Building High-Performance Marketing Teams with Tight Budgets
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How do you build a high-performing marketing team from the ground up—especially when the stakes are high and the budget is tight?
In this episode of Spotlight on B2B Tech Marketing, host Karen Lloyd welcomes Jerome Stewart, CMO at Conviva, to explore the art of building effective marketing teams in resource-constrained environments.
With experience spanning from Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia to marketing leadership roles at Microsoft, Salesforce, Splunk and now Conviva, Jerome shares invaluable insights on transitioning from enterprise giants to scrappy scale-ups. He reveals how to identify talent that thrives in the challenging startup environment, his iterative approach to marketing messaging, and why the right team composition matters more than big budgets.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✔️ How to identify and nurture marketing talent that thrives in resource-constrained environments
✔️ The "iron triangle" approach to cross-functional marketing collaboration
✔️ Jerome's philosophy for developing high-performing teams
✔️ How to implement an iterative messaging strategy when building a new brand
✔️ Techniques for evaluating a candidate's ability to create rather than just refine
✔️ How to adapt marketing leadership skills from large enterprises to scale-ups
✔️ Strategies for building differentiation when no one has heard of your company
EPISODE OUTLINE AND HIGHLIGHTS
[00:50] Introduction
[02:16] From Peace Corps to Marketing Leadership
[04:09] Navigating Technology Evolution
[07:10] Marketing Frameworks in Tech
[11:09] Marketing and Sales Collaboration
[13:13] Marketing in Smaller vs. Larger Companies
[17:20] Building a Marketing Team from Scratch
[20:30] Assessing Talent for Scaling Companies
[26:36] Witnessing Major Technology Transitions
[28:24] Building a Brand from the Ground Up
BUILDING A MARKETING TEAM FROM SCRATCH: TALENT TRUMPS EXPERIENCE
When building marketing teams in resource-constrained environments, Jerome challenges the conventional wisdom that prioritises extensive experience from prestigious companies.
"Some of the best talent [are] earlier career stage people who are just really scrappy and they're willing to listen and learn from people who have more experience. That's an important skill set... they roll up their sleeves, they dig in, they have a work ethic, they get things done. That's a great combination."
Jerome emphasises that while impressive CVs from large enterprises might look attractive initially, the key question is whether those candidates can thrive in a vastly different environment: "If I'm talking to somebody who has a great resume and they've worked with larger size companies, that might attract me initially, but I want to know, are they comfortable in a scrappier environment when you're not building on somebody else's past success?"
Karen and Jerome discuss insights that offer an important perspective for marketing leaders in growth-stage companies who may be tempted to hire exclusively from well-known organisations. The ability to create rather than merely refine requires a different mindset: "It's easier to refine something that somebody has done and fine-tune it. It's a totally different circumstance and challenge to create it for the first time, and that's often what we're doing."
THE MARKETING FOUNDATION CHALLENGE: DIFFERENTIATING
Jerome articulates one of the most fundamental challenges facing marketing leaders in scale-ups: building awareness and differentiation from zero.
"If you're in a startup, it's hard work... fundamentally very few people outside of the organisation have ever heard of the company and therefore very few people have any familiarity with the differentiation. So marketing starts there. How do you get that first group of people to understand who you are and how you're differentiated?"
His approach addresses this challenge through iterative messaging, starting with what he calls a "version 0.1" MVP narrative rather than aiming for perfection. This concept came from working with Conviva's CTO: "He advised me to start with version 0.1. And it's that sort of MVP narrative, the base of marketing storyline, and then go from there."
This iterative approach acknowledges that early messaging will evolve rapidly as it's tested with trusted sources: "The versioning then is let's test it with people who we trust. That's another powerful word—trust. I find sometimes if you ask for an opinion, you're going to get an opinion. So make sure that the people that you're asking that you value their opinion."
Jerome's methodology provides a practical framework for marketing leaders struggling to establish messaging for new or unknown brands, emphasising progress over perfection while building toward a stabilised message over time.
TODAY’S GUEST
Jerome Stewart holds the position of CMO at Conviva. Previously, he held executive positions with Dynatrace, Splunk, Salesforce, and Microsoft.
He is a dual US and British citizen and brings global business leadership gained from living in Spain, France, Germany, and Bolivia, where he served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer. He is the author of two books, Standing on the Edge, and From Mountains to Morales: Stories of Bolivia. He has a BA in economics from Tulane University and an MBA from New York University.
You can connect with Jerome on LinkedIn or find out more about Conviva.
OUR HOST
Karen Lloyd is a passionate marketing head-hunter and recruitment expert specialising in marketing and C-suite in the technology sector. With over 25 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Karen brings a unique depth of expertise that sets her apart from most recruiters.
Over her career, Karen has accumulated a wealth of experience that includes serving as a Board Director and being actively involved in growing a business for 13 years. Karen has been a part of five start-ups, giving her first-hand knowledge of the critical importance of hiring the right people.
Currently, Karen is the founder and Director of Armstrong Lloyd. She leads a very special team that partners with businesses and empowers them to build industry-leading marketing teams for some of the most exciting B2B technology brands - from small agile and disruptive start-ups to global giants providing a wealth of product and service offerings.
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