#217: Marketing Leadership | Why Product Marketing is the Foundation of Great Marketing Leadership with Jessica Andrews, VP of Marketing at Copper

Listen to this episode from The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt) on Spotify. In this episode, Matt Carnevale sits down with Jessica Andrews, VP of Marketing at Copper, a CRM built specifically for agencies, consultancies, and media companies, designed to help relationship-driven businesses find ideal clients, win new business, manage projects, and nurture customer relationships. The two discuss Jessica’s journey from Senior Product Marketing Manager to VP of Marketing, how she’s navigated imposter syndrome, and her strategies for leading a successful marketing team.Matt and Jessica cover:Strategies for shifting from IC to a marketing leadership roleWhy product marketing is the foundation of great marketingHow product marketers can position themselves for leadershipTimestamps(00:00) - - Introduction to Jessica (02:18) - - Transitioning from product marketing to VP of marketing (06:15) - - Dealing with imposter syndrome and learning to trust your instincts (08:58) - - The shift from execution to strategy in a leadership role (10:40) - - Why taking time to think is crucial for marketing leaders (12:03) - - The power of networking and learning from other marketing leaders (14:04) - - How talking to agencies helped shape Copper’s marketing strategy (15:23) - - Why product marketing is the foundation of great marketing (17:02) - - The importance of cross-functional alignment in marketing leadership (19:40) - - Understanding the mindset of sales teams and how to collaborate effectively (22:34) - - The challenge of getting buy-in for product marketing initiatives (28:16) - - Balancing being a strategic partner vs. an order taker (30:56) - - How to respond to last-minute requests and set expectations (33:18) - - Strategies for building strong relationships with sales and product teams (36:30) - - How to become T-shaped and prepare for marketing leadership (38:48) - - Learning demand gen and paid ads (40:58) - - Why marketing leaders need to understand revenue and business impact (43:06) - - Advice for product marketers who want to grow into leadership (43:52) - - Closing thoughts and final takeaways Send guest pitches and ideas to [email protected] the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterCheck out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership***Today’s episode is brought to you by Zuddl.We’re halfway through 2025, and one thing’s clear: events continue to be one of the highest performing marketing channels. Niche meetups, conferences, curated dinners, networking - you name it. Everyone’s leaning in.Events are a core part of our playbook this year at Exit Five. So far, we’ve hosted two virtual sessions each month, one large virtual event, one in-person meetup, and we’re deep in the weeds planning our Drive conference coming back to Vermont this September.Zuddl helps us run a smarter event strategy - from driving registrations, managing invites, automating comms, reminders, analytics, tracking. Their Salesforce integration also makes it simple to report on pipeline and revenue from events without pulling in ops.On top of that, the differentiator with Zuddl is how their team is insanely good at supporting us. They always go above and beyond for us - and that’s how we’ve been able to keep the momentum going with 12+ events already this year, with plenty more to come.If events are part of your marketing strategy, you need to look at Zuddl to see how companies like Zillow, CrowdStrike, and Iterable are using the top event platform for Business events in 2025. Head over to zuddl.com/exitfive to learn more.