From Comms at Zoom to VP of Marketing at Neat, with Priscilla Barolo
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this episode, Dave interviews Priscilla Barolo, VP of Marketing at Neat, a Norwegian video tech company taking market share from industry leaders like Cisco. Priscilla was the 11th person hired at Zoom, where she spent eight years running communications through the company's IPO and explosive COVID growth. (03:03) She shares her transition from communications to marketing leadership, offering insights on PR strategy, agency selection, and the unique challenges of marketing physical B2B products. (04:03) The conversation covers building messaging frameworks, managing remote marketing teams, and the critical differences between selling software versus hardware in the enterprise space.
- Core themes include the transition from communications to comprehensive marketing leadership, the evolution of PR strategy in today's media landscape, and the operational complexities of marketing physical products in B2B tech.
Speakers
Dave Gerhardt
Host of Exit Five B2B Marketing Podcast and founder of Exit Five, a private marketing community for ambitious B2B marketers. Dave has built his career helping marketing professionals navigate growth challenges and master their craft through practical insights and community building.
Priscilla Barolo
VP of Marketing at Neat, an Oslo-based video tech company, managing a 30-person marketing team. She was the 11th employee at Zoom, where she spent eight years running communications through the company's IPO and explosive pandemic-era growth. (04:46) Priscilla has deep expertise in strategic communications, PR, and now leads marketing for a 400-500 person company selling physical B2B video conferencing products to enterprises like Atlassian and the White House.
Key Takeaways
Freemium Strategy Combined with Bold Messaging Creates Viral Growth
Priscilla explains how Zoom's early success came from combining a freemium model with bold, contrarian messaging. (07:56) When competitors' products "sucked," Zoom's messaging was simply "video conferencing that doesn't suck" with the URL videothatdoesntsuck.com. The strategy worked because the product was genuinely superior, and they just needed people to try it once. Practical Application: When your product has a clear advantage, don't be afraid to use bold, direct messaging that calls out the competition's weaknesses while making trial as frictionless as possible.
Hire Boutique PR Agencies Where You're a Priority Client
When selecting PR agencies, Priscilla emphasizes never being someone's smallest client and focusing on boutique agencies with strong geographic focus. (16:10) She looks for agencies like Six Eastern (Emily Gerber's agency) with fewer than 10 people, where senior relationship-holders are in every meeting. Larger agencies typically assign junior teams to smaller clients. Practical Application: Budget $12,000-$14,000 monthly for quality PR, ask specifically which team members from the pitch will handle day-to-day work, and prioritize agencies with established journalist relationships in your industry.
Develop Core Messaging Frameworks Before Individual Talk Tracks
Rather than creating isolated talk tracks, Priscilla builds comprehensive messaging pyramids starting with one-sentence company definitions, expanding to three sentences, then pillars with supporting proof points. (25:16) This framework comes from conversations with product, engineering, and revenue teams to understand what customers actually care about. Individual executive talk tracks then flow naturally from this foundation. Practical Application: Start with "What is this company in one sentence?" then build out pillars, proof points, and supporting data before creating executive-specific messaging.
Physical B2B Products Require Heavy In-Person Event Investment
Marketing physical B2B products demands significant investment in trade shows, partner events, and hands-on demonstrations because customers need to touch and understand the technology. (41:23) Priscilla notes they're "quite heavy in in-person events" because people need to experience how their video conferencing bar differs from competitors' products - something that's hard to convey through data sheets alone. Practical Application: Budget heavily for trade shows like InfoComm, partner with alliance partners for co-marketing events, and create rigorous payback analysis systems to measure event ROI since these investments are substantial.
Scale Marketing Leadership Through Function-Based Management Structure
As marketing teams grow, Priscilla organizes around functional expertise rather than traditional hierarchies. (29:48) Her 30-40 person team includes regional leaders, BDR management, and "subject matter expert marketers" for specialized functions like web and digital ops. She varies one-on-one frequency based on role complexity and seniority - weekly for key function leaders, monthly for established managers, quarterly for regional leads. Practical Application: Structure growing marketing teams around functional expertise, hire strong leaders for each area, then focus on cross-functional alignment rather than trying to be the expert in every marketing discipline.
Statistics & Facts
- Priscilla was the 11th person hired at Zoom, joining when the company was just 10 engineers split between cold calling and coding, demonstrating the extreme early-stage nature of her tenure. (04:46)
- Neat employs between 400-500 people and was founded just months before the pandemic, making it a fully remote workforce from inception due to hiring globally based on needs rather than location.
- Priscilla manages a marketing organization of 30-40 people including about a dozen BDRs, representing a substantial marketing team for a pre-IPO growth stage company.
