Lasting impressions: Pavilion CMO Summit

At the recent Pavilion CMO Summit 2023 in San Francisco, I joined distinguished marketing leaders and industry experts to consider the latest trends, techniques, and strategies. As I sit here reflecting on the experience, I ask myself what feels different about our industry today? Which lasting ideas struck a new chord (rather than just the same old tune)? Ultimately, I circled around four ideas that emerged from that day.

First, and perhaps most obvious, was the ominous cloud or stairway to heaven that is artificial intelligence. AI made a feature appearance in three of the more impactful sessions, “Lessons from a battle tested CMO,” “Generative AI and the Future of Marketing,” and the Fireside chat with Kipp Bodnar.” Latane Conant, the CMO of 6sense (the battle tested CMO), discussed the need to think differently about marketing and suggested leveraging ideal customer-profile web traffic with personalized e-mails delivered by AI. In the generative AI session, marketing executives from Jasper and Writer—who were very cordial to one another, given their products’ competitive nature—outlined AI’s benefits and limitations in drafting copy and content. The summary was that AI is great for generating, researching, repurposing, analyzing, and transforming, yet you still need to bring the idea, edit the output, and watch for bias. The dangers come from believing that the AI tool “knows” or “understands” what you are asking. As multiple speakers noted and many others have echoed, there is no knowledge or context under the words; they are just words. The final featured appearance of AI came during Kipp’s live discussion with Jane Alexander (CMO of Carta). The root of the fireside chat suggested that AI would disrupt search (SEM/SEO), change the distribution of content, evolve how we work and, even, transform sales processes and expectations. While I am generally inclined toward optimism when it comes to technology disruption, I encourage everyone to explore these tools for themselves, find out where they are helpful, and leverage them if they improve the ways humans live and work. At April Six, we run an ongoing series of internal workshops featuring AI, typically beginning with an overview of the risks and opportunities, followed by sessions that encourage Sixers to leverage tools that automate the mundane or routine aspects of their jobs.

My second impression gained at CMO Summit was the need to “Do more with less,” despite the rising complexity of today’s marketing environment. While this is not a new idea, what is new is that teams really mean it this time. With budgets staying flat or reducing and IPOs being delayed, teams are forced to solve the same problems without the extra resources. This was the core of the first session, which focused on “achieving more with less by improving efficiency and predictability.” The suggestion was to focus on pipeline efficiency to drive material impact to the business. The ways to win here were leveraging persona and fit to score leads, ensuring you have the right level of relationship, the timing for the relationship, and better qualification. From there, all friction should be removed throughout the funnel by looking at conversion by stage and optimizing. As I give this advice to our clients daily, I am inclined to agree, though the root data proposed was old news repackaged for modern times. The second mention of the “do more with less” refrain was related to the idea of fueling growth with creator-led marketing. The speakers outlined an alternative path to creating content, leveraging YouTube influencers, or even more efficient, employees, consultants, or partners. They argued that polished content is losing favor, and that any brand can gain by developing its own “creator kitchen” to produce content with these alternative authors. I don’t believe all marketing should resemble TikTok videos, but there is a place for unpolished content. Crowdsourced content done well can add legitimacy to the effort. Social channels are where your customers and community will allow you more freedom, yet most brands are unwilling to fully use that freedom to deliver more entertaining or educational content.

I also came away from CMO Summit with a greater awareness of the inherent flaws in current attribution and measurement techniques. Based on recent data and validated through conversations with clients, proving the efficacy of marketing activities continues to challenge brands, and most brands are far from perfecting an effective attribution system. Kip Bodnar (of Hubspot) and Guy Rubin (of Ebsta) had two independent but related nuggets, which I think provide a better way forward. First from Guy, that customer LTV is a marketers’ best measure of success. And second, from Kip, suggesting that team-sourced pipeline is a better way to measure marketing performance. I like that both measures force brands to think more long-term with their programs, metrics, and success. We often ignore the fact that campaigns, marketing, and sales outreach have an indirect effect; even if someone wasn’t swayed to purchase immediately by your whitepaper or cold call doesn’t mean they won’t buy when it’s a better time for their business. Additionally, we sometimes look at marketing like a sport; rather than focusing on the whole team winning, we worry about who gets credit for passing the ball. This is where the implementation of a team-sourced pipeline becomes an exciting answer, and a more collaborative view of marketing success.

The final takeaway from CMO Summit 2023 was juxtaposed with the “Do more with less” vibe permeating the day and most business conversations. Jacco van der Kooij, founder of Winning by Design, offered a welcome idea at the end of the day: “Don’t “do more, with less—instead, do less, better.” As marketing continues to increase in complexity, it’s natural to expand team responsibility, produce more content, or deliver more leads than last year. However, the alternative path offers greater promise. Deliver better leads and content, while reducing responsibilities to allow people improve on what is or is not working. Even in the early “AI is disrupting work” conversations, our instinct is to focus on how much more efficient it can make you, i.e., do more with less. The flipside is here, as well; we could instead focus on how much busywork it can eliminate and how that impacts job satisfaction. I certainly would applaud any brand that follows the other route and takes this time to focus on quality.

Trent Talbert
Head of Strategy, Growth, and Innovation, April Six NA
trent.talbert@aprilsix.com