196: SaaS Marketing with Dave Gerhardt CMO of Privy

During this 196th episode of “Marketing Today,” host Alan Hart interviews Dave Gerhardt, the chief marketing officer of Privy. Gerhardt was formerly the vice president of marketing at Drift, has been featured in numerous national publications, and co-authored the book “Conversational Marketing.”We discuss how Gerhardt's early interest in working for a startup led him to join Privy at a previous point in his career. Then we learn how Gerhardt leveraged his podcast to land a job at Drift. He shares tons of insight into building out a highly efficient marketing team.Gerhardt has excellent advice for creating your personal brand and starting a podcast. "If you start with a show first, you can get all the other content with it." In his view, audio drives everything. He adds, "Even if nobody listens to our show, we're going to get enough content to feed our funnel for a year if we do it right and that alone is worth the investment."Gerhardt also shares why he went all-in on growing his following on LinkedIn and how he moved many of his marketing conversations over to paid subscribers on Patreon. He says, "If you can continue to understand people, and just evolve with whatever comes with that, I think that's how you become successful in the long term.” Gerhardt's passion for marketing comes through as he emphasizes the importance of continuing to learn and focus on creativity as the marketing world shifts. Highlights from this week's “Marketing Today”: Dave shares his background and how he became involved in marketing. 01:30Dave describes how his interest in working at a startup led him to join Privy for the first time and where he went after that. 03:26Learn how Dave landed a job through a connection he made on his podcast. 05:19Learn more about Privy. 08:58Dave shares his vision for his marketing build-out at Privy. 11:33Dave's theory about how demand gen can work on his team. 15:38How to measure brand awareness without a big survey. 17:25Why podcasts are the form of marketing you can gain the most leverage from when done right. 19:07Learn how Dave is currently using Patreon as a platform. 21:26Why he feels that even ten subscribers would make the Patreon experiment worthwhile 25:06What's next for Dave at Privy in 2020? 26:10Is there an experience in his past that defines who he is today? 28:10What advice would he give his younger self if he had to start all over? 29:39Are there any brands, companies, or causes that Dave follows that he thinks other people should take notice of? 30:52Is there a threat or an opportunity he thinks marketers should be aware of as they enter 2020, or is there something he thinks marketers need to be doing? 32:14 Resources Mentioned:PrivyPrivy 2.0 – rebirth story and announcement about Dave rejoiningDriftDavid Cancel CEO of Drift – Interview on Marketing Today Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.