Sarah Whipp on the 3 things CMOs should be talking about

Since the filming of this podcast, Sarah Whipp has since been named in the HotTopics— 100 B2B Marketing Leaders in Technology. Please join us in congratulating Sarah 🎉

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Transforming and building marketing into something that delivers value is no easy feat for CMOs. Chief Marketing Officers are challenged daily to align their entire marketing departments with the business strategy rather than operate adjacent to it. Often, the role is much more of a science than an art, and it changes constantly.

On this episode of Stuff You Should Know About Our Changed New World, Sarah Whipp, CMO and Head of Go-To-Market Strategy at Callsign, sits down with host Colin Day, Managing Director EMEA at Oktopost, to share a typical day in the life of a Chief Marketing Officer. The conversation centers around CMOs building, curating, and maintaining a brand focusing on messaging.

You can catch a conversation by searching for B2B Marketing Now wherever you listen to podcasts and subscribing to our channel.

Key takeaways from Sarah Whipp:

Focus on company goals

Rather than operating adjacent to the business, CMOs can align their initiatives with management by focusing on company goals.

From there, put marketing practices in place to be measured by outcomes.

For instance, start by describing how the C-suite should understand measuring marketing. Marketing KPIs should be directly correlated to the organization’s goals.

In addition, getting the organization on the same page about marketing metrics, defending the marketing budget, and choosing budget-safe tools, like Oktopost, becomes much easier when teams are aligned.

Effectively communicate internally

Consider how marketers present their ideas.

Instead of giving lengthy presentations or fluffy word clouds, CMOs can guide their marketers to better navigate what marketing contributes to the company by keeping it simple. Create presentations that are one page only. As Sarah Whipp shares,

“It all comes down to being able to communicate effectively internally. Simplify your plan or go-to-market strategy to only a page. Get it down to one page because then people remember it.”

A one-page plan becomes much more effective for others in the organization to understand marketing needs, resources, and just how much the marketing department is a necessity. Leadership can take the marketing team more seriously because the marketing department is now speaking their language.

Get the message right

CFOs are looking to save money, and CEOs are looking at ROI. The most effective CMO understands how to impress them by getting the messaging right. The context in which their company’s products and services have value and hone in on the message. If marketers are unable to answer the following questions, then the sale will fail:

• How will CFOs save money by purchasing your product or service?
• Why is your product or service an essential part of the organization?

The challenge for many marketing departments today is that all brands are currently targeting the same small number of channels. But marketers who get their messaging right will see higher returns from their marketing activities.

Once messaging is on point, the channel will come. Yet if the message does not exist, the content will continue to hinder any impact on company goals.