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On the show today, we have Pete McCarthy, Chief Marketing Officer at Open Road Integrated Media.
Before joining Open Road, Pete led Consumer Insights at Ingram Content Group, co-founded a marketing SaaS, and led marketing at places like Penguin, and Random House.
Pete’s been in marketing at start-ups, mid sized companies, large orgs, and as an agency owner.
Here are the key themes and ideas from my time with Pete:
The Importance of Understanding Multiple Audiences in Messaging
Pete emphasizes that messaging often needs to speak to multiple groups simultaneously. In his current role at Open Road, his primary audience is readers, but authors are a close second, and they pay attention to how their books are marketed.
He illustrates this with the example:
If I'm marketing to readers, readers are my primary audience, but right behind me are authors and the authors care how their books are marketed
A successful message caters to the needs and desires of all relevant stakeholders. The phrase "right book, to the right reader, at the right time" is the type of message that’s clear, concise, and provides value to publishers (want to sell books), authors (want their book to reach the right audience for recommendations), and readers (want a book that resonates with their interests).
Speaking to multiple groups has been a consistent theme in his approach to developing messaging throughout his career.
Commonalities and Differences in Messaging Across Business Sizes
Commonality: Across all sizes of companies (startups, mid-size, large), there's a need for a universal message that resonates with all core audience while allowing each group to hear their specific needs being addressed.
You have to have messaging that sort of is universal enough that it speaks to all of the audiences but where they can hear themselves and their needs within it and spoken directly to them.
Differences: Large companies usually have a large customer base and they usually have varying levels of industry knowledge. Messaging can quickly creep into being too broad to serve all customers. This contrasts with mid-sized companies like Open Road, which have a core set of key clients who fit a tight niche.
Messaging Focus Across Business Sizes:
Smaller companies and consultancies: Personal brand, “why us?”
Mid-size companies: Tailored services and core client groups
Large corporations: Emphasis on services and the company brand
Anecdotes on Marketing Insights' Successful Messaging and Acquisition
Marketing Insights, a SaaS company co-founded by Pete, addressed a key pain point for smaller book publishers: identifying which backlist titles to prioritize for optimization.
The core problem was that publishers felt they were sitting on a "gold mine" of backlist books but lacked a clear strategy on where to focus their efforts.
We’d hear this common problem a lot, 'Hey, we feel like we're sitting on a gold mine. We have these backlist books and then they sell at this kind of consistent level and we feel like we could do something about that, but we don't know where to start...'"
The solution was a MarTech SaaS that used open APIs to identify titles with high consumer interest but low optimization.
The place to start is the ones where there is the most consumer interest and but the titles have received the least amount of optimization. So there's a mismatch. People are looking for it. They might want to buy it if they could find it, but they can't find it. And when they do find it, it's a terrible experience. That's where you start.
The messaging then became, "Big publisher tech and knowhow at an affordable monthly subscription rate."
Guess what? This resonated. Marketing Insight within a year, and shows you the power of knowing your audience, nailing the problem, creating a solution to the problem and crafting concise messaging.
Pete's Role in Messaging at Open Road Integrated Media
As CMO, his role involves overseeing messaging from multiple levels:
First-party audience of readers
Publishing partners
Open Road as a whole
For readers: this includes the positioning of websites, email newsletters, individual titles, and book categories, focusing on creating compelling hooks for book buyers.
For publishing partners: messaging centers on communicating the value, effectiveness and strategy behind marketing the publisher’s ebooks, often leaning on uplift as the core capability of their service.
For the industry: it's about defining Open Road's identity and value proposition. Pete may not personally craft all the messaging, but guides strategy, reviews results, and focuses on consistency and resonance across all communications.
Advice for Product Marketers Aspiring to Executive Roles
Product marketers are close to the product and the market: We are exposed to the challenges of product development and how the product plays out in the marketplace. This includes understanding the problems the company is trying to solve, the development process, and the pain points.
We bridge the gap between product and the customer: Product marketing acts as the "voice of the product", which Pete considers to be the "new sales". This means we understand customer needs, market conditions, and how the product addresses those needs.
This holistic understanding provides a complete business perspective: Unlike roles focused on specific areas like logistics or operations, product marketers have a broader view that encompasses product, sales, and customer relationships. Pete believes this comprehensive understanding is crucial for making strategic decisions at an executive level.
It encourages a strategic mindset: By focusing on the whole business, product marketers naturally develop the ability to "add value at a more macro strategic level". We move beyond just executing our current job and start thinking about the bigger picture.
It aligns with the path of successful executives: Pete draws a parallel to the publishing industry where many CEOs came from sales because sales roles provided a direct connection to books, authors, booksellers, and readers – essentially the entire ecosystem. He sees product marketing as a similar pivotal position today.
10-Step Practical Messaging Advice:
Gather a small group of colleagues: Invite five to six colleagues to participate. It's beneficial to include individuals from different departments, not just marketing (e.g., finance).
Schedule a brief meeting: Keep the session concise; Pete suggests a 10-minute exercise.
Clearly state the challenge: At the beginning of the session, explain the specific marketing challenge or the need for a particular message you are trying to develop. Avoid revealing any of your own pre-existing ideas at this stage.
Initiate rapid-fire brainstorming: Go around the room (or virtual meeting participants) and ask each person to offer their best message idea. Emphasize that there are no wrong answers.
Implement the one-second rule: If a participant cannot come up with an idea within approximately one second, they should pass. This encourages quick thinking and avoids getting bogged down.
Conduct multiple rounds: Continue the rapid-fire brainstorming for about three rounds. This allows for a variety of perspectives and builds upon initial ideas.
Record all ideas: Make sure to write down every message idea that is suggested during the session.
Review and compare: After the brainstorming, review all the collected ideas. Compare them to any messaging ideas you had considered beforehand. Look for interesting words, phrases, or angles that you might not have thought of.
Select promising options: Based on the review, identify one or two messages that feel right or show the most potential.
Engage a devil's advocate: Once you have a leading message or two, present it to someone and ask them to critique it. Encourage them to point out why it might be flawed or ineffective. This helps to identify potential weaknesses before using it. Always doing this step.
Here’s what’s covered in our conversation:
00:00 Introduction
01:44 Pete's Marketing Background
13:17 The Evolution of Marketing Messaging
22:20 Positioning and Messaging Across Business Sizes
31:26 How Messaging was Created for Marketing Insights
36:52 Building Relationships in Corporate Marketing
41:19 The Role of a CMO in Messaging
49:49 How a CMO Thinks About Data and Marketing Measurement
01:00:01 Advice for Aspiring Marketing Executives
Where to find Pete:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermccarthy1/
Where to find Josh:
Newsletter:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-chronister/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OnMessaging
Referenced:
Emma Stratton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/
Jess Johns: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessjohns/
Open Road Integrated Media Inc: https://openroadintegratedmedia.com/
Ingram Content Group: https://www.ingramcontent.com/
Penguin Random House: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/
The New York Review of Books: https://www.nybooks.com/
Granta Publications: https://granta.com/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/
Google: https://www.google.com/
Yahoo: https://www.yahoo.com/
Marketing Insights
Apple: https://www.apple.com/
Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/
Dell Technologies: https://www.dell.com/en-us
Pixar Animation Studios: https://www.pixar.com/
Costco Wholesale: https://www.costco.com/
Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/
Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/
Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/
Created by Josh Chronister
I interview the best product marketers and tech companies who create messaging that resonates with their buyers. Come learn from them, so you can hit ‘Publish’ with confidence.
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