Episode Description

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Noreen Allen, CMO at Bandwidth, a global cloud platform for cloud-ready voice, messaging, and emergency services. During the episode, we discuss how Noreen guided the company through an IPO and the role of a CMO throughout that process, as well as how she’s reshaped the marketing organization to address specific buyer segments.

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Key takeaways from this episode:

• Identify the differentiating factor. Noreen says that when looking for a new team to join, she made sure to prioritize companies with products that would stand out in a crowded market. When she found Bandwidth, she immediately recognized the potential behind the product, which she knew would be attractive to investors.
• Lay the groundwork upfront. Without buy-in from the market, Noreen and the team at Bandwidth knew they wouldn’t get very far, which is why a big component of their strategy is education. They spent time early on researching, educating and positioning the company within the market to ensure their stakeholders would validate their mission when crunch time came.
• Shift the structure. Noreen explained how earlier this year, Bandwidth shifted from a traditional marketing structure to instead create teams devoted to each buyer segment. This way, each unit is able to hone in on a specific buyer and gain a better understanding of what motivates them, who their competitors are, and the broader dynamics at play within the segment.