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Welcome to The B2B CMO Podcast, a show for marketing executives who are redefining what it means to be a strategic leader. Join Jon Miller and Sydney Sloan every week as they talk with the very best Chief Marketing Officers who are navigating the modern marketing playbook and positioning themselves as strategic leaders.
Each episode, we unpack what it really takes to lead through complexity, earn trust at the strategy table, and shape the future of growth.
We’re building the community, research, and frameworks CMOs need to reclaim their strategic role and drive sustainable growth.
For more marketing leadership resources, visit [b2bcmoproject.com](http://b2bcmoproject.com/).
B2B CMO - 013 - Kim Storin
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Sydney Sloan: Hello, and welcome [00:00:25] to another episode of the B2B CMO Project podcast. [00:00:30] Today my guest, 'cause John's on vacation well deserved. My guest is [00:00:35] Kim or Kimberly Storin. I, I see you as both. Um, and she [00:00:40] is the amazing CMO at Zoom. Which is now the AI first work [00:00:45] platform for Human connection. I, I smell a rebrand. Um, Kim Leads, Zoom's, [00:00:50] brand, communications, product marketing, enterprise marketing and regional marketing team.
Sydney Sloan: So [00:00:55] strategic marketer. Thank you. And previously before that, she was the chief [00:01:00] marketing and communications officer at Zio and also spent time as. A consultant [00:01:05] learning and advising, uh, many, many clients when she was at Deloitte. My [00:01:10] favorite fun fact about Kim and
Kim Storin: Oh God,
Sydney Sloan: this to be true, is [00:01:15] she's an avid runner.
Sydney Sloan: 'cause we were in Phoenix and you actually went running and it was ridiculously [00:01:20] hot outside. So I think I did the math. Um, 14 marathons is like 400 [00:01:25] miles, but I'm sure you've clock like. Many, many, many more than that, but 14 marathons, hats [00:01:30] off to you. I think I did a 10 K once and was like, I'm done. So,
Kim Storin: [00:01:35] I do love it. I do love it.
Kim Storin: yes, the heat, the heat never [00:01:40] scared me.
Sydney Sloan: because you're from Austin and it's ridiculously hot there too.
Kim Storin: [00:01:45] Yes.
Sydney Sloan: It's like people who grew up like on in mile high cities too, they have that unique advantage,
Kim Storin: Exactly.[00:01:50]
Sydney Sloan: of, of where you lived. so we like to kick these off with, um, like [00:01:55] just getting to know you a little bit more.
Sydney Sloan: You can start wherever you want. Um, and we've [00:02:00] really gotten, I've gotten to learn so much more about people I thought I already knew about. Kind [00:02:05] of what's your origin story? How did you find your way to marketing? Like, you know, [00:02:10] how did you get here?
Kim Storin: Well, I think, you know, for me, like I never really chased [00:02:15] the CMO title. Um, I really started, I have had three [00:02:20] like phases of, of my career. Um. Like, maybe [00:02:25] even like, I would go as far to say three separate careers and, and [00:02:30] I, I really started because I, I wanted to [00:02:35] learn business and, and ultimately at the end of the day, I feel like [00:02:40] marketing is a business value driver and that's what really drew me to the function.
Kim Storin: But I [00:02:45] find like if I reverse and, and you know, we, we get a little bit like therapist on [00:02:50] this, it all started because of where. And how I grew up. My [00:02:55] dad was a CFO. My mom was a graphic designer. And so as you can [00:03:00] imagine, like I like grew both sides of my brain. I was like reconciling [00:03:05] receipts and defending my spending by age 10.
Kim Storin: Um, [00:03:10] and, and at the same time, like here was my mom who was a graphic designer, [00:03:15] she could, um, catch a typo in her sleep. She, like, thought of everything [00:03:20] in odd numbers because it just like visually looks better. She was, you know, [00:03:25] using, um, you know, Adobe very early in, in my [00:03:30] childhood to make sure that every Christmas card had a chimp in the family.
Kim Storin: So [00:03:35] we were Photoshopping and I mean, like, she loves AI now, which is a little scary, [00:03:40] but. She, she was loving the, um, the Photoshop even back then. And [00:03:45] so I really learned to use both sides of my brain, like really early [00:03:50] on. And I never really thought of brand as just like an aesthetic [00:03:55] exercise. I really thought about it from both sides of like that financial [00:04:00] rigor, but also the creative judgment.
Kim Storin: And so, you know, I'm, I'm [00:04:05] thankful to, to my parents who, you know, gave me both of that, like both sides of [00:04:10] that. Like even before I was like thinking about a job
Sydney Sloan: I like to think that, [00:04:15] yeah, people come by things, honestly is usually what I say when it comes to that, like um, [00:04:20] uh, and so this is explains a lot and a couple of our future questions. Now, I [00:04:25] already. From that intro, understand why you're so comfortable talking to CFOs [00:04:30] about business metrics and brand.
Sydney Sloan: Okay. We're gonna get, we're gonna get into that, [00:04:35] that absolutely further. Um, but like, uh, another thing [00:04:40] and, and we touched on it at the very beginning, was this idea of a strategic [00:04:45] CMO.
Kim Storin: Yeah.
Sydney Sloan: And um, and so when you think about [00:04:50] what that means, when you were evaluating your opportunities, you've been at Zoom like a year and a half now, [00:04:55] like how do you evaluate an opportunity to make sure it like hits [00:05:00] all the parts and that you can be strategic?
Kim Storin: so I think as marketers, like we have [00:05:05] to be discerning about what organizations and what leaders we want to work with and [00:05:10] for. And so it is on us to, to be doing that due diligence really early on. [00:05:15] And, and for me as I was evaluating this opportunity, there were a couple things that, that [00:05:20] I wanted to, to understand.
Kim Storin: And the first was an like really having an honest [00:05:25] conversation with the board and with the executive staff around [00:05:30] what strategy means to them. Like I am an ex strategy consultant, [00:05:35] I think in vertical and horizontal logic. It's just how I grew up. [00:05:40] And, and so for me. Being able to have a conversation about [00:05:45] priorities and trade-offs and, and objectives during the [00:05:50] interview and, and early conversations was, was a good indicator of, of [00:05:55] how they thought about strategy and whether they believed.
Kim Storin: That someone [00:06:00] like myself who thinks of marketing as the voice of, and the voice to the market, like [00:06:05] both sides, like would they be open to, to me, bringing those insights to the table. [00:06:10] And, and how I tested that piece was I actually brought some of those insights to the table I talked [00:06:15] to, to 50 customers before I even started this job.
Kim Storin: And. [00:06:20] Shared those insights. I presented my 30, 60, 90 day plan before I started [00:06:25] and, and that was a good test for me to see. It was [00:06:30] hypothesis level at that point. Obviously you don't have a true 30, 60, 90 before you're in the job like [00:06:35] working with your peers, but have you built hypothesis that you can start to [00:06:40] test with the board, with the leaders?
Kim Storin: And so I think that that piece, like really [00:06:45] understanding. Like the strategy part is really critical. The other part is you [00:06:50] can tell a lot by. What is viewed [00:06:55] as part of the marketing function and how that maps to your skillset? So again, like [00:07:00] I've talked, I talked a little bit at the beginning about like, I've had these three phases of my career.
Kim Storin: The [00:07:05] first phase was crisis communications. Um, the second phase was management [00:07:10] consulting, and the third is marketing. And so for me, I look for [00:07:15] organizations who value communications as a strategic lever. Of [00:07:20] marketing and I believe that owning that narrative and [00:07:25] really understanding marketing as a reputation [00:07:30] driver as well as a brand and pipeline driver is, is [00:07:35] the right strategic view.
Kim Storin: Now, can every marketing leader. Work [00:07:40] across all three vectors. Maybe, maybe not, but I know for me, because of the [00:07:45] places that I've spent my career thinking about that to me, like when [00:07:50] marketing sits with communications, that to me is [00:07:55] a much more strategic opportunity to really shape. The [00:08:00] narrative at the corporate level as well as at the Go-To-Market level, that [00:08:05] gives me an indication that that's an organization where I'm going to be able to, to [00:08:10] drive the mission,
Sydney Sloan: I don't know how you do it without Right. Like that for me, when I [00:08:15] think about like. I don't know how to do the marketing job if the [00:08:20] strategy hasn't been set in place yet. And that strategy is formed at [00:08:25] the, at the C-suite at the table. And so as you were coming in [00:08:30] and, you know, the initial planning cycle was happening, I think Zoom does it like December, January, [00:08:35] like the, the nitty gritty details.
Sydney Sloan: How did you think about what were some [00:08:40] strategic, uh, initiatives in, in the plan that you could champion? And [00:08:45] how did you, how did you, champ, how did, how did you select that? Did you [00:08:50] champion it? What did you learn in that first round, um, of, [00:08:55] of planning and execution as the new CM.
Kim Storin: So a few things. So again, like I [00:09:00] talked to 50 customers before I started, so I had a very marketing in [00:09:05] view, market in view, I should say, of of what [00:09:10] customers. Believed we were, what they wanted us to [00:09:15] be and what they were advocating for us of like where to go and, and so [00:09:20] ultimately I felt like that gave me a lot of permission to, to represent the market [00:09:25] and, and the view of the market in that first planning cycle.
Kim Storin: The [00:09:30] thing that I, I knew that we had to do was, was bring some swagger back to the brand. [00:09:35] We had to get back to like real marketing, science thinking. We had to [00:09:40] drive mental availability. We had to be back in like the cultural [00:09:45] zeitgeist, um, in a way that we had been years before with the hypergrowth, during the [00:09:50] pandemic, but had kind of lost that.
Kim Storin: That vigor of the, the brand [00:09:55] in, in the years following that. Um, and I knew that we, we also had this opportunity [00:10:00] because marketing had been decentralized for a couple of years before [00:10:05] I joined, that we had an opportunity to really drive efficiencies and to connect [00:10:10] brand all the way through to demand in a way that the business hadn't been.[00:10:15]
Kim Storin: And so going into the planning. With that [00:10:20] data, with the market view, in recognizing that we have this opportunity [00:10:25] to, to bring the swagger back to the brand, to make the brand stand for something new and shift [00:10:30] perception, like we're no longer just a video conferencing company. We have [00:10:35] such a like breadth and depth to our platform that a lot of the world does not [00:10:40] realize that we really had a chance to reshape that narrative.
Kim Storin: But at the same [00:10:45] time, like these are teams that hadn't been working together for, for a long time, and [00:10:50] so we didn't need big investments. We needed alignment. We needed a [00:10:55] strategy from the top of the funnel, which I know is no longer a funnel, but you know [00:11:00] the gumball machine exactly. But from the brand all the way [00:11:05] through to how we were connecting to the opportunities and, and the [00:11:10] revenue and, and so ultimately.
Kim Storin: My first cycle was really about [00:11:15] those two things and, um, and getting those right. And so that's [00:11:20] been, you know, a massive undertaking. Zoom had not done a brand [00:11:25] campaign of that magnitude like we did with Zoom ahead and, and it really gave us an [00:11:30] opportunity to, um, to begin, 'cause it's never over, [00:11:35] but begin the perception change of, of what Zoom is in the [00:11:40] market.
Sydney Sloan: Yeah, I think that is such a tough challenge, right? Like you, you, you walked into an [00:11:45] iconic brand that everybody knew, but you know it for something. So it's almost like. Twice as hard then [00:11:50] to get people to unlearn what they believe, to relearn what [00:11:55] you want them to perceive. And um, and so you've talked about kind of [00:12:00] your split on your brand to performance budget and how you [00:12:05] invest in that.
Sydney Sloan: So take, take us through. You know, your, your process for being [00:12:10] able to, um, align the budget to the outcomes you were looking [00:12:15] for and get buy-in from the CFO on that investment. And then I [00:12:20] wanna ask a follow-up question on how you measure it currently.
Kim Storin: absolutely. So we are in a [00:12:25] unique situation that we do have a very complex Go-To-Market [00:12:30] motion. We have. We're almost split evenly. A little [00:12:35] less than evenly, but pretty close of an online transaction business that's focused on like the [00:12:40] SMB and below at the same time that we are selling into large [00:12:45] enterprises, you know, fortune 500, mid-market, et [00:12:50] cetera.
Kim Storin: Um, and those are two very different motions and two [00:12:55] very different motions that require marketing's role to be very different. And so [00:13:00] we really had to look at both because one is, is a high margin cash flow business. The [00:13:05] other is longer sales cycles, but sticky deals and, and bigger, [00:13:10] you know, ticket, um, value, long-term value.
Kim Storin: And so [00:13:15] ultimately we were able to, um, you know, to step back and, and [00:13:20] we, we look at both of those levers. Differently. And I think sometimes, [00:13:25] like we have to be able to make trade offs across both. But you can't, you can't [00:13:30] look at an online transactional business in the same way that you look at an enterprise business and you [00:13:35] can't fund it the same way.
Kim Storin: Um, so what we had found is that we were over [00:13:40] indexing on certain line items for one route to market versus the [00:13:45] other. And, and now we're starting to look at this holistic trade off to say. [00:13:50] How are we funding our channel business, which is now, you know, really propelling [00:13:55] us forward. How are we, how are we funding the direct business [00:14:00] primarily in the enterprise?
Kim Storin: And then how are we ensuring that we are making it a seamless [00:14:05] process for people to, to transact online in the, the lower [00:14:10] ends of that market? And so those are the tradeoffs that we're making every day.
Sydney Sloan: [00:14:15] Yeah. So in that model, 'cause I, I knew a little bit about Zoom back in the day. [00:14:20] Like there was, there was a digital team that was responsible for that online businesses. [00:14:25] Did you, did that team then come underneath you or did you have to convince the C-suite, like, Hey, [00:14:30] funding this business unit versus this area?
Sydney Sloan: Like how do we look at that [00:14:35] holistically? Like, or
Sydney Sloan: was that all under your remit So you could make those trade offs?
Kim Storin: Marketing, supports [00:14:40] both. So we, we ultimately, like we have [00:14:45] a, you know, KPI. How we support [00:14:50] the transactional business and we have a KPI of how we support the enterprise business as well as a [00:14:55] KPI around perception and brand. And so like our [00:15:00] mandate is the same regardless in terms of how we're driving [00:15:05] transactions.
Kim Storin: Pipeline and, and revenue like marketing contribution, and then [00:15:10] also how we support the channel business. So all of that falls under our remit [00:15:15] and, and we're really focused on, like, we work across the teams. 'cause as you can imagine, like [00:15:20] Zoom's product is the website in a lot of ways, right? [00:15:25] Yes. We have a client, but we also, we also have an online product.
Kim Storin: And so yes, [00:15:30] there will always be a variety of players. When you are looking at a [00:15:35] product that lives online in the way that Zoom's product lives online, and we [00:15:40] work across all of those teams, but those KPIs and those numbers are what we [00:15:45] are, you know, on the hook for to the
Sydney Sloan: And how do you think about that measurement? So you know [00:15:50] it, when you came in, I, my assumption is that you shifted some of the [00:15:55] investment dollars from. Demand spend into brand spend. And so how did [00:16:00] you set that up? What metrics did you like look at being the most [00:16:05] important? And is that still what you're measuring on?
Sydney Sloan: Like how, how do you [00:16:10] justify, how did you justify that and how is that continue to play out?
Kim Storin: So it's constantly iterative, right? [00:16:15] We try to operate in a really agile way and, and it started with bringing on [00:16:20] a media agency to, to support and help bring more visibility [00:16:25] into. What the ROI was on, on the [00:16:30] investments that we were making. And previously we had been operating with [00:16:35] little visibility, but also like, I would say, like we didn't have a whole lot [00:16:40] of trust in, in that visibility data.
Kim Storin: And so bringing on PMG to [00:16:45] support us from a, um, a media agency and leveraging [00:16:50] some of their technology has really. Enabled us to feel much more [00:16:55] confident in making those trade-off decisions. And ultimately we are, you [00:17:00] know, every day looking at what those trade-offs need to [00:17:05] be and where are the lower performing channels.
Kim Storin: I mean, and you know, you write about this all the time, right? [00:17:10] The, the world is shifting this, um, this world that we're living in now where the B2B [00:17:15] journey is. All under the waterline and like we only see the [00:17:20] tip of the iceberg, it really changes where you want to be [00:17:25] funding. Your marketing spend and, and so [00:17:30] having that visibility from, from the media agency being able to, to feel [00:17:35] confident in how do we start to fund things [00:17:40] less that we know are underperforming and maybe some of the folks in the business [00:17:45] are depending on, but bringing them along on this journey.[00:17:50]
Kim Storin: And, and what's great is like, we're now at the point where, you know, we, we had built [00:17:55] a, let's call it a stair step model as we were like, you know, looking to reallocate [00:18:00] dollars to support things that have like higher impact. And, and now we [00:18:05] have our GMs and our product leaders saying, awesome, we trust you go faster, which.[00:18:10]
Kim Storin: Is great, but without that visibility and without us being able to be [00:18:15] confident in, you know, what we were seeing and, and being able to, [00:18:20] to bring the data and the research around how the buying journey has changed. So [00:18:25] thank you to you and, and other folks who are bringing that information [00:18:30] to marketing leaders every single day we're able to not just talk [00:18:35] about dollars and cents, we're able to show
Sydney Sloan: Roas. Yeah. Yeah.
Kim Storin: [00:18:40] Here. Well, and also like philosophically and strategically, this is how the [00:18:45] journey is changing for our buyers and, and helping them understand [00:18:50] the why behind the what and that change management is making all the [00:18:55] difference. I.
Sydney Sloan: how are you communicating that? Like, are you doing it in the, in the, [00:19:00] the, the boardroom in this, like, I, I just, we talked to Wendy White, uh, in our last [00:19:05] episode and she had this great model for, um, how she changed talking [00:19:10] about brand reach and visibility in terms of a EO and LLMs. To [00:19:15] educate the board.
Sydney Sloan: Here we go again. Right? M qls to account base. That took a while, you know? Now [00:19:20] we're again, reeducating. So how much effort are you putting in that and and what [00:19:25] specifically are you saying?
Kim Storin: So putting a lot of effort and in very [00:19:30] different and disparate forums, so absolutely at the board level, but even more [00:19:35] importantly. In the interlocks with my sales leaders, with my GMs, [00:19:40] with my chief product officer, with our e-staff, with our CEO, because [00:19:45] bringing folks along every conversation. So I built a four stage [00:19:50] framework and the four stages of course, because you, like I said, I'm an ex [00:19:55] consultant
Sydney Sloan: I love you. I.
Kim Storin: and, and the four, you know, the four phases [00:20:00] or the four stages of the framework are be found.
Kim Storin: Be present, be [00:20:05] believed, and be preferred. And, and it's really based around that [00:20:10] dark funnel, which you know really well. Um, and, and the [00:20:15] importance of, of being where people are before they [00:20:20] ever want to talk to you. And, and ultimately it helps us [00:20:25] explain to our peers why it's important to be focused [00:20:30] on being found, being present, being believed.
Kim Storin: Before we [00:20:35] even get to being preferred, because now you're seeing that short [00:20:40] list, right? We're, I mean, we're living in an almost zero click world in B2B at this point, [00:20:45] and you wake up and you're like on a short list and you haven't seen [00:20:50] in like, you know, in your touch points, like how that customer's necessarily engaging with you [00:20:55] and, and so it's really.
Kim Storin: It's really been educating them on those [00:21:00] first three phases of the framework and why that matters [00:21:05] before you even get to the preferred. And so it's, it's the, it's the [00:21:10] instinct of like how we're building our a EO investment. It's how like all these [00:21:15] trade-offs are laddering up to those four stages.
Sydney Sloan: Okay. I need a picture of it. [00:21:20] Thank you very much. Um, and so I can share it and then, um, do the measurements change [00:21:25] in each stage of the, the
Kim Storin: Oh yeah. Oh, of course. Because,
Sydney Sloan: So what, give me highlights of [00:21:30] like the top one or two for each in being found.
Kim Storin: so if you think of, I mean, being found is all [00:21:35] about that, like mental availability and broad reach, right? [00:21:40] And, and being present is, is really about other people talking about you [00:21:45] in a way. Like when you're not even in the room, you are present. And, and that's really [00:21:50] like the fundamental crux of our strategy right now is.
Kim Storin: You know, how do we [00:21:55] ensure that whether it's, you know, the influencers and the [00:22:00] creators or the customers or the review sites, like how are we present in every part [00:22:05] of the conversation where we don't even have to be in the room? And so different [00:22:10] KPIs and measurements across those types of, of tactics, measuring [00:22:15] trust, um, as part of the be believed.
Kim Storin: And then when you get [00:22:20] into. Being preferred. Then you get into your traditional demand generation, [00:22:25] performance marketing type of type of metrics. But you have to look across the [00:22:30] board to be able to really understand how you're achieving [00:22:35] the visibility you need when so much of what is happening is [00:22:40] below that waterline.
Sydney Sloan: Okay, so I love it. Three [00:22:45] quarters of your framework. Or before they're in an active cycle, what you cannot see. [00:22:50] And, and so the distribution of effort and time, and I think this is a major shift in our [00:22:55] market, um, in B2B, like, okay, brand is back. And as I even advise [00:23:00] startups, it starts with brand now. Like they, they're thinking about big brand investments before, you [00:23:05] know, as part of their launch even.
Sydney Sloan: And, and so the, that mental [00:23:10] availability as you talk about like is being challenged from the B2C [00:23:15] investments. The new B2B brand builders and like these, you know, the, the new, the new [00:23:20] startups. What do you think, you just came back from Cannes. What do you [00:23:25] think the B2C players are continuing to do, [00:23:30] right, that are influencing B2B?
Sydney Sloan: I could name a few things, but I'm curious like what, [00:23:35] what you're seeing B2B marketers do more like B2C marketers.
Kim Storin: I [00:23:40] mean, I absolutely, I'm seeing more on the creativity front. I [00:23:45] think, you know, B2B used to get this bad rep for being like B two boring. [00:23:50] And, and now it was really cool [00:23:55] to see some like B2B brands [00:24:00] up on the pedestals next to people. Like [00:24:05] Hellman's and Heineken and like, you know, all of the, the, you know, the [00:24:10] consumer brands that you would expect.
Kim Storin: And so I think, and I mean, and it's similar for us, right? It's why [00:24:15] we, we launched Zoom ahead, is that. We felt like we, we really [00:24:20] had to, to be part of the culture, be part of the cultural zeitgeist [00:24:25] and our permission to use humor because of what our brand [00:24:30] means in the world and with our customers. Like we needed to take advantage of that [00:24:35] because it is distinctive in a space that is, you know, [00:24:40] like we're, we're working so hard to
Kim Storin: be
Sydney Sloan: If I see one more hero [00:24:45] campaign. Yeah. Like I don't wanna see anybody standing on a table. I don't wanna see people. And so I loved it. Like for those [00:24:50] that don't know, uh, Kim got to hire Colin Jost's company and Bowen [00:24:55] Yang. So definitely look up, uh, some of the, the zoom ahead, uh, YouTube video
Kim Storin: [00:25:00] I, they did stand on the desk though, I will say. but but but there, but there [00:25:05] was a villain. We, we had a good, we had a good villain. Um, but yes, like, [00:25:10] I think, you know, ultimately, so I think creativity and feeling [00:25:15] comfortable taking calculated risks in that way, um, [00:25:20] is one of the things that we're seeing more and more in B2B.
Kim Storin: Um, I think the [00:25:25] other thing that I, I saw at Canne, but also just in [00:25:30] talking to people, is feeling more comfort in using [00:25:35] creators. And using creators in a way that is different. I think [00:25:40] B2B, when we've used creators in the past, and this is like being very generic and [00:25:45] stereotypical, but we've tried to control those creators.
Kim Storin: We've given them [00:25:50]
Kim Storin: five pages of brief. We've like told them to stay within these [00:25:55] four walls of the box and here's what you can deliver. And at least for us, right, [00:26:00] we, we take our cue from. The consumer world on some of this, [00:26:05] and we gave them a one sentence brief, and that changes [00:26:10] the outcomes and the output that you see in market because it becomes [00:26:15] so much more authentic and it becomes so much more around what the [00:26:20] creator is bringing to your brand versus feeling like it [00:26:25] is a.
Kim Storin: Hashtag ad. Right. Um, even though [00:26:30] it is an ad. And so I think that that is something too that I'm seeing [00:26:35] more and more B2B brands feel like more confident. [00:26:40] And um, and I mean, we went really far in saying like, this is [00:26:45] a, you know, this is a really straightforward brief. We're not gonna give you any guardrails, [00:26:50] like tell your story.
Kim Storin: Tell it, you know, with Zoom at the [00:26:55] center of it, but it's your story and, and the outcomes that we saw were just so [00:27:00] much tremendous. We've seen a nine x improvement in our social since we have, you know, [00:27:05] started really
Kim Storin: embracing the
Sydney Sloan: who did you put in charge of that? Was it your head of community or head of [00:27:10] comms Who owns influencers
Kim Storin: our head of brand. So media and brand own [00:27:15] social. Mm-hmm.
Sydney Sloan: Okay. All right. Fantastic. Oh my gosh. Okay, so [00:27:20] masterclass on brand building from Kim Storin. so Thank you Um, I, I, I, [00:27:25] I wanna hit one more topic, um, uh, be because I think it's, um, [00:27:30] it, it aligns with brand and that is the relationship with the CFO, um, the other side of [00:27:35] your, your, your, your upbringing.
Sydney Sloan: And, um, and so when you, when [00:27:40] you're building that relationship, um. What, what is most [00:27:45] important to you for your CCFO to understand [00:27:50] about marketing?
Kim Storin: So, I mean, a lot of it is [00:27:55] education, right? And, and I feel really lucky that I have an amazing [00:28:00] CFO partner. Um, shout out to Michelle. Um, she, you [00:28:05] know, and she is a very open-minded finance partner, and so [00:28:10] having, having a CFO that wants to understand how marketing can [00:28:15] drive growth, like that's what she cares about.
Kim Storin: She wants to be able to stand up there. [00:28:20] In an earnings call and basically say like, we deliver, we exceeded, we delivered. Like, [00:28:25] that is her goal, um, when it comes to investors in the street. And so [00:28:30] for, for me, starting off and building that relationship with her, it was number one, [00:28:35] understanding the business itself.
Kim Storin: And so I needed her to help me understand [00:28:40] how the online business. And the enterprise business and the channel business, like [00:28:45] what are the, what are the things that she cares most about each of those routes to market so that I can ensure that [00:28:50] I'm thinking about those and, and the trade-offs that come.
Kim Storin: Right. You can't just prioritize [00:28:55] one over the other because there's financial implications. So being [00:29:00] open-minded on my side, but then also on her side of wanting to [00:29:05] understand how can marketing really inflect. Growth [00:29:10] and, and what does that look like and what are the trade offs that, that we should be thinking about?
Kim Storin: [00:29:15] And she's been a great partner. Um, and, and showing up. We even went to Lady Gaga [00:29:20] together. Um, but that, you know, but we spend a [00:29:25] lot of time of, of really learning from each other. And I think that's been [00:29:30] the key to, to the relationship is being able to. To be [00:29:35] honest, when it's not working, to be honest, when you don't, you don't understand [00:29:40] the decision or the rigor around a decision and why, and, and [00:29:45] being able to like push back on the idea that we [00:29:50] always used to do it that way and, and that there is so much out of the [00:29:55] box thinking that we can all be doing.
Kim Storin: And, and, and [00:30:00] at the end of the day, like both finance and marketing, even though marketing is a revenue [00:30:05] driver, like we are also a service function. We serve the corporation, we serve [00:30:10] our employment brand, we serve our investors, we serve, you know, [00:30:15] every route to market, every product, every, I mean, so we have to, we're making more trade-offs [00:30:20] and prioritization calls than any other.
Kim Storin: Function in the [00:30:25] business. And so the more that we understand about the [00:30:30] financial discipline and what the CFO cares about, the better that we can make those [00:30:35] trade-offs and prioritizations within our own function and so that that relationship's [00:30:40] critical.
Sydney Sloan: Yeah. And I, I, um, just a personal knit for me, like I, [00:30:45] I've removed the word serve 'cause I don't, I don't even wanna have, I, I like the idea of partnering with, we [00:30:50] partner with them on this, we partner with them on that. And one thing specifically for the CFO [00:30:55] that I did one time, I, I just remembered it, I wish I would've done it again, was actually invite the CFO to [00:31:00] my, my customer advisory board.
Kim Storin: Yep.
Sydney Sloan: Get them in the room with the [00:31:05] customer, really have them understand that pain point. So when you are talking about the investments [00:31:10] we're gonna make in customer education or building brand awareness, they have not just their [00:31:15] own purview of who they think the customer is. And I think there's probably a challenge there because everybody [00:31:20] uses Zoom, so everybody feels like they know who the customer is, but you, you can't in, in that [00:31:25] same way.
Sydney Sloan: Um, so just a, a thought for the audience out there
Kim Storin: Yeah, and we, we do the [00:31:30]
Sydney Sloan: would you have your CFO there? Do you Oh,
Kim Storin: And, um, and with our
Kim Storin: analysts, [00:31:35] so our analysts are really interested in hearing Michelle's perspective. And so [00:31:40] that's like, but getting her front and center, um, you know, not just with the [00:31:45] press and, and the street, but also with our analysts, with our [00:31:50] customers. Um, you know, we're even, we're gonna be out in New York next week for, um.[00:31:55]
Kim Storin: For some investor meetings and Nasdaq, et cetera, and she'll be joining a [00:32:00] customer dinner. So we leverage her, you know, across the board so that she can be hearing [00:32:05] directly from the market just like we do. And, and that helps her, you know, [00:32:10] understand more about where we're coming from And, and what we're
Kim Storin: trying
Sydney Sloan: has authentic [00:32:15] stories, right? When she's pitching and she's talking to the investor, she's talking about real customers and their [00:32:20] deployment, and she was there. Such credibility. I love that. I love that. Okay. [00:32:25] Um, last kind of question in the, you know, how to, how to be a [00:32:30] strategic CMO and what, what matters most, um, and.
Sydney Sloan: Uh, you, [00:32:35] you're, you're likely now in, uh, strategic planning before operating planning mode. Am I right? [00:32:40] Okay.
Kim Storin: I just got off a call.
Sydney Sloan: okay. All right. So the [00:32:45] timeline still works. Um, going into next year, what do you think is gonna be the biggest challenge that we're [00:32:50] gonna face, uh, in, in, in kind of the, the B2B [00:32:55] landscape? Not just marketing, but like strategically what's happening in the market?
Sydney Sloan: Like how are you talking and thinking about that? [00:33:00]
Kim Storin: So I think it's the same thing, just maybe accelerated and you know, expanded [00:33:05] from where we were 12 months ago. But I think. We're still seeing a lot [00:33:10] of the market trying to understand how to drive real [00:33:15] measurable business value at scale in [00:33:20] production with ai, and I think that the, you [00:33:25] know, the costs. Of implementing AI and the balance of like the [00:33:30] tokenization of everything that's going on is, is going to be one of the biggest [00:33:35] drivers as, as we look to, to the next year and and beyond [00:33:40] of, of understanding how to.[00:33:45]
Kim Storin: Build organizations that can get the most [00:33:50] supercharged power from this technology that is [00:33:55] not just driving efficiency. 'cause I think we've unlocked productivity and [00:34:00] efficiency, but now really unlocking growth and revenue and [00:34:05] acceleration. But that's gonna come with a [00:34:10] cost and, and it's going to be hard for B2B customers [00:34:15] to, to strategically balance the, [00:34:20] you know, the benefits and the, the promise of AI with the realities [00:34:25] of, of a consumption model that is not fully understood.[00:34:30]
Kim Storin: And, and like we don't fully quite understand like the impact on the bottom [00:34:35] line. And we're starting to get more visibility. You're seeing. Organizations [00:34:40] out there that are starting to, to build some guardrails, build a North Star, thinking [00:34:45] about how to, you know, make sure that the investments that they're [00:34:50] making are driving the right results and, and [00:34:55] really being able to propel the organizations forward.
Kim Storin: But I think that's gonna [00:35:00] be ultimately. Like the biggest challenge that all of us have to [00:35:05] face, not only in how we are operationalizing in our own [00:35:10] organizations, but how are we thinking about [00:35:15] that as we are selling into [00:35:20]
Kim Storin: organizations that are facing that challenge?
Sydney Sloan: And having the, I mean, [00:35:25] they have to look at across multiple layers as well for all the companies that are [00:35:30] consuming and, and are they making trade off decisions as to what they'll build on because of maybe even the way that it's [00:35:35] measured. I think too, there's, you know, w. There are gonna be a couple of these [00:35:40] hyperscaler AI companies that are gonna go public next year too.
Sydney Sloan: And so I think that's gonna add another [00:35:45] level of, of, you know, pressure because the transparency that's gonna [00:35:50] be required now for them being public companies to continue to grow. To, [00:35:55] to respond to the street. Um, and so what changes will they continue to make in the [00:36:00] way that they operate that then has that ripple effect to the rest of the market?
Sydney Sloan: So it's, I, I agree. [00:36:05] 27 is gonna continue to be about ai, but at a totally different level. Not just [00:36:10] using and experimenting, but consciously and economically managing, [00:36:15] um, the investment to the output, um, as people start to rationalize
Kim Storin: Well, and it's [00:36:20] so, it's so funny because I, um, I launched a GPU accelerated [00:36:25] server in like 2015, and I mean, back when we called it [00:36:30] machine learning and deep learning right back in those days. And [00:36:35] I did this big piece of research in like the 2019 timeframe to understand [00:36:40] like. Mostly we were selling into it and data science at the time, and we [00:36:45] talked to like a thousand organizations that were doing ML and DL and, and wanted to [00:36:50] understand where they were in their evolution, in their maturity, [00:36:55] and in that timeframe of like kind of end of 2019, early 2020.
Kim Storin: [00:37:00] Right. It was very clear that the companies [00:37:05] that were getting value and had and are, were in production at scale [00:37:10] with ML and DL were companies that had built a center of excellence. [00:37:15] Some of those companies were HPC, like, right? Think like JP [00:37:20] Morgan or Bank of America, Walmart, like that had the. Like [00:37:25] real high performance computing mentalities within their organizations.
Kim Storin: But [00:37:30] they were the ones that were holding that competency close to the core. They were building a center of excellence [00:37:35] around it. Um, and they were no longer like having people kick the [00:37:40] tires. They were, they were really like having experts [00:37:45] that were supporting the organization across the board. And so, you know, you fast [00:37:50] forward now six years later and, and we're at a point where AI is at [00:37:55] everybody's fingertips.
Kim Storin: So it's a little bit different than, you know, you've got a data scientist like kicking the tires of a [00:38:00] server under their desk. But some of the principles still remain the [00:38:05] same. And I think as we look at these organizations that are able [00:38:10] to drive that, that. Impact and that, um, [00:38:15] overall kind of acceleration because of ai.
Kim Storin: I bet if we like did that same research [00:38:20] now, we would see some of the same trends that building [00:38:25] a center of excellence and not just enabling people to, to kick the [00:38:30] tires haphazardly, hazardly would be the ones that we're seeing the, the best [00:38:35] outcomes right now.
Sydney Sloan: Interesting. That was your PhD [00:38:40] on deep, deep models, deep learning. Um, [00:38:45] okay. We always like to end. This was incredible. Thank you. We always like to end with gratitude, [00:38:50] um, because we know as leaders, we would never make it to where we are without the amazing [00:38:55] people that have been so supportive and continue to be supportive along the way.
Sydney Sloan: Would you like to shout out [00:39:00] anyone, um, in, in your podcast who's, who's helped you get [00:39:05] here?
Kim Storin: Oh my God, so many people. I even, I even posted on LinkedIn recently [00:39:10] about, you know, some of the folks that have helped me along the way. But I will give a shout. I'm gonna [00:39:15] take yes way back from my shout out. Um, and I'm gonna shout out [00:39:20] Mr. Miss Sage. Who was my physics teacher in high [00:39:25] school and he taught me how to think critically [00:39:30] and ask a lot of questions.
Kim Storin: And um, and I always think that like the [00:39:35] reason why I became like a communicator and. [00:39:40] Like a strategy consultant was because of how he [00:39:45] helped me think about what it would take for a gazelle to be in a red [00:39:50] wagon, at what acceleration going down a mountain [00:39:55] and, and really putting like physics into, to critical thinking.
Kim Storin: And, and it all kind [00:40:00] of started in, in. How your mind works at an early [00:40:05] age, and so shout out to Mr. Miss Age. He's officially retired, but he was [00:40:10] like the Texas teacher of the year for many years.
Sydney Sloan: Okay, well, lucky for you to [00:40:15] have him and, and that's super cool. I, we're gonna do something with this at the end where like, I [00:40:20] figure out like where gratitude sits and how it in, in impacts people at what stages of [00:40:25] their journey. So super. Very cool. Early on is the answer. Um, all right folks. [00:40:30] Well, we just had a masterclass from Kim Storin on like the movement in [00:40:35] how to continue, how to build your brand in, in this era. [00:40:40] And what I, what I learned was, you know, starting with the narrative, really understanding [00:40:45] from the customer's perspective, what do they expect of you as a brand. I think that was [00:40:50] one of the critical questions that they, that you asked in those early interviews.
Sydney Sloan: And then how do you [00:40:55] fight for that mental availability, um, of your end user who [00:41:00] you're trying to reach. Uh, and it, and it really is. Four layers. It's [00:41:05] about being found. Being present when you're not in the room. Loved that [00:41:10] section very much. How do you get other people talking about you? Um, being [00:41:15] believed in the trust of the brand that can be measured and then being preferred, which is [00:41:20] what we see in marketing is the metrics we normally measure, but three quarters of that [00:41:25] whole experience are outside of what we track and measure and like how do we think about shifting our [00:41:30] investment?
Sydney Sloan: To more of the awareness and mental availability, and [00:41:35] you do that leveraging some of the B2C learnings around being [00:41:40] creative, really having to think about standing out, the quality of the creative, the partnerships [00:41:45] that you build with your creative agencies and media partners, and the [00:41:50] creators. A new role that has definitely emerged in B2B and really thinking about the [00:41:55] influence in their role and your advices.
Sydney Sloan: Keep it simple. We tried to give too many [00:42:00] guardrails, too much direction, and really one sentence [00:42:05] talking about how Zoom centers in their life and just letting them run with it. So it's their [00:42:10] narrative and authentic is the winning formula. So thank you so much, Kim [00:42:15] Storin for being here. I enjoyed our conversation so very much.
Sydney Sloan: If you [00:42:20] really enjoyed the podcast, please. Like it, share it. Come join our [00:42:25] project at the b2b CMO project.com and have a fantastic day. [00:42:30] [00:42:35] [00:42:40] [00:42:45] [00:42:50] [00:42:55] [00:43:00] [00:43:05] [00:43:10]