Episode Summary: How To Market Marketing Internally with Steve Stano

Podcast: The Marketing Millennials
Host: Daniel Murray
Guest: Steve Stano, B2B & SaaS Marketing Leader at a major Wall Street financial firm
Episode: Ep. 331
Release Date: July 11, 2025

1. Introduction

In this insightful episode of The Marketing Millennials, host Daniel Murray welcomes Steve Stano, a seasoned marketing leader from one of Wall Street’s largest financial services firms. The conversation delves deep into the challenges marketers face when their departments are perceived merely as cost centers and offers strategic approaches to reposition marketing as a pivotal growth driver within organizations.

2. Guest Background

Steve Stano shares his extensive experience in the financial services sector, emphasizing his long tenure with top Wall Street institutions. He highlights his diverse roles within marketing, from leading financial wellness programs to spearheading acquisition and customer marketing strategies. Steve currently oversees a team dedicated to driving business impact through workplace financial solutions and enhancing corporate engagement via acquisition marketing.

“I’ve been with two of Wall Street's largest financial services institutions, focusing on driving business impact from a workplace financial solutions perspective to a corporate audience.”
— Steve Stano [01:28]

3. The Perception of Marketing as a Cost Center

Steve addresses a prevalent issue in the marketing industry: the tendency to view marketing departments as cost centers rather than growth drivers. He cites a PwC pulse survey revealing that only 40% of CMOs feel the value of marketing is understood, a decline from 53-54% the previous year.

“Roughly 40% of CMOs strongly agree that the value of marketing is understood. That’s just 40%, and by the way, that’s down from 53 or 54% last year.”
— Steve Stano [03:02]

4. Proving Marketing’s Value with Data

To combat the negative perception, Steve outlines four key strategies:

1. Focus on Long-Term Holistic Impact: Demonstrate how marketing contributes to sustained business growth.
2. Build a Tangible Narrative: Communicate marketing efforts in terms that resonate with business leaders.
3. Diversify and Align Metrics: Present a variety of metrics that matter to different stakeholders.
4. Enhance Business Involvement: Foster strong partnerships with other departments to illustrate marketing’s role in achieving shared goals.

“How do you shift the narrative of marketing being a cost center to being a growth partner to the business? It is entirely possible by focusing on these four key areas.”
— Steve Stano [03:02]

5. Internal Storytelling and Communication

Steve emphasizes the importance of internal advocacy. Marketers must proactively communicate their value and align their messaging with the language and priorities of different departments.

“We host a monthly marketing meeting featuring business leadership... ensuring they understand what marketing is doing and the terms and the words that they use.”
— Steve Stano [05:46]

6. Tailoring Metrics and Dashboards for Different Stakeholders

Acknowledging that different teams prioritize different metrics, Steve describes maintaining separate dashboards:

• Marketing Leadership Dashboard: Focuses on impressions, engagement rates, activity rates, and cost per lead.
• Business Leadership Dashboard: Highlights account penetration, engagement with content, and sales engagement rates.

“For marketing leadership, we focus on impressions and engagement rates. For business leadership, it’s about the accounts penetrated and their engagement levels.”
— Steve Stano [10:57]

7. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Strategy

Steve provides a comprehensive overview of ABM, illustrating its application through targeting mid to late-stage private companies. He describes his firm's dual approach:

• One-to-Many: Reaching out to a broad list of target accounts with events like webcasts.
• One-to-Few: Focusing on high-intent accounts showing signs of engagement for more personalized interactions.

“ABM comes in three ways: one-to-many, one-to-few, and one-to-one. We primarily operate in the one-to-many and one-to-few due to budget considerations.”
— Steve Stano [14:00]

8. Moving Prospects Through the Funnel

The discussion shifts to customer journey stages—awareness, consideration, and decision. Steve underscores the necessity of nurturing leads over extended periods, especially with long sales cycles typical in financial services.

“Early-stage private companies might decide in one to three months, while late-stage pre-IPO companies could take two to three years.”
— Steve Stano [16:48]

9. Shifting from MQLs to Smarter ABM

Challenging the traditional Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) framework, Steve advocates for a more nuanced approach that incorporates intent signals to prioritize leads. This method enhances efficiency and conversion rates by focusing on leads demonstrating higher intent.

“We need to evolve away from MQLs. It is not enough to just say hey, I’m submitting a form. We must utilize different data points to hone in on accounts showing purchasing intent.”
— Steve Stano [18:35]

10. Quality Over Quantity in Marketing Efforts

Highlighting the inefficiency of mass impressions, Steve argues for prioritizing quality engagements over sheer volume. He shares an example where targeted impressions yielded significantly higher engagement compared to broad, untargeted efforts.

“Getting 10,000 impressions with high engagement is far more powerful than 40 million impressions with a 1% conversion rate.”
— Steve Stano [24:31]

11. Building Trust and Gaining Leeway

As marketing departments demonstrate their value, they earn trust from business leadership, granting them more freedom to experiment and innovate. This trust fosters a collaborative environment where marketing can take calculated risks and explore new strategies.

“Once business leaders trust you, they give you white space to explore more.”
— Steve Stano [30:14]

12. Common Mistakes and Recommendations

Steve identifies a critical mistake: failing to communicate marketing’s value in terms that resonate with other departments. He advises marketers to:

1. Understand Leadership Priorities: Align marketing goals with business objectives.
2. Define Team’s Purpose: Clearly articulate the marketing team’s mission and strategy.
3. Use Business Language: Translate marketing metrics into business-relevant terms.

“The biggest mistake is not telling the marketing story in a way that business, finance, and other leadership members will understand.”
— Steve Stano [26:24]

13. Marketing Hill to Die On

Steve passionately asserts that marketing should never be seen as a cost center. Instead, it must be recognized as a growth driver grounded in data-driven decision-making.

“Marketing is not a cost center. It is a driver of growth and everything we do has to be rooted in data.”
— Steve Stano [31:37]

14. Conclusion and Where to Find Steve

Daniel Murray wraps up the episode by commending Steve’s impactful career and inviting listeners to connect with him on LinkedIn. Steve plans to continue sharing his expertise through various platforms, including conferences and additional podcasts.

“Feel free to add me on LinkedIn, Steve Stano. I’ve participated in several videos, conferences, and podcasts focusing on global marketplace intelligence and B2B marketing strategies.”
— Steve Stano [33:20]

Key Takeaways

• Prove Marketing’s Value: Use data-driven metrics aligned with business priorities to demonstrate marketing’s impact.
• Tailor Communication: Adapt messaging to suit different stakeholders, ensuring relevance and understanding.
• Embrace Smarter ABM: Focus on high-intent accounts using nuanced data to enhance efficiency and conversion rates.
• Build Trust: Consistently deliver results to earn trust from business leaders, allowing for greater innovation and risk-taking.
• Continuous Internal Marketing: Regularly communicate marketing initiatives and successes within the organization to reinforce value.

Notable Quotes

• “Marketing is not a cost center. It is a driver of growth.”
  — Steve Stano [31:37]

• “We need to evolve away from MQLs. It is not enough to just say hey, I’m submitting a form.”
  — Steve Stano [18:35]

• “Understanding the way to tell marketing story in a way that business, finance and other leadership members will understand.”
  — Steve Stano [26:24]

Connect with Steve Stano

• LinkedIn: Steve Stano
• Conferences & Podcasts: Steve frequently speaks at industry conferences and appears on various marketing podcasts discussing global intelligence and ABM strategies.

Whether you're grappling with internal perceptions of your marketing team or seeking advanced strategies to prove your department’s value, this episode with Steve Stano offers actionable insights and proven methodologies to elevate marketing's role within your organization.