Marina's approach to collaborating with other content creators? And more! You can connect with Marina on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-krivonossova/ You can find me on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com 

Aren Johnstone is the President and Owner of Franchise Ramp, a leading marketing agency in the franchising industry that partners with the world's top fitness and wellness franchise brands. During his senior year of high school at the age of 18, Aren bypassed multiple full-ride college scholarships to purchase his first company, an ecommerce business. By 19, he ventured into marketing and software consulting, hiring his first employee. By the age of 20, his team had grown to five, and he co-founded an agency specializing in media buying for top ecommerce brands, overseeing more than $100M in ad spend. In 2019, Aren joined Franchise Ramp to introduce cutting-edge marketing strategies from the Ecommerce world to the franchise industry. Since then, Franchise Ramp has served thousands of franchise locations and has been recognized on the Inc 5000 list for two consecutive years, achieving a notable #49 ranking in 2022. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and committed to developing products and businesses that address real-world challenges.  Aren's story of how he got started in business during his high school years by selling t-shirts and apparel in Tulsa and then by purchasing an online figure-staking store at 18 years old Aren's journey into Facebook advertising back in 2015 The specific challenges that come from marketing franchise businesses The basics of “hyper-local” ad targeting Ecomm vs franchising: the main differences in paid media strategies The essential skills needed to be a great media buyer The nuances behind high-performing performance creative (*now that's a mouthful hehe) Changes in performance marketing that brands need to be aware of And more! Here's the episode I mentioned about MasterMind groups, featuring Liz Scully - https://www.kennysoto.com/podcast/interview-liz-scully-could-a-mastermind-group-elevate-your-marketing-ep-14/ You can connect with Aren via email here - aren@franchiseramp.com You can say hi on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aren-johnstone/ You can find me on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com 

Over her career, Lindsay McGuire has contributed to the content functions at the largest credit union in Alabama, the most well-known nonprofit brand in the world, and a SaaS company that made five acquisitions within two years. Now as the Associate Director of Content & Campaigns at Goldcast, her days are spent overseeing and creating content around how B2B marketers can use events as one of their top revenue-driving channels. Her diverse background across various industries makes Lindsay a well-rounded content leader and a strategist who knows how to create a content engine, build relationships across teams, integrate holistic messaging, and think creatively while staying laser-focused on business goals. Questions and topics we covered include: Lindsay's method to recover from layoffs Ways marketers can improve their confidence on camera The lessons Lindsay has learned about marketing events and webinars by working at Goldcast? What's the right strategy for promoting and repurposing events? What are the keys to strong customer interviews? How can marketers leverage them to improve their brand's storytelling? And more! You can connect with Lindsay on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsayladeroute/ And you can find me on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com 

Amir Shahzeidi, Head of Demand Generation at Uscreen.tv and Host of the Beyond the Funnel podcast, combines deep SEO roots with a passion for driving growth. His expertise empowers brands and creators to thrive in the digital landscape, through strategic, revenue-centric marketing approaches. Questions and topics we covered in this episode include: The unique challenges you'll face when you're the first marketing hire  How does Amir define demand generation and how to properly measure it What does a marketer need to do after demand is generated? Examples of short-term marketing tactics that create the wrong incentives for businesses… Examples of vanity metrics we need to avoid as marketers and some of them aren't that obvious… What can marketing teams learn from creators? What has contributed the most to Amir's success at UScreen? What does Amir look for in new team members? And more! Connect with Amir on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amir-shahzeidi/ You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Two years after graduating from Harvard with a degree in Applied Math, I quit my corporate job to travel the world with my then girlfriend for 5 years. Together we visited over 60 countries. During that time I launched and exited from my first SaaS, NinjaOutreach, an influencer marketing platform. Nowadays I run Shortlist.io, a boutique digital marketing agency. Our team is 20 people strong and we work on cool problems. I've been on dozens of podcasts and my style is always to be engaging, energetic, and transparent - often focusing more on the realities and the failures than the highlights.  Questions and topics we covered include: The story of NinjaOutreach and what lessons do you take from that experience into the agency you manage today? The latest trends in link building, whether or not link building is still an effective way to increase rankings How to select websites (what's a good target what's a bad target) Behind the scenes look at your data from building thousands of links What to expect in terms of results (how long does it take to rank) When linkbuilding is most effective and who it's most effective for Google Generative Search experience, thoughts on how it will affect marketers? Go to SEO and MarTech tools… And more! Connect with Dave on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-schneider-8a693115/ You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Allie is currently the Growth Marketing Lead (formerly the Content Marketing Lead at the recording of this episode) at Sequel.io, a webinar platform that allows you to host events directly on your website. She lives and breathes SaaS start-up marketing after falling into the space while overseas and diving deeper into the realm of content.  Over the years she has become a huge advocate for killing bad B2B marketing and bringing life into every relationship, campaign, and content piece. Connect with her on LinkedIn for marketing insights & the best coffee beans to fuel your day! Questions and topics we covered include: The qualities in a team/company that Allie looks at before deciding to join them… Why it's ok to (and how to) evaluate a company's leadership team before accepting an offer What are the pros and cons of working directly under the founder/CEO? Why is it important to make yourself visible at work? How to do “Self Check-Ins” Why it's important to evaluate the product or service that a company is selling before accepting a job offer Should marketers specialize or be generalists? And more! Connect with Allie on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-smith223/ You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Bonus Resources Check out Allie's Job Search Tracker template: https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1jeDq  Check out her Career Goals template: https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1jeq5 Work Results template: https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1jeq1 Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Nathan Yeung has over 10+ years of experience advising B2B businesses on their marketing strategy. He has helped companies build their marketing teams from 0-1, delivering GTM deployments, and launching new products into the market.  “You know, 99% of the time marketing gets handcuffed…we have golden handcuffs.” Questions and topics we covered: How Nathan's past experience as a VP of Finance makes him a better marketing leader How would you suggest people find good marketers? How do we make ourselves a “good marketer?” What is the most important thing to know when it comes to implementing marketing as a function? How long does it take for marketing to become effective?  What's the #1 thing you would do in any company as a marketing leader? Paying for ops and paying for creative = why it's necessary How to build a marketing team from scratch How to avoid getting laid off as a marketer? Is it even possible? Connect with Nathan via LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yeungnathan/ You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

This episode is from a fireside chat Dave did with Bill Macaitis, former CMO at Slack and Zendesk during G2's 2023 "Reach" event on how to build a brand in an economic downturn. We cover what is a brand, what is brand marketing, 8 ways to fit a brand into a marketing strategy,  creating a brand centric product, and examples from Bill's work over the years. Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.comJoin the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterCheck 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 PharosIQ. In 2024, you face tougher pipeline challenges than ever: reduced budgets, tighter resources, and fewer active buyers. Yet your growth goals remain unchanged.  PharosIQ leverages down-funnel intent signals along with targeted demand solutions to help you build your pipeline efficiently. They help B2B marketing leaders reach their ideal buyers and generate leads that actually convert for businesses of all sizes.  Generating leads is easy; generating leads that convert is what separates PharosIQ from the competition. Check them out at PharosIQ.com/exitfive; book a meeting with their team …PLUS, their team is giving away memberships to Exit Five so go check out their website that's P-H-A-R-O-S-I-Q dot com slash exitfive one word right now. ***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

This is a special episode of The People of Digital Marketing. In this episode, I talk briefly about the future of SEO. It's hard to predict what will happen in the future but, there are some things I'm willing to bet on (with actual money too) when it comes to how marketers will approach Search as a channel. What are your thoughts? How is your team preparing for the future when it comes to SEO?  You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Send us a Text Message.In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Amith and Mallory welcome Bill Macaitis, a seasoned advisor and board member with a remarkable track record at companies like Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce. Bill shares his insights on leveraging pain points as opportunities for growth, delving into the principles of product-led growth (PLG) and how associations can implement freemium models and advanced pricing strategies to drive engagement and revenue. The discussion also touches on the transformative potential of AI in marketing, offering practical advice on content repurposing, personalization, and reducing friction in user experiences. Tune in for a deep dive into modern marketing strategies and AI-driven innovation, packed with actionable insights for associations and beyond.

Justin consults, advises, and executes content distribution and repurposing strategies for growing SaaS companies and founders. He is the host of the Distribution First podcast and creator of the Content Repurposing Roadmap.  Questions and topics we covered include: Justin's origin story from experiencing a 2022 tech layoff to diving into solopreneurship How to manage creating content at scale Why is content distribution a challenge for most B2B businesses? The rookie mistakes Justin wishes he knew about before becoming a content marketer How Justin approaches repurposing podcast content (a “walkthrough” into how he thinks about marketing Justin's content marketing tools And more! Connect with Justin via LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincsimon/  You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ You can check out Justin's newsletter here - https://news.justinsimon.co/ You can check out Justin's content repurposing course here - https://contentrepurposingroadmap.com/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Cognism's Global Head of Demand Gen, Fran Langham speaks to marketing unicorn, Bill Macaitis on how he ran ABM at enterprises such as Slack, Salesforce and Zendesk.

“No one will slap your hand for saying, ‘I want to hear from customers more often.'” Melissa Moody is a full-stack marketing executive and entrepreneur with a passion for user-first products, and a talent for creating clarity from chaos. Her background includes 14 years in large-partner marketing at Google, taking on her former role as CMO & Cofounder at SaaS startup Gated, and being the host of the “2 Pizza Marketing” Podcast for small-team marketers. She is also the Cofounder of Wednesday Women, which raises visibility for extraordinary women leaders and now the CEO of Match.so. Questions and topics we covered include: Lessons in marketing while working at Google The Founder/CMO dynamic The biggest challenge that comes from transitioning from expert IC to 1st-time marketing leader?  Why the marketing team needs to own research and development The value of customer advisory boards (CABs) Challenges of working within small marketing teams What Melissa has learned from hosting her own marketing podcast How to scale a network of advocates for your career growth What's the biggest challenge marketers are facing in 2024? And more! Connect with Melissa via LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissammoody/ You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com Here's the episode with Alex Levin that I mentioned during the show - https://www.kennysoto.com/podcast/b2c-marketers-leverage-key-marketing-channel-alex-levin-episode-129/

Mike Grinberg is the Founder and CEO of Proofpoint Marketing. Mike Grinberg is a creative problem solver at heart, who happened to fall into marketing. The core problem Mike sees right now is technology and automation removing the human element from the way we build businesses and how we go-to-market. Mike believes that relationships are still the key to business success, and he's built his consulting business on people-first principles. Questions and topics we covered include: What's wrong with most GTM models today? Mike's definition of the buyer's journey as it stands in 2024 Defining Relationship-Led Growth How to get this GTM motion started? What's the core difference of general Sales-led and account-based GTM motions? How relationship-led growth supports other marketing functions. How AI could be incorporated  into Relationship-led GTM How to measure the success of this GTM strategy And more! Connect with Mike via LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/ You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Adrianna Vidal is a community manager and content marketer. She broke into tech in 2021 after working in retail and apartment leasing, and now works as a Community Marketing Manager at Bigeye, a data software company. She's a marketer just like you, trying to make her mark and succeed in her career. Questions and topics we covered include: Adrianna's story on how she became a marketer Her advice for marketers entering a new experience and how to “show up” on day one… Why should businesses care about building a community in the first place? What does the ideal community look like? What are the core differences for community building for individuals/creators and brands? Adrianna's approach to building her personal brand on LinkedIn How should marketers approach pivots in their careers? The core skills Adrianna's focusing on when it comes to career development as a marketer… And more! Connect with Adrianna via LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianna-vidal/ You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Leah Kovach Margolis is a growth marketer with 10+ years of experience growing revenue for pre-seed through series C companies. Currently, she's the Director of Demand Generation at Hypar, a generative design platform for the AEC industry. Outside of work, Leah recently wrapped up an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.  Questions and topics we covered include: How does someone get their first job in marketing? What interview questions should marketers be preparing for? What questions should marketers ask before taking a job? How does someone even succeed in their first marketing job? The unique challenges that come from marketing at different stages of a company's lifecycle  Being a generalist T-shaped marketer vs specializing Being more useful to the team—building institutional knowledge and industry know-how When is the right time to walk away from a company and move on? Should marketers get an MBA? And more! Connect with Leah via LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahkovach/  You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

“People notice something wrong in their business, the root cause is that something is wrong in their business but they start looking for tech as almost like a distraction…buying Martech is a silver bullet for Martech problems but, not business problems.” Brian Kotlyar is the VP of Marketing and Growth at Hightouch.com (a CDP and data activation platform), where he leads the company's marketing strategy and is responsible for driving growth and customer acquisition. Prior to his role at Hightouch, Brian held the position of SVP of Marketing at New Relic, where he played a pivotal role in leading the company's marketing efforts during a period of rapid growth and a successful IPO. He helped triple the growth rate of the company and oversaw numerous product launches and marketing initiatives. He also served as Head of Marketing at Intercom, where he helped the company build a world-class marketing team. Throughout his career, Brian has worked extensively in building and growing multiple B2B startups successfully. Questions and topics we covered include: Brian's explanation of consumption pricing and how this concept helped him in his marketing career Is a better Martech stack the secret to fixing a company's growth problems? What is a CDP and why should marketers care about them? How does this type of tool affect our work? Traditional vs composable CDPs How to justify the purchase of a CDP? What is a data warehouse and how does it differ from a CDP? Why do most data and marketing teams have bad relationships with each other? How do we make these relationships better? And more! You can learn more about HighTouch at - https://hightouch.com Connect with Brian via LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/briankotlyar/  You can say hello to me on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Laura Johns is the founder and CEO of The Business Growers, a marketing firm serving the B2B telecom, SaaS, IT, and cloud-services industries. For 18 years, Laura managed marketing efforts for companies ranging from tech startups to global, multi-billion dollar businesses. She spent nearly half her career serving as a corporate marketing executive in the telecom industry before starting The Business Growers. Her career focus is developing marketing strategies for tech companies that lead to tangible success. Today, The Business Growers serves over 50 clients in 15 states. Laura has been honored as “Top 50 under 40” and “Top 50 Leading Women in Business” in her home state of Mississippi. Today, she is a member of the Leadership Mississippi program, an honor bestowed on a select by the Mississippi Economic Council. She is also the co-founder and host of “The Home and The Hustle” podcast for working moms and “The Know, Grow and Scale” videocast and podcast for entrepreneurs. Questions and topics we covered Include: What made Laura decide to strike out on her own What Laura wishes she had known before starting her agency The 3 consistent marketing priorities for a B2B tech company (regardless of company stage) How to grow your business without a full-time marketing team Two key ways to identify your company's brand What conditions need to be met for a business to consider outsourcing its marketing? Qualities to look for when hiring new team members How marketing has evolved… The #1 marketing challenge The Business Growers is facing this year. And more! You can connect with Laura through LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurapickardjohns/ And you can also connect with me through LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Ben previously led the Marketing Sciences Group at KS&R, a nationally recognized strategic consultancy and marketing research firm. Through quantitative research, Ben and his team help to empower businesses to make better decisions with confidence. With his extensive knowledge of advanced analytical methods and wide-ranging industry experience, he has become a trusted partner for clients looking to solve complex business problems. Outside of work, Ben enjoys quality time with his children in the kitchen, gardening, and playing volleyball when the weather in upstate New York permits. Questions and topics we covered include: An explanation of marketing science How does market research affect a business's growth in the long term? Why is it important? Why message testing and optimization are vital to gaining insights How to convince your boss to invest in Message Testing How does a team get started with message testing? At what size of an organization should a team consider message testing? The ideal frequency and cadence of message testing experiments Who owns market research and message testing in the marketing team? What are market simulators, how are they useful, and at what size of a company should they be used? The basics of conjoint analysis in market research. And more! You can connect with Ben through LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bcortese/  And you can also connect with me through LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

“[Community] sits before Demand Gen. in the funnel…[Community] doesn't actually generate revenue. I create an environment that makes generating revenue easier.” Evan Patterson is a B2B marketing consultant, freelancer, startup advisor, content creator, and fractional leader for forward-thinking, progressive businesses.  Outside of B2B marketing, Evan focuses on enabling minority voices in tech and fighting injustices targeted at the LGBTQ+ community. Questions and topics we covered include: Community as a marketing role defined  Some examples of what Community is not? When did this new job get created? What's the difference between B2B community marketing and B2C community marketing? How to justify the investment into Community marketing? Why is most of Evan's role as a Community Marketer is spent working internally on his team The similarities between a Community / Evangelism role and a PR agency (when it comes to media training) How a Community role helps to reduce internal friction between marketing and sales How Evan measures success with his unique role And more! You can connect with Evan through LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanpatterson/ And you can also connect with me through LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

“The empathy that you have to exhibit and learn in sales on a 1-to-1 basis, that only helps you when you're trying to go 1-to-many…” Zoë Hartsfield is a Salesperson trapped in a Marketer's body. She spends her 9-5 running executive evangelism programs, managing influencer relationships and creating content. She spends her 5-9 running, traveling and again, creating content. Check her out at @nottoocorporate on TikTok and Instagram, or give her a follow on LinkedIn for her thoughts on sales, marketing, mental health, and career development in the tech industry. Questions and topics we covered include: The advice she has for anyone who wants a marketing job and is coming from sales, support, etc. Her red flags to look out for when applying to a marketing jobs How to leverage sales experience in a new marketing role What does it mean to be an evangelist? “Community” as a role in a marketing team… Should a community function and a customer advisory board go hand-in-hand? The most important business skill marketers should be learning today, but they're probably ignoring… How can marketers help create sales collateral that actually gets used? What should marketers look for when selecting/recommending software to add to the MarTech Stack? Does every marketer need a side hustle? And more! You can connect with Zoë through LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoehart/ And you can also connect with me through LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Cognism's VP of Marketing, Liam Bartholomew speaks to marketing whizz, Bill Macaitis about his experiences taking Zendesk to a $1.7B IPO, how to take a business up market successfully and how to test your ABM strategy is working.

Eric Dodds is the Head of Product Marketing at RudderStack and the Co-Host of the podcast Data Stack. He has over a decade of experience working with and implementing customer data infrastructure. He aims to make people's lives better through the work he does each day. Questions and topics we covered include: What do marketers need to know about data stacks? How does it affect their work? How data teams and marketing teams can work together to produce great business outcomes? How to define product marketing's role within the broader context of a company How to impress a marketing leader What's RudderStack's biggest marketing challenge heading into 2024 And more! Connect with Eric on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericdodds/ Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ If you want a deeper dive into product marketing, check out episode #140 with April Dunford - https://www.kennysoto.com/podcast/masterclass-product-positioning-april-dunford-140/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, Margaret Kelsey, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

There’s a story behind every marketing success. Like the tale of a startup. Transformed by product-led growth. Now a market leader. Real stories, real triumphs. According to Forbes, companies with product-led solid growth strategies see up to 2x higher valuation. That’s the power of this approach. Enter Bill Macaitis. A maestro in the marketing arena.…

Margaret has spent the last decade building scalable, effective marketing programs—and teams—for B2B SaaS companies like OpenView, Appcues, and InVision. She now advises founders on how to do the same. She also co-hosts a weekly podcast called "Don't Say Content" with Devin Bramhall.  Questions and topics we covered include: Why Margaret took the plunge to become a soloprenuer?  Her recommendations for where to upskill as a marketer The characteristics of high-performing marketing teams?  Why marketing teams need to have fun to thrive.  The importance of knowing the differences between “Shared Language” and Institutional Knowledge… The key questions individual contributors should be asking their bosses to get a better understanding of company strategy… The skills Margaret would be learning this year if she had to start her career now… Why founder-led marketing still works, regardless of company size… How to think about “playbooks”… What are the major pitfalls that arise within the Head of Marketing and CEO relationship? Why is it important to have a focus on longer timelines as you move up the management ladder? Why strategy is supposed to take into account triaging “urgent” tasks… And more! Connect with Margaret on Linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/  Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Here's Margaret's podcast if you want to get even more of her knowledge - https://www.dontsaycontent.com Want to learn the best ways you can produce and grow an effective podcast for your business in 2024? Check out https://www.brandpodcastsummit.com!  On January 24th we're hosting The Brand Podcast Summit, a free-to-attend virtual event designed exclusively for marketers and comms people to succeed in podcasting in 2024. Speakers include Ann Handley, Rand Fishkin, podcast producers from NPR, the BBC, podcast growth pros, AI and automation experts…One attendee also has the chance to get $500's worth of podcast equipment! Shoutout to a previous guest of the show, Harry Morton, for sharing this. Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

“Half of marketing is marketing internally so you can get buy-in…and as the org gets bigger, that job gets harder.” The main theme of this episode focuses on: people, tools, and processes… George Huff, the CEO of Opal, leads a MarTech platform used by well-known brands like Target, Starbucks, Whole Foods, 3M, and SAP. Opal's content operations platform produces exceptional results, such as enabling Target to tell their story and create 300 pieces of content every day. George's career began in design and technology, but his curiosity about how captivating brands create stories led to the formation of Opal. He surrounds himself with talented individuals and empowers them to find the best solutions. Under George's leadership, Opal continually innovates to help brands drive results and create meaningful connections with their customers. Questions and topics we covered include: Why is brand alignment so important and the classic struggle with internal silos The context that every marketer needs to have to be successful, in any team they're in What sets Opal apart from other content management products How does team culture affect the success of a marketing initiative Why being able to handle criticism is the best skill for a marketer to learn The rituals and routines the Opal team does to help keep momentum going Why your manager wants you to be good at selling ideas And more! Checkout Opal - https://workwithopal.com  Connect with George on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgehuff/ Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Past guests of The People of Digital Marketing include April Dunford, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal, Bill Macaitis, Miruna Dragomir, Andrew Capland, Erik Newton, Andy Crestodina, Sarah Bedrick, Michael Wieder, Dan McGaw, Kathleen Booth, Foti Panagiotakopoulos, Tommy Walker, Lea Pica, Maya Grossman, Sara Pion, and more. Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova.  This week, I'd like to go back to a conversation I shared a while back with Bill Macaitis. Bill served as the go-to-market executive for three of the fastest growing SaaS companies: Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce. He achieved five exits and now enjoys helping other companies achieve hyper-growth by leveraging his cumulative knowledge and helping build go-to-market playbooks and teams.    THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone who is looking to turbocharge business performance.    TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE… customer experience plays a bigger role than you think in your company's growth.    You have to start with two key things: 1) Understand the top reasons your company is recommended 2) Then….understand why it isn't.     Your brand is the sum of every customer touch point, which means everyone, whether they are a salesperson, a customer service agent, a marketer, or in an entirely different group – everyone must have a clear understanding of the value they bring to a customer's journey.      Once everyone is moving forward in the same direction, then it's a good time to discuss shared metrics and incentives.    WHAT I LOVE MOST… it's always helpful to put yourself in someone else's shoes. If you are in marketing, go on sales calls. If you are in sales, see what goes into creating the next lead generation campaign. Regardless of where you work in the company, listen in on customer service calls. When the entire company works together toward a shared goal, it will become more effective and the brand will be stronger for it.     Running time: 32:47   Subscribe on iTunes   Find Tiffani on Social: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn   Find Bill On Social: LinkedIn  Twitter 

In this episode, Tom Hunt interviews Bill Macaitis, a successful B2B marketing expert who has worked with big names like Salesforce, Zendesk, and Slack.

Bill Macaitis is the former CMO then CRO of Slack, CMO of Zen Desk, and SVP of Marketing at SalesForce and in this conversation we dive deep into what made Slack the category king of team collaboration tools it has become.You'll notice that most of this story took place before Play Bigger was even written so this was intuitive category design by Bill and his team, and you'll have a chance to see:How Bill thinks about the way category design and product led growth work together within a go to market strategyWhy  Slack never focused on their competitors and chose to focus on their consumers insteadWhat Sketchers, Crocs, and Slack all have in commonAnd more!This is a conversation between Bill, and the co-founders of the Category Thinkers:Mike DamphousseJohn RougeuxPablo GonzalezStop just listening in and join the daily category design dialogue inside our free community at CategoryThinkers.com

In this episode, Steve chats with Bill Macaitis, a seasoned marketing advisor with expertise in capital-efficient growth models. With extensive experience in advising B2B and B2C companies, Bill offers a unique perspective on scaling businesses with limited resources. Their conversation revolves around two key topics: establishing a robust brand identity in B2B marketing and executing impactful media campaigns.Bill stresses the importance of creating a memorable brand identity that differentiates companies, going beyond lead generation. He shares a real-life example of assisting a startup in developing a distinct visual identity and editorial tone, resulting in heightened brand affinity and customer engagement. Steve and Bill also delve into the challenges of measuring marketing campaign effectiveness and the value of involving stakeholders in testing creative alternatives. They touch upon the significance of communication and empathy in the workplace, highlighting how connecting with colleagues and stakeholders fosters understanding and support for marketing endeavors.Join this episode to gain valuable insights from Bill Macaitis on building a strong brand identity in B2B marketing, executing successful media campaigns, and promoting effective communication within the workplace.Connect with Bill and Steve on LinkedIn.

“It doesn't matter if you're employed or not, it matters if you're employable…if you learn the skills around how to grow ‘capital-efficiently', [affecting] the growth curve in a positive way—that's incredibly employable.” Bill Macaitis is an advisor and board member, guiding aspiring unicorns and helping build out world class teams and innovative go-to-market strategies. Over his 20 year career Bill has achieved five successful exits and powered growth at three of the fastest-ever growing companies: Slack (CRO/CMO), Zendesk (CMO), and Salesforce (SVP of Marketing). He has also held leadership positions at Fox Interactive Media (SVP of Online Marketing) and IGN Entertainment (VP of Marketing). Questions and topics we covered include: When is the right time to transition as a marketing leader from one company to another?  What does it mean to have a “marketing philosophy” as you grow in your career? What does it mean to be an employable marketer? The early challenges a 1st-time marketing leader faces when working at a startup. How can marketing teams infuse a personality into their brand? Finding the right balance between goal setting for various channels? How would you define capital-efficient growth? What does the future CMO look like? What are some common misconceptions around brand marketing? And more! You can say hi to Bill via LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bmacaitis/ Connect with me on LinkedIn too: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Here's that Kahn Academy course on reading a company's financials that I mentioned: https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/accounting-and-financial-stateme

How do you develop cutting-edge marketing strategies to achieve hyper-growth? We are thrilled to bring on Bill Macaitis, one of the most renowned marketing leaders, to talk about his experiences of creating marketing powerhouses for the three fastest-growing SaaS companies in history - Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce - where he was a CRO/CMO, a CMO, and an SVP Marketing respectively. These days he enjoys helping and advising other companies on how to achieve hyper-growth, helping them build out their own world-class marketing team, and implementing modern marketing tech stacks.

This episode is from a fireside chat Dave did with Bill Macaitis, former CMO at Slack and Zendesk during G2's 2023 "Reach" event on how to build a brand in an economic downturn. We cover what is a brand, what is brand marketing, 8 ways to fit a brand into a marketing strategy,  creating a brand centric product, and examples from Bill's work over the years. - Send guest pitches and ideas to hello@exitfive.com- Exit Five on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exitfive/- Exit Five on Twitter: https://twitter.com/exitfivecoThanks to our 2023 presenting sponsors Demandwell, Jasper, and Zapier.This episode is brought to you by Demandwell. Demandwell is the best SEO solution for B2B SaaS marketers. They've helped customers like Lessonly drive 40% of their revenue from organic search. And they helped Terminus's make organic search their number one source of demosHere's how it works: Results: Demandwell is built for driving the outcomes that b2b marketers care about - demand, traffic, leads, and revenue.  Ease and control: Junior team members can follow recommended steps in the platform, while experts can customize and maintain full control over their work.  Speed: With everything in one platform, Demandwell helps you crank out content that ranks and drives leads in minutes rather than hours.  SEO expert or not, you should give Demandwell a try, and listeners of the Exit Five podcast can get a free competitive SEO Audit to see how you're ranking relative to your competitors. Go to demandwell.com/fomo to get your free SEO consultation today.Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast. Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

Bill Macaitis is one of the most renown marketing leaders out there. He is the former CMO & SVP Marketing at Salesforce, Slack & Zendesk. Today he is a growth advisor and board member for a bunch of really cool SaaS companies in both EMEA & US.On this episode we talk about:Why you should have a campaign team instead of demand team?What is product-led growth?How product-led growth and demand gen can work together?How Slack built their successful product-led growth modelTips for scaling marketing teams and continue to produce a great output and keep the culture intactAre you ready to join the movement? Join our free slack community where some of the best demand marketers in the world share knowledge on demandgenerationmovement.com.This episode is brought to you by our great sponsors Albacross, HockeyStack & Riverside.fm.

Bill Macaitis is former SVP of Marketing & CMO at Salesforce, Zendesk & Slack, and today we're talking about how to build a billion dollar SaaS company. Many SaaS founders, CEOs, and marketers dream of building a unicorn business and it's something Bill has done on several occasions throughout his career. So, we caught up with him to hear how it's done and Bill covers some great topics, including: - How Marc Benioff convinced him to leave the world of consumer marketing and make the move to B2B SaaS - What it was like to work with Marc Benioff directly - How Bill brought a B2C mindset to the world of B2B marketing - How marketing teams can help create a billion dollar valuation - How you should structure your marketing teams for growth - The marketing philosophies and playbooks Bill ran at Salesforce, Zendesk, and Slack Links Claim your free SaaS marketing assessment from Advance B2B >> www.advanceb2b.com/tgh Manager Tools Podcast >> https://www.manager-tools.com/podcasts --- Advance B2B >> www.advanceb2b.com Follow The Growth Hub on Twitter >> twitter.com/SaaSGrowthHub Follow Edward on Twitter >> twitter.com/NordicEdward

Joining Vikram on the podcast today is one of the most prolific marketers within the SaaS industry, Bill Macaitis. For the very few who may not know, Bill has served as the Chief Revenue Officer and the Chief Marketing Officer at Slack, where he was instrumental in helping it become the fastest-growing B2B company ever to hit $100M in annual recurring revenue in just two years. He has also served as the leading go-to-market executive at both Zendesk and Salesforce, and, these days, Bill helps other companies achieve hyper-growth employing a unique customer-centric approach, through his company, Macaitis Advisory.Bill begins by sharing his perspective on how B2B brands can be unique, some examples of using humor in marketing, the things he has done differently to delight customers, and the concept of products being developed ‘out of pain'. He offers his views on the ‘magic' he has brought to companies and the components that go into it, such as finding a larger mission, changing hearts and minds, accessing the beginner mindset, and maintaining ensuring that marketing is communicating value rather than simply being annoying. Bill concludes by sharing his main takeaway for marketers gleaned from his vast experience in, and keen insight into, the field. As you will hear, Bill brings his trademark sense of humor and delight which he injects into marketing to this highly informative and thoroughly entertaining interview here today.

Product-Led-Growth with Bill Macaitis. Bill is Growth Advisor and previous CMO of Salesforce, Zendesk & Slack. In this episode we discuss with Bill about: ✔️ What is Product Led Growth? ✔️Why companies should invest in Product Led Growth? ✔️Slack is a very common example of Product Led Growth. What were the biggest learnings while building PLG there? ✔️ PLG is all about delivering value before the paywall. Bill shares his thoughts on how to get the customers see the wow-moment quickly? ✔️ Do we need sales people if there is PLG? ✔️How to get started with PLG? ✔️ What are Bill's favourite places for inspiration on PLG?

Bill Macaitis offers board advisory services where he shares his cumulative go-to-market knowledge leading marketing for the three fastest-growing SaaS companies in history: Slack (CRO/CMO), Zendesk (CMO), and Salesforce (SVP Marketing). He has achieved 5 exits over his career. Bill now enjoys helping other companies achieve hyper-growth by developing cutting edge marketing strategies, helping them build out their own world-class marketing team, and implementing modern marketing tech stacks. On This Episode: Bill talks about how optimism plays a role in his business success. Learn the importance of automation. Hear the story of Bill's first start-up. Get secrets to branding a B2B company. Learn how to develop helpful metrics for your team. Chris and Bill discuss how to stay innovative without waiting to move forward. Key Takeaways The marketing playbook is always evolving. Infuse personality into your products to create an emotional bond with your customer. Don't be afraid to have fun. Money is not as important as the mission. Tweetable Quotes: “Your brand goes way beyond your logo.” “The lid of your success is you.”

B2B companies can learn a TON from B2C and create vibrant brands audiences relate to.  Bill Macaitis shares a few excellent marketing examples from his bag of tricks that helped him build brands like Zendesk, Slack and Salesforce. Key takeaways: why qualitative measurement of campaigns will lead to a better long term brand strategy how a strong content marketing strategy aligns content with the product how to find and create simple moments of delight in B2B software  Mentions:  Manager Tools podcast Connect with Bill on Linkedin Say HI to me on Linkedin

Bill Macaitis is the former CMO at Slack, CMO at Zendesk, and SVP of Marketing at Salesforce.

In this episode, we welcome Bill Macaitis, a marketer who is committed to taking a customer-centric approach in everything that he does. Bill has led marketing at Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce and he talks about how he has used email to authentically engage B2B customers. For him, email marketing is more about adding value than making a sale, playing the long game of educating and entertaining the audience to gain their trust and build relationships. Email offers the exciting opportunity to connect with prospects on a highly personalized basis, and he talks about the part that technology continues to play in fine-tuning this engagement. During his time at Slack—the company that notoriously ‘killed’ inter-office email—Bill and his team still effectively leveraged this channel to grow their business and keep customers updated with the latest developments in the company. He also gets into their strategies for getting feedback from customers, how he manages to prioritize the human aspect of email, and how multitouch attribution can help you stand out from the crowd. Key Points From This Episode:Find out what Bill’s earliest email marketing experience was like. The one-to-one connection that makes email marketing so effective. Bill shares about using catchy subject lines and being a customer-centric marketer. The evolution of the email channel from spray and pray to content that adds value. Thoughts on whether marketers today still struggle to put the customer first. How new software helps marketers to be more thoughtful and build better relationships. Learn about the benefits of multitouch attribution in an overly competitive world. Bill explains how he and his team leveraged email marketing at Slack (the email killer!). Creating content that does not necessarily sell but educate and entertain the audience. Get some insight into the thought processes behind email newsletters at Slack and Zendesk. How Bill ensures that he always considers the human side of email communication. Examples of how they have managed to elicit responses and feedback from customers. Tweetables:“At the end of the day, that one-to-one connection I thought was just so powerful and there’s just an immediacy that comes from it—it’s a personal connection.” — @bmacaitis [0:02:32]“I’m a big customer-centric marketer. So, what that means is, everything I do, I think about what is the experience going to be for the average person.” — @bmacaitis [0:03:31]“The world is just too competitive; there are too many companies selling what you sell. So, you’ve got to be able to stand out, and I just think through the email, through content, through tone of voice, those are all opportunities to differentiate yourself and provide value.” — @bmacaitis [0:09:09]Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Bill Macaitis on LinkedInBill Macaitis on TwitterSlackZendeskSalesforce Rasa

We’re days away from putting the final touches on Season 1 of our new podcast Pushing Send, and we thought we might give our listeners a sneak peek into the show, which is all about people who create amazing emails. The series highlights their strategies and how they connect and engage with subscribers. Our guest-list includes seasoned experts like Bill Macaitis, the former CMO at Slack; Joanna Wiebe, the founder of Copyhackers; and John Lee Dumas, the founder, and host of the award-winning podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire. Today you will hear from the host Bryan Kelly as well as Jared Loftus and Emily Dowd from the rasa.io team, who will give you a taste of what to expect, sharing their thoughts on the approach to the show and reflecting on the comments made by our first few guests. Be on the lookout for Episode 1 and 2 that will air on May 12th, 2020! Key Points From This Episode:Why the behind-the-scenes stories of a great email are particularly illuminating. Acknowledging the thought, effort, and creativity required to create an impactful email. The idea that every email sender has a different goal and measure of success. The difficulty of editing interviews when all the content is so good! Hear what success for this podcast looks like, including inspiring and building relationships. What emails and dating have in common…Tweetables:“To form or further relationships or get a message across takes effort. It takes some thought and some creativity, and hearing how people go about that and come up with those ideas I think is going to be really interesting.” — @JaredLoftus [0:01:22]“I think what is going to be such a great takeaway from this whole series is that each email sender has a different goal that they are talking about and what success means to them.” — Emily Dowd [0:01:41]“For the record, I would be skeptical of anyone that doesn’t think email is sexy.” — @JaredLoftus [0:03:20] Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Bill Macaitis on LinkedInSlack Joanna WiebeCopyhackers John Lee Dumas on LinkedInKurt ElsterShopifyJared Loftus on LinkedInJared Loftus on TwitterEmily Dowd on LinkedIn Bryan Kelly on LinkedInrasa.io

On this episode of Built to Stay we interview Bill Macaitis. Bill has been instrumental in helping 3 of the fastest SAS companies of our time, most recently Slack. Bill talks about how he was able to propel these start ups from the ground up to the powerful companies that they are.   Introduction to Bill 1:14 Things that worked and things that didn’t 13:44 What to focus on with your marketing team 19:17 Shift from Slack to advising Startups 22:21 What are the most common mistakes of start ups? 24:15   “You gotta start with just this customer centric philosophy where you delight people at every stage.”

In this Marketing Over Coffee: Learn about Bill’s Voyage Through the Cloud! Direct Link to File Brought to you by our sponsors: LinkedIn and Trust Insights Check out Bill on LinkedIn All across the Cloud – Salesforce, Zendesk, Slack Starting with gaming – Case’s Ladder to IGN Bringing some B2C to Salesforce.com 8:55 LinkedIn Marketing […] The post Bill Macaitis – Salesforce, Zendesk and Slack appeared first on Marketing Over Coffee Marketing Podcast.

This week on Marketing Today, Alan speaks with Bill Macaitis, a man that needs no introduction. He has been involved in 5 highly successful tech industry exists with companies such as IGN, Salesforce.com, Zendesk, and Slack. He now enjoys teaching tech founders how to grow and scale their business via sophisticated MarTech stacks and a customer-centric approach to marketing. Macaitis’ mindset is that B2B marketers should be innovating the go-to-market strategy on the marketing side as much as they do on the product side. Macaitis recognizes that many B2B companies feel the need to play it safe and take a very bland approach to branding, and this a great opportunity for those willing to take risks to stand out. He tells stories of how his teams at Zendesk and Slack disrupted conventional customer branding opportunities by making simple things such as logos, loading messages and release notes fun and whimsical. According to Macaitis, “Your brand is the sum of all the little experiences that someone has with your company. Optimizing around each of these experiences, coming up with the right metric, and pivoting” are what leads to a successful recommendation of your product/service. Highlights from this Marketing Today conversation include: Macaitis’ first startup experience in the B2C space was a great lesson in bootstrapping (1:40) Macaitis brought a Consumer DNA to Salesforce.com (3:20) Macaitis’ team disrupted the basic pricing and packaging model at Slack (5:40) Macaitis encourages B2B companies to take risks to develop an emotional connection with their users (9:30) “Everyone does the basics...I like going a few steps further:” Macaitis on using more sophisticated marketing tech stacks (predictive lead scoring, multi-touch attribution, multivariate testing, net promoter score (NPS), etc.) (11:56) Macaitis discusses tips for improving multi-touch attribution models (15:15) It's a really fun debate: Macatais on brand marketing vs performance marketing (17:42) Macaitis on how the B2B space needs more Customer Centricity (22:34) Macatis tells us what he loves about helping companies grow (25:15) Macaitis discusses qualities he looks for in a Founder (26:35) “Be opportunistic:” Macaitis gives sound advice from his career (29:39) Macaitis says the focus should be on lifetime revenue and customer centricity ([34:30])  Other Resources: Slack Teams Do Amazing Things https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6sSa5NpqUI  Family Ties Show / Alex P Keaton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO0HYcfMlfI  Sales Automation & Smart Document Tracking https://www.getaccept.com/  Predictive Lead Scoring - https://infer.com/ Support the show.

On this episode of Gen X Amplified, we’re excited to have tech marketing expert and proud Gen Xer, Katrina Wong, who is the VP of Marketing for Hired (hired.com). During our conversation, Katrina discusses her professional journey in the Silicon Valley tech world, leading up to her current role as Hired’s head of marketing. Katrina also gives us some key insights about how to navigate today’s multigenerational and digital workplace as a Gen X leader. Which includes… why we all should lead by “influence” and not just by position, especially as Gen Xers. Katrina Wong is true marketing expert with 15+ years in a variety of customer facing roles including marketing, go-to-market and revenue growth for both B2B and B2C SaaS / Enterprise software companies. Katrina is currently the VP of Marketing at Hired (hired.com), which is a career marketplace that matches tech talent with the world’s most innovative companies. Hired combines intelligent job matching with unbiased career counseling to help people find a job they love.  At Hired, Katrina leads all marketing efforts, including: brand development, product marketing, demand generation, user acquisition, lifecycle and retention marketing, content marketing, and communications. Prior to becoming hired…at Hired, Katrina worked in marketing leadership positions across a variety of large organizations and other start-ups, including Salesforce, Taulia, and SAP. Key Takeaways: How Katrina’s journey transitioned from studying the life sciences field to marketing Why Katrina felt the need to pursue a more purpose-driven career opportunity, which led her to Hired Hear some of Katrina’s key lessons learned from working with some of the world’s preeminent tech companies Why Gen X is at a critical and awesome stage in our lives as leaders, especially during this digital age Why being a “servant leader” and leading by influence is the key to managing effectively in a multigenerational workplace The value of peer-to-peer mentoring at work, particularly among Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z And so much more! Resources mentioned in this episode: Hired (hired.com) Bill Macaitis (former CMO of Slack) interview on Gen X Amplified Katrina Wong on Twitter Katrina Wong on LinkedIn Katrina’s Personal Theme Song “Independent Women”, by Destiny’s Child Thank you for listening!

In this episode of the #categorycreation series, John Rougeux interviews Bill Macaitis, who held the CMO and CRO roles at Salesforce, Zendesk, and Slack.

Bill Macaitis gives us advices on Marketing and Sales and helps you to grow a better business, based on his experiences with Slack, Zendesk and Salesforce

On this episode of Gen X Amplified, Adrion is joined by software go-to-market leader and the former CMO of Slack, Bill Macaitis. During this awesome interview, they both discuss all things tech, marketing, brand strategy, and team building. Bill Macaitis is considered one of the most prolific marketers within the SAAS industry. He has served as the leading go-to-market executive for 3 of the fastest ever growing SaaS companies: Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce. At Slack, Bill served as both the Chief Revenue Officer and the Chief Marketing Officer, coming in as marketing employee #1, and building out the entire marketing, sales, customer success and customer support teams. During his tenure, Bill was instrumental in helping Slack become the fastest growing B2B company ever hitting $100M in annual recurring revenue in just over 2 years. Over his career, Bill has achieved a total of 5 exits . Now he enjoys helping other companies achieve hyper-growth with a unique customer centric approach. Bill is also passionate about working with CEO’s to design, recruit, interview and build out world class marketing organizations. Bill also is a strong advocate in mission driven companies who are changing the world for the better with innovative technology and business models. Key Takeaways: Why Bill decided to pivot in career as a B2C and B2B marketing executive at Salesforce, Zendesk, and Slack What lessons Bill learned working some of the most iconic software brands How Bill and his team propelled Slack to become the fastest growing business software application ever Hear the importance of having a strong set of brand values and collaborative team dynamics Why focusing solely on lead generation is a short-term advantage and why focusing on your brand strategy better prepares you for long-term growth Why cultivating the common fiber that unites each generation in your workforce is the key to better team output And so much more! Resources mentioned in this episode: Bill Macaitis on Linkedin Bill Macaitis on Twitter Slack 15Five Bill’s Personal Theme Song “Fight song” by Rachel Platten Thank you for listening!

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I have Bill Macaitis on the podcast. Bill served as the go-to-market executive for three of the fastest growing SaaS companies: Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce. He has achieved five exits and now he enjoys helping other companies achieve hyper-growth by leveraging his cumulative knowledge and helping build go-to-market playbooks and teams. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone who is looking to turbocharge business performance. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Customer experience plays a bigger role than you think in your company’s growth. You have to start with two key things: 1) Understand the top reasons your company is recommended 2) Then….understand why it isn’t. Your brand is the sum of every customer touch point, which means everyone, whether they are a salesperson, a customer service agent, a marketer, or in an entirely different group – everyone must have a clear understanding of the value they bring to a customer’s journey.  Once everyone is moving forward in the same direction, then it’s a good time to discuss shared metrics and incentives. WHAT I LOVE MOST… It’s always helpful to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. If you are in marketing, go on sales calls. If you are in sales, see what goes into creating the next lead generation campaign. Regardless of where you work in the company, listen in on customer service calls. When the entire company works together toward a shared goal, it will become more effective and the brand will be stronger for it. A PIECE OF ADVICE FOR LEADERS… Raise the level of focus you have on connecting sales, marketing, and customer service. This is not a zero-sum game.   Running time: 32:45   Subscribe on iTunes   Find Tiffani on social: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn   Find Bill on social: LinkedIn Twitter

Who knew one word could create so much confusion?Bill Macaitis, who served as a marketing executive for 3 of the fastest ever growing SaaS companies (Slack (CRO/CMO), Zendesk (CMO) and Salesforce (SVP Marketing)), shares how a drop in website sales caused mayhem and how he discovered the culprit by getting feedback from strangers in 5 seconds.You might not associate the Silicon Valley culture with putting people first, yet the story Bill is going to share with you is deeply rooted in human-centricity.In today's episode, you'll learn about the effect that one word can have on a marketing strategy, and how the reactions of strangers who have spent only five seconds looking at a site can explain a lot about how potential customers are reacting to that site.You'll also learn what Bill uses to align entire teams around one core strategy, what a cohort is and why it's important to your business, and what a five-second test is.Topics Discussed in Today's Episode:[00:02:02] Bill's role at Salesforce in 2010-2011[00:03:20] The V2MOM acronym[00:04:32] Marc Benioff and his vision for Salesforce[00:08:05] The messaging around Salesforce at the time of Bill's story[00:09:35] Bill's feelings and concerns about Marc's new idea for Salesforce[00:12:38] What made Bill realize something was wrong with the new messaging for Salesforce[00:14:32] The size of the drop in leads at Salesforce[00:16:52] How Bill decided to approach finding and fixing the messaging problem at Salesforce[00:17:33] What is meant by the term “cohort” in marketing[00:18:42] The five-second test[00:19:37] How confusion over the word “social” was causing Salesforce to lose leads[00:22:47] Resources that Bill recommends

Bill Macaitis is the former CRO and CMO of Slack, where he has really managed to disrupt the market, grow the business to where it is at today all while creating creative, innovative, and straight-up different marketing campaigns - online and offline! Learn from the master and take a different approach to marketing today! Also; Macaitis goes through the key steps of hiring the right employees and setting up a successful marketing team.

The is a conversation with Bill Macaitis, a true technology luminary. Most recently, he was a board member and CMO of Slack. Before that, he was the CMO of Zendesk, the head of marketing at Salesforce, and the head of Online Marketing for Fox Interactive Media with responsibility for IGN, Rotten Tomatoes, Fox Sports, Askmen and Myspace during its heyday. Enjoy!

Bill Macaitis, a former marketing executive from Slack and Zendesk, joins the Bowery Podcast to discuss “Finding The Right Marketing Metrics For Your Team.”

Bill Macaitis, a former marketing executive from Slack and Zendesk, joins the Bowery Podcast to discuss “Finding The Right Marketing Metrics For Your Team.”

Slack is the fastest growing software application of all time. We've all seen the incredible hockey-stick growth curve and know that it was the quickest company in history to reach Unicorn status. But what we don't know is, how did it actually happen? To answer that question I caught up with Bill Macaitis, Slack's first marketing hire & CMO, to hear the story of what happened behind the scenes of Slack's phenomenal growth. In this episode Bill also shares his thoughts, wisdom and learnings on all things marketing including: - How Bill handled his first 100 days as CMO of Slack - The role of customer centricity in marketing and Slack's hypergrowth - How Slack built its brand strategy and how to measure the performance of a brand marketing campaign - The role of content marketing as a growth driver - How to develop your marketing strategy when going upmarket from the SMB to the mid-market and enterprise sectors - The key factors, from a marketing perspective, that enabled Bill to build multiple billion dollar unicorns Slack >> https://slack.com/ Zendesk >> https://www.zendesk.com/ Follow Bill on Twitter >> twitter.com/bmacaitis The Growth Hub >> www.advanceb2b.com/thegrowthhub Advance B2B >> www.advanceb2b.com The Growth Hub on Twitter >> twitter.com/SaaSGrowthHub Edward on Twitter >> twitter.com/NordicEdward

Bill Macaitis, former Salesforce and Zendesk executive and Slack's first Chief Marketing Officer, talks about what's the most important in business. Is there is a recipe for success?

Bill Macaitis joined Slack as it's first Marketing hire in December 2014 when Slack had already been crushing it and had earned the mantle of the fastest growing SaaS Company ever and the hottest SaaS Company on the planet. So on this episode of The SaaS Revolution show, we ask Bill what it's been like being the first marketing hire and what he's implemented within his first year. Some great insights into marketing strategies for all SaaS Startups from one of the best in the business.

Bill Macaitis knows a little bit about growth. In his time as Zendesk CMO, he helped take the company from venture-funded startup through an IPO resulting in a $1.7 billion market cap. When he led online marketing and operations at Salesforce, he helped grow revenues from $900M to $3 billion. Today he serves as CMO at Slack, the hyper-growth messaging startup that is less than two years old and already worth north of $2B with over 500,000 users.