MarTech Interview with Denise Vu Broady, CMO at Collibra

Denise Vu Broady, CMO at Collibra chats about the key facets of a typical B2B marketing strategy that matter more in 2023:

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Welcome to this MarTech Series chat, Denise, tell us about yourself and your marketing journey through the years…we’d love to hear more about your time as CMO at Collibra. 

Thank you for having me. I have built a career in the B2B software world for the last 26 years. I’ve worked with multiple startups and scale-ups as well as mature companies like SAP. I’m a three-time CMO and two-time COO, but I’ve always had marketing and communications responsibilities even in COO roles.

I joined Collibra as CMO earlier this year and was immediately drawn to the opportunity in the data intelligence space. Collibra is in this sweet spot of a scale-up where it’s no longer a small startup, but it’s also not a large company yet either. My role is focused on growing the marketing team through the scale-up phase, which I love. I really enjoy the journey of transforming teams and empowering the marketing organization to grow from a tactical function to a strategic function that integrates with the entire business.

I’ve lived in New York City since 2005, but amazingly this is the first time in my career that I’ve worked for a company that is headquartered right here in the city. It’s a fulfilling experience, and I’m looking forward to what the future holds for Collibra as we evolve the brand and drive overall exposure for the data intelligence category, especially with AI use cases.

What inspires you most about the state of B2B tech marketing today? If you had to sum up what B2B tech marketing is shaping up to be like, what would you share?

In marketing, we’re at such an interesting inflection point. The buying process has gotten more complicated, and the entire tech stack is constantly evolving. If you look at the evolution of the customer journey, we’re no longer selling to just one or two buyers – it might be five to 10 buyers in a given deal. Marketing data and processes need to be more sophisticated to keep up with the change, and we need a tech stack that can adequately fuel and accommodate growth. I think we’ve seen more change and growth in marketing than in any other area, and that will only accelerate. Data is a strategic asset for every function in the company, and that is especially the case within marketing.

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What in your view should B2B marketers be doing more of through 2023 to enable brand goals and impact ROI?  

It’s trendy to say that you’re going to measure everything in marketing from an ROI perspective. However, there are many valuable marketing activities that may not have a strong ROI that will still help the sales team drive pipeline. Ultimately, our job is to drive the overall growth of the company, and there are many important investments that help do that in areas such as operations, brand, or communications which are not always as tangible for ROI. It’s still worthwhile to focus on those areas – ROI is just one way to look at success, but it’s not everything.

As a CMO, what does your marketing day/week look like? Take us through some of your go-to marketing strategies and the martech that helps drive all of it.  

Every day and hour is different, and that is what makes the job so interesting. On any given day, I could be preparing for a board meeting, working with PMM on messaging and positioning, giving feedback on a keynote for an event, or working on operational things like budgeting and reporting. As a marketer, we are in the middle of everything and work closely with the business to release products, acquire companies, communicate to the market, collaborate with our customers and partners, etc. There are so many stakeholders from across the business that the most important aspect of my day is creating alignment and getting everyone on board with the same vision; there’s never a boring moment.

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What are some of the common martech and marketing fails you’ve been seeing in B2B tech and what tips would you have surrounding them?

Just because something worked at your last company does not mean it will work in a different role. It’s very important to factor in the specific size and maturity of where you are now, because there is no one-size-fits-all. The needs of a startup are very different from the needs of a scale-up or a more mature company. Marketing strategy and execution needs to be custom fit for where your current company is today.

However, in general I would say that “failing” in marketing is completely ok. The ability to experiment is key and trying a few things that fail will eventually help you hone in on your secret sauce. As leaders, we should be aiming to create an environment that encourages experimentation and where committing a marketing “fail” can be seen as a positive learning experience in the overall journey.

What are the five daily must-dos you’d share with B2B marketers everywhere before we wrap up?

Integrate into all aspects of the business: A common pitfall in marketing is to focus only on the sales side. Don’t overlook investments in other functions like employee advocacy and branding, which are just as key.

Foster curiosity and continuous learning: Marketing is constantly moving forward with new trends and technology. It’s essential to give your team the time and resources to constantly learn and understand the market better to be able to better serve customers and partners.

Create space for creativity: Figure out what spurs creativity for you and prioritize making the time to do that regularly, no matter how busy you are. For me, it’s walking everyday – it helps me clear my head and think about things differently. Some of my best business ideas were the result of a long walk!

Encourage failure: Create an environment where people are free to try new things and challenge the status quo. There will be failures, but they will be opportunities for growth that will ultimately pay off.

Shift from tactical to a strategic approach: To really move the needle and drive growth, explore big picture ideas. Set up a war room, focus on leveraging strong customer stories, foster a passionate community of advocates, and empower your team to explore exciting new use cases.