Shows
Pipeline VisionariesBeing Led Astray: First- and Last-Touch AttributionThis 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 ca...2025-04-2246 min
SaaS CMO ProWhy Tech Marketers Lose Promotions (Your Outfit Matters)Most people think promotions are all about performance—but like it or not, perception plays a role too. In this video, I dive into the surprising impact your outfit can have on your career growth as a B2B tech marketer. Does what you wear really matter? How do top marketers think about workplace dress codes? And can dressing a certain way actually help you get ahead?I’ll share my own experiences, practical tips, and a few strategies successful professionals use to navigate office dress norms.============================ 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro=============================Official website: https...2025-02-1206 minSaaS CMO ProThe better (and cheaper) alternative to multi-touch attribution. 🧪📊Learn how to use control groups to measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts with precision. In this video, I’ll share practical examples from my time at Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce, showing how control groups can help you evaluate ad campaigns, website changes, customer success initiatives, and more. Whether you’re a marketer, CEO, or VC, this simple yet powerful technique can save you money, improve decision-making, and provide definitive proof of ROI—all without expensive attribution tools. ============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro=============================Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/============================= 🚀 About Bill:============================= Bill Macaiti...2025-01-2907 minSaaS CMO ProShould you skip the SMB segment?Every SaaS and AI founder is forced with this question early on ... should you skip the SMB segment and go straight to the enterprise? I dive into the pros and cons here and lay my case for what I think is the clear answer.============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro=============================Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/============================= 🚀 About Bill:============================= Bill Macaitis is an advisor and board member guiding aspiring AI & SaaS unicorns/decacorns. Bill works with companies to build out capital efficient go-to-market strategies and world class teams. Over his 30 year career Bill has achieve...2025-01-0811 minSaaS CMO ProUnlocking Hyper-Growth: The Art of Removing Friction in PLGLearn how to identify and eliminate friction in your Product-Led Growth (PLG) strategy. From pricing and adoption friction to cognitive and invite friction, I’ll share actionable tips to help SaaS and AI companies grow faster and more efficiently. Perfect for founders, marketers, and product teams looking to accelerate growth. 🚀============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro=============================Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/============================= 🚀 About Bill:============================= Bill Macaitis is an advisor and board member guiding aspiring AI & SaaS unicorns/decacorns. Bill works with companies to build out capital efficient go-to-market strategies and world class teams. Over his...2024-12-0614 minSaaS CMO ProThe Golden Rule of Professional Communication ✨📜💼Hey folks. Today, I want to share one crucial lesson I learned the hard way: never put anything in writing that you wouldn’t be comfortable with everyone at your company seeing. Let's dive into this topic and I'll share some strategies I used to help avoid this.============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro=============================Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/============================= 🎥 Key items in Zoom/Youtube setup ============================= FULL 150+ item gear listing: https://www.saascmopro.com/gear============================= 🚀 About Bill:============================= Bill Macaitis is an advisor and board member guiding aspiring AI & SaaS unicorns...2024-11-2104 min
Tank Talks By Ripple VenturesWhy Playing It Safe in B2B Marketing Means Getting Lost in the Crowd with Bill Macaitis of SaaS CMO ProIn 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 sh...2024-11-141h 03SaaS CMO ProScale Your Marketing Team: In-House 🏠 vs. Agency 🤝 GuideWhen I built marketing at Slack, Zendesk and Salesforce, I always had to make a fundamental decision. Which functions should we hire internal marketers for and which should we outsource to agencies? In this video I walk you through the pros and cons of in-house vs agency in this ultimate battle royale!============================= 🎥 Chapters============================= 0:00 Introduction to In-House vs. Outsourcing0:46 Key Factors for In-House vs. Outsourcing in Marketing1:32 Advantages of Outsourcing for Speed2:10 Common Marketing Functions to Outsource2:52 Weighing the Costs of Outsourcing3:39 Building Core Competencies In-House4:21 Benefits of Outsourcing Creativ...2024-11-0606 minSaaS CMO Pro🔑 Two words took Zendesk from zero to IPO 🚀I had the great pleasure of working with a spectacular team at Zendesk. I joined at an early stage (about 65 people) and came on as their first CMO. I built out the marketing team and in a couple years we took Zendesk IPO. We had a guiding principle at Zendesk and it could be distilled into two words: Beautifully Simple. This video dives into how those two words manifested into practical strategy that helped propel Zendesk to huge heights.============================= 📖 Table of Contents=============================00:00 - Introduction00:20 - Background00:40 - Revealing the Key Concept...2024-10-3008 minSaaS CMO ProThe 🔒 HIDDEN Potential of 💬 In-Product Messaging in SaaS 🚀Spend a little time learning about In-Product Messaging (IPM) and why I'm such a huge fan of it. IPM is an incredible way to educate and nurture your users within your SaaS or AI tool. ============================= 🎥 Videos mentioned ============================= https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFhqt_82AGLqM_XRLLqHqbsLHrA6rlSX_============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro============================= Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/Newsletter: https://saascmopro.substack.com/Hire me: https://www.saascmopro.com/advisor-se...Brand partner: https://www.saascmopro.com/brand-partnerSpeaking opps: https://www.saascmopro.com/speaking-opps============================= 🎥 Key items in Zoom...2024-10-2309 minSaaS CMO Pro7 tips for more customer references 💬🤝✨Great customer references are always hard to get. I spill the beans on my top 7 strategies to get more and better customer references. These help even if you are going after the elusive enterprise segment. ============================= 🎥 Videos mentioned ============================= https://youtu.be/FcQ-Qxdvq_8https://youtu.be/Ol6kMjzMOAs============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro============================= Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/Newsletter: https://saascmopro.substack.com/Hire me: https://www.saascmopro.com/advisor-se...Brand partner: https://www.saascmopro.com/brand-partnerSpeaking opps: https://www.saascmopro.com/speaking-opps============================= 🎥 Key items in Zoom...2024-10-1615 minSaaS CMO ProPLG 100% ❌ Does Not Work for This Industry 🏭Ok you teased me Bill with that title. I'm a PLG fan. What the heck industry doesn't work for PLG?!?.Listen on my friend.============================= 🎥 Videos mentioned ============================= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUZngF95dyo============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro============================= Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/Newsletter: https://saascmopro.substack.com/Hire me: https://www.saascmopro.com/advisor-se...Brand partner: https://www.saascmopro.com/brand-partnerSpeaking opps: https://www.saascmopro.com/speaking-opps============================= 🎥 Key items in Zoom/Youtube setup ============================= FULL 150+ item gear listing: https://ww...2024-10-1005 minSaaS CMO ProHow I handle work mistakes. The simple 3 step process 🛠️Mistakes happen. It's just the truth. And at some point you or your team will make the mistake and it will get called out in a big meeting. Here is my simple 3-step formula that my Dad taught me on how to communicate the problem.============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro============================= Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/Newsletter: https://saascmopro.substack.com/Hire me: https://www.saascmopro.com/advisor-se...Brand partner: https://www.saascmopro.com/brand-partnerSpeaking opps: https://www.saascmopro.com/speaking-opps============================= 🎥 Key items in Zoom/Youtube setup ============================= FULL 150+...2024-10-0303 minSaaS CMO Pro10X Your SaaS Growth: Advanced Pricing StrategiesSupercharge your SaaS growth! I reveal six advanced pricing secrets I've used to help ignite your y/y ARR growth to new levels. These are advanced strategies but can be leveraged by any SaaS and AI company. Go get em! Carpe diem my friends.============================= ⏰ Table of Contents============================= 0:00 - Introduction to Advanced Pricing Strategies for SaaS & AI0:11 - Why Pricing & Packaging Matters for SaaS Growth0:40 - Common Pricing Mistakes in SaaS Companies1:26 - Who Owns Pricing in Your Organization?2:08 - Choosing the Right SaaS Pricing Models2:49 - Keeping Pricing Simple for Pros...2024-09-3030 min
The People of Digital MarketingYour Crash Course Into Experiential Marketing with Sheila Rondeau - Episode #164Shelia 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, Wa...2024-09-2631 min
BOSS by Ali LevitanBOSS with Bill, former CMO/CRO at Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce 🚨 New BOSS episode alert! 🚨🎙️ I’m thrilled to sit down with Bill Macaitis, a "business nerd" turned powerhouse CMO and CRO who’s helped scale companies like Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce. He’s now on a mission to help marketers level up with his latest venture: SaaS CMO Pro—a new platform designed to give marketers the insights they need to master go-to-market strategies and drive impact. 💡In this fast-paced 10-minute episode, we dive into:Building relationships with recruiters, VCs, and networks to create your own luck.Why thought leadership and social selling are crucial for today’s le...2024-09-2608 min
SaaS SessionsS8E11 - Building a Stellar Marketing Career ft. Bill Macaitis, Founder & CEO, SaaS CMO Pro, former CMO @Slack & @ZendeskIn 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...2024-09-2539 minSaaS CMO ProWhy B2B Marketers Feel Overwhelmed 😩 & How to fix it!Are you a B2B SaaS Marketer? Do you feel a bit overwhelmed? Don't worry, you are not alone. There are just so many internal stakeholders that all want a laundry list of things from marketing. I share my best tips on how to handle the chaos and focus your marketing team.============================= ⏰ Table of Contents============================= 00:01 - Feeling Overwhelmed in B2B SaaS Marketing00:57 - Common Challenges Faced by CMOs01:37 - Focus on Mastering a Few Channels02:41 - Building a Marketing Team with Strengths03:21 - Leveraging Video for B2B SaaS Marketin...2024-09-2308 minSaaS CMO ProThe Weird Truth About SaaS Freemium PlansDiscover the weird truth about SaaS freemium plans as former Slack CMO, Bill Macaitis, dives into the pros, cons, and hidden benefits of this controversial pricing strategy. From transforming millions of free users into a powerful marketing force to creating an unbeatable defensive moat, learn why freemium might be the game-changer your SaaS company needs. Whether you’re struggling with brand awareness, tackling enterprise sales, or looking for capital-efficient growth, this video will uncover why freemium could be your secret weapon.============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro============================= Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/Newsletter: https://saascmopro.substac...2024-09-1829 minSaaS CMO ProWhat the Heck is PLG? 🤔🚀Want to learn a little bit more about what Product Led Growth (PLG) is? You are in the right place. I'm the former CMO of Slack and I've helped SaaS and AI startups with dozens of PLG implementations. In this video, I give you my perspective on what PLG really is, why it matters, and how to implement it successfully. Learn about the key elements of PLG, including self-service, reducing friction, infusing sales, marketing, and customer support into the product, and how to measure success using metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Product Qualified Leads (PQLs). Btw...2024-09-1234 min
The Business LineMarketing a Unicorn: Untold Stories of Slack, Zendesk, and SalesforceOn this episode of the Business Line Podcast, Brian sits down with veteran marketer Bill Macaitis, whose remarkable career includes leadership roles at IGN, Salesforce, Zendesk, and Slack.Throughout the show, Bill shares his journey from his early days at IGN and Salesforce to his pivotal roles as CMO at Zendesk and Slack, where he played a key part in leading both companies to successful IPOs.Bill dives into the evolution of digital marketing, unforgettable moments in gaming, and the significance of net promoter scores. He also sheds light...2024-09-111h 03
The People of Digital MarketingHow to Succeed as You Transition Into New Leadership Roles with Pat LaCroix - Episode #163Pat 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.
Questi...2024-09-0944 minSaaS CMO Pro✨ The Best Career Advice I Ever Got 🚀Did you ever get a really good piece of career advice that you stowed away in your head for life? I want to hear it! Share it so everyone can learn and get a little better.Well I got mine on my first job out of college. There was a tradition we had where we would all go out to lunch when it was someone’s last day. And I made it a habit to ask the last day person what their best piece of career advice was.One time I got a piece of ad...2024-09-0904 min
The Marketing ScientistsThe great debate: Marketing's role in B2B with Bill MacaitisToday's guest is Bill Macaitis, the former CMO of Slack and Zendesk. Here are three things that I think you'll enjoy learning about in this episode: - A great debate on the role of marketing in B2B orgs.- Setting clear priorities with the V2MOM framework. - How CEOs should hold their CMO or marketing leader accountable.2024-09-0637 minSaaS CMO Pro📊 Mastering Marketing Metrics for B2B SaaS 📊Marketing metrics demystified.I've spent 30 years thinking about what should be the right marketing metrics that incentivize the right behavior for the team. Here are the six categories I used at Slack, Zendesk and Salesforce for my B2B marketing teams.1.Funnel Metrics 🔄These are the bread and butter of every B2B SaaS marketing team. I really advocated for moving beyond just leads.•Website visits•Form completes•Leads•Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)•Sales Accepted Leads (SALs)•Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)•Opportunit...2024-09-0426 minSaaS CMO ProWhy PLG is Your Secret Weapon in Enterprise Sales 🚀In this pod, I dive into why Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a salesperson’s best friend. I’ll break down what PLG is, how it reduces friction in the sales process, and why it’s especially effective in enterprise sales. Whether you’re dealing with long deal cycles or trying to build brand awareness, PLG offers powerful tools like freemium models and internal evangelists that can help accelerate your sales efforts. Tune in to learn how PLG can transform your sales strategy.============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro============================= Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/Newsletter: https://saascmopro.su...2024-08-2713 min
The People of Digital MarketingSecret Promotion Hack: Setting Up Customer Advisory Boards (CABs) with Andrew Petersen - Episode #162Andrew 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 to...2024-08-2653 minSaaS CMO ProBehind Slack’s Success: 🔥 The Fair Billing Policy 🔥In this video, I dive into Slack’s Fair Billing policy and how it became a key part of our product-led growth (PLG) strategy. By offering credits for inactive users, we aligned our goals with those of our customers, ensuring that we only made money when people actively used the product. This approach not only built immense goodwill but also drove Slack’s hypergrowth. Tune in to learn why more companies should consider adopting a similar strategy.============================= 🦥 SaaS CMO Pro============================= Official website: https://www.saascmopro.com/Newsletter: https://saascmopro.substack.com/Hire me: https...2024-08-2205 minSaaS CMO Pro😓 4 Strategies to Survive a Toxic Workplace 😓We’ve all been there at some point. You work long enough and at some point you encounter a really bad work environment. A workplace that stresses you out, drains your energy, and makes you dread coming to work each day.Toxic environments fester like a week old fish in the fridge. No one like them.Unfortunately, it’s not always as simple as leaving for another job when these situations present themselves. Maybe you love parts of your job. Maybe you are loyal to your team. Maybe you are loyal to the mission. So...2024-08-1906 min
The People of Digital MarketingThe Holistic Approach To B2B Marketing You Need To Adopt with Marina Krivonossova - Episode #161Marina 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...2024-08-1232 minSaaS CMO ProBuilding the ultimate Zoom setup 🎥💰Watch this video podcast on Youtube for more visuals of the studio itself!If you want to up-level the professionalism of your Zoom setup, then this video is for you. Have you ever had a project that got a little out of hand? That you obsessed over and wanted to make sure every detail was right? Well, that may or may not have been me. Okay, it was me. I spent about a year and a half building out the “Ultimate Zoom Setup.” To be honest, I wasn’t trying to build out the “ult...2024-08-081h 07
The People of Digital MarketingScaling Franchise Businesses Using Performance Marketing with Aren Johnstone - Episode #160Aren 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...2024-08-0648 min
The People of Digital MarketingThe Basics of Live Event Marketing with Lindsay McGuire - Episode #159Over 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...2024-08-0255 min
The People of Digital MarketingWhat Marketers Can Learn From Creators & How To Get Recognized (Internally) with Amir Shahzeidi - Episode #158Amir 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 creat...2024-07-3137 minSaaS CMO ProOMG it is PLG time!! 📊 Top 5 PLG metrics! 📊I am SUPER excited because we are finally diving into PLG!!!! (Product Led Growth) This is by far one of my favorite topics to talk about and I went a little crazy here. This is the first of 26 videos on PLG. That was not a typo.Yeah. Did you know you were subscribing to a crazy growth marketer who loved PLG so much? No? Well you do now. No take backs.So buckle up. Get your PLG headphones on. We are kicking it off with my favorite 5 metrics for tracking PLG initiatives. Whether you’re a...2024-07-2221 minSaaS CMO ProUnlocking Hidden Revenue💰 The Power of Customer Marketing in SaaS 💰Unlocking the Power of Customer Marketing in SaaS: Let’s Dive Deep! 🚀Hey folks, today I’m talking about something crucial that I see too few SaaS marketing teams focusing on: customer marketing. I’m going to break down what customer marketing is, why the metrics often work against it, and why we need to do more of it. Alright, let’s dive in.What is Customer Marketing? 🤔First off, what is customer marketing? It’s one of those terms that can mean different things to different people. For many B2B organiz...2024-07-1911 min
The People of Digital MarketingHere’s How to Learn The Skill of Linkbuilding with Dave Schneider - Episode #157Two 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...2024-07-1936 minSaaS CMO ProBillboard Ads for Tech Companies 🚀 Brilliant Move or ❌ Big Mistake💬 Speaking as someone who was a bit skeptical about these and from someone who actually ran billboard ads, I’ll give you my 2 cents on this age-old question. 💭Also if you are a fan of SaaS CMO Pro and want to see more subscribe to our social channels:📱 Tiktok SaaS CMO Pro📸 Instagram SaaS CMO Pro🐦 X Saas CMO ProThanks and have a wonderful day! 🌟Best,BillLearn marketing + watch full video at 🚀 Saascmopro.com 🚀 2024-07-1611 minSaaS CMO Pro🚫 Career Killers 🚫 Common Mistakes New Marketing Director Makes🚫 Avoid these common pitfalls that many new Directors of Marketing face. I've seen many new managers or directors of marketing make these mistakes, and often their careers stall or even cause them to lose their jobs.And often, these are good people. I don't want to see that happen to anyone watching a SaaS CMO Pro video! So buckle in for an important marketing career video, and hopefully, this will help you or someone else down the road. 🙏As always, I appreciate all of your support for SaaS CMO Pro! 🙌 Btw, if shorts are more your styl...2024-07-1517 minSaaS CMO Pro💥 Crappy Sales Response Times to Marketing Leads 💥Excited to kick off the launch of SaaS CMO Pro with a timeless B2B topic: why sales often has crappy response times to marketing-generated leads. I discuss 🤔...🚀 My name is Bill Macaitis and I am your host for the SaaS CMO Podcast. I am a seven time marketing leader, with 3 CMO tours of duty and five tech exits. I'm hear to help you learn about marketing in a fun and easy to understand way.In this video, I dive deep into the classic tug-of-war between sales and marketing in B2B SaaS and AI companie...2024-07-1405 min
The People of Digital MarketingAdvice every marketer needs to know before joining a new team with Allie Smith - Episode #156Allie 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!2024-07-0834 min
The People of Digital MarketingThe MTaaS (Marketing Team as a Service) with Nathan Yeung - Episode #155Nathan 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 thi...2024-06-2135 min
B2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt#151: Brand Marketing | How To Build A Brand with Bill Macaitis (former Slack CMO & Zendesk CMO)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.e...2024-06-2030 min
The People of Digital MarketingBonus Episode: The Future of SEO…🔍 - Episode #154This 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.linke...2024-06-1111 min
Sidecar SyncAI Marketing Strategies, PLG Insights, and the Future of User Engagement with Bill Macaitis | 32Send us a textIn 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...2024-05-3055 min
The People of Digital MarketingLet’s Make Content Repurposing Simple with Justin Simon - Episode #153Justin 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...2024-05-2345 min
The LoopEffective account based marketing with Bill MacaitisCognism'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.2024-05-2144 min
The People of Digital MarketingMarketing As An Extension Of R&D and How To “Pass Your Legos” with Melissa Moody - Episode #152“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.
2024-05-1543 min
The People of Digital MarketingRevenue Is The Result Of Relationships with Mike Grinberg - Episode #151Mike 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 journe...2024-05-0745 min
The People of Digital MarketingHow To Show Up And Succeed As A Marketer with Adrianna Vidal - Episode #150Adrianna 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...2024-04-1937 min
The People of Digital MarketingEarly Career Struggles & What To Do When You Have No Idea What’s Going On with Adrianna Vidal - Episode #150Adrianna 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 plac...2024-04-1937 min
gtmPRO#19: Marketing Master Playbook with Bill MacaitisGood day PROs!Join us in getting to know the transformative insights of Bill Macaitis, the marketing mastermind behind Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce, as he shares the playbook for modern B2B marketing and growth strategies. Core topics:Mastering Go-to-Market Strategies for Revenue Leaders - 0:05Product-Led Growth Strategy and Pricing - 11:42Implementing Product-Led Growth Strategies - 15:32Driving Behavior With Company-Wide Metrics - 25:36Building a Strong Brand Identity - 28:38Measuring Marketing Impact and Opacity - 36:56 Journey of Marketing Success - 44:04Collaboration for Revenue Leader Growth - 52:56Bill's LinkedIngtmPRO's LinkedIn2024-04-0553 min
The People of Digital Marketing2024 Interviewing Tips For Marketers & More with Leah Kovach Margolis - Episode #149Leah 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 j...2024-04-0142 min
The People of Digital Marketing🧮Everything Marketers Need To Know About CDPs with Brian Kotlyar - Episode #148“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 playe...2024-03-2131 min
The People of Digital MarketingStriking Out On Your Own & Building An Agency with Laura Johns - Episode #147Laura 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 Bus...2024-03-1437 min
The People of Digital MarketingA Deep Dive Into Quantitative Research with Ben Cortese - Episode #146Ben 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...2024-02-2835 min
Attributed - A podcast by DreamdataBill Macaitis: Mastering Metrics for Marketing Team SuccessMetrics are the guardrails for marketing teams. They help marketing teams stay on the right track and get to their objective.The challenge, however, lies in discerning which metrics are the most relevant to your business and enable you to grow as efficiently as possible.Bill Macaitis Marketing Advisor and a former CMO and CRO of industry giants like Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce, will share strategies and best practices for harnessing the power of marketing metrics.Key topics of discussion will include:2024-02-1945 min
The People of Digital MarketingCommunities Are A Marketing Team’s Secret Weapon with Evan Patterson - Episode #145“[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...2024-02-1232 min
The People of Digital MarketingTrying To Get A Job In Marketing? Listen to this! with Zoë Hartsfield - Episode #144“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.
Que...2024-02-0143 minThe LoopHow to successfully lead a business up market while increasing revenue with Bill Macaitis, ex Slack, Salesforce and ZendeskCognism'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.2024-01-3039 min
The People of Digital MarketingHow To Approach Product Marketing in 2024 with Eric Dodds (Head of Product Marketing at RudderStack) - Episode #143Eric 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...2024-01-2551 min
Believe you can because you can!Marketing Mastery with Bill Macaitis (#729)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.…
2024-01-2544 minThe People of Digital MarketingWhat Marketers Need To Understand About Strategy with Margaret Kelsey (OpenView, Appcues, & InVision) - Episode #142Margaret 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” an...2024-01-1749 minThe People of Digital MarketingHow NOT To Become A Checkbox Marketer with George Huff - Episode 141“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 captivat...2024-01-0843 min
What's Next! with Tiffani BovaRELOAD: Raising Customer Value in Your Business with Bill MacaitisWelcome 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 bigge...2023-11-3032 min
Marketing on Mars#73 - Halloween Special: Should You Be Worried About Artificial Intelligence?Get ready for a spooktacular Halloween special episode of Marketing on Mars! 🎃 In this hair-raising episode, we had the pleasure of having Bill Macaitis, the brilliant Advisor and Board Member of major companies like Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce. Instead of our usual hot sauce challenge, Bill took a shot of whiskey every time he couldn't answer a question! 🥃💀 We delved into Bill's marketing superpower, his insights on companies in the early 2000s, a spine-tingling comparison of SEO then and now, and the chilling future of Google vs. AI. 💀📈 Is AI the monster under your business b...2023-10-261h 11
Confessions of a B2B EntrepreneurEx. Salesforce, Zendesk, & Slack CMO Teaches Us About Brand, PLG, & Marc BenioffFollow Bill Macaitis on LinkedInMacaitis Advisory on LinkedInCheck out our awesome sponsor Fame, they start and grow the world's most profitable B2B podcastsConfessions of a B2B Entrepreneur is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.soCheck out our five most downloaded episodes:How To Start A Movement with David Heinemeier Hansson of 37signalsChris Walker Rants On Dark Social, Creating Demand & Company BuildingCEO Spends 70% Of Time On His Personal Brand? Guillaume Moubeche Shares AllOLD WAY/NEW WAY with Adam Robinson of Retention.comNathan Latka Shares His “King-Maker Strategy"Hit me up on Tw...2023-09-2130 min
Category ThinkersHow Category Design and Product Led Growth Shaped Slack's Go To Market Strategy w/ Bill MacaitisBill 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 S...2023-08-0152 min
Interesting B2B MarketersEpisode 31: Creating a Strong B2B Brand Identity and Executing Effective Media Campaigns | Bill MacaitisIn 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...2023-05-3034 minThe People of Digital MarketingDiscussing The Future CMO with Bill Macaitis, former Marketing Leader of Slack, Zendesk, & Salesforce - Episode #117“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...2023-04-1733 min
Angelneers: Insights From Startup BuildersCreating a Marketing Powerhouse with Bill MacaitisHow 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.
2023-03-1141 min
Angelneers: Insights From Startup BuildersCreating a Marketing Powerhouse with Bill MacaitisHow 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.
2023-03-1041 minB2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt#52: How To Build A Brand with Bill Macaitis (former Slack CMO & Zendesk CMO)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/exitfiveco2023-01-1733 min
Driving Demand7 - Hypergrow your SaaS company with a product-led mindset (with Bill Macaitis, former CMO & SVP Marketing at Salesforce, Slack & Zendesk)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...2022-03-1337 min
The Growth Hub PodcastBill Macaitis - SVP/CMO at Salesforce, Zendesk & Slack - How To Build A Billion Dollar SaaS CompanyBill 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 Beniof...2022-01-1637 min
Revenue Rebels: On the Record Sales PodcastFixing the relationship between sales & marketing - with Bill MacaitisIn this episode, Bill Macaitis, former CMO of Slack, Zendesk and Salesforce, talks about the broken relationship between sales and marketing and what his experience running marketing teams of some of the leading software companies of the century has taught him.- Why do most sales and marketing teams not work well together?- What metrics should you have in place for a function team?- PLG strategy at Slack2021-08-1330 min