Back on T-R-A-C-K

Evan Kling, Growth Marketing Manager at Vicarious, joins to discuss how he spearheads different creative campaigns and utilizes his teammates’ specialties in bringing a vision to life in a fast-paced startup environment.

Ashish Malpani, Head of Global Product Marketing for DX, joins to discuss how product marketers can own the process and become the voice of the customer. They need to understand the nuances of each market & vertical particularly in global cybersecurity brands.

Matthew Delman, Director of Marketing at Techstrong Group, joins to discuss how he utilizes classic storytelling techniques in B2b product marketing. “Storytelling is all about finding the levers to pull in your audience to create the response you want to create.”

Joel Silverstein, Director of Content at Invicti Security, joins to discuss how he leverages his background as a print journalist to thrive on the content marketing path. He talks about how long-form research-based content has elevated his cybersecurity firm as a trusted subject-matter expert and how his team takes that content and utilizes it in various marketing initiatives, from Sales to SEO & Paid Ads.

Josh Martin, Technical Solutions Architect at Cyolo, joins to discuss how his team leverages curiosity in the sales process, putting the power back in the users’ hands. They allow the user to think up questions and test drive their tool Walnut.io in a controlled environment.

Stephanie May, Project Manager at Pacific Planning Group, joins to discuss how she liaisons between engineers, marketers, and clients. She has constructed a library full of acronyms for the industry and different company niches. She utilizes this lexicon to successfully change messaging and communicate effectively to her various audiences.

Cameron 'Cami' Regano , joins to discuss how she identifies pain points (or use cases) and how the sales team addresses those issues smoothly. Story based frameworks helps both marketing and sales teams bolster the inbound pipeline.

Alec Foster, Growth Lead at Stealth & Public Policy Manager at AI Alignment, Inc, joins to discuss GDPR compliance and how companies can protect their users and customer data. Individual control over data is crucial when building trust and ensuring security.

Justin Brock, a B2B SaaS Marketing Leader at Coro Cybersecurity, joins to discuss how he leverages his background as an English teacher to help rewrite websites and simplify complex jargon, abstract acronyms into plain language.

Bryant Pulecio & Theresa Woodiel from DeepInstinct join to discuss how to effectively utilize Account Based Marketing to bolster your cybersecurity company. They stress matching strategic planning, consistent messaging, and a well-rounded tech stack both reach and educate different personas throughout the complex sales process.

Saren Sakurai, Senior Director of Digital Marketing at Blackberry, joins to discuss what the future holds for brand marketing in the age of ChatGPT, speed with a human touch. He envisions that the customer journey is accelerated with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In addition, he warns of the tendency for some brands, particularly in cybersecurity, to operate based on fear rather than optimism.

Sandy Hawke, Cybersecurity Product Marketer at CISCO, joins to discuss what you need to do for a great product launch, combining storytelling and proper timing. Her key to great product marketing is always starting with the customer in mind, forever listening and iterating.

In this episode, Christian DeGobbi highlights the significance of incorporating emotions in B2B marketing. B2B marketers should use emotions like humor and storytelling to humanize marketing and appeal to emotions that influence decision-making.

This week Chris Cochran, CEO & Co-Founder of Hacker Valley Media, joins to discuss the power of storytelling and the mindset of the cybersecurity practitioner. He has spent many years in the cybersecurity space and now tells stories for a living, including the comparison that cybersecurity practitioners are super athletes, going to battle everyday, training and pushing their craft to new horizons.

Kate Neuens, Marketing Manager at Beyond Identity, joins to discuss switching industries and building a cohesive skillset.

Jon-Eric Cornellier joins to discuss how to best market your company's capabilities at industry events, even when your team is small. He stresses the importance of cultivating 'buy-in' among team members and potential clients to successfully form relationships.

Peter Wheeler, joins to discuss how Product Led Growth can form bonds between the customer and product, allowing the features to do the heavy marketing lift. He also lays out the framework for a freemium model that enables the customer to try a product and integrate it in their daily usage prior to signing any hefty contracts. He's launching his very own podcast soon! Be sure to subscribe: https://www.heygoodchat.org/

In this episode of season 13, Kerry Guard chats with Matt Hathaway, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at TrueFort. Matt Hathaway shares about the changes in the cybersecurity industry and the dangers of over-promising.

In this episode, Kerry Guard chats with Rachel Ratchford, Head of Marketing Communications at Cobalt.io. Rachel Ratchford shares about managing small, efficient teams across time zones.

In this episode, Kerry Guard chats with Xuan Liao, Chief Marketing Officer Americas at Roboyo. Xuan Liao shares about SEO thought leadership and building a foundation with search marketing at the core.

In this episode of season 13, Kerry Guard chats with Anna Hrach, Senior Strategist at Convince and Convert. Anna Hrach shares how the industry has changed through the pandemic as well as how the mindset of the "Marketing Funnel" is antiquated and should be replaced with Customer Journeys.

In this episode, Kerry Guard chats with Patrick Garrity. Standing desk to standing desk, they dug into how to be decisive. As marketing leaders trying to grow tech companies, you have to make 100 decisions a day, which can get overwhelming and daunting. Patrick somehow managed to find his way through that. He shares how he's been able to do this daily while moving towards lofty goals and getting the magical thing about how Patrick does this is that he gets buy-in from key stakeholders every step of the way. It's not just about making decisions, but how you make those decisions and then bring people in along with you to agree to those decisions that you're making fast and furious. Patrick Garrity is a Go to Market specialist with over 15+ years of experience providing marketing, sales, and product expertise to high-growth SaaS startups with a primary focus on Cybersecurity.

In this episode of Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders, Kerry Guard sits down with Brianna Doe, Senior Demand Generation Manager at Inventables. Brianna explains the importance of the customer experience and how you should pull your audience in and take them on a journey.Brianna Doe is a marketing leader with ten years of experience driving growth and revenue and building engagement communities. She's driven over a million and monthly revenue two times the email subscribers and grew social channels by 70% for one of her customers.This podcast is powered by MKG Marketing. Finally!! A Digital Marketing agency you don't have to micromanage. Besides, growth shouldn't be this hard. Chapters00:00 Intro and LinkedIn Fame 04:05 From Film School to Funnels 08:50 What Is Customer Engagement 14:20 Trust vs Relationship 19:45 Personalization Beyond the Name 26:00 Data Ethics and Web3 32:30 Stepping Into Their Shoes 38:15 Messaging Makeover 43:00 Surprising Channels 47:30 Measurement in a Dark Funnel World 53:15 Loyalty, Referrals and the Next Step 57:00 Wrap-Up and Words of Wisdom

In this episode of season 13, Kerry Guard chats with Yoni Solomon, VP of Product Marketing at Gympass. Yoni Solomon explains what product marketing is and how he uses his unique experience and perspective of product-led growth.

Janice Dru-Bennett joins to discuss partnership as a marketing function. In addition, we explore the phrase "Do, Delegate, Delay, Delete" in relation to prioritization and productivity.

It’s not everyday Kerry Guard run into someone who has built an entirely internal team dedicated to SEO. Content yes. Front end web development. Absolutely. But to then have internal SEO support driving the content and front end web development is unheard. Even Luke talks about the unusual position he’s found himself in and the payoff they’ve experienced because of it. Luke Richardson is a web subject matter expert with 9 years of experience working in SEO and conversion rate optimization. In his current role, he leads a team of 5 and oversees SEO, web analytics, and web development for a rapid-growth cybersecurity unicorn. In his free time, Luke enjoys spending time with his fiancee, playing chess, and learning about wine. Luke will share his story so you’ll see how you too can put emphasis on SEO.

In this episode Kerry Guard chats with Siena Dixon where they discuss the power of gamification and how to introduce your customers to your product in a fun creative experience. Whoever said B2B couldn’t be fun! We’re all people after all and how we experience consumer brands can be done with B2B. At least according to Siena. Siena Dixon is Head of Strategy & Commercial at Zebrar. She is a relentlessly curious senior marketing executive focused on innovation where storytelling meets new and immersive technology. Exploring and refining technologies like AR, VR, AI and gamification for brands.

In this episode Kerry Guard connects with Sekou White where they discuss how to market to tough audiences, who are marketing skeptics. In his case the developer. Having been a developer Sekou understands his audience and that traditional advertising won’t work. Sekou is a multifaceted marketing professional with 20 years of experience in technology, entertainment and media. He spent the first half of his career launching some of the biggest video games, mobile apps, and digital advertising products. More recently, he’s focused on building robust developer communities through advertising, PR and partnerships. Here’s my conversation with Sekou. Sekou also joined our live roundtable where we discussed putting your audience first. You can find that here.

In this episode Kerry Guard chats with Aileen Casmano. In Cyber Security it’s very easy to use language that strikes fear in the hearts of buyers everywhere. But Aileen is committed to proving time and time again that you don’t need to scare your customers into buying your product. There’s a better way and she walks us through it. Aileen Casmano is an experienced marketer in cybersecurity and technology. Her work experience and skillset spans across brand strategy, product marketing, communications, and creative strategy. Aileen is currently the Director of Marketing at Cyvatar, where she leads the brand vision, strategy, and team. Prior to Cyvatar, Aileen held various marketing roles at Owl Cyber Defense and Dynata (formerly Critical Mix). She is also a co-founder of the Cybersecurity Marketing Society. When she’s not thinking of the next big idea, she’s can be found hanging out with her Goldendoodle pup Oakley or catching a yoga class.

In this episode, Kerry Guard hangs out with John Steinhert where they discuss what a marketing career can look like. As more people examine their careers and look at making moves, marketing offers not only options in terms of disciplines, but clear growth opportunities as well. As TechTarget’s CMO, John Steinhert is responsible for positioning the company and messaging to their subscribers in ways that maximize understanding and energize action. He’s convinced that if they do this well, everyone benefits. At TechTarget, they’re committed to customer centricity and a win:win view of the world. Here’s my conversation with John.

In this conversation with Matt Dynan brings to life how he kicked off his marketing career. After Matt shares his story, we dig into what it means to build a category. Matt Dynan is the Digital Marketing Manager at Jellyfish.io. He is a B2B digital marketer with experience owning SEO and paid media programs at high-growth SaaS companies. He focuses on building consistent digital experiences across channels that enable brand awareness, prospect education, and customer acquisition.

Alyssa Maker started off in PR and is now a demand gen marketer. It really goes to show that you just never know where your marketing career will take you! Alyssa shares her story then we discuss what demand generation means to her and how she approaches it as the glue that holds all their marketing efforts together. Alyssa is the Director of Marketing for Sana Commerce. As a Director of Marketing, she manages a marketing team focused on accelerating growth through multiple channels including digital, demand gen, events, and partners. She loves marketing because it allows her to find sophisticated solutions to everyday challenges. She is passionate about growth and committed to developing new skills. Here’s my conversation with Alyssa.

In this final episode of Season 12, Kerry Guard hangs out with Tom Wedding all the way from Australia! Tom is committed to building digital communities on behalf of his clients. If you listened to my conversation with Sekou who talks about the power of community then consider this a perfect follow. Sekou was the why. This is the how.

Welcome to Season 11! Eight more episodes are here for you. Check em out and listen in whatever order you choose. We did curate them for you to serve up the best flow possible if you did decide to binge, but no worries if you’d prefer to skip around. Listen your way!On this first episode of season 11 is Dani Woolf. Dani chimed in all the way from Israel and she and Kerry dig in to what it really means to know your audience. Not just know them, but understand them —what challenges they face, what their priorities are, and if what we’re doing as marketers is really working for them or not. Dani breaks it down on she has gotten to know her buyer and why we all need to pick up the damn phone and do the same.Dani is the VP of Demand Gen at Cybersixgill. She’s a swimmer turned marketer and she still has the same appetite to win.She’s been applying lessons learned as a distance freestyler to B2B organizational success for the past 10 years.And while still get the same adrenaline rush looking at the scoreboard instead of beating personal records ⏱, she prefer racking up net new opps and revenue 💰with growth marketing strategies.Today, she is responsible for digital marketing and demand gen programs at Cybersixgill.Dani’s core specialty is in digital marketing with a focus on net new customer acquisition via digital channels - website optimization, SEO, SEM, social media, conversion rate optimization and marketing automation.Connect with Dani on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniarad/Season 11 Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6zszIevpfzAuRpJSOYvci3?si=f2fca4cd6ecf4e3a

Welcome back to season 11! In this episode Kerry Guard chats with Chris Spellman. Chris is the Senior Demand Generation Manager at Offensive Security. He is a marketing leader with over a decade of experience helping organizations grow. Dedicated to leading orgs in driving brand, demand, and revenue. Chris and Kerry talk about what it means to be a mission driven organization. To have a real message about creating a real difference in the world, then backing it up through all your marketing efforts. This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing. It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis. If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply. Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.

In this episode Kerry Guard connects with Kaya Adams and Alexandra McWethy. Kaya and Alexandra work together at Watch Guard. Kaya is a Director of Demand Generation and Marketing Operations at Watch Guard Technologies. She’s a passionate marketing leader with a proven track record of delivering innovative, data, and technology driven integrated campaigns in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments. She’s a creative problem solver with an analytics, detail-oriented approach, hungry to drive results. Alexandra is also a Director of Demand Generation at WatchGuard Technologies. She’s focused on developing educational and engaging content that helps small businesses and mid-size enterprise organizations better protect their employees, customers, and sensitive data. Kaya and Alex are a force. They have teamed up to build a team of Business Development Representatives. They are focused on drumming up leads then nurturing them to a place where they can pass them off to the sales team. Kaya and Alex break down how they did it, why marketing and sales love this approach, and the early outcomes they’re seeing. This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing. It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis. If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply. Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.

In this episode Kerry Guard chat with Hana Jacover where she gives me my first lesson in Web3. She’s so passionate about Web3 that she has actually left her previous company to be able to dedicate time into really digging into Web3 and becoming an expert.Hana is a technical demand generation marketer with a proven track record of strategies and programs that accelerate revenue. She has deep experience in the optimization of high-performance tactics and marketing automation technologies that build and measure pipeline. She has a strong history of client loyalty and retention with marketing and sales executives at B2B tech companies. And she has a thorough understanding of marketing strategy, the importance of data and attribution, and execution. Most importantly, she can clearly articulate KPIs to decision makers.Hana and Kerry take the conversation from Web3 101, into a deeper conversation around the power of community, and how community needs to be apart of your marketing efforts to give them a vote and allow them to be part of the development of your brand and product.This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing.It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKGMusic, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis.If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply.

In this episode, Kerry Guard gets to hang out with Rob Neuman where we dig into his unique approach to Account Based Marketing. Unique in his ability to personalize his marketing based on what he knows of his audience which is a unique and niche. Not what we’re used to the cyber security and data side so it’s nice to hear of other approaches outside of these industries and maybe find opportunities to apply it. This conversation is especially special because we’re talking just a week or so after Russia invaded the Ukraine and we take a moment to sit and chat through what that means and the impact it’s had on Rob and his company. Rob is the Digital Leader of CSS Commerce. He works to create the most effective, uniquely innovative solution that will build your business, handle more traffic and transactions, move more clients to your platform and give you real insight into your business. Basically eCommerce for B2B. Rob knows the only way to make B2B transactional like ecommerce is to approach each of his clients with turn key solutions as they are all different. This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing. It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis. If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply. Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.

In this episode Jada Holst joins Kerry Guard to discuss raising up the next generation of marketers. There are some clear hiring challenges in the marketing industry and it’s going to take all of us to fix it. Jada leads with her story where she grew up on a farm and had quite the journey to becoming a marketing leader. Jada Holst is a marketing manager at an ISV focused on supporting higher ed, non-profit, and other similar industries succeed in their missions. Her background also includes cybersecurity and B2B start-up's with experience in demand, channel, field, and customer marketing. This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing. It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis. If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply. Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.

On this episode Naz Ekim joins Kerry Guard to discuss PR and what great PR looks like when it comes to finding your partners. She’s so candid which makes for a real honest conversation, which given the current state of events we all need a good dose of honesty especially when it comes to cyber security. Speaking of cyber security, Naz is an award-winning communication strategist and the Director of Global Marketing Communications at Keeper Security. She comes equipped with more than a decade of experience in orchestrating integrated communications campaigns for a diverse number of technology companies. This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing. It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis. If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply. Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.

In this final episode of season 11, Jim Mitchell joins to discuss the pitfalls of receiving too much funding as a startup. This conversation with Jim is an eye opener. Jim has been at a few security startups over the last 5 - 10 years and he has seen somethings. Especially as it pertains to rapid growth and the pitfalls, more like craters as he describes them, of what can happen if you grow to quickly. Jim is a complete marketing professional with years of experience to get the job done: content management, brand management, end to end project management, and the ability to communicate across departments. He leads by doing not by telling. This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing - our digital marketing agency that helps cyber security and data companies get found via transparent, measurable digital marketing. It’s hosted by me, Kerry Guard - CEO and co-founder of MKG Music, mix, and mastering done by Austin Ellis. If you’d like to be a guest, please visit mkgmarketinginc.com to apply. Jam out with this season's Spotify playlist.

What an honor to kick off Season 10, with having our very first guest back with us, Amber Anderson. Be sure to check out her first episode - the very first episode of the Series. She takes Kerry to school on intersectionality and how it relates to marketing. Specifically the intersectionality of women, where they live, their ethnicity, their race, their life stage and how as marketers we need to make sure our marketing meets women where they are. It’s so good. Amber is so clear in what we need to do as marketers and how we can do better. Which she brings us to this episode. Amber’s company, Tote and Pears has become more strategic in seeing a clear need for both women and tech companies. Given the great resignation, how real working remotely is now, and the realization for woman that the need for a true work life balance is non-negotiable, Amber and her team have identified a clear way to use their marketing and branding super powers to help tech companies, who are ready to embrace what it truly means to hire a working woman, find great talent. And to help women find awesome careers where they can have the lifestyle they want and can lean into it without apology. https://www.toteandpears.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ambernanderson/ Spotify Playlist

On this episode Kerry Guard chats with Peter Zaballos, who is a fractional CMO at Authentic Brand. This is actually perfect timing in following Amber’s episode, because Peter is a prime example of what it means to be living the life he wants and to have a company support it. Before we met Peter, he sent Kerry an email with something called his User Manual. We, here at MKG marketing, just started looking into this when Kerry very first met Peter and to see one in action was so cool. It really set the stage for who Peter is and the amazing conversation we knew he and Kerry would have. We’ll tell you all about what a User Manual is and how it fits into the bigger picture of how Peter leads, which is heart centered. People centered. Let’s take a listen. https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterzaballos/ Spotify Playlist

On this episode Kerry Guard chats with Lavanya Ganesh… Lavanya is the Senior Manager of Global Digital Strategy and Demand Generation, at VMware. Lavanya was kind enough to take time out of her trip to New York city to chat with Kerry which worked out perfectly, because they were talking about the customer experience and Lavanya could share first hand real examples of brand experiences - the good, the bad, and the ugly - and in no better place. As B2B marketers, like Lavanya, we are taking more cues from consumer brands on how to build better customer experiences end to end, this episode is a great opportunity to do just that. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lavanyag9/ Spotify Playlist

On this episode Kerry Guard chats with Shane Whelan, Owner of PetBidder and Carrying the fire. You might be wondering why we have Shane on our Tech Marketing Leaders Podcast. Sometimes we come across people who just catch our attention. Who has a great story. Who is out there doing something different and thoughtful and after talking to these people we realize that we all can learn from their journey… and Shane’s journey is inspiring. How he sees the world and his customers is something we all need to lean into no matter who we’re marketing for. It was an honor to connect with Shane and we hope you feel just as inspired as we did. https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-whelan-13356bb5/ Spotify Playlist

On this episode Kerry Guard chats with Lisa McDermott, VP of Marketing at Acqueon. When Lisa and Kerry talked, Lisa was working at CoreDial, which is interesting because it’s a business that relies solely on partners. Marrying the business model with Lisa’s view of marketing and content makes for a new and exciting conversation we haven’t had before. Take a listen. As an FYI - Lisa is now the VP of Marketing at Acqueon. She just started in January and is already looking for some great people to add to her team. Head over to their website and check out their job postings: Product Marketing - https://www.acqueon.com/careers/director-product-marketing/ Partner Marketing - https://www.acqueon.com/careers/director-partner-marketing/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-mcdermott-marketing-leader/ Spotify Playlist

In this episode Kerry Guard chats with Steven Shapiro, who has been a marketing leader at companies such as Qualys, Informatica, Weaveworks and more. At each company he has set the stage for how to build Generate Demand. Given his track record Kerry asked him to walk through his secrets of where he starts and then builds upon it to create a pipeline generation machine. Demand Generation is the new Lead Generation. If you haven’t thought about your demand generation efforts, you could find yourself playing catch up in 2022 and Steven talks through exactly where to start so break out that note book and take notes. Let’s go! https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenshapiro/ Spotify Playlist

In this episode Kerry Guard chats with Rachel Jordan, head of marketing at TeachFX. Rachel is a purpose-driven marketing leader and change agent with more than 20 years of experience guiding brand strategy, content marketing, and marketing-sales partnership in b2b SaaS startup, b2b enterprise, and b2c nonprofit brands. Given Rachel ran her on marketing company for many years she discovered that a strong brand strategy is the lynch pin to a sucessful business - it fuels everything from product to sales to marketing. She even has a framework to help you build one! Grab your notebook and take a listen. https://www.linkedin.com/in/racheljordan/ Spotify Playlist

Christina Kay, Vice President of Marketing at ResellerRatings joins Kerry Guard to talk about how given her lean team she’s had to lean on Rev Ops and how it has impacted ResellerRatings business and helped find major and important efficiencies across the whole organization. Take a listen. https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinakay/ RevOps Templates Spotify Playlist

Tracy Hansen and Kerry Guard talk about the importance of CMOs working with their executive teams in bringing them along with the importance of marketing. It’s not a world where if you build they will come and it’s up to the CMO to help the executive leadership team make space for marketing in an effort to impact everyone’s goals - especially the businesses bottom line. Resources: Chief Outsiders Spotify Playlist