Advertise on podcast: The Rockstar CMO F'in' Marketing Podcast

This week, former Forrester Research Director, Jeff Clark, is back in the studio for a discussion with our host Ian Truscott, to discuss how marketing can help sales defeat the biggest competitor in many B2B deals - do nothing.  They discuss:  Quantify the cost of inaction Understand persona needs Lower risk of change Bring proof Build internal consensus Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, to celebrate 6 years of the podcast. Over a fabulous cocktail, they revisit the first chat they had in the bar, about expressing your point of view in “unprecedented” times and how this relates to his work today, and their discussion two weeks ago about showing your “pointy bits”. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: The JOLT Effect What is Customer Indecision? Understanding and Overcoming Buyer Hesitation The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen | by Andy Raskin | Mission.org | Medium Rockstar CMO FM #9 - Ahmed Hasan and Cocktails with Robert Rose Robert’s podcast: This Old Marketing  Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license Prince - Nothing Compares 2 U (Official Music Video) You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, former Forrester Research Director, Jeff Clark, is back in the studio for a discussion with our host Ian Truscott about buyer education, inspired by an article by Kerry Cunningham, of 6Sense: “Buyers are not blank slates”, and give it the 5 f’in’ things treatment.  They discuss:  Some categories still need basic education Keep the education grounded Present your unique POV on how to solve buyer challenges Do buyers want to be experts? Campaigns need to master “answer engine optimization” Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a classic cocktail and a chat.  This week, Ian and Robert discuss the latest article from Robert in his Rose Colored Glasses Series on the Content Marketing Institutes blog - The Ghost Workforce: How AI Is Reshaping Content and Marketing Roles in 2026 Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Buyers are not blank slates - Kerry Cunningham, 6Sense The Beat Newsletter - Just Enough Education to Perform The Ghost Workforce: How AI Is Reshaping Content and Marketing Roles in 2026 Robert’s podcast: This Old Marketing  Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license Stereophonics - Mr. Writer (Official Music Video) You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight discuss a recent piece of research from Cathy on her Bear Essentials series on the Seventh Bear blog - The Funnel Isn’t Dead, Your Version of It Is.  They discuss:  The funnel is not dead, but it needs a refresh  The impact on marketing when this foundational work is broken. What a modern funnel looks like (and it’s not about attribution) Mapping to the customer journey, and thinking beyond the buying journey  Focusing on solving the customer's problems, not showcasing features Metrics to focus on  Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a classic cocktail and a chat.  This week, Ian and Robert discuss a phrase Robert has been using in his writing, “The Pointy Bits”, as he encourages B2B writers to stand out and show their pointy bits, instead of smoothing all their content with AI, but include the slightly uncomfortable, but differentiated things about you, your company, and brand.  Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Bear Essentials: The Funnel Isn’t Dead, Your Version of It Is Robert’s YouTube Channel Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A slightly different episode this week, as our host Ian Truscott has two guests in the studio sharing their marketing street knowledge. Catherine Nichols and Jeremy Laight, two successful fractional CMOs who founded The Slice in July 2025, a community for fractional marketers that has expanded rapidly to over a thousand members from across the globe.  They discuss: The Slice community and what inspired it Defining fractional CMOs Why organizations choose fractional talent Lessons Learned from the Community Advice for transitioning to fractional marketing What they would have on their riders when starting a new gig  What they would chuck into our Rockstar CMO Swimming Pool Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a classic cocktail and a chat. This week, Ian and Robert discuss a recent article that describes Rick Rubin as the future of work and our role as creative production moves to AI.  If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, we would love to hear them! Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Catherine Nichols on LinkedIn Jeremy Laight on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: The Slice Network The Slice Network LinkedIn Group Robert’s podcast: This Old Marketing  Rick Rubin Is the Future of Work - by Tom White The New Marketing Skill Isn't Prompting. It's Building Sticky Flow Mapper Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Jeff Clark, former Forrester Research Director, has been reading  Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow, and rather than host a pity party, he dug into some research and shares 5 f’in’ tips for marketers dealing with enshitification with our host Ian Truscott. The five tips: Have a clear strategy Provide expertise and education Nurture your community Tell stories that engage and entertain Don’t treat the platform like an advertising channel, but advertise! Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a classic cocktail and a chat. This week, Robert shares his decision to leave ChatGPT for Anthropic Claude and the research he’s done on all the LLMs that led to his move.  If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, we would love to hear them! Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear, is back to share her latest Bear Essentials research. This week, she and our host Ian Truscott dig into her post, "Your KPIs Are Measuring Activity, Not Impact." Highlights from their chat: The “Data Barf Binder”-  where marketing teams measure activity, not impact. Investing in employee communications leads to better outcomes. Awareness metrics can only be useful if connected to outcomes. Quality and context are more important than quantity in content. OKRs help align marketing efforts with business objectives. They also discuss Cathy’s podcast, Uncharted Journey, which is currently on hiatus, which shares stories of successful women in marketing.  Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a classic cocktail and a chat, and Robert shares his view on a recent article in AdWeek by Mark Ritson about Anthropic's report on AI’s impact on the labor market.  If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, we would love to hear them! Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Uncharted Journey | Podcast Bear Essentials: Your KPIs Are Measuring Activity, Not Impact This Old Marketing - AI Can Now Do Marketing. Now What? (523) Mark Ritson on AdWeek 65% of Marketing Jobs May Not Survive AI Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Simon Daniels, now Principal Consultant, B2B Customer Growth at Accenture Song, is in the studio to share 5 f’in’ tips for getting your Revenue Operations rocking, which include: Making the business case Aligning with business goals, outcomes, and stakeholders Customer focus Building on 4 key foundations Proving value and scaling what works Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a classic cocktail and a chat, and Robert unveils his new Audience Trust Index research that he is publsihing on the Content Marketing Institute blog.  If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, we would love to hear them! Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Simon Daniels on LinkedIn  Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: What's Broken in GTM and How to Fix It (podcast) B2B Customer Growth | Accenture Song Measuring Content Marketing in the AI Age, Part 1: The Audience Trust Index Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Let It Grow - Eric Claptoon Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, former Forrester Research Director, and now champion of clean technology, Jeff Clark, and our host Ian Truscott discuss a fun research paper from one of Ian’s favourite podcasts, Uncensored CMO and agency network Worldwide Partner titled “Confessions of a CMO”.  As is the editorial policy of the show, they pick 5 f’in’ things that jumped out of this work: The CMO needs to be the voice of the customer Trading authority for influence When chaos reigns, stabilize the ship The long and the short of it The death of the CMO is wildly overstated Then Ian joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a chat about a recent article he published on the Content Marketing Institute blog, part of a series discussing plural brands and earning attention one room at a time.    If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, we would love to hear them! Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Jeff Clark on LinkedIn  Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Confessions of a CMO Uncensored CMO Winning B2B Brand Trust Part 2: How To Earn Attention One Room at a Time Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go (Official Video) Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, our host Ian Truscott chats with B2B marketing leader Lisa Bonnano, and then he and Robert tackle the topic of vibe coding killing SaaS software over a cocktail.   Lisa Bonanno is a revenue and customer-focused marketing executive with 20+ years of experience optimizing and scaling global pipeline engines from inquiry to advocacy for B2B SaaS businesses. Ian dives into Lisa’s marketing leadership experience, what drew her to marketing as a profession, her views on getting a marketing education, what we can learn from B2C, and: What is on Lisa’s rider when she’s considering a new gig Where she starts when starting a new gig The advice she gives to young marketers looking to follow in her footsteps What she would chuck into our Rockstar CMO Swimming Pool - our portal to marketing hell The tune that gets her marketing mojo working After catching up with Lisa, Ian joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a chat about whether business users getting access to AI-generated code, or vide coding, is going to kill SaaS software.  If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, we would love to hear them! Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Lisa P. Bonnano on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Tuesday 2¢ - Is The Vibe Killing SaaS? Ian’s firm - Velocity B Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over (2010 Version) Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Cathy McKnight is back in the studio to discuss changes content marketers need to make in 2026, and as Robert Rose couldn’t make it to our virtual bar this week, our host Ian Truscott shares his 3 D’s of product content marketing.    Ian and Cathy discuss: Marketing teams are often organized around outdated models The pandemic accelerated the need for digital transformation Organizations must focus on outcomes, not just outputs Silos in organizations are inevitable, but should be permeable AI should enhance human creativity, not replace it Organizations waste money on unused technology Ian shares that B2B tech marketers need to create three types of content to move away from our focus on features and functions, and steps through his 3 D’s of Product Content Marketing:  Default Distinct Direction If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, we would love to hear them! Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Cathy’s weekly blog - Bear Essentials Cathy’s firm - Seventh Bear Beyond features: the three Ds of product marketing | Startups Magazine Ian’s firm - Velocity B Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, our host Ian Truscott welcomes back former Forerster Research Director Jeff Clark after his holiday. Jeff turns the tables on Ian and quizzes him on the 5 F’in’ fails for the Story, one of our 5 F’in’ Marketing Fundamentals.   They discuss: Sales stops trusting marketing when the story is fractured. A distinctive story helps avoid the B2B beige trap. Buyers make decisions based on emotional connections, not just features. Competing solely on price leads to a race to the bottom. Content should be treated as a strategic asset, not just a tactic, and needs a proper launch plan to be effective. In the Rose & Rockstar, our virtual bar, Ian asks Robert Rose, Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, what he would do today if he were starting from scratch with a content program or a content creator today, in the current environment with social media algorithms and search experiences that seem to discourage organic growth versus paid.  If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, we would love to hear them. We welcome your feedback.  Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Jeff Clark on LinkedIn  Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: The 5 F’in’ Marketing Fundamentals Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Ian’s firm - Velocity B Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, our host Ian Truscott welcomes back Dennis Shiao to celebrate 10 years of the Bay Area Content Meetup, before he slips off to our virtual pub for a mix of marketing and mixology with the Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose.  In the studio, Dennis shares his experience of growing a content marketing community from a few like-minded bloggers at a local restaurant to an international virtual community with thousands of members and speakers that represent the great and the good of content marketing.  In the Rose & Rockstar, our virtual bar, Ian and Robert discuss some recent work he’s published on the Content Marketing Institute blog that looks at how we build authority ladders for our AI agents, the work that this takes and some of the risks if we don’t. If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, we would love to hear them. We welcome your feedback.  Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Dennis Shiao on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Bay Area Content Marketing Meetup From Dennis: Attention Retention and the Content Corner Newsletter Robert’s article - Agentic AI in Marketing Part 3: How To Build an Authority Ladder Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Ian’s firm - Velocity B Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we go back to the old weekly format, with Ian Truscott hosting a guest in the studio before we slip off to our virtual pub for a mix of marketing and mixology with the Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose.  In the studio this week, Cathy McKnight makes her monthly visit to chat about all things content, asking the question: Do CMOs still care about a CMS when defining their tech stack?  They also dive into the challenge of disruptive requests within a marketing team, discussing her article Last Week's Crisis Shouldn't Affect This Week’s Work. Ian then joins Robert in the Rose & Rockstar, our virtual bar, to explore an analogy Robert has made about the railways in his recent article for Content Marketing Institute on deploying AI.   If you have any comments or thoughts on any of these topics, please get in touch with the links below. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn  Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Cathy’s article - Bear Essentials: Last Week's Crisis Shouldn't Affect This Week’s Work Robert’s article - Agentic AI in Marketing for 2026 Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Ian’s firm - Velocity B Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Rose and Rockstar - with the Chief Troublemaker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose, behind the bar serving one of his splendid cocktails, while our Rockstar CMO host Ian Truscott picks his brain on a marketing topic.  This week, we dive back into the obsession marketing commentators seem to have with declaring things as dead. Recently, it seems PR has been getting the “it’s dead” treatment from the cool kids high on social media Kool-Aid, but in an age when networks, human-to-human marketing, and influence are so important, the chaps discuss why PR should be very much alive. They discuss: Modern PR requires building relationships with influencers, not just journalists. The skills needed for PR have evolved with the rise of social media. Integrating PR into overall marketing is crucial for success. If this resonates with you or if you have a suggestion for a topic in the bar, please get in touch with us - [email protected] Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week This Old Marketing Podcast - The Death of Dead Marketing Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Ian’s firm - Velocity B Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web, Twitter, and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon and Spotify. This podcast is part of the Marketing Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Jeff Clark, our resident B2B marketing strategist and our host Ian Truscott are inspired by an article by Dave Kellogg, which describes a pipeline crisis for B2B, and they pick 5 of the best suggestions of what Kellogg would do from the 13 he lists in that article.  The five they discuss: Think holistically Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Get good at AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) Leverage the CEO  Build first-party audiences As always, we welcome your feedback. If you have a hot topic you'd like us to discuss, please contact us using the links below. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: How To Navigate the Pipeline Crisis - Kellblog Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web, Twitter, and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: Stienski & Mass Media - We'll be right back Panic in Detroit (2013 Remaster) - David Bowie You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices