The Rockstar CMO F'in' Marketing Podcast
Does the world need another f'in' marketing podcast? Our host and 4xCMO Ian Truscott asked this in 2020, and the world said "no", but he did it anyway - and each week with his guests and chums, he shares B2B marketing street knowledge - the authentic, practical marketing strategy advice that will bring out the rock star marketer in you. Learn more, follow, and get the show notes at https://rockstarcmo.com.
The Thomas Peham Entrepreneur's Journey Episode
This week, Thomas Peham, former CMO at StoryBlok and co-founder of Otterly.ai joins our host Ian Truscott to share his journey of leaving corporate leadership and becoming an entrepreneur.
They cover:
The leap of faith from corporate to startup
Building a remote team
The transition from CMO to founder
Education as a marketing strategy
Navigating competition and market dynamics
What’s next for Otterly and GEO?
Enjoy!
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Sadly, no fun in our virtual bar this week as Robert Rose...
The Head of AI and Insight Episode
This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is in the studio with our host Ian Truscott to return to their One Hit Wonder or Wonderwall treatment, when they decide if something in marketing will fade away or stand the test of time.
Getting this scrutiny this week is the role Head of AI role that is being talked about. The idea that we need someone in the leadership teams responsible for all things AI. Will this endure, like the CIO role, or be transient like the Head of Digital Transformation?
Once they decide, Ian...
The AI for Scale, Volume, and Cannes Episode
This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear discuss a recent post from her Bear Essentials series on the Seventh Bear blog - You're Not Scaling Content. You're Scaling Chaos.
They discuss:
Difference between scale and volume in content creation
Impact metrics vs. production metrics
Organizational governance and foundational systems
The risks of scaling content without measuring impact and ROI
Content quality and originality in AI-generated content
Content bottlenecks and downstream effects
Ian then joins Robert Rose in the vi...
The Heinz Mid-Year Review and Marketing Jobs for Humans Marketing Episode
This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is in the studio with our host Ian Truscott, to discuss a mid-year review from Matt Heinz called The State of the B2B CMO (almost) Halfway Through 2026.
They share 5 f’in’ things they take from his research are:
Financial literacy is a required skill
The role of the CMO is changing
Where the buyer is versus where we pretend they are
The organizational impact of AI
Tensions defining 2026
Ian then joins Robert Rose in our virtual bar...
The Folklore and AI Use Case Research Episode
This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is back in the studio with our host Ian Truscott, and they discuss the impact of folklore within a business, which can be positive or it can hold your business back.
Their conversation is inspired by some work by Kerry Cunningham at 6Sense: Folklore Debt: The Stories That Build B2B Companies — and the Ones That Hold Them Back | 6sense
They share 5 f’in’ takeaways from Kerry’s work:
Companies thrive on their origin story
Being defined by features
Technical debt constrain...
The LLMs as Analysts and Content Factory to Media Powerhouse Episodes
This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark is back in the studio with our host Ian Truscott, and they discuss the impact of LLMs on the big analyst firms and the general advisory around B2B buying decisions.
They share 5 f’in’ tips for buyers, analysts, and vendors in this new buying environment
LLMs only work on publicly available information
Vendors need to broaden the scope of AR/IR/PR
Where do I go for unbiased, original research?
Beating FOMU or FOFU
How can we connect buyer...
The Your Content is Your AI Problem and the Kayfabe Illusion Episode
This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear discuss a recent post from her Bear Essentials series on the Seventh Bear blog - AI Isn't Your Content Problem. Your Content Is Your Content Problem.
They discuss:
The value of Content Operations and AI
The challenge of context in unstructured content for the LLMs
Governance and ownership with AI
Recommendations for effective content operations
Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, to pick his brains on a marketing topic ov...
The 5 Tips to Get LLM Attention and Revisiting the Mullet Episode
This week, former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark, is back in the studio with our host Ian Truscott to discuss 5 tips for getting your content into the LLMs, pulling at a thread that has come up a couple of times in previous episodes.
They discuss:
Leading with a clear, structured need definition.
Publishing useful things for the audience and the robots
Maintain consistent naming and terminology
Brand is still important
Distribute content across high-authority contexts
Due to a scheduling challenge caused by family commitments over...
The Agentic Prospecting and Content-Led Marketing Episode
This week, former Forrester Research Director, Jeff Clark, is back in the studio with our host Ian Truscott to discuss an article from Anthony McPartlin, Principal Analyst at Forrester, Agentic Prospecting: Seven Reasons The Hype Falls Short.
Demand generation and prospecting have changed, with sales teams now armed with tools that allow them to run lead generation campaigns across LinkedIn and email, which was traditionally the role of marketing, but now this role is being handed to the robots, with agentic prospecting handling everything from deciding the ICP, buyer personas, to executing the campaign.
Picking 5 f...
The Earned Email, You Are a B2B Service and Caring If It’s Human Episode
This week, with his guests away, our host Ian Truscott takes a turn in the studio, going solo, and shares 5 f’in’ things that have caught his eye this week.
Those things were:
Email has become earned, not owned - inspired by an issue of Ann Handley’s newsletter - Email Is Dead, Long Live Email
Building a campfire - inspired by Joe Pulizzi’s newsletter - Stop Trying to Build a Community
AI disruption of the software industry, at both ends of the scale
Getting the creative balance right wit...
The Jon Miller Predictions and Editing the Mediocre out of AI Episode
This week, former Forrester Research Director, Jeff Clark, is back in the studio with our host Ian Truscott to discuss a predictions post from Jon Miller on the ChiefMartec blog, from back in January.
Jon Miller is described as a legend in our industry, the co-founder and original CMO of Marketo, and the former CMO of DemandBase; his opinion is well worth watching.
The extensive article that inspired this conversation makes 13 predictions, and, of course, following the show's editorial policy, Ian and Jeff pick 5 that resonate most with them.
They discuss:
Marke...
The Cathy on Personalization and Career Hedging with Robert Episode
This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight discuss a recent piece of research from Cathy on her Bear Essentials series on the Seventh Bear blog - Bear Essentials: You Can’t Personalize What You Don't Understand
They discuss:
Audience segmentation beyond job titles
Building and operationalizing personas
The role of AI and content in marketing
Customer journey mapping and needs analysis
Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a classic cocktail and a chat.
This week, Ian and Robert discuss Rober...
The Fighting Do Nothing and 6 Year Anniversary Episode
This week, former Forrester Research Director, Jeff Clark, is back in the studio for a discussion with our host Ian Truscott, to discuss how marketing can help sales defeat the biggest competitor in many B2B deals - do nothing.
They discuss:
Quantify the cost of inaction
Understand persona needs
Lower risk of change
Bring proof
Build internal consensus
Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, to celebrate 6 years of the podcast.
Over a fabulous cocktail, they revisit th...
The Educating the Buyer and AI’s Impact on Marketing Jobs Episode
This week, former Forrester Research Director, Jeff Clark, is back in the studio for a discussion with our host Ian Truscott about buyer education, inspired by an article by Kerry Cunningham, of 6Sense: “Buyers are not blank slates”, and give it the 5 f’in’ things treatment.
They discuss:
Some categories still need basic education
Keep the education grounded
Present your unique POV on how to solve buyer challenges
Do buyers want to be experts?
Campaigns need to master “answer engine optimization”
Ian then joins Robert Rose in the vi...
The Cathy on Funnels and Robert’s Pointy Bits Episode
This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight discuss a recent piece of research from Cathy on her Bear Essentials series on the Seventh Bear blog - The Funnel Isn’t Dead, Your Version of It Is.
They discuss:
The funnel is not dead, but it needs a refresh
The impact on marketing when this foundational work is broken.
What a modern funnel looks like (and it’s not about attribution)
Mapping to the customer journey, and thinking beyond the buying journey
Focusing on solving the customer's problems, not showcasi...
The Slice and Rick Rubin on Work Episode
A slightly different episode this week, as our host Ian Truscott has two guests in the studio sharing their marketing street knowledge. Catherine Nichols and Jeremy Laight, two successful fractional CMOs who founded The Slice in July 2025, a community for fractional marketers that has expanded rapidly to over a thousand members from across the globe.
They discuss:
The Slice community and what inspired it
Defining fractional CMOs
Why organizations choose fractional talent
Lessons Learned from the Community
Advice for transitioning to fractional marketing
What they w...
The Jeff Navigating Enshitication, and Robert is Leaving ChatGPT Episode
This week, Jeff Clark, former Forrester Research Director, has been reading Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow, and rather than host a pity party, he dug into some research and shares 5 f’in’ tips for marketers dealing with enshitification with our host Ian Truscott.
The five tips:
Have a clear strategy
Provide expertise and education
Nurture your community
Tell stories that engage and entertain
Don’t treat the platform like an advertising channel, but advertise!
Ian then jo...
The Cathy on Metrics and Robert on Ritson’s AI Opinion Episode
This week, Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear, is back to share her latest Bear Essentials research. This week, she and our host Ian Truscott dig into her post, "Your KPIs Are Measuring Activity, Not Impact."
Highlights from their chat:
The “Data Barf Binder”- where marketing teams measure activity, not impact.
Investing in employee communications leads to better outcomes.
Awareness metrics can only be useful if connected to outcomes.
Quality and context are more important than quantity in content.
OKRs help align marketing efforts with...
The Simon’s 5 F’in’ Rev Ops Tips and Robert’s Trust Index Episode
This week, Simon Daniels, now Principal Consultant, B2B Customer Growth at Accenture Song, is in the studio to share 5 f’in’ tips for getting your Revenue Operations rocking, which include:
Making the business case
Aligning with business goals, outcomes, and stakeholders
Customer focus
Building on 4 key foundations
Proving value and scaling what works
Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a classic cocktail and a chat, and Robert unveils his new Audience Trust Index research that he is publsihing on the...
The Confessions of a CMO and Plural Brands Episode
This week, former Forrester Research Director, and now champion of clean technology, Jeff Clark, and our host Ian Truscott discuss a fun research paper from one of Ian’s favourite podcasts, Uncensored CMO and agency network Worldwide Partner titled “Confessions of a CMO”.
As is the editorial policy of the show, they pick 5 f’in’ things that jumped out of this work:
The CMO needs to be the voice of the customer
Trading authority for influence
When chaos reigns, stabilize the ship
The long and the short of it
T...
The Lisa Bonnano and Killing the SaaS Vibe Episode
This week, our host Ian Truscott chats with B2B marketing leader Lisa Bonnano, and then he and Robert tackle the topic of vibe coding killing SaaS software over a cocktail.
Lisa Bonanno is a revenue and customer-focused marketing executive with 20+ years of experience optimizing and scaling global pipeline engines from inquiry to advocacy for B2B SaaS businesses.
Ian dives into Lisa’s marketing leadership experience, what drew her to marketing as a profession, her views on getting a marketing education, what we can learn from B2C, and:
What is on Lisa...
The It’s Not 2018 and 3 D’s of Product Content Episode
This week, Cathy McKnight is back in the studio to discuss changes content marketers need to make in 2026, and as Robert Rose couldn’t make it to our virtual bar this week, our host Ian Truscott shares his 3 D’s of product content marketing.
Ian and Cathy discuss:
Marketing teams are often organized around outdated models
The pandemic accelerated the need for digital transformation
Organizations must focus on outcomes, not just outputs
Silos in organizations are inevitable, but should be permeable
AI should enhance human creativity, not replace...
The Story Fails and Finding Your Busker Box Episode
This week, our host Ian Truscott welcomes back former Forerster Research Director Jeff Clark after his holiday. Jeff turns the tables on Ian and quizzes him on the 5 F’in’ fails for the Story, one of our 5 F’in’ Marketing Fundamentals.
They discuss:
Sales stops trusting marketing when the story is fractured.
A distinctive story helps avoid the B2B beige trap.
Buyers make decisions based on emotional connections, not just features.
Competing solely on price leads to a race to the bottom.
Content should be treated as a strat...
The Community and Agent Authority Episode
This week, our host Ian Truscott welcomes back Dennis Shiao to celebrate 10 years of the Bay Area Content Meetup, before he slips off to our virtual pub for a mix of marketing and mixology with the Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose.
In the studio, Dennis shares his experience of growing a content marketing community from a few like-minded bloggers at a local restaurant to an international virtual community with thousands of members and speakers that represent the great and the good of content marketing.
In the Rose & Rockstar, our virtual bar, Ian an...
The CMS Relevance and Railways Episode
This week, we go back to the old weekly format, with Ian Truscott hosting a guest in the studio before we slip off to our virtual pub for a mix of marketing and mixology with the Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose.
In the studio this week, Cathy McKnight makes her monthly visit to chat about all things content, asking the question: Do CMOs still care about a CMS when defining their tech stack?
They also dive into the challenge of disruptive requests within a marketing team, discussing her article Last Week's Crisis Sh...
The Rose & Rockstar: Stop the Press! PR is Not Dead
Welcome to The Rose and Rockstar - with the Chief Troublemaker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose, behind the bar serving one of his splendid cocktails, while our Rockstar CMO host Ian Truscott picks his brain on a marketing topic.
This week, we dive back into the obsession marketing commentators seem to have with declaring things as dead. Recently, it seems PR has been getting the “it’s dead” treatment from the cool kids high on social media Kool-Aid, but in an age when networks, human-to-human marketing, and influence are so important, the chaps discuss why PR should be very...
The Rockstar CMO Studio: 5 F’in’ Things for Coping with the Pipeline Crisis
This week, Jeff Clark, our resident B2B marketing strategist and our host Ian Truscott are inspired by an article by Dave Kellogg, which describes a pipeline crisis for B2B, and they pick 5 of the best suggestions of what Kellogg would do from the 13 he lists in that article.
The five they discuss:
Think holistically
Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Get good at AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Leverage the CEO
Build first-party audiences
As always, we welcome your feedback. If you have a hot topic you'd li...
The Rose & Rockstar: Desperately Seeking Storytellers
Welcome to The Rose and Rockstar - with the Chief Troublemaker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose, behind the bar serving one of his splendid cocktails, while our Rockstar CMO host Ian Truscott picks his brain on a marketing topic.
This week, there is a story that has been doing the rounds on LinkedIn for the last three weeks, that keeps appearing in Ian’s feed from the Wall Street Journal called Companies Are Desperately Seeking ‘Storytellers’ that has got a lot of commentary, pointing out its flaws.
As an expert and author of three books on Conte...
The Rockstar CMO Studio: 5 F’in’ Fails When Your Machine is Broken
This week, with our host Ian Truscott, Managing Partner at Velocity B, Jeff Clark, our resident strategist and former Forrester Research Director, shares his experience of what happens when one of our 5 Fundamentals, The Machine, is broken.
The fails that Jeff identifies:
Poor Reputation with internal customers
Campaigns miss their mark
Poor sales productivity
Customer lose trust
Marketing loses business credibility
As always, we welcome your feedback. If you have a hot topic you'd like us to discuss, please get in touch using the links...
The Rose & Rockstar: AI Strategy is so 2025
Welcome to The Rose and Rockstar - with the Chief Troublemaker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose, behind the bar serving one of his splendid cocktails, while our Rockstar CMO host Ian Truscott picks his brain on a marketing topic.
This week, as they lift their glasses to the new year, Ian and Robert dig into one of Robert’s favorite predictions for 2026, and they discuss:
AI strategy will be integrated into everyday business and the term 'AI strategy' will be quickly outdated.
AI tool use will increasingly be driven by personal productivity, rather tha...
The Rockstar CMO Solo: 5 F'in' AI Things from 2025
In a solo episode this week, as we close out the year and his regular guests enjoy the holidays, our host, Ian Truscott, Managing Partner at Velocity B, shares 5 f’in’ things that stood out from this year on the podcast.
Deciding to narrow down the over 100 conversations to one topic, Ian picked AI, and the five things featured in this podcast are:
#1 - Don’t lose what you learn on the creative or learning journey by pressing the AI easy button
#2 - The jury is out on whether AI saves time for creati...
The Rose & Rockstar: Meet Lyla Rae Hightower
Welcome to The Rose and Rockstar - with the Chief Troublemaker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose, behind the bar serving one of his splendid cocktails, while our Rockstar CMO host Ian Truscott picks his brain on a marketing topic.
However, this week, as we ease into the holidays, Ian and Robert are doing something different, not talking directly about marketing but a fascinating AI collaboration project Robert has been working on, as he has unveiled the next country music star - Lyla Rae Hightower.
We learn about the process Robert has gone through over the l...
Cathy on Content: Was it Just AI in 2025?
This week, Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear, makes her regular visit to the studio to discuss all things content with our host Ian Truscott, Managing Partner at Velocity B.
In this episode, Cathy shares her perspective on content operations and management for 2025 and predictions for 2026, and they discuss the importance of human involvement in AI-driven content creation, the challenges of personalization, and the rise of new CMS solutions.
As they look ahead to 2026, Cathy hopes for a return to fundamentals, emphasizing the need for structured content operations and the importance of effective c...
The Rose & Rockstar: Are Websites Dead (Again)?
Welcome to The Rose and Rockstar - with the Chief Troublemaker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose, behind the bar serving one of his splendid cocktails, while our Rockstar CMO host Ian Truscott picks his brain on a marketing topic.
Inspired by Robert’s post on LinkedIn talking about how marketing tactics go through a cycle of “died.. frankensteined .. re-monetized .. enshittified .. repeat”, they discuss the future of corporate websites with the changes in our behavior with AI and how Google will evolve the search experience.
They discuss:
How marketers often ruin nice things.
Are we...
The Rockstar CMO Studio: 2025 Wrapped
This week, Jeff Clark, former Forrester Research Director, and our host Ian Truscott, Managing Partner at Velocity B, celebrate Jeff’s last episode of the year, before he takes off for the holidays, and discuss five things that stood out for them from their conversations on the show in 2025.
The five things they selected:
#1 - The buyer's AI assistant
#2 - Brand is back
#3 - Unifying marketing and sales as a revenue department
#4 - The rise of fractional
#5 - CMOs need to be the C-suite’s market analyst
The Rose & Rockstar: Content Marketing in 2026
Welcome to The Rose and Rockstar - with the Chief Troublemaker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose, behind the bar serving one of his splendid cocktails, while our Rockstar CMO host Ian Truscott picks his brain on a marketing topic.
Inspired by an article by Robert - Content Marketing in 2026: Why Your System Matters More Than Your Content - this week, over a modern English cocktail, Ian and Robert look forward to what 2026 will bring for content marketing, which inevitably means chatting about AI.
They discuss:
The changing role of AI in content creation
The Rockstar CMO Studio: Into the Brand to Demand Zone
This week, Jeff Clark, former Forrester Research Director, and our host Ian Truscott, Managing Partner at Velocity B, dive into a new report from 6Sense and Stein, called “Winning in the Brand to Demand Zone” authored by Marc Keating, Chief Innovation Officer at Stein, and Kerry Cunningham, Research and Thought Leadership, 6sense. That is based on an analysis of research from 1,000 6Sense customers.
It’s an extensive report, running to over 30 pages, and the chaps give it their 5 f’in’ things treatment and pull out 5 points that caught their eye:
The evolution of 95-5 rule to 3 state...
The Rose & Rockstar: Less AI Froth in 26?
Welcome to The Rose and Rockstar - with the Chief Troublemaker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose, behind the bar serving one of his splendid cocktails, while our Rockstar CMO host Ian Truscott picks his brain on a marketing topic.
This week, Ian and Robert discuss whether the froth will be blown off AI and we’ll return to the fundamentals in 2026 with AI as a tool, or will the hype continue?
They discuss:
If AI's frothiness will continue or if reality will set in during 2026.
A prediction that the marketing landscape is...
Cathy on Content: Adobe, SEMRush, and Practice vs Insanity
This week, Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear, makes her monthly visit to the studio to discuss all things content with our host Ian Truscott, Managing Partner at Velocity B.
In this episode, they discuss:
Cathy’s industry analyst perspective on Adobe's potential acquisition of Semrush
Practice vs. Insanity - Cathy’s latest research that shares four pieces of advice for meeting the experience expectations of today’s customer across channels.
The “Bear Essentials”, a new content series breaking down content marketing challenges.
If you have any comments or...
The Rose & Rockstar: Still Thanking LinkedIn?
Welcome to The Rose and Rockstar - with the Chief Troublemaker at Seventh Bear, Robert Rose, behind the bar serving one of his splendid cocktails, while our Rockstar CMO host Ian Truscott picks his brain on a marketing topic.
This week, over a splendid seasonal cocktail, Ian and Robert discuss the apparent shift in LinkedIn from a community platform we perceive it to be to an attention-grabbing ad platform, with reported changes in the algorithm and the experience of folks with big audiences not getting the impressions they once did.
They ask if LinkedIn is st...
