A Modern Approach to the CMO's Strategy & Budgeting Framework

A Modern Approach to the CMO’s Strategy & Budgeting Framework

Stephanie Shreve is the CMO of PowerChord, a MarTech software company. With over 25 years of experience in marketing, Stephanie has a unique perspective on marketing strategies and budgeting frameworks.

In this interview with host Steve MacDonald, meet Stephanie Shreve, a MarTech CMO with over 25 years of marketing experience, as she shares a modern approach to the CMO’s strategy and budgeting framework. In a time when marketing budgets are shrinking but expectations are not, Stephanie introduces the CORE-MORE-EXPLORE framework. This framework involves allocating 70% of the budget to known tactics that have proven to work (CORE), 20% to slightly outside-the-box strategies (MORE), and 10% to completely new and experimental tactics (EXPLORE).

Stephanie Shreve, MarTech CMO – Follow Stephanie on LinkedIn

Stephanie emphasizes the importance of data and collaboration in gaining buy-in from the CFO and CEO. She also highlights the significance of thought leadership content in building trust and relationships with customers.

“We’ve got a really good approach to looking at in that planning stage; what are we going to do that we know well? What are we going to be willing to do outside the borders zone a little bit? And then what’s that part where we’re going to try something new?” – Stephanie Shreve

Stephanie talks about each area of the framework and how to maximize its potential.

Listen to the full podcast or watch it on YouTube. To watch the 4-Minute summary video, CLICK HERE.

Introduction to Stephanie Shreve

Steve MacDonald: Welcome everyone to the B2B Marketing Perspectives podcast. I’m Steve McDonald, your host. And today, we’ve got a really interesting perspective from Stephanie Shreve.

Now, Stephanie has been in marketing for a long time, worked on the agency side with Creative Services, and now is the CMO of PowerChord and has a really unique perspective on what’s happening in the market right now, where all of us are looking at our marketing budgets, and we’re saying, we’ve got to shrink. What are we going to do with less budget when we still have to accomplish more?

And the expectations never lower. It’s always, how do we do more with less? And Stephanie’s got a really modern perspective and framework, actually, that she wants to take us through. So, Stephanie, I don’t know if there’s anything more you want to say in terms of your background or just a little bit more of an introduction about who you are.

Stephanie Shreve: Yeah, sure. Thank you. So I have been in marketing, as you said, for about 25 years and started off in more of a creative sort of content agency and then transitioned about 12 years ago or so to PowerChord. So I’ve been here quite a while, and we’re a MarTech software company, so we have kind of two wings to our bird.

We have our software side, where we do our platform and sort of the MarTech aspect of what we do, but we also have a full digital marketing team. So we have sort of that demand generation that we do to drive traffic to the platform. So the two kind of work hand in hand there together. And I, as you said, I’m the CMO.

So I’m wearing multiple hats there, both doing the marketing on behalf of PowerChord to that B2B side, but then also we do digital marketing for our clients. So I’m doing the B2C side for them. So I kind of get to see both worlds.

A Modern Framework for allocating your marketing budget

Steve MacDonald: That’s great. So you’re doing double duty that most CMOs do, right?

Well, fantastic. So we talked about how we’re all in a situation where we’re having to rethink our marketing strategies. Where budgets are shrinking, but expectations aren’t, and you’ve got a unique thought on what you do in that kind of an environment. Could you maybe share that with us?

Stephanie Shreve: Yeah, sure. I think some of the promising news that we’ve seen, because I read a lot, and it looks like companies do understand, for the most part, that even when the economy is shrinking, don’t pull back on your marketing budget. And decades worth of research shows that is not a good idea.

And it really does seem like, from what I’ve seen, the majority of companies are at least keeping their budgets the same. But even when your budget stays the same from year to year, you’re not going to get the same delivery because costs go up. Costs for impressions go up, and costs per click go up.

So there still is this expectation, even if your budget does stay the same, that you’re going to have to do more. So the way we like to look at that, we would never want one of our clients to fall behind because they’re not able to do as much. So what we do is first focus on what we know works.

So we call that CORE. We take about 70% of the budget, and we say, okay, this 70%, this is our core. And this is where we’re going to use known tactics that we feel really comfortable with. And then we’re going to EXPLORE the next layer of the framework, and we’re going to take 20% of the budget, and we’re going to say, okay, we are going to just go outside of our comfort zone a little bit. Let’s try something, maybe just adjacent to what we know.

And then for that last 10%, we’re going to call that EXPLORE. So that is where we’re going to take some money, and we’re going to say let’s do something new because even when you are in an environment where you know your budgets may be either shrinking or staying the same, that doesn’t mean you can’t be looking out there at technology, what’s going on, what’s happening.

New things are coming all the time, which makes it really exciting, but you have to really look and be mindful and intentional about what are those new tactics that you’re going to try.

So we would never recommend going out with a big chunk of your budget on something unknown. But set 10% aside. So we call it the CORE-MORE-EXPLORE framework. So we’ve got our 70%, our 20%, and our 10%.

And that way, we feel like we’ve got a good approach to look at in that planning stage; what are we going to do that we know well? What are we going to be willing to do outside the borders zone a little bit? And then what’s that 10% that we’re going to try something new?

Getting buy-in for the CORE-MORE-EXPLORE framework

Steve MacDonald: I have so many questions that are flowing in my head right now. So what I love about this is that you’re very intentional about it. You said it’s part of the planning. We’re planning to do this.

So I would imagine that if you’re planning to do this with your budget, your CFO has got to be on board, your CEO has got to be on board. Tell us a little bit about that, is there a sell-in process there? Or how do you do that?

Stephanie Shreve: Yeah, that is one thing that has also changed so much over the years is the size of the internal buying committee. How many people are buying into this idea? And you really do have to convince people that this is the right way to go.

And, of course, a lot of that happens with data. Everybody wants data, and data is a huge part of any digital marketing campaign because you do have access to it. And so it’s important to use it and to use it well.

And so really looking at, okay, well, here’s the performance that we know we can expect from that core. We’ve got a pretty good feel for it. But there does have to be a little bit of willingness to kind of go outside the comfort zone on maybe something that might not even work if you try. You use that 10%.

And you go out, and you try something new, there is a chance that it’s not going to work. But you take that as a learning opportunity, and you figure out, okay, well, what would I do differently next time? And it does take, like you said, that group buy-in to make sure the CEO is going to be okay with this.

Is the CFO going to be okay? Do they have a little bit of tolerance for that testing section? But data is king. So as long as you can provide the data and some solid estimates, I think that really does help calm people’s nerves a little bit.

Steve MacDonald: Well, and it just makes intuitive sense, right? It’s like the hedgehog, right? There’s a great book that was written a number of years ago, Good to Great. And it was the hedgehog theory, which is the hedgehog knows how to do one thing well, like it curls up in a ball to defend itself.

But you can’t just do one thing well, or the core things. Because over time, that something’s going to stop working. It’s not going to be as effective, right? The market shifts, and competitors shift. There’s always change. So what this says to me is you’ve got a plan to adapt to change because you’re always trying to do something different.

And I would imagine that 10% or that 20% that’s successful moves into the core, right?

Stephanie Shreve: Sure. Oh yeah, definitely. There are absolutely things that 10 years ago, just think about what would have been a test 10 years ago. Even Facebook is now core. So, oh, yeah, absolutely. Once you’ve tested something and it works well, that’s going to start to move into your core.

And then you can go off and try something else that’s new.

What’s a good definition of MORE and EXPLORE?

Steve MacDonald: So, if you could tell us a little bit of a difference in the definition of the 20% and the 10%? Because in both, you’re trying something a little different. So you gave us the direction of you’ll go outside of the norm a little bit with the 20% and try something new in the 10%, but how exploratory are you in the 10% versus the 20% to give us kind of a gauge on that?

Stephanie Shreve: So the 20%, we would probably do maybe the same channel that we’ve done before, but perhaps try a new target audience, or maybe we would try a new conversion optimization. So Google will optimize on different goals or Facebook, any of the channels you can set what do you want this campaign to optimize toward?

And so maybe we try a new one or, again, maybe looking at who we’re targeting or maybe a different message. Usually, it will include creative messaging, but sometimes, maybe we want to go out on a limb with some messaging. But for the most part, I would say it falls more into targeting or optimizations that we might do, while the 10% is most likely a completely new channel.

So maybe you haven’t advertised in podcasts before, or maybe you haven’t advertised on TikTok before, so you find that new channel that would be more reserved probably for that 10%.

Steve MacDonald: So trying something new and different within the channels is kind of more of the 20%, but going and just saying, we haven’t done this before. Let’s give this a whirl is the 10%.

Stephanie Shreve: Will our audience react to us on TikTok? I don’t know. Let’s go to use 10% and find out.

Steve MacDonald: I imagine it’s a little bit fun this way, right? Because if you’re not trying something new and different, we lose our creative juices. And as marketers, that’s one of the most important things that we have, right? We always have to be looking at things.

So I’m going to ask you a question. I ask this of every guest that comes onto the podcast. One of the things that’s most important in marketing is our content, right? It is what we promote.

Why content fuels the framework

Steve MacDonald: Everything is content that we’re asking people to interact with. So on a scale of 1 to 10, in terms of content being not important to the success of the business is 1 and 10 being vital to the importance and success of the business, how would you rate content?

Stephanie Shreve: Well, I don’t know what all your guests say. I feel like it’s a 10.

I feel like when you put messaging out there, we could place the best campaign with the best targeting and the best optimization. But if the message doesn’t resonate, then what have we achieved? The customer’s just going to look right past it. I think, especially today, where people get 124 emails a day or something.

We’re so bombarded. It has to be content that’s relevant. And what we’ve really been focusing on is content that builds that relationship, that helps build trust, and, again, depending on, do I have on my PowerChord corporate marketing hat. Do I have on my client B2C hat? It changes, but especially thinking about it from the PowerChord side, we need to be thought leaders.

We need to provide value. That’s what we really think about. How can we provide content that’s going to help somebody do their job better? How can we provide content that’s going to help somebody learn something new or think about something in a new way? And when we do that, that is building a relationship.

It’s building trust. And that’s really what we want to do. And I don’t know any way to do that besides with really good content.

How to apply thought leadership in the core-more-explore framework

Steve MacDonald: You just explained the next article that we’re writing, by the way.

The title of the article is going to be something like CMO’s, you’re creating the wrong content 80% of the time. It’s the 80/20 rule. And so, live on the show, let me just see what you think about this. The idea here is that we’re really good at what I call inside-out content. And that’s – we’re good at talking about inside, what’s happening in our company, right?

Our products, our services, our SaaS offering, whatever it is, because that’s what we do. That’s what we know. What we’re not as good at is the things that you’re talking about, the thought leadership, the things that educate our buyers and that buyer group, helps them do their job, builds trust, confidence, and a perception of us as an expert, because that’s what all the studies say, right?

We want salespeople that are trusted advisors. And the fact is that that connection, that emotional connection to the company and what they’re doing in the industry in terms of their expert status, is more important at the beginning than what they actually do buy. And so that’s kind of the gist of this.

And what you were saying there is you want to focus more, as the CMO, you want to focus more on what establishes the company as experts that educate, that helps build confidence and trust.

So in your core-more-explore framework, now that we’re talking about thought leadership content, is that a part of the core? Is that part of more? Is that something that you think companies should be experimenting more on? How does that fit into the framework?

Stephanie Shreve: That’s a good question. I think the content development is absolutely part of the core. And then where I would say getting into the explore and the more, in the explore is probably where that content goes.

So how do you syndicate that content? Do you launch your own podcast? Do you create a webinar series? Do you host an event? That could really be something that could be a way to get your content out there. Maybe though, it would be a test to see if that is something that’s engaging to people.

So I think the development of the content is core. What you then do with that content and how you get that out to your audience, I’d say that is going to maybe more where you play around a little bit and test out some different things.

Steve MacDonald: Well, that’s a good way to think about it because one of the things that we have to be doing is, when you have really good content, because that’s the hard content to create, right?

Talking about our products and our services that’s the easier stuff, right? So when you get really good thought leadership content, we have to be thinking creatively about how we leverage that content. How do we get it out to our audiences in this omnichannel world where the buyer’s journey is kind of all flipped upside down? It’s not this funnel that just goes like this anymore.

Stephanie Shreve: Yeah. That’s what I think about a lot. It is one thing to write the content, which it’s not easy. As you said, it’s hard content to write.

So if we’ve invested all this time and energy, and resources into writing this really good content, how do you make sure people see it? So that’s something that I think about a lot too.

Steve MacDonald: So, if you were going to leave us with a summarizing thought like this was the takeaway from everything. You and I were just sitting down with a glass of wine. You’re like, Steve, here’s what I think that the bottom line is, what would you want the audience here of executive marketers to take away from the conversation that we’ve had here today?

How to be creative in the 10% EXPLORE area of the framework

Stephanie Shreve: Well, I think most marketers, we’re all, I think, in agreement. Even if the economy is in a downturn, we still have to keep marketing for companies, we still have to keep our name out in front of potential buyers.

So I think we’re already all in agreement about that, and I think that the main takeaway would be how you can take the resources that you have and plan them out well so that you are doing the things that you know work, but you’re not afraid to try something new and hopefully thinking about it, maybe, by budget allocation as we do with the 70-20-10.

Hopefully, that’s a takeaway that could be helpful during that planning stage to think about. Okay. I know I want to stick with what works, but I can’t be afraid to try something new.

Steve MacDonald: What’s your recommendation if – so I think we all like that idea. We’ve got to be trying something new. But how do you go about and think about what the try something new is? Is that something that you’re just doing? Is that something that you talk with the entire team? How do you try on a creative way to source the, what are we going to be doing new in the 10%?

Stephanie Shreve: Well, we are very team oriented at PowerChord. We do a lot as groups, and I think that serves us well because, for example, we have one of our clients, they’re really trying to promote battery products. And so, somebody said, well, what if we advertised how when you’re at a gas station, they have the video ads there sometimes, but they are starting to do those at charging stations.

So what if you advertise on a charging station to somebody who’s already probably battery-minded to promote battery-powered products? Well, that’s an out-of-the-box idea that you certainly wouldn’t want to spend your 70% on. But maybe you’re willing to test it. And that comes from that sort of group collaboration.

So we certainly are a team effort. And I always think when you can get a group of minds together, that works well. And that could be internally, or if you work with an agency or using your agency partners, we’re big fans of working with partners.

I was telling you that prior to working at PowerChord, I worked at a content agency, which is actually a sister company to PowerChord, but we worked so closely together it was sort of just an easy transition. So we’re big fans of partners. So I think whenever you can bring in more creative minds, the better. It’s certainly going to help bring out something you maybe never would have thought about.

Steve MacDonald: Well, and if people on your team feel like there’s a structured process for new ideas and new ideas can come from anywhere, then all of a sudden, I know that in the past, team members always feel like if they’re making contributions and they’re making an impact, they feel better about what they’re doing.

Stephanie Shreve: Oh, yes. You feel better about what you’re doing. You’re more into it. You’re more creative. You are better. You’re more invested. You’re more invested in the solution when you help come up with some ideas. I couldn’t agree more.

Selling the framework to your CFO

Steve MacDonald: Well, Stephanie, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I think every single one of us is now thinking, what are we going to do with our 10%, and how do we plan that?

And how are we going to talk to the team about it? And one last question, actually, because I know the relationship between you as a CMO and the CFO, they typically want to see bottom-line results. Right? Tell me just the last 30 seconds or so here about your conversations with the CFO and that 10% and how that works because I think that’s going to be something that we’re all going to have to be doing.

Stephanie Shreve: Yeah, well, we’re fortunate that we have a really great CFO, and he is really open to so many ideas, which I love, and it helps that relationship. He’s not afraid to try new things. Of course, he’s always very interested in margin and ROI and those things. So, for the most part, if I can show, okay, the majority of what we’re doing is delivering these expected results.

But we do want to peel off part of it. At least in my experience, we’ve been fortunate enough to have a CFO who’s willing to take that leap if you can show the data on the main part of the budget. So as long as you’re delivering on what you say you’re going to do, and hey, let me go play around with this.

And then I think also the evidence to show what you brought up earlier that over time, those tests become part of the core, that that also is good evidence to show we’re not just going and chasing after squirrels. We’re not just going to every shiny object we’re going to go try. We are disciplined.

And we are keeping just a portion of it, but some of those things really are going to become part of our core. And I know it takes a little time. Once you can show some history of that, I think that helps prove that out also.

Steve MacDonald: Well, fantastic. Well, thank you. If anybody had a follow-up question for you, what would be the best way to get ahold of you?

Stephanie Shreve: I’m on LinkedIn. I check it every day. So yeah, LinkedIn would probably be the best—Stephanie Shreve on LinkedIn.

Steve MacDonald: Fantastic. All right. Well, we’ll put a link to all the content that comes out from here. Thank you very much for sharing all the wisdom and the core-more-explore framework. We love it.

Stephanie Shreve: Thank you. Yeah. I have fun talking about it. I appreciate it.

Next Steps

Stephanie talks directly about how thought leadership content builds relationships and is used throughout the CORE-MORE-EXPLORE framework. To elevate your content’s ROI and revenue impact, don’t miss the opportunity to CLICK HERE and schedule a 20-minute strategy session with Steve MacDonald, founder of ConstentStrategies.io.

ELEVATING CONTENT MARKETING STANDARDS RAISES A CRUCIAL QUESTION:
Why shouldn’t the very act of creating thought leadership content also spark new conversations with in-pipeline deals, top prospects, and high-priority customers for revenue expansion? Or serve as the cornerstone for learning and applying voice-of-customer strategies? That’s the power of ABM Podcasting—engaging B2B buyers and customers in meaningful conversations that uncover essential go-to-market insights, support long sales cycles, reinforce your market perspective, build peer-level trust, and dismantle objections that kill deals.

Steven MacDonald

Steven MacDonald is the founder of Content Strategies, CEO of a MarTech SaaS Company, fractional CMO consulting with leading B2B companies and former Director of Strategy and Client Service at top ten digital marketing agencies.

Follow Steve on LinkedIn.

Steven MacDonald

Follow Steve on LinkedIn.