Metrics That Matter: How Marketing Earns a Seat at the B2B Executive Table

In this episode, Dana Marxer sits down with Kristen Rachels, Chief Marketing Officer at Itential, to explore one of the most pressing challenges for B2B marketing leaders today: proving marketing’s true contribution to growth. Kristen shares how modern CMOs must move beyond vanity metrics and lead with data that reflects impact on revenue, pipeline, and company strategy. You’ll hear why so many organizations struggle to get these metrics, how marketing can gain credibility with the C-suite, and what it really takes to become a strategic growth driver in a B2B business. Whether you’re a marketing leader trying to elevate your influence—or a CEO wondering what marketing should be accountable for—this episode will give you actionable insight and a fresh perspective on marketing’s evolving role in the growth function.Kristen Rachels is a full-stack CMO who’s spent over two decades growing B2B tech companies. She currently serves as the CMO at Itential, an enterprise IT SaaS company, where she’s spent the past 6+ years helping take the business from its early days defining a market to becoming a recognized leader in it. Kristen’s a true startup-to-scaleup CMO who’s not afraid to get into the weeds—whether that’s shaping strategy, building pipeline, or partnering with sales to make the numbers real.