A Confession: I Hate April Fools’ Day Marketing

It’s April Fools’ Day, and despite all the cute marketing campaigns timed to the manufactured holiday, I’m beginning to think the joke is on us. B2B marketing today suffers from a chronic disease that there’s a silver bullet technology holding the keys to more pipeline… but that’s just a total joke. And on a day that is all about BS, I’m declaring that it’s time for the BS to end.

You know what I’m talking about — all the jargon-ridden claims from martech vendors that sound really cool but don’t mean much. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten to the end of a web page, email or white paper and thought, “Wait, what does that company actually do, why should I care, and how will this technology actually live up to its promise?”

The goal is to give you a candid perspective from the B2B marketing leaders who craft and market the technologies and the methods promising to change the industry. They’ll discuss what they love and hate about marketing. They’ll confess to past marketing misdeeds and they’ll give you the insight to call bullshit on bad marketing. It’s a sorely needed reality check in an industry that likes to present everything in a shitty candy wrapper.

So who would sign up for this? Well, for our inaugural episodes, we have:

• Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Marketing
• Heidi Bullock, CMO of Engagio
• Megan Heuer, VP of Research at SiriusDecisions
• Jeffrey Rohrs, CMO of Yext

And, of course, yours truly as the host.  

What will it sound? Well, you can check out our first four episodes at this link.  

So, join us on Monday, April 9 — maybe during your morning commute or something — as we officially launch CMO Confessions. We’ll be updating this space with more information about our guests and how they’re fighting the good fight against bullshit and you can finally put an end to crap marketing.

And no, this isn’t another one of those April Fools’ Day jokes. This is happening.