How do you know where to put your budget, which channels are actually working, and whether you're measuring the right things in the first place?

In this episode of The Marketing Share, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren talk with Matthew Simpson, founder of Pitch Blend, about what it really takes to build a performance marketing strategy that connects to the bigger picture of the business.

Matthew has spent his career on both sides of the table, working in-house and at agencies. He brings that perspective to a conversation about what agencies often misunderstand about marketing leaders, why performance marketing needs a strong foundation behind it, and why "set it and forget it" is a myth.

The conversation gets into some of the questions marketers are constantly trying to answer: How much should you actually spend on paid media? Which channels make sense for B2B? How do you know when a campaign isn't working?

If you're responsible for paid media, performance marketing, demand generation, or marketing strategy, this episode is packed with ideas for making better decisions with your budget, your data, and your channels.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Meet Matthew Simpson
02:15 What agencies misunderstand about marketing leaders
07:05 Can paid media actually work for B2B?
11:44 How Matthew approaches paid media
13:36 What to do when your paid media isn't working
16:13 Three ways to find the right marketing insight
21:48 Why “set it and forget it” is a myth
28:21 Smarter decisions with a limited media budget
34:14 The problem with multi-channel attribution
42:08 Performance marketing can increase business value

Loved this episode?

🎧 Subscribe to The Marketing Share Podcast to get unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders about growth, strategy, and the future of digital.

Connect with our guest:
👉Matthew Simpson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/directmarketing/
👉 Pitchblende: https://www.pitchblende.net/

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Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.

Sooner or later, every marketing leader will have to guide their organization through a major change.

Whether it's repositioning a brand, launching a new product, or helping a company navigate growth, those moments require much more than a solid marketing strategy. They demand alignment, trust, and the ability to bring the entire organization along for the journey.

In this episode of The Marketing Share, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren are joined by Lauren Esposito, CMO at Asymbl and former marketing leader at Salesforce, to explore what it really takes to lead marketing during periods of transformation.

Lauren has an incredible track record of leading product and brand initiatives at one of the world's most recognizable technology companies. From that experience, she shares how successful CMOs balance long-term brand building with business outcomes, communicate change internally, and help customers understand why change matters in the first place.

Throughout the conversation, Lauren also covers other important topics to keep in mind:

• The importance of customer centricity
• Cross-functional leadership
• Building trust across the organization

If you're a CMO, VP of Marketing, or an aspiring marketing executive leading a company through growth or transformation, this episode is a must-listen.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction
02:15 Meet Lauren Esposito and her journey from Salesforce to Asymbl
06:40 Why brand transformation is never just a marketing project
11:20 Leading brand changes inside large organizations
16:45 Building alignment across marketing, product, sales, and leadership
21:35 Keeping customers at the center during periods of change
26:50 Balancing long term brand building with short term business goals
31:40 How marketing leaders earn credibility inside the executive team
36:55 Lessons Lauren brought from Salesforce into her CMO role
42:10 Advice for marketers preparing for executive leadership

Loved this episode?

Connect with Lauren over LinkedIn and tell her you came from The Marketing Share Podcast!

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Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.

The million-dollar question right now is this: what separates memorable content from the growing flood of AI-generated marketing? That's exactly what this episode explores.

In this episode of The Marketing Share, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren talk with David J. Ebner, founder of Content Workshop, about why human-led content is more important than ever in today's marketing landscape.

Throughout the conversation, David explains why the customer should always be the hero of the story, how marketers can use AI without sacrificing quality, and why producing more content isn't the same as creating better content.

He also shares practical advice on evaluating content quality, building AI workflows that actually work, adapting content strategies for AI search, and deciding what content should and shouldn't be gated.

If you've been wondering how content marketing is changing in the age of AI, or how your content can stand out in an ocean of sameness, this episode is for you.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction to David J. Ebner and Content Workshop
02:00 From creative writing to content marketing
04:00 Why customers should be the hero of your story
07:00 What "story first marketing" actually means
09:00 How to recognize great content
12:00 Fighting the sea of AI generated content
16:00 The ROI conversation around AI and content teams
20:00 How marketers should really use AI
24:00 Building AI workflows that improve quality
26:00 Why more content doesn't mean better results
30:00 How AI search is changing content strategy
33:00 Should marketers still gate content?
39:00 Informational vs educational content
44:00 The most important lesson for marketers today
46:00 David's final advice and where to connect

🎧 Subscribe to The Marketing Share Podcast to get unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders about growth, strategy, and the future of digital.

Connect with our guest:
👉David J Ebner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjebner/
👉 Content Workshop: https://contentworkshop.com/

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.

What does it actually take for marketing to earn influence inside a business?

In this episode of The Marketing Share, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren talk with Saurabh Kothari about one of the biggest challenges modern marketing leaders face: proving impact while building alignment across sales, product, and leadership teams.

Drawing from his experience leading marketing across enterprise organizations, agencies, and high-growth companies, Saurabh shares why marketing cannot operate in isolation anymore and why the best CMOs know how to combine data, storytelling, and persuasion to move the business forward.

The conversation explores the tension many marketers still feel with sales teams, why attribution alone rarely tells the full story, and how marketing leaders can better communicate their value internally.

They also unpack the balance between creativity and analytics in modern B2B marketing, what makes certain marketing leaders more influential than others, and why strong communication is often the difference between a marketing team that gets ignored and one that drives strategic decisions.

If you work in B2B marketing, lead generation, demand generation, or marketing leadership, this episode offers a practical look at how modern CMOs think about growth, influence, and business alignment.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction
02:17 Meet Saurabh Kothari
05:12 Why marketing and sales often misalign
09:46 The challenge of proving marketing impact
14:03 The balance between creativity and data
18:27 Why persuasion matters in marketing leadership
22:41 Building stronger alignment across teams
27:18 What modern CMOs need to prioritize
31:54 The role of storytelling inside organizations
36:22 Why attribution alone is not enough
40:11 Final thoughts and advice for marketing leaders

🎧 Subscribe to The Marketing Share Podcast to get unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders about growth, strategy, and the future of digital.

Connect with our guest:
👉 Sourabh Kothari: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sourabhkothari/

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.

What happens when marketing becomes responsible for everything, but doesn’t have the systems, workflows, or structure to keep up?

In this episode of The Marketing Share, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren talk with Lisa Cole, CMO of 2X, about what modern marketing leadership actually looks like inside today’s B2B organizations.

Lisa has spent her career helping marketing teams transform from overwhelmed “order takers” into revenue-driving functions. After advising CMOs for more than 16 years and leading multiple marketing transformations herself, she now helps companies rethink how marketing work gets done in the age of AI.

The conversation explores why many marketing teams are still stuck in outdated operating models, how AI is changing both the buyer journey and the way campaigns are executed, and why workflows, not just tools, are becoming the real competitive advantage.

Lisa also shares practical frameworks for deciding what marketing teams should own internally, what can be outsourced, and where AI can actually create meaningful impact without creating more chaos.

If you’re leading marketing, building a team, or trying to figure out how AI fits into your organization beyond the hype, this episode is for you!

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction
02:55 Lisa’s path from sales to CMO leadership
05:45 Why marketers struggle with outsourcing
08:00 The growing complexity of modern marketing
11:10 From “order taking” to revenue-driving marketing
15:00 The hidden work consuming marketing teams
18:35 Why workflows matter more than org charts
21:15 How AI is reshaping marketing operations
24:05 The problem with “random acts of AI”
26:20 Lisa’s “Own, Outsource, Automate” framework
28:00 How AI is changing buyer behavior and search
30:45 The new importance of community and credibility
32:10 Why PR and thought leadership matter again
37:10 What companies misunderstand about AI costs
42:15 Where outsourcing and AI work best together
45:10 What 2X actually does for marketing teams

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.

What does it actually take to succeed as a CMO today?

In this episode of The Marketing Share, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren continue with the Marketing Leader Series, and this time they are joined by Karl Van Den Bergh, CMO at Illumio, about the reality behind one of the most complex roles in the C-suite.

Karl’s path into marketing wasn’t traditional. From physics and computer science to product, strategy, and eventually the CMO seat, his perspective challenges how most people think about marketing leadership.

Early in the conversation, he introduces a concept that sticks: the “complexity to appreciation ratio.” Marketing sits at the top of that scale, which helps explain why the role is both powerful and often misunderstood.

From there, the conversation moves into what great CMOs actually do differently.

Karl breaks down how he has led his role as a Chief Market Officer in Illumio from a technical category into a clear, market-facing story. He also shares why simplicity matters more than ever in complex industries, and how marketing leaders can better connect their work to real business outcomes.

If you're leading marketing, stepping into a CMO role, or working toward it, this episode will give you a clearer picture of what the job really demands.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction to Karl Van Den Bergh
02:30 From physicist to CMO: an unconventional path
05:00 Why the CMO role is so complex (and misunderstood)
08:00 Chief Marketing Officer vs Chief Market Officer
10:30 Repositioning Illumio: from technical to clear storytelling
15:00 Why simplicity wins in complex markets
18:30 Bringing sales rigor into marketing (pipeline, forecasting, bookings)
23:30 How to prove marketing’s value to the board
27:00 Why brand still matters (and how to justify it)
31:00 The power of storytelling inside your company
34:00 A simple marketing planning framework (plan on a page)
37:00 How Karl is implementing AI across his team
43:30 Advice for first-time CMOs and marketing leaders

🎧 Subscribe to The Marketing Share Podcast to get unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders about growth, strategy, and the future of digital.

Connect with our guest:
👉Karl Van den Bergh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlvandenbergh/

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.

To all marketers leading GEO SEO:

What if we told you that reviews are actually one of the most powerful marketing and conversion channels out there?

In this episode of The Marketing Share Podcast, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren talk with George Swetlitz, co-founder of Right Response AI and former CEO of a multi-location healthcare business, about how reviews really influence buying decisions, especially in B2C environments where trust is everything.

George breaks down how reputation management and the key role the responses from companies play when it comes to driving revenue from reviews.

You’ll also hear how personalized responses can increase conversion, why generic replies actually hurt trust, and how AI can help teams turn reviews into something far more strategic than just customer support.

This interview also dives into the reality of managing reputation across multiple locations, how to think about competition at a local level, and why reviews can act as an early warning system for deeper business problems.

If you’re in a B2C business, managing multiple locations, or just trying to understand how AI is changing the way customers make decisions, this episode will change how you think about reviews.

Connect with George via LinkedIn

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.

AI is reshaping marketing as we know it, and its impact is reaching the CMO role.

In this episode of The Marketing Share, our co-hosts Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren talk with Kate Johnson, CMO at Dscout, about her transition from VP of Marketing to CMO, and why that shift looks very different today than it did even a year ago.

Kate dives into her experience as a first-time CMO in the era of AI, and how this new technology is reshaping everything at once: how teams operate, how products are built, how fast companies move, and how marketing shows up in the business.

If you're stepping into a leadership role or already in one, this episode offers a grounded look at what’s actually changing behind the scenes, and what it takes to keep up.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction, Alec and Barb
02:00 Kate Johnson’s journey from VP of Marketing to CMO
05:40 What surprised her most about becoming a CMO
10:00 How AI is changing marketing, products, and customer expectations
13:00 AI inside the marketing team: faster product cycles, new bottlenecks
16:00 Using AI tools in real workflows (automation, research, sales enablement)
20:00 Decision-making as a CMO when you’re not the expert
24:00 Hiring for new roles and evaluating talent outside your experience
28:00 What she had to let go of moving into the CMO role
36:00 Navigating brand messaging in an AI-driven market
40:00 Final thoughts and where to connect with Kate

🎧 Subscribe to The Marketing Share Podcast to get unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders about growth, strategy, and the future of digital.

Connect with our guest:
👉Kate Jhonson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateathmer/
👉 Sign up to be a Scout and get paid to participate in research! https://www.dscout.com/participate-in-research-studies

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.