Why Marketing Is Back In The Driver Seat (with Maura Rivera, CMO at Qualified)

#310 Leadership & Strategy | I sat down with Maura Rivera, CMO at Qualified, to talk about what it’s like leading marketing at one company for six years (and why most of her team has been there just as long). We got into how product launches are the glue that hold their marketing together, what agentic marketing really means for the future, why outbound is actually working for them right now, and how events have become a huge part of their strategy. Plus, plenty of good banter along the way.Watch this episode on YouTube on my channel: https://youtu.be/4tew-Q89FmsTimestamps(00:00) - — Intro & setup: Marketing’s back in the driver seat (01:25) - — Work, life, and moving from Boston to Vermont (05:00) - — Competitors, community, and the small-world CMO circle (10:30) - — How Maura’s Salesforce roots shaped Qualified (13:00) - — Working for a CEO who actually gets marketing (17:00) - — Lessons from startup life & learning every part of marketing (20:00) - — Building the right team and hiring people smarter than you (27:00) - — Why product launches are the heartbeat of marketing (40:00) - — Agentic marketing, events, and AI at Qualified (52:00) - — The future of marketing and why it’s back on top Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterLearn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/***Brought to you by:Webflow - A website platform built for the agentic web, helping modern marketing teams build fully custom sites—no developer needed—that perform in AI search. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.Markup AI - A content quality platform that scans your content against brand voice, preferred terms, messaging standards, and AI-search readiness before it goes live, right inside Google Docs. Learn more at markup.ai.Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Learn how to deploy agents on your marketing team at Agents in the Mix. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Walker Sands - An integrated B2B marketing and growth services agency that helps marketing leaders turn strategy into measurable business impact through their Outcome-based Marketing model. Learn more at walkersands.com/exitfive.Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive, or check out the MCP server by clicking this link.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more