This episode features an interview with Gabie Boko, CMO at NetApp, a hybrid cloud data services and data management company, offering cloud data services for management of applications and data both online and physically.

In this episode, Gabie shares with us why you can’t have brand without demand, her desire for partnerships vs handoffs, and the beauty of marketing agility. Gabie also helps us unpack why running a brand of commas isn’t the goal, but rather how companies can work toward stabilizing the functions and innovations they offer customers through their brand narratives.

• Leverage thought leadership as a market accelerator. Especially with conversations today about AI and cloud, thought leadership gets lost in the mix. If you’re not in the market and seeding the conversation, you’re reactive vs proactive.
• Stabilize a “brand of commas” through the narrative. Companies are so much more than what’s written on paper. Showcase what you do for your customers and how you’ve made them successful by stabilizing your brand narrative.
• Sometimes content is less about what you make and more about where you put it. Be strategic in making your content accessible and available anywhere a prospect might consume it.

“We're putting the dollars in on the narrative, not putting the dollars in on a branding campaign. It's taking the strategic dollars and saying, let's go get the basics right and then not spend money over on this so we can go spend money on some other things until we get some of this other stuff right. You don't need to plant the flag and then defend the flag all in the same year, maybe you just spend some time to getting it right and planting it and getting everybody engaged versus, you know, saying, okay, now we're done! Let's go, let's go out into the market! So, you know, I think it's strategic choices like those two that are the important part of our budget this year, but it's also kind of the like goes back to what I said. I love the agility of marketing to be able to say that's not relevant for me right now. I gotta do this. And I think it's really important to have a good team around you to say, yep. You're right. We support that. You don't have to go do everything.” –Gabie Boko, CMO, NetApp

https://qualified.wistia.com/medias/7x8wfq747m

*(03:36) - The Trust Tree: Brand and demand go hand in hand

*(16:28) - The Playbook: Fixing the “brand of commas”  

*(37:27) -  The Dust Up: You can’t do your job well without going head to head with others

*(39:00) - Quick Hits: Gabie’s Quick Hits