Changes

Welcome to The Beat by Rockstar CMO. I’m Ian Truscott, a CMO, trusted advisor, strategy consultant, and Chief Bottle Washer at Rockstar CMO. In this newsletter, I’d like to share a mix of what’s caught my eye, topics from our podcast, and our street knowledge blog.

Hello!

If you are of a certain age, the subject line of this email probably plays in your head like “Cha-cha-cha-cha-changes” as the classic David Bowie track lodges, as an ear worm, into your auditorial cortex.

Or maybe the song title “Changes” triggers a memory of 2-Pac (RIP) lamenting that he sees no change and that’s just the way it is.

But, as much as I love the 2-Pac track, I will stick with Bowie - because, as a marketer - to bastardize the 2-Pac lyric and not to belittle the social issues his song was about - we see change, and that’s just the way it is.

CMOs and our marketing teams are very much in the business of change.

With all of our insight and data, we are the canary in the coal mine of the market; we see changes in demand, technology, buyer behavior, new channels, competitors, trends, and all of the things that make up a market.

To react, we have to change our offering and how we go to market, which often goes beyond the marketing purview of shifting our positioning and target audience but requires some sort of change within the broader business, like the product or commercial model that we need to communicate, encourage, and support.

As a marketing leader, you are often brought in to create change and have to meet an expectation (that is often unspoken).

We have to dance with risk and change - a little too much, and you find yourself confirming the statistic of - all together now - sing it with me - the shortest tenure on the C-suite. Too little change/risk and play it safe; the same outcome becomes true - as nobody wants more b2bloodyboring.

And finally, the thing that marketing was put on this earth for; to inspire change in our potential customers. Whether you sell a B2B product or service, adopting this thing will require a change in our customer’s company.

This change is something that our sponsor must advocate for and will be held responsible for when the change happens, and the economic buyer will need to see the value in instigating that change. It’s FOFU* time.

We are the agents of change.

So, to grab a line from Mr Bowie:

Thanks for reading this far, have a great week.

Cheers,

Ian

Ian Truscott | Chief Bottle Washer Rockstar CMO

*Fear of Fucking Up - read more in Everybody is FOFU fighting.

Please say hello, reply to this email, and find me on LinkedIn or my personal website.

This week’s street knowledge

From the community, what caught my eye and a bit more from me…

This week on the podcast…

Latest on the pod as I continue with this change to publishing twice a week…

Get your Monday Marketing Mojo Working

Cha-cha-cha-cha-changes…..