Episodes

John Watton: Learn It All Mentality

John Watton, veteran B2B technology marketer who has held senior marketing roles at Adobe, VMware, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, and Yext, on why now is genuinely the golden age of marketing, why the product is becoming the primary marketing channel in SaaS, and why technology will not solve your marketing problems but your strategy will.

Apple Podcasts Spotify
 ·  The Business of Marketing  · S1 E14  · 36 min
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"No one wants to be a B2B marketer when they grow up. But it's never been a better time to be one."

The Conversation with Justin Cooke

Why now is the golden age of B2B marketing and why the product is becoming marketing's most important channel

John Watton has held senior marketing roles at some of the most influential technology companies of the past three decades: Silverpop, Oracle, Expedia, Ariba, Microsoft, Adobe, Yext, and VMware. He speaks from a vantage point that spans the entire evolution of modern marketing technology, from the days of renting lists and sending direct mail to the current era of real-time behavioural data and AI-assisted personalisation.

In this conversation Watton makes the case that now is genuinely the golden age of marketing, not the mad men era that is often romanticised but this moment, when data is abundant and creativity is more accessible than ever. He also argues that in SaaS businesses, the product has become the primary marketing channel, and that marketing's job is increasingly to own the full customer journey rather than just the top of the funnel.

Key Takeaways

  • It has never been a better time to be a B2B marketer. The golden age is now: abundant data, accessible creativity, and the ability to reach global audiences at low cost.
  • In SaaS, the product is becoming the primary marketing channel. Marketing owns the full customer journey, not just the top of the funnel.
  • Technology will not solve your marketing problems. Define your strategy first. Then choose technology in service of that strategy.
  • Look for three things when you hire: change, curiosity, and risk. People who drive change, stay curious, and are willing to take calculated risks.
  • Have a learn-it-all mentality, not a know-it-all mentality. The channels change constantly. The fundamentals do not.

Topics Covered

  1. 01 Why now is the golden age of marketing and what that means for B2B practitioners
  2. 02 The product as the primary marketing channel in SaaS and product-led growth
  3. 03 Why technology will not solve your marketing problems and what will
  4. 04 Change, curiosity, and risk as the three qualities every marketing hire needs
  5. 05 Measuring what matters: pipeline, bookings, and renewal rate over vanity metrics

Key Exchanges

05
01 Why do you say now is the golden age of marketing?

I always say it's never been a better time to be a marketer right now. We have probably too much data, all the data that informs us about what's working and what our customers love and hate, and the access to that is low cost. For B2B marketers the line between classic B2B and B2C has blurred. We have all the things we use in our personal life available in our professional marketing.

Watton traces the golden age argument through three dimensions: data abundance, creative accessibility, and channel democratisation. The combination of these, available to any marketer regardless of the size of their budget, represents a fundamentally different environment from any previous era of marketing.

02 How has the relationship between product and marketing changed in SaaS?

The product is your marketing. The product is your advertising. You don't need to go out and put billboards up or do digital programmes. You can do it in the product. Marketing has gone from a communications function to really owning the customer journey and the customer relationship.

Watton describes a shift that he observed across his time at Adobe and VMware: the product team and the marketing team converging around shared responsibility for the customer experience. In subscription businesses where renewal is the primary commercial objective, the product experience is not separate from the marketing job but is its most important expression.

03 Why does technology not solve your marketing problems?

The technology will not solve your problems. It's your strategy, and then using technology in service of that. I've worked for MarTech companies. The technology will not solve your problems. Don't go out and buy more.

Watton makes this argument from experience on both sides of the vendor relationship. Having worked at Adobe, Silverpop, and Yext as well as being a buyer of marketing technology throughout his career, he has seen both the promise and the reality. The organisations that get the most value from their technology investments are the ones that arrived with clear strategic requirements rather than purchasing first and figuring out the use cases later.

04 What three qualities do you look for when hiring for a marketing team?

Change, curiosity, and risk. People who drive change and bring change in. People who are curious, always watching things, interested in what people are doing. And people who take calculated risks with small experiments rather than betting the whole budget on one campaign.

Watton is explicit that these three qualities matter more than specific skills or platform experience because skills and platforms change constantly. The marketer who was a Clubhouse expert a few years ago and a Second Life expert before that needs the adaptability to move to the next thing. Change, curiosity, and risk are the qualities that enable that adaptability.

05 What should you measure and what should you stop measuring?

I distil it down to website visitors, pipeline, bookings, and renewal rate. We can measure everything else, but what I tend to focus on are the things that move the needle for the business. We can do all our calculations upstream, but ultimately marketing's service to the business is pipeline.

Watton's framework is a conscious reduction. He has spent years working in and around measurement systems that track dozens of metrics and generate reports that no one acts on. The principle is to identify the three or four numbers that the business genuinely cares about and hold marketing accountable to those, using all other metrics as diagnostic tools rather than KPIs.

S1 E14Season & Episode
36 minDuration
30yr+ John Watton's experience across B2B technology marketing
3 Qualities every great marketing hire needs: change, curiosity, and risk

"Marketing has gone from a communications function to owning the full customer journey."

Hear John on
The Business of Marketing
Season 1 Episode 14 36 min
Apple Podcasts→ Spotify→ John's full profile→
Read the full transcript
Lightly edited for readability.

Justin Cooke You have had quite a career. Tell us about the journey.

John Watton I have been incredibly lucky to work at Silverpop, Oracle, Expedia, Ariba, Microsoft, Adobe, Yext, and VMware. I always tried to work with interesting companies doing disruptive things. I started in more technical roles and moved into marketing early because I wanted to be involved in the medium to long-term side of a business.

Justin Cooke Why do you say now is the golden age of marketing?

John Watton It has never been a better time to be a marketer. We have probably too much data now. The line between classic B2B and B2C has blurred. We can use all the same channels and creative approaches in our personal life in our professional marketing. And we are on the precipice of accelerating creativity with AI. That is why it is the golden age.

Justin Cooke How has the relationship between product and marketing changed?

John Watton In SaaS, the product is your marketing. You can deliver it in the product itself through hints, tips, trainings, showing the value. Marketing has gone from a communications function to owning the full customer journey and customer relationship.

Justin Cooke Why does technology not solve your problems?

John Watton The technology will not solve your problems. It is your strategy, and then using technology in service of that. I have worked for MarTech companies. Do not go out and buy more. I would keep the stack simple.

Justin Cooke Advice for someone entering the profession?

John Watton Have a learn-it-all mentality, not a know-it-all mentality. The channels change constantly. What we used five years ago is not what we use today. Be curious, drive change, and be willing to take small calculated risks. Those are the three things I look for in every hire.

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