The Rockstar CMO F'in' Marketing Podcast

Hosted by Rockstar CMO

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Episodes

380

Latest episode

Jun 2026

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EN-US

About the show

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.

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60 recent

June 13, 202656 min

The Folklore and Mid-Year AI Reality Check 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 constrains future growth Narrative eras and stories Focus on why you will win in the future Ian then joins Robert Rose in our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, for one of his fabulous cocktails and a chat about a marketing topic. This week, Ian and Robert discuss an article from Robert’s column for The Content Marketing Institute The Mid-Year AI Reality Check Marketing Teams Need, which dives into the results of his analysis of 500 agentic AI use cases. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Folklore Debt: The Stories That Build B2B Companies — and the Ones That Hold Them Back | 6sense The Mid-Year AI Reality Check Marketing Teams Need Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license Eminem - My Name Is (Official Music Video) on YouTube You can listen to this on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June 6, 202656 min

The LLMs as Analysts and Content Factory to Media Powerhouse 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 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 buyers to successful peers? Ian then joins Robert Rose in our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, for one of his fabulous cocktails and a chat about a marketing topic. This week, Ian and Robert discuss an article from Robert’s column for The Content Marketing Institute From Content Factory to Media Operation: A Maturity Model for 2026 and Robert steps through four maturity steps: Stage one: Campaign-led marketing. Stage two: Content factory. Stage three: Content orchestration. Stage four: Integrated media operation Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Ian's Tuesday 2¢ blog Robert’s article: From Content Factory to Media Operation: A Maturity Model for 2026 Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license Foo Fighters - My Hero (Official HD Video) on YouTube You can listen to this on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 30, 202651 min

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 over a classic cocktail This week, Ian and Robert discuss some points from the latest edition of his Lens newsletter - Won't get Fooled Again, and specifically a phrase he heard on a recent retreat, “AI can never not know”, and how he sees that the kayfabe of AI might be fading. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Bear Essentials: AI Isn't Your Content Problem. Your Content Is Your Content Problem Simu Liu reacts to pre-fame stock photos he appeared in as model | Independent Seventh Bear Lens: Won't be Fooled Again US students on why they booed their pro-AI graduation speakers: ‘They’re not reading the room’ | Technology | The Guardian Robert’s podcast: This Old Marketing Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 25, 202651 min

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 long weekend, Ian’s visit to our virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, comes from the archive, replaying a conversation from last year that is relevant to the topic of educating LLMs. In this bar conversation, over one of his classic cocktails, Robert Rose shares his thoughts on what we should be sharing with the LLMs and suggests an approach he calls “The Mullet” content strategy. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: OpenAI Launches Self-Serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT Robert discussing The Mullet Content Strategy on the This Old Marketing podcast Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You Speak My Language by Morphine on YouTube You can listen to this on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 16, 202648 min

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’in’ things from the article, as is the editorial policy of the podcast, Ian and Jeff discuss: Agentic Prospecting Assumes Signal Quality That Doesn’t Exist The Assumption that Sales is a Numbers Game Accuracy is Fragile Due to Heavy Reliance On LLMs & External Data The Fallacy of End-To-End Autonomy Claims The Spam Problem Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, to discuss Robert’s recent article from The Content Marketing Institute - Content-Led Marketing: The Essential Strategy for the AI Era. They discusses the evolution of marketing strategies from campaigns to content-led marketing, and the impact of AI and community building on brand storytelling. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Agentic Prospecting: Seven Reasons The Hype Falls Short Tuesday 2¢ - The Cost of the Easy Button Content-Led Marketing: The Essential Strategy for the AI Era Robert’s podcast: This Old Marketing Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license The Miracles - Love Machine You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 10, 202638 min

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 with AI - inspired by a LinkedIn post by Adriaan Bloem We are all a B2B service providers now Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar. They keep the AI theme going with a discussion of whether people really care if content is AI-generated and how that opinion might be evolving. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Email Is Dead, Long Live Email - by Ann Handley Joe Pulizzi’s newsletter - Stop Trying to Build a Community The quadrant of polished content - posted by Adriaan Bloem BBC Sounds - Everything Is Fake - (also available on Apple podcasts) Producers of AI-generated podcasts - Inception Point AI Robert’s podcast: This Old Marketing Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 2, 202659 min

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: Marketers will begin marketing to agents, not just humans Taste, trust, and accountability will become the antidote to AI slop Composable stacks will be mainstream by 2030, but <20% will adopt in 2026 AI will completely transform legacy SaaS martech - but not in 2026 AI-driven uncertainty will intensify in 2026; preparation is the only answer Ian then joins Robert Rose in the virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar. They keep the AI theme going with a discussion about an article from The Content Marketing Institute - Good Editing Makes AI Content Memorable - and discuss whether it’s true that editing can make mediocre AI content memorable, following some criticism of this article on LinkedIn. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Jon Miller’s Predictions for B2B Go-To-Market in 2026 – chiefmartec Adriaan Bloem’s LinkedIn post on AI content Keith Smiith's post about using CoPilot for BD Fathertime Bourbon Good Editing Makes AI Content Memorable Robert’s podcast: This Old Marketing Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license Life During Wartime (2003 Remaster) You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 25, 202654 min

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 Robert’s latest article in his Rose Tinted Glasses column on the Content Marketing Institute blog: The Career Hedge: Why Even Your 'Satisfied' Employees Are Running an Exit Strategy Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Bear Essentials: You Can’t Personalize What You Don't Understand The Career Hedge: Why Even Your 'Satisfied' Employees Are Running an Exit Strategy Robert’s podcast: This Old Marketing Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 18, 202651 min

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 the first chat they had in the bar, about expressing your point of view in “unprecedented” times and how this relates to his work today, and their discussion two weeks ago about showing your “pointy bits”. Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: The JOLT Effect What is Customer Indecision? Understanding and Overcoming Buyer Hesitation The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen | by Andy Raskin | Mission.org | Medium Rockstar CMO FM #9 - Ahmed Hasan and Cocktails with Robert Rose Robert’s podcast: This Old Marketing Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license Prince - Nothing Compares 2 U (Official Music Video) You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 11, 202653 min

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 virtual bar, The Rose & Rockstar, for a classic cocktail and a chat. This week, Ian and Robert discuss the latest article from Robert in his Rose Colored Glasses Series on the Content Marketing Institutes blog - The Ghost Workforce: How AI Is Reshaping Content and Marketing Roles in 2026 Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Robert Rose on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Buyers are not blank slates - Kerry Cunningham, 6Sense The Beat Newsletter - Just Enough Education to Perform The Ghost Workforce: How AI Is Reshaping Content and Marketing Roles in 2026 Robert’s podcast: This Old Marketing Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons license Stereophonics - Mr. Writer (Official Music Video) You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices