2022 was a big year for the CMO Convo podcast! We published over 28 hours of podcast content on everything CMOs and marketing leaders need to know across 46 episodes, featuring 43 different guests. We’re now listened to by marketing leaders in 28 different countries!

Now that we’re in 2023, we decided to run down our top 5 most popular episodes of last year, as well as give you a sneak peek into what we have in store for 2023.

Bridging the CMO confidence gap | Stacey Danheiser

Although this episode was published at the very end of 2021, it proved incredibly popular, and no wonder: it’s a topic that’s always going to be relevant for marketing leaders.

CMOs infamously have one of the shortest average tenures of the C-suite, and according to Stacey Danheiser, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of SHAKE Marketing Group, there’s one chief cause: the confidence gap over the role and value of marketing.

We covered:

  • The importance of getting back to fundamentals rather than flashy tech.
  • Properly defining your function as a CMO within your organization.
  • How to be a customer advocate as a CMO.

And with 2023 and beyond gearing up to be difficult times for businesses and their marketing departments, it’s more important than ever to bridge that gap!

Unifying your customer experience | Seth Temko

With so many different channels (both digital and physical), customer experiences are becoming increasingly complex. But it’s absolutely essential to make sure they’re unified across every interaction your customers might have with your brand.

Few industries know this better than restaurants, which is why we spoke to Seth Temko, CMO of restaurant tech company PAR Technology, on how you need to ensure your customer is always king/queen/non-royal head of state.

We covered:

  • What is a unified marketing experience, and why is it important?
  • Customer expectations, and how technology can help you meet them.
  • What the future holds, and outside-the-box thinking for technology.

And with retention set to be more important than ever in 2023, you know this topic is going to be essential to your role as a CMO in the coming year!

CMOs: The future is calling | Jason McClelland

The CMO role is constantly evolving. But those who just sit around and wait for change are more likely to go the way of the dinosaurs than be the next step in development.

That’s why we spoke to Jason McClelland, CMO of Shutterstock,on what the evolution of the role could look like in the future, as well as the steps you need to drive that change.

We covered:

  • Why looking to the future is essential to the CMO role.
  • What kind of challenges and opportunities CMOs could face soon.
  • Why CMOs are perfectly placed to be the catalysts for change in their organizations.

The future Jason discusses is coming in 2023, so make sure you’re prepared, check out this episode.

5 lessons on growth-culture from building a decacorn | Austin Beveridge

Driving growth is one of the most important functions of marketing and the CMO role.

That’s why we pay so much attention to start-ups that reach unicorn status (a billion-dollar valuation), and the masterminds behind this achievement.

But if that kind of example is one to follow, how about the marketing brain behind reaching a decacorn (that’s a 10-billion-dollar valuation)? That’s why we spoke to Austin Beveridge, on the steps he took as the "The Glue and Growth Guy" at Bolt that allowed it to reach a $12 billion valuation, and how he’s applying the lessons learned in his new role as Head of Marketing at Arc Technologies.

We covered:

  • Why developing a growth-focused culture is important as a marketing leader.
  • The lessons Austin learned from growing Bolt.
  • How Austin is applying these lessons at Arc, and how you can do the same.

And with economic downturns often having a major impact on growth, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re approaching it properly.

The role of data in modern eCommerce | Mike Shapaker

eCommerce is in a bit of a crisis at the moment. Customer expectations are at an all-time high, but the predicted boom in a post-pandemic world hasn’t materialized due to various factors (and with recessions springing up, it’s not likely to happen soon).

But it’s still an incredibly competitive space, and with all that in mind, it’s essential you know how to use all of the tools and advantages you have as a CMO. That’s why we spoke to Mike Shapaker, CMO of ChannelAdvisor, to share the secret weapon to eCommerce success: how you collect, analyze, and utilize your data.

We covered:

  • What are customer expectations for modern eCommerce, and how can CMOs respond?
  • The most important data you need to be paying attention to for eCommerce success.
  • What does the future hold for marketing attribution?

Need tips for eCommerce in 2023? There’s no better place to start than this episode!

Special mention: Story Masters with Gastón Tourn

Launching at the very end of 2022, we brought to you a special miniseries: Story Masters with Gastón Tourn, CMO of Curio!

Storytelling is an essential part of marketing, but why do we so often take lessons from marketing books, rather than the greatest, most influential storytellers in human history? That’s why we sat down with Gastón to look at marketing through the lens of literary theory and techniques, why those techniques and theories are important, and how you can apply them in modern marketing.

We’ve covered:

The final episode of this series, all about building emotional connections through storytelling was published in January 2023. Check it out!

What’s coming in 2023…

We aren’t slowing down this year, with plenty of fantastic episodes coming up. We’ll be covering everything you need to know as a marketing leader and CMO to succeed in what’s gearing up to be a challenging year for us all.

Want to know the questions your website needs to answer? Want to know how to turn data privacy from burden to benefit? Maybe you’re struggling as a CMO tackling both B2B and B2C at the same time.

We’ll be covering all this and much more in the coming year!

Also, keep your eyes peeled as we gear up for a very special 100th episode!

Join the conversation

What did you think about these episodes? Got some feedback or praise to share about the show? Let us know, contact hello@cmoalliance.io, speak to us on our socials, or get involved with the discussion on the CMO Alliance Community Slack channel.

Got something to say on one of our podcasts, or know someone who would be a great guest? Get in touch, contact contribute@cmoalliance.io

Want to discuss any of the topics we cover on CMO Convo? We have a global network of CMOs and marketing leaders that's perfect for that! Join the CMO Alliance Community Slack group today!