How to Build Predictable Marketing the C-Suite Will Bet On w/ Karl Van den Bergh, CMO @ Illumio

In this episode, we’re joined by Karl Van den Bergh, 2024 Cybersecurity Marketer of the Year and CMO at Illumio, to talk about how marketing leaders can build credibility, keep budgets, and turn uncertainty into a competitive edge.

Karl shares the playbook he used to align marketing with the way sales is measured: building forecasts, hitting targets, and earning trust from even the ever-skeptical CFO. 

We’ll show you how to make the intangible measurable with the one-page marketing plan that maps business goals directly to marketing execution. 

If you’re trying to defend long-term strategy while your executive team needs short-term ROI, this episode will give you the language, framework, and tools to do it.

What You’ll Learn: 

• The exact template Karl uses to connect every marketing move back to business objectives
• The most crucial thing that a CMO can do to build trust with other executives
• How a shift to treating marketing more like sales can transform internal perception and relationships

Resources: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlvandenbergh 

https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/how-to-build-predictable-marketing-the-c-suite-will-bet-on/ 

"If you want to be successful through a downturn and coming out of the downturn, is to take and maintain a long-term perspective... the bigger opportunity actually is to build your brand because the rest of the competition is likely to be doing the same." - Karl Van den Bergh

Timestamps: 

03:13 - Why CMO is the Hardest C-Suite Role

07:26 - Finding Growth During Economic Downturns

10:07 - Investing in Brand During Recessions

18:20 - Running Marketing Like Sales

26:02 - Marketing Dollars = Sales Investment

28:38 - The One-Page Marketing Plan

22:52 - First-Time CMO Survival Guide