#255 Leadership | In this episode, Dave is joined by Kelly Hopping, CMO of Demandbase, a B2B company known for pioneering account-based marketing. Kelly leads a 70+ person marketing org that spans brand, demand gen, product marketing, events, and SDRs, and she shares exactly how she structures and operates that team to drive results.

Dave and Kelly cover:

• How to design and run a full-funnel marketing team that includes SDRs, content, field, and brand, and keep them aligned on pipeline
• The annual planning strategy Kelly uses to balance short-term targets with long-term positioning (including what changes quarter to quarter)
• How her team is using AI right now and what she’s doing personally to stay sharp as the pace of change accelerates

Whether you're a first-time CMO or just trying to scale your B2B marketing engine, this one is packed with insights from someone who’s operating at a high level.

Timestamps

• (00:00) - – Intro
• (03:08) - – What Demandbase actually does
• (05:08) - – How the Demandbase marketing team is structured
• (07:38) - – Who owns what: brand, content, demand, SDRs
• (10:08) - – Account-based marketing + broad demand gen
• (12:38) - – What a CMO actually does at this stage
• (15:08) - – Kelly’s early CMO learning curve
• (18:08) - – Planning your first 90 days as a CMO
• (20:08) - – Balancing pipeline today vs. positioning for tomorrow
• (22:38) - – What changed between a bad Q4 and strong Q1
• (27:19) - – How Kelly thinks about yearly pipeline pacing
• (30:19) - – Staying relevant in a fast-moving MarTech world
• (32:49) - – Why marketers need to work like product teams
• (36:19) - – “I am the ICP”: Why product marketing works better
• (37:49) - – Kelly’s #1 job as CMO: Make sales love marketing
• (40:19) - – Becoming a peer to product and revenue leaders
• (42:49) - – Best-performing channel right now: in-person events
• (44:19) - – Brand, attribution, and pipeline are all connected
• (45:49) - – How Kelly’s team is using AI today
• (47:19) - – The future of marketing roles in an AI-powered world
• (49:49) - – Why she’s still learning new AI tools herself
• (52:19) - – Why AI is fun again for marketers
• (53:19) - – Closing thoughts

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

***

Today's episode is brought to you by Knak.

Email (in my humble opinion) is the still the greatest marketing channel of all-time.

It’s the only way you can truly “own” your audience.

But when it comes to building the emails - if you’ve ever tried building an email in an enterprise marketing automation platform, you know how painful it can be. Templates are too rigid, editing code can break things and the whole process just takes forever.

That’s why we love Knak here at Exit Five. Knak a no-code email platform that makes it easy to create on-brand, high-performing emails - without the bottlenecks.

• Frustrated by clunky email builders? You need Knak.
• Tired of ‘hoping’ the email you sent looks good across all devices? Just test in Knak first.
• Big team making it hard to collaborate and get approvals? Definitely Knak.

And the best part? Everything takes a fraction of the time.

See Knak in action at knak.com/exit-five. Or just let them know you heard about Knak on Exit Five.

***

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

#254 Brand | In this episode, Dave sits down with Kira Federer, VP of SMB Marketing at Paramount Advertising, and formerly at companies like Reddit and Glassdoor. Kira shares her journey from sales to product marketing and the lessons she’s learned along the way.

Dave and Kira discuss:

• How to align marketing and sales through co-creation to ensure your sales team uses the content you create
• The value of a strong messaging framework and how it drives consistency in B2B marketing
• Why you need to time your product launches and ensure that marketing resonates with both your team and the market at the right moment

Timestamps

• (00:00) - - Intro to Kira
• (06:02) - - Kira’s Career Journey From Sales Enablement to Product Marketing
• (09:16) - - Challenges of Building Community / Getting Connected with Exit Five
• (15:32) - - How To Get Sales To Use Content from Marketing
• (18:07) - - How to Align Marketing and Sales Teams
• (25:24) - - Effective Messaging and Having a Core Company Narrative
• (30:32) - - Why You Should Identify What Differentiates Your Business
• (34:15) - - How To Create Strong Brand Positioning
• (37:00) - - Why You Need To Have A Clear Vision And Strong Point of View in Marketing
• (38:44) - - “The Risk Of Insult Is The Price Of Clarity”

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

***

Today's episode is brought to you by Knak.

Email (in my humble opinion) is the still the greatest marketing channel of all-time.

It’s the only way you can truly “own” your audience.

But when it comes to building the emails - if you’ve ever tried building an email in an enterprise marketing automation platform, you know how painful it can be. Templates are too rigid, editing code can break things and the whole process just takes forever.

That’s why we love Knak here at Exit Five. Knak a no-code email platform that makes it easy to create on-brand, high-performing emails - without the bottlenecks.

• Frustrated by clunky email builders? You need Knak.
• Tired of ‘hoping’ the email you sent looks good across all devices? Just test in Knak first.
• Big team making it hard to collaborate and get approvals? Definitely Knak.

And the best part? Everything takes a fraction of the time.

See Knak in action at knak.com/exit-five. Or just let them know you heard about Knak on Exit Five.

***

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