The Case Study Playbook with Russell Banzon, Cresta’s CMO

In this episode of Future of Marketing, hosts Mada Seghete (Upside) and Ethan Smith (Graphite) chat with Russell Banzon, CMO at Cresta. The conversation works through problems most B2B marketers hit. How do you get a Fortune 500 logo to agree to a case study, and when. How to make numbers credible in a category full of fabricated ones, and how to justify a channel that is hard to measure.We discuss:* Case studies as a commercial term. Why the rights conversation belongs in presales, and what to trade for it.* Distinguishing real case studies from fabricated ones, and what Cresta invests in to make its own numbers hard to dispute.* Analyst reports as a mid-to-bottom funnel asset. Where Cresta places them, and how analyst interest starts compounding through customers rather than outreach.* Buying out of home without direct attribution. How Cresta selected cities, the signals they used to measure it, and the unexpected return.* The $1 / $10 / $100 / $1k task framework for deciding what to automate, and where automation stops being worth the build.* Hiring for agency, curiosity, and taste, including the specific interview questions for each and why taste is not a visual trait.* Matching your growth rate to the company’s, and how to tell when the two have diverged.Where to find Russell Banzon:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellbanzon/About RussellRussell is a B2B GTM leader who is passionate about driving pipeline and revenue for SaaS technology companies. As the former VP of Marketing at Gong, he played a key role in scaling the company from seven figures to nine figures in ARR, leading category creation, international expansion, and the evolution from a single-product company to a multi-product platform. Now, as the CMO at Cresta, he is helping to shape the future of AI in the contact center space, though that story is still being written. Outside of work, you might find Russell at a Hip Hop dance event, cheering on the Raiders, or competing in a local bowling league.Future of Marketing is brought to you buy the Upside AI Revenue Intelligence and Attribution platform, Graphite Growth Research-Driven SEO & AEO Agency and XYZ Venture Capital and is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefutureofmarketing.substack.com