Vol. 29: The Marketing Expert Roundup

Case Studied Experts

Throughout 2025 so far, we’ve had the privilege of learning from some of the most thoughtful marketers working today. We’ve spoken with brand builders, disruptors, and storytellers across the spectrum, from Starbucks to Asana. Each edition has been a snapshot of wisdom, honesty, and perspective.

As we looked back through these conversations, we noticed five recurring themes—truths that apply whether you’re leading a global team or just getting started in your first marketing role. Consider this edition a curated roundup: the best lessons from the marketers who’ve taught us the most.

1. Be proactive about career growth

Many of the marketers we’ve connected with got to where they are, in part, by being intentional about their own growth. 

Amazon Transportation’s Jillian Kosic said she believes in being a proactive architect of your own career. 

“A question I am often asked is how do you find the next role? And my advice is don't go find the next role. You need to create your next role. If you want to grow and you have a goal, know what five stepping stones away looks like. Then, be vocally self-critical. What are your gaps and how are you going to get there?” 

Kickstarter’s Courtney Brown Warren called out the importance of working for the job you want, not just the job you have. 

“Take on the stretch assignments and put yourself in the position. I think that’s really key. You don’t just get the job. You’ve got to be doing the job ahead of getting the job.”

There are often many paths you can take to reach your goals. Be your own navigator and map out which one you’re going to take.  

2. Build a network you can learn from

Just like companies turn to agencies for external expertise, most marketing leaders have strong external supporters who they can turn to for guidance, perspective, and support. 

Sagard’s Jonathan Metrick shared how in first CMO role (at a company where business doubled every six months), he joined a peer group that helped drive his growth.

“I met some amazingly talented scale-up CMOs in New York through that pod. We’d meet every month for dinner and it was real talk for three hours. Those relationships were critical. Years later, I still meet with them.”

Similarly, the Portland Trail Blazers’ Kevin Kinghorn said having strong connections plays a major role in his industry.

“The beautiful thing about sports is I’m not in competition with my peers so there’s a ton of collaboration and learning. I can pick up the phone and call the person in Utah who just launched a DTC streaming product and ask them what worked and what didn’t.” 

Both of these experiences speak to how great marketers work. They avoid silos and instead, build communities of peers who support one another.

3. Let experts lead

When it comes to building a team, many marketers flagged the importance of building up their own SMEs. 

Sage’s Carolyn Manning said she intentionally built a team that she could learn from. 

“I really tried to hire as much expertise as I could in the things that I was less familiar with. And I would ask them—these folks who are reporting to me—to teach me. I have no problem saying ‘I don't understand, please walk me through it.’” 

Thrive Market’s Amina Pasha echoed a similar sentiment about hiring a team of specialists. 

“My philosophy has been ‘Hire great people and get out of their way.’ Coach them, train them, build them, inspire them, but let them lead the way. We have specialists on the media buying side who know their channel inside out. We have a creative strategist who truly embodies the standard of excellence in creative strategy. There's so much role clarity on the team about who’s best-in-class in each area. They all talk to each other and they iterate as a team.”

This lesson can apply to folks on either side of the hiring process. Jobseekers, look for leaders who are keen to learn from you and the other experts on their team. Leaders, make sure you give your team the space to flex the expertise you hired them for in the first place. 

4. Stay in communication with customers

Putting customers front and center is a persistent theme across our conversations with marketing leaders. 

Twilio’s Chris Koehler stressed the importance of marketers engaging and talking with customers. 

“It's not the responsibility of just the sales team to go engage with customers. We all should be engaged with them. And, even today as CMO, I do a lot of customer engagement. What I've seen often happens is, everyone says, ‘Yeah we should talk to customers more.’ But then it's the thing that falls to the bottom of the list when you've got 50 things to deliver.”

Trustpilot’s Alicia Skubick shared how customer focus became a company-wide initiative. 

“We changed one of our values to ‘Leading with the customer.’ We wanted to really ensure that it was top of mind, which I think has really helped to change the mindset among teams. It was happening in different departments but we wanted to start talking about our customers at a company level. We started bringing customers to our all-hands and our executive team started responding to customer reviews. It's really created a new mindset in the business.”

Engaging with customers can be as simple as sitting in on a customer-facing meeting or having internal discussions on how they can have a presence. It all starts by asking and initiating those conversations. 

5. Don’t overindex on playbooks.

Many marketers noted the importance of creativity and allowing it to thrive in team environments. 

Duolingo’s Jocelyn S. Lai noticed a specific trend about the influence of marketing playbooks on creativity. 

“Because so many marketing orgs were reduced during the pandemic, there’s a lot of fear. And with that fear, people tend to operate with less risk. The result is a lot of marketers looking for a playbook. In fact, that’s the number one question I get from candidates. But at Duolingo, we don’t really have that defined because we’re evolving and iterating our brand day-by-day. The moment we have a playbook, we’re sticking by those rules.”

Twilio’s Adam Morgan also stressed the importance of taking risks, even if you’re in a larger, more risk-averse organization. 

“My mentality was let's iterate. We'll try stuff. We'll push stuff out. If it's not working, we'll change it. There were a couple ideas in the Twilio rebrand that included an extreme sport utility podcast van, and our CMO told us we’d gone too far. But it's just like the scientific method, right? You're testing things.”

Consider how reliant you are on marketing playbooks. If you notice that it’s stifling creativity, strategy, or critical thinking, perhaps it’s time to revisit your team’s relationship with it. 

Words to the wise

The voices in Marketer Studied have offered up incredible perspective, insights, and guidance.

Here’s to the next wave of lessons and marketers who’ll shape them. 

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