#27 – The first 90 days in a new marketing leadership role can make or break your long-term success.

You’re learning a new company, navigating personalities and politics, absorbing new systems—and all eyes are on you to make an impact fast.

In this solo episode of Growth Activated, Mandy Walker is sharing the 3 priorities she focuses on in every new CMO role—priorities that help her align with the business, unite her team, and deliver quick wins without burning out.

Inside, we cover:

• How to prioritize alignment with the C-Suite so you’re focused on the right segments, solutions, and opportunities from day one
• How to get your marketing team rowing in the same direction and working toward shared goals instead of operating in silos
• How to leverage incrementality and quick wins to build trust and momentum while laying the foundation for long-term success
• The simple frameworks Mandy uses to depersonalize decision-making, clarify team priorities, and identify low-effort, high-impact actions

Whether you’re stepping into your first CMO role, moving into a new company, or leading a team as a fractional or interim CMO, these principles will help you start strong, earn trust, and set yourself up for measurable impact.

If you’re a B2B marketing leader who wants to hit the ground running in your next role—and lead with clarity and confidence—this episode is your playbook for the first 90 days.

🎧 Listen in, then go activate growth.

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Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#26 - In this episode of Growth Activated, Mandy Walker sits down with Morgan J. Ingram — LinkedIn strategist, content creator, and founder of AMP Creative — to talk all things LinkedIn marketing, social selling, and building a personal and brand presence that actually drives results.

Morgan breaks down the five key components of a high-impact social selling strategy, the role of marketing leadership in enabling sales teams on LinkedIn, and how modern B2B marketing leaders can create alignment across sales, marketing, and customer success.

Whether you're just starting to explore social media as a B2B channel or looking to elevate your entire go-to-market motion, this episode is packed with tactical advice and strategic insight.

We cover:
✔️ What most B2B marketers get wrong about LinkedIn
✔️ The 5 C’s framework for social selling
✔️ How to align sales, marketing, and customer success
✔️ What content actually works today
✔️ How to pilot a LinkedIn strategy with your sales team
✔️ Why personal profiles matter more than company pages
✔️ The one thing every marketing leader should optimize today

Perfect for marketing leaders, founders, and anyone driving go-to-market strategy in today’s noisy, AI-driven digital landscape.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#25 - You can’t move fast if your team doesn’t know where they’re going - or if they’re stuck waiting on you to decide everything. In this episode of Growth Activated, marketing leader and Fractional CMO Mandy Walker shares one of her most revisited leadership lessons: the importance of “laying the tracks” so your team can run.

Drawing on a powerful metaphor from a former CEO - and lessons from leading B2B marketing teams and planning her own wedding - Mandy explores how effective marketing leadership starts with clarity and ends with trust.

You'll learn:

• 4 essential areas where marketing leaders must provide direction
• 5 practical ways to stop being the bottleneck and build team autonomy

Whether you're leading a small startup team or a growing B2B marketing org, this episode will help you empower your people, create space to lead, and build a high-performing team that drives results - without needing you in every decision.

If you're a B2B marketing leader ready to scale your impact, this one’s for you.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#24 - Welcome to a special summer mini-series on Growth Activated, where we’re keeping things short, actionable, and full of value for marketing leaders looking to elevate their impact.

In this kickoff episode, Mandy Walker shares one of the most memorable leadership lessons she’s ever received - something that changed the way she thinks about empathy, accountability, and what it really means to lead a high-performing team.

If you’ve ever wrestled with whether to keep an underperformer, dealt with a toxic team member, or struggled to let go of someone who “used to be great,” this episode is a must-listen. You’ll walk away with a powerful reframing to help you lead with clarity and confidence.

We cover:

• The leadership mindset shift that changed Mandy’s approach forever
• 4 common team scenarios that undermine morale and growth
• How to balance empathy with performance as a B2B marketing leader
• Reflection questions to help you assess your current team dynamics

Whether you're leading a marketing org or growing your career in B2B, this episode will challenge your thinking and help you become a stronger, more strategic leader.

🎧 Tune in for a quick hit of insight—and get back to enjoying your summer while still investing in your leadership growth.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#23 - What does it take to build a content strategy that actually drives brand, trust, and pipeline in today’s B2B landscape?

In this episode of Growth Activated, I’m joined by Erik Jacobson—founder of Hatch.fm, host of the 95% Content podcast, and content partner to B2B leaders like Chris Walker and Dave Gerhardt.

We break down what Content Strategy 2.0 really looks like—and how top B2B brands are using podcasts, LinkedIn, and YouTube to build lasting influence and stay top of mind with future buyers.

Inside, we cover:

• How to turn one 90-minute recording into a full-funnel content engine
• Why scroll-first content is outperforming traditional SEO (and what that means for your strategy)
• The ROI of long-game content marketing—and how to talk about it with execs
• Where AI fits into content creation (and where it goes wrong)
• How to build thought leadership even if your CEO won’t get on camera

If you're a B2B marketing leader looking to scale content without burning out your team—or if you’re ready to build brand equity that lasts beyond the quarter—this episode is packed with tactical insights and mindset shifts you can use right now.

🎧 Listen in, then go activate growth.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#22: The rules of SEO are changing—and if you’re a B2B marketing leader still focused only on Google, it’s time to expand your playbook.

In this episode of Growth Activated, I’m joined by Mark Goloboy, a fractional CMO and AI marketing strategist helping teams adapt to the new world of LLM Optimization—where tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity now shape how your brand shows up in search.

We’ll explore what this shift means for modern B2B marketing teams, how AI is reshaping the way buyers research, and where marketing leaders should invest to stay competitive.

Inside the episode:

✅ Why SEO as we know it is evolving—and what’s replacing it
✅ How large language models (LLMs) decide which brands to prioritize
✅ The rise of “Search Everywhere Optimization”—from PR to social to review sites
✅ How to rethink your marketing strategy for both Google and AI-powered search
✅ Where to invest when your paid media stops performing
✅ Two next-gen AI use cases—one built for content at scale, the other for customer retention

If you’re a B2B marketer navigating AI, marketing leadership, and visibility in an increasingly complex buyer journey, this episode will help you level up your strategy—and lead the conversation, not chase it.

🎧 Tune in to learn how to evolve your marketing approach in the age of AI.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#21: What does the 2025 marketing job market really look like—and how do you stay in demand as AI transforms the way B2B teams hire, operate, and grow?

In this solo episode of Growth Activated, host Mandy Walker breaks down two must-read reports—the Taligence Q1 2025 Jobs Report and the Exit Five Salary Report—to uncover what’s happening beneath the surface of the B2B marketing world.

We’ll cover:

• The highest-paying B2B marketing roles in 2025—and which ones are stalling or shrinking
• How AI is reshaping team structures, job responsibilities, and entry-level career paths
• Why executive and strategic roles are seeing the biggest gains in salary and demand
• Which roles are being commoditized—and how to pivot before your career flatlines
• Four actionable strategies to grow your salary, specialize your skillset, and future-proof your marketing career

If you’re a B2B marketing leader wondering how your comp stacks up, whether your role is future-proof, or where the biggest career opportunities are next—this episode delivers the clarity and confidence you’ve been craving.

🎧 Tune in now to discover what’s rising, what’s fading, and how to stay competitive in the shifting marketing landscape.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#20: Ever wonder how your B2B marketing team stacks up against others?
Not just in headcount or budget—but in actual maturity, strategy, and execution?

In this episode of Growth Activated, we’re diving into the Sales and Marketing Maturity Matrix—a powerful assessment designed to help marketing leaders benchmark their teams across 9 essential pillars of go-to-market success. Whether you're leading a small but mighty team or scaling a complex org, this framework reveals exactly where you stand—and how to grow from there.

I’m joined by Jim Irving, creator of the Matrix and a veteran sales and marketing executive, and Michael Phelan, founder of Go-to-Market Pros and advisor to B2B companies transforming how they drive revenue.

If you're looking to evolve from reactive execution to proactive, revenue-aligned strategy—this episode is for you.

We’ll cover:
✅ What the Maturity Matrix actually measures—and how it helps you assess marketing team maturity
✅ Common gaps across B2B orgs—and why even high-performing teams often fall short
✅ How to use your results to influence stakeholders, secure investment, and align with business goals
✅ Why marketing maturity often varies across functions—and how to spot hidden weaknesses
✅ Actionable ways to level up—even if you never take the formal assessment

If you're a B2B marketing leader ready to build a more strategic, high-impact marketing function, this conversation will give you the clarity, credibility, and confidence to lead your team forward.

🎧 Tune in now to evaluate your current state—and start building the marketing leadership foundation your business needs to grow.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!